Legacy of the Gang of Four

"Some bad people have wormed their way into the revolutionary committees of provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, and some committee members have committed grave errors but have refused to repent."

That was the explanation offered last week by Chairman Hua Kuo-feng for the postponement until next spring of the convocation of the Fifth National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament. The agenda will be pure formality: primarily, approving Cabinet appointments already made by party leaders. More time was needed to elect delegates to the congress, said Hua, because of relentless "interference and sabotage" by followers of the Gang of Four, headed by Mao's widow Chiang Ch'ing and the Antiparty Clique of the late Defense Minister Lin Piao.

Chairman Hua thus tacitly conceded that he could not guarantee the loyalty of all the 4,000 delegates expected to attend the congress. Despite a vigorous, yearlong purge of opponents of his regime, there is still some resistance--ranging from mute dissent to downright rebellion--on every level of the ruling bureaucracy. Even rank-and-file party members--traditionally the backbone of a Communist state --are suspect. Analysts note that party membership rose from 21 million to 35 million in the past decade, when the Gang of Four was riding at its highest point. Perhaps as many as 10 million of those new recruits are suspected of being Gang of Four sympathizers.

By an elaborate process of elimination, China watchers have succeeded in positioning some of the unrepentant revolutionary committee members who were denounced by Hua. They are right in Peking. The capital's committee, for example, is led by Mayor Wu Teh, who was appointed the city's acting mayor in 1966 when Chiang Ch'ing was busily promoting her supporters. Last year Wu Teh (who was confirmed in his post six years later) inveighed against Teng Hsiao-p'ing as an "unrepentant capitalist reader." Since then Teng has made a spectacular comeback, gaining the powerful post of Vice Premier. Wu is now in trouble.

Replacements, shifts and even some mysterious deaths among the Chinese military have provided further evidence of Hua's continuing struggle to put down opposition to his post-Mao regime. Last month eight generals were shifted from garrison to garrison like so many foot soldiers or pawns on a Chinese chessboard. One Hua supporter, General Fu Ch'ung-pi, was appointed commander of the Peking garrison--a highly strategic position.

These maneuvers were also calculated to erode the authority of Peking Regional Commander Ch'en Hsi-lien, who is now ostensibly Fu's superior. Analysts believe that Teng Hsiao-p'ing is gunning for the commander, who is said to have opposed Teng's return to power. If so, there is little doubt of the outcome. In reports of a reception held last week for the 1,000 workers who built Mao Tse-tung's mausoleum, Teng was listed as No. 3 man in the Chinese hierarchy, while Ch'en had slid from fifth to 14th place.

Resistance to the regime is scarcely confined to Peking. The post of commander of the Foochow military region based in Fukien province has remained conspicuously vacant since General P'i Ting-chun died in July 1976. Ten months later one of P'i's subordinates, General Ch'eng Ch'ao-chang, was also officially reported to have suffered "a martyr's death" at his post. Some Sinologists believe the generals were victims of rebellions in Fukien that forced Hua to dispatch 12,000 troops to the region. Last week a radio broadcast from Fukien reported that followers of the Gang of Four were still causing "very serious" problems in the area. -

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