From the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the newly-resurgent Mao Zedong had been eager to overthrow Liu Shaoqi. For this reason, Mao had long planned to paint Liu as a traitor. One particular incident of infighting, the "Case of the 61 Renegades Clique", became an extremely critical step in Mao's efforts to do so.

In the 1930s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s northern party organization had been on the short end of several major defeats. One of these was that a large number of CCP cadres had been arrested and imprisoned by the Kuomintang (National People's Party, KMT). In 1936, Liu Shaoqi, then-secretary of the CCP Central Committee's Northern Bureau, decided to find a way to get 61 CCP cadres released from KMT jails. This was the time before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and also before the Xi'an Incident, in the period when the KMT and CCP continued to be neither allies nor enemies; Liu's stratagem would require placating the KMT prison key-holders. The 61 cadres to be released included Bo Yibo (father of later political figure Bo Xilai), Liu Lantao, An Ziwen, and others; they would have to "confess their crimes in exchange for being released from prison". On behalf of the CCP Central Committee, Zhang Wentian, general secretary of the CCP Central Committee, approved the decision for them to seek release in this way. Bo Yibo and the others wrote their "Anti-Communist Revelation", expressing opposition to the CCP; this "Revelation" was then published in the "North China Press" newspaper. The 61 cadres further had to go through "reformation ceremonies", and it was only after this that they were finally released in groups. After the CCP founded the People's Republic of China in 1949, some of these cadres were appointed to important positions by Liu Shaoqi and gained great influence within the Party.

In 1966, soon after the Cultural Revolution began, high-ranking CCP leader Kang Sheng sent people to look into newspaper records from three decades before. Kang wrote to Mao Zedong on September 16, 1966, stating "I have long been wary of Comrade Shaoqi's decision to have the cadres 'confess in exchange for release'. Recently, I had some people read the Beijing newspapers from August and September of 1936; the 'Anti-Communist Revelation' they published proves that Comrade Shaoqi's decision was completely the wrong one, and an anti-communist one at that." Red Guards at Tianjin's Nankai University simultaneously turned over "Anti-Communist Revelation" materials that they had found in old newspapers. When Bo Yibo and others were originally released from prison, Mao Zedong had said that the Central Committee would take full responsibility. However, in 1966, after Mao found out what had happened three decades prior, his attitude changed drastically. He mentioned in a conversation, "At that time, we didn't know that they were anti-Communist, and we didn't know what their 'procedures to follow' were. Now, as soon as we look into the matter, we discover: They were supporting the KMT and opposing the CCP."

On March 16, 1967, the CCP Central Committee issued the "Instructions Regarding Rebellion Materials Related to the Confessions by Bo Yibo, Liu Lantao, An Ziwen, Yang Xianzhen, et al." This officially redefined the 61 people who had "confessed to get out of prison" as a "traitorous clique", and Liu Shaoqi as the leader of the rebel clique. On June 28, the CCP Central Committee issued a "Notice on the Issue of 'Catching Traitors'", affirming the masses' arrests of traitors. After this point, "catching traitors" was carried out on a large scale across the country.

Later on, many CCP veterans involved in the Case of the 61 Renegades Clique were persecuted to death. After a series of criticism sessions, Liu Shaoqi was permanently expelled from the party at the Twelfth Plenary Session of the Eighth CCP Central Committee in 1968, and stripped of all his positions and responsibilities both inside and outside the Party. While in custody in 1969, Liu Shaoqi died of illness at the age of 71.

On December 16, 1978, the CCP issued the "CCP Central Committee Notice Forwarding the 'Investigation Report on the Case of the 61 Renegades Clique' by the Organization Department of the Central Committee". This absolved those involved in the Case of the 61 Renegades Clique of any guilt.

References: Yang Jisheng, "The World Turned Upside Down: A History of the Chinese Cultural Revolution"; Bu Weihua, "History of the People's Republic of China: Smashing the Old World — Turmoil and Catastrophe in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1968)"