Editing Deng Xiaoping (section)

== Political career under Mao ==

=== Local leadership ===
On 1 October 1949, Deng attended the [[proclamation of the People's Republic of China]] in Beijing. At that time, the Communist Party controlled the entire north, but there were still parts of the south held by the Kuomintang regime. He became responsible for leading the pacification of southwest China, in his capacity as the first secretary of the Department of the Southwest. This organization had the task of managing the final takeover of that part of the country still held by the Kuomintang; [[Tibet]] remained independent for another year.

The Kuomintang government was being forced to leave [[Guangzhou]] (Canton), and established Chongqing (Chungking) as a new provisional capital. There, Chiang Kai-shek and his son [[Chiang Ching-kuo]], a former classmate of Deng in Moscow, wanted to stop the advance of the Communist Party forces.

Under the political control of Deng, the Communist army took over Chongqing in late November 1949 and entered Chengdu, the last bastion of power of Chiang Kai-shek, a few days later. At that time Deng became mayor of Chongqing, while he simultaneously was the leader of the Communist Party in the southwest, where the Communist army, now proclaiming itself the [[People's Liberation Army]], suppressed resistance loyal to the old Kuomintang regime. In 1950, the Communist Party-ruled state also seized control over Tibet.

In a 1951 speech to [[Cadre system of the Chinese Communist Party|cadres]] preparing to supervise campaigns in the [[Land Reform Movement (China)|land reform movement]], Deng instructed that while cadres should help peasants carry out nonviolent "speak reason struggle", they also had to remember that as a mass movement, land reform was not a time to be "refined and gentle".<ref>{{Cite book |last=DeMare |first=Brian James |title=Land wars : the story of China's agrarian revolution |date=2019 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-1-5036-0849-8 |location=Stanford, California |pages=117 |oclc=1048940018}}</ref> Expressing his view as a rhetorical question, Deng stated that while ideally no landlords would die in the process, "If some tightfisted landlords hang themselves, does that mean our policies are wrong? Are we responsible?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=DeMare |first=Brian James |title=Land wars : the story of China's agrarian revolution |date=2019 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-1-5036-0849-8 |location=Stanford, California |pages=118 |oclc=1048940018}}</ref>

Deng Xiaoping would spend three years in Chongqing, the city where he had studied in his teenage years before going to France. In 1952 he moved to Beijing, where he occupied different positions in the central government.

=== Political rise in Beijing ===
{{Main|Anti-Rightist Movement|Great Leap Forward}}
[[File:Dalai-dengxiaoping1954.jpg|thumb|Deng Xiaoping (left) met with the [[14th Dalai Lama]] (right) in 1954]]

In July 1952, Deng came to Beijing to assume the posts of Vice Premier and Deputy Chair of the Committee on Finance. Soon after, he took the posts of Minister of Finance and Director of the Office of Communications. In 1954, he was removed from all these positions, holding only the post of Vice Premier. In 1956, he became Head of the Communist Party's Organization Department and member of the [[Central Military Commission (China)|Central Military Commission]].

After officially supporting Mao Zedong in his [[Anti-Rightist Movement]] of 1957, Deng acted as [[Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party|Secretary-General of the Secretariat]] and ran the country's daily affairs with President [[Liu Shaoqi]] and Premier Zhou Enlai. Deng and Liu's policies emphasized economics over ideological dogma, an implicit departure from the mass fervor of the Great Leap Forward. Both Liu and Deng supported Mao in the mass campaigns of the 1950s, in which they attacked the bourgeois and capitalists, and promoted Mao's ideology.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Man Who Re-Invented China |url=https://origins.osu.edu/review/man-who-re-invented-china |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725131635/https://origins.osu.edu/review/man-who-re-invented-china |archive-date=25 July 2019 |access-date=27 July 2019 |website=origins.osu.edu|date=17 September 2012 }}</ref> However, the failure of the [[Great Leap Forward]] was seen as an indictment on Mao's ability to manage the economy. [[Peng Dehuai]] began openly criticizing Mao, while Liu and Deng maintained a more cautious tone, ultimately taking charge of economic policy as Mao ceased to be involved in the day-to-day affairs of the party and state. Mao agreed to cede the presidency (the de jure [[head of state]] position) to Liu, while retaining his leadership positions in the party and army.

In 1955, he was considered as a candidate for the PLA rank of [[Marshal of the People's Republic of China]] but he was ultimately not awarded the rank.

At the [[8th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]] in 1956, Deng supported removing all references to "Mao Zedong Thought" from the party statutes.<ref name=jac/>

In 1963, Deng traveled to Moscow to lead a meeting of the Chinese delegation with [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s successor, [[Nikita Khrushchev]]. Relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union had worsened since the death of Stalin. After this meeting, no agreement was reached and the [[Sino–Soviet split]] was consummated; there was an almost total suspension of relations between the two major communist powers of the time.<ref>Jacques Guillermaz, ''The Chinese Communist Party in Power, 1949–1976'' (1976) pp. 320–331.</ref>

After the "[[Seven Thousand Cadres Conference]]" in 1962, Liu and Deng's economic reforms of the early 1960s were generally popular and restored many of the economic institutions previously dismantled during the Great Leap Forward.<ref name=":3" /> Mao, sensing his loss of prestige, took action to regain control of the state. Appealing to his revolutionary spirit, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, which encouraged the masses to root out the right-wing capitalists who had "infiltrated the party". Deng was ridiculed as the "number two [[capitalist roader]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henry He |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCm3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT713 |title=Dictionary of the Political Thought of the People's Republic of China |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2016 |isbn=9781315500430 |page=713 |access-date=3 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308070316/https://books.google.com/books?id=YCm3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT713 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Deng was one of the primary drafters of the [[Third five-year plan (China)|Third Five Year Plan]].<ref name=":05">{{Cite book |last=Meyskens |first=Covell F. |url= |title=Mao's Third Front: The Militarization of Cold War China |date=2020 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-108-78478-8 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |doi=10.1017/9781108784788 |oclc=1145096137 |s2cid=218936313}}</ref>{{Rp|page=29}} In draft form, it emphasized a consumer focus and further development in China's more industrialized coastal cities.<ref name=":05" />{{Rp|page=7}} When Mao argued for a massive campaign to develop basic and national security industry in China's interior as a [[Third Front (China)|Third Front]] in case of invasion by the United States or Soviet Union, Deng was among the key leadership that did not support the idea.<ref name=":05" />{{Rp|page=7}} Following increased concerns of attack from the United States after the [[Gulf of Tonkin incident]], Deng and other key leadership ultimately supported the Third Front construction, and the focus of the Third Year Plan changed to industrialization of the interior.<ref name=":05" />{{Rp|page=7}}

=== Purged twice ===
{{Main|Cultural Revolution}}

==== Cultural Revolution ====
[[File:Zhou Li Deng.jpg|thumb|left|Deng Xiaoping (left) with future president [[Li Xiannian]] (center) and Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] in 1963]]
Mao feared that the [[reformist]] economic policies of Deng and Liu could lead to restoration of capitalism and end the Chinese Revolution.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite news |last=Minqi Li |date=December 2008 |title=Socialism, capitalism, and class struggle: The Political economy of Modern china |work=Economic & Political Weekly}}</ref> For this and other reasons, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, during which Deng fell out of favor and was forced to retire from all his positions.

During the Cultural Revolution, he and his family were targeted by [[Red Guards (China)|Red Guards]], who imprisoned Deng's eldest son, Deng Pufang. Deng Pufang was tortured and jumped out, or was thrown out, of the window of a four-story building in 1968, becoming a [[paraplegic]]. In October 1969 Deng Xiaoping was sent to the Xinjian County Tractor Factory in rural Jiangxi province to work as a regular worker.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shambaugh |first=David |date=1993 |title=Deng Xiaoping: The Politician |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/654098 |journal=[[The China Quarterly]] |volume=135 |issue=135 |pages=457–490 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000013874 |issn=0305-7410 |jstor=654098 |s2cid=154440131 |access-date=23 February 2023 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=23 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223193853/https://www.jstor.org/stable/654098 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|466}} He operated a lathe.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=94}} In his four years there,<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 July 2004 |title=Film makers flock to tractor factory to shoot Deng's stories |publisher=News Guandong |url=http://www.newsgd.com/specials/deng100thbirthanniversary/newspictures/200407280046.htm |url-status=live |access-date=18 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917215515/http://www.newsgd.com/specials/deng100thbirthanniversary/newspictures/200407280046.htm |archive-date=17 September 2018}}</ref> Deng spent his spare time writing. He was purged nationally, but to a lesser scale than President [[Liu Shaoqi]].

In 1971, Mao's second official successor and the sole Vice Chairman of the party, [[Lin Biao]], [[Lin Biao incident|was killed in an air crash]]. According to official reports, Lin was trying to flee from China after a failed coup against Mao. Mao purged all of Lin's allies, who made up nearly all of the senior ranks of the PLA, leaving Deng (who had been political commissar of the 2nd Field Army during the civil war) the most influential of the remaining army leaders.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> In the time that followed, Deng wrote to Mao twice to say that he had learned a lesson from the Lin Biao incident, admitted that he had "capitalist trends" and did not "hold high the great banner of Mao Zedong Thought", and expressed the hope that he could work for the Party to make up for his mistakes.<ref name="Yan1996">{{Cite book |last=Yan |first=Jiaqi |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780824865313/html |title=Turbulent decade : a history of the cultural revolution |date=1996 |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]] |isbn=9780824865313 |editor-last=Kwok |editor-first=Daniel W. Y. |location=[[Honolulu]] |doi=10.1515/9780824865313 |author-link=Yan Jiaqi |access-date=23 February 2023}}</ref>{{rp|454}}

Mao sought Deng to take over for Zhou Enlai, who was seriously ill.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=95}} On 14 August 1972, Mao wrote that Deng had made serious mistakes, but noted that Deng had been politically attacked for supporting Mao in 1933 and had been loyal.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=95}} In February 1973, Deng returned to Beijing, after Zhou brought him back from exile in order for Deng to focus on reconstructing the Chinese economy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrueDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT341 |title=The Story of China: A portrait of a civilisation and its people |date=3 September 2020 |publisher=Simon & Schuster UK |isbn=978-1-4711-7600-5 |pages=341 |quote=In 1973, Premier Zhou Enlai had brought Deng back to Beijing from exile to focus on reconstructing the Chinese economy. |access-date=18 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118180611/https://books.google.com/books?id=wrueDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT341 |archive-date=18 November 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Yan1996" />{{rp|455}} Zhou was also able to convince Mao to bring Deng back into politics in October 1974 as [[Vice Premier of China|First Vice-Premier]], in practice running daily affairs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dillon |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qBGMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 |title=Deng Xiaoping: The Man who Made Modern China |date=27 October 2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85772-467-0 |pages=201 |quote=A major confrontation erupted on 4 October 1974 when Mao agreed, on the advice of Zhou Enlai, that Deng should be appointed first deputy premier of the State Council. |access-date=18 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118180612/https://books.google.com/books?id=qBGMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 |archive-date=18 November 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> He remained careful, however, to avoid contradicting Maoist ideology on paper. In January 1975, he was additionally elected Vice Chairman of the party by the [[10th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|10th Central Committee]] for the first time in his party career; [[Li Desheng]] had to resign in his favour. Deng was one of five Vice Chairmen, with Zhou being the First Vice Chairman.

[[File:Gerald and Betty Ford meet with Deng Xiaoping, 1975 A7598-20A.jpg|thumb|Deng Xiaoping (centre) with US president [[Gerald Ford]] (left), 1975]]

During his brief ascendency in 1973, Deng established the Political Research Office, headed by intellectuals [[Hu Qiaomu]], [[Yu Guangyuan]] and [[Hu Sheng]], delegated to explore approaches to political and economic reforms. He led the group himself and managed the project within the [[State Council of the People's Republic of China|State Council]], in order to avoid rousing the suspicions of the [[Gang of Four]].

In 1975, Deng sought to re-orient [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]] towards more theoretical research, which had not been a focus during the Cultural Revolution.<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Minami |first=Kazushi |title=People's Diplomacy: How Americans and Chinese Transformed US-China Relations during the Cold War |date=2024 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |isbn=9781501774157 |location=Ithaca, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|page=74}} Deng described scientific research in China as lagging behind the needs of socialist construction and the state of the advanced countries, and stated that to catch up, China should emphasize [[Basic research|basic science]] in order to develop a sound theoretical foundation.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=74}} Although this approach fell out of political favor when Deng was purged, Deng's approach to balancing [[Applied science|applied]] and basic research was adopted as CAS's official policy in June 1977.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=75}}

The Cultural Revolution was not yet over, and a radical leftist political group known as the [[Gang of Four]], led by Mao's wife [[Jiang Qing]], competed for power within the Party. The Gang saw Deng as their greatest challenge to power.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deng Rong's Memoirs: Chpt 49 |url=http://www.ls11.com/Article/jglx/gjjz/200408/4910.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227130702/http://www.ls11.com/Article/jglx/gjjz/200408/4910.html |archive-date=27 December 2008}}</ref> Mao, too, was suspicious that Deng would destroy the positive reputation of the Cultural Revolution, which Mao considered one of his greatest policy initiatives. Beginning in late 1975, Deng was asked to draw up a series of [[self-criticism (Marxism-Leninism)|self-criticism]]s. Although he admitted to having taken an "inappropriate ideological perspective" while dealing with state and party affairs, he was reluctant to admit that his policies were wrong in essence. His antagonism with the Gang of Four became increasingly clear, and Mao seemed to lean in the Gang's favour. Mao refused to accept Deng's self-criticisms and asked the party's Central Committee to "discuss Deng's mistakes thoroughly".

==== "Criticize Deng" campaign ====
{{see also|Counterattack the Right-Deviationist Reversal-of-Verdicts Trend}}
Zhou Enlai died in January 1976, to an outpouring of national grief.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=96}} Zhou was a very important figure in Deng's political life, and his death eroded his remaining support within the Party's Central Committee. After Deng delivered Zhou's official eulogy at the state funeral,<ref name=jac/> the Gang of Four, with Mao's permission, began the "Counterattack the Right-Deviationist Reversal-of-Verdicts Trend" campaign. Hua Guofeng, not Deng, was selected to become Zhou's successor as Premier on 4 February 1976.

On 2 February 1976, the [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|Central Committee]] issued a Top-Priority Directive, officially transferring Deng to work on "external affairs" and thus removing him from the party's power apparatus. Deng stayed at home for several months, awaiting his fate. The Political Research Office was promptly dissolved, and Deng's advisers such as Yu Guangyuan were suspended. As a result, the political turmoil halted the economic progress Deng had labored for in the past year.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pantsov |first1=Alexander |last2=Levine |first2=Steven I. |title=Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w__VBgAAQBAJ |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-939203-2 |access-date=20 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806192838/https://books.google.com/books?id=w__VBgAAQBAJ |archive-date=6 August 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 3 March, Mao issued a directive reaffirming the legitimacy of the Cultural Revolution and specifically pointed to Deng as an internal, rather than external, problem. This was followed by a Central Committee directive issued to all local party organs to study Mao's directive and criticize Deng.

Deng's reputation as a reformer suffered a severe blow when the [[Qingming Festival]], after the mass public mourning of Zhou on a traditional Chinese holiday, culminated in the [[1976 Tiananmen Incident|Tiananmen Incident]] on 5 April 1976, an event the Gang of Four deemed counter-revolutionary and threatening to their power.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=96}} Furthermore, the Gang deemed Deng the mastermind behind the incident, and Mao himself wrote that "the nature of things has changed".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deng Rong's Memoirs: Chapter 53 |url=http://www.ls11.com/Article/jglx/gjjz/200408/4916.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227130647/http://www.ls11.com/Article/jglx/gjjz/200408/4916.html |archive-date=27 December 2008}}</ref> Deng was removed from all party roles and moved to a house east to Tiananmen Square.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=97}}

As a result, On 6 April 1976 Premier Hua Guofeng was also appointed to Deng's position as Vice Chairman and at the same time received the vacant position of First Vice Chairman, which Zhou had held, making him Mao's fourth official successor.