More Power for the Army

The news that filters out of Red China these days is conflicting, fragmentary and often outrageously exaggerated. But out of all the bits of information last week, one conclusion was unmistakable: the army is being given more and more power. Under the chop mark of Party Chairman Mao Tse-tung, his wife Chiang Ching and other government leaders, a terse command went out to military garrisons across the land telling them to take control of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and restore order.

For the past six months, Mao has tried to run his revolution through a three-way alliance between party members, Red Guards and the army. The result has been a three-way brawl. Now, in what amounts to a coup within a revolution, power has largely passed to the 2,500,000-man army of Vice Premier Lin Piao.

Growing Disorder. Mao seems more worried than ever over the fragmentation of the Cultural Revolution that he unleashed nine months ago. The Red Guards, who were his first chosen instruments for rooting out his opponents, have become so unruly and fractious that chances are Mao could not rein them in all by himself; in any event, he appears too fearful of a rebuff to try. As for the party, Mao quite openly distrusts it, fearing that the loyalty of many party members still belongs to his archenemy, President Liu Shao-chi. Mao had little choice but to place his bet on the army. Yet there are questions about the army too. It is divided into political factions, and half of its officers have been hauled up before one type of revolutionary committee or another and scolded for not being Red enough. Red Guards in Honan province last week complained that soldiers stood by while anti-Maoist workers beat them up.

Despite his frenetic witch hunting, Mao has won undisputed control of only four of Red China's 21 provinces, and only two (Peking and Shanghai) of its major cities. Now, since his supporters have begun fighting among themselves, he is unlikely to make much more progress. Peking wall posters last week told of a violent battle between rival Maoist groups in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, which borders on North Viet Nam. According to the big character signs, 266 Maoists were killed and 1,000 wounded. Stability in Yunnan is vital to Mao because through it pass the railroad lines that carry supplies to Hanoi.

Uncertain Future. Mao's moves provided new grist for China-watchers from Hong Kong to Harvard. At a Washington meeting of China experts last week, American University's Ralph Powell insisted that much of the trouble stems from Mao's idealistic demand that Red China's leaders should "act like guerrilla revolutionaries." Said Powell: "Mao is a romantic, and they are a bunch of bureaucrats. They don't want to oppose the old man; they just wish he would go away and leave them alone to run their own provinces." Berkeley's Robert Scalapino thought that "the Maoists, relying on the bulk of the army, will survive this crisis, though it is extremely doubtful that Maoism will survive for the long-range future."

Columbia's A. Doak Barnett argued that the rising influence of the military will make "the future policies of Red China more pragmatic and less ideological." As a result, he said, Red China will not intervene in Viet Nam unless it feels directly menaced by an Allied invasion of North Viet Nam or by provocative violations of its airspace. In all likelihood, he said, Red China's army will now be so occupied with its task of restoring order that it will have little time and little strength left over for other matters.

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