Criticism of the *People’s Daily* Editorial of June 20, 1956 [1]
(June 1956)

The June 20 editorial contains an error of principle: it advocates opposing both conservative tendencies and rash impetuosity. Less than half a year after speaking of opposing the Right, this editorial already claims that the achievements in opposing the Right are very great—an overestimation. It cannot be said that the editorial contains no Marxism-Leninism at all, but what comes after the “however” is anti-Marxist-Leninist. The formulation of the editorial is the same as Wei Zhongxian’s method—gentlemen and petty men. It quotes my words by cutting off the head and tail, citing only the part about opposing the Left. This is incorrect. Not using the entire passage is like Qin Qiong selling his horse—cutting off the head and tail and taking only the middle section. The method is one-sided. The earlier part talks about how the minority behaves, the latter part about how the majority behaves. In form it opposes both sides, but in substance it opposes the Left.

[1]
On June 20, 1956, the *People’s Daily* editorial “Oppose Conservatism as Well as Rash Impetuosity” was written by personnel of the old Central Propaganda Department under Liu Shaoqi’s orders to Lu Dingyi, reviewed by Liu Shaoqi and Lu Dingyi, and then published. Later, Mao Zedong severely criticized this editorial.