ABSTRACT
The Cultural Revolution demonstrated that major ideological and policy differences exist within the Chinese Communist Party. Any assessment of the politics of the post-Mao leadership must be set against the rise and fall of the 'Gang of Four'. Mao Zedong developed the notion that class struggle was generated constantly throughout the whole period of socialist transition. It was just as much a consequence of the present situation as it was a result of remnants of the past. Such class struggle, Mao maintained, was reflected within the Communist Party itself as a conflict between opposing ideological and policy positions. The victory of the 'practice' faction, in late 1978, was not achieved without some degree of compromise on its part. Deng Xiaoping, it appears, has modified his position somewhat and there are still elements within the Party which seem to have prevented any official criticism of Mao by name.
