K’o Pai-nien

1904

China

Using the pseudonym Li Ch’un-fan, in the mid-1920's K’o began to translate works by and about Lenin member of the Party Central Committee; on the official list he was placed 36th the highest rank of any member who had been neither a full nor an alternate member of the Seventh Central Committee elected in 1945. This indication of K’o’s rising stature in the CCP received an emphatic endorsement at the Central Committee’s Fifth Plenum, held immediately after the Second Session of the Eighth Party Congress in May 1958, when he was elevated (together with T’an Chen-lin and Li Ching-ch’uan) to Politburo membership. Between the two Party Congress sessions, Ko had apparently proved himself to the Party’s most senior leaders. He was prominent in the promotion of the “rectification” movement of 1957-58 directed against the “rightists,” who had allegedly taken advantage of the relatively “liberal” (or Hundred Flowers) period in the spring of 1957. For example, a speech by K’o on this subject given in August 1957 was published in the JMJP of August 27, 1957. There may also have been significance in the fact that just prior to the May 1958 Congress Ko toured various Yangtze Valley cities (including Chung-king and Wuhan) with Mao who, presumably, was making first-hand investigations in the provinces to witness for himself the progress of the Great Leap Forward inaugurated in early 1958. The May 1958 Fifth Plenum had also provided for the establishment of a new Party journal, the now famous Hung-ch’i (Red flag). Ko had the distinction of writing an article (“The Laboring People Must Make Themselves Masters of Culture”) for the initial issue (June 1, 1958). His election to the Politburo in 1958 confirmed what was already apparent: he had become the top CCP leader in east China. This was given organizational expression following the re-establishment of the regional Party bureaus by the CCP’s Ninth Plenum, held in January 1961. K’o presumably assumed the first secretaryship of the East China Bureau upon its formation in early 1961, but it was not until the spring of 1962 that he was specifically identified in the post. At the time of his death it was also revealed that he was the first political commissar of the Nanking Military Region with jurisdiction over Kiangsu, Chekiang, Anhwei, and (presumably) Shanghai itself.

K’o Pai-nien

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politician

Background

He was born about 1904, probably in central or south China.

Education

He is said to have graduated from one of the missionary-run schools in China possibly Yenching University in Peking or St. John’s University in Shanghai. To judge from his later career, he apparently studied the social sciences, possibly law, political science, or economics. It was probably during those years that K’o gained a good knowledge of English, and possibly also of Russian and French.

Career

Using the pseudonym Li Ch’un-fan, in the mid-1920's K’o began to translate works by and about Lenin member of the Party Central Committee; on the official list he was placed 36th the highest rank of any member who had been neither a full nor an alternate member of the Seventh Central Committee elected in 1945. This indication of K’o’s rising stature in the CCP received an emphatic endorsement at the Central Committee’s Fifth Plenum, held immediately after the Second Session of the Eighth Party Congress in May 1958, when he was elevated (together with T’an Chen-lin and Li Ching-ch’uan) to Politburo membership.

Between the two Party Congress sessions, Ko had apparently proved himself to the Party’s most senior leaders. He was prominent in the promotion of the “rectification” movement of 1957-58 directed against the “rightists,” who had allegedly taken advantage of the relatively “liberal” (or Hundred Flowers) period in the spring of 1957. For example, a speech by K’o on this subject given in August 1957 was published in the JMJP of August 27, 1957. There may also have been significance in the fact that just prior to the May 1958 Congress Ko toured various Yangtze Valley cities (including Chung-king and Wuhan) with Mao who, presumably, was making first-hand investigations in the provinces to witness for himself the progress of the Great Leap Forward inaugurated in early 1958. The May 1958 Fifth Plenum had also provided for the establishment of a new Party journal, the now famous Hung-ch’i (Red flag). Ko had the distinction of writing an article (“The Laboring People Must Make Themselves Masters of Culture”) for the initial issue (June 1, 1958).

His election to the Politburo in 1958 confirmed what was already apparent: he had become the top CCP leader in east China. This was given organizational expression following the re-establishment of the regional Party bureaus by the CCP’s Ninth Plenum, held in January 1961. K’o presumably assumed the first secretaryship of the East China Bureau upon its formation in early 1961, but it was not until the spring of 1962 that he was specifically identified in the post. At the time of his death it was also revealed that he was the first political commissar of the Nanking Military Region with jurisdiction over Kiangsu, Chekiang, Anhwei, and (presumably) Shanghai itself.

Politics

Because of Shanghai’s great importance and size, its affairs receive more attention in the national press than any other city except Peking. And for these same reasons it is frequently visited by China’s top leaders and foreign visitors. As a consequence, K’o was reported with great regularity in the decade before his death in 1965.

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K’o Pai-nien

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1945

1958