REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEES IN THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION ERA OF CHINA Exploring a Mode of Governance in Historical and Future Perspectives Peijie Wang Revolutionary Committees in the Cultural Revolution Era of China Peijie Wang Revolutionary Committees in the Cultural Revolution Era of China Exploring a Mode of Governance in Historical and Future Perspectives Peijie Wang University of Plymouth Plymouth, UK and IÉSEG Lille, France ISBN 978-3-319-57203-1 ISBN 978-3-319-57204-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57204-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017939609 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. Cover credit: © Harvey Loake Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland PREFACE This book is written in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of revolutionary committees and the revolutionary committee movement in the Cultural Revolution era of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Revolutionary committees were established at all levels of local govern- ment, and in factories and mines, colleges and universities, troupes and hospitals, and trades and stores. This book considers local government revolutionary committees only; as organizations other than local govern- ment were not the organ of state power at local level. Specifcally, the book focuses on revolutionary committees at province level, including municipalities and autonomous regions. The book is a purely analytical text, involving no value judgement of social institutions and political sys- tems. It presents the mode of governance of revolutionary committees, and makes historical and comparative assessments of modes of govern- ance on success and failure. It explores a mode of governance in future perspectives. Revolutionary committees were unifed governing bodies in local governance during the Cultural Revolution period in the PRC. Revolutionary committees possessed supremacy in their early days and heydays. They exerted unifed leadership with streamlined govern- ance and administration, encompassing the Party and government and spanning the legislature, executive and judiciary. Nonetheless, the early fallouts of the pioneering revolutionary committees and their leaders signalled the worrying ciphers. The heydays of revolutionary commit- tees turned out to be short-lived. The last episode was soon to close in v vi PREFACE regression, leaving many assorted anecdotes that have lingered 50 years on. Emotions fading, it is the time to look beyond the fantasies, feuds, passions, anarchies and rivalries positively; nothing in history has hap- pened in vain. The book is written in the framework of historical materialist histo- riography. Its worldview about human society and history as articulated by historical materialism is that ‘human beings enter into defnite rela- tions of production independent of their will, which are appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure or infrastructure of society, on which arises a legal and politi- cal superstructure’ (Marx 1859). Accordingly, actions and trials taken by the revolutionary masses and revolutionary committees in the Cultural Revolution era are assessed in the book in the vicinity of material, social and intellectual life and economic, political and legal structures. Some became realities and some others were fantasies. They were the entities of the unity while being full of the conficts of opposites, experiencing the negation of the negation constantly. The book unfolds along these lines throughout a historic epoch half a century ago and beyond. Plymouth, UK Peijie Wang February 2017 CONTENTS 1 Battles for Seizure of Power and the Making of Revolutionary Committees 夺权风暴 新政诞生 1 1.1 Emergence of Revolutionary Committees and Timeline of Their Establishment 东方曙光 山河片红 1 1.2 Revolutionary Committees in Action—Revolutionary Three-Pronged Resolution 三位一体 操办国是 10 1.3 Early Fallouts 派系冲突 无术回天 16 1.4 The Last Episode 悲壮篇章 在即回归 33 vii viii CONTENTS 2 Construct of Revolutionary Committees and Mode of Governance 史无前例 实施新政 55 2.1 Local Governance: Pre-, Post- and During Cultural Revolution 文革前后 轮回徘徊 56 2.2 Unifed Leadership and Streamlined Administration 一元领导 精简机构 63 2.3 International Inspiration and Accomplishments in the Backdrop—Realities and Fantasies 内外成就 现实幻想 69 3 Assessments of Modes of Governance in Historical and Future Perspectives 千秋功过 谁人评说 81 3.1 Comparison of Modes of Governance in Historical Perspectives 穿越时空 纵横大地 82 3.2 Assessments and Outlooks 遍地英雄 开拓未来 86 References 95 Index 103 Index of Names 109 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Chronicles of revolutionary committees 6 Table 2.1 Provincial departments and bureaus of the People’s Committee of Anhui Province 65 Table 2.2 Institutions directly affliated to the People’s Committee of Anhui Province 66 Table 2.3 Revolutionary Committee of Anhui Province: restored institutions 68 Table 2.4 Revolutionary Committee of Anhui Province: restored affliated institutions 68 ix CHAPTER 1 Battles for Seizure of Power and the Making of Revolutionary Committees 夺权风暴 新政诞生 Abstract This chapter presents the birth and pursuit of revolutionary com- mittees in the revolutionary storms of, and spirited battles for, power seizure from the old establishments all over the country. It informs the background for the emergence of revolutionary committees. Crucially, the chapter pro- vides a chronicle of the historical events unfolding through the frst revolu- tionary committees launched in the early 1967 to their fast withering into irrelevance. Three-pronged resolution in the composition of revolutionary committees is deliberated together with the epidemic of factionalism that persisted concurrently. Phenomena of pending regression to the past are shown, substantiated by some vividly portrayed grassroots anecdotes. Keywords Power seizure · Cultural Revolution · Revolutionary committee · Three-pronged resolution · Factionalism 1.1 EMERGENCE OF REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEES AND TIMELINE OF THEIR ESTABLISHMENT 东方曙光 山河片红 The revolutionary committee was established at all levels of local govern- ment, and in factories and mines, colleges and universities, troupes and hospitals, and trades and stores. This book considers local government revolutionary committees only, as organizations other than local govern- ment were not the organ of state power at local level. Specifcally, the book © The Author(s) 2017 1 P. Wang, Revolutionary Committees in the Cultural Revolution Era of China, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57204-8_1 2 P. WANG focuses on revolutionary committees at province level, including munici- palities and autonomous regions. There was no revolutionary committee in central government where major nominal institutions were kept intact, including the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the State Council (cabinet) that were never replaced by a revolution- ary committee. The central institutions of the Communist Party of China (CPC) were retained. The Central Committee of CPC (CCCPC), its Politburo and the Standing Committee of the Politburo did also endure, though the dominant fgures of the committees changed frequently and signifcantly, except Chairman Mao Zedong of CCCPC and Premier Zhou Enlai of the State Council. In addition, there was a Central Cultural Revolution Group, as important as the Politburo at the time. But even the key members of this all-powerful Group kept rotating, including the chief of the Group, Chen Boda who was disgraced prior to the downfall of Lin Biao, the only Vice-Chairman of CCCPC at the time and a Vice Premier and Defense Minister. This was a period full of turmoil. The post of State Presidency was not flled or effectively flled during most of the Cultural Revolution period. However, a vacant State Presidency did not matter itself, as the power of the President at the time stemmed virtually from his position as (frst) Vice-Chairman of CCCPC. This was contrary to local government where communist party committees were non-existent. Although the idea of revolutionary committees was derived from the Paris Commune, they were one step closer