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@RBrookhiser "when Mao's economic policies associated with the Great Leap Forward caused a nationwide famine, Peng became critical of Mao's leadership. The rivalry between Peng and Mao culminated in an open confrontation between the two at the 1959 Lushan Conference. Mao won this 1/
@RBrookhiser confrontation, labeled Peng as a leader of an 'anti-Party clique', and purged Peng.... Following the advent of the Cultural Revolution, Peng was arrested by Red Guards. From 1966–1970, radical factions within the Communist Party, led by Lin Biao and Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, 2/
@RBrookhiser singled out Peng for national persecution, and Peng was publicly humiliated in numerous large-scale struggle sessions and subjected to physical and psychological torture in organized efforts to force Peng to confess his "crimes" against Mao Zedong and the Communist Party. In 3/
@RBrookhiser 1970 Peng was formally tried and sentenced to life imprisonment, and he died in prison in 1974. After Mao died in 1976, Peng's old ally, Deng Xiaoping, emerged as China's paramount leader. Deng led an effort to formally rehabilitate people who had been unjustly persecuted 4/
@RBrookhiser during the Cultural Revolution, and Peng was one of the first leaders to be posthumously rehabilitated" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peng_Dehu…
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