One of the last campaigns engineered by the Gang of Four
during the Cultural Revolution was the one to criticize Rightist
Deviationism in Spring 1976. The immediate cause was the outporing of
popular support after the death of Zhou Enlai
in January. This did not take place right after Zhou had succumbed of
cancer, but during the Qingming Festival in April when traditionally the death are remembered. Official ceremonies
had been kept to a bare minimum by the Gang and earlier expressions of
the people's grief had been successfully suppressed. In April, however,
during what has become known as the first "Tian'anmen Incident", the
masses showed their resentment against the Gang and their support for
the pragmatism and decency that Zhou was widely believed to have stood
for.
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The immediate target of the Gang's campaign was Deng Xiaoping.
He had been rehabilitated in 1973, and had closely cooperated with Zhou
in his attempts to get China on the right track again, both politically
and economically. In the process, many verdicts against former leaders
and cadres at all levels had been reversed, ie, many were rehabilitated
themselves and had returned to their former positions. This rankled the
Gang, who saw its power base threatened. They were convinced that Deng
and his supporters were staging a comeback. The demonstrations in
April were seen as proof of behind-the-scenes manipulation by Deng. As
a "rightist deviationist who attempts to reverse correct verdicts",
Deng was purged for a second time, only to return to power once more in
1977, this time for good.
As the poster below shows, Deng was even held responsible for problems with relief work that occured after the Tangshan earthquake that took place on 28 July 1976.
Sources:
Guo Jian, Yongyi Song & Yuan Zhou, Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (Lanham, etc.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2006)
Kwok-sing Li (editor) & Mary Lok (translator), A Glossary of Political Terms of the People's Republic of China (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press 1995)
Return to Cultural Revolution Campaigns 
s.r.landsberger@let.leidenuniv.nl
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