Wu De (Chinese:吴德;pinyin:Wú Dé;Wade–Giles:Wu Teh; February 5, 1913 – November 29, 1995),[1] bornLi Chunhua (李春华), was aChinese Communist revolutionary and politician of thePeople's Republic of China. He served in provincial-level leadership positions inPingyuan Province,Tianjin municipality,Jilin Province, andBeijing municipality, and was a member of thePolitburo of the Chinese Communist Party from 1973 to 1980.[2] After theCultural Revolution, Wu was a key supporter ofHua Guofeng and was forced out of politics afterDeng Xiaoping ousted Hua from his leadership position.
Wu joined theChinese Communist Party in 1933, and organized strikes and other workers' actions in theTangshan area. After the eruption of theSecond Sino-Japanese War, he organized theHebei Anti-Japanese Army, committing it to guerrilla warfare in the northern regions. In 1940 he was appointed head of a working commission under theCentral Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to oversee activity behind enemy lines. After theChinese Civil War, he served as Party secretary for Tangshan.
After the communist victory of 1949, Wu De briefly served as Vice Minister of Fuel Industry of the newly established People's Republic of China. He became theCommunist Party Chief ofPingyuan Province in 1950, replacingPan Fusheng, who had been demoted. After Pingyuan Province was abolished in 1952, Wu De was transferred toTianjin, where he served as Vice Mayor and then Mayor from 1952 to 1955. Afterwards he was appointed the party chief (then called First Secretary) ofJilin Province.[2]
Wu served in this position until theCultural Revolution started in 1966. AsMao Zedong insisted that theBeijing Municipal Committee needed to be reorganized withoutPeng Zhen, who contested the policies of the Cultural Revolution, on June 4 the Central Committee transferred Wu De to the capital as second secretary of the CCP Municipal Committee, ranking immediately beneath First SecretaryLi Xuefeng. During their leadership, the two of them ordered the suspension of classes of Beijing universities to allow students to fully concentrate on the Cultural Revolution. In 1967 he became a vice-chairman of the BeijingRevolutionary Committee, and was elected member of the CCP Central Committee in 1969.[citation needed]
AsMao Zedong clashed withLin Biao andChen Boda at the Central Committee plenum held inLushan in 1970, Wu De advised him to act swiftly in order to avoid trouble within thePeople's Liberation Army. He said: "The Chairman must act personally ... believing in the possibility to enlighten a lot of people united under the great leader Chairman Mao." From this moment on, Mao praised Wu De, calling him "virtuous" (playing on Wu De's first name, whose character 德 means "virtue"). Lin's death in the air crash following his attempted coup in 1971 enforced Wu's position. He was proclaimed head of the Cultural Group Under theState Council, a sort of temporaryMinister of Culture.
AfterXie Fuzhi's death in 1972, Wu De took over as chairman of the Beijing Revolutionary Committee and concurrently first secretary of the CCP Beijing Committee. In 1973 he was admitted into theCCP Politburo. He took active part at the "Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius" campaign, butJiang Qing, believing he wanted to mislead the movement, criticized him, bringing forth his hostility towards theGang of Four.
In 1975, he was a vice-chairman of theStanding Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC).
Wu De actively struggled against a rehabilitatedDeng Xiaoping and worked to promoteHua Guofeng as Mao's successor. He advocated repression of the1976 Tiananmen Incident, earning the ironic nickname of "no virtue," (无德) a pun on his name. In October of the same year, he played a role in the arrest of the Gang of Four.
The rise ofDeng Xiaoping and the ouster of the Gang of Four marked the beginning of a repudiation of the Cultural Revolution. Though initially an important part of Hua Guofeng's leadership, Wu De was openly criticized at theThird Plenary Session of the 11th CCP Central Committee and lost his Politburo seat. In 1980, along withChen Xilian and otherMaoists, he was purged and resigned his post in the NPC Standing Committee.
Despite his participation to the Cultural Revolution, his role in removing the Gang of Four earned him a powerless position in theCentral Advisory Commission byHu Yaobang andWan Li's suggestions. He died in Beijing in 1995.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Party Secretary ofPingyuan 1950–1952 | Province abolished |
| Preceded by | Mayor of Tianjin 1953–1955 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Party Secretary of Jilin 1955–1966 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Mayor of Beijing Acting 1966–1967 | Succeeded byas Chairman of the Beijing Revolutionary Committee |
| Preceded byas Minister of Culture | Head of theCultural Group Under the PRC State Council 1970–1975 | Succeeded byas Minister of Culture |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Beijing Revolutionary Committee 1972–1978 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
