Vero Publishing - Did Yao Wenyuan Accurately Predict the Capitalist Restoration?

Did an Article by Yao Wenyuan Accurately Predict

the Capitalist Restoration in Soviet and Vietnamese Revisionism?

Jinggangshan Guanxin · 2025-10-24 · Source: Jinggangshan Guanxin Official Account

Editor's Note: The Strategy of Proxy Criticism

The following article, in applying Yao Wenyuan’s 1975 critique of the Lin Biao clique to the post-Khrushchev Soviet Union and post-Doi Moi Vietnam, employs a significant and historically rooted strategy of proxy criticism. This technique is crucial for understanding the article’s true political target.

The Use of Foreign Revisionism as Code

In Chinese political discourse, particularly among those critical of domestic market-oriented reforms, the detailed critique of foreign revisionism often functions as an ideological code for criticizing Chinese Revisionism itself.

The Soviet Example (Historical Precedent): The Soviet Union, having undergone "de-Stalinization" and adopted economic changes under Khrushchev, serves as the ultimate cautionary tale—the primary historical example of a socialist state collapsing due to "capitalist restoration." By scrutinizing "Soviet revisionism," the author can safely articulate fears about the fate of socialism in China.
The Vietnamese Example (Contemporary Analogy): The inclusion of Vietnam, specifically its Đổi Mới (Reform and Openness) era, provides a more contemporary and regional parallel. By characterizing Vietnam's market reforms as leading to polarization and the rise of a new bourgeoisie, the author indirectly validates Yao Wenyuan's predictive analysis while simultaneously criticizing similar policies closer to home.

The Political Purpose

The article’s use of rhetorical questions and its reliance on a historical text published by a now-discredited figure (Yao Wenyuan) allows the author to deploy a radical, anti-capitalist critique while insulating the work from official censorship. By placing the analysis within the framework of foreign policy failures and historical warnings, the author skillfully shifts the burden of conclusion onto the reader, thus preserving the right to publish and discuss highly sensitive political anxieties about the direction of the Chinese economy and Party integrity. The primary function of "Vietnamese Revisionist" in this context is, therefore, to serve as a transparent proxy for domestic ideological concerns.

[They wanted the landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements, and Rightists to "achieve genuine political and economic emancipation," i.e., to change the dictatorship of the proletariat politically and economically into the dictatorship of the landlord and comprador bourgeoisie, and change the socialist system into the capitalist system.]

(Quoted from Yao Wenyuan’s 1975 article, "On the Social Basis of the Lin Piao Anti-Party Clique")

On September 13, 1971, Lin Biao crashed in Undur Khan, Mongolia, signaling the end of the Lin Biao clique.

On March 1, 1975, the People's Daily published Yao Wenyuan's article, "On the Social Basis of the Lin Piao Anti-Party Clique." The content in brackets [ ] is taken from that article.

The article states:

Did the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi (Reform and Openness), "achieve genuine political and economic emancipation" for the "landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements, and Rightists"?

Did the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, change the dictatorship of the proletariat politically and economically "into the dictatorship of the landlord and comprador bourgeoisie"?

Did the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, "change the socialist system into the capitalist system"?

We invite our readers to ponder these questions.

[The LB Anti-Party clique not only represented the desire for restoration by the overthrown landlord and capitalist classes, but also the desire of the newly emerging bourgeois elements in socialist society to usurp power. They possessed certain characteristics of newly emerging bourgeois elements; some of them were in fact newly emerging bourgeois elements themselves, and some of their slogans suited and reflected the need of bourgeois elements and those who want to take the capitalist road to develop capitalism.]

Did the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, "represent the desire of the newly emerging bourgeois elements in socialist society to usurp power"?

Were "some of them in fact newly emerging bourgeois elements themselves" in the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi?

[In socialist society, there still exist two kinds of socialist ownership, namely, ownership by the whole people and collective ownership, which determines that our country at present practises a commodity system. Lenin’s and Chairman Mao’s analyses all tell us that bourgeois right, which inevitably still exists in socialist society in terms of distribution and exchange, must be restricted under the dictatorship of the proletariat, so as to gradually narrow the three major differences and grade differences and progressively create the material and spiritual conditions for eliminating these differences in the long course of socialist revolution. If this is not done, but on the contrary, one seeks to consolidate, expand, and strengthen bourgeois right and the inequality it entails, then the phenomenon of polarization will inevitably arise. That is, a small number of people will acquire an increasing amount of commodities and money in distribution through certain legal and a large number of illegal channels; the capitalist ideas of getting rich, seeking fame and gain, spurred by this 'material incentive,' will flood everywhere; phenomena like turning public property into private, speculation, graft and corruption, theft and bribery will also develop; the capitalist principle of commodity exchange will intrude into political life and even Party life, disintegrate the socialist planned economy, give rise to capitalist exploitation by turning commodities and money into capital and labour power into a commodity, and change the nature of ownership in certain departments and units that implement the revisionist line. The oppression and exploitation of the working people will recur. The result will be the emergence of a small number of new bourgeois elements and upstarts among Party members, workers, rich peasants, and office workers, who have completely betrayed the proletariat and the working people.]

Did the lines pursued by the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, "inevitably lead to the phenomenon of polarization"?

Did the lines pursued by the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, lead to "a small number of people acquiring an increasing amount of commodities and money in distribution through certain legal and a large number of illegal channels"?

Did the lines pursued by the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, lead to "the capitalist ideas of getting rich, seeking fame and gain, spurred by this 'material incentive,' flooding everywhere"?

Did the lines pursued by the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, lead to "phenomena like turning public property into private, speculation, graft and corruption, theft and bribery... developing"?

Did the lines pursued by the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, lead to "the capitalist principle of commodity exchange intruding into political life and even Party life"?

Did the lines pursued by the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, "disintegrate the socialist planned economy"?

Did the lines pursued by the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, "turn commodities and money into capital"?

Did the lines pursued by the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, give rise to "capitalist exploitation by turning labour power into a commodity"?

Did the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, "change the nature of ownership"?

After the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, came to power, did "the oppression and exploitation of the working people recur"—did it really recur?

Is this judgment correct: After the ruling cliques in the Soviet Union after Khrushchev took power, and in Vietnam after Doi Moi, came to power, "a small number of new bourgeois elements and upstarts among Party members, workers, rich peasants, and office workers, who have completely betrayed the proletariat and the working people" would emerge?

🚩 On the Social Basis of the Lin Piao Anti-Party Clique

— Yao Wen-yuan

In discussing the necessity of clarifying the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie, Chairman Mao pointed out explicitly: "If people like Lin Piao come to power, it will be quite easy for them to rig up capitalism. That is why we should read some more Marxist-Leninist works." This raises an extremely important question: What is the class nature of "people like Lin Piao"? What is the social basis that gave rise to the Lin Piao anti-Party clique? To make this question clear is undoubtedly of paramount necessity for consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat, preventing capitalist restoration, upholding the Party's basic line for the entire historical period of socialism and step by step creating conditions in which the bourgeoisie can neither exist nor emerge again.

Like all revisionists and revisionist trends of thought, Lin Piao and his revisionist line were not an accidental phenomenon. Lin Piao and his sworn followers were extremely isolated in the whole Party, the whole army and among the people of the whole country, yet the appearance of this small handful of isolated "heaven-sent" and "super-genius" people has its deep-rooted social basis.

It is fairly clear that the Lin Piao anti-Party clique represented the interests of the overthrown landlord and capitalist classes and the desire of the overthrown reactionaries to restore the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and subvert the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Lin Piao anti-Party clique opposed the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and harboured an inveterate hatred for the socialist system under the dictatorship of the proletariat in China, slandering it as "feudal autocracy" and cursing it as "the contemporary Chin Shih Huang." They wanted the landlords, rich peasants, reactionaries, bad elements and Rightists to "achieve genuine political and economic emancipation," i.e., to change the dictatorship of the proletariat into the dictatorship of the landlord and comprador bourgeoisie politically and economically and change the socialist system into the capitalist system. As agents of the bourgeoisie who seek restoration within the Party, the Lin Piao anti-Party clique's attack on the Party and the dictatorship of the proletariat reached an utterly frantic degree, going so far as to set up a counter-revolutionary secret service and plot a counter-revolutionary armed coup d'état. This frantic nature reflected the fact that the reactionaries, having lost state power and the means of production, will invariably resort to all means they can adopt in their vain attempt to recapture their lost exploiting-class positions. We have seen how Lin Piao, after his political and ideological bankruptcy, tried to "devour" the proletariat like a desperate gambler, making a last-ditch struggle and even going over to betray his country and surrender to the enemy. Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee educated, waited for and saved him with the greatest patience, but all this failed to change his counter-revolutionary nature in the slightest. This shows that the life-and-death struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie under the dictatorship of the proletariat will continue for a long time. As long as the overthrown reactionary classes exist, there is the possibility of bourgeois representatives emerging in the Party (as well as in society) who will turn the desire for restoration into restorationist action. Therefore, we must maintain high vigilance and be soberly aware of and smash all plots and schemes of reactionaries both at home and abroad; we must by no means become numb and careless. However, this is not the whole picture. The Lin Piao anti-Party clique not only represented the desire of the overthrown landlord and capitalist classes for restoration, but also the desire of the newly emerging bourgeois elements in socialist society to usurp power. They possessed certain characteristics of the newly emerging bourgeois elements; some of them were in fact newly emerging bourgeois elements themselves. Some of their slogans suited and reflected the need of the bourgeois elements and those who want to take the capitalist road to develop capitalism. It is this latter aspect that calls for our further analysis.

Chairman Mao pointed out: "Lenin said, 'Small production engenders capitalism and the bourgeoisie continuously, daily, hourly, spontaneously, and on a mass scale.' This also occurs among a section of the workers and a section of the Party members. Both within the ranks of the proletariat and among the personnel of state organs there are people who take to the bourgeois style of life." Certain people in the Lin Piao anti-Party clique were representatives of this newly emerging bourgeoisie and capitalism. Lin Li-kuo and his "small fleet," for example, were out-and-out anti-socialist bourgeois elements and counter-revolutionaries newly emerging in socialist society.

The existence of bourgeois influence and the influence of international imperialism and revisionism are the political and ideological source of new bourgeois elements. And the existence of bourgeois right is an important economic basis for their emergence.

Lenin pointed out: "In the first phase of communist society (usually called Socialism) 'bourgeois right' is not abolished in its entirety, but only in part, only in proportion to the economic revolution so far attained, i.e., only in respect of the means of production." "But it continues to persist in its other part, as a regulator (determining factor) in the distribution of products and the allotment of labour among the members of society. The socialist principle: 'He who does not work shall not eat,' is already realized; the other socialist principle: 'An equal amount of products for an equal amount of labour' is also already realized. But this is not yet Communism, and it does not yet abolish 'bourgeois right,' which gives to unequal individuals, in return for unequal (really unequal) amounts of labour, equal amounts of products."

Chairman Mao pointed out: "China is a socialist country. Before liberation she was much the same as capitalism. Even now she practises an eight-grade wage system, distribution according to work and exchange through money, and in all this differs very little from the old society. What is different is that the system of ownership has been changed." "Our country at present practises a commodity system, and the wage system is unequal too, there being the eight-grade wage system, etc. These can only be restricted under the dictatorship of the proletariat."

In socialist society, there still exist two kinds of socialist ownership, namely, ownership by the whole people and collective ownership. This determines that China at present practises a commodity system. The analyses by Lenin and Chairman Mao tell us that bourgeois right, which is inevitably retained in the socialist system in respect of distribution and exchange, must be restricted under the dictatorship of the proletariat so as to gradually create material and intellectual conditions for eliminating this difference in the long process of socialist revolution. If this is not done, and on the contrary, if one seeks to consolidate, extend and strengthen bourgeois right and the inequality it entails, then the phenomenon of polarization will inevitably arise, i.e., a small number of people will acquire an increasing amount of commodities and money through certain legal and numerous illegal channels in distribution; the capitalist ideas of getting rich, seeking fame and gain through "material incentives," spurred by this "material incentive," will flood everywhere; the phenomena of turning the public into the private, speculation, graft and corruption, and theft and bribery will also develop; the capitalist principle of commodity exchange will invade the political life and even the Party life, disrupt the socialist planned economy, bring forth capitalist exploitation of labour power by turning commodities and money into capital, and bring about a change in the nature of ownership in certain departments and units which carry out the revisionist line. The result will be the emergence of a small number of new bourgeois elements and upstarts among Party members, workers, well-to-do peasants, and personnel of state organs who have completely betrayed the proletariat and the working people. As the workers put it well: "If you don't restrict bourgeois right, bourgeois right will restrict the development of socialism and abet the development of capitalism." When the economic strength of the bourgeoisie develops to a certain extent, its agents will inevitably demand political rule, demand the overthrow of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the socialist system, demand an all-round change in socialist ownership, and openly restore and develop the capitalist system. As soon as the new bourgeoisie comes to power, it will first of all suppress the people in a bloody way and restore capitalism in the superstructure, including all ideological and cultural spheres; then, it will distribute according to the size of capital and power, with "to each according to his work" remaining only an empty phrase, while a handful of new bourgeois elements who monopolize the means of production also monopolize the distribution power over consumer goods and other products. This is the course of restoration that has already taken place in the Soviet Union today.

People have exposed and criticized a good deal about how the Lin Piao anti-Party clique unscrupulously amassed wealth, wantonly pursued the bourgeois style of life, and utilized bourgeois right to carry out all sorts of insidious and ugly counter-revolutionary schemes. But what is even more revealing is the counter-revolutionary coup d'état plan, the "Outline of Project '571'". In this plan, the thinking of bourgeois right, and nothing else, was what the Lin Piao anti-Party clique used to instigate or sow dissension among certain people of all classes against the dictatorship of the proletariat. Or, to put it another way, the class interests represented by this plan, apart from those of the old bourgeoisie, were precisely those of a part of the new bourgeois elements and those who seek to develop capitalism by utilizing bourgeois right. Therefore, the spearhead of their attack was directed precisely at Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line and they harboured a particular hatred for the restrictions placed on bourgeois right through socialist revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat in China.

The Lin Piao anti-Party clique slandered the participation of office workers in "May 7" cadres schools as "disguised unemployment"; they attacked the policy of simplifying administration and getting close to the masses as persecution of cadres. They thought that cadres should be privileged lords sitting high above the people, and therefore, taking part in collective productive labour became "unemployment." This was an attempt to instigate a part of the office workers, who wished to expand bourgeois right, to become officials and lords, and who have a serious bourgeois style of life, to oppose the Party's line and the socialist system.

The Lin Piao anti-Party clique slandered the integration of intellectuals with workers and peasants and the settlement of educated youth in the countryside as "a disguised form of labour reform." The vigorous movement of successive groups of youth with communist consciousness going to the countryside is a great undertaking with far-reaching significance for narrowing the three major differences and restricting bourgeois right. All revolutionaries enthusiastically praise it, but those whose minds are corroded by bourgeois ideas, particularly those fettered by the thinking of bourgeois right, oppose it. Whether one supports the integration of educated youth with workers and peasants is directly related to whether the revolution in university education can adhere to the orientation of the Shanghai Machine Tools Plant, i.e., students not only come from the workers and peasants but also return to them. The Lin Piao anti-Party clique hated this particularly; this exposed not only their antagonism to the labouring people, but also their attempt to utilize bourgeois right to attack the Party in a vain attempt to instigate a part of the people who were more deeply influenced by the thinking of bourgeois right to support their counter-revolutionary coup d'état. Their programme was to widen the differences between town and country, between mental and physical labour, to turn the educated youth into a new aristocratic stratum, hoping to gain the support of those who were more deeply influenced by the thinking of bourgeois right for their counter-revolutionary coup.

The Lin Piao anti-Party clique slandered the working class's promotion of communist spirit and criticism of the revisionist "material incentives" as "disguised exploitation." Lin Piao was a fanatical advocate of "material incentives." He personally wrote in his black notebook such revisionist jargon as "material incentives are still necessary," "dialectical materialism = material incentives," and "lure: with official post, emoluments, and virtue." A principal member of the Lin Piao anti-Party clique also wrote in his black notebook: "The principle of distribution according to work and material benefit" is the "decisive motive power" for the development of production. On the surface, they advocated using banknotes to "stimulate" the workers, but in reality, they wanted to infinitely expand the grade differences among workers, to foster and buy over a small number of people in the working class to betray the dictatorship of the proletariat and the interests of the proletariat, and to split the unity of the working class. They used the bourgeois world outlook to corrode the workers and also tried to make a small number of people in the working class who were more deeply influenced by the thinking of bourgeois right a force to support their opposition to the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Lin Piao clique paid "special" attention to using "wages" to lure "young workers." The so-called "lure: with official post, emoluments, and virtue" was one of their intrigues. This tells us from the negative side that young workers, especially those young workers who have become cadres, must consciously resist the bourgeois material lure and all kinds of praise of bourgeois right. They must maintain and develop the communist revolutionary spirit of heroic struggle for the thorough liberation of the proletariat and all mankind, and must strive to arm themselves with the Marxist-Leninist world outlook, so as not to be muddled by the flowery world of commodities, money exchange, vulgar flattery, sycophancy, and sectarianism, and fall into the traps of political swindlers like Lin Piao or the landlord and bourgeois elements in society. They used "concern" as a pretext, but in reality, they were "stimulating" young workers to take the capitalist road, which can be called political "incitement to crime." New bourgeois elements who lack experience act illegally and violate discipline in the open, while old, cunning bourgeois elements hide behind the scenes to make plans—this is a common phenomenon in the class struggle in society today. We must persist in the policy of particularly hitting at the behind-the-scenes inciters when dealing with juvenile delinquents who have been corrupted. A number of young workers have already come to the fore in the current struggle, engaging in a clear-cut fight against bourgeois corruption; we must support them and sum up their struggle experience.

The Lin Piao anti-Party clique also slandered the peasants as "lacking food and clothing," slandered the life standard of army cadres as "declining," and slandered the Red Guards' revolutionary spirit of daring to think, daring to speak, daring to act, daring to break through, and daring to make revolution during the Cultural Revolution as "being utilized"... All this was nothing but a fundamental negation of the socialist system and the Party's mass line, a negation of the dictatorship of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie, an attempt to expand bourgeois right, and restore capitalism. Their slandering of the peasants as "lacking food and clothing" was aimed at instigating the peasants to "eat up and divide up everything," to disintegrate and abolish the socialist collective economy. If this line were followed, the result would be that a small number of people would rise to become the new bourgeoisie, while the vast majority would be exploited by capitalism. This is precisely the situation hoped for by the landlords, rich peasants, and some well-to-do middle peasants who are taking the capitalist road in the countryside.

Now we can see what Lin Piao's so-called "genuine socialism" really was. It was to expand bourgeois right under the signboard of socialism, enable the new bourgeois elements and certain factions and groups that want to take the capitalist road to collude with the overthrown landlord and capitalist classes, to "command everything, mobilize everything," overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat, and restore capitalism. People like Lin Piao were their political representatives. The programme put forward by the Lin Piao anti-Party clique in the "Outline of Project '571'" was neither dropped from the sky nor inherent in their self-proclaimed "super-genius" minds, but a reflection of social existence. To be exact, proceeding from their bourgeois reactionary standpoint, they reflected the demands of the unreformed landlords, rich peasants, reactionaries, bad elements, and Rightists, who make up only a few per cent of the population, and the demands of the small number of new bourgeois elements and people who want to utilize bourgeois right to rise as new bourgeois elements, and opposed the demands of the revolutionary people who make up over 90 per cent of the population and who persist in the socialist road. They opposed the materialist theory of reflection with idealist apriorism, yet the formation of their own counter-revolutionary ideas must be explained by the materialist theory of reflection.

Why was it quite easy for people like Lin Piao to rig up the capitalist system if they came to power? It was precisely because classes and class struggle still exist in our socialist society, and the soil and conditions for the emergence of capitalism still exist. In order to gradually diminish this soil and conditions, until they are finally eliminated, we must persist in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. This is a task that can be accomplished only through the unremitting efforts of several generations of the proletariat's vanguard, guided by Chairman Mao's revolutionary line. We must uphold the Party's basic line, raise the political consciousness of the working class, consolidate the worker-peasant alliance, unite all forces that can be united, and unite with and lead the broad revolutionary masses to consciously transform their world outlook in the practice of the struggle against class enemies and the three great revolutionary movements. We must consolidate and develop the socialist ownership by the whole people and the collective ownership by the labouring masses, prevent the restoration of bourgeois right which has been abolished in the aspect of ownership, and continue to gradually complete the part of the task in the transformation of ownership that has not yet been completed over a fairly long period of time; and in the other two aspects of the relations of production, namely, the relations between men and the distribution relations, we must restrict the Lin Piao anti-Party clique, criticize the thinking of bourgeois right, and constantly weaken the basis for the emergence of capitalism. We must persist in the revolution in the superstructure, deepen the criticism of revisionism and the bourgeoisie, and realize the all-round dictatorship of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie.

Chairman Mao said in his talks during his inspection tour from August to September 1971: "We have sung the Internationale for fifty years, and our Party has seen ten struggles between the two lines. I think there will be another ten, twenty or thirty such struggles. Don't you believe it? You don't, but I do. Will there be no struggle when communism is achieved? I don't believe it. There will be struggles even then, but only between the new and the old, between the correct and the incorrect. Ten thousand years later, the erroneous will still not work and will not stand." Lenin said: "Yes, we have overthrown the landlords and bourgeoisie, we have cleared the road, but we have not built the edifice of socialism. The old generation has been cleared away, and on this soil a new generation is constantly being engendered, for this soil has produced, and continues to produce, a vast number of bourgeois. People look upon the victory over the capitalists in the way the small proprietors look upon it: 'They,' they say, 'the capitalists, grabbed a lot, now it is our turn to grab.' It is evident that everyone of them is the source of a new generation of bourgeois." Lenin spoke of the protracted nature of the socialist class struggle, and Chairman Mao spoke of the protracted nature of the two-line struggle which reflects this class struggle within the Party. Only by going through this class struggle and line struggle, and constantly defeating the bourgeoisie and its representatives' attempts to engage in revisionism, splitting, and intrigues, can we gradually create conditions in which the bourgeoisie can neither exist nor emerge again, and finally eliminate classes. And this is precisely the great task to be accomplished in the entire historical era of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The new bourgeois elements engendered by the corrosion of bourgeois ideology and the existence of bourgeois right generally possess the political characteristics of double-dealers and upstarts. In order to carry out capitalist activities under the dictatorship of the proletariat, they invariably fly some kind of socialist flag; since their restoration activities are not to recapture the means of production they have lost but to seize the means of production they have never owned, they appear particularly greedy, eager to swallow up all the wealth belonging to the people of the whole country or to the collective in one gulp, and turn it into private ownership. The Lin Piao anti-Party clique possessed this political characteristic. "The Zhongshan Wolf, rampant when in power" are two lines from Dream of the Red Chamber used to describe Sun Shao-tsu, who was "flexible and artful" yet savage and venomous. They are quite apt when applied to the Lin Piao anti-Party clique. Before Lin Piao was "in power," i.e., before he grasped a part of the political and economic power, he used the means of a counter-revolutionary double-dealer to deceive the Party and the masses, and utilized the power of the mass movement for his own ends. For this, he could fly a revolutionary flag or shout revolutionary slogans, and at the same time distort them. Chairman Mao's analysis of the inner world of the Lin Piao clique in a letter written at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, in which he said: "I guess their real intention is to strike a ghost with the help of Chung Kuei," explains this phenomenon very well. "With the help of" means a stepping-stone; when their goal is reached, they will no longer need this "help," but will turn around and viciously get rid of it. Whether it is a counter-revolutionary double-dealer, or as the Lin Piao anti-Party clique confessed, "waving Chairman Mao's banner to strike at Chairman Mao's forces," they are all different expressions of the same kind of behaviour. When the Lin Piao anti-Party clique thought they were, as they described themselves, "after several years of preparation, had a considerable raise in the level of ideology, organization and military affairs. Possessing a certain ideological and material basis," they would become rampant. In the units and departments they controlled and manipulated, they changed the socialist public ownership into the private ownership of the Lin Piao anti-Party clique. They exposed their political ambitions more and more nakedly, and these ambitions inflated as the degree of their being "in power" grew, just as the avarice of the bourgeoisie develops with the increase of capital accumulation, never having an end. Marx, in analyzing the bourgeoisie, said: "As a capitalist, he is only personified capital. His soul is the soul of capital." Lin Piao, as the bourgeoisie's agent within the Party, his soul was only the soul of the old and new bourgeoisie, who had been overthrown and dreamed of restoration and were being engendered and desperately seeking rule. Proceeding from class analysis, the root cause of the Lin Piao clique's retrogressive counter-revolutionary political activities becomes very clear: Their advocacy of the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius, and their betrayal of the Party and the Chinese people to seek refuge with social-imperialism, were exactly the same things done by the Chinese comprador bourgeoisie, who revered Confucius and betrayed the country. Their fanatical plotting of a counter-revolutionary coup d'état was merely a repetition of the countless methods used by the bourgeoisie in many countries in the world, which have been used and are still being used today.

Our task is, on the one hand, to gradually weaken the soil that engenders the bourgeoisie and capitalism; on the other hand, to be able to promptly recognize people like Lin Piao, the new bourgeoisie, when they emerge or are in the process of emerging. This is where the enthusiasm for studying Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought lies. Without the guidance of Marxism, we cannot accomplish the two tasks mentioned above; and when revisionist trends of thought emerge, we might be deceived because of our own thinking of bourgeois right or our inability to distinguish, and even foolishly board the pirate ship. Otherwise, why do some people follow a revisionist line when it emerges? Why could the Lin Piao clique deceive people with idealism plus heckling at the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee? Why could the Lin Piao anti-Party clique's naked words about splitting the Party and overthrowing the dictatorship of the proletariat find a market among a small number of cadres? Why could the "big" and "small fleets" openly use inviting guests and giving gifts, and making promises of official posts as means to build their mountain strongholds, engage in sectarianism, and resort to intrigues? Why did they write in their black notebooks things like "use technology to cover up politics" as their counter-revolutionary tactic? There are profound lessons in this. In 1959, in the struggle against the Peng Teh-huai anti-Party clique, Chairman Mao pointed out that "at present, the main danger is empiricism," and therefore urged people to study seriously. For the past dozen years, Chairman Mao has repeatedly emphasized this opinion. Chairman Mao stressed that senior and intermediate cadres, especially Central Committee members, "should conscientiously read and study and have a good grasp of Marxism in varying degrees," and stressed that "these few years we should particularly pay attention to publicizing Marx and Lenin." After the collapse of the Lin Piao anti-Party clique, he once again said, "I officially urge the comrades to read some books," and recently, when speaking about the dictatorship of the proletariat, he again emphasized this point. How very cordial and profound are these earnest teachings! Comrades throughout the Party, especially senior cadres, must take this matter as a major issue concerning the consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat. They must first study well and grasp clearly the relevant works of Marx, Lenin, and Chairman Mao on the dictatorship of the proletariat and their main works, strive to explain the problems by integrating theory with practice, and strive to eliminate the bourgeois style of thinking that divorces them from the masses and integrate with the masses, truly become promoters of socialist new things, be good at distinguishing and daring to resist capitalist corruption. The glorious tradition of hard struggle formed by our Party over several decades must be carried forward and inherited. We must understand the situation and study policies, including economic policies. Grasping revolution, promoting production, other work and preparedness against war is effective and must be adhered to. We must pay attention to distinguishing between the two different types of contradictions, and accurately and powerfully strike at a small handful of bad elements. Regarding the capitalist influence among the masses, we must, according to the formula of "unity—criticism—unity," mainly adopt the method of studying and raising consciousness, supporting advanced things that resolutely resist capitalism, the method of recalling past misery and contrasting it with the present happiness, and the method of persuasion, education, criticism, and self-criticism to resolve it, so as to achieve the unity of over ninety-five per cent. The criticism of capitalist tendencies must form public opinion, win over the majority, enlighten their consciousness, and actively guide them. To a few people who are deeply trapped in the capitalist mire, we must shout loudly to them: "Comrade, turn back quickly!"

At the beginning of the article, we pointed out that the Lin Piao anti-Party clique was very isolated among the people of the whole country. In order to analyze the class source of its emergence, we pointed out the soil and conditions that enabled the Lin Piao anti-Party clique to emerge. After speaking of this aspect, we must also point out that the Lin Piao anti-Party clique was very weak in nature; like all reactionaries, it was merely a paper tiger. All the counter-revolutionary activities of the Lin Piao anti-Party clique merely recorded its failure and predicament, not its victory. The socialist system will inevitably replace the capitalist system, and communism will certainly triumph throughout the world—this is an objective law independent of man's will. Socialist society is born out of the old society, "and is thus in every respect, economically, morally and intellectually, still stamped with the birthmarks of the old society from whose womb it emerges." There is nothing strange about this. The history of the past twenty-five years tells us that as long as we uphold the dictatorship of the proletariat, adhere to Chairman Mao's theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, and adhere to the line, principles, and policies for the socialist revolution prescribed by Chairman Mao, we can smash the resistance of class enemies, step by step reduce these birthmarks, and constantly seize new victories. The excellent situation of our socialist cause today, which is vigorously developing and thriving, forms a sharp contrast with the internal division and difficulties both at home and abroad of imperialism and social-imperialism. The theoretical question raised by Chairman Mao this time will certainly further our understanding of the historical task of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the methods of accomplishing these tasks, both theoretically and practically, greatly promoting the consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the deepening of the socialist revolution, the development of socialist construction, and the stability and unity of the whole country. Chinese Communists are confident, and the Chinese proletariat and revolutionary people are confident. They are united under the leadership of the Party and are full of revolutionary vigour in the struggle to oppose and prevent revisionism. The history of the Chinese revolution is a history of the revolutionary people advancing towards victory through tortuous struggles, and also a history of reactionaries moving towards destruction through repeated tests of strength. As Chairman Mao concluded: "Since the emperor was overthrown in 1911, the reactionaries in power have never been able to stay long. The longest was twenty years (Chiang Kai-shek), and he also fell when the people rose in revolt. Chiang Kai-shek took advantage of Sun Yat-sen's trust in him and also set up a Whampoa Academy, gathering a large number of reactionaries and starting from there. As soon as he turned against the Communists, almost the entire landlord and capitalist classes supported him, and the Communist Party had no experience at that time, so he temporarily succeeded and was happy. But in these twenty years, he was never unified; the war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the war between the Kuomintang and various warlords, the Sino-Japanese War, and finally the four-year Civil War, and he rolled off to a group of islands. If a counter-Communist right-wing coup d'état occurs in China, I conclude that they will not enjoy peace either, and are very likely to be short-lived, because all revolutionaries who represent the interests of over ninety per cent of the people will not tolerate it." "Conclusion: The future is bright, the road is tortuous. It's still these two old sayings." Let us bravely advance along the direction and road pointed out by Chairman Mao!

(Originally published in Hongqi magazine, Issue No. 3, 1975)