Expelling Anti-Party and Anti-People Elements from the Party
Comments on a Newly Drafted Article
(March 28, 1954)
To Comrade Liu Shaoqi:
This document (1) may be published in the People’s Daily, accompanied by an editorial (2) commending the German Party’s correct measures. We should all remain highly vigilant.
Mao Zedong
March 28
[I]
Refers to a newly drafted article submitted to the People’s Daily for review concerning the decision of the Seventeenth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany to expel anti-party and anti-people elements from the party. The news report stated: On January 25, 1954, the newspaper Neues Deutschland published the communiqué of the Seventeenth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, announcing the expulsion from the party of Heinstadt (former alternate member of the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and editor-in-chief of Neues Deutschland) and Zeissler (former member of the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and Minister of Public Security of the German Democratic Republic), who had been engaged in secessionist activities. It also reported that three other alternate members of the Politburo—Ackermann, Jandrecki, and Schmidt—who had made principled errors in the struggle against the Heinstadt–Zeissler anti-party clique were given severe warnings and warnings, respectively. This new draft was published in the People’s Daily on April 9, 1954.
[2]
The editorial in the People’s Daily on April 9, 1954, was titled “The Achievements of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in Defending Party Unity and Solidarity.”