Abstract
This chapter examines the long-standing relationship between Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and its evolution. Although Zhou Enlai held a higher position within the Party than Mao Zedong in the early stages of the revolutionary struggle, their positions were reversed after the Zunyi Conference of 1935, and Zhou, who decided to obey Mao during the Rectification Movement of 1942, assisted Mao as Prime Minister after the founding of the country. Zhou initially opposed Mao’s Great Leap Forward policy, but later self-criticized and succumbed to him, and during the Cultural Revolution, he followed Mao totally and promoted this Revolution line. Through examining the long-term relationship between Mao and Zhou, I characterize Mao’s personality, and at the same time evaluate Zhou’s actions and roles during the post-Revolution era, in particular.
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Notes
- 1.
A false rumor circulated that a warship, the Zhongshan, captained by a Communist Party member, was going to kidnap Chiang Kai-shek and take him to the Soviet Union. This led to Chiang arresting the captain, Soviet military advisors, and Communist Party members one after another, and imposing martial law in Guangzhou.
- 2.
The COMINTERN, short for Communist International, is an international organization founded by the Bolshevik Party of Russia (later the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) in the early twentieth century.
- 3.
Otto Braun is a German. He became a communist at a young age and was sent by the COMINTERN to become military commander of the Red Army, but was dismissed by the Party’s Zunyi Conference after being blamed for the defeat.
- 4.
Bo Gu‘s real name is Qin Bangxian. During the First KMT-CPC cooperation, he served as the General Secretary of the CPC’s Central Political Bureau with the support of the COMINTERN.
- 5.
An incident in which Communist troops (New Fourth Army) on the move in the south of Wannan (southern Anhui Province) were surrounded by Kuomintang forces nearly nine times their size, and the army chief Ye Ting was taken prisoner and his deputy, Xiang Ying was killed.
- 6.
Selden, for example, recognizes the rectification as a movement with an aim to build a unity of Party dedicated to common ideas, methods, and goals (Selden 1976).
- 7.
Selden denies the Rectification Movement was a political purge, although it was a struggle for the intellectual and political leadership of the communist movement (Selden 1976), but it is more correct to view it as a purge. The core of the purge was led by Kang Sheng (see below).
- 8.
Kang Sheng led the “Central Socialist Department,” which played a role equivalent to that of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD, later KGB) of the Stalin-era Soviet Union. See Gao (2000, Chap. 12) for more details.
- 9.
According to Gao Wenqian, Zhou Enlai confronted Mao Zedong head-on and exclaimed at this time, “As Prime Minister, I cannot agree with that decision, on account of my conscience” (Gao 2007, Vol. 2, p. 76). It is uncertain whether Zhou became truly agitated, but in any case, Zhou Enlai openly opposing Mao in such a manner was an exceedingly rare occurrence.
- 10.
Original text from Lin Haiyun, “Guanyu Zhou Enlai Waimao Sixiang-de Pianduan Huiyi (Fragmented memories regarding Zhou Enlai’s foreign trade ideology),” Central Literature Publishing House, 1987, p. 261.
- 11.
Referring to August 1966 in Beijing when the Red Guards rampaged and imposed an awful tragedy on their “enemies.”
- 12.
After the founding of the country, Li Fuchun served as Minister of Heavy Industries, Director of the National Planning Commission, and Vice Premier of the State Council.
- 13.
In February 1973, “Mao Zedong, at the pool in Zhongnanhai, said to Deng Xiaoping and Zhang Chunqiao, ‘It seems that He Long has no problems… I also have my shortcomings, I only listened to one side (Lin Biao‘s side) of the opinions,’” and in December 1973, during a Central Military Commission meeting, he stated, “It appears I have done something wrong to Comrade He Long, I must take responsibility…” (Sima and Ouyang 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 1055–1056).
- 14.
Zhou’s adopted daughter refers to Sun Weishi. Sun, renowned as an actress and rumored to have had a romantic relationship with Mao Zedong, incurred the jealousy of Jiang Qing. She was sent to detention following an arrest warrant signed by her adoptive father, Zhou Enlai, and tragically died in custody. It is said that she was found deceased in her cell, wearing only handcuffs and leg irons.
- 15.
It is said that she was the secretary caring for Mao in his later years and was the only person who could understand and interpret Mao’s words in his sickbed.
- 16.
In the original text of Zhang Yufeng‘s memoir, there is the following passage (referring to Mao Zedong’s marking of a circle to indicate that he had reviewed the column labeled ‘Chairman’ in the Funeral Committee’s deliberation report). “This circle represented Mao Zedong’s deep camaraderie with Zhou Enlai. However, for the people, it was indeed weak, too weak…” In this context, “weak, too weak” conveys the heavier meaning that, from the perspective of the people, the camaraderie may have been perceived as insufficient, rather than a lighter suggestion that it should have been expressed more explicitly.
- 17.
In the Japanese version of Li Zhisui’s book, the scene goes as follows. “It’s no good. You can’t save me. You can’t save me. You can’t save me at all. After I die, you will take care of everything… Listen, this is my last will and testament.” (Li 1994, pp. 329–330)
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Nakagane, K. (2024). Emperor Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai: A Brief Analysis of the Mao-Zhou Relationship. In: Mao Zedong and Contemporary China. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-1761-3_9
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