weeks, suggesting that the military--who held the key
 to the situation--where dragging their feet.
 26. Liu Lan-tao, party boss in the Northwest
 Region where resistance had been very strong, was reported
 to have been "dragged out" by Red Guards in Sian
 about 23 January along with 17 of his chief lieutenants.
 A photograph of this event was posted in Peking on 8
 February. Li Ching-chuan, first secretary of the
 Southwest bureau--another hotbed of resistance--was
 paraded in disgrace through the streets of Chengtu
 about the same time.
 27. Trouble continued to be reported in many
 parts of China during early February, however, especially
 in Tibet and Szechwan where Red Guards complained--as
 they had been doing for months--that they
 were being suppressed by military units.
 28. These differences cannot be satisfactorily
 explained on the ground that the armed forces lacked the
 strength to impose the will of the center on provincial
 leaders immediately, or that the military did not have
 clear instructions. It appears, therefore, that the
 spotty performance of the military reflected unwillingness
 on the part of key commanders in some areas to carry
 out orders. Under normal circumstances the response to
 such a situation would be immediate removal and court
 martial of the insubordinate commanders--sending in
 troops from other areas to accomplish this if necessary.
 29. Peking appears instead to have changed the
 orders, moderating the Cultural Revolution so that it
 would be acceptable to the armed forces--providing assurances
 which would win the active support of the
 military. Specific arrangements may have been made
 with a number of individual commanders in Tibet, Inner
 Mongolia, and Sinkiang--similar to the bargains struck
 with the warlords in the 1930s--but the over-all appeal
 for army backing looked more like an effort to reach
 political consensus.
 The Basis for Agreement
 30. The basis for agreement was not spelled out
 but the main points are indicated in a speech made by
 Chou En-lai on 22-23 January in which the called for
 more deliberate pace in the Cultural Revolution, an end
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