The ascension of Hu Yaobang to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party marked a significant transition for the People’s Republic after the Cultural Revolution. Between 1981 and 1987, he occupied the party's highest offices, acting as a pivotal architect of post-Mao economic reforms and the rehabilitation of citizens wrongfully convicted during previous periods of severe political turmoil.
Early Revolutionary Years
Born in Liuyang in 1915 to a peasant family, Hu joined the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s. He became one of the youngest participants in the Long March, an arduous military retreat where he survived near-execution and combat wounds. Following a period of captivity under the Ma clique and his subsequent escape, he aligned himself closely with Deng Xiaoping, serving as a political commissar during the Chinese Civil War.
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After the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China, Hu moved to Beijing in 1952. He directed the Communist Youth League for fourteen years before being reassigned to Shaanxi in 1964. During the Cultural Revolution, he faced repeated purges by Mao Zedong. However, his political standing recovered following Mao’s death, as he became essential to the Boluan Fanzheng program, which sought to address and correct the excesses of the prior decade.
Leadership and Reform
Hu served as Head of the Publicity Department from 1978 to 1980, followed by his tenure as General Secretary of the Central Committee's Secretariat. He ascended to Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party in 1981 and General Secretary in 1982. Under the supervision of Deng Xiaoping, he implemented economic and political reforms. These changes faced resistance from party elders who opposed market liberalization.
Resignation and Legacy
In response to student protests in late 1986 and early 1987, political opponents accused Hu of enabling bourgeois liberalization. Forced to resign his post as General Secretary in 1987, he remained a member of the Politburo. He died of myocardial infarction in Beijing in 1989. His passing triggered a surge of public commemoration that served as a catalyst for the protests in Tiananmen Square that followed later that year.
Fast facts
- Born: 20 November 1915, Liuyang
- Died: 15 April 1989, Beijing
- Party Role: General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (1982–1987)
- Party Role: Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (1981–1982)
- Education: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Burial: Gongqingcheng, Jiangxi
- Religion: Atheism
- Citizenship: People's Republic of China
Questions readers ask
Why was Hu forced to resign in 1987?
Party elders blamed him for allowing 'bourgeois liberalization,' which they believed instigated widespread student protests across China.
What role did Hu play in the 1989 student movement?
His death in April 1989 sparked spontaneous commemorations in Beijing, which evolved into the student marches that preceded the Tiananmen Square protests.
