Word: mao
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Headlining your article on Jamaica's recent elections "Castro's Pal Wins Again" [Dec. 27] carries as much relevancy as a headline "Mao's Friend Wins Again" for an article on Nixon's re-election to the U.S. presidency...
...from being over, the struggle to succeed Mao Tse-tung may have just begun. Most China watchers thought the battle for power had been settled-at least temporarily-when Hua Kuo-feng was named Party Chairman and then moved decisively to purge Mao's widow Chiang Ch'ing and her radical "Gang of Four." But widespread protests against the radicals' purge have persisted in China (TIME, Jan. 10). Then came another mysterious shock. At ceremonies in Peking's T'ien An Men Square marking the first anniversary of the death of Premier Chou Enlai, there...
...free to combine the nations, free to rise above chauvinism, free to take our clues from the delightful, unexplored, uncongested world around us. We have, for the most part, avoided the brutal homogeneities of the concentration camp and the instant orthodoxies that are revisable at the death of a Mao. During our first two centuries, a raw continent made us flexible and responsive. Our New World remains more raw and more unexplored than we will admit...
Reports TIME Correspondent Richard Bernstein, who is based in Hong Kong: "The mix of popular dissatisfaction, the loss of Mao as a figure of authority and the constant infighting within the bureaucracy have created the most explosive political crisis to face China since the Cultural Revolution of 1966-69. The vast might of the military makes a genuine civil war unlikely, but if lingering unrest and sporadic outbreaks of violence continue, Hua could be shunted aside by the army. His military backers may decide that they have put up the wrong man to deal with the post-Mao crisis...
Unrest among ordinary Chinese may prove harder for Hua to deal with. Mass dissatisfaction, held in check under Mao, was unleashed following his death. Workers are unhappy over low wages, effectively frozen since 1971. There is widespread resentment about intrusive authority, misuse of power by local officials and party demands for constant indoctrination sessions. Existing poverty has been exacerbated by the rising expectations that are encouraged by the Chinese leaders, who talk constantly about the splendid present and the glowing future. Young Chinese resent the practice of being sent from the cities to the countryside to learn the virtues...