Chapter 35 4. The turning point in 1972

In the early morning of September 13, 1971, with a violent explosion in the Undur Khan Desert of the Mongolian People's Republic, history announced the complete demise of the Lin Biao Group, a freak bred in the "Cultural Revolution".During the handling of the thrilling Lin Biao incident, Zhou Enlai fully assisted and protected Mao Zedong with the faith, wisdom and loyalty he had cultivated all his life.Since then, the situation of Deng Xiaoping's family in Jiangxi has also begun to improve significantly. On the morning of November 5th of the same year, Deng Xiaoping and his wife enjoyed the political treatment of a "revolutionary mass" in the tractor repair factory in Xinjian County, where they were sent to work. Together with all the workers of the factory, they listened to the "Notice of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Lin Biao's Treason and Fleeing". "(September 18) document delivery.At this time, it was more than 50 days after Lin Biao committed suicide.For this major event that shocked China and the world, the weather-beaten Deng Xiaoping only said 8 words to his family: "Lin Biao will not perish, and heaven will not tolerate it!"

After the Lin Biao incident, Zhou Enlai, who presided over the daily work of the central government, seized the opportunity and resolutely raised the banner of criticizing the ultra-left trend of thought. In fact, he was doing some healing work for the wounds of the party and the country that had experienced more than five years of catastrophe. Preliminary correction of some mistakes during the Cultural Revolution.In the struggle to lead and promote the criticism of ultra-left ideological trends, Zhou Enlai paid great attention to the vast number of veteran cadres who had been hit and persecuted during the "Cultural Revolution", and did everything possible to create conditions for their "liberation" and resumption of work.

On January 6, 1972, Chen Yi, the former Vice Premier of the State Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs who had been persecuted by Lin Biao and his gang for a long time, unfortunately died of illness. On January 10, Chen Yi's memorial service was grandly held in the auditorium of Beijing Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.Because Mao Zedong attended the memorial meeting in person, the significance and influence of this memorial meeting far exceeded its own meaning.In the conversation with Chen Yi's relatives, Mao Zedong claimed that Chen Yi was "a good man" and "a good comrade."He also pointed to Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying, etc. present here and said: "If Lin Biao's conspiracy succeeds, we old people will all be killed."

In this conversation, Mao Zedong also mentioned Deng Xiaoping, and put Deng and Liu Bocheng, who was then a member of the Ninth Central Political Bureau, together, saying that Deng's problem "belongs to the contradictions among the people."Obviously, Mao Zedong drew Deng Xiaoping as his "opposite". For Zhou Enlai who was present, Mao Zedong's characterization of Deng Xiaoping's question was just a signal he had been waiting for for a long time.He knows very well that once the "No. 2 capitalist roader in the party" is decapitated, or even "liberated", it will inevitably drive a large number of veteran cadres who made "mistakes" during the "Cultural Revolution" to come back to work.At this time, after five years of turmoil, he was already unable to do what he wanted, so he naturally hoped that these old comrades could be "liberated" as soon as possible and come out to work.

Therefore, Zhou Enlai signaled Chen Yi's children on the spot to spread Mao Zedong's evaluation of Deng Xiaoping, so as to spread public opinion for Deng's early comeback.At the same time, Zhou Enlai himself made full use of various occasions to "poke" Mao Zedong's intentions. In late January of the same year, when Zhou Enlai received representatives from a foreign conference in the Great Hall of the People, he explicitly mentioned the issue of Deng Xiaoping in front of Jiang Qing, Yao Wenyuan and others.He pointed out: In the process of exposing and criticizing Lin Biao, two types of contradictions of different nature must not be confused; Lin Biao and his group wanted to turn Deng Xiaoping into a contradiction between ourselves and the enemy, which was not in line with the chairman's intention.

Here, Zhou Enlai went a step further: he directly put Deng Xiaoping on the opposite side of Lin Biao and his gang, which in fact meant that Deng also belonged to what Mao Zedong called "us old people". On April 24 of the same year, the "People's Daily" published an editorial entitled "Learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones, cure illnesses and save patients," which was personally revised and approved by Zhou Enlai, in which it was written: "Strictly distinguish between the contradictions between the enemy and ourselves and the contradictions among the people, which are two different types of contradictions. Except for a very small number of class enemies who have sneaked into the revolutionary ranks and those who have been taught repeatedly and are incorrigible, all comrades who have made mistakes, whether veteran or new, comrades in the party or outside the party, must follow the principle of "unity—— Criticism-Unity' formula, adopting the policy of education first." "Just as immunity can be produced by suffering from typhoid fever, people who have made mistakes can gain immunity as long as they correct their mistakes seriously and learn lessons from them. , it is possible to work better.”

It can be seen that these words were highly targeted at the time. According to an article written by Deng Xiaoping’s daughter Mao Mao: It was at this time that our family’s political environment began to turn around, and our living conditions gradually improved compared with before.One day, Huang Zhizhen, the newly appointed head of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, came to visit my father and conveyed the Central Committee's notice on resuming his party's organizational life.Later, the central government approved his father's request for his eldest son, Deng Pufang, to return to Beijing for medical treatment.

In late April, Maomao met "Uncle Beard" Wang Zhen in Beijing.Wang told her: "Chairman Mao said that your father is a contradiction among the people. Tell your father that his problems must be resolved. I will go to Premier Zhou, and I will also write letters to Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee. Your father should come out to work. !" After the "May 1st" holiday, Maomao rushed back to Jiangxi immediately and relayed Wang Zhen's words to Deng Xiaoping. In early August, Deng Xiaoping lost no time in sending a letter to Mao Zedong, and Mao quickly made the crucial comment mentioned earlier in this article.

It stands to reason that Deng Xiaoping's "liberation" is just around the corner. However, at this moment, the political wind in China, which has always been elusive, suddenly reversed again.