Wu De (; February 5, 1913 – November 29, 1995),吴德的风雨人生
/ref> born Li Chunhua (), was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He served in provincial-level leadership positions in Pingyuan Province,

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

municipality, Jilin Province, and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

municipality, and was a member of the

Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is the executive committee of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Currently, the bureau i ...

from 1973 to 1980. After the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, Wu was a key supporter of Hua Guofeng and was forced out of politics after

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

ousted Hua from his leadership position.

Communist revolution

Wu joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

in 1933, and organized strikes and other workers' actions in the Tangshan area. After the eruption of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, he organized the

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

Anti-Japanese Army, committing it to guerrilla warfare in the northern regions. In 1940 he was appointed head of a working commission under the

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is the Central committee, highest organ when the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, national congress is not ...

to oversee activity behind enemy lines. After the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

, he served as Party secretary for Tangshan.

Early PRC

After the communist victory of 1949, Wu De briefly served as Vice Minister of Fuel Industry of the newly established People's Republic of China. He became the Communist Party Chief of Pingyuan Province in 1950, replacing Pan Fusheng, who had been demoted. After Pingyuan Province was abolished in 1952, Wu De was transferred to

, where he served as Vice Mayor and then Mayor from 1952 to 1955. Afterwards he was appointed the party chief (then called First Secretary) of Jilin Province.

Cultural Revolution

Wu served in this position until the

started in 1966. As

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

insisted that the

Municipal Committee needed to be reorganized without Peng Zhen, who contested the policies of the Cultural Revolution, on June 4 the Central Committee transferred Wu De to the capital as second secretary of the CCP Municipal Committee, ranking immediately beneath First Secretary Li Xuefeng. During their leadership, the two of them ordered the suspension of classes of Beijing universities to allow students to fully concentrate on the Cultural Revolution. In 1967 he became a vice-chairman of the Beijing Revolutionary Committee, and was elected member of the CCP Central Committee in 1969. As

clashed with Lin Biao and Chen Boda at the Central Committee plenum held in Lushan in 1970, Wu De advised him to act swiftly in order to avoid trouble within the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

. He said: "The Chairman must act personally ... believing in the possibility to enlighten a lot of people united under the great leader Chairman Mao." From this moment on, Mao praised Wu De, calling him "virtuous" (playing on Wu De's first name, whose character 德 means "virtue"). Lin's death in the air crash following his attempted coup in 1971 enforced Wu's position. He was proclaimed head of the Cultural Group Under the State Council, a sort of temporary Minister of Culture. After Xie Fuzhi's death in 1972, Wu De took over as chairman of the Beijing Revolutionary Committee and concurrently first secretary of the CCP Beijing Committee. In 1973 he was admitted into the CCP Politburo. He took active part at the " Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius" campaign, but Jiang Qing, believing he wanted to mislead the movement, criticized him, bringing forth his hostility towards the Gang of Four. In 1975, he was a vice-chairman of the

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. It exercises the powers of the NPC when it is not in s ...

(NPC). Wu De actively struggled against a rehabilitated

and worked to promote Hua Guofeng as Mao's successor. He advocated repression of the 1976 Tiananmen Incident, earning the ironic nickname of "no virtue," (无德) a pun on his name. In October of the same year, he played a role in the arrest of the Gang of Four.

Downfall under Deng Xiaoping

The rise of

and the ouster of the Gang of Four marked the beginning of a repudiation of the Cultural Revolution. Though initially an important part of Hua Guofeng's leadership, Wu De was openly criticized at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CCP Central Committee and lost his Politburo seat. In 1980, along with Chen Xilian and other Maoists, he was purged and resigned his post in the NPC Standing Committee. Despite his participation to the Cultural Revolution, his role in removing the Gang of Four earned him a powerless position in the Central Advisory Commission by

Hu Yaobang Hu Yaobang (20 November 1915 – 15 April 1989) was a Chinese politician who was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the Leader of the Chinese Communist Party, top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from ...

and Wan Li's suggestions. He died in Beijing in 1995.

References