Letter to Yang Shangkun
(October 22, 1953)

Comrade Shangkun:

Please have the six concluding passages of the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) printed as a single sheet and distributed this evening or tomorrow to all comrades attending the Organization Conference[2], asking them to use the two or three days when the conference is adjourned to read and study them, and, where possible, to discuss them as well, so that by the time Comrade Liu Shaoqi and other comrades address this issue in their speeches at the conference, they will already have some understanding of it. When the leading group meets this afternoon, please inform Comrades Liu, Rao[3], and Hu Qiaomu[4] about this matter (printing and distributing the concluding passages). At the same time, print some extra copies (one or two thousand may be printed) and distribute them to cadres in Beijing, and have the General Party Committee[5] notify all departments and all Party groups to read and discuss them.

Mao Zedong
2:00 a.m., October 22

[1] Yang Shangkun, then Director of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
[2] Refers to the Second National Organization Work Conference convened by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from September to October 1953.
[3] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Rao refers to Rao Shushi, then Head of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
[4] Hu Qiaomu, then Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Secretary to Mao Zedong.
[5] General Party Committee refers to the General Party Committee of Organs Directly Under the Central Authorities.

Manuscript of Mao Zedong's letter to Yang Shangkun.