Fall
Although the Shanghai Commune was based on Paris Commune model with a "self government of producers", the Shanghai equivalent varied in several important ways. Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan derived their authority from Peking and Mao Zedong rather than the proletariat of Shanghai, leading to the questioning of the legitimacy of their leadership. Furthermore, Zhang also used the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the police to maintain order. Finally, Zhang's political opponents in Shanghai were soon excluded from the leadership of the Commune, driving several groups to establish a rival 'New Shanghai People's Commune' almost immediately after the first one's formation.
Meanwhile, in Peking, the concept of 'revolutionary committees' (triple alliances between the PLA, cadres and workers) had attracted Mao as the best organ of local government to replace the old apparatus with. As a result, in an audience with Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan in mid February, Mao suggested the transformation of the Shanghai Commune into a revolutionary committee. On the 24th February, in a televised speech to the people of Shanghai, Zhang announced the now non-existence of the Shanghai Commune, and in the subsequent weeks the 'Revolutionary Committee of the Municipality of Shanghai' was established in the city.
All in all, the Shanghai Commune had lasted less than a month.
Read more about this topic: Shanghai People's Commune
Famous quotes containing the word fall:
“The child ... stands upon a place apart, a little spectator of the world, before whom men and women come and go, events fall out, years open their slow story and are noted or let go as his mood chances to serve them. The play touches him not. He but looks on, thinks his own thought, and turns away, not even expecting his cue to enter the plot and speak. He waits,—he knows not for what.”
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