Scholars consider the rise of factional politics as key to understanding party politics during the Maoist period (1949–1976). This article conducts a historical inquiry into the factional politics at the Lushan Conference of 1959. It argues that the very concept of factionalism, adopted not only by Mao Zedong but by all the conference participants, including those accused of being faction members, was created in line with a script generated by Mao to resolve the collective action problems facing the party. This script led the participants at the Lushan Conference to reimagine themselves as engaged in factional struggle within the party, suggesting to each of them the roles they should play as part of that imagined struggle. This article challenges the individualist perspective that takes factional exclusion as a strategic means employed by actors to attain personal goals when competing with others and sheds light on the imaginary and performative features of the CCP’s central decision-making dynamics.
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