The East China leader purged with Gao Gang in the “Gao–Rao anti-party alliance”, the People’s Republic’s first high-level purge
Ran East China with Chen Yi, then moved to Beijing in 1953 to head the Central Organisation Department. Purged with Gao Gang in 1954, stripped of party membership in 1955; died in custody in 1975, never rehabilitated.
From Jiangxi, he became political commissar of the New Fourth Army after the 1941 incident and, as secretary of the East China Bureau in the civil war, ran the region with Chen Yi. After 1949 he chaired the East China military-administrative committee and headed the Central Organisation Department. Accused in 1953–1954 of plotting with Gao Gang to displace Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai, he was condemned as the “Gao–Rao anti-party alliance” and arrested in 1955. Held without trial, he died in prison in 1975 and, unlike Gao Gang, was never formally rehabilitated.
Career Timeline
- 1949–1952Chairman of the East China Military and Administrative Committee
- 1953–1954Head of the Central Organisation Department