Comments and Revisions on the Draft Directive Concerning Counter-Revolutionaries
(August 22 and 26, 1955)

Return immediately to Comrade Xiaoping[1] for handling. This document is very good. Slightly revised in one place.[2]
Mao Zedong
August 22

[1]
Xiaoping, namely Deng Xiaoping, then serving as Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[2]
The revisions made by Mao Zedong on August 22, 1955, while reviewing the Central Committee’s draft directive on thoroughly purging hidden counter-revolutionaries, mainly consist of two additions:
(1) After the sentence in the draft directive stating, “For counter-revolutionaries who commit suicide out of fear of punishment or who stage fake suicides, their crimes must be announced within their work units; for those who stage fake suicides, the reasons and motives must be investigated,” Mao Zedong added: “However, for the purpose of preserving useful materials, every effort must also be made to prevent counter-revolutionaries from committing suicide.”
(2) After the sentence in the draft directive stating, “It is wrong not to resolutely protect good people; it is also wrong to unilaterally accommodate senior technical personnel, refraining from touching them even when they have serious problems,” Mao Zedong added: “This does not apply to the small number of individuals who, due to certain necessities and with the approval of the Central Committee or provincial/municipal Party committees and regional Party committees, are temporarily left untouched.”

Comrades Shaoqi and Xiaoping:
A paragraph has been added on page 12.[1] Without this addition, the problem of disrupting work and classes would not be fully resolved. If deemed acceptable, it may be issued as is.
Mao Zedong
August 26

In addition to the deployment of proceeding in batches, within any work unit that is involved in fulfilling the annual, quarterly, or monthly plans of the Five-Year Plan, the leading personnel must be divided into two groups: one group to take charge of routine work, concurrently attending to the elimination of counter-revolutionaries on major issues; the other group to take exclusive charge of the work of eliminating counter-revolutionaries. The masses shall carry out the elimination of counter-revolutionaries outside of work and class hours; when necessary, a portion of work or class time may be used, but the principle shall be not to disrupt work or classes.

[1]
Refers to the paragraph added by Mao Zedong on August 26, 1955, to the Central Committee’s draft directive on thoroughly purging hidden counter-revolutionaries, i.e., Section 3 of this text. In addition, after the sentence in the draft directive stating, “Counter-revolutionaries who have surrendered shall not be arrested; for those who confess, whether to arrest them shall be determined by the severity of their circumstances and the thoroughness of their confession; those against whom we have evidence but who stubbornly refuse to confess must be resolutely arrested,” Mao Zedong added in parentheses: “Where we have no evidence, do not arrest lightly.”