Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the core of our party's second-generation collective leadership, was called by the West as a "little man who cannot be defeated," which mainly refers to the "three ups and downs" in his life.
Despite suffering three major blows in his political career, he was always able to persevere and not change his correct ideas, and eventually succeeded in leading the Chinese people on the road of reform, opening up and prosperity, worthy of Chairman Mao's evaluation of his "steel company".
The first of these three blows was in the early 30s of the 20th century, when he was branded as a "Maoist" leader, removed from all posts and imprisoned, for supporting the correct ideas of great men; The second time was at the beginning of the special period, when he was branded as the number two figure of the "capitalist roader" and sent to labor; The third time, at the end of the special period, was again overthrown by the counter-revolutionary clique through the April or Fifth Incident.
It is not difficult to see that the second and third "falls" are relatively close, because although Duke Deng was overthrown during the special period, Chairman Mao still pinned his hopes on him. So in 1972, after the Lin clique had collapsed and Deng Xiaoping wrote a letter expressing his "desire to work for the people," he was made vice premier of the State Council.
Duke Deng actually handled many domestic and foreign affairs for Premier Zhou, who was already plagued by illness at the time. And because Deng Gong still could not agree with the wrong policy after all, he was still overthrown by the counter-revolutionary clique. Today we will talk about Deng Xiaoping's third comeback, behind which the four elders of the party gave strong support.
The first is Chen Yun, who is also a revolutionary second only to Duke Deng in the second generation of leadership in the official article issued by the mainland. Like Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun was wrongly struck during the special period and was sent to work in an oil machinery factory. After the 913 incident, the central authorities began to recall Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun and other members of the Central Committee who had been wrongly suppressed to work in the Central Committee.
Together, they helped Premier Zhou stabilize the economy and rehabilitate wrongful cases, and it was this period of work that impressed a large number of high-ranking officials, including Chen Yun, with Deng Xiaoping. In March 1977, after smashing the counterrevolutionary clique, Chen Yun first proposed Deng Xiaoping's return, and then cooperated with Deng Xiaoping's work, opening up and economic take-off in China.
The second is General Wang Zhen, a full-fledged soldier who has rarely participated in political affairs since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and after being overthrown during a special period, he also returned to participate in the work of the State Council in 1972.
Although he had been concentrating on the army, he also saw the chaos since the special period and the improvement after Deng Xiaoping presided over the work, so after Chen Yun proposed Deng Xiaoping's return at the Central Committee meeting, he immediately expressed his support.
If the above two were not members of the Standing Committee at that time and had limited right to speak, and the third Li Xiannian was already a member of the Standing Committee at that time, his statement was very powerful. Li Xiannian served as a political commissar with Wang Zhen during the revolutionary war years, and similar to Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun, and Wang Zhen, he also suffered a blow during the special period, and then returned to the State Council to preside over the work.
Fortunately, the blows he suffered during the special period were not so serious, and he played an important role in the operation to crush the counter-revolutionary group. Therefore, he expressed support for Deng Xiaoping, making Deng Xiaoping's third comeback more promising.
The last elder was Ye Jianying Ye Shuai, who could be called one of the biggest heroes in smashing the counterrevolutionary clique. Ye Shuai has saved the party many times, and this one in October 1976 is the last and most significant. Because he suffered less damage during the special period, he presided over the work of the army for a long time, and played the role of a heavenly protector at critical moments.
At that time, there were still many people in the party who were overthrown twice because Deng Xiaoping was overthrown twice during the special period, thinking that letting him return was tantamount to counterattacking, and the trend of thought of "two whatevers" was also pervasive in the party. However, Ye Shuai eliminated the pressure and proposed that the return of cadres such as Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun was the soul of Mao Zedong's "seeking truth from facts" in line with Mao Zedong Thought.
In the end, with the support of a large number of high-ranking party officials, including Marshal Ye Jianying, Deng Gong was reinstated in July 1977, and a second-generation leadership collective with him as the core was formed at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in 1978, and a new chapter in the development of the Chinese nation was about to open.