Cultural Revolution OTD 1976

10/4/76 Worker Wang Mingsheng writes to the People's Daily to defend the Tiananmen protest against the "perverse running dogs of arbitrary power".

10/4/76 The People's Daily reports "hundreds of millions" joining parades to celebrate "arch unrepentant capitalist roader" Deng Xiaoping's downfall.

9/4/76 Wu De tells the rally that "the great might of the proletarian dictatorship quickly put down the counter-revolutionary political incident".

9/4/76 A 100 000-strong rally in Beijing led by Wu De welcomes the two "Central Committee resolutions" to sack Deng Xiaoping and promote Hua Guofeng.

9/4/76 For a second day, cities across the country hold their own rallies to welcome Hua Guofeng's elevation and Deng Xiaoping's removal from office.

9/4/76 The People's Daily invites readers to "Warmly Hail Chairman Mao's Brilliant Decision" and to "Indignantly Denounce Deng Xiaoping's Crimes".

8/4/76 Shanghai worker Huang Shuisheng hoists a flag over his factory bearing a painting he's made of Zhou Enlai's face. He cuts the halyard loose.

8/4/76 A large parade led by militia marches through Tiananmen Square to welcome "Chairman Mao's brilliant decision" to get rid of Deng Xiaoping.

8/4/76 Guangzhou worker Zhuang Xinxin writes to the People's Daily promising to lay down his life for Deng Xiaoping and the memory of Zhou Enlai.

7/4/76 Yao Wenyuan tells his diary of the need to "smash all bourgeois democratic conventions" that make it harder to just "get rid of bad people".

7/4/76 Late and after sleeping pills, Yao Wenyuan summarises in his diary the lesson of "crushing the counter-revolutionary coup" - decisive force.

7/4/76 With some speed, the Xinhua News Agency reports factories and universities celebrating this evening's announcement of Deng Xiaoping's sacking.

7/4/76 Mirroring 1966 attacks on Wu Han and associates, Beijing students attack the "3-family village" of Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan.

7/4/76 A poster in the Beijing 2nd Foreign Language Institute's dining hall urges people to "overthrow the Zhang-Jiang-Yao reactionary clique".

7/4/76 Wang Qin's poster tells his fellow soldiers to "learn from the heroes of the Tiananmen Square movement" and calls Deng Xiaoping their friend.

7/4/76 An officer in the Beijing Garrison, Wang Qin, puts a big-character poster on a tree. It calls Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao "fake Marxists".

7/4/76 The broadcast worker's poster predicts that Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan will one day be killed for what they did to Zhou Enlai.

7/4/76 A Central Broadcasting Bureau worker puts up a big-character poster addressing "Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan (vicious wolves)".

7/4/76 The broadcast edits Wu De's speech, naming Deng Xiaoping where originally he was just referred to as "the unrepentant capitalist roader".

7/4/76 Explaining that "Deng Xiaoping's nature has become an antagonistic contradiction", the broadcast attributes Deng's removal personally to Mao.