Mao Retires—Unwillingly

Then at the 6th Plenum in 1958, a resolution was adopted to "accept" Mao's request not to be the Chairman of the Republic on the ground that he needed more time to pursue the theoretical works of Marx and Lenin. Every effort was made to give the impression that Mao retired willingly but in fact Liu had quietly eased him out of the chairmanship. Mao was moved to comment on the the event retrospectively in 1966, when he said, "I was extremely discontented with that decision, but I could do nothing about it. "He also complained that he was treated like a "dead man at his own funeral."

In order to break the opposition's control over the party, the Youth League and the trade unions, Mao was forced to depend on the armed forces under the command of Lin Piao to regain his power. With the backing of Lin, Mao was able to remove Peng Chen together with a number of the Central Committee members; he then convened the 11th plenary session of the Central Committee at which he shuffled the Politbureau and the Standing Committee to pave his way back to power.

Despite these drastic measures, he was still unable to control the lower ranks and the base of the political hierarchy. Moreover, he was concerned that if he relied too much on Lin, he would lose some of his power to Lin. Instead he agitated through the medium of propaganda for the young people to form the Red Guards. Taking advantage of his personal prestige and the rebellious impulse of the young people, Mao urged the Red Guards to launch struggles against the opposition elements.