Peng Dehuai - Defense Minister - Political Activities

Political Activities

Peng had been an alternate member of the Central Committee since 1934, a full member since 1938, and a member of the Politburo since 1945, but it was not until he became the leader of the PLA and moved permanently to Beijing, in November 1953, that Peng was able to attend regular political meetings and became active in domestic politics. Peng had been loyal to Mao's leadership since the 1935 Zunyi Conference, and continued to support Mao for several years after moving to Beijing. Peng (like Lin Biao) was implicated in passively supporting Gao Gang's effort to replace Liu Shaoqi as the second most powerful person in China in 1953, but then opposed Gao in 1954, once Mao made his own opposition clear. Mao did not take any action against Peng (or Lin), but Peng's involvement alienated Peng from Liu and Liu's supporters. In 1955 Peng supported Mao's efforts to collectivize agriculture. Along with Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Lin Biao, Lin Boqu, and Luo Ronghuan, Peng opposed Mao's attempt to liberalize China's culture and politics in the first stages of the 1957 Hundred Flowers Campaign, but then supported Mao's efforts to arrest and persecute Chinese citizens who had criticized the CCP later that year.

During the late 1950s, Peng developed a personal dislike for Mao's efforts to promote his own image in Chinese popular culture as a perfect, infallible hero singularly responsible for the Communist victories of his time. In 1955–56 Peng was involved in a large number of efforts to moderate Mao's popular image, developing into a personal campaign. Peng's preference for modesty and simplicity led Peng to oppose Mao's efforts to develop his personality cult. In 1955 a draft copy of a book, The Military History of the PVA, was submitted to Peng so that he could edit and authorize it. In the preface of the book it was stated that "the military victories of the PVA" were won "under the correct leadership of the CCP and of Comrade Mao Zedong": Peng authorized the text after removing the phrase "and of Comrade Mao Zedong". In 1956 an anonymous Chinese citizen wrote a letter to Peng condemning the practices of hanging portraits of Mao in public places and singing songs in praise of Mao: Peng sent this letter to Huang Kecheng, his chief of staff, to be widely distributed. Peng successfully opposed efforts to place a bronze statue of Mao in the Beijing Military Museum, saying: "why take the trouble to put it up? What is put up now will be removed in the future." When greeted by a group of soldiers who shouted "Long Live Chairman Mao!" (literally "10,000 years for Chairman Mao"), Peng addressed the soldiers, saying: "You shout '10,000 years for Chairman Mao!' – does he, then, live for 10,000 years? He will not even live for 100 years! This is a personality cult!" When one of Peng's political commissars suggested to him that the song The East is Red (a song that idealizes Mao, which Mao later had sung in place of the Chinese national anthem during the Cultural Revolution) be widely taught throughout the PLA, Peng angrily rejected the suggestion, saying "That is a personality cult! That is idealism!" Later in 1956 a group of soldiers visited Peng in order to request an audience with the Chairman, but Peng rejected them, saying: "He is an old man, what is so beautiful about him?"

In preparation for the Eighth National Congress, held in September 1956, Peng attended a Politburo committee to redraft the new Party Constitution. At this meeting, Peng suggested that a section in the Constitution's preamble referring to Mao Zedong Thought be removed. Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Zhen, and most other senior CCP members present quickly agreed, and it was removed from the final version of the 1956 Party Constitution. At the Congress, Peng was re-appointed to the Politburo and as a full member of the Central Committee.

Peng resented Mao's personal lifestyle, which Peng considered decadent and luxurious. By the late 1950s Mao had developed a lifestyle that was out of touch with Peng's preference for modesty and simplicity. Mao enjoyed a private pool in Zhongnanhai, and had many villas around China built for him, which he would travel to on a private train. Mao enjoyed the companionship of an ever-changing succession of enthusiastic young women whom he met either on weekly dances in Zhongnanhai or on his journeys by train. Mao had a costly office suite built for him in Beijing, including a private, book-lined study. When Peng's wife suggested the couple spend more free time visiting Mao's quarters, Peng was reluctant, stating that Mao's surroundings were "too luxuriously furnished" for him to tolerate. Throughout the 1950s, Peng continued to refer to the Chairman as "Old Mao", an egalitarian title that was used among senior CCP leaders in the 1930s and 1940s.