Speech on the Proposal to Elect Wang Ming and Others to the Central Committee at the Seventh Congress[1]

(April 1945)

Their mistakes were committed under specific historical conditions, especially since China’s petty bourgeoisie is like a vast ocean, and there were as yet no political parties of the petty bourgeoisie in China. The revolutionary elements among them all joined the Communist Party of China, and naturally they brought their thoughts and sentiments along with them—this is nothing surprising. Now, through rectification, learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones, and curing the sickness to save the patient, the rights and wrongs have been made clear, and we should no longer place excessive emphasis on individual responsibility.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong’s speech proposing the election of Wang Ming and seven other comrades who had committed serious mistakes to the Central Committee at the Seventh Congress.