Summon to the Army

As its rage focused ever more fiercely on Russia, Red China last week imposed a notable tightening of internal discipline on Mao Tse-tung's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Red Guards rampaging out of control throughout the country were ordered to return to their schools and homes and cease "exchanging revolutionary experiences" -- a Chinese euphemism for raising hell.

Premier Chou En-lai also ordered the Guards to slack off in their humiliations of purged party officials, many of whom have been forced to wear dunce caps while being dragged through city streets.

Said Chou: "Not all Red Guard activities are necessarily just and proper." He ought to know. He himself was once the victim of wall poster slander.

At the same time, Defense Minister Lin Piao, Mao's heir apparent, tried to instill greater discipline within the army.

He ordered all army units "engaged in political work" to return to their barracks no later than Feb. 20. Peking's wall posters and newspapers warned of the dangers of an "armed palace coup" and hinted darkly that some army units may not be totally loyal to the Mao line. The return to barracks could provide Lin & Co. with an opportunity to refresh the army's memory on matters of Mao-think.

With China's fragile transportation network already fragmenting under the constant back-and-forthing of the Red Guards, Mao's military commission announced that the army will take over all civil airports, aviation institutes and Red China's 51-plane airline. The take over was ostensibly a move "to prepare for war," but it was more likely a Mao move to try to head off a total breakdown of transportation. That was not all the army took over. The military commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party announced that the army would take control of the municipal, security and police posts in Peking to ensure "the maintenance of revolutionary order." It was a sweeping grant of powers, and it showed the extent to which Mao must now depend on force rather than persuasion to maintain his position.

Meanwhile, the wall posters of Peking kept up their continuous denunciations of once venerated Red Chinese notables. Latest targets of abuse: Old Warriors Chu Teh, 81, and Ho Lung, 70, Veterans of the Long March and (with Lin Piao) leaders of the Eighth Route Army during China's civil war. Both were charged with "counterrevolutionary activity." If men of such formidable stature are indeed lining up against Mao, it is clear that the battle for Red China is far from over.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.