The account leaves out a more sinister motive for the PRC regime adopting Pinyin - it would allow those who could still read traditional Chinese to die off, thus cutting off future generations from centuries of Chinese literature, philosophy, and even art, leaving only Maoist doctrine as the basis of all knowledge. Confucian thought was a main target.
Didn’t work out that way, but during the Cultural Revolution eradicating the pre-communist past was a primary goal.
Look up the “Criticize Lin Piao and Confucius” movement of the last days of Mao Tse-tung. The past was the class enemy.
I actually think it is more difficult to use than the older Wade-Giles (which wasn’t perfect, either).
It’s a shame that they changed to only simplified characters.
Chinese people now don’t even know Chinese.