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In 1977, after Deng Xiaoping returned to work and became the core of the second-generation leadership collective of the Communist Party of China, he successively ousted three top leaders of the CPC, Hua Guofeng, Hu Yaobang, and Zhao Ziyang from their positions.
Among them, Hu Yaobang was forced to resign in January 1987. Prior to this, Deng Xiaoping and several other CPC elders had agreed to remove Hu from office. On January 2, 1987, Hu Yaobang was forced to write a resignation letter to Deng Xiaoping. Later, the CPC held a so-called “democratic life meeting” where participants were encouraged to provide feedback to Hu.
In reality, this was a comprehensive “denunciation” or “struggle session” against Hu Yaobang, and it was the climax of the CPC’s internal power struggle before his ousting. The high-ranking officials involved in this “palace intrigue” took turns to criticize Hu fiercely, causing him great distress.
Many viewers, especially the younger audience, may be less familiar with this event. In today’s program, based on former Xinhua News Agency journalist Yang Jisheng’s article “Political Struggles in China’s Reform Era” and other sources, we will discuss this political drama.
The “democratic life meeting,” essentially a “struggle session,” was held at the Huairou Hall in Zhongnanhai from January 10 to January 15, 1987, lasting six days.
The participants included members of the Central Advisory Commission, members of the CPC Politburo, Secretaries of the Central Secretariat, State Councilors, Vice Chairmen of the National People’s Congress, Vice Chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, leaders of various departments under the Central Military Commission, and leaders of various CPC central departments.
The leaders of the “struggle session” were the three senior CPC members: Deng Xiaoping, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Chen Yun, Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and Li Xiannian, President of the country, who did not appear in person.
It is worth noting that the event was organized not by the Central Committee of the CPC or the Politburo but by the Central Advisory Commission. The meeting was presided over by Bo Yibo, the Deputy Director of the Central Advisory Commission.
At the beginning of the meeting, Bo Yibo asked for Hu Yaobang to reflect on his actions.
According to the intentions of the CPC elders, Hu Yaobang made a self-critique. He admitted, “I have made serious errors in political principles, causing serious damage to the Party.” He also requested to resign from the position of General Secretary.
During the meeting, Bo Yibo and others harshly criticized Hu Yaobang.
Bo Yibo said, “Hu Yaobang runs around all the time, visiting over two thousand counties nationwide. You hold the record for the most visits as the Party Chairman, Vice Chairman, and General Secretary. This is not guiding work but wandering around for personal gain.”
Wang Zhen, member of the Politburo and head of the Central Party School, stated, “If you, Hu Yaobang, are not willing to leave, then you don’t need to stay here.”
Yang Shangkun, member of the Politburo and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, said, “Hu Yaobang, if you want to destroy the Party and the country, then go ahead and form an alliance with the advocates of capitalist liberalization.”
Song Renqiong, Deputy Director of the Central Advisory Commission, said, “What I cannot tolerate the most is Hu Yaobang’s attitude toward Deng Xiaoping.”
Deng Liqun, Secretary of the Central Secretariat, subjected Hu Yaobang to a five to six-hour criticism session, although Deng Liqun himself claimed it was only three and a half hours.
Deng Liqun “exposed” Hu Yaobang from six aspects: (1) concerning ideological unity, Hu Yaobang rarely mentioned or disliked the phrase “uphold the Four Cardinal Principles” shortly after the 12th Plenary Session, and even showed aversion when others mentioned it. (2) Deng exposed Hu Yaobang’s vacillations in dealing with the issue of “opposing spiritual pollution” from 1983 to 1986, going through affirmations, denials, reaffirmations, and more denials. Deng stated that “His two reversals have caused great harm to the Party, which everyone can clearly see.” (3) Hu Yaobang rarely mentioned Deng Xiaoping’s “Four Cardinal Principles” and “Four Goods” after they were proposed. (4) Hu Yaobang only paid attention to guarding against the “left” and neglected guarding against the “right.” His anti-right stance was ineffective. (5) In terms of personnel selection, he was “overly lenient towards those with erroneous ideologies and advocates of capitalist liberalization; he was overly harsh to those who upheld Marxist criticism against capitalist liberalization. This is evident in various aspects.” Within the Politburo, Chen Yun was in charge of personnel work. However, Hu Yaobang “practically stripped” Chen Yun of his authority in managing personnel. (6) “Disrespect of the collective and failure to adhere to discipline.”
Zhao Ziyang, member of the Politburo and Premier of the State Council, offered a relatively moderate response. He mentioned, “Yaobang is generous, doesn’t hold grudges from quarrels, and is good to work with. However, he has weaknesses; he likes to be different and sensational. He likes to make a splash, not bound by organizational constraints.”
He continued, saying, “Even though we get along well now, who knows if we can maintain this cooperation under such circumstances in the future. People change. Stalin and Mao also had problems. I have thought about this before, even though we cooperate well now, it’s hard to say if we can still cooperate in such situations in the future.”
During the struggle session, two unexpected speeches were given.
One was from Yu Qiuli, Director of the General Political Department of the military. According to Zhao Ziyang’s account, “The unexpected aspect of the meeting was Yu Qiuli’s speech. Yaobang and Yu Qiuli had a close relationship those years, but at this life meeting, Yu Qiuli sharply criticized and questioned Yaobang. He collected Yaobang’s speeches and responses to reporters’ questions on the issue of the Thirteenth Party Congress and the retention of Deng and other elders, then directly questioned Yaobang: What are your motivations? Why did you say that?”
The other was from Wang Heshou, Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Wang Heshou had a good relationship with Hu Yaobang. During the Yan’an period, Hu Yaobang, Tao Zhu, and Wang Heshou had a close relationship, known as the “Three Sworn Brothers of the Peach Garden.” At the meeting, Wang Heshou criticized Hu Yaobang mercilessly for “disregarding the Central Committee” and opposing the words of Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun.
According to Zhao Ziyang’s recollection, Wang Heshou mentioned that when he went to Yaobang’s home to see him, Yaobang was very agitated, saying that some old folks wanted to target him, and said some angry words. When Wang Heshou spoke, the atmosphere of the meeting became tense. Later, Zhao Ziyang and Wang Heshou agreed not to discuss such matters again, fortunately, some old folks were not present when Wang Heshou made his statement.
During the meeting, Bo Yibo and Peng Zhen requested Hu Yaobang to resign. Wang Zhen stated, “Bo Yibo and Peng Zhen represent the majority of our opinions.”
Faced with this situation, Xi Zhongxun, member of the Politburo and Secretary of the Central Secretariat, could not bear it and pointed to Bo Yibo and others, saying, “What are you doing? Aren’t you reenacting a ‘forcing the palace’ scenario?” As he spoke, Xi Zhongxun became emotional and said, “This is not normal! The issue of the General Secretary’s resignation cannot be discussed at a life meeting; this violates the Party’s principles. I strongly oppose your approach.”
However, before Xi Zhongxun could finish speaking, Hu Yaobang stood up and said, “I have made my decision. If you don’t want me anymore, I will resign.”
After the final meeting on January 15, Hu Yaobang sat on the steps outside, crying. Tian Jiyun, member of the Politburo and Vice Premier of the State Council, stood silently next to him for a long time, not leaving.
Wan Li, member of the Central Secretariat and Vice Premier of the State Council, returned home, still unable to suppress his dissatisfaction. He said, “Yaobang did nothing wrong.” To console Hu Yaobang, Wan Li had the cook prepare a pot of Hu’s favorite meat and sent it to Hu’s home.
On January 16, 1987, at an expanded meeting of the Politburo of the CPC, Hu Yaobang was forced to resign as General Secretary.
Although Deng Xiaoping and other CPC elders did not attend the meeting, the “struggle session” was conducted under their instructions. They had long wanted to oust Hu Yaobang, and the reasons behind this decision are as follows:
Although Hu Yaobang was one of the representatives of the CPC reformist faction promoted by Deng Xiaoping, Deng believed that Hu Yaobang had made inappropriate remarks about Deng’s position as Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Therefore, Deng decided to replace Hu.
During the “life meeting,” a conversation recording between Hu Yaobang and Lu Keng was used as “Reference Material No. 2” for the meeting participants. Lu Keng was the President of the “Common People” magazine in Hong Kong. In this conversation, Lu Keng questioned why Deng Xiaoping wasn’t immediately appointed as the Chairman of the Military Commission instead of Hu Yaobang, given his higher authority and widespread respect.
Hu Yaobang responded by saying that there was no misunderstanding, emphasizing Deng Xiaoping’s health and the importance of adhering to Party customs.
Deng Xiaoping was reportedly very angry about the conversation between Hu Yaobang and Lu Keng and brought it up several times with relevant central leadership. Deng was quoted as saying, “Lu Keng is pretending to praise Yaobang but is actually opposing us!” Deng also said, “If I have made any mistakes in the past few years, it’s misjudging Hu Yaobang!” From that point onwards, Deng’s attitude towards Hu Yaobang changed significantly, and he began to consider replacing him.
On September 13, 1986, during a briefing with Premier Zhao Ziyang and others, Deng specifically discussed political system reform issues. It was during this briefing that Deng proposed having Zhao Ziyang take the lead in studying political system reform issues.
Normally, studying political system reform should have been the responsibility of the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, not the Premier of the State Council. However, Deng did not assign this task to General Secretary Hu Yaobang but to Zhao Ziyang. This indicated that Deng was already considering replacing Hu.
In October 1986, Deng decided to establish a seven-person team led by Bo Yibo to handle the leadership transition for the Thirteenth Congress.
Normally, the leadership changes for the Thirteenth Congress, involving the highest-level personnel arrangement of the CPC, should have been led by General Secretary Hu Yaobang. However, Deng did not entrust this responsibility to Hu Yaobang, further indicating his intention to replace him.
Coincidentally, at the end of 1986, a “call for democratic elections” student movement started from the China University of Science and Technology in Hefei, Anhui Province, spreading to Beijing and universities nationwide.
Deng believed that this was the result of Hu Yaobang’s “inadequate opposition to capitalist liberalization” and his advocacy for reform and opening up, which offended the conservative CPC elders.
In conclusion, Hu Yaobang’s resignation was fundamentally due to “offending Deng Xiaoping’s ‘absolute authority'” and his reformist stance upsetting the conservative CPC elders.
That concludes today’s program. Thank you for watching. If you enjoyed our show, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. We’ll see you next time.
——Centennial Truth Production Team