Commentary on RMRB Editorial
(1956)

Source: Wansui (n.d.3), p. 106. Other Chinese Text: Xinwen zhanxian, p. 10.

According to the sources, RMRB published an editorial on June 20, 1956, titled “Yao fandui
baoshou zhuyi, ye yao fandui jijao qingxu” (We Must Oppose Conservatism, but We Must
Also Oppose an Impetuous Mood). These sources claim, or report to claim, that this editorial
was written by the “people in the old Propaganda Department of the Central Committee”
(jiu zhongxuan bu de ren) instigated by Lu Dingyi¹ under orders from Liu Shaoqi.² The
Xinwen zhanxian source, a combatant Red Guard publication of the Cultural Revolution
period, calls this editorial a “big poisonous weed.”³ Both sources call it a “black editorial”
and claim that it was published only after it was inspected, revised, and endorsed by Liu
Shaoqi, Lu Dingyi (both sources), and Hu Qiaomu and Deng Tuo⁴ (only the Xinwen
zhanxian source). The date for Mao’s “rebuttal” is not given. Naturally it has to be after
June 20, 1956. The first sentence here, if accurately reported, suggests that the comment
was written, or spoken, in 1956.

The editorial of June 20 contains an error of principle. [It suggests that we] must
oppose a tendency toward conservatism, [but that at the same time] we must also
oppose an impetuous mood. This editorial talks about opposing the Right, but [that
opposition campaign] had not been going on for more than half a year; [and it]
believes that there has been [already] very great achievement in opposing the Right.
[It has] overestimated [the achievements]. We cannot say that this editorial does
not have the slightest bit of Marxism-Leninism. The manner in which the editorial
proposes [the question] is similar to the method [adopted by] Wei Zhongxian;⁵ [it
is a method] of [appearing to be] a gentleman [but really being] a villain. It cited
my words, but snipped off the top and cut out the bottom. It only cited [those words

that had the effect of [ ] opposing the Left. This is not right. It did not use the whole
passage of [my words in context]. That is like Qin Qiong buying a horse — he only
wanted the middle section and didn’t want [to buy] the head or the tail.6 The method
is one-sided. The front part speaks of how [to deal with] a minority; the last part
speaks of how [to deal with] a majority. In form it opposes both sides, but in reality
it opposes the Left.7

Notes

1. Lu Dingyi was director of the Department of Propaganda of the Central Committee
of the CPC. See text Oct. 13, 1957, note 51.
2. See text May 19, 1953, vol. I, source note.
3. For the meaning of this usage, see text Jan. 18, 1957, note 38.
4. On Hu Qiaomu, see text May 22, 1950, vol. I, note 2. Deng Tuo (b. 1911) was a major
figure in journalism work in the CPC. He was editor-in-chief of RMRB from 1952 to
November 1957 when he was replaced by Wu Lengxi. (Deng remained managing director
of RMRB.) Deng had also been a contributor on a regular basis to the CPC’s major theoretical
journal, Xuexi (Study), before it was supplanted by Hongqi (Red Flag) in 1958. Deng was
accused in the Cultural Revolution of attacking socialism through his writing, and of being
a representative of Khrushchevian revisionism in China. At issue, particularly, was the
publication of a set of essays known as the “San jia cun zaji” (Notes of Three Household
Village) in the CPC organ Qianxian (Frontlines) from October 1961 to July 1964. These
essays were written by Wu Han, Deng Tuo, and Liao Mosha (the last two under the names
Ma Nanbang and Fan Xing respectively). This trio—known then as the Wu-Nan-Xing
anti-Party clique—was accused of being an anti-socialist, anti-Maoist conspiratorial faction.
Deng Tuo was particularly criticized for his writing of Yanshan ye hua (Nocturnal Words
from Yanshan), which was published in serial form from 1961 to September 1962 in Beijing
wanbao (Beijing Evening News). He was stripped of all positions in June 1966. For more
biographical information on Deng, see D. Klein and A. Clark, eds. (1971), II, pp. 831–833,
and Zhonggong renwu lu, p. 948.
5. Wei Zhongxian (d. 1627) was an infamous eunuch of the Ming dynasty and probably
the most notorious in Chinese history. He came at the end of a series of tyrannical eunuchs
who usurped royal power, a political malaise characteristic of the Ming dynasty, particularly
in its last period. This isolated the court from the social and political problems of the time
and abetted partisan strife in officialdom. Wei organized the so-called Dongchang (a
secret-police type imperial guard organization) and with it brutally persecuted hundreds of
officers who dared to oppose him, or simply fell under suspicion. Many of these were in a
conservative reform group known as the Donglin (Eastern Woods) party. On the ascension
of Emperor Sizong, Wei was finally forced to commit suicide. See text Mar. 22, 1958, note
80.
6. Qin Qiong (d. 638) is also known by the name Qin Shubao. He was a famous warrior
of the late-Sui dynasty and early-Tang dynasty. Starting out as a young warrior in the army
of the Sui general Lai Huer, he was part of a force dispatched to suppress the rebel army of
Li Mi, one of many contestants for power at the collapse of the Sui. Later he surrendered to
Li Mi, and subsequently to Wang Shichong. Finally, he joined the forces of Li Shimin, and
as Li’s star rose Qin served well in many victories. When the Li family succeeded the Sui
dynasty and founded the Tang dynasty, Qin became deputy marshal of the Tang imperial
forces. (See also text Mar. 22, 1958, note 53.) The story told of Qin, and alluded to by Mao
here, is apparently a vulgarized popular story, but one that we have not been able to trace.
7. The Xinwen zhanxian source gives quotation marks before and after the word “zuo”
(Left).