unity and there was an increase in centralisation as the old regional administrations with their Party and military bodies were abolished, a change that had been planned for some time but that was no doubt spurred on by Gao's attempts to use his regional power to gain power at the centre. Another factor that has often been explored, and probably had great importance at the time, is the Soviet connection. Gao's attempt to gain power was certainly not seen as a Soviet-backed move against the Chinese Communists, but it is certain that Gao's connections with the USSR made people suspicious of him. At a time when Sino-Soviet relations were close but tense, as the CPC endorsed Soviet methods of economic planning but wanted to make sure that the USSR did not gain increased influence over the PRC, the impression (however slight) that Gao's attempts to gain power might have had links to his friendship with the Soviets would have been viewed with alarm. This can be seen in Zhou Enlai's public comments against Gao at the February 1954 discussion meetings where he charged him with having 'mixed up right and wrong in Soviet relations'. According to the account Nikita Khrushchev provides in his memoirs, Gao Gang was the USSR′s leadership′s primary source of information about "the mood in the Chinese Party" and Stalin, apparently driven by the desire to win Mao′s trust, handed some of the diplomatic cables from Soviet Ambassador Aleksandr Panyushkin over to Mao. In Khrushchev′s opinion, this "betrayal" by Stalin was key to Gao Gang′s subsequent fate. Perhaps even more significant is how the case shows the dominating power and manipulation of Mao Zedong, during a period when, as is often assumed, Mao's commitment to democratic intra-Party decision-making was at its highest. It was Mao's comments that influenced Gao and led him to believe that, even though he was going against the Party and senior cadres, his actions were justified because he had the Chairman's backing. Senior cadres like Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai expressed their (admittedly limited) support only because they thought Gao had Mao's approval. The entire plot (if it indeed can be called that) was ended in one stroke by Mao, who needed only to express his true thoughts at one Politburo meeting in order to stop Gao's activities and make other cadres admit their mistakes. Mao's role in the whole affair can be