In late July 1967, following the failed Wuhan Uprising, party leaders decided that Peng should be used as an example by publicly humiliating him by name at a national level. On July 31, an article appeared that was distributed nationally and directed the nation to take part in vilifying him. In the article, Peng was called a "capitalist," a "great ambitionist," and a "great conspirator" who had "always opposed Chairman Mao" and who was "the representative of the greatest capitalist-roader Shaoqi in the army." The article accused Peng of conspiring with foreign countries; allying with "imperialists, revisionists, and counter-revolutionaries;" and waging "a wild attack against the Party." The campaign of national vilification against Peng lasted several months until late 1967. On August 16, another article stated that Peng "was never a Marxist" but that he had instead been a "capitalist great warlord" who had "crept into the Party and into the army... we have to struggle against him until he falls, until he breaks down, until he stinks." CPC propagandists made an effort to discredit Peng's military career by portraying it as a long string of failures except for the battles that were supposedly directed closely by Mao and to convince the Chinese people that Peng was a subhuman villain who should be destroyed without compassion or mercy.