Added Remarks to the Telegram from the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to Deng Xiaoping and Others on the Screening of Those Who Have Confessed[1]

(January 24, 1944)

After distinguishing right from wrong, all such individuals should be rehabilitated, stripped of the label of spy, and given appropriate conclusions based on their circumstances.[2]

Rehabilitating those who were wrongly identified is also an achievement, and it is absolutely necessary. However, such rehabilitation should not take place when the anti-espionage struggle is at its height, but rather after the peak has passed and the spies have been rooted out. Leading comrades should first explain the matter clearly to senior cadres, then conduct a review of all those who have confessed, and carry out rehabilitation based on the results of the review.[3]

In the anti-espionage struggle, attention must be paid to protecting intellectuals.[4]

[1] These are three paragraphs added by Mao Zedong while reviewing and revising the telegram from the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to Deng Xiaoping, Rao Shushi, Lin Feng, and Cheng Zihua on the screening of those who have confessed.

[2] This paragraph was added by Mao Zedong after the following sentence in the telegram: "The three categories—those with party affiliation issues, those who were deceived or misled, and those whose errors were purely internal party matters—constitute the vast majority. This estimate roughly corresponds to the facts."

[3] This paragraph was added by Mao Zedong after the following sentence in the telegram: "We must educate comrades to clearly understand: while rooting out spies from within the Party is indeed an achievement, from among those who have confessed..."

[4] This paragraph was added by Mao Zedong at the end of the third issue addressed in the telegram.