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Comment on Reprinting the Article “How Intellectuals Should Approach the Rectification Campaign” (June 7, 1957) Comrade Qiaomu [1]: This article [2] is very good and may be reprinted in a prominent position.
Mao, June 7. Printed from the manuscript.

Notes [1] Qiaomu refers to Hu Qiaomu, who at that time served as an alternate member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and as Mao Zedong’s secretary. [2] This refers to an article by Da Yijin, titled “How Intellectuals Should Approach the Rectification Campaign,” published in the Wen Hui Bao on June 6, 1957.
The article argues that intellectuals’ attitude toward the rectification campaign should be as follows: First, they must recognize the Party’s great boldness.
The Party bases its policies on the views of the entire nation; it is wholly selfless and courageous enough to openly acknowledge and correct its mistakes.
Bureaucratism, factionalism, and subjectivism are not inherent in the Party’s nature but arise when certain members with impure Party consciousness, in implementing the Party’s guidelines, become divorced from the masses and from reality and fail to act in the interests of uniting the people.
The rectification campaign is the Party’s concrete demonstration of its resolve to overcome these shortcomings.
Second, they should study the documents of the rectification campaign.
Thorough study will enable us to understand more clearly that we are living in a new, intense, and momentous era of transformation, to take control of our own destinies, to discern the direction of social development, to properly balance individual and collective interests, and to know what to support and what to oppose.
Third, they should adopt the spirit of gentle persuasion.
The current contradictions are internal to the people, and unity must be maintained.
We should learn from the lessons of past campaigns, which sometimes involved excessively harsh criticism.
Fourth, they should distinguish right from wrong.
Non-Party persons who assist in the rectification campaign should do so under the leadership of the Party and with the understanding that they are not in opposition to it, thereby overseeing the Party’s implementation of the rectification policies.
They should criticize boldly while avoiding unjust accusations; if they find that a criticism is far removed from the facts, they should speak up.
Fifth, they should propose ways to resolve contradictions.
They should work together with the leadership to address and mitigate these contradictions.
With regard to demands made by the people that are too high or to matters that cannot yet be accomplished, intellectuals should especially use their pens to conduct propaganda and provide explanations to the masses.
Sixth, they should use their participation in the rectification campaign as an opportunity to transform themselves.
Seventh, they must grasp the essential nature of the rectification movement.
The purpose of the rectification campaign is to consolidate the Party’s prestige, strengthen its fighting capacity, and enable it to unite six hundred million people more effectively, mobilizing their full contributions to accelerate the building of socialism.
We must not confuse the expansion of socialist democratic life with the decadent liberalism of the bourgeoisie.
This article was never subsequently reprinted.