January Storm
The January Storm, formally known as the January Revolution, was a coup d'état in Shanghai that occurred between 5 January and 23 February 1967, during the Cultural Revolution. The coup, precipitated by the Sixteen Articles and unexpected local resistance towards Maoism in Shanghai, was launched by Maoist rebel factions against the city's party leadership under the directives of the Cultural Revolution Group through Maoist leaders such as Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan, with backing from Mao Zedong, Kang Sheng, and Jiang Qing. The coup culminated in the overthrow of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of Chen Pixian, Wei Wenbo and Cao Diqiu, and led to the creation of the Shanghai People's Commune on 5 February 1967.
Modeled after the Paris Commune, the CRG leaders in Shanghai planned to introduce direct democracy for the city's new leadership, but the nature of its implementation generated severe opposition among the Chinese Communist Party 's top echelons, who viewed it as a potential threat towards the Central Committee and State Council grip of power on China's domestic affairs. Meanwhile, the political instability from seizure of powers and rise of violence through violent struggles between rebel factions alarmed top generals of the People's Liberation Army, resulting in joint efforts by several CCP veterans to resist the radicalism of the Cultural Revolution in the February Countercurrent. Ultimately, the commune collapsed within 18 days after Mao Zedong retracted his support, and was reformed under a revolutionary committee jointly administered by a "triple alliance" of military personnel, revolutionary cadres, and the revolutionary masses.
Although the commune in Shanghai ended in failure, it was influential in inspiring rebel factions throughout China to form revolutionary committees of their own, which eventually started a series of seizure of powers that led to armed violent struggles nationwide throughout 1967, effectively marking a new and more violent stage in the Cultural Revolution.
Background
On 16 May 1966, Mao Zedong, paramount leader of China, launched the Cultural Revolution through the 16 May Notification. At the end of 1966, it became evident that Mao and the Cultural Revolution Group in Beijing had underestimated the ability of local party organizations to resist attacks from the Red Guards. While Maoist influence was strong around the capital, many regional party divisions resisted by merely paying lip service to Maoist teachings while countering attacks of local Maoists. To break the stalemate which had begun to form, Maoist leaders called for the "seizure of power by proletarian revolutionaries", a concept originally mentioned in the Sixteen Articles, an influential party statement of the aims of the Cultural Revolution approved by the Chinese Communist Party in August 1966.Rising radicalism and discontent against Shanghai's leadership
Throughout the 1960s, Shanghai was the most industrialized city in China and accounted for almost half of the country's industrial production. When the Cultural Revolution began in the summer of 1966, the city experienced the formation of Red Guard groups proclaiming their loyalty to Mao. The movement quickly became highly radicalised and factionalised with attacks on local bureaucratic authorities and government buildings, challenging the administration of Cao Diqiu, the Mayor of Shanghai, Chen Pixian, the head of the Shanghai Municipal Committee, and Wei Wenbo, the head of the Party's East China Bureau.By autumn 1966, social unrest spread from institutions to factories. On 6 November, several rebel groups formed an alliance under the Headquarters of the Revolutionary Revolt of Shanghai Workers, led by Wang Hongwen, a textile worker and mid-level party functionary.
The formation of the Workers' Headquarters perplexed Shanghai's leadership; even Maoist leaders of the CRG did not take a clear position initially. The Shanghai bureaucracy under Chen and Cao opposed the group and declared it illegal, viewing the group as counterrevolutionary. Tensions escalated on 8 November 1966, when the Workers' Headquarters presented several demands to the Shanghai Municipal Committee that attempted to challenge the party's power. The committee refused, causing a three-day siege at Anting. The reaction from Beijing was one of caution. Their first response was to send a telegram drafted by Chen Boda, which urged them to back down and return to work. However, the telegram was shunned by the Workers' Headquarters in an unprecedented manner.
After the impasse, the CRG sent Zhang Chunqiao to address the situation in Shanghai. The CRG did not give Zhang a specific mandate on his mission. Upon his arrival in Shanghai on 11 November, Zhang performed a thorough investigation and thereafter accepted their demands. After intense negotiations, Zhang reached an agreement with the Workers' Headquarters by officially recognising the group's legitimacy while resolving their disputes through local conferences in Shanghai, rather than with the Beijing leadership. Zhang's response was praised by the CRG and Mao.
Dismantling party authority in Shanghai
Although the crisis at Anting was dismantled, tensions remained with the Shanghai leadership because the agreement negotiated by Zhang contradicted the city's position. Local party officials responded by establishing the Scarlet Guards, a "loyalist" group composed of skilled factory workers and technicians, aimed at opposing the Workers' Headquarters in favour of the legitimacy of local authorities. Further incidents occurred in December 1966, when the Workers' Headquarters accused the Shanghai Municipal People's Government of causing several controversial political incidents, which severely disrupted the city's social order.The conflict between the Workers' Headquarters and Scarlet Guards reached a high point in the early morning of 30 December 1966, when a riot erupted between both groups in the Shanghai party headquarters at Kangping Road. The violent struggle, the first of its kind in Shanghai, injured 91 and led to over 300 arrests. By afternoon, a mission of ten thousand members of the Scarlet Guard left Shanghai for Beijing in an attempt to seek support from the Central Committee for negotiations to resolve the conflict. On 31 December, the Scarlet Guards launched a general strike amidst chaos, paralysing Shanghai's economy. In a last ditch attempt, the city's officials attempted unsuccessfully to raise wages and bonuses to quell the unrest. On the other hand, the mission to Beijing was intercepted by the Workers' Headquarters while travelling towards Kunshan, causing another riot which damaged the Shanghai–Nanjing railway. Even though party officials tried to call off the mission, six to seven thousand members continued and reached Beijing. After the incident at Kunshan, the group was dissolved and ceased to exist.
History
Launch of coup
On 1 January 1967, People's Daily published a New Years editorial titled Proceeding the Cultural Revolution until the very end, which declared that 1967 will be a year of "violent struggles nationwide", and that it will be a year where "proletariats team up with a small party faction of capitalist roaders and cow demons and snake spirits to attack ". Afterwards, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan represented the CRG as "researchers" to head for Shanghai to plan a hostile takeover against the city's administration.On 4 January 1967, rebel factions seized control of Wenhui Daily. A coalition of twelve rebel factions under the Workers' Headquarters drafted a pamphlet titled Message to all the people of Shanghai ''Capture the Revolution, boost production, utterly shatter the new offensive of the capitalist roaders, which was signed and approved by Chen Pixian. The pamphlet was printed and organised into 290 thousand copies of Wenhui Daily that day and was distributed across the city. Message to all the people of Shanghai appeared as the front-page article of the same newspaper the next day. On 5 January, rebels seized control of Jiefang Daily. The next day, 32 rebel factions under the leadership of the Workers' Headquarters initiated a struggle session aimed at "overthrowing the Shanghai Municipal Committee". Those condemned and humiliated in the session included hundreds of bureaucrats involved within the party's East China bureau, the Shanghai Municipal Committee, and the Shanghai People's Committee, notably against Chen Pixian, Cao Diqiu, and Wei Wenbo. The struggle session, witnessed by a million people, passed three resolutions:
- Cao Diqiu is dismissed as the mayor of Shanghai;
- Chen Pixian must explain his "anti-revolutionary crimes", and;
- The Central Committee must reshuffle the Shanghai Municipal Committee.
Mao proclaims support
On 8 January 1967, during a conversation with members of the CRG, Mao Zedong declared his support of the Shanghai rebel's actions. He stated that the events showed "a class overthrowing another class, it is a great revolution", and stated that " seizing powers of two newspapers is a national issue. We must support their seizure." He believed the "revolution" in Shanghai provided "hope" for China, in that the events would not just influence East China but nationwide. Under the instructions of Mao, the CRG represented the Central Committee and the State Council in penning the congratulatory letters hailing all "revolutionary rebel factions" in Shanghai, and urged other revolutionaries in China to follow the Shanghai rebel's actions.On 9 January 1967, People's Daily published the contents from Message to all the people of Shanghai, adding an editorial supervised by Mao. The editorial stated that Message to all the people of Shanghai is a "document represents the wave of the great red flag towards the Great Cultural Revolution of Chairman Mao", and "blows the signal of the continuing offensive against the capitalist roaders". On 11 January, under the direction of Mao, the Central Committee, State Council, Central Military Commission, and CRG issued a joint-statement congratulating the Shanghai rebel factions. The letters stated, "The series of revolutionary acts have become a model to follow for all workers, all people, and all revolutionaries." The statement was published in People's Daily the next day.
On 16 January, Red Flag published Proletarian Revolutionaries, Unite, an editorial approved by Mao. The article stated, "The working class of Shanghai...have seized power from the small party faction of capitalist roaders". For the first time, Mao urged revolutionaries to seize local power for the Central Committee. Seizure of power became legitimised under the leadership.