ABSTRACT
The "gang of four" was a group of top political leaders purged immediately after the death of Chairman Mao Tse-tung in September 1976. They generally espoused policies on the "left" of the Chinese political spectrum. The "gang of four" equated diversified economy and domestic side-occupations with capitalism, and even denounced the Party's relevant policies as "Right-deviation." In accordance with the policies relating to rural fair trade they have adopted many effective measures according to local conditions to further consolidate and extend the socialist rural market battlefront. The rural economic policies of the Party clearly stipulate that the production teams of people's communes should actively develop a diversified economy and that under the condition of insuring the absolute predominance of the collective economy, the commune members should be allowed and encouraged to develop proper domestic side-occupations. The crimes of the "gang of four" in undermining the Party's policy on rural fair trade are very serious.
