At the end of 1978, the Central Committee convened the famous Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, which took a long time and determined and changed many policies.
At the same time, in the course of the meeting, four members of the Politburo were seriously criticized: Wang Dongxing, Chen Xilian, Ji Dengkui, and Wu De.
The first two were both founding generals, and the last two were local cadres who were quickly promoted after the Great Movement.
The members of the Politburo are at least cadres at the vice-national level, with high and powerful positions, what did they each get criticized for?
1. Wang Dongxing
Among the four, Wang Dongxing has the highest rank, he was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and vice chairman of the Central Committee in August 1977, and is a leader at the national level.
Before Chairman Mao's death, Wang Dongxing was already a core figure, and many things were solved by him on his behalf, and sometimes the communication between the chairman and the Politburo was also conveyed by him.
In smashing the four-man counterrevolutionary clique, Wang Dongxing, who was in charge of the central security forces, made a great contribution, and with this merit, he stepped onto the extremely high political stage.
However, in his later career, Wang Dongxing has always adhered to the "two whatevers" and is not active in the comeback and rehabilitation of old cadres, which makes many people dissatisfied.
Later, when Deng Gong and others were preparing to promote a rapidly developing economic policy, Wang Dongxing also obstructed many of them.
His thinking could no longer conform to the times and the general trend, so at the 1978 Central Work Conference, a discussion group seriously criticized Wang Dongxing.
It is pointed out that he has three specific problems, one is to push up and down, the second is to avoid the important and light, and the third is to cope with the submission of papers.
Soon after the meeting, Wang Dongxing was no longer in charge of the central security work, and in 1980 he voluntarily resigned from his leadership position and began to retire.
In his later years, he was very low-key, rarely went out, and did not like to have contact with people.
In 2015, Wang Dongxing died of illness at the age of 100.
2. Chen Xilian
Chen Xilian was a fierce general in Liu Deng's army during the war years and was highly valued by Deng Gong. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as the commander of the large military region for a long time, and also served as the director of the Liaoning Revolutionary Committee during the stage of the Great Movement, shouldering the party, government, and military power in Liaoning Province.
In 1973, the eight military regions were transferred, and Chen Xilian was transferred from the Shenyang Military Region to the Beijing Military Region, responsible for military security near the capital, and he also served as a member of the Politburo and a member of the Standing Committee of the Military Commission, which was Chairman Mao's great trust in him.
Not only that, in the "Order No. 1" at the beginning of 1976, the chairman asked him to replace Ye Shuai to preside over the work of the Military Commission, which was the peak of his power.
Later, the relevant groups were smashed, and Chen Xilian also cooperated with Comrade Hua, including the person who announced the news to the whole army.
It stands to reason that Chen Xilian has an outstanding record and great credit, but he was still criticized in 1978, why is this?
It is mainly about two things, one is that Mao Yuanxin was promoted by leapfrogging during the Great Movement, so that the latter became the second-in-command of Liaoning Province in his 20s.
His approach was very unusual, and later Mao Yuanxin was isolated and reviewed, and Chen Xilian naturally had some joint and several responsibilities.
Second, when Chen Xilian was in charge of Liaoning, he took laissez-faire measures against some conniving behaviors, resulting in many veteran comrades being treated unfairly. This practice has been remembered by many people.
Therefore, at the 1978 meeting, Chen Xilian was also seriously criticized. Chen Xilian did not refute these accusations, because he felt indebted to Deng Gong in his heart.
At the Politburo meeting in 1976, Deng Gong became the target of public criticism, and Chen Xilian, who attended the meeting, knew that these were not facts, but he did not help to say a word.
After Deng Gong came back, Chen Xilian apologized for this, but Deng Gong replied nonchalantly: It doesn't matter, you were also in that situation at that time, and if you didn't do it, you would fall into it, so you don't have to think about it.
The more such an attitude is, the more sad Chen Xilian is. Finally, in 1980, he voluntarily resigned from his leadership position and later joined the Central Advisory Committee.
In 1999, Chen Xilian died of illness at the age of 84.
Three
Ji Dengkui is not as well-known as the previous two, but he has received many special treatments from Chairman Mao. From the "six questions and six answers" on the special train in 1951, Chairman Mao noticed this young cadre.
Later, as long as Chairman Mao passed through Henan on his southern tour, he would ask to see him by name, and the number of times was as many as 13 times, and there was no second person in such treatment.
In addition, the chairman twice called Ji Dengkui an "old friend" in public, once at the Ninth National Congress, all the delegates felt incredible after hearing it, and immediately applauded unanimously;
Also after the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Chairman Mao invited Ji Dengkui to work in Beijing, but Ji Dengkui still wanted to work in the local area, and after being politely refused, the chairman was not annoyed, and authorized him to run both the central and local ......
Once the chairman also had the idea of cultivating him as a successor, and the chairman mentioned to Mr. Lin at the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee:
We are all over 60 years old, and we must train successors, and we must train people under 60 and over 30 years old, just like Ji Dengkui and others.
However, in 1971, when the chairman went south to inspect the country, he heard from other Henan cadres that Ji Dengkui was not resolute enough in handling the matter of "repeating the old" and had a tendency to "repeat the old" ideology.
The chairman pondered for a long time and said, "Ji Dengkui, it seems that he will have to observe for a while in the future." Only then did Comrade Hua become the best candidate in the chairman's mind.
However, Ji Dengkui's position is still very high, and he still holds the posts of vice premier of the State Council, member of the Politburo, and first political commissar of the Beijing Military Region.
Why was such a cadre criticized in 1978? In fact, it was also because of what he had done while working in Henan, which caused the members of the group to have great opinions.
At that time, more than 30 people made accusations against Ji Dengkui, and even said that if Ji Dengkui's problem was not resolved, Henan would not be able to stabilize and unite. In such a situation, Ji Dengkui did not say anything, and finally took the initiative to resign from his leadership position in 1980.
Later, Ji Dengkui served as a researcher at the Rural Development Research Center of the State Council, and was specially approved to enjoy ministerial treatment.
In his later years, he wanted to do two things, one was to teach at a university, and the other was to publish his memoirs, but before he could fulfill his wish, a sudden illness took his life in 1988 at the age of 65.
Fourth, Wu De
Wu De is also a cadre with some rich local work experience, he was active in the White Zone for a long time during the war years, and he was still a delegate to the Seventh National Congress.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wu De successively served as the secretary of the provincial party committee in Pingyuan Province and Jilin Province until 1966, when he was transferred to Beijing as the secretary of the second municipal party committee.
At that time, the political turmoil was very strong, and it was not easy to be a Beijing official, and many relationships were complicated, and if you didn't do it, you would be affected. Wu De can only do things conscientiously and try not to fall into the whirlpool as much as possible.
Chairman Mao also attached great importance to him, and once in the movie "Jie Zhenguo" filmed by Wu Deli, there was an intellectual character who led the strike, and he was attacked for Wu De to set up a monument for himself.
At the critical moment, Chairman Mao said: The Great Riot in Eastern Hebei was a very shocking event.
Wu De is an important leader of the Eastern Hebei Riots, "Jie Zhenguo" is also about the Eastern Hebei Riots, Chairman Mao's words affirmed the Eastern Hebei Riots, and it is also the actual maintenance of Wu De, so Wu De passed smoothly.
Later, Wu De served as the head of the cultural group of the State Council, the first secretary of the municipal party committee, the first political commissar of the garrison, the vice chairman of the National People's Congress, and a member of the Politburo.
However, at the end of October, he said at the National People's Congress: Whatever Chairman Mao instructed and affirmed, we must work hard to do it and do it well.
This is very similar to the later "Two Whatevers", and during the Great Movement, as the leading group of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, he was criticized for failing to protect veteran cadres and intellectuals.
In the end, Wu De resigned from his leadership position in 1980 and joined the Central Advisory Committee in 1982, and his life was guaranteed to a certain extent. In 1995, Wu De died at the age of 82.