ABSTRACT
For nearly a decade after the January power seizure of 1967, the core leadership at all levels of Shanghai's municipal government included a substantial number of worker rebels. The biggest deterrent to the institutionalization of worker-rebel gains was the independent spirit of the "old rebels", many of whom were soon removed from office for one or another infraction or indiscretion. The first instance of formal participation in political administration by the Shanghai worker rebels came with their January 1967 establishment of a "Frontline Command Post to Grasp Revolution and Promote Production". After the formation of the Shanghai Revolutionary Committee (SRC), subordinate revolutionary committees were established at all levels as the approved post-power seizure organizational form. Reluctant though Zhang Chunqiao was to vest too much authority in Wang Hongwen's worker rebels, he was even more troubled by the routinization that beset the revolutionary committees soon after their establishment.
