Xie Fuzhi - Cultural Revolution

Cultural Revolution

Xie gave a speech in the summer of 1966, in his capacity as Minister of Public Security, that essentially gave carte blanche to the Red Guards to confiscate and kill their opponents. Xie, unlike other People's Liberation Army (PLA) Generals, was fond of the Red Guards and sought to develop them as a parallel army, a special security force. The Gang of Four, Xie's allies, had similar ideas about creating a paramilitary force to balance the power of the PLA. Some consider the speech he gave to be the trigger for the violence that followed.

His staunch support for the Cultural Revolution led him to be elected alternate member of the Politburo, secretary of the Secretariat and a member of the reorganized Beijing Committee in 1966. He was also a member of the powerful Cultural Revolution Group.

In 1967, as it was happening throughout the country starting from Shanghai, in Beijing all power was passed to a new revolutionary committee, of which Xie Fuzhi was elected chairman. He was preferred over CPC Beijing Committee Secretary Li Xuefeng who was deemed to be too hostile to the Red Guards. He was also first political commissar of the Beijing Military Region.

At the same time, Xie launched an anti-revisionist campaign within the security and intelligence personnel of the Ministry of Public Security, declaring it had followed a counter-revolutionary line under Luo Ruiqing. His active support for the Cultural Revolution led him to be elected full member of the Politburo at the Ninth Congress in 1969. In 1971, when the Beijing Party Committee was re-elected, he was appointed its first secretary.

Xie remained in charge of state security until his sudden death in 1972.