Gang of Four Term Analysis

The Gang of Four was a group of Chinese Communist Party elites and acolytes of Chairman Mao who gained power and influence during the Cultural Revolution. As Mao worked to oust potential rivals and consolidate his power, he leaned more and more on his wife, Madame Mao and three other senior Party officials. Because it was unclear, especially in the latter stages of the Cultural Revolution, which decisions came from Mao and which from the Gang of Four, the Gang of Four were arrested and punished after Mao’s death for the Revolution’s perceived failures.