Mao Assassinated in 1971

In 1971 supporters of Lin Biao allegedly plotted to assassinate Mao Ze Dong and take over China. It was foiled by Mao unexpectedly changing the planned route. What would happen if they did go through with it?
 
IIRC the coup was planned by Lin Biao's son, who I suspect didn't exactly know what he was doing. Also, Lin Biao himself was bookish and introverted, as well as sickly, not exactly great leadership material. If things go wrong, instead of having a unified PLA up against Jiang Qing and her Cultural Revolution Committee, you might have the PLA itself splinter as more carnage breaks out in the upper echelons of the CCP and the relevant committees. This would lead to a very confused civil war/power struggle, or possibly consolidation of power by Jiang and co. o_O
 
This would lead to a very confused civil war/power struggle, or possibly consolidation of power by Jiang and co. o_O

Could she really hold onto power at this point? From what I've read about her, she doesn't seem to have had a strong base of support...

fasquardon
 
Could she really hold onto power at this point? From what I've read about her, she doesn't seem to have had a strong base of support...

fasquardon
She really didn't. Jiang Qing was disliked by most everyone except the Gang of Four, and the only reason anyone tolerated her was because she was Mao's wife. Look at what happened when he died: she lasted about a month before being taken out.

In all probability Zhou Enlai would take over, since he's the most senior and well-respected leader left standing. Once he dies (although he probably dies later because without Mao to stop him Zhou can get his cancer treated) Deng Xiaoping (who Zhou would restore to prominence) would probably take over.
 
Could she really hold onto power at this point? From what I've read about her, she doesn't seem to have had a strong base of support...

fasquardon
Not her, but someone under her or a cabal. But what others said about Zhou taking power makes more sense, since the Party was more institutionally entrenched than either the military or any of the Cultural Revolution thugs.
 

Japhy

Banned
Exactly, think it was Bombard The Headquarters by Japhy. End result IIRC was Deng rising to power early.
No, thats not what happened.

In regards to the OP: If the plan existed, and I doubt that it was anything more substantial than a few folks in Lin's clique fantasizing about being free of purge worries, the coup would absolutely have to be ratified by the party to have any chance of governance. The plot itself was a joke, calling on far too small a loyal force to seize control, and using such varied elements as factory guard units and Air Force Auxiliaries rather than any large force of infantry and Armor. So without a rubber stamp, which the plotters seemed to have avoided developing its a non-starter.

If you handwave these issues aside, like I did in Bombard the Headquarters, and have the thing actually sort-of kind-of go off as more than a third rate plot of a fifth rate cabal, you have a political reshuffle of sorts and you see the final end to the last stage of the Cultural Revolution. The CR, having burnt itself out at this point, with the Red Guards being dragged out to the countryside and the leadership having been gutted, all anyone wants is to see it end. Thats true of Lin who was one of its masterminds, the "Capitalist Roader" types who eventually won, even the Gang of Four. All were looking for some way to finish the damned thing and move on, its just a matter of how the thing will look when its finished, and who is going to get put before a show trial. Of course that doesn't mean everyone else is going to follow the path of entrenched rapprochement with the US, or the move towards the State Capitalist-Near Free Market that we wound up getting in the end, but some sort of new policy would have to be developed. One can take their pick really as to what that means though, short of a full and complete rejection of Maoism.
 
Should Lin prevail, you can kiss any trip to Beijing by Nixon/Kissinger goodbye.
 
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