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Following the kidnapping and torture of the First-Secretary of the provincial Party by “Red Guards”, fierce fighting broke out in November 1966 between workers and “Red Guards.” In January 1967 a force of 5,000 peasants led by Party officials joined forces with the workers in further fighting at Wuhu.
Towards the end of January units of the army intervened on the side of the counter-revolutionaries who claimed to have seized control of Hofei on January 27th and of the whole province three weeks later. On June 13th the provincial radio revealed that these claims were premature, calling upon all “revolutionaries” to form an alliance against “the top Party persons in authority” in the province. And on June 21st peasants, led by the mayor of Hwainan and the commander of the local garrison, made an attack on the counter-revolutionary headquarters, wounding 150. In August fighting was still going on in the town, and work in factories and mines had been disrupted for two months.
At the end of May 1967 a workers’ guerilla force, the “Industrial Army of Chekiang” raided rebel headquarters in Hangchows killing 6 counterrevolutionaries and wounding 150. After the raid the guerillas, who were described as “well-armed”, retreated into the mountains. About the same time fighting took place in the industrial town of Chinhua, when troops attempted to break up a rally of railway workers.
On June 12th, 1967 “Renmin Ribao” (People’s Daily) claimed that the opposition of the Party and State authorities to the “cultural revolution” had been defeated in the province.
On August 12th a “revolutionary committee” claimed to have taken control of the province.
At the end of September 1966 “Red Guards” stormed and sacked the Party headquarters in Foochow, but were eventually expelled by workers. At the beginning of February 1967 local army units assisted “Red Guards” to occupy the Party headquarters and on February 11th the counterrevolutionaries claimed control of the province.
On January 31st 1967 the counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” claimed to have seized control of the province with the aid of local army units. Widespread strikes followed in Pinkiang.
However, in May the commander of the army garrison at Chihsi ordered an armed attack upon a “Red Guard” rally, wounding a number of “Red Guards” and arresting over 1,000.
With the army divided and the rebel administration under attack from a “Dragon Army” of workers and peasants armed with clubs and iron bars, in June the workers led by Party officials, were able after strikes and bitter fighting to gain control of the administration of the province and the municipalities.
After counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” had kidnapped the director of a factory at Chengchow, workers and local units of the army in January 1967 attacked and occupied the headquarters of the rebels in the province, and arrested and executed the provincial ringleaders. In February Chou En-lai appealed for peace.
In April and May at Hsinhsiang and Chengchow rebels made further attacks, which were beaten off with heavy losses to the counter-revolutionaries.
In September 1966, the Secretary of the Tientsin taxi-drivers’ Party committee was killed by “Red Guards”, and the First Secretary of the Tientsin Party died after being forced to stand in the hot sun for seven hours.
After clashes in January 1967 between counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” and peasants near Fangshan, local army units intervened in support of the peasants and arrested several hundred rebels. These were released on January 22nd by troops sent to the area from Peking. On the same day 10,000 workers and peasants led by Party officials attacked the “Revolutionary Rebel” headquarters at Paoying. On April 27th 1967 about 200 people were injured in fighting between “Red Guards” and a workers’ defence force at Tientsin. And in fighting which went on continuously from April 29th to May 4th 3 people were killed and 240 wounded at Changping, only 25 miles from Peking. On June 7th 200 rebels were wounded and 112 taken prisoner when local army units joined forces with workers at Shihchiachung. On December 6th, 1967, with the support of troops from Peking, the “Revolutionary Rebels” succeeded in establishing a “Revolutionary Committee” in Tientsin.
After the provincial administration had declared its adherence to the counter-revolutionaries, an armed workers’ organisation, the “Hunan Red Flag Army” took possession of the provincial administrative and police headquarters in Changsha on January 15th, and raided an army barracks for weapons.
On January 20th troops succeeded in driving out the workers. In further fighting in the provincial capital over June 6-8th, 1967, 60 people were killed. And during August 20,000 workers led by Party officials carried on continuous attacks on the rebel headquarters for more than a week.
At the beginning of January 1967 the counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” succeeded in seizing the Radio station at Wuhan, but were unable to displace the Party and state organs in the absence of military support. An on February 21st the regional military command affirmed that it would not “use force against the people”.
Between mid-April and mid-July more than 250 armed clashes took place in Wuhan between workers and counter-revolutionaries. More than 50,000 workers were involved in this fighting, which caused casualties of 350 killed and 1,500 severely wounded, and as a result of which the Chan-chiang Bridge (the only road and rail bridge across the Yangtse for more than a thousand miles) was closed to all traffic on several occasions in June. Some 2,400 factories in the city were forced to close because of the severe fighting.
On July 21st, two emissaries from the counter-revolutionary leadership in Peking arrived in Wuhan: General Hsieh Fu-chih (Minister of Public Security) and Wang Li (the new head of the propaganda department of the “Central Committee” of the Party). Both were immediately arrested by workers, and released only on the personal intervention of Chou En-lai, who flew specially from Peking to negotiate their release. At the same time mass demonstrations were organised in Peking against the regional military commander General Chen Tsai-tao, who was accused of following the “bourgeois military line” of Peng Teh-huai and Lo Jui-Ching. “Red-Guards” in Peking sent a petition to the “Central Committee” asking to be allowed to undertake the “glorious mission of liberating Wuhan”.
On July 23rd, parachute troops were dropped on Wuhan and succeeded in occupying key points, while 10 gun boats were sent up the Yangtse to the city.
The local army units under General Chen resisted the parachute troops and the heavy fighting had by August 1st, resulted in figures 470 killed and 890 wounded. On August 4th the gun boats began to bombard the city and Canton radio reported that the hospitals in Wuhan were full of wounded soldiers and injured civilians.
On August 3rd 1967 “Jiefangjun Ribao” (Liberation Army Daily) reported that fighting was still going on, and on August 5th responsibility for “the defence of Wuha” was officially transferred from the army to the air force.
In January 1967, counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” succeeded in occupying the offices of the official newspaper in the capital, but on January 24th local troops under the command of General Ulanfu (First Secretary of the Party, Governor and Military Commander in Inner Mongolia) forced them to withdraw.
On February 5th troops opened fire on “Red Guards” in Huhehot, and on February 17th telephone and telegraph communication between Huhehot and Peking was cut off.
On February 18th, 3 army divisions sent from Peking to assist the “Revolutionary Rebels” were prevented from crossing the border by Inner Mongolian troops.
On May 3rd it was announced that General Ulanfu had been dismissed from his posts.
His successor, General Liu Hsien-chuan, attempted to form a “Preparatory Commission” pending the formation of a “revolutionary committee”. This provoked violent resistance from the workers, especially in the steel centre of Paotow, where 116 people were killed in clashes between workers and rebels during May.
On June 3rd 1967 it was announced that General Teng Hai-ching had been appointed Acting Military Commander of Inner Mongolia, no reason being given for the removal of General Liu (who later became Chairman of the Chinghai “revolutionary committee”). However, General Teng succeeded in securing the obedience of the Inner Mongolian troops to his order to permit the entry of the divisions from Peking. And on November 1st 1967 these troops succeeded in ousting the Party and state authorities and replacing them by a “revolutionary committee”, with General Teng as its Chairman.
At the end of August and the beginning of August 1966, fighting took place between “Red Guards” and workers at Lanchow, an important oil town as well as the capital, and at Kingtai, where more than 140 people were injured. And at Wusih in December 1966 13 people were killed and 180 injured in battles between “Red Guards” and workers. Lanchow radio reported on January 14th, 1967 that a group of “military opponents” of the “cultural revolution” had been arrested by the army at Lanchow, and on February 18th claimed that “Revolutionary Rebels” had taken control of the province.
However, a section of the local army continued to oppose the counterrevolution. When “Red Guards” attempted on April 18th to occupy the offices of the “Kansu Daily” In Lanchow, army units, assisted the workers in driving them out, with several hundred casualties. On May 8th workers broke into and occupied the nuclear installations in Lanchow.
At the beginning of January 1967, against violent resistance by workers, counter-revolutionary rebels succeeded in taking control of Nanchang radio.
On January 22nd this radio station reported that factories, mines, power stations, railways and shops were paralysed by strikes, and that an army of 200,000 ex-soldiers, workers and peasants led by Party officials had attacked “Red Guards” and instituted a “reign of terror” throughout the province.
On January 26th Nanchang radio reported that “Revolutionary Rebels” had seized control of the province, but subsequent reports revealed that resistance was continuing and that the rebels had split up into hostile factions.
At the end of May 137 counter-revolutionaries were seriously wounded in fighting with miners in the Pinsiang coalfield.
At the end of December 1966 supporters in Nanking of Tao Chu (appointed in July 1966 to succeed Liu Ting-yi as head of the propaganda department of the “Central Committee”) waged a series of attacks upon “Red Guards” and called a general strike against the “cultural revolution”.
On January 3-6th 1967, following an attack by “Red Guards” on the Party headquarters in Nanking, severe fighting occurred in which 54 people were killed and some 900 injured.
And on May 31st-June 1st 196 7, the majority of the population of the town of Suchow joined with local army units to attack the headquarters of the “Red Guards”, capturing about 400 counter-revolutionaries and wounding over 1,000.
In January 1967 over 40 people were injured when workers in Changchun resisted attempts by “Red Guards” to take over the city’s public security bureau. On January 24th, troops intervened to support the counter-revolutionaries.
On April 19th-20th, further fighting broke out in Changchun between workers and “Red Guards”.
In September 1966 fighting took place at Kweilin, where 100,000 working people resisted the deposition of the mayor by “Red Guards”.
In September 1966, 600 Kwangchow (Canton) workers attacked “Red Guards” who had imprisoned the director of their factory for three days. Many people were injured and troops were called in to “restore order”.
In October 1960, 400 “Red Guards” were injured in fighting with workers of another Kwangchow (Canton) factory.
In January, after fighting between workers and “Red Guards” supported by troops posters attacking Mao Tse-tung appeared throughout Kwangchow, and copies of the “Quotations” were being publicly burned.
On January 11th 1967 Peking radio admitted that workers in Kwangchow had gone on strike against the “cultural revolution”. A communique issued on January 16th by 20 counter-revolutionary organisations in Kwangchow accused opponents of the “cultural revolution” of attacking “Red Guards”, provoking fighting among the masses and stealing of weapons.
On January 26th counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” claimed that they had seized control of the province. However, from February 25th to March 15th, continuous fighting was taking place between masses of workers and “Red Guards”, and on March 15th local army units took over and imposed martial law in the city. Four days later it was announced that the mayor and 20 other members of the municipal and provincial Party committees had, been arrested for inciting the population to resist the establishment of military rule, and that workers had been imprisoned for refusing to return to work on the army’s orders.
In July 1967, 100 people were killed and 1,000 injured in Kwangchow when railwaymen resisted “Red Guards”. And in the countryside violent clashes occurred between peasants, and “Red Guards” when the latter attempted to collect five years taxes in advance.
In August 1966 30,000 workers in Kweiyang, led by Party officials, clashed with “Red Guards”.
On January 25th 1967, the counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary-Rebels” announced that they had taken over power in the province. But on May 29th the provincial radio station was reporting that the ”Revolutionary Committee” was being severely threatened by opponents of the “cultural revolution’’. On July 4th 1967 Kweichow radio claimed that Chia Chih-yun, First Secretary of the Kweichow Party, and Li Ching-chuan, First Secretary in the neighbouring province of Szechwan, had been arrested for plotting to turn the two provinces into a centre of resistance to the “cultural revolution.”
On August 4th Kweichow radio reported that workers had attacked troops in Kweiyang.
In the second week in January 1967 heavy fighting broke out in the provincial capital, Shenyang, an important engineering centre, where a general strike had been in progress, and also in the port of Tailien (formerly Dairen).
At Shenyang local army units rejected an appeal by counter-revolutionaries to intervene in their support, and at Tailien and Lushun (formerly Port Arthur) troops intervened to aid the workers.
On February 16th, counter-revolutionaries who tried to take over the radio station in Tailien were expelled by troops, who made more than 100 arrests, while a further 400 rebels were arrested at Lushun. The army units then cut rail communications to stop the arrival of rebel reinforcements from outside the province.
The attack upon the Peking Party from November 1965 to June 1966 has already been discussed in an earlier section of this Report. At the end of August clashes in which 8 people were killed took place in the city between workers and “Red Guards”.
In November 1966 workers in a Peking factory struck against the “dismissal” of their Party committee by “Red Guards”; 60 people were injured when workers resisted in a 15-hour battle efforts of “Red Guards” to break into another factory; hundreds of workers fought off “Red Guards” who tried to storm the Museum of the Chinese Revolution; and students of the Military Academy joined with other loyal students to attack the “Red Guard” headquarters in the University. On February 7th it was announced that General Yang Yung, had been dismissed as commander of the Peking military region, and on February 11th a proclamation was issued stating that the Command Headquarters of the Peking military region had taken control of Peking. On March 18th 1967 “Jiefangjun Bao” (Liberation Army Daily) announced that the most important factories, the press, the building industry and restaurants in Peking had been taken over by the army. On April 20th, under the shelter of this martial law, a “revolutionary committee” was set up in Peking, with General Hsieh Fu-chih, (Minister of Public Security) as Chairman.
In September 1966 “Red Guards” succeeded in occupying the headquarters of the Party in Shanghai.
In December 1966 7 people were killed in a two-day battle in which workers of a local newspaper repulsed attempts by “Red Guards” to take it over.
At the end of December widespread strikes occurred throughout the city.
On January 4th 1967 counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” managed to seize control of two local newspapers and on the following day these published a statement by 11 counter-revolutionary organisations urging the strikers to return to work. Work was resumed in the port on January 8th, and, after a pitched battle between railwaymen and “Revolutionary Rebels”, on the railways on January 9th. The strike broken, on February 15th Peking radio appealed to the counter-revolutionaries to make themselves masters of the city, and on February 25th they succeeded in forming a “provisional revolutionary committee”.
In January 1967 widespread strikes occurred throughout the province, and the counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” were repeatedly repulsed by large crowds – 10,000 workers being involved In one encounter.
However, by the second week in January the counter-revolutionaries had succeeded in gaining power, and on January 24th a “provisional revolutionary committee” was set up for the province.
In the summer of 1966 the provincial administration declared its support of the “cultural revolution”. But in August Tsinan radio complained that peasants had invaded the town of Lini and kidnapped “Red Guards”, who were also being “cruelly repressed” in the area of Tsaochung. At Tsinan several thousand people led by Party officials opposed the “Red Guards”.
On January 11th 1967 Tsinan radio reported that widespread strikes were taking place at Tsinan and in the port of Tsingtao. However, on January 22nd local army units went to the support of the counter-revolutionaries and enabled them to seize power in Tsingtao, where a “provisional revolutionary committee” was established on February 3rd. On March 2nd a “revolutionary committee” was established for the province.
Many people were injured in Siah in August when “Red Guards” attacked a workers’ demonstration organised by the provincial committee of the Party.
In September 1966 the Secretary of the provincial Party was paraded through the streets by “Red Guards”, who denounced him as “a black bandit”. This led to protest strikes at mines and industrial enterprises in the neighborhood of the city, and to fighting for several days between workers and “Red Guards”. Peking radio reported on January llth that strikes were continuing in Sian, and on January 25th that “revolutionary rebels” had, with the help of local army units, seized power in the province.
At the end of December 1966, 20 people were injured at Kashgar when workers resisted “Red Guards”.
A month later, after heavy fighting, between January 25th and 27th, 1967, counter-revolutionary ”Revolutionary Rebels” succeeded in seizing power at Urumchi. At the same time 100 people were killed when a force of 10,000 workers and peasants, supported by local army units, attacked the rebels at the new town of Shihotze, after which the force evacuated the town to carry on guerilla warfare from the mountains.
On January 20th Chou En-lai invited General Wang En-mao, First Secretary of the Party, Governor and Military Commander in Sinkiang, to come to Peking to discuss a “peace settlement”. On his refusal, the Peking counter-revolutionary authorities announced the arrest of General Wang, and also of General Saifudin, President of the Sinkiang administration. However, opposition within the autonomous region was such that on February 25th Chou En-lai ordered the “cultural revolution” in Sinkiang to be brought to an end.
In April 1967 the Urumchi newspaper announced that Generals Wang and Saifudin had pledged their support to “Chairman Mao Tse-tung”, and in May counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” in Urumchi were being assisted by local troops.
In December 1966 11 people were killed and 200 injured in fighting at Chungking between workers and “Red Guards”.
In January 1967 Peking radio reported widespread strikes in the industrial centres of Chungking and Chengtu ”with the encouragement of the local authorities”, and on February 8th denounced the Chengtu military district, commanded by Marshal Ho Lung (a member of the Military Commission of the Central Committee) as “a den of reactionary forces”. By the spring of 1967 the province of Szechwan, apart from its major industries a main source of the food supplies of south-western China, had become a key centre of resistance to the counter-revolution. The radio of the neighbouring province of Kweichow, controlled by the counter-revolutionaries, alleged that this had been plotted for a long time by Li Ching-chuan, First Secretary of the Szechwan Party and a member of the Politbureau.
In May and June 1967 workers and peasants, supported by units of the local army, routed counter-revolutionary “Revolutionary Rebels” and raided munitions works for weapons. In five days of fighting at the beginning of May, 6 people were killed and 2,500 wounded in fighting at Chengtu between workers and “Revolutionary Rebels”, the workers being armed, with machine guns and hand grenades.
On May l6th 1967, Chou En-lai ordered two army divisions to be sent to Szechwan “to restore order”, but fighting in the province continued. In the second half of May, the military commander at Ipin ordered army units to attack the “Revolutionary Rebels”, and hundreds of counter-revolutionaries were killed at Suanpin and Chengtu.
On the night of June 7-8th, the headquarters of the counter-revolutionaries at Chunking was attacked by a force of 20,000 students, led by the political commissar of an army regiment, and over 300 “Revolutionary Rebels” were killed and thousands wounded. In August Chungking workers received supplies of heavy artillery and other arms sent to them up the Yangtse from Wuhen, and began leaving the city for the countryside to form guerilla units.
On February 3rd 1967, counter-revolutionaries seized power in Lhasa. But 6 days later, on February 9th, army units commanded by General Chang Kuo-hua (First Secretary of the Party, Governor and Military Commander in Tibet) expelled them and arrested 400 counter-revolutionaries.
On February 11th, when rebel army units arrived by air, Tibetan volunteers supported the loyal forces under General Chang to defeat them, killing more than 120.
Oh March 3rd 1967, the public security bureau, radio newspapers and state banks were placed under the control of loyal army units.
In early June 1967, 2,200 counter-revolutionaries besieged in the university at Kunming were attacked by a force of 30,000 workers and peasants, commanded by the assistant political commissar of the district. A fierce battle ensued in which 266 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded.
On July 14th, Peking radio admitted that “Party leaders in the southwest who are taking the capitalist road” had not been overcome. A few days later General Hsieh Fu-chih (Minister of Public Security) and Wang Li (the new head of the propaganda department of the “Central Committee”) visited the province to try to reach “a settlement”.