Editor's Note for the Publication of the "Third Batch of Materials on the Hu Feng Counter-Revolutionary Clique" in *People's Daily*
(June 1955)

I
From this type of letters, it can be seen that the Hu Feng clique is not a simple "literary and art" group, but a counter-revolutionary political group using "literature and art" as a cover. They hate all forces of the people's revolution. Hu Feng element Zhang Zhongxiao said he "hates almost everyone." Many people think that "Hu Feng is merely a cultural figure, and the Hu Feng incident is merely an event in cultural circles, unrelated to other circles." After reading such materials, they should come to their senses!

II
From the above two letters, the true face of Lü Yuan, a key member of the Hu Feng clique, can be seen. The backbone of the Hu Feng clique is composed of such a group of people. In May 1944, Lü Yuan was "transferred to" the "Sino-American Cooperation Organization" to "work." The "Sino-American Cooperation Organization" is the abbreviation of the "Sino-American Special Technical Cooperation Organization," a sinister and dark secret service agency jointly run by U.S. imperialism and the Chiang Kai-shek Kuomintang, where Americans trained and dispatched spies for both themselves and Chiang Kai-shek and directly carried out terrorist activities. It is notorious for brutally torturing and massacring Communist Party members and progressives. Who could "transfer" Lü Yuan to this secret service agency? Who could the secret service agency "transfer" to "work" there? This is self-evident. In the latter letter, in September 1947, Lü Yuan was still cursing the Communist Party of China and the forces of the people's revolution as "vile Communist bandits." Yet, in early 1948, he was introduced as a Communist Party member by another Hu Feng key member, Zeng Zhuo, and infiltrated the underground Party organization. Later, Lü Yuan suddenly fled. When Wuhan was liberated, he suddenly returned to Wuhan, claiming to be a "Communist" along with Zeng Zhuo, and took over the *Dagang Bao*. In 1950, he once again wormed his way into the Party (see Item 28 of this material). This is how elements of the Hu Feng counter-revolutionary clique "follow the revolution" and infiltrate the Communist Party.

III
From these letters by A Long, it can be seen that Hu Feng elements are quite adept at certain counter-revolutionary underground work tactics. He said: Do not "fire shots before the position is consolidated," but "mainly prepare conditions, more conditions, and still more conditions"; "bury oneself in work, do good work among the masses," "build a good mass base," and then "seek out major targets," i.e., attack the vital points of the revolution. When attacking, "consult more with 'friends' before acting," "organize and consider the arguments more rigorously, and it is best to ignore minor things and small matters." Counter-revolutionaries are not that clumsy; these tactics of theirs are very cunning and vicious. All revolutionary Party members must never underestimate them, must never be careless or negligent, and must greatly enhance the people's political vigilance in order to deal with and eliminate them.

IV
This strategy of attacking as a means of defense, employed by Lu Dian, was indeed later implemented by Hu Feng. This refers to Hu Feng coming to Beijing to request work assignments, requesting discussion of his issues, submitting a 300,000-character petition, and finally seizing on the *Wenyi Bao* issue to launch a broadside. When representatives of various exploiting classes find themselves in unfavorable circumstances, in order to protect their present existence and facilitate future development, they often adopt the strategy of attacking as a means of defense. They may fabricate rumors out of thin air and slander face-to-face; or seize on certain superficial phenomena to attack the essence of the matter; or flatter one group while attacking another; or exploit an issue to "open a breach," placing us in a difficult position. In short, they are constantly studying strategies to deal with us, "spying out the direction," seeking an opportunity to achieve their aims. Sometimes they will "play dead and lie low," waiting for the right moment to "counterattack." They have long experience in class struggle and can engage in various forms of struggle—legal and illegal. We revolutionary Party members must understand this set of tactics of theirs, must study their strategies, in order to defeat them. We must absolutely not be overly bookish and view complex class struggle as too simple.

V
It is because we revolutionary Party members have become arrogant and complacent, careless and negligent, or have focused on professional work while forgetting politics, that many counter-revolutionary elements have "penetrated deep into" our "vitals." This is by no means limited to Hu Feng elements; many other spy elements or bad elements have also wormed their way in.

VI
The Hu Feng clique elements and many other hidden counter-revolutionaries mostly adopt the double-dealing tactics described by Fang Ran in this letter, especially his second and third tactics, which can deceive many people. But they always have loopholes that can be found by people. The exposure of the Hu Feng clique is one piece of evidence. Especially after the consciousness and vigilance of the majority have been raised, their double-dealing tactics become even easier to expose.

VII
From this, we can also see the importance and necessity of our struggle to criticize the bourgeois idealism of the Hu Shi school. Some people profess to believe in Marxism-Leninism, yet do not attach importance to the struggle of criticizing idealism, either claiming they have no idealism themselves, or claiming they have no connection with Hu Shi, and therefore prefer to avoid discussing it. But the Hu Feng clique attaches great importance to it; they are studying methods to deal with it. "Here there exist contradictions and difficulties." The criticism of idealism has indeed brought "contradictions and difficulties" to the Hu Feng clique, which shows the criticism was correct. Can there be "contradictions and difficulties" for people within the revolutionary ranks?

VIII
The fact that a large number of Hu Feng elements have infiltrated the Party and obtained the title of Party members should attract the attention of all Party organizations. Before liberation, Lü Yuan once infiltrated our underground Party organization, but later lost his Party membership due to fleeing. In 1950, this counter-revolutionary element again "wrote three reports with the utmost sincerity to our Party organization, each more detailed and honest than the last," and apart from literary and artistic thought, "the rest was generally acceptable." Sure enough, he was later accepted as a "Party member" again. Should such things not attract the attention of all Party organizations? These counter-revolutionary elements crawled into the Party after exhausting their wits to deceive us. They regard this as "a struggle," and they have won the struggle against us—they have come in!

IX
When the liberal tendencies of Communist Party members are criticized, the Hu Feng elements call it "being hit." If this person's "fighting spirit is relatively weak," that is, if they do not adhere to the liberal standpoint but are willing to...

If one accepts the Party's criticism and shifts to a correct stand, then for the Hu Feng clique, there is no hope—they cannot pull this person away. If this person's "fighting will" in adhering to a liberalist stand is not "relatively weak" but "relatively strong," then this person is in danger of being pulled away. The Hu Feng elements will come to "test" this, and they have already called this person "comrade." Should this situation not serve as a lesson? What attitude should all Communist Party members who have committed ideological and political errors adopt when they are criticized? There are two paths to choose from: one is to correct the errors and become a good Party member; the other is to degenerate, even falling into the pit of counterrevolution. This latter path truly exists—counterrevolutionary elements may be beckoning from there!

[1]

This is a note written by Mao Zedong on the excerpt from Lu Yuan's letter to Hu Feng dated July 23, 1950, included in the "Third Batch of Materials on the Hu Feng Counterrevolutionary Clique."

[2]

This is a note written by Mao Zedong on the excerpt from Ouyang Zhuang's letter to Hu Feng dated June 24, 1951, included in the "Third Batch of Materials on the Hu Feng Counterrevolutionary Clique."

From letters of this kind, we should arouse our vigilance and not let them "slip through."

[1]

Eleven

From such letters, it can be seen that counterrevolutionary elements lurking within the revolutionary ranks greatly fear rectification, which shows that rectification is beneficial. Not all who fear rectification are counterrevolutionary elements; the overwhelming majority (over ninety percent) are those who have committed certain ideological or political errors, and the policy toward them is to help them correct their errors. But counterrevolutionary elements are very afraid of rectification, and the policy toward them is to further dig out their counterrevolutionary roots. The features of the Hu Feng counterrevolutionary clique were gradually exposed during several rectifications before and after liberation, that is, in the past several ideological struggles. It was due to those rectifications that divisions emerged within the Hu Feng clique, forcing the Hu Feng clique to adopt a strategy of attacking as a means of defense—the 300,000-character petition to state their case—and leading to the final great exposure.

[1]

Twelve

From such letters, it can be seen that before the mighty force of the people's revolution, that is, the people's democratic dictatorship, as long as this dictatorship raises the masses' consciousness and adopts correct policies, no matter how many hidden counterrevolutionary cliques there are, and no matter how strict the internal discipline of each counterrevolutionary clique or how firm their offensive-defensive alliances, some individuals can always be split off, and such splitting is beneficial to the people. The fact that Shu Wu split off from the Hu Feng clique caused the Hu Feng clique great distress, which is one proof. Recently, many Hu Feng elements in various places have been confessing one after another, voluntarily or under compulsion handing over secret documents and exposing internal circumstances, which is a continuation and development of this struggle.

[1]

Thirteen

From such letters, it can be seen that there are people in our organs, troops, enterprises, or organizations who steal secrets. Such people are counterrevolutionary elements who have infiltrated these organs, troops, enterprises, or organizations, and some liberalist elements are good friends of these counterrevolutionary elements. Should this situation not draw the serious attention of all staff and all the people?

[1]

Fourteen

From this letter, it can be seen that the Hu Feng clique resolutely opposes the literary and artistic direction determined by the Communist Party of China and extremely hates Comrade Mao Zedong's "Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art." Because the Party and Comrade Mao Zedong call on literary and artistic workers to praise the workers, peasants, and soldiers and to expose the enemies of the workers, peasants, and soldiers, while the Hu Feng clique is precisely the enemy of the workers, peasants, and soldiers, they feel that exposing the enemies of the workers, peasants, and soldiers will make it impossible for them to continue their activities, will "slaughter" their so-called "living souls" of counterrevolution, and will "crush" their so-called "new things" of counterrevolution. But they dare not openly oppose this talk, and Hu Feng even instructs his followers to outwardly "endure it," sometimes quoting certain phrases from it. These are all masks used by the Hu Feng elements to disguise themselves. Yet in this secret letter, the true features of the Hu Feng elements' hatred for this talk and their opposition to the Party are completely exposed. Zhang Zhongxiao says: "This book (referring to Comrade Mao Zedong's Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art) may have been useful in Yan'an, but now, I feel it no longer works." "Now it no longer works"—haven't some people in literary and art circles also said this? Those who have said such things, please take note and read Zhang Zhongxiao's letter! Of course, some who say such things are merely clinging to bourgeois literary and artistic views and thus cannot recognize the importance of this talk. But Zhang Zhongxiao, this Hu Feng element, with his counterrevolutionary sensitivity, deeply understands that after national liberation, this talk will grasp the masses on an even broader scale and play a devastating role against various reactionary literary and artistic ideologies, so they are anxious to prevent and sabotage the expansion of this talk's influence. Their so-called "now it no longer works" has its reasoning right here.

Fifteen

From such letters, it can be seen that the counterrevolutionary elements' attacks on a few people are merely their pretext, a tactic of theirs. Their true intention is that "there is hardly a single piece of clean land." Because of this situation, they "have thus stipulated the arduousness and protracted nature of the struggle." Ever since Liu Pi, the Prince of Wu in the Han Dynasty, invented the famous tactic of petitioning for the execution of Chao Cuo (the chief strategist of Emperor Jing of Han) to purge the monarch's entourage, not a few ambitious schemers have regarded it as a supreme treasure, and the Hu Feng clique has also inherited this mantle. In their 300,000-character petition, they only attacked a few individuals like Comrades Lin Mohan, He Qifang, and Zhou Yang, claiming that these few people had ruined everything. Some who, out of class instinct, sympathize with Hu Feng also follow suit in blindly trumpeting for Hu Feng, saying things like "this is merely a personal struggle between Zhou Yang and Hu Feng for leadership." In our struggle to eliminate Hu Feng elements and other counterrevolutionary elements, this point should also be noted.

[1]

Sixteen

From such letters, it can be seen that in their 300,000-character petition and all other public statements, the Hu Feng clique makes it appear as if they mainly oppose only writers of the Communist Party and not others. Of course, they never oppose Chiang Kai-shek and other figures of the Kuomintang (only occasionally scolding them a little as a front, that is, the so-called "scold a little but help a lot"), but their claim of not opposing others is false. In fact, they uniformly despise, revile, and oppose many revolutionaries and democratic figures such as Lu Xun, Wen Yiduo, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Huang Yaomian, Cao Yu, and Lao She. Isn't this style of rejecting everyone outside their own clique precisely the style of Chiang Kai-shek's fascist Kuomintang?

[1]

Just as we often assess the balance of class forces in both international and domestic struggles, the enemy also constantly assesses this balance. But our enemies are backward, decadent reactionaries, doomed to perish. They do not understand the laws of the objective world, and their method of thinking is subjectivist and metaphysical. Therefore, their assessments are always wrong. Guided by their class instincts, they always imagine themselves to be extraordinary while believing the revolutionary forces are incapable. They invariably overestimate their own strength and underestimate ours. We have witnessed with our own eyes many counter-revolutionaries: the Qing government, the Northern Warlords, Japanese militarism, Mussolini, Hitler, Chiang Kai-shek—one after another, they have fallen. They committed, and could not but commit, errors in thought and action. All imperialists today are bound to make such errors as well. Is this not laughable? According to the Hu Feng elements, the Chinese people’s revolutionary forces led by the Communist Party are destined to “croak and be finished,” nothing more than “withered yellow leaves” and “rotting corpses.” And what of the counter-revolutionary forces represented by the Hu Feng elements? Although “some fragile sprouts will be crushed,” the great mass of sprouts are “bursting through” something and will “grow lush and strong.” If the French bourgeoisie’s National Assembly still has representatives of the royalists to this day, then for many years after the complete extinction of all exploiting classes on earth, it is very likely that representatives of the Chiang Kai-shek dynasty will still be active in various places. The most diehard among these people will never admit their defeat. This is because they need not only to deceive others but also to deceive themselves; otherwise, they cannot survive. Look at the Hu Feng elements—why are they so absurdly arrogant? It turns out they are marching to the tune of their class instincts.

This Hu Feng element is rather pessimistic. He says “perhaps” it will take “several more decades” before “it can be achieved that there are no contradictions between people.” That is to say, it will take several decades before the Chiang Kai-shek dynasty has any hope of restoration. After several decades, when the Chiang Kai-shek dynasty returns and all the people’s revolutionary forces have been crushed, then “there will be no contradictions between people.” “The dignity and reality of man will no longer be harmed”—this “man” refers to all counter-revolutionary people, including the Hu Feng elements, but not a single revolutionary person. “In China today, people still do not respect people…” The first “people” refers to revolutionary people, the second to counter-revolutionary people. When the Hu Feng elements write, even in secret letters, their writing is often incoherent. This too is determined by their class nature; they cannot make their writing clear and logical as we do when we annotate for them.

The so-called “those feudal forces are frantically killing people” in this letter is an expression of the Hu Feng counter-revolutionary clique’s terror at the great struggle of our people’s revolutionary forces to suppress counter-revolutionary forces. This feeling represents all counter-revolutionary classes, cliques, and individuals. What they feel terror at is precisely what the revolutionary masses feel joy at. “Unprecedented in history” is also correct. Of all revolutions in history, except for the one in which slavery replaced the primitive commune system—where an exploitative system replaced a non-exploitative one—all others resulted in one exploitative system replacing another. They had neither the necessity nor the possibility to carry out a thorough suppression of counter-revolutionaries. Only we, only the revolution of the masses led by the proletariat and the Communist Party, aim at the ultimate elimination of all exploitative systems and all classes. The classes being eliminated will inevitably put up resistance through their counter-revolutionary political parties, cliques, or certain individuals, and the masses must unite to suppress these resisting forces resolutely, thoroughly, completely, and totally. Only at this time is there such a necessity, and only at this time is there such a possibility. “The struggle has inevitably deepened”—this is also entirely correct. Only the phrase “feudal forces” is wrong; it is the opposite of “the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the proletariat and the Communist Party, based on the worker-peasant alliance,” just as their term “mechanism” is the opposite of “dialectical materialism.”

Again, this Zhang Zhongxiao—his counter-revolutionary sensitivity is very keen. Compared with many in our revolutionary ranks, including some Communist Party members, the difference in class consciousness and political acumen is vast. In this comparison, many of our people are far inferior to those in the Hu Feng clique. Our people must study, must heighten their class vigilance, and must sharpen their political acumen. If the Hu Feng clique can offer us anything positive, it is that through this soul-stirring struggle, we can greatly enhance our political consciousness and political sensitivity, resolutely suppress all counter-revolutionary elements, and thereby greatly consolidate our revolutionary dictatorship, so as to carry the revolution through to the end and achieve the goal of building a great socialist country.