ABSTRACT
The Cultural Revolution was a power struggle waged under an ideological garb, the outcome of the open rift between the Liu Shao-chi-controlled Party bureaucracy and Mao Tse-tung and his supporters. The authority of Chairman Mao was invoked and even the victory of the Cultural Revolution was stated to have been won under the Party Centre's unified leadership. For instance, the decision of the Party leadership to pay overtime for extra work to the workers of a cotton mill in Wuhan was objected to, allegedly by a large number of workers. The subsequent developments, especially the convocation of the National People's Congress session, represented substantial progress towards normalcy and signified that a broad consensus had been reached between the two contending groups—the so-called moderates and the radicals within the Party. These two groups seemed to be united on the question of asserting and establishing the over-all leadership of the Party over all sectors, including the army.
