Before the plenum, demands for a repudiation of the Cultural Revolution increased, especially by those who were persecuted during Mao Zedong's last year.
Although Hua Guofeng, who succeeded "the great helmsman" in 1976, tried to carry on the Maoist rhetoric and to gain an authority like that of Mao's, he also allowed the rehabilitation of many of Deng's allies, who, calling for economic reform, then revolted against him.