Central Instructions on the CPC Central Committee’s Comments on and Revisions to the CCP Central Propaganda Department’s Self-Criticism Regarding Errors in the “Study” Journal [1] (April 4, 1952)

I. To all departments of the CPC Central Committee and the CMC, to the Party Groups of the Central People’s Government; to all Central Bureaus and Sub-bureaus, with further transmission to the Party Committees of provinces, municipalities directly under the central government, and autonomous regions, as well as to prefectural-level Party committees; and to the Party Committees of the major Military Regions and the Chinese People’s Volunteers:

(1) The CPC Central Committee deems the self-criticism submitted by the Central Propaganda Department on March 29 concerning errors in the “Study” Journal [2] both necessary and appropriate. The primary focus of this instance is on self-examination and correction; no disciplinary measures are planned.

(2) This self-criticism document from the Central Propaganda Department is hereby circulated to Party committees at all levels. It is requested that these committees organize discussions among propaganda and cultural-educational personnel, and that the document may also be published in Party periodicals.    April 4, Central Committee

II. In the April issue of the “Study” Journal, it is planned to reprint an article by Comrade Feng Ding that was previously published in the Shanghai Liberation Daily [1]. The main viewpoints of this article are fundamentally correct, although certain shortcomings have been revised. Printed according to Mao Zedong’s manuscript.

Notes   [1] The second part of this document consists of remarks added by Mao Zedong to the Central Committee’s forwarded copy of the Central Propaganda Department’s self-criticism regarding errors committed by the “Study” Journal (a publication edited by the Theoretical Propaganda Division of the Central Propaganda Department).

[ ] Refers to the report dated March 29, 1952, submitted by Lu Dingyi, Minister of the CPC Central Committee’s Propaganda Department, to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee, detailing the errors in the “Study” Journal. The self-criticism stated that issues 1, 2, and 3 of the “Study” Journal in 1952 had published a series of articles containing serious errors. These articles essentially denied the dual nature of the national bourgeoisie at the current stage, asserting instead that it possessed only a reactionary and decaying aspect, thereby reaching the conclusion that the national bourgeoisie no longer retained any positive role whatsoever. Such a stance openly violated the Party’s line and policies. The repeated publication in a Central Propaganda Department–sponsored journal of articles contravening the Party’s line and policies serves as a grave lesson for us.

[3] Refers to the article “Studying Mao Zedong Thought to Grasp the Character of the Bourgeoisie and Struggle Against Bourgeois Ideology,” written by Feng Ding, Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee’s East China Bureau. The original article appeared in the March 24, 1952, issue of the Liberation Daily. When reprinted in the fourth issue of the “Study” Journal in 1952, the title was changed to “On Grasping the Character of the Chinese Bourgeoisie and Struggling Against Its Erroneous Ideas.”