In November 1966 posters appeared in Peking denouncing the leading Marxist-Leninists Liu Shao-chi, President, of the People’s Republic of China, and Teng-Hsiao-ping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, as “leaders of an anti-Party group”.
In April 1967 “Hongqi” opened a press attack upon Liu Shao-Chi. The main theme of these attacks was to present Liu as the main supporter of capitalism within China, quoting from speeches and articles made by him to this effect since the foundation of the People’s Republic.
The fact that support for capitalism in China for an indefinite period after the bourgeois-democratic revolution was the policy of the Communist Party of China, binding on every member of the Party whether, he agreed with it or not, and the fact that Mao Tse-tung had been the principal author of this policy, were not, of course, referred to in the attacks. On the contrary, Mao Tse-tung was presented as fighting this policy in opposition to Liu Shao-chi.
Chairman Mao has said that THE FOUNDING OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ON OCTOBER 1, 1949, MARKED THE BASIC COMPLETION OF THE STAGE OF NEW-DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION AND THE BEGINNING OF THE STAGE OF SOCIALIST REVOLUTION. The top Party person in authority taking the capitalist road, however, harped on a contrary tune, painstakingly preached ’consolidation of the new-democratic order’, and campaigned for the development of capitalism in China. (Chi Pen-yu: “Patriotism or National Betrayal?”, in: “Hongqi”, No. 5, 1967, in: “Peking Review” No. 15, 1967; p. 14).