Gao Gang
The “Gao Gang Affair” showed the real risk of factional splits within the Communist Party of China during the first few years of the People's Republic, a period that is often seen to be an era of Party unity. By attempting to exploit grievances held by some cadres against others, Gao was able to attract the interests of several significant cadres, even if none of them truly backed him. The “Gao Gang Affair” can simply be viewed as a stillborn coup attempt within the Politburo, but its significance is not that it failed to succeed or even to gather basic support. Rather, it showed that there was the possibility of power struggles within the Party that could involve the targeting of very senior Party members. Following the “Gao Gang Affair” there were calls for greater Party 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.