Comments and Revisions on the Draft of the Circular [1]
(April 11, 1956)

Comrade Peng Zhen [2]:
Slightly revised! [3] Mainly, it is to be distributed down to the county level, and opinions are to be collected and reported upward in May.

Mao Zedong
April 11

In addition to this, please have this document printed and distributed to the prefectural Party committees, Party committees of municipalities under provincial jurisdiction, and county Party committees under your authority, and also ask them to convene appropriate meetings inside and outside the Party to discuss it, solicit opinions, and have you compile and report them to the Central Committee before mid-May.

[1] Refers to the Circular of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, dated April 11, 1956, on Soliciting Opinions on the Handling of Chiang Kai-shek, Japanese, and Puppet Regime War Criminals, addressed to the Shanghai Bureau, the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, as well as all ministries and commissions of the Central Committee, state organs, mass organizations, and Party leading groups. The circular stated that at present, the Chiang Kai-shek, Japanese, and puppet regime war criminals in custody required appropriate handling. After weighing the overall advantages and disadvantages, the Central Committee felt that lenient handling seemed preferable. Lenient handling, without imposing the death penalty, would involve sentencing them to appropriate prison terms according to the circumstances of their cases, gradually releasing those who no longer required further sentencing, and successively granting special amnesty to some major war criminals who had shown repentance and were willing to atone for their crimes through meritorious service. Such handling would help us isolate, shake, and disintegrate enemies at home and abroad, consolidate and expand the people's democratic united front, and be relatively beneficial to the state and the people. However, such handling might also cause dissatisfaction among some people, who would consider it letting these criminals off too lightly, and might also make some reactionary elements feel they have nothing to fear, thereby fueling their reactionary arrogance. For this reason, the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions are requested to convene enlarged meetings of the standing committees of the local political consultative conferences, or other appropriate forums, within the months of April and May to solicit opinions, and after the meetings, report the results to the Central Committee, so that the Central Committee can make a final decision. After discussions in various localities, the Central Committee did not make a decision to implement special amnesty that year. On September 17, 1959, the Ninth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Second National People's Congress approved the proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to grant special amnesty to war criminals, counter-revolutionary criminals, and ordinary criminal offenders who had truly reformed and turned over a new leaf, and decided to implement special amnesty for the above-mentioned criminals on the occasion of celebrating the tenth anniversary of the National Day. On the same day, Liu Shaoqi, President of the People's Republic of China, issued a special amnesty decree. On December 4 of the same year, the Supreme People's Court granted special amnesty and released the first batch of 23 war criminals.

[2] Peng Zhen, then Alternate Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

[3] Refers to Part Two of this document. This is a sentence added by Mao Zedong at the end of the draft of the Central Committee's circular.