Monday, Jan. 10, 1977

Hua's 1977 Resolution: More Purges

"Great disorder across the land leads to great order." So declared China's new Chairman, Hua Kuo-feng, in a major policy speech published in Peking last week. The optimistic aphorism had been a favorite of Mao Tse-tung's, but it would be up to Mao's hard-pressed successor to make it come true. As Hua delivered his address in the Great Hall of the People before 8,000 delegates attending an agricultural conference in the Chinese capital, reports were already filtering out of China suggesting the existence of considerable disorder in the shape of strikes, sabotage and even armed rebellion.

Radical Faction. Hua pronounced China's domestic situation generally "excellent," but his message was a blunt declaration of war against both popular unrest in the provinces and the so-called radical faction in the Communist Party, which lost out in the struggle for power after Mao's death in September.

Hua promised a massive "purification"--involving heavy purges, apparently--of China's 30 million--member Communist Party that would start with "bad elements" who had been "smuggled" into high positions. Under the pretext of setting higher standards for jobs, the new leadership is likely to purge all those suspected of complicity with the so-called Gang of Four conspirators led by Mao's ardently left-wing widow, Chiang Ch'ing (TIME, Jan. 3). If the four had not been arrested, Hua said, they would have "split our party and country and touched off a major civil war."

As if to support Hua's picture of clear and present domestic dangers, official Chinese radio broadcasts reported "great chaos" in Paoting, an important railway and textile center only 90 miles south of Peking. Indeed, travelers returning from the Paoting area reported that armed rebels supporting Chiang Ch'ing's leftists had raped women, robbed banks, raided ammunition dumps, blown up factories, hijacked military vehicles and disrupted rail traffic. According to other reports, disturbances have also occurred in Hupei, Honan and Shansi provinces as well as in Fukien, where 12,000 troops had to be sent to quell followers of the Gang of Four, who were "disturbing the army" and "sabotaging the party's unified leadership." Radio broadcasts have also reported that "criminal gangs are threatening public order" in Chekiang province.

Against this background, Hua in his Peking address proclaimed that China's "central task for 1977" would be "to expose and repudiate" Mme. Mao's followers totally and "move toward the goal of the great order." Behind Hua's rhetoric lay an admission that few if any of the professed goals of China's new leadership can be realized until Hua establishes a Mao-like absolutist rule over the nation. To do this, analysts noted, the new Chairman needs the army: only the generals who supported Hua in his bid for power last autumn can keep him there.

Indeed, Hua's Peking speech represented a victory for the army. Before it, Hua had appeared to want to style himself as a compromiser who would rule by deft negotiation among the factions within China's complex ruling bureaucracy. People's Daily, speaking for Hua the compromiser, had often advocated "treating the disease to save the patient," that is, allowing opponents a chance to correct their errors.

Drastic Measures. The military's chief mouthpiece, Liberation Army Daily, has consistently called for "beating the dog in the water," meaning showing the enemy no mercy. Some China watchers believe that Hua may have become persuaded that the disease of factionalism has failed to respond to treatment and so more drastic measures must be considered.

Unrest among ordinary Chinese may prove harder for Hua to deal with. Mass dissatisfaction, held in check under Mao, was unleashed following his death. Workers are unhappy over low wages, effectively frozen since 1971. There is widespread resentment about intrusive authority, misuse of power by local officials and party demands for constant indoctrination sessions. Existing poverty has been exacerbated by the rising expectations that are encouraged by the Chinese leaders, who talk constantly about the splendid present and the glowing future. Young Chinese resent the practice of being sent from the cities to the countryside to learn the virtues of agricultural labor--a practice that Hua says he will continue. Many have sneaked back into urban centers, where they live by stealing.

Reports TIME Correspondent Richard Bernstein, who is based in Hong Kong: "The mix of popular dissatisfaction, the loss of Mao as a figure of authority and the constant infighting within the bureaucracy have created the most explosive political crisis to face China since the Cultural Revolution of 1966-69. The vast might of the military makes a genuine civil war unlikely, but if lingering unrest and sporadic outbreaks of violence continue, Hua could be shunted aside by the army. His military backers may decide that they have put up the wrong man to deal with the post-Mao crisis, and turn their support to some stronger, more charismatic figure." Thus while 1977 may be a tough year for opponents of the regime, as Hua has promised, it will surely be a time of testing for himself as well.

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