Incidente de Wuhan

El incidente de Wuhan ( chino :七二零事件; pinyin : Qī èrlíng shìjiàn ; lit. ' Incidente del 20 de julio ' ) fue un conflicto armado en la República Popular China entre dos grupos hostiles que luchaban por el control de la ciudad de Wuhan en julio de 1967, en el apogeo de la Revolución Cultural .

Los dos grupos opuestos eran los conservadores "Héroes del Millón" ( chino :百万雄师; pinyin : Bǎi wàn xióngshī ) y el más radical "Cuartel General de los Trabajadores de Wuhan" ( chino :工人总部; pinyin : Gōngrén zǒngbù ). El primero, con aproximadamente 500 000 miembros, estaba compuesto principalmente por trabajadores cualificados, empleados estatales y locales del partido, y contaba con el apoyo de las fuerzas locales del Ejército Popular de Liberación , lideradas por el comandante de la Región Militar de Wuhan , el general Chen Zaidao . El "Cuartel General de los Trabajadores de Wuhan", también con cerca de 500 000 miembros, estaba compuesto principalmente por trabajadores y estudiantes de organizaciones de la Guardia Roja , cuyos líderes habían estado en prisión desde la Contracorriente de Febrero . ^{[ 1 ]}

Ambas partes se enfrascaron en una extensa campaña de propaganda para intentar conseguir el apoyo de las bases proletarias. Las autoridades centrales de Pekín finalmente respaldaron a la facción del Cuartel General de los Trabajadores como el grupo revolucionario "auténtico" y reprendieron a Chen Zaidao por su apoyo militar a los Héroes del Millón. Este suceso se consideró un punto de inflexión crucial en la Revolución Cultural: marcó la primera vez que los líderes militares se negaron a acatar las órdenes de las autoridades centrales y, en particular, del Grupo de la Revolución Cultural . El temor a una revuelta más generalizada del Ejército Popular de Liberación llevó a Mao y a sus colaboradores más cercanos a reducir el alcance de los componentes más radicales del movimiento.

All over China during the Cultural Revolution, provincial and municipal governments were replaced by organizations known as Revolutionary Committees (alliances of cadres, soldiers and student/worker groups) to take charge of governing the country and cleansing it from "counterrevolutionary forces" and "reactionary elements". With orders from the top leadership to "find and capture those in power walking the capitalist road," almost all incumbent party and government officials became vulnerable to attacks from Red Guard organizations - not owing to their ideological disposition but solely as a result of their incumbency. However, "capitalist roader" was a nebulous label that could be liberally applied to anyone perceived to be counter to the revolutionary spirit. Various mass organizations around the country took advantage of this chaotic backdrop and seized the opportunity to overthrow incumbent power figures with whom they may have carried other, unrelated grievances. In the central industrial city of Wuhan, two groups largely coalesced around those who wanted to preserve the incumbent political order in the city and those who wanted to overthrow it.^[2]

The Workers' Headquarters arose out of a union of local Red Guard youth and various "revolutionary" workers organizations from Wuhan's numerous steel plants. On January 27, 1967, they attempted to lay siege to the Wuhan party organization and the municipal government and then seize power in the city themselves, much in the fashion of the Shanghai People's Commune. However, incumbent interests rallied ordinary residents against the action and the takeover ultimately failed. It was thereafter branded as a "counterrevolutionary incident". In February, more than 1000 radicals were detained, some of whom were imprisoned while others were released after making public confessions.

In March 1967, local PLA units under the command of General Chen Zaidao forcefully disbanded the Worker's Headquarters faction and detained some 500 of its leaders. At the same time, it had been funding its own "revolutionary mass organization", dubbed "The Million Heroes," drawn from a wider cross-section of conservative interests in the city. The Million Heroes, whose slogans were also broadly "revolutionary" in tone, were mainly intent on maintaining the status quo. Their position was that, in essence, the existing Wuhan political establishment was loyally adhering to the Cultural Revolution's main programme and therefore should not have been a target for struggle.^[2]

Central authorities in Beijing did not issue any public statements on the March 1967 actions taken by the PLA against the Workers' Headquarters faction; privately the Cultural Revolution Group (CRG) griped about the direction of the movement in Wuhan, but stopped short of issuing a rebuke to Wuhan's PLA leaders. Instead, they attempted to pull Chen Zaidao aside from a top-level military conference in Beijing in April and prod him into admitting that some of the March actions had gone too far and acknowledge that the local PLA may have made "mistakes" in their handling of the situation. Chen, however, refused to stand down, and insisted on the general correctness of the PLA's actions.^[3]

Tensions grew in Wuhan through April as the Worker's Headquarters faction carried out hunger strikes and conducted rallies, claiming to be the "true bearer" of the revolutionary cause; meanwhile, the Million Heroes accused the Worker's Headquarters of subverting the revolution by not properly adhering to the campaign to denounce Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.^[3] Amid the growing hostilities, the CRG felt a greater urgency to respond and extend its 'divine interpretation' of the events on the ground. Under the auspice of Zhou Enlai and with approval from Mao, the authorities in Beijing issued an order to Chen to withdraw support to the Million Heroes. The directive asserted that the Wuhan military had made a mistake in "general orientation" in carrying out Cultural Revolution policies - that it must publicly admit that its March actions against Workers' Headquarters were incorrect. The directive also labelled the Million Heroes as a "conservative organization" and branded the Workers' Headquarters as a "revolutionary organization"; this was, in effect, the CRG throwing its weight behind the latter.^[4][5]

In the worst outbreak of violence that ensued, in June 1967, more than 100 people had been killed and some 3,000 wounded.

Minister of Public Security Xie Fuzhi and leading propagandist Wang Li arrived on July 16 and immediately ordered General Chen to withdraw support from the Million Heroes and instead extend it to the Workers' Headquarters.^[4] Mao himself also traveled to the city secretly, staying at the Wuhan East Lake Guest House, whereby security was tightened to the point that the entire staff at the Guest House was changed on the eve of his arrival.^[2]

On July 18, after two days of talks, Mao concluded that Chen had committed errors and must write a self-criticism while retaining his command. Mao stated that the "Workers' Headquarters" should be regarded as the core group of the "Left" while the Million Heroes should be encouraged to unite with them, on the basis that both groups were workers and should not have any fundamental conflict of interest. Chen seemed to be swayed by Mao's verdict in Wuhan and acquiesced himself. Wang Li then gathered some 200 divisional officers at an impromptu conference and reprimanded them for failing to grasp the essence of the Cultural Revolution. His speech drew particular ire with the military brass due to its condescending tone.^[2]

The more detailed order, relayed through Xie to a gathering of the PLA leadership in Wuhan on July 19, could not be implemented; several of Chen Zaidao's units refused to carry out the order. Moreover, a significant sub-section of the city lent support to the Million Heroes, making their position a formidable one. Generally, Million Heroes supporters saw that their being labelled a "conservative" organization would have totally tarnished their leftist credentials and lent rival groups ammunition to attack them - giving them impetus to protest the order en masse. The local PLA organization, too, felt that if they were to accede to the order, it would be an implicit admission that they had committed a grave error in the course of the Cultural Revolution - something that could be used to attack them in the future.^[4]

The Million Heroes regarded Xie and Wang to be the main representatives of the central authorities. On July 20, forces belonging to Chen's mutinous PLA division, disturbed with the verdict assigned to the military district and the Million Heroes, captured and physically assaulted Xie Fuzhi, while simultaneously, thousands of agitators from the Million Heroes commandeered and drove convoys of army lorries and fire trucks to the Military regional headquarters, demanding Wang Li for an explanation. When he failed to appear, they went to the Guest House whereby unbeknown to them, Mao was residing, stormed the building where Wang was staying. Supported by a sympathetic local regiment, they broke into his room and captured Wang Li for a struggle session to which he was severely beaten with one of his legs broken.^[4] Wang Li and Xie Fuzhi were later rescued by military operatives as part of a secret operation and returned to Beijing on 25 July, to a hero's welcome, supposedly having saved the city from "counter-revolutionary" rebellion.^[4]

In a last attempt to resolve the crisis, Zhou Enlai himself secretly flew to Wuhan on July 20; for his own safety, Zhou landed at a nearby airstrip controlled by the PLA Air Force, a branch of the military loyal to Lin Biao (and therefore, the Cultural Revolution). Mao himself had to be flown out to Shanghai in the early hours the same day, breaking the rule that had been imposed by the Politburo since 1959 that forbade Mao to travel by air for fear of an accident.^[4][6]

However, for the next three days, the unrest continued, whereby several hundred thousands people from the Million Heroes group and their supporters paraded through the city in a show of strength, calling for the dismissal of Wang Li and Xie Fuzhi and the overthrow of the Cultural Revolution Group, led by Mao's wife Jiang Qing.^[2]

The more radical Worker's Headquarters then launched a pogrom against the Million Heroes, which left more than 600 workers dead. It is estimated that about one thousand people were killed, and tens of thousands more injured, in Wuhan during the July 1967 troubles in the city. In the province as a whole, 184,000 people were seized, beaten, maimed or killed.^[7]

On July 26, Chen Zaidao and his political commissar Zhong Hanhua were dragged to Beijing's PLA-controlled Jingxi Hotel to take part in what essentially amounted to a "show trial" where central authorities in Beijing accused the Wuhan military establishment of supporting the wrong group in the preceding struggles in the city. Air Force Commander Wu Faxian, a Lin Biao loyalist, and security chief Xie Fuzhi accused Chen of a litany of crimes in front of a large contingent of senior military and political leaders, many of whom, incredulous at the abuse being hurled on Chen, left in disgust during the meeting. Chen was also beaten by security personnel during the session. Chen and Zhong were then summarily dismissed and replaced with figures more loyal to the Cultural Revolution-friendly central leadership. The Wuhan event was branded as a "counter-revolutionary incident".^[8] Mao himself privately disagreed, arguing that if Chen had wanted a rebellion, he would not have permitted Mao to leave; instead the pressure to evacuate Wuhan irritated Mao greatly. Chen was eventually not designated a counter-revolutionary.^[9]

Tras el incidente, Jiang Qing, en un discurso ante organizaciones de la Guardia Roja en la provincia de Henan, introdujo la idea de "atacar con palabras, pero defender con armas" (es decir, wen-gong wu-wei ). Estas declaraciones incendiarias fueron interpretadas por las organizaciones rebeldes de todo el país como un respaldo a la lucha armada, lo que provocó una escalada de violentos enfrentamientos entre facciones en todo el territorio nacional. La violencia subsiguiente, parte de la cual se dirigió directamente contra diversas unidades locales del Ejército Popular de Liberación (EPL), llevó a Mao y a sus partidarios radicales a reducir su apoyo a la rebelión armada, probablemente por temor a una represalia más generalizada del EPL. Para apaciguar al EPL y calmar los ánimos entre los altos mandos militares, Wang Li fue arrestado en agosto de 1967, convertido en chivo expiatorio como principal instigador de la violencia entre facciones en Wuhan y enviado a prisión.