Regarding presiding over the daily work of the Military Commission
In February 1976, the Central Committee issued Document No. 1, which contained two contents: one was proposed by Chairman Mao and unanimously approved by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, and Comrade Hua Guofeng was appointed Acting Prime Minister of the State Council; the other was Upon Chairman Mao's proposal, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee unanimously approved that Comrade Chen Xilian be responsible for presiding over the work of the Central Military Commission during Comrade Ye Jianying's illness.
Regarding the second decision, since the central government documents did not mention the specific situation, many comrades are not sure what happened. I will briefly talk about the process here.
At that time, people who were both members of the Standing Committee of the Military Commission and members of the Political Bureau included me, Wang Dongxing, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao and others. Chairman Mao said that Chen Xilian participated in the revolution since childhood, knew how to fight, led a corps, and was in charge of artillery. He also had a position in the State Council, so let him take charge of it. When the Central Committee was meeting, I met Chairman Mao. The Chairman had poor eyesight at the time and his eyesight was relatively poor. I said to the Chairman: I am Chen Xilian. The chairman took my hand and said: You have to take charge. At the end of the meeting, Chairman Mao took my hand again and said: You have to take charge. Later, the Politburo met and unanimously agreed to Chairman Mao's proposal.
The day after the "Gang of Four" was crushed, I wrote a report to the Central Committee in Yuquan Mountain, requesting that I no longer be in charge of the work of the Military Commission, but that I should ask Ye Shuai to take charge.
Comrade Hua Guofeng said, don't write this report yet. Ye Shuai will still help me deal with domestic affairs, and you will continue to take care of military affairs. He asked me to retract the report. This continued until March 1977, when the Central Committee officially issued a document announcing that Comrade Ye Jianying had recovered. After discussion and approval by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, the daily work of the Central Military Commission would be presided over by Comrade Ye Jianying, assisted by Chen Xilian.
When I was in charge of the daily work of the Military Commission, I often reported work to Ye Shuai and listened to instructions. Ye Shuai also often inquires about the affairs of the Military Commission and supports my work.
At that time, some comrades had some misunderstandings about me because they did not understand the situation, and they made some criticisms and accusations. I can completely understand this. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, I made a special explanation on this issue. Comrades who didn't understand the situation figured out what happened and eliminated their misunderstandings about me. I remember one time I was hospitalized in 301, and Comrade Su Yu was also hospitalized. He came to see me and said to me: I didn’t understand the situation before, but now I understand it, and there is no such thing at all. Comrade Xiaoping also said when he talked to me: I understand you, you have no ambition.
Of course, due to my low ability and limited level, and the very complicated struggle situation at that time, I made mistakes and mistakes in my work, and the responsibility lies with me.
