Central-Level Organs’ Briefing on the Struggle to Purge Hidden Counter-Revolutionaries: A Comment
(July 13, 1955)

To all provincial and municipal Party committees, and all regional Party committees of autonomous regions:

Regarding the experience of launching the struggle to purge hidden counter-revolutionaries in the Beijing area, two reports [2] from the Party Committee of State Organs were previously distributed to you. Now, the July 9, 1955, briefing [1] from the Office of the Central Five-Person Group is hereby forwarded to you as well. Although the content of this document overlaps somewhat with the previous two, it still holds reference value. We await your reports.

The Central Committee
July 13, 1955

To be reviewed by Liu and Deng; Shangkun to dispatch by telegram. Additionally, print and distribute one copy each to all Central Committee members in Beijing, members of the Military Commission, heads of departments under the Military Commission system, all Central Committee ministries and commissions, all Party groups of the Central Government, and certain key cadres.

Mao Zedong
July 13

1. After the Party Committee of Organs Directly Under the Central Committee and the Party Committee of State Organs respectively conveyed the Central Committee’s directive on purging all hidden counter-revolutionaries to their subordinate units, the movement has progressed considerably compared to before. However, in a few units, the masses have still not been mobilized or have been mobilized very poorly. Even in units where the movement is developing relatively well, progress is uneven.
2. At present, two main problems exist in the central-level organs and organizations carrying out this movement:
First, in some units, the leadership still harbors right-leaning, complacent thinking, with too many misgivings, and dares not go deep among the masses extensively.
Second, many units lack sufficient understanding of the importance of conducting, in a guided and focused manner within small groups, the ideological struggle to expose counter-revolutionary activities, and they lack experience. Some have an inadequate grasp of the Central Committee’s directive, completely setting political struggle against ideological struggle, and dare not launch the ideological struggle to expose counter-revolutionary activities in small group meetings, merely carrying out general ideological criticism against liberalism and individualism. Consequently, the movement in these organs lacks vitality and cannot achieve the goal of educating the masses and ferreting out a batch of counter-revolutionaries.
The Party Committee of Organs Directly Under the Central Committee and the Party Committee of State Organs are currently summarizing experience in this regard.

--- Notes

[1] The main content of the July 9, 1955, briefing from the Office of the Central Five-Person Group is as follows:

[2] Refers to the special report dated June 30, 1955, from the Party Committee of Central State Organs on launching the movement to purge all hidden counter-revolutionaries, and the special report dated July 6 on launching the struggle to purge hidden counter-revolutionaries.