Comment on Printing and Distributing a Copy of the “Briefing on the Rectification Situation in Institutions of Higher Education” of June 4th [1]
(June 6, 1957)

Shangkun [2]

Print and distribute for all Central Committee members in Beijing to read.

Completely rumor-mongering, but worthy of attention.

Mao Zedong
June 6th

Published according to the manuscript.

Notes

[1] This comment was written on a letter from Lu Dingyi, then head of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, to Mao Zedong on June 5, 1957, submitting the “Briefing on the Rectification Situation in Institutions of Higher Education.” The “Briefing” said that a student at Peking University had written an article titled “My Worries and Appeal,” which spread the rumor that a split had begun in the Party Central Committee, that Chairman Mao’s policy of “ming” and “fang” was opposed by ninety percent of the people in the Party and counterattacked by conservative forces within the Party, and that some people wanted to force Chairman Mao to step down. This article was mimeographed and distributed both on and off campus, causing a great shock.

[2] Shangkun, i.e., Yang Shangkun, was then an alternate secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the Central Committee.