Deng Xiaoping discusses China's transition away from Maoism in an interview. He acknowledges mistakes made during Mao's later years, including the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, but argues Mao's overall contributions to China's revolution cannot be erased. Deng says portraits of Mao will remain but were removed in excess. While faults of the "Gang of Four" are blamed, Deng aims to distinguish Mao's mistakes from their crimes and restore order by prosecuting them legally.
Original Description:
Entrevista da jornalista italiana Oriana Fallaci a Deng Xiaoping. 1980.
Deng Xiaoping discusses China's transition away from Maoism in an interview. He acknowledges mistakes made during Mao's later years, including the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, but argues Mao's overall contributions to China's revolution cannot be erased. Deng says portraits of Mao will remain but were removed in excess. While faults of the "Gang of Four" are blamed, Deng aims to distinguish Mao's mistakes from their crimes and restore order by prosecuting them legally.
Deng Xiaoping discusses China's transition away from Maoism in an interview. He acknowledges mistakes made during Mao's later years, including the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, but argues Mao's overall contributions to China's revolution cannot be erased. Deng says portraits of Mao will remain but were removed in excess. While faults of the "Gang of Four" are blamed, Deng aims to distinguish Mao's mistakes from their crimes and restore order by prosecuting them legally.
WASHINGTON POST 31 AUGUST 1980 (2 SEPTEMBER) Pg.D-1
Deng: Cleaning Up Mao's Mistakes
By OHema Folteci r\ RIANA FALLACI: Mr* Deng, you recently brought upon the party, the country, the people. \J wrote that China is at a turning point which can be compared with a second revolution. In fact, the Q: Let me clear a p'o.-it, Mr. Deng. When you say the traveler arriving in Peking today has an almost ideas of Chairman Mao do you mean what is known as physical feeling of the change. No uniforms, no writ- "Mao Tse-tung Thought"? ten slogans, and the portraits of Mao Tse-tung are so A: Yes. You know, during the revolutionary war, when tare that I only saw three of them, included the on* the party was still in Yenan, we put all the ideas and the which stays at the entrance of the Forbidden City.* principles advocated by Mao Tse-tung together, we de* Will those rare portraits of Mao remain or not? fined them as "Mao Tse-tung Thought," and we consid- ered it as the thinking which would guide the party from then on. But of course Mao Tse-tung Thought was not created by Mao Tse-tung alone; Though the most of the ideas were his, other veteran revolutionaries con* tributed to the formation and develnpment of the The Chinese leader discusses thought. To mention a few names only, Chou En-lai and the coming shakeup in Liu Shaoqi and Chu Teh.
China's leadership in an Q: Don't you mention yourself?
A: I don't count, yet it's obvious that I made my^part interview with Italian to<}. I wouldn't be a veteran, an old revolutionary* other- wise. (He laughs.) But going back to what I said, in the journalist Oriana FallacL last part of his life Chairman Mao contradicted himself and the good principles he had formulated. Unhealthy thinking emerged, both by has actions and his style of work. The unhealthiest thinking of all, his ultra-leftist ideas. Well, maybe victory had made him less prudent, DENG XIAOPING: Yes, they will certainly be or maybe he had lost contact with reality. You see, be- kept forever. You see, in the past too many portraite cause of his great contribution to the revolution, he en- of Chairman Mao were shown in public, and to such joyed a tremendous prestige among the Chinese people an excess that they looked almost disrespectful, so we and so he received many praises. Too many. He thus took them off, but... Listen, Chairman Mao com- failed to institutionalize the very good principles he had mitted mistakes: It is true. But he also was one of the set up for years, such as democratic centralism and the main founders of the Chinese Communist Party and mass line, and this was one his shortcomings, though of the People's Republic of China, In evaluating his other revolutionaries had their part of responsibility in mistakee as well as his merits, we think that his mis- it. 1 myself included. A patriarchal behavior began ; to takes only rate a secondary place. This means that develop in him. And the life of the party, the life of the country, ceased to be normal.- ; the contribution he gave to the Chinese revolution cannot be obliterated and the Chinese people will a> Q: Yes, but since you call them mistakes, Mr. Deng, ways cherish hit memory. shouldn't you admit that the mis^kes began almost at Q: Yes, ft is known that today «H the faults are once, that, for instance, the Great Leap Forward was a being blamed on the Gang of Four. That is, Mao's mistake? widow Chiang Ching and the other three who led the A: Of course. When I indicated the late Fifties as the Cultural Revolution. But does this correspond to the beginning of all the mistakes, I referred to the Great historical truth? I have been told that, when we Leap Forward. However, here, too, it wouldn't be fair to speak of the Gang of Four, many Chinese raise their blame Chairman Mao only. Here, too, we veterans had a hand with the five fingers opened and they angrily good deal of fault. For instance, the fault of acting answer:"Yes, yes, fouri" against the laws of reality and pretending to speed up the'economy with methods which ignored the economi- A: (He smiles.) Then it's imperative for me to make a cal; rules. In fact, it's true that Chairman Mao was the clear distinction between the nature of Chairman Mao's main person responsible, but it is also true that he was mistakes and the crimes committed by Lin Piao and the the first one to understand the mistake, to suggest cor- Gang of Four. I must remind you that Chairman Mao rections. And when the corrections were not carried out devoted most of his life to China and saved the party because of negative factors, he made his self-criticism. and the revolution in the most critical moments. In It was 1962. But again we failed to draw lessons, and so othjsjr-words, he gave such a contribution that, without he started to launch the Cultural Revolution. him, iii the least the Chinese would have spent much mtfre time in groping their way in the darkness. Then Q: What did he really want with the Cultural Revolu- let's not forget that it was Chairman Map who com- tion? bined the principles of Marxism and Leninism with the A: To avoid the restoration of capitalism in China. realities of China, it was Chairman Mao who creatively Yes, this was the intention. Chairman Mao's intention, I applied those principles not only to politics but also to mean, not of those who would become the Gang of Four. philosophy, art, literature, military affairs. Yes, until The point is that, in spite of the good purposes, the in- the Sixties, or to be exact before the later part of the tention derived from a wrong judgment of the Chinese Fifties, some ideas of Chairman Mao were very correct, reality. And again Chairman Mao was mistaken. He was and many of the principles through which we achieved also mistaken in choosing the target to hit. He said that victory. Then, unfortunately, in the last part of his life, the target should be the capitalist readers in the party, he committed mistakes. Particularly the Cultural Revo- and by this he had a large number of the veteran revolu- lution mistake. And as a result many misfortunes were tionaries, attacked. At all levels. People who not only had excellently fought for the revolution but who also had rich experience in administration. And among them This is the fint ofa'two-part interview conducted by Oriana Fallaci, the noted Italian journalist, with (See DENG. Pg. 10-F) Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping. 9-F Part II -- Main Edition — 2 SEPTEMBER 1980 DENG — CONTINUED this time has been necessary to prepare it: Their crimes are so numerous. And now we act in the socialist legal- and expelled from there was Liu Shaoqi, soon arrested ity. the party. As a result, all the revolutionary cadres were decimated. Chairman Mao himself acknowledged it one Q: And the Four are alive, right ? Chiang Ching is year or two before dying. It was when he said that the alive, right? Cultural Revolution had been wrong for two things: be- A: She eats, very much. She sleeps, in jail of course. cause it had decimated the revolutionary cadres and be- And this shows that she is alive. They are all alive. cause it had waged an all-round civil war. Q: Good. And since they are alive, she is alive, she will Q: So it really was a civil war. talk. They will talk. And they will mention Mao, they A: What else? People were divided in two factions will say many things about Mao. What if their trial ends that massacred each of). T. And since the old revolu- with a moral condemnation of Mao, I mean a verdict tionaries had been knocked down, only those who very different from the discharge you have already de- claimed to be "rebels" ran rampant. Such as Liu Piao cided for the congress? and the members of the Gang of Four. Oh, so many peo* A: I promise you that the trial of the Gang of Four pie died in that war! will not soil Chairman Mao's memory at all. Of course it will help to demonstrate some of his responsibilities, for Q: How many? instance that he used the Gang of Four, but nothing A: It is hard to estimate because they died of all kinds more. The crimes committed by them are so many and of causes. Besides, China is such a vast country. But lis- so evident that we do not need to implicate Chairman ten: So many died that, even if other tragedies had not Mao to prove them. taken place during it, the number of the dead would be enough to say that the Cultural Revolution was the Q: I'm really surprised, Mr. Deng. Because on one side wrong thing to do. Now, to return to the question you you accuse him, on the other side you defend him. You raised in the beginning and the distinction I made, I will defend him even when you accuse him, yet twice you conclude with saying that Chairman Mao's errors were were deposed with Mao's approval political errors. This does not diminish them, true, even A: Not twice, three times. And not with Chairman MSB does it justifies them, but it is one thing to speak Mao's approval. (He laughs.) Yes, I had three deaths about political errors and another thing to speak about and three resurrections, Do you know the name of Wang crimes like the crimes of Lin Piao or the Gang's. Yes, of Min, the one who led the Chinese Communist Party and course it was Chairman Mao who permitted Lin Piao its ultra-leftist faction in 1932? Well, my first fall took and the Gang of Four to exploit his political errors to place in 1932, thanks to Wang Min. He accused me of usurp the power, but ... raising against him the group of Mao Tse-tung and knocked me down. I had to wait three years'before Q: Here is the point, Mr. Deng. In fact, I understand being resurrected on 1936, during the Long March, at very well that you leaders of the new China are living a the Zueti Yrcongress of the party. In fact, at Zuen Yi terrible drama: reshuffling and possibly cancelling the ultra-leftist opportunists of Wang Min were defeat- Mao's myth without destroying it, throwing away all ed, and I was reinstated at the post of secretary general while throwing away the least you can. In other words, of the party. The second fall, it's known, took place at the dilemma of defining the past to accept and the past the beginning of the Cultural Revolution when I still to negate. But unless you rewrite history, burning the li- was secretary general and a member of the standing braries, how will you do it? Wasn't Mao's wife the One committee of the central committeee as well as vice pre- who led the Gang? Wasn't it Mao himself who chose Lin mier. Well, this tone, too, Chairman Mao tried to pro- Piao as his successor and invested him as an emperor tect me. Without success, though, because Lin Piao and invests the heir to the throne? Moreover, would you call the Gang of Four hated me too much. Not as much as it another "mistake"? they hated Liu Shaoqi, yet enough to send me to Jang A: I call it a mistake and I put it among the other mis- Xi Province to do manual work. And when, in 1973, takes. Well, of course it was not correct. Of course Chairman Mao called me.back to Peking .. . choosing his own successor it a feudal practice for a leader. But you must also consider that democratic cen- Q: Mao or Chou En-lai? tralism did not exist anymore, that we totally missed a A: Chairman Mao. Some believe, that I was called system to avoid such things. back by Premier Chou En-lai, I know, but it wasn't Chou En-lai: It was Chairman Mao. Chou En-lai was Q: In conclusion, the next congrtai of the Chinese seriously ill at that time, and as the government de- Communist Party will not end as the 20th congress of pended almost exclusively on him, Chairman Mao the Soviet Communist Party, where Khrushchev de- called me back and put me back in government as vice nounced Stalin. Am I wrong ?. premier. He said that my mistakes were only 30 percent, A: You are not. We shall certainly evaluate Chairman my merits 70 percent, and he resurrected me with 30/70. Mao's merits and mistakes which characterized his life. Yet he, too, was already very ill and unable to meet any- We shall certainly affirm his merits and say that they body of the political bureau. He only saw the people are of primary importance, acknowledge his errors and around him. That is, the people belonging to the Gang assess that they are secondary, and while making them of Four. As for the third fall, it took place in April 1976 pwblic we will adopt a realistic attitude. But, also, we three months after the death of Chou En-lai and five shall certainly continue to uphold Mao Tse-tung months before the death of Chairman Mao. Then, in Thought, which was the correct part of his life. No, it October, the Gang of Four was arrested, and one isn't only his portrait which remains in Tienanmen shouldn't marvel at my third resurrection. Square: It is the memory of a man who guided us to vic- tory and built a country. Which is far from being little. Q: I marvel, instead: Three times! Deng, what's the se- And for this the Chinese Communist Party and the Chi- cret to dying and being resurrected three times? nese people will always cherish him as a very valuable A: (He laughs, very happily.) No secret. At a certain treasure. Do write this: We shall not do to Mao Tse- moment they thought that I could be useful again and tung what Khrushshev did to Stalin at the 20th Soviet they toyk me off the grave. That's all, Communist Party Congress. Q: But during those purges weren't you afraid to be Q: But in addition to the congress there will be the killed? trial of Lin Piao and the Gang of Four, so . . Because A: Of course. All through the Cultural Revolution, Lin the trial will take place, right? Piao and the Gang of Four wanted to murder me. They A: For sure. We are preparing it, and it should take didn't do it because Chairman Mao protectect me even place at the end of the year. when I was sent to Jang XI Province to do manual work. Chairman Mao had someone watching over my security. Q: I asked because it is more than three years since Foreign friends often ask me how it was possible for me you announced the trial and you haven't yet held it A: We'll hold it. I promise you that we'll hold it. All (See DENG, Pg. 11-F) 10-F " 2 SEPTEMBER 1980 DENG CONTINUED to survive those trials and tribulations, and I usually all ENG XIAOPING RECEDED ME on answer: "Because I am the sort of person who doesn't get discouraged easily, because I am an optimist and I know what politics is." But this answer is not the real D Thursday, Aug. 21, and on Saturday, Aug. 23, at the People's Palace in Peking. There was- answer, the complete answer. I could survive because noi a question, even the most uncomfortable and deep in my heart 1 always hoped in Chairman Mao. And insolent one, to which he wouldn't answer with I hoped in him because I knew that he knew me. frankness and candor, often smiling and some- limes laughing. All through the sternness of the Q: Well, I always heard that he could not stand you, meeting, moments of fun relieved us. that he always complained ; bout you. "He is deaf but The first one was when I expressed my good he sits far from me, as far as he can." "He treats me as if wishes for his birthday which would be the day I were dead, he never asks my advice." "He doesn't care after, Aug. 22. to know what I think, he acts his own way." "My birthday? Is my birthday tomorrow?" A: It's true, though he didn't say those things for me "Yes, Mr. Deng, I read it in your biography." only. He always complained with everybody because, he "Well, if you say so. I never know when my protested, they didn't listen to him or they did not con- birthday is. If tomorrow is my birthday, though, sult him, they did not inform him. Well, it was not true you shouldn't congratulate: it means I am 76, for the others, it was true for me. And I did that because and 76 is a decadent age." I did not like his patriarchal behavior. He acted as a "Mr. Deng, my father is 76, and if I say to my patriarch. He never wanted to know the ideas of the father that 76 is a decadent age, he slaps me." others, no matter how right they could be, he never "And he does well! You wouldn't tell your fa- wanted to hear opinions different from his. He really ther such a thing, would you?" behaved in an unhealthy, feudal way. If you don't un- The second one was when I saw him again. On derstand this, you cannot understand why there was the Thursday we had had a little fight over Stalin Cultural Revolution. because of the remark I had made about the gi- gantic portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Q: The things I don't understand are many, Mr. Deng. Stalin standing in Tienanmen Square, and on To begin with, the case of Chou En-lai. How do you ex- Saturday morning, passing there before going to plain that he was the only one they did not knock down complete my interview, I had discovered that the during the Cultural Revolution? How do you explain portraits had been taken down. that, well, being the noble person we know, he never "Mr. Deng! Stalin isn't there anymore! Nor tried to stop the infamies which happened under his Marx, nor Engels, nor Lenin! Mr. Deng, it isn't eyes, for instance the shameful arrest of Liu Shaoqi? my fault, is it? You didn't take them out because ^ A: Let's begin with saying what kind of man Chou of me, did you?" En-lai was. A man who worked very hard and never "No, no, not quite. We are simply returning to complained. Listen, there were days when he worked the old practice, as I told you before yesterday. even 12 or 16 hours out of 24. I can tell you because I When necessary, we'll put them back." knew him since France where we were together and I re- "Pity! I was so happy. I liked so much the idea garded him as my elder brother. We joined the revolu- of boasting that I had been able to take Stalin off tion almost at the same time. Chou En-lai was much re- Tienanmen Square!" spected by all, friends and enemies, people and com- "I know it, I know it. I understood it, I under- rades, and this partially explains why he wasn't wiped stood. But I shall not give you such satisfaction." out by the Cultural Revolution, why he always remained Yet I give it to myself. at his post of premier: something which was a great for- Oriana Fallaci tune for many. It also explains why he could exercise his influence as moderator and act as a pillow cushion which softens the blows. Many losses could be avoided Q: Well, it seems to me that also the Chiang Ching thanks to Chou En-lai, many people could be spared story is a feudal story. One reason why nobody dared to thanks to his role. But, in those years, he found himself oppose Chiang Ching, isn't it that Chiang Ching was the in the most difficult position. And he often said things wife of Mao? that he would have wished to have not said, he often did A: Yes. One of the reasons was that. things that he would have wished to have not done. This in spite of the fact that people forgave him all. FOF in- Q: So, was Mao so blinded by her, so dominated by stance, when Liu Shaoqi was expelled from the partv her? and jailed, it was Premier Chou En-lai who read the re- A: Listen, when I say that Chairman Mao made mis- port Of Liu's so-called crimes. takes, I also think of the mistake named Chiang Ching. She is a very, very evil woman. She is so evil that any Q: Chou En-lai did that?! evil thing you say about her isn't evil enough, and if you A: Yes. Of course the report had been written by ask me to judge her with the grades as we do in China, I others. But it was Chou En-lai who read it. He had to. answer that this is impossible, there are no grades for He could not avoid it. Chiang Ching, that Chiang Ching is a thousand times a thousand below zero. Yet Chairman Mao let her usurp Q: Awful. Sad, awful. It shows, once again, that revo- power, to form her faction, to use Mao Tse-tung's name lutions do not change men and that, after a revolution, as her personal banner for her personal interests, to use the same horrors take place as before. As a proverb says the young ignorant people to build her private political in my country: "Everything changes and remains as be- base on them . . . Even after, when he was separated fore." from her. Yes, separated. Didn't you know that for years A: Well ... I can only answer that we may prevent Chairman Mao and Chiang Ching lived apart? Yet, not or try to prevent such things by establishing an effective even after the separation did he intervene to stop her new system. You see, a while ago I mentioned the word and to prevent her from using his name. "feudal." Well, some systems of our recent past have just the stigmas of feudalism: the worship of the indi- Q: And to arrest her, to arrest the other three, it was vidual, the patriarchal Way of running things, the life- necessary to await the death of Mao. long tenure for the official, China is a country with a A: Yes. history of a thousand years of feudalism, see, and be- cause of this our revolution has been suffering a lack of Q: Mr. Deng, who engineered that arrest? I mean, in socialist democracy, of socialist legality. Now we are what sense or until what point were you responsible for trying to correct all that, to finally establish a real so- that arrest in spite of the fact that you were not in cialist democracy, a real socialist legality and . . . Lis- power? ten, there is no other way to avoid in the future what happened to Liu Shaoqi. (Spe DENG, Pg. 12-F) 11-F TT -- Main Edition -.- 2 SEPTEMBER 1980 DENC -- CONTINUED A: The decision was taken collectively and knowing' there would be a lot of rumors, yes, many people are that there would be the mass support. We had seen it peculating on the subject, but we don't have such an very well in April 1976 When the popular indignation lea. against the Gang of Four had taken the form of a mass protest against the cancellation of a ceremony to com- Q: Mr. Deng, of course you understood why, a while memorate the death of Chou En-lai. I couldn't do any- ago, I put that embarrassing question to yon, Many thing in those days. I was out, I had lost my freedom. think that there are differences between you and Hua However, in 1974 and 1975, when I was back in govern- Guofeng. Do differences exist or not? ment, I had had a direct confrontation with the Gang of A: No, they don't. The present line was decided by Four and I had exercised all the influence I could to the agreement of all Of course, on certain specific prob- show the people the true features of the Gang. But I lems we cannot always agree, but now we have reestab- must also say that, shortly before his death, Chairman lished a collective leadership and we discuss together all Mao had expressed himself in a rather hard way against the important issues. So those speculation* om the so- the Gang of Four. In fact, it had been Chairman Mao to called "power struggle" make no sense. At least for me. I use, as first, the words "Gong of Four." He had also have no interest in power. Soon I will resign from my chosen his successor in Hua Guofeng, and this to avoid post of vice premier, and in 1986 I can count on being that Chiang Ching and the others would become hit only an adviser. And listen: I am 76 years old, in 1985 I successors. And all things had a great part in the deci- will be 81, and when a man reaches that age, his brain sion to arrest the Gang. A decision which wasn't easy doesn't work too .well anymore. Moreover, when we be- because, at that time, the Four were still strong and had come old we have the tendency to be more conservative, already tried to overthow the new leadership led by Hua so it is much better to limit our role to that of advisers. Guofeng. Q: It seems to me that this is a pungent remark for Q: Then I must put to you an embarrassing question, Mao. I mean, he did not think as you do. Mr, Deng. So please forgive me. If things were as you A: (He laughs.) Some of my contemporaries!, too. In sajtfT how come that on Sept. 18,1976, while pronounc- fact, they don't want me to resign and, in-order to quiet ing his speech at the funeral of Mao, Premier Hua Guo- them down, I made a sort of compromise. I said: Well, feng said these words: "The great Cultural Revolution well see what happens when HI be 81. However, I still that Chairman Mao himsdf had wanted and guided has beliere that it would be useful for. me to resign before wiped out the restoration plots engineered by Liu teaching that age and to become an adviser, as I said. Shaoqi, Lin Piao, Deng Xiaoping, and permitted us to Enough with old men who continue to be in power until conquer again the power they had usurped inside the the day of their death, enough with lifelong tenure of party and in the structure of the state." the leaders. It has not been put on any paper that the A: (He smiles.) You see, in those days they did not old men must, rule, that the leaders must lead all their have the time to sum up the experiences. I mean, people lives, and yet this mistaken habit continues to dominate hadn't the time to think over carefully and examine the our system and to be one of our shortcomings. Because problems we had. The most important thing was to hold it prevents the young from coming up, it prevents the up Chairman Mao's banner, to cope with the Gang of country from renewing its leadership, and China needs Four, and . . . And later on, as they saw that the mass a younger leadership. Yes, the moment has come for we of the people weren't happy with that speech which old people to be more open-minded, to set an example, was not surprising, because it had not been a very well to leave our place to the younger. thought-out speech . . . Well, let's say that the speech was the expression of very simplistic ideas and that the Q: However, it is difficult to imagine the new China words of comrade Hua Guofeng were dictated by the without you. You have been and you are the brain of preoccupation of maintaining stability. After all, wasn't this change, Mr. Deng. And though you are only a vice Hua Guofeng one of the leaders who a month later premier . . . By the way, how come a man like you has would participate in the decision to arrest the Gang of always been at a second place, technically speaking? Four? Also truer though, that some of the things done How come that you have always been the vice-some- before that time were not consistent with the will of thing or somebody? Chairman Mao. A: (He laughs even more.) As you see, being at a sec- Q: For instance? ond place does not prevent me from doing things. But, A: For instance, the Chairman Mao Memorial Build- going back to what I was saying before, I announce to ing. This was against the will of Chairman Mao himself. you that I will not be the only one to resign. Many col- In the Fifties Chairman Mao had said that at their leagues of my age will resign also from government death, all the leading comrades in China should be cre- work. For example, Vice Premiers Chen Yun, Li Xian- mated and only their ashes maintained. No graveyards nian, Xu Xiangqian and others. And Hua Guofeng will for the leaden, no mausoleums. The proposal had been not be anymore premier of the state council and chair- caused by the lesson learned after the death of Stalin man of the party at the same time. For the post of prime minister, the central committee has already adopted the end had been materialized hi the form of a document decision of recommending comrade Zhao Ziyang {former Chairman Mao had been the first to put his name on it, governor of Sichuan Province, the province of Deng 'and many other high-ranking officials had put their Xiaopmg, now vice premier and age 61]. names on it, too. Including myself. In fact, Chou En-lai was cremated. You know, that document still exists. Q: too. Q: Does it mean that the maiisokwim wfll be demol- A: Yes, though he is not 60 as yet; I believe that he is ished? 59. In fact, even the post of chairman of the party cen- A: Regarding the mausoleum I can tell you that I do tral committee is not a lifelong post I mean, he cannot not agree in changing things. Now it is there and it is be chairman for life, it is not permitted by the present ' not appropriate to take it away. It was not appropriate system. He can serve two more terms, three, but that's to build it, it would not be appropriate to take it off. all. And a decision will have to be taken also on how 'Should we demolish it, many people would be hurt and many terms he will serve. NEW YORK NEWS 31 AUGUST 1980 (2 SEPTEMBER) Pg. 10 Gunning for a new weapon SSP, Beretta 92S-1, Star M-28, Heckler and Koch P9S and VP70, and Fabrique Nationale DA, FA, and HP. Washington (AP>-The Pentagon is getting ready Beretta is an Italian firm, Star is Spanish, Heckler to pick a standard handgun after about two years of and Koch is-a German company and Fabrique is Study and testing. Nine different models of 9 mm Belgian. semi-automatic weapons are in the running to replace The Army said a "procurement plan has hot been the old standby ,45-caliber and .38-caliber pistols. The established" but estimated that about 580,000 hand- studies will be evaluated next month. guns are required throughout the armed services. The weapons are: Smith & Wesson Model 459, Colt 12-F
(The Bedford Series in History and Culture) Timothy Cheek (Auth.) - Mao Zedong and China's Revolutions - A Brief History With Documents-Palgrave Macmillan US (2002) PDF