THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DENG XIAOPING'S DOMINANCE

Deng Xiaoping's Comeback

The coalition of beneficiaries and survivors, led by Hua Guofeng and Ye Jianying, “smashed” the Gang of Four, which had little support from mountaintops except Shanghai, four weeks after Mao's death on September 9,1976. The new leadership was haunted immediately by Deng's case. Little evidence shows that the survivors abandoned Hua for Deng, as the official account implies. But their continuous support of Hua was half-minded, not only because they realized that Deng's return was inevitable, given his control of mountaintops in both the Party and military systems, but also because their own power rested essentially on the support from the veteran cadres and officers rather than those who rose to power during the CR. Allegedly, Ye Jianying sent his children for Deng “immediately” after the Gang of Four was arrested on October 6. Ye told Deng not only of the Gang's arrest but also the details about the Politburo conference on the aftermath. Li Xiannian also said to Hua privately a few days after the Gang's arrest that the verdict on the Tiananmen Incident in April 1976 “appeared shaky” (kao buzhu), hinting that Deng's verdict should be reconsidered because Deng was officially brought down by the allegation that he was behind the “anti-Party and anti-Mao” Tiananmen Incident.