Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius Campaign
In January 1974, with Mao's approval, the Central Committee circulated "Lin Biao and the Way of Confucius and Mencius," launching the "Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius" campaign nationwide. Jiang Qing, Yao Wenyuan, Wang Hongwen, and others used this politically charged campaign, framed around a supposed historical struggle between Legalists and Confucians, to obliquely attack Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying, and other central leaders — dubbed "criticizing the 'Duke of Zhou.'" The campaign spread from central organs to grassroots units; the "Liang Xiao" writing group at Tsinghua and Peking universities published a stream of polemical articles, and Jiang Qing personally promoted Xiaojinzhuang in Tianjin as a model village. The philosopher Liang Shuming publicly refused to criticize Confucius at a CPPCC study session, leaving behind his famous response, "the will of a common man cannot be taken from him." In July 1974 Mao openly criticized Jiang Qing and her allies for forming a "Gang of Four," and the campaign's momentum faltered; in January 1975 Deng Xiaoping was appointed First Vice-Premier, effectively bringing the campaign to a close.
From "Criticize Lin" to "Criticize Confucius": Origins of the Campaign
After Lin Biao died in a plane crash in September 1971, the Party launched the "Criticize Lin, Rectify the Work Style" campaign attacking his "ultra-left" line. In 1973, after reading Guo Moruo's Ten Critiques, Mao wrote a poem criticizing Guo for judging the First Emperor of Qin too harshly; that August the People's Daily published Yang Rongguo's essay "Confucius — A Thinker Who Stubbornly Defended Slavery," redirecting criticism toward Confucius and Confucian thought and laying the groundwork for merging "Criticize Lin" with "Criticize Confucius." Jiang Qing, Wang Hongwen, and others saw in this framework — linking a supposed historical struggle between "Legalists" and "Confucians" to present-day politics — an opportunity to attack their political rivals within the Party under the banner of opposing "restoration." On 18 January 1974, with Mao's approval, the Central Committee issued Document No. 1 of 1974, circulating Lin Biao and the Way of Confucius and Mencius, a compilation selected by the mass-criticism groups of Peking and Tsinghua universities, formally launching the nationwide "Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius" campaign.
The Capital Stadium Rallies: "Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius, Criticize the 'Duke of Zhou'"
On 24 and 25 January 1974, Jiang Qing, Yao Wenyuan, Wang Hongwen, and others held two mass mobilization rallies at Capital Stadium, each attended by more than ten thousand people: the first for military units stationed in Beijing, the second for central Party and State Council organs, with Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying, and other central leaders in attendance. At the rallies, Tsinghua Party secretary Chi Qun and Beijing municipal Party secretary Xie Jingyi delivered inflammatory speeches linking the campaign to attacks on an unnamed "contemporary great Confucian within the Party," obliquely targeting Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying, and others. Jiang Qing appended "criticize the 'Duke of Zhou'" to the slogans, invoking the ancient regent to allude to Zhou Enlai. For this reason the campaign has largely come to be seen, in retrospect, as an ideological movement that Jiang Qing's faction, operating under Mao's sanction, exploited to strike at its political rivals.
From Propaganda Offensive to Grassroots Campaign
As the campaign unfolded, articles by collective pseudonymous writing groups such as "Liang Xiao" (a homophone for "the two schools," Peking and Tsinghua) and "Luo Siding" filled the press, using the historical framework of "appraising the Legalists, criticizing the Confucians" to allude to current politics. On 14 June 1974, Jiang Qing incited a campaign to "root out contemporary great Confucians," escalating attacks on supposed "great Confucians within the Party." From 17 to 28 June she traveled to Tianjin, lecturing workers, peasants, and soldiers on the "history of the Legalist-Confucian struggle." On 4 August she designated the Xiaojinzhuang brigade in Baodi County a new rural model for "Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius," organizing local farmers to write poetry and perform revolutionary operas full-time. The campaign quickly spread from central organs to grassroots units nationwide, with study sessions and mass criticism meetings springing up everywhere, drawing in many local party, government, and military cadres and intellectuals. In the CPPCC's study group, the 81-year-old philosopher Liang Shuming was ordered to join in criticizing Confucius. He declared publicly, "I will only criticize Lin, not Confucius," and on 22 February delivered a lengthy address to the group titled "How Should We Evaluate Confucius Today." He was then subjected to seven months of criticism — six months of small-group sessions followed by two months of mass meetings. On 23 September, when the session's chair pressed him for his reflections, he quoted the Analects: "The commander of three armies may be seized, but the will of a common man cannot be taken from him" — signaling that criticism could not shake his independent thinking, a rare public act of intellectual resistance in the Cultural Revolution's later years.
Mao's "Don't Form a Gang of Four" and the Campaign's Wind-Down
On 17 July 1974, at a Politburo meeting, Mao openly criticized Jiang Qing, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan for factional activity, telling them, "Watch yourselves — don't go forming a small faction of four." This was the first time the label "Gang of Four" was applied to them, signaling Mao's growing wariness of Jiang Qing's faction using the campaign to expand its own power; the campaign's political momentum faltered as a result, though Jiang Qing did not rein herself in, continuing her activities around Xiaojinzhuang into August. From 13 to 17 January 1975, the First Session of the Fourth National People's Congress convened in Beijing; a gravely ill Zhou Enlai delivered the government work report reaffirming the strategic goal of the "Four Modernizations," and when the congress closed on 17 January, Deng Xiaoping was appointed First Vice-Premier of the State Council, overseeing the government's daily work. This appointment was widely seen as a successful counter-move by the ailing Zhou Enlai against Jiang Qing's faction, and it effectively marked the end of "Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius" as a nationwide political campaign.
Narrative Comparison
| Source | Narrative |
|---|---|
| Beijing Official Account | The 1981 "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party" characterizes the campaign as a political maneuver by Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, Zhang Chunqiao, and others, who deliberately exploited the criticism of Lin Biao to produce allegorical historiography aimed at Zhou Enlai and other central leaders — a further extension of the Cultural Revolution's errors, continuous with the activities of the Lin Biao and Jiang Qing counter-revolutionary cliques. |
| Western Academic Scholarship | Scholarship by MacFarquhar, Schoenhals, and others suggests the campaign was a subtle collaboration and contest between Mao and Jiang Qing's faction: Mao himself genuinely believed Lin Biao's line bore some relation to traditional Confucian thought and approved the campaign's launch, but Jiang Qing's faction quickly expanded it into a tool for attacking Zhou Enlai and other pragmatist officials, exceeding the boundaries Mao had originally intended — the direct cause of his later "don't form a Gang of Four" warning. This view emphasizes that the campaign's trajectory was not simply dictated by Jiang Qing's faction alone, but was entangled with Mao's own complex and shifting attitude. |
| Eyewitness Testimony | Liang Shuming's late-life interview record, Liang Shuming Wenda Lu, recounts in detail his refusal to criticize Confucius in the CPPCC study group and the seven months of criticism he endured. This account illustrates the concrete situation of an ordinary intellectual maintaining independent thought under political pressure — distinct from the macro narrative of elite power struggle, it focuses on the real pressures and choices individuals faced within the campaign. |
Key Milestones
- Central Document No. 1 circulates "Lin Biao and the Way of Confucius and Mencius," formally launching the campaign
- Mass mobilization rally at Capital Stadium for military units stationed in Beijing
- Mass mobilization rally at Capital Stadium for central Party organs and the State Council
Chi Qun and Xie Jingyi obliquely target Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying in their speeches.
- Liang Shuming delivers "How Should We Evaluate Confucius Today," declaring he will criticize Lin but not Confucius
- Jiang Qing incites a campaign to "root out contemporary great Confucians"
- Jiang Qing travels to Tianjin to lecture on the "history of the Legalist-Confucian struggle"
- Mao criticizes the group at a Politburo meeting: "don't go forming a Gang of Four"
The label "Gang of Four" is coined; the campaign's political momentum falters.
- Xiaojinzhuang in Tianjin is designated a new rural model for the campaign
- Liang Shuming responds to the mass criticism meeting: "the will of a common man cannot be taken from him"
- The Fourth NPC closes; Deng Xiaoping is named First Vice-Premier, effectively ending the campaign
A gravely ill Zhou Enlai delivers the government work report, reaffirming the "Four Modernizations."
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