ABSTRACT
The decision of the March Politburo meeting triggered an acceleration or the struggle for control of the provincial party secretaryships to build support for the upcoming Third Plenum and Eleventh Congress. Accompanying the political struggle was a hard-hitting campaign of press criticism, which, although more apparent in the central media, occurred in the provincial press as well. The change with respect to Chiang Ch'ing was immediately apparent due to her prominent even if unsuccessful role in the first stage of the succession crisis following Mao's demise. Soviet leaders had assumed that Teng Hsiao-p'ing, having consistently opposed Mao Tse-tung throughout his career, was the one leader with whom they might reach some sort of accommodation, and they hoped for his return to a top position after Mao's death. Hua Kuo-feng closely identified himself with Mao's position and the implied idea that the time had come for China to emphasize construction of a heavy industrial base.
