Interjections at Conference of Provincial
and Municipal Party Secretaries
(January 1957)

Source: Wansui (1969), pp. 73–81. Other Chinese Texts: Wansui (n.d. 3), pp.
121–125; URI (1976), pp. 17–24; Ziliao xuanbian, pp. 180–184. Available En-
glish Translations: JPRS, Miscellany, I, pp. 46–53; URI (1976), pp. 25–34.

Although the source labels this document as interjections at the conference of Party
secretaries, and thereby implies that these remarks were made during the conference, or, in
other words, most likely sometime before the speech of Jan. 27, 1957 (identified in the
Wansui [1969] version of that speech as the summary address [zongjie], or closing speech),
nonetheless, since we do not have a definite date for this set of remarks (i.e., the “interjections”), in accordance with the convention of this publication, we have had to place this
document at the end of January 1957. The reader should, however, be mindful that the
comments here were probably made by Mao first, followed by more definitive, conclusive
remarks in the January 27 speech. Two of the last three paragraphs in this document—the

JANUARY – MARCH 1957 / 289

paragraph starting “Ho Chi Minh” and the first paragraph under “(10) Others”—are in
the Wansui (n.d. 3) and the Ziliao xuanbian sources only. The final paragraph is only in the
Ziliao xuanbian source.

(1) The Problem of Ideological Struggle
Since the latter part of last year there has been a gust of Rightist opportunistic
wind blowing above the earth’s surface and below the cloud layer. Inside and
outside the Party there is a reverse current of antisocialism.
This deviant wind in society must be subdued. The method of subduing [it] has
to be convincing. It is not enough simply to do a little bit of scolding. If [the method]
is simplistic and crude, the bad wind will blow even harder and harder.
There will be an abundance of weird arguments at the National People’s
Congress in May and the Political Consultative Conference in June.1 One such
[argument] will be on the [problem of establishing] a legal system;2 another on the
sufferings of the peasants;3 yet another on the absence of meat in people’s diets.
The gist will be whether or not socialism is [a] superior [system]. We have to be
prepared for these two battles. Those present who are delegates [to these meetings]
must personally take part in the battles. Everyone must prepare a [speech] and have
an analysis.
The struggle against petty-bourgeois ideology, and especially that of well-to-do
middle peasants,4 has to be waged repeatedly for many years. The well-to-do
middle peasants have great influence. They are especially formidable. We ought
to pay attention [to this].
Merely attending to matters of daily routine without doing ideological work will
get one into trouble.
Every province needs a couple of [theorists like] Marx and a couple of [writers
like] Lu Xun.5 You should write articles. All those under sixty should write.
Every province should train theorists. Nowadays we train opera singers and
painters, but not people who are engaged in theoretical [work]. This is also a
problem of the system. You depend upon the Center, but the Center does not forbid
you to undertake [such tasks].

(2) The Problem of [People] Making Trouble
Should we be afraid of [people] making trouble? I think we should not. We
should not be afraid even if more trouble is made. There is bound to be trouble
every year, and it will increase in the future. What is the use of being afraid of it?
Contradictions have to be exposed before problems can be solved. Society is the
unity of opposites. There will always be contradictions between the professors and
students, on the one hand, and ourselves, on the other.6 There will always be
disputes. Twenty years from now the old ones will have died, but there will be
problems with the new ones. Forty years after the revolution, the Soviet Union still
has [people making] trouble. Thirty per cent of those in [our] factories come from
landlord, rich-peasant, and capitalist origins. In the universities, 80 per cent come
from landlord, rich-peasant, and capitalist origins. We must not be afraid of their
making trouble; not even if they come to Beijing to make trouble. We should adopt


a positive, not a negative, attitude. On returning from Yugoslavia to Budapest, Gero
reprimanded the masses.7 All at once he lost his prestige and was driven from
power. We must be prepared that big trouble may arise, and then perhaps nothing
serious will occur. Should something [catastrophic] happen, we must adopt a
positive attitude, correct [our] methods, and strive to cause division [among the
troublemakers]. A capable person is one who can open up a [new] situation under
circumstances such as those in Poznan and Hungary.8
We wish only for peace in the world. But we must be prepared for the worst,
and for the biggest trouble. We came from Yanan, and we are prepared to return
to Yanan. In the past we had not seen Mei Lanfang's opera.9 Now we have seen it
for seven years. We are prepared to return to Yanan in the eighth year.10 At worst
there might be fighting with atom bombs, a world war, mistakes committed [by
us], or a Hungarian Incident. As long as we are mentally prepared for the worst, we
will be afraid of nothing. If we are not prepared, we will end up weeping. The
Seventh Congress raised seventeen possibilities of [trouble such as] having "a
thousand li of land laid waste."11 Now what does it matter if some incidents should
happen in a country of 600 million people? If the heaven wants to rain or if one's
mother wants to remarry, we can do nothing about it.12
Concerning strikes in factories and schools, and petitions, the Constitution has
made stipulations in some areas, and has not [specifically] forbidden them in
others.13 Therefore, first, we mustn't advocate [such things ourselves], but second,
if people want to strike and make petitions, whether with or without reason, let
them. If their demands are reasonable, we should make corrections. If their
demands are not reasonable, we should explain [this to them]. If professors want
to publicize their opinions, let them do so. It is better to unearth contradictions in
order to solve them, and not to strike [them] to death with one blow. On the other
hand, if we are always making compromises, we would become [another] Nagy.14
The petty bourgeoisie wants to exercise dictatorship. They want to topple you
so that they can assume dictatorship. They want to have another Hungary; we'll
have to fight them for ten, twenty years. Every province should hold mass meetings,
public speeches, and public debate meetings so as to get arguments going and see
which side will win. But we must make preparations beforehand. In small gatherings they look truculent, but they will be at a loss about what to do at large meetings.
You call for big democracy, and we do it your way.15 If they have something to
fart about, let them fart; otherwise it will be harmful to us. If it's out, then one can
decide whether it smells good or bad. When society splits, we must win the people
over. If the people think their [the petty bourgeoisie's] fart stinks, they will be
isolated.
Don't be afraid of [people making] trouble. The bigger and longer, the better.
After people have made this kind or that kind of trouble, something will always
come out of it, and then we can figure out [who is] right and [who is] wrong. No
matter how much trouble there is, don't be afraid. The more afraid you are, the
more the demons will come against you.16 But we must not open fire. Shooting is
never a good thing to do, no matter at what time.
It is impossible to get the entire nation embroiled in big trouble. Wherever there

JANUARY — MARCH 1957 / 291

are boils and bacteria, there will eventually be eruptions. In a big province there
are about 50,000 people—in a medium-sized province 30,000 people, and in a
small province 10,000 people—who are ready to make trouble. When we balance
the books at the end of the year, if the numbers are not that high, we can say we’ve
done a good job.
To be prepared to face these troubles, we have to convene xian and [special]
district secretaries’ meetings and make preparations. [Special] district committee
secretaries and district chiefs and those higher up must be mentally prepared.
Should there only be peace and no trouble, and should we grow inactive and afraid
of trouble, we would be in a passive position when trouble arises. This would lead
first to mental sluggishness and then to acceding to every demand [put forth by the
troublemakers].
Problems cannot be solved without a fight. Contradictions can be resolved only
through struggle. XX Hui people, because of the restrictions placed on slaughtering
cattle, rose up and fought the cadres.17 As soon as they beat the cadres, the problem
was solved. There is fighting with good reason and fighting without reason.
Fighting, even without reason, is a good thing. When there is pus in a boil it has to
be drained.
In dealing with bad people, is it good to expel all of them? I think it is better not
to be hasty in expelling them. Nor should we execute them (except for counterrevolutionary criminals); we should use them to perform work, use them as political
teaching material, and deprive them of their political capital.18 An oversimplified way
of dealing with them means ideologically not to recognize the unity of opposites.
As for people like Xiao Jun and Ding Ling,19 it is not appropriate to kill them
or to imprison them or to put them under surveillance. What we should do is to
grab their many smaller mistakes and expose their stench in society.
Concerning Party members who have engaged in troublemaking in schools, we
should discuss the matter clearly before expelling them from the Party. We should not
be hasty in expelling them from the Party. And we can’t expel them from the schools.
The survey of the [class] backgrounds of workers in Shanxi was well done. In
Hungary no [such] survey was done, so when the incident occurred, nobody knew
why. Taking this as a lesson, we must be clear about the backgrounds of workers,
and know how many are reliable, how many are in the middle, and how many are
questionable. According to the present survey, only 25 per cent are reliable. We
must increase the proportion of those coming from working-class backgrounds. We
may gradually change this situation after three five-year plans. The backgrounds of
university students cannot be changed until about twenty years from now. Right now
it is impossible to enroll large numbers of workers and peasants in the universities.
At the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU they killed Stalin with one blow.20 It
was very satisfying [for them]. Now Stalin has come to life again. When they
swayed over that way they were sincere, and when they swayed back this way, they
were not.21 The imperialist countries gave them one blow, and the socialist
countries gave them several. So they are swaying back this way. They talk
incessantly of Poznan and Hungary, [but] they don’t admit their insincerity [in
talking about it].


(3) The Problem of Philosophy
To know how to analyze is to understand the dialectical method. Lenin said,
“The dialectical method can be regarded simply as the theory concerning the unity
of opposites. In this way one can grasp the nucleus of the dialectical method. But
this requires explanation and elaboration.” Again he said, “The unity of opposites
(uniformity, oneness, balance) is conditional, temporary, transient, relative, and
mutually exclusive. The struggle of opposites, on the other hand, is absolute, just
as development and movement are absolute.”22 Equilibrium is temporary, constantly [in the process of] being destroyed. In some cases equilibrium is destroyed
in just a few days or a few months; no sooner has equilibrium been attained than
it will immediately become disequilibrium. Unity is uniformity, oneness, and
unification. When there are disagreements in the Party, we convene a meeting to
bring about unity; a couple of months later, new problems crop up again, and we
convene another meeting. Being [objectively] realistic and subjectivism are a unity
of opposites. There will be subjectivism even in ten thousand years.
Materialism and idealism are a unity of opposites, and dialectics and metaphysics are also a unity of opposites. With philosophy there is always struggle; to discuss
philosophy you have to struggle. Some people, when they discuss philosophy, only
talk about one side [of the issue]; [when they talk about] letting a hundred flowers
bloom, they only talk about letting fragrant flowers bloom, and not about getting
rid of poisonous weeds.23 We acknowledge that opposites exist in socialism. Stalin
had his metaphysics, and his subjectivism. The Soviet Union does not acknowledge
the existence of opposites [within socialism], and forbids [their existence] by law;
as a matter of fact, many wrong things are hidden behind the front of socialism.
Lenin believed that merely talking about materialism could not solve problems. To
solve problems, one must struggle with idealism. To struggle with it, one must
study idealism. The three component parts of Marxism are the result of struggle
after having studied capitalist things.24
The realm of philosophy consists of two opposing things struggling [against
each other]: World view is the struggle between materialism and idealism; epistemology is the struggle between dialectics and metaphysics. We and Chiang
Kai-shek are a unity of opposites; we and the democratic personages are also a
unity of opposites. Everything has within it the relations between two contradictory
aspects. Stalin made some errors in his dialectics. “Negation of the negation.”25
The October Revolution negated capitalism. But he did not recognize that socialism
could also be negated. We believe that the world is at once stable and unstable.
Socialism, too, will one day cease to exist. To say that there is a society whose
superstructure will never become extinct would not be Marxist, it would be like
religion.

(4) The Problem of the Countryside
It is important to have a good harvest. Last year the Soviet Union had a good
harvest and it made many things easier. We have had one year’s experience [in
cooperativization], and this year we should try to reap a good harvest. If we all
work hard to achieve a good harvest this year, it will be of very great significance

JANUARY — MARCH 1957 / 293

to the world Communist movement. This will be an unprecedented event in the
history of the socialist movement. Historically, socialist cooperativization has
always brought about an [immediate] reduction in production. Our production
increase in 1956 was not great; we should increase production a great deal in 1957.
One of our goals is for more than 90 per cent of cooperative members to realize
an increase in income; we shall see if we can reach [this goal] in three to four years.
Hubei has had a good harvest, but still about 15 per cent of the members of
cooperatives there have had no increase in income. We should explain clearly to
Party members, government functionaries, military personnel, and civilians that
cooperativization has only had a history of one to one and a half years. We who
have participated in the revolution all our lives are still making mistakes. How can we
expect those who have had only a little over a year’s experience [in cooperativization]
not to make mistakes? Given a trial period of three years, it will be possible to increase
the income of more than 90 per cent of the members of the cooperatives.
About 10 to 15 per cent of the peasants have led a hard life. It is not correct to
make a blanket statement that peasants have [all] had a hard life. There should be
an analysis.26 The so-called hardship of the peasants is that the well-to-do middle
peasants’ income has been reduced; some veteran cadres’ families have become
prosperous, and they have begun to reflect the thinking of landlords, rich peasants,
and well-to-do middle peasants.
The Forty Articles27 were discussed at last year’s National Party Congress. They
should be publicized. We should strive to reach the production targets of 400, 500,
and 800 catties per mu [per year] ahead of schedule by one year and complete the
Twelve-Year Plan in eleven years.28
The first three steps are the most difficult. To accomplish things one has to pass
through three difficult stages. This year we have passed through only the first
difficulty. We need three five-year plans before we can accomplish our task.
Since ancient times, all progressive things have invariably elicited rebuke at the
outset. The theory of evolution, Marx, Sun Yat-sen,29 and the Communist Party
have all elicited rebuke. Ten thousand years from now, progressive things will still
elicit rebuke.
As long as one cooperative shows the superiority [of the cooperative system],
we’ll be able to refute all [kinds of] nonsense. We can use it for propaganda.

(5) Economic Problems
Each province [should] establish its own chemical fertilizer plants.
We should pay attention to food grain production. It is very dangerous not to.
When we have grain, we have everything. If there is food to eat even during strikes
in factories and schools, no great disturbance will occur in the nation. Cooperatives
should take over [the production of] oil products and pork. The state concerns itself
only with collecting the [amount requisitioned] and not with distributing. Food
grains, when they are collected, are to be handled in the same way (except in cash
crop areas). The state is only concerned with unified state purchasing, not with the
marketing in the countryside.30 Cooperatives and brigades should handle these
matters themselves.


Two years from now, [the problem] will not be the government competing with
people for grain, but rather that the state may not purchase [the grain]. We should
only have unified purchasing but not unified marketing. The situation in Xiaogan
xian in Hubei province is like this at present.
State farms31 should be established in new industrial and mining districts to
solve the problems of grain, oils, meat, vegetables, etc.
Big factories are essential, but we do not need too many of them. There is an
even greater need for smaller factories; there can’t be too many of them. People all
grow from small to big. Small [factories] should be based on the principle of
availability of raw materials and accessibility to markets. The number of large
[factories] to be built should be based, in principle, on the magnitude of the
resources available to the state.

(6) The Problem of Schools
Agricultural science should be added to the curriculum of junior middle schools.
Provincial and municipal [Party] committees should send cadres to strengthen
the schools and to focus their attention on the schools. All cultural and educational
work should be dealt with in this way.
Comrades from the provincial, [special] district, and xian [Party] committees
should educate students group by group and area by area. Every province [should]
hold a students’ congress and a teachers’ congress once a year. Adequate preparations should be made beforehand. One day [should be set aside] for reports and
three days for discussion and solving problems. If no arrangements have been made
for work on the students, [such] arrangements should be made. Each year we should
hold one or two meetings and give one or two talks. We must pay attention to
discovering problems, and not wait until problems explode to find solutions. Get
after them now. Factories, cooperatives, stores, and schools are the units concerned
here.

(7) The Problem of Literature and Art
There is an advantage in having a hundred schools contend in that it lets all the
evil demons, devils, and bastards come out [and show themselves].32 All the
provinces should pay attention to this: Concerning significant problems that are
ripe [for solution], one person should take charge and organize people to write
articles [on them]; preparations should be made [to publish] one article per month
to put down all the bad influences.
Vaccination can create immunity (by putting some “opposite matter” inside
your body).33 Why can’t we vaccinate literature and art?
The Propaganda Department should hold one or two press conferences every
month or two. Once every two months is all right too. Right now, there is not even
one press conference a year.

(8) The Problem of Cadres
Cadres are always being promoted to higher positions; but after being promoted,
they have no work to do. We have made a mistake in this regard. Now we only

JANUARY — MARCH 1957 / 295

permit them to go down to the lower levels and not to be promoted upward. The
fewer people in leadership organizations the better; [the work there] is nothing but
writing articles and talking on the phone.
The state is an apparatus for class struggle. Only a small number of people can
comprise the state.34 How could all 500 million people become the state? What
kind of promotion do university professors get? Don't they remain professors all
their lives, even when their hair turns white? How do workers and peasants get
promotions? Don't they remain workers and peasants all their lives, even when
their hair turns white? It's not that [the practice of] promotion is to be dispensed
with altogether; when somebody dies there should be a replacement.
Ultrademocracy and ultra-equality will never work. Yan Yuan, without going
through a grading, was [deemed] a second-class sage.35 The ratio between cadres
from outside and local cadres should be adjusted. In the case of xian [Party] committee
members, the numbers of outsiders and locals can be about half and half.

(9) The Problem of Leadership
Members of the Central Committee, secretaries of provincial [Party] committees, and heads of departments must pay a visit to the factories and villages every
year to familiarize themselves with the conditions there. Only in this way can they
avoid becoming [like] Rakosi.36
What the secretaries of provincial and xian [Party] committees have seen in the
departments amounts to nothing. [They must] go [instead] and dig into the factories
and cooperatives.
Real knowledge comes from the factories, cooperatives, stores, and schools. The
higher you go, the less substance there is. [There are two ways] to solve problems:
one is by going to the lower levels; and the second is by summoning people up to
report. Beijing is not a good place, because one cannot acquire much knowledge
[there]. The provinces are a bit better. You must go down. Heads of departments
in charge of industries should go down to the factories, and heads of departments
in charge of agriculture should go to the countryside.
Central Committee members, heads of departments, and secretaries of provincial [Party] committees must each take some time every year to visit the rural areas
and study the problems there. It takes only two months to get a clear picture of a
xian or a xiang. If they don't read telegrams for two months they can still understand
them [when they pick them up again later]. I hear that people don't go down any
more [because] there is too much office work to do.
The secretary of a provincial [Party] committee can serve concurrently as the
secretary of a xian ([or] municipal) [Party] committee. The original xian ([or]
municipal) committee secretary can be demoted to second secretary. Secretaries of
provincial committees having gone down, secretaries of [special] district and xian
committees will also go down. Secretaries of municipal committees can serve
concurrently as factory heads, school principals, and secretaries of Party committees. In this way, [we] will be able to penetrate reality and absorb knowledge.
It is better to have the secretaries of the district [Party] committees meet twice
a year. This way you will be compelled to study problems. Farts from on high do


not all smell good. Here, too, there are opposites—some of them smell good and
some of them smell bad (including Beijing). You have to smell them [to know].
All provinces should take note [of this fact]: In cities we rely on the working
class, in the countryside we rely on the poor peasants, and in schools we rely on
the Leftists. There always has to be something to rely on.
Ho Chi Minh37 is mistaken on the problem of relying on the poor peasants. [In
his case] it was not correcting a “deviation,” but correcting what was “correct” [in
the first place]. On the land reform issue [he] did not affirm the achievements but
spoke only about the mistakes. [He] issued a [self-]incriminating [“edict”]—a
letter to the peasants.38 [Then] the landlords were transformed into peasants
instantly. The democratic parties are opposed to having a single party39 [maintaining a] dictatorship; the intellectuals are opposed to the Party. Someone [there]
proposed that they should emulate China [and have] a hundred flowers bloom and
a hundred schools contend. But [he] wouldn’t allow them to emulate [us], saying
that they had [already] made a mistake in the past in emulating China. As a result,
[there they had] a single flower blooming in solitude, and one school sounding off
by itself. Now things have changed [a bit].

(10) Others
Each province [should] engage in streamlining [organization] on its own. Those
[cadres] who have a way out40 should start to be [transferred] downward first. As
much as possible [they] should be transferred back into production. Those who do
not have a way out yet should wait.
When there is a [borderline] situation where someone can either be arrested or
not, we should put it in the category of those who can be arrested; when there is a
situation where someone can be either executed or not, we should put it in the
category of those who can be executed.41

Notes

1. The reference here is to the Fourth Session of the First National People’s Congress,
which in fact was not convened until June 26, 1957, and lasted through July 15. The
transcript is also somewhat in error regarding the meeting of the CPPCC. The Third Session
of the Second National Committee of the CPPCC was held March 5–20, 1957. On Mao’s
usage of the term “weird arguments,” see text Jan. 18, 1957, paragraph 9, and text Jan. 27,
1957(1), paragraph 34.
2. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 84.
3. See text Jan. 18, 1957, note 34, and surrounding text.
4. See text Jan. 18, 1957, note 10.
5. See text April 25, 1956, note 15.
6. Mao appears to be harking back to problems discussed at the conference on the
problem of dealing with intellectuals; see text Jan. 20, 1956.
7. See text Jan. 27, 1957(2), note 46. We are not entirely certain what Mao is referring
to by Gero’s return from Yugoslavia.
8. See text Nov. 15, 1956, note 27; see also text Jan. 18, 1957, notes 13, 17, and 22.
9. See text Sept. 16–18, 1953, vol. I, note 18.
10. See text Oct. 26, 1949(2), vol. I, note 1, and text Aug. 12, 1953, vol. I, note 33, for
information on the Yanan period of CPC history. In this connection, since the CPC emerged

JANUARY – MARCH 1957 / 297

from the caves of Yanan to wage the War of Liberation, which they finally won, and to found
the People's Republic of China, going back to Yanan connotes losing power. For this
reference, see text Jan. 27, 1957(1), paragraph 41.
11. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 61.
12. Mao is apparently employing a rather slangish folk saying whose origin is unknown
to us. The Chinese characters for the saying are tian yao xia yu, niang yao jia ren, wu ke
neihe. 13. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 66.
14. See text Nov. 15, 1956, note 27.
15. See text Nov. 15, 1956; see also text Jan. 18, 1957, note 26.
16. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 62.
17. The Wansui (n.d. 3) source identifies XX as “Henan”; thus this would read “The Hui
people in Henan [Province].” The Hui people, an ethnically identifiable minority nationality, are almost totally Moslems, in whose diet beef represents a staple, and for whom such
eating habits constitute a major part of their religion. We are unable to identify specific events
corresponding to Mao’s description, although in 1958 it was reported in several articles in
Zhongguo qingnian (Chinese youth) that the Hui people, in the spirit of national integration,
were beginning to give up their insistence on using special restaurants and ritual bath-halls
set up for them and were prepared to join the public mess halls where they were treated as
everyone else. For more on this issue, see J. Dreyer (1976), pp. 161ff.
18. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 10.
19. Xiao Jun was the nom de plume of Li Tianjun (b. 1908), a modern Chinese novelist.
Among his early works, the most famous was Bayue de xiangcun (The Village in August),
which he completed in late 1934 and for which Lu Xun wrote a preface. In 1940 Xiao went
to Yanan and taught at the Lu Xun Art Institute. In 1941 he joined the CPC. In 1942, he
suffered some mild criticism during the Yanan rectification campaign. In 1947, he went back
to his native northeast China and founded the Lianhua bao in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province.
He began publishing articles that were critical of the land reform program and the pro-Soviet
tendencies of the CPC. In 1949, he was attacked at the Northeast Literature and Art
Conference and was sent by the CPC Central Committee to Fushun for labor reform. In
1953–1954 he wrote, on the invitation of Zhou Yang, then director of the Cultural Depart-ment, a long novel entitled Wuyue de kuangshan (The Mines in May). This novel, though
already heavily edited by others before publication, was still attacked in 1955. Xiao and
others were implicated in the struggle between the CPC Center under Mao and writers such
as Hu Feng in mid-1955. (For the Hu Feng affair, see text May–June 1955, vol. I, source
note and note 12.)
Ding Ling was the nom de plume of Jiang Bingzhi (1906–1985), a writer whose active
career began in the late 1920s. She joined the CPC in 1931, and was arrested as a Communist
in May 1933 in Shanghai. After her release in 1936, she went to Yanan. There she became
the editor for the literary page of the Jiefang ribao (Liberation Daily). From 1942 on, her
writing career and her political career followed a checkered pattern, and the two often got
in each other’s way. In 1950, however, she became the director of the newly established
Literary Studies Institute of the Party Center and edited the Wenyi bao (Literature and Art
Journal) and Renmin wenxue (People’s Literature). In September 1954, because of Yu
Pingbo’s articles on Hongloumeng (see text Oct. 16, 1954, vol. I, note 1), the Wenyi bao was
implicated and so was Feng Xuefeng, who had replaced Ding Ling as its editor. Subsequently, Ding herself was implicated and purged. In December 1957 she was severely
reprimanded for her continued resistance to Party discipline and was removed from CPC
membership. Here the Ziliao xuanbian version has a typographical error, rendering Ding
Ling as “Ding Ri”; the Wansui (n.d. 3) version also contains an error rendering Ding Ling
as “Ding Xue.”
For more biographical information on Ding, see D. Klein and A. Clark, eds. (1971), II,
pp. 846–847, and URI (1970), II, pp. 626–627.
20. See text Jan. 18, 1957, note 21 and paragraph 11, and text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 30
and paragraph 37.


21. See text Jan. 18, 1957, note 24.
22. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 38.
23. See text Jan. 18, 1957, note 15, and text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 3, on the hundred
flowers; see text Jan. 18, 1957, note 38, and text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 41, on the fragrant
flowers and poisonous weeds.
24. This alludes to Lenin’s famous essay, “The Three Sources and Three Component
Parts of Marxism”; see text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 46.
25. The “law” known as the law of “the negation of the negation” (in Chinese, _fouding
zhi fouding_) is one of the fundamental “laws” of dialectics (the others being the law of
contradictions, and the law of transition from quantitative change to qualitative transformation). It is part of the basic way of dialectical thought that connects it to the classical
syllogistic mode of thinking, in which the first thesis (the original thesis) is negated by the
antithesis. In the “negation of the negation” dialectical mode of thought, the function of the
third phase of the syllogism, the “synthesis,” is not merely to synthesize the thesis and the
antithesis and the relationship between them, but beyond that, it also negates the antithesis,
or, in other words, is the “negation of the negation.” The idea of the negation of the negation
serves as the basis for the fundamental notion that all development and evolution of matter
depends on, and is a measure of, the contradiction and struggle within the matter itself. This
is therefore a notion basic to Mao’s almost all-embracing concept of contradiction, as well
as to the crucial idea of the unity of opposites that Mao was, at this time, escalating from the
sphere of basic theory to the sphere of strategic practice. It is also an important philosophical
foundation for Mao’s radical interpretation of contradictions in the unity of opposites, which
he ultimately formulated as the theory of “one divides into two” (_yi fen wei er_). Although
Mao does not appear to have made public announcements about this latter formulation until
October 1957 (see text Oct. 13, 1957), his ideas at this time (i.e., in early 1957) are already
clearly pointed in that direction. See text Nov. 15, 1956, note 35; also see text Jan. 27,
1957(1), note 18.
26. Mao appears to be still mindful here of the criticism of the CPC made by people such
as Liang Shuming. See text Sept. 16–18, 1953, vol. I, source note and note 1; also see text
Jan. 18, 1957, notes 33 and 34.
27. See text Dec. 6, 1955, vol. I, note 3; see also text Jan. 18, 1957, note 6.
28. See text Dec. 21, 1955, vol. I, point 11 and note 8.
29. On Sun, see text Nov. 12, 1956, source note, and text Aug. 4, 1952, vol. I, note 7;
on the theory of evolution, see text Feb. 27, 1957, note 84.
30. See text Jan. 18, 1957, note 29.
31. See text Mar. 19, 1953, vol. I, note 4.
32. On the term “contending,” see text Autumn 1956, note 3; on the terms “demons,
etc.” see text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 54, and text Jan. 18, 1957, note 25. The source here
reads somewhat differently from the usual rendition of these terms. Instead of the usual
_niugui sheshen_ for “demons and ogres,” Mao has _niutou sheshen_, in which the Chinese
character for _shen_ is different from the usual one. The words here literally mean “those
with ox heads and snake bodies,” where the conventional phrase means “ox ghosts and
snake gods.” The basic reference, however, remains the same. Following that, Mao has
here _guizi wangba_, in which we think that the character for _gui_ here, literally meaning
“ghost,” is a typographical or recording error for a word of the same sound but different
tone, meaning “tortoise.” Taken together, the four characters would mean “sons of
tortoises,” or bastards.
33. This is not a poor translation for “antibodies”; Mao is using the word _duili wu_.
34. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 81.
35. Yan Yuan, also know, as Yan Hui, or, in the _Lun Yu_ (Analects of Confucius),
simply as Hui, was a disciple of Confucius. He was well-known for his intelligence and
for his sense of perseverance and serendipity. Why Mao chose him as example here is
uncertain. Yan certainly did not pass any of the “socialist” examinations, nor any of
China’s traditional imperial exams. Mao is also referring, however, to the fact that Yan

JANUARY — MARCH 1957 / 299

was revered by the epithet of Fu sheng, or “Once again a sage.”
36. See text Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 68.
37. See source note. The Wansui (n.d. 3) source has “Hu XX” for “Ho Chi Minh.” See
also text Jan. 27, 1957(2), paragraph 1 and note 1.
38. The original in Wansui (1969), URI (1976), and Ziliao xuanbian is missing a word.
The term Mao uses, according to the Wansui (n.d. 3) source, is zui ji zhao (the original reads
zui zhao), which refers to the rare practice in traditional China when the emperor issues an
edict accepting responsibility for some mistake, or severe calamity.
39. The Chinese here in Ziliao xuanbian reads yi zhang zhuan zheng, which we believe
is a typographical error for yi dang zhuan zheng, as it appears in Wansui (n.d. 3).
40. We believe Mao is referring to people who are given positions or assignments. See
the final paragraphs of text Jan. 18, 1957, Version II (in a part of that speech that does not
appear in Version I).
41. We believe Mao is referring to the handling of counterrevolutionaries.