Repel the Attacks of the Bourgeois Rightists
(July 9, 1957)

Source: Xuanji, V, pp. 440–455. Available English Translation: SW, V, pp. 457–
472.

See text July 8, 1957(2), source note. This document, according to the Xuanji source, is a
speech made by Mao to a cadres’ conference in Shanghai. To guide readers toward a
comparison of the text of July 8, 1957(2) and this one, we have crossreferenced everything
that appears in both documents to the footnote as it appeared in the preceding document,
rather than to the original appearance of that footnote in this document collection, as is our
usual practice. Other discrepancies of major textual or political significance have also been
annotated. We have, however, left it up to the reader to do a fuller textual comparison.

The July 1 indictment of Wenhui bao (text July 1, 1957) is often considered the
first of Mao’s public salvoes of the anti-Rightist campaign of 1957. This argument
rests on the following observations: (1) There is still some hesitancy in Mao’s
intra-Party circulated essay of May 15 (text May 15, 1957), even though that essay
points out the shape of the major concern of the anti-Rightist campaign, namely,
“bourgeois” attacks on the CPC at the height of the Hundred Flowers Campaign,
Rightist inclinations to hanker for and attempt a restoration of capitalism, and
revisionism. (2) The essay of June 8, which was not just a follow-up on the May 15
essay, but made it clear that the attack on the CPC by the “bourgeois intellectuals”
must be repelled by a counterattack, or, by direct implication, through an anti-Rightist
campaign, was nonetheless also an intra-Party directive, and probably had not yet
brought the issues out fully into the public eye of the masses. (3) The RMRB editorials
of June (i.e., texts June 8, June 9, June 10, June 11, June 12, June 14[1], June 14[2],
1957), were not officially published under Mao’s authorship.
The campaign proceeded with terrible swiftness and determination. By the time
of the two documents here (i.e., texts July 8[2] and July 9), the campaign had already
reached a resounding peak. Having identified the main target, the Zhang-Luo
Alliance, and having “called it out” by name in the July 1 article, Mao proceeds, just
a week later, to insist on drawing the battle lines, and describes the specific tactics
to be employed in the campaign. In this way, it is clear that by July 8 (or 9), the
anti-Rightist battle was already joined and in full swing. The essay that probably
came later in the month (text July 1957) can then be seen as a first-stage interim
summation of the campaign, and the October essays as a full-term report.

In March, I spoke here with cadres in the Party.1 From then until now, one
hundred days have elapsed. In these one hundred days, there has been a great
change in the situation. We fought a battle with the bourgeois Rightists and the
people’s consciousness has been heightened; moreover, it has been heightened
considerably. We anticipated these things at that time. For example, I said here that
once everyone started criticizing, that is, once they started lighting fires, wouldn’t
it be painful? We must toughen our scalps and hold firm.2 This thing here, which

JULY - SEPTEMBER 1957 / 621
is on everyone, is called the head. The head has a layer
Toughening our scalps and holding firm means that when you criticize me I'm
going to toughen my scalp and hold firm, listen for a while, then analyze [the matter]
and reply. If what has been said is correct, it should be accepted; if what has been
said is incorrect, it should be criticized.
We must always have faith that the majority of people, whether it be in the entire
world or in China, are good. By [“the majority”] we mean not [just] 51 per cent
of the people, but more than 90 per cent of the people. Among the 600 million
people in our country, the workers and the peasants are the basic masses. In the
Communist Party, the Youth League, the democratic parties, and [among] the
students and intellectuals, the majority are always good people. They are always
good-hearted and sincere, honest, and not deceitful, and they have no ulterior
motives. We should recognize this; it has been proven true in every movement. For
example, taking the current [incident], in terms of students there are more than
seven thousand people at Beijing University; the Rightists amount to only 1, 2 or
3 per cent.4 Who are these 1, 2 or 3 per cent? They are the intransigent, backbone
elements. All in all, those who regularly cause disturbances and turn things upside
down are only about fifty people, and they don’t even amount to 1 per cent. The
other 1 or 2 per cent are those who applaud them and support them.5
It’s certainly not easy for a person to set fire to himself. I now hear that you have
some comrades around this area who had second thoughts and felt that a big fire
had not been set.6 I think that the fire set in Shanghai was just about right, [but] it
was just a bit on the side of being not enough; it wasn’t quite satisfying. If you
knew early on that it would be this wonderful, why didn’t you set some really big
[fires]? Let some of those poisonous weeds grow up, let some of those demons and
ogres come out on stage.7 What is there for you to be afraid of? In March I said we
shouldn’t be afraid. There are some comrades in our Party who feared there would
be chaos everywhere. I said these comrades are loyal and faithful to the Party and
the nation, but they simply didn’t see the overall situation, they didn’t reckon that
the great majority of the people, that is, over 90 per cent of the people, were good
people. Don’t be afraid of the masses, they are with us. They may scold us but they
won’t use their fists to hit us. The Rightists are extremely small in number; like
those at Beijing University I just spoke about, they are only 1, 2, or 3 per cent. This
refers to the students. If we talk about professors and associate professors, then it’s
a little different; there are probably about 10 per cent who are Rightists. The Leftists
also form about 10 per cent. These two sides are fairly evenly matched. The
middle-of-the-roaders account for around 80 per cent. What is there to be afraid
of? We have some comrades who have many fears; they fear the house is going to
fall down, and they fear the sky is going to fall down. Since ancient times only “the
man of Qi feared the sky would collapse”;8 only that man in Hunan feared the sky
would fall down. Except for him there has never been anyone who feared the sky
would fall down. As for the house, I don’t think this house is going to fall down.
It was just built, how is it going to fall down so easily?
To sum up, no matter what the area, more than 90 per cent of the people are our
friends, our comrades, and we mustn’t be afraid. How can we be afraid of the


masses? Fearing the masses is senseless. What is meant by leadership personnel?
Group leaders, squad leaders, [Party] branch secretaries, heads of schools, and
Party committee secretaries are all leadership personnel.9 Then there is comrade
Ke Qingshi,10 who is one such person, and count me as one too. People like us,
after all, have a little political capital. That is, we’ve at least done something for
the people. Now that fires have been lit to burn [things], more than 90 per cent of
the people hope that our comrades will be burnt for the better. Each of our comrades
has some faults; where is there anyone without faults? “Man being neither saint
nor sage, who can be without error?”11 We are bound to make some errors when
we speak, or when we are managing affairs; for instance, [errors] of bureaucratism,
or some such. These things are often unconsciously [committed].
We should “set fires” regularly. How should things be handled from now on?
Do you think that from now on we should have a fire once a year or once every
three years? I think it should be at least like a lunar leap year and the intercalary
month in a lunar leap year; [i.e.,] every three years there is a leap [year] and every
fifth year there is another leap [year].12 In each five-year plan [period] we can have
at least two [fires]. Didn’t Sun Wukong [the Monkey King] change for the better
once he had been tempered in Taishang Laojun’s Eight-Diagram Furnace?13
Wasn’t Sun Wukong a powerful individual? [Look,] he is known as The Great
Immortal Who Quelled the Heavens, and yet even he had to be burned in the
Eight-Diagram Furnace. Aren’t we talking about tempering [i.e., forging and
smelting]? To forge something is to hammer it into shape; to smelt is to smelt iron
in a blast furnace or produce steel in an open-hearth furnace. The steel that has been
smelted must be forged.14 Now forging is done with a drop hammer. How powerful
this [method of] forging is! We must also be forged and smelted. There are some
comrades who, when asked if they are in favor of being tempered, say they are very
much in favor of it: “Ah, I have shortcomings, I’d very much like to be tempered
a little.” Everyone says he or she wants to go through a period of tempering.
Ordinarily people find it easy to talk about being tempered. But when it comes to
being really tempered, when you really want to forge them with a drop hammer,
they will quit; they become frightened. This [current] period is one of tempering.
For a time, the sky was dim and the earth was dark, and the sun and the moon didn’t
shine.15 There were two gusts of wind that came up;16 one was [caused by] the
majority who were good people; they pasted up big-character posters and said that
the Communist Party had shortcomings that needed correcting.17 Another was
caused by the extreme minority, the Rightists—they are the ones who attacked us.
The two assaults come from one direction, but the attack by the majority was
justified; it was correct. This was one kind of tempering for us. The attack by the
Rightists was also a kind of tempering for us. To really talk about being tempered,
we should be grateful for the Rightists’ [attacks] this time around. It is the Rightists
who have given our Party, the broad masses, the working class, the peasants, the
young students, and the democratic parties the greatest education. In every city
there are some Rightists, and these Rightists want to overthrow us. Toward these
Rightists, we are now [conducting a campaign] of “encirclement and suppression.”18
Our revolution is the people’s revolution; it is a revolution of 600 million people

JULY - SEPTEMBER 1957 / 623

led by the proletariat; it is the people's undertaking. The democratic revolution is
the people's undertaking, the socialist revolution is the people's undertaking, and
the building of socialism is the people's undertaking.19 So, then, are the socialist
revolution and building of socialism good things? Have there been achievements?
Are [our] achievements the primary aspect, or are [our] mistakes the primary
aspect? The Rightists deny the achievements of the people's undertaking. This is
one point. The second is: In which direction [should we travel]? Traveling in one
direction will [lead to] socialism; traveling in another direction will [lead to]
capitalism.20 The Rightists want to reverse directions and travel the capitalist road.
Third, if we are to promote socialism, who should take the lead?21 Should the
proletariat lead or should the bourgeoisie lead? Should the Communist Party lead,
or should these bourgeois Rightists lead? The Rightists say they don't want the
Communist Party to lead.22 I think this is the time for a great debate, a great debate
on these three points. It is good to have a debate. These questions have not been
debated.
The democratic revolution went through a long period of debate. From the end
of the Qing dynasty to the Revolution of 1911, through the [movement] against
Yuan Shikai and the wars of the Northern Expedition to the War of Resistance
Against Japan, there was constant debate.23 Should we resist Japan? One faction
[adopted the] theory that weapons decided everything.24 They said China didn't
have enough guns and that we couldn't offer resistance. Another faction said, don't
be afraid, the people are still the main thing, and although our weapons are not as
good as those of [the enemy], we can still fight. The War of Liberation which ensued
afterward also went through a [process of] debate.25 The Chongqing negotiations,
the old Political Consultative Conference at Chongqing, and the Nanjing negotiations were all debates.26 Chiang Kai-shek didn't listen to our opinions or the
people's opinions. He wanted to fight. The result of the fight was that he lost.
Therefore [one can say] that the entire democratic revolution underwent debate,
underwent a long-term mental preparation.
The socialist revolution came in a rush.27 In [just] six or seven years, the socialist
transformation of the capitalist system of ownership and the small-producer individual ownership system has been basically completed.28 But, [with regard to] the
transformation of people, although there has been some transformation it has a long
way to go. Socialist transformation has two aspects: One aspect is the transformation of institutions, and the other is the transformation of people. Institutions
include not only the system of ownership but also the superstructure, the most
important [parts] of which are the organs of political power and ideology.29 For
example, newspapers belong within the realm of ideology. Some people say
newspapers are not tools in the class nature and that newspapers are not tools in the class
struggle.30 Such talk is incorrect. At least until imperialism has been eliminated,
newspapers, [like] everything [that touches on] ideology, will reflect class relationships. Schools, education, literature, and the arts all belong [within the realm of]
ideology. They all have a class nature. Natural science itself may not have any
class nature, but the [question of] who studies and uses natural science has a class


nature. In the universities, idealists are most prevalent in the Chinese [language
and literature] department and the history department. There are also the largest
number of idealists among the people who run newspapers. You should not assume
that it is only in the social sciences that there are a great many idealists; there are
many idealists in the natural sciences as well. Many people who are engaged in the
natural sciences have an idealist world view. If you want to talk about the
composition of water, then they are materialists. [They will say that] water is
composed of two elements, and they will carry out their work according to the
reality of the situation. [But] if you talk about how to transform society, they are
idealists. We say rectification is to rectify the Communist Party for the better, [but]
there are some among them who say that the Communist Party should be eliminated. This round has revealed many instances of this phenomenon.
At the time of the attack by the Rightists, our policy was like this: Just listen
and don’t speak. For several weeks, we toughened our scalps, opened our ears a
little more and just listened; we didn’t say a word. Moreover, we didn’t notify the
League members, we didn’t notify the Party members; neither did we notify the
[Party] branch secretaries. We let them have a free-for-all with each person forming
his or her own opinions. Some enemies have wormed their way into the Party
committees in the schools and into the [Party] general branch [offices]. There are
enemies in the Qinghua University Party Committee. As soon as you hold a meeting
[there], they report to the enemy. They are called the “insurrectionist elements.”
Aren’t there [people who were called] insurrectionist generals?31 These people are
the “insurrectionist literati.” This affair pleases both the enemy and ourselves. On
the enemy’s side, when they see Communist Party members “revolt,” [they think]
the Communist Party will collapse and they are very pleased. How much has
collapsed this time? I don’t know about Shanghai. Probably about 5 per cent of the
Party members in Beijing schools have collapsed; among the [Youth] League
[members] the collapse has been somewhat greater, perhaps 10 per cent or a little
more. This kind of collapse is most natural in my view. Whether it’s 10 per cent,
20 per cent, 30 or 40 per cent, in a word, there’s been a collapse and I’m very happy
about it. You who have infiltrated the Communist Party and the Youth League with
your heads full of bourgeois ideology and idealism may call yourselves Commu-nists, but you are in reality anti-Communists or wavering elements. Therefore, from
our point of view, when we see “insurrectionists” we are also happy. In what year
have the Party and the League ever been purged to this extent? They ran away on
their own; they didn’t want us to clean them out. But now the situation has changed,
it has turned around. As soon as we have encircled the Rightists, many people who
were not Rightists themselves but had liaison with the Rightists rose to expose
[them], and they are no longer “insurrectionists.”32 Now the Rightists aren’t having
an easy time of it and there are some Rightists who have revolted. [Only] one
hundred days have elapsed since I spoke here in March, and [yet] the situation has
changed so much. This anti-Rightist struggle is primarily a political struggle in
nature. There are various forms of class struggle. This one is primarily a political
struggle, it is not a military struggle or an economic struggle. Are there any elements
of an ideological struggle? There are, but I think the political struggle is the primary

JULY – SEPTEMBER 1957 / 625

element. The ideological struggle will be primarily in a subsequent stage when it
will be like a gentle breeze and mild rain.33 The rectification of the Communist
Party and the Youth League is an ideological struggle. Their [the members’
ideological] level must be raised a step; [they] must really study Marxism and really
help each other. Are there any shortcomings? Is there any subjectivism? Is there
any bureaucratism?34 We must really put our minds to work and think things over,
write some notes, and, by doing this for a few months, raise the level of [our
understanding of] Marxism and our political and ideological level a step higher.
The counterattacks against the Rightists will continue another few weeks or a
month or so. If the Rightists’ opinions are published like this in the newspapers35
for [all of] this year and [all of] next year and [all of] the year after that, then it
would become difficult [for them] to get things done. There is only so much to the
Rightists; the Rightists have just about published all of their opinions; after all,
there aren’t that many things to publish anyway. Hereafter they’ll publish a little
bit secretly, a little bit openly; if they have something [to criticize], then they’ll
publish it, and if there’s nothing [to criticize], then they won’t publish [anything].
I think July is still going to be a tense month in the counterattack against the
Rightists. The Rightists like violent winds and heavy rains most; they dislike gentle
winds and fine rain.36 Didn’t we propose [to have] gentle breezes and mild rain?
They say a gentle breeze and a mild rain, like the rain that falls every day during
the season when the plums are ripening, would cause the seedlings to rot and famine
would ensue, and that it is better to have violent winds and heavy rain. Didn’t you
have someone in Shanghai who wrote an article entitled “The Crow’s ‘Morning’
Cry”?37 That “crow,” it is he who brought forth this suggestion. They also say,
“You, the Communist Party, are unfair; in the past when you rectified us it was a
violent wind and heavy rain, now when you are rectifying yourselves it is gentle
breezes and mild rain.” As a matter of fact, when we promoted ideological reform
in the past, including the criticism of Hu Shi and Liang Shuming,38 all the directives
issued within our Party called for a gentle breeze and mild rain. The affairs of the
world always have twists and turns, as when one is walking on a road there are
always curves and bends. Have you been to Moganshan?39 From top to bottom
there are altogether eighteen twists and turns. Social movements always advance
in a spiral.40 At present the Rightists still have to be dug out; we can’t relax; it’s
still a violent wind and a heavy rain. Because they brought on the violent winds
and heavy rains, it seems this is our revenge against them. Only at this time have
the Rightists found out the good points of gentle breezes and mild rain. They look
for straws to grasp because they are drowning. They are like a man who is about
to be drowned in the Huangpu River41 who would want to grasp onto anything,
even a rice stalk. I think that “crow” would now find a gentle breeze and a mild
rain very welcome. Now it is a time of heavy rains, but once July has passed there
will be gentle breezes and mild rains in August because there won’t be many things
left to dig out.
The Rightists are very good teachers by negative example. We in China have
always had this kind of thing. There are positive teachers and there are teachers by
negative example. People need both the positive and the negative sides to educa-


tion. Japanese imperialism was our number one great teacher by negative example.
Before that, there was the Qing government, Yuan Shikai, the Beiyang warlords,42
and, later, there was Chiang Kai-shek. They were all very good teachers by negative
example to us. Without them the Chinese people couldn’t have been turned around
through education. It wouldn’t have been enough just to have the Communist Party
as a positive teacher. Now it’s the same way. We say many things that they don’t
listen to. Who are the so-called nonlisteners? There are a good many middle-of-the-roaders who don’t listen, [but] it is the Rightists especially who don’t listen.
The people in the middle believe some [of what they say] and doubt some. The
Rightists simply don’t listen. We’ve said a great many things to them but they don’t
listen; they [prefer] to do something else. For example, [when] we advocated
“unity-criticism-unity,”43 they didn’t listen. We said in the suppression of the
counterrevolutionaries, achievements were the primary aspect, but again they
didn’t listen.44 When we say we want democratic centralism45 and a people’s
democratic dictatorship led by the proletariat, they still won’t listen.46 [When] we
talk about the need to unite with all socialist countries and the peace-loving peoples
of the world, they won’t listen. In a word, [we’ve] talked about all these things but
they won’t listen. There is another thing they particularly refuse to listen to; namely,
that poisonous weeds must be uprooted. Let the demons and ogres come out and
exhibit [themselves]. After they have exhibited themselves, everyone will declare
that the demons and ogres are no good and should be overthrown. Let the poisonous
weeds come up, then they can be uprooted and used for fertilizer. Has this been
said before? Hasn’t it been said before? The poisonous weeds will still come up.
Every year the peasants talk with the weeds. That is, every year they hoe them
several times, but those weeds just don’t listen; they still want to grow. If you hoe
them for ten thousand years they’ll still want to come out; if you hoe them for a
hundred million years they’ll still want to come out. The Rightists weren’t afraid
of hoeing because when I spoke at that time we were only talking about hoeing
weeds, we didn’t actually do any hoeing. Moreover, they thought of themselves
not as poisonous weeds but as fragrant flowers. [They thought] people like
ourselves were poisonous weeds; they weren’t the ones who should be hoed up,
rather they wanted to uproot us. They just never realized that they were the things
that needed to be hoed up.
We are now debating the three questions I discussed above. The socialist
revolution has proceeded rapidly. The general line of the Party during the transitional period has not been submitted to a full debate;47 there hasn’t been a full debate
in society either. This must be done just like a cow eating grass: First [the cow]
chomps on it and swallows it into a pouch where it is stored; only later is it brought
back [into the mouth] and chewed slowly and carefully. In the area of institutions,
first concerning the system of ownership of the means of production,48 and, second,
concerning the superstructure—the political system and ideology—we have carried out a socialist revolution, but we have not launched a full debate. At this time
a debate is being launched by means of the newspapers, discussion meetings, large
meetings, and big-character posters.
Big-character posters are a good thing. I think [their use] should be handed

JULY – SEPTEMBER 1957 / 627

down. The Analects of Confucius was handed down. The Five Classics and the
Thirteen Classics and the Twenty-four Histories have all been handed down.49
Should the big-character posters not be handed down? I think they definitely should
be handed down. For example, should big-character posters be used in future
rectification in the factories? I think it’s good to use big-character posters, the more
the better.50 Big-character posters have no class nature just as language has no class
nature.51 The vernacular language has no class nature. When people like us make
a speech, we use the vernacular; Chiang Kai-shek also uses the vernacular. No one
speaks classical literary [Chinese] anymore. We don’t say [things like] “Is it not
pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?” or “Is it not
delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?”52 The proletariat speaks
in the vernacular and the bourgeoisie also speaks in the vernacular. The proletariat
can use big-character posters and the bourgeoisie can also use big-character posters.
We believe that the majority of people stand on the side of the proletariat. Thus the
big-character posters are a tool that benefits the proletariat and does not benefit the
bourgeoisie. [The fact that] for a period of two or three weeks the sky was dim and
the earth was dark, and the sun and the moon didn’t shine, would seem to be
beneficial to the bourgeoisie. [But] when we [spoke of] toughening our scalps and
holding firm, [we had in mind] just these two or three weeks when we’d be unable
to sleep and unable to eat. Didn’t you talk about [wanting to be] tempered? A few
weeks of not being able to sleep or eat; this is tempering. It’s not a matter of
[actually] putting you into a blast furnace to be burnt.

There are many middle-of-the-roaders who vacillated for a while, and this is
good. By vacillating for a while they gain experience. Vacillation is a characteristic
of the middle-of-the-roaders; otherwise, why would they be called middle-of-theroaders? At one pole is the proletariat, and at the other pole is the bourgeoisie. [In
between] there are a good many middle-of-the-roaders. The two poles are small,
while the middle is large. But the middle-of-the-roaders are ultimately good people.
They are the allied army of the proletariat. The bourgeoisie also wants to win them
over to become their allied army. For a time it almost seemed [as though they had
succeeded]. This was because the middle-of-the-roaders also criticized us, but their
criticisms were well-intentioned. When the Rightists saw the middle-of-theroaders criticizing us, they [saw an opportunity] to make trouble. Here in Shanghai,
Rightists such as Wang Zaoshi, Lu Yi, Chen Renbing, Peng Wenying, and even a
Wu Yin53 were the people who started to make trouble. Once the Rightists started
making trouble, the middle-of-the-roaders became confused. The venerable grandparents of the Rightists are Zhang Bojun, Luo Longji, and Zhang Naiqi, and they
all originated in Beijing.54 In the Beijing area, the more confusion the better; the
more thorough the confusion, the better. This has been one kind of experience [we
have had].

The big-character posters that we just talked about are a matter of form. It is a
matter of choosing a form of combat. The big-character posters are one combat
weapon. They are a light weapon like the infantry rifle, the revolver, or the machine
gun. As for airplanes and heavy artillery, they are probably in the class with Wenhui
bao, Guangming ribao,55 and some other newspapers. There was a period when


Communist Party newspapers also published Rightist opinions. We issued an order
that all Rightist opinions should be published in their original form. We used this
method as well as others to enable the broad masses to receive an education from
both the positive and the negative sides [of things].56 For example, personnel at
Guangming ribao and Wenhui bao got a very profound lesson this time around. In
the past they couldn’t clearly distinguish what was a proletarian newspaper and
what was a bourgeois newspaper, what was a socialist newspaper and what was a
capitalist newspaper.57 For a certain period, the Rightist leaders [on their staffs]
turned these newspapers into bourgeois newspapers. These Rightist leaders hate
socialism. They are not leading their school in a proletarian direction; they are
leading it in a bourgeois direction.58
Do the bourgeoisie and the intellectuals who came over from the old society
want to be transformed? They are inordinately afraid of transformation. They say
transformation gives one what they call a “feeling of inferiority,” and the more one
is transformed, the more inferior one feels. This is an erroneous way of putting
things. It should be that the more one is transformed, the more self-respect one has;
transformation should [give one] a feeling of self-respect. This is because one’s
own consciousness [sees] the necessity for transformation. The “class consciousness” of those people is very high. They believe themselves should not be
transformed; on the contrary, they want to transform the proletariat.59 They want
to transform the world in the bourgeois image while the proletariat wants to
transform the world in the proletarian image. As I see it, the majority of people,
more than 90 per cent, after going through a process of hesitation, thinking it over,
reluctance60 and vacillation, will eventually become willing to be transformed. The
more they are transformed, the more they will feel the necessity for transformation.
The Communist Party is still being transformed. Rectification is transformation. In
the future there should still be rectification. Are you saying that once this rectification has been completed there won’t be any more? After this rectification there
won’t be any bureaucratism? It takes only two or three years for [people] to forget
and then bureaucratism will reappear. People [all] have this characteristic—they
forget things easily. Therefore, after a time, there must again be rectification. If
[even] the Communist Party has to be rectified, [is it possible] the bourgeoisie and
the intellectuals who have come over from the old society won’t need rectification
and won’t need to be transformed? [They] are in even greater need of rectification,
in even greater need of transformation.
Right now, aren’t the democratic parties undergoing rectification?61 The entire
society should have a rectification. What’s wrong with having a rectification? [A
rectification] is not a matter of rectifying the trifles, but of rectifying the big things,
rectifying the [political] line. Right now the main emphasis of the rectification in
the democratic parties is on rectifying the [political] line, on rectifying the bourgeois Rightist counterrevolutionary line. I think the rectification is on the right
track. Right now, the main emphasis of the rectification in the Communist Party is
not the question of rectifying a [political] line, but the question of rectifying a work
style. But for the democratic parties right now, the question of work style is
secondary. The primary question is which line will [they] follow. [Will they] follow

JULY – SEPTEMBER 1957 / 629

the counterrevolutionary line of Zhang Bojun, Luo Longji, Zhang Naiqi, Chen
Renbing, Peng Wenying, Lu Yi, and Sun Dayu,62 or will they follow some other
line? This matter is the first thing that should be cleared up. The three questions
that I have mentioned should be cleared up: In the final analysis, were the
achievements of the socialist revolution and socialist construction, the things done
by several hundred million people, good or not? Should we follow the socialist
road, or should we follow the capitalist road? If we are to promote socialism, which
Party should lead [us]? Do we want the Zhang-Luo Alliance to lead,63 or do we
want the Communist Party to lead? Let’s have a big debate about it and clear up
the question of [our political] line.
Within the Communist Party there is also a question of line; concerning the
“insurrectionists”—the Rightists in the Communist Party and the Youth League—
it is a matter of line. Dogmatism is not at present a question of political line because
it hasn’t taken [that] form. In the history of our Party there have been several
instances where dogmatism [took the form of] a question of political line. This is
because [in these instances] it took the form of systems, policies, and programs.64
At present, dogmatism has not taken the form of institutions, policies, and programs. [Dogmatism] is a thing that has certain rigidity to it, but now that it’s been
hammered and heated by fire it’s become a bit more pliable. Aren’t the leading
personnel in every organization, school, and factory “going downstairs”?65 They
have given up the work style of the Kuomintang and the habits and airs of overlords.
They are no longer acting as officials and overlords. The directors of cooperatives
till the fields together with the masses, the factory heads and Party secretaries go
into the workshops and labor together with the workers.66 [In this way] bureaucratism will be greatly reduced. There will be future rectifications of this kind. Put out
big-character posters, hold discussion meetings, and take those matters that should
be corrected or criticized and sort them out and solve them. A further step would
be to raise [the level of our political awareness] and learn some Marxism.
I believe the majority of our Chinese people are good people, our Chinese nation
is a good nation. This nation of ours is very reasonable, very warm-hearted, very
intelligent, and very courageous. We hope to create this kind of environment: one
that is both centralized and unified [on the one hand] and lively and active [on the
other]; that is, there must be centralism and there must be democracy, there must
be discipline and there must be freedom.67 There must be both aspects, not just one
aspect. We shouldn’t just have discipline or just have unity. We shouldn’t seal other
people’s lips, not permit others to speak, and not permit what is incorrect to be
criticized. We should encourage speaking out; [everyone] should be active and full
of life. When someone presents well-intentioned critical opinions, “the speaker
should not be blamed.”68 No matter how pointed or how severe the curses may be,
these [people] should not be blamed, [people] should not be subjected to rectification
and they should not be made to wear “small shoes.”69 Small shoes are uncomfortable things to wear. At present who should be given small shoes to wear? We should
give them to the Rightists to wear. Giving the Rightists some small shoes to wear
is necessary.
Don’t be afraid of the masses; rather, join together with the masses. There are


some comrades who fear the masses as they fear the water. Do you swim? I go
everywhere encouraging [people] to swim. Water is a good thing. If you would just
work at it an hour every day, without fail, go today, tomorrow, for a hundred days,
I guarantee you would learn to swim. First of all, you must not have a teacher, and
second, don’t take a rubber life preserver with you. If you use a rubber life preserver
you won’t learn. “But this is my life [you are talking about], I don’t know how!”
[someone says]. You first swim in the shallow area. If you are learning [to swim]
for a hundred days, then, after thirty days in the shallow area, you’ll learn to swim.
Once you’ve learned [in the shallow area] then no matter whether you go in the
Yangtze River, or the Pacific Ocean, they’re all the same, they’re just water. Some
people say that if you’re swimming in a swimming pool and you go under
[someone] can immediately pull you out and you won’t die, but to swim in the
Yangtze River would be something else again because the water flows so swiftly;
once you sink, how can you be found? This argument is used to frighten people.
But I say this is the talk of people who don’t know anything about [swimming].
Our great swimmers, swimming pool instructors, and teachers at first wouldn’t dare
go in the Yangtze, but now they all do. Don’t people now also swim in your
Huangpu River? The Huangpu and the Yangtze are free swimming pools. To draw
an analogy, the people are like the water and the leaders at all levels are like the
swimmers. You mustn’t leave the water. You must go with [the flow of] the water,
you mustn’t go against the water.70 Don’t scold the masses; the masses are not to
be scolded: The worker masses, the peasant masses, the student masses, the
majority of the members of the democratic parties, the majority of the intellectuals—you cannot scold them. You cannot stand in opposition to the masses, you
must always take the same road as the masses. It is possible that the masses will
make mistakes, but when they do make mistakes, we must discuss things with them
sensibly. If they don’t listen, we should wait a while, and when we have an
opportunity, talk with them again. But don’t part from them, just as in swimming
we must not part with the water. When Liu Bei won over [Zhuge] Kongming he
said it was like “a fish taking to water.”71 Things like this actually occur; this is not
just written about in novels; this relationship of fish to water is written in the
histories as well. The masses are like Kongming and the leaders are like Liu Bei.
One leads and the other is led.
All wisdom comes from the masses.72 I’ve always said that the intellectuals are
the most lacking in intellect. This is [simply] to state the bottom line [of the facts].
The intellectuals have their tails cocked in the air.73 Their tails are even longer than
that of Sun the Acarin. Sun the Acarin was capable of seventy-two transformations,
and his tail was so long that ultimately he turned it into a flagpole!74 When the
intellectuals cock their tails, my goodness! [They think], “If I don’t rank number
one in all the world, I’m at least number two!” The workers and peasants are of no
account! You are just a bunch of “Ah Dou’s” who can’t even recognize a few
characters.75 But, it is not the intellectuals who resolve the problems relating to the
overall situation; in the end it is the laboring [masses] who will resolve them.
Moreover, it is the most advanced section of the laboring [masses], the proletariat,
who resolves them.

JULY - SEPTEMBER 1957 / 631

Does the proletariat lead the bourgeoisie, or does the bourgeoisie lead the
proletariat? Does the proletariat lead the intellectuals, or do the intellectuals lead
the proletariat?76 The intellectuals should become proletarian intellectuals—they
have no other way out. “If the skin did not exist, what would the hair adhere to?”77
In the past the “hair” of the intellectuals adhered to five layers of “skin,” that is,
they lived off five layers of skin. The first layer of skin was the imperialist system
of ownership. The second layer of skin was the feudal system of ownership. The
third layer of skin was the bureaucratic-capitalist system of ownership. Wasn’t the
democratic revolution for the overthrow of these Three Big Mountains?78 It was
for the overthrow of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. The
fourth layer of skin was the national capitalist system of ownership. The fifth layer
of skin was the system of ownership by small producers, that is, the system of
individual ownership by peasants and handicraft workers. The intellectuals in the
past adhered to the three former layers of skin or to the latter two layers to earn a
living. Right now, do we still have these five layers of skin? “The skin does not
exist.” The imperialists have run away and all their property has been taken over.
The feudal system of ownership has been abolished and the land has reverted to
the peasants and now has been cooperativized. Bureaucratic-capitalist enterprises
have reverted to the state. The industrial and commercial enterprises of the national
bourgeoisie have been put under joint state-private management, and they have
basically (but not completely) become socialist.79 The system of individual ownership by peasants and handicraft workers has become a system of collective
ownership, albeit that this system has not yet been consolidated, and it will take a
few more years before it can be consolidated. These five layers of skin no longer
exist, but they still influence the “hair.” They still influence these capitalists and
influence these intellectuals. In their minds they are always remembering these
layers of skin and they remember them even in their dreams. Those who came over
from the old society and the old orbit of things always have a lingering fondness
for the old life and the old habits. Thus, the transformation of people will take a
longer period.
To what skin do the intellectuals now adhere? They adhere to the skin of the
system of public ownership. They adhere to the body of the proletariat. Who gives
them food to eat? It is the workers and the peasants. The intellectuals are the
teachers hired by the working class and the laboring people. You teach their
children, but you won’t listen to the masters. If you want to teach them your usual
stuff, if you want to teach them the eight-legged essay80 and Confucius, or if you
want to teach capitalism’s stuff, and produce a bunch of counterrevolutionaries,
the working class won’t stand for it; they’ll dismiss you and next year they will not
hire you back.
A hundred days ago I spoke here about how the intellectuals from the old society
were now without any foundation. They have lost their former social and economic
foundation. They no longer have those five layers of skin, and unless they
land on a new layer . . . 81 right now there are some intellectuals who are like the
fifteen buckets used for getting water [out of a well] with seven going up and eight
going down.82 They are flying in midair, they can’t go up to the heavens and they


can’t go down to the ground.83 I say, call these people “the gentlemen on the
beam.”84 He flew his way up to a beam, but when he wanted to leave he found there
was nothing there to return to. Those several layers of skin are gone; he couldn’t
go back to his old home. The old home no longer exists, but they’re not willing to
adhere to the body of the proletariat. To adhere to the body of the proletariat,
you must study a little of the ideas of the proletariat, and you must become
friends with the workers and peasants. But they won’t do it; they know there’s
nothing [where they came from], but they still long for the [old] things. What
we are doing at present is to exhort them to become conscious and turn around.
After going through this round of extensive criticism, I think they will become
more or less conscious.
Those intellectuals with a middle-of-the-road position should become conscious; they shouldn’t cock their tails up too high; that intellect of yours is limited.
I say these people are intellectuals and yet they’re not intellectuals; it would be
more fitting to call them semi-intellectuals. This is because your intellect is only
so great—as soon as you start talking about great principles you commit errors.85
Right now, I’m not going to talk about those Rightist intellectuals; they are
reactionaries. The error committed by the middle-of-the-road intellectuals is that
of wavering, of not seeing their direction clearly and losing their bearings for a
time. If you have so much intellect, why do you commit errors? If you are so strong,
and hold your tail up so high, why do you waver? They’re [like a] blade of grass
atop a wall; when the wind blows, they can bend in either direction.86 One can see
that their intellect isn’t very great. In this respect, the ones whose intellect is great
are the workers and the semiproletariat among the peasants. As soon as they saw
Sun Dayu’s stuff, they knew it wasn’t correct. Whose intellect do you think is
greater? It is, after all, those who are barely literate people; their intellect is greater.
In making decisions concerning the overall situation, or decisions on our general
direction, we should ask the proletariat. I am like this: Whenever there is a thing
to be done, or some big plan to decide on, I have to consult the worker and peasant
masses; I must talk with them and discuss things with them. I must discuss things
with the cadres who are close to them to see whether [this thing] can be done or
not. This means we simply have to go to the various localities. This is impossible
to do sitting here in Beijing. Beijing is a place that produces nothing at all! There
are no raw materials there. The raw materials are all taken from the workers and
the peasants, they’re all taken from the localities. The Central Committee of the
Chinese Communist Party can be compared to a processing plant; it takes in raw
materials and manufactures something.87 Moreover, it had better produce something good; if it produces something bad it is committing an error. The source of
knowledge lies with the masses. What does it mean to say “correctly handle the
contradictions among the people?”88 It means seeking truth from facts89 and
following the mass line.90 In the final analysis it is [a question of] the two words,
“mass line.” Do not become separate from the masses. Our relationship with the
masses is like that of the fish to the water or like the relationship of swimmers to
water.91
Should the Rightists be beaten to death with one blow?92 It’s quite necessary to

JULY – SEPTEMBER 1957 / 633

hit them with a few blows they’ll just play
dead. In dealing with this sort of person, can you [do anything] without attacking
them or pursuing them for a bit? An attack is necessary, but the purpose of our
attack is to get them to turn around. We will use all sorts of methods to attack [them]
in earnest, to isolate them completely, and then there will be a possibility of winning
them over. I’m not saying all of them [can be won over], but we can at least get
some of them to change around. They are intellectuals, and some of them are big
intellectuals; winning them over will be useful. If we win them over we can let
them have something to do. Furthermore, at this time they have already been very
helpful. They have served as teachers by negative example: they taught the people
by negative example. We are assuredly not preparing to throw them into the
Huangpu River, but [are prepared] to adopt the attitude of curing the illness to save
the patient.93 Perhaps there are some people who are not willing to come over [to
our side]. A person like Sun Dayu, if he is so stubborn and is unwilling to reform,
just forget about him. Right now we have many things to attend to, and if we
attack him all the time, attack him for fifty years, there’s no way we can get
anything done! These people who are unwilling to reform, you can take [your
stubbornness] to your graves and go and see King Yan.94 [You] can tell King
Yan how you were a supporter of the five layers of skin, how you had so much
“backbone,” how you had resisted and wouldn’t succumb to the attacks of the
Communist Party and the masses of the people. But you should be aware that
now King Yan has changed. The first King Yan is Marx, the second King Yan
is Engels, and the third King Yan is Lenin. Now [the netherworld] is divided
into two regions. The King Yan of the [netherregion of the] capitalist world is
probably still the same old one, but in the [netherregion of the] socialist world
these people [Marx, Engels, and Lenin] are King Yan. I think that after a
hundred years these Rightists who stubbornly refused to change will still have
to be rectified.95

Notes

1. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 1.
2. Ibid., note 2.
3. See text July 8, 1957(2), notes 3 and 4. Here Mao omits the “industrial and commercial circles,” which are included in the list in text July 8, 1957(2).
4. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 5.
5. Here text July 8, 1957(2), names a list of Rightist student organizations formed at
Beijing University and identifies one of the leaders as Tan Tianrong (see text July 8, 1957[2],
notes 6 and 7). All this is omitted here in text July 9, 1957.
6. The text here appears to be quite different from that of a corresponding passage in
text July 8, 1957(2). In fact it is almost diametrically opposite in meaning. The major
discrepancy is the inclusion of a phrase, gan dao, here, which is missing in the July 8 text.
This renders the meaning that those who had second thoughts felt that the big fire had not
been lit, whereas the other text (July 8) gives the meaning simply (without gan dao) that the
fire had not been lit.
7. See text July 8, 1957(2), notes 8 and 9.
8. Ibid., note 10.
9. The list in text July 8, 1957(2) is more complete.


10. Ke Qingshi is not mentioned in the July 8 speech. For information on Ke, see text
Jan. 27, 1957(1), note 13. It should be noted that Ke was, so to speak, a “local” for this
conference.
11. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 11.
12. In the Chinese calendar system, which predominantly follows the lunar cycle, the
months are shorter than the months in the Western, or Gregorian, calendar. To make up for
the discrepancy between the lunar and the solar cycles, an extra month is inserted into each
“leap year,” which is known as the intercalary month. The specific location of the intercalary
month and the determination of which year would be a “leap year” follows a general cyclical
pattern but is not always entirely scientific.
13. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 12. The name _Qitian dasheng_, or Great Immortal Who
Quelled the Heavens, is a nickname that, according to the novel _Xi you ji_, the Monkey King
took for himself (see _hui_ 4 of this novel). This does not appear in text July 8, 1957(2).
14. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 13.
15. Ibid., note 14.
16. Ibid., note 15.
17. Ibid., note 40. It should be noted that in text July 8, 1957(2), there is no reference
to big-character posters at this place in the document; rather, as we can see from the footnote
numbering, the mention of big-character posters comes much later.
18. Ibid., note 16.
19. Ibid., note 17.
20. Ibid., note 18.
21. Ibid., note 19.
22. In text July 8, 1957(2), the passage here dulls Mao’s argument a bit by putting it in
the following manner: “Do we want it [i.e., the leadership of the Communist Party] or not?
The people say they want it; the Rightists say they don’t want it.” Here Mao apparently has
in mind not just the pattern of criticism of the CPC by the Democratic League (see text July
1, 1957, note 10) and the students, but the explicit rejection of CPC leadership by the Chinese
Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party (see text July 1, 1957, note 12).
23. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 20.
24. Ibid., note 21.
25. The War of Liberation is not mentioned in the corresponding passage in text July 8,
1957(2).
26. See text July 8, 1957(2), notes 22, 23, and 24.
27. In text July 8, 1957(2), Mao describes, in a corresponding passage, the socialist
revolution as a “brief commando attack.”
28. In a corresponding passage in text July 8, 1957(2), Mao was much less specific, and
spoke of reforming “social institutions.”
29. In the corresponding passage in text July 8, 1957(2), the words _zhu yao shi_,
conveying the meaning “most important parts of which,” are omitted. Instead the text reads
_jiu shi_ (meaning “that is”). The phonetic similarity should not be missed. Because of this
phonetic similarity, the speculation that text July 8, 1957(2) and text July 9, 1957 are, in fact,
the same speech (rather than representing two similar speeches given on separate though consecutive
days) is reinforced, though still not entirely proven. (That is, rather than representing two
different ways of putting things on Mao’s part, which is more possible if he had given two
speeches, the textual discrepancy is more likely a phonetic, or listening, error committed by
those who recorded the speech.)
Whatever the case may be, the textual discrepancy here, whether inadvertent or deliberate, has an ideological significance. The text July 8, 1957(2) passage can be read as
suggesting that the government, etc., make up the entirety of the superstructure, whereas the
passage in the present text suggests that these (and here “government” is not mentioned) are
only parts, albeit the chief parts, of the superstructure.
30. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 25.
31. Mao is being very sarcastic here. The term _qiyi jiangjun_ (insurrectionist generals)

JULY – SEPTEMBER 1957 / 635
refers primarily to the military commanders originally on the KMT side who, like Zhang
Zhizhong, for instance (see text May 15, 1951, vol. I, source note), “surrendered” to the
side of the Communists. The “insurrectionist literati” (qiyi wenren), of course, did exactly
the opposite. These terms do not appear in text July 8, 1957(2).
32. While Mao makes a positive statement here about the exposed Rightists, the July 8
text in a corresponding passage reads very differently. There Mao poses a rhetorical question
related not to the exposed Rightists but to those who exposed them, asking whether these
people should not be considered “insurrectionists” in their own right. It appears to us that
the July 8 text makes better sense.
33. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 26.
34. Ibid., note 27.
35. Ibid., note 28.
36. Ibid., note 29.
37. “The Crow’s ‘Morning’ Cry” (Wu zhou ti) is the title of an article written by Xu
Zhongnian in Wenhui bao (June 18, 1957), reprinted in RMRB (June 23, 1957). The title is
a play on the title of an old opera, Wu ye ti (The Crow’s Nocturnal Cry), which tells the story
of Liu Yiqing, Prince of Linchuan during the time of Emperor Wendi of the Song dynasty
during the Southern dynasties period in Chinese history. Liu offended, and was imprisoned
by, the emperor, and the story goes that one night his wife received from the calling of a
crow the omen of Liu’s imminent release.
In this article Xu accuses the CPC of being prejudiced in its acceptance of news and criticism
from people outside the Party—that it was happy to receive good news (i.e., compliments) and
rejected bad news (i.e., criticisms); that it was severe in rectifying others and mild in rectifying
itself, that the gentle wind and fine rain in the CPC rectification did the people no good—in other
words, Mao is here, ironically, synopsizing Xu’s article. Xu also suggests that “strong medicine”
must be used to cure the CPC’s illness—this last being a play on the CPC slogan of “curing the
illness to save the patient.” This article is not mentioned in text July 8, 1957(2).
38. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 30.
39. Moganshan (Mogan Mountain) is a mountain ridge in northern Zhejiang Province,
a branch of the Tianmu mountain range. It was here, according to legend, that the famous
swords of ancient time, “Moxie” and “Ganzhang,” were forged, in the time of the Spring
and Autumn period (circa 770–480 B.C.) for King Fucha of the Kingdom of Wu. (The names
may also be the names of two famous swordsmiths of the time of King Kailu, Fucha’s father,
who gave their names to the swords they forged.)
Moganshan is now a resort area and houses a famous convalescence clinic where Mao
may have been in the winter of 1953. (See text Winter 1953, vol. I.)
40. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 31.
41. Ibid., note 76.
42. Ibid., note 32.
43. Ibid., note 33.
44. Ibid., note 34.
45. Ibid., note 35.
46. Ibid., note 36.
47. Ibid., note 37.
48. Here, in a corresponding passage, text July 8, 1957(2), mentions the term “economic
base,” which is missing here. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 38.
49. Ibid., note 39. Text July 8, 1957(2) also mentions, at this point, an opera, Shiwu
guan, which is omitted in the present text.
50. Ibid., note 40.
51. Ibid., note 42.
52. These are the two sentences that begin the first segment in Lun yu (The Analects of
Confucius) (see note 49). Mao apparently uses them as a general representative of all sorts
of classical Chinese writing. In Chinese they read as xue er shi xi zhi, bu yi yue fu? You peng


zi yuanfang lai, bu yi le fu? The first chapter of Lun yu is known as the “Xue er bian.”
53. For Lu Yi, Chen Renbing, and Peng Wenying, see text July 8, 1957(2), note 48. Wang
Zaoshi (b. 1903), like Chen and Peng, was a prominent member of the Democratic League in
Shanghai and professor at Fudan University. He was educated at Qinghua University and the
University of Chicago and received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in political
science. In 1935 he was a founding member of the “People’s Front,” which was later organized
as the “Chinese People’s Association for National Salvation.” He held various positions in the
PRC government since 1949 and was also the manager of the Freedom Press in Shanghai. At
this time, he was planning, with people such as Zhang Bojun, to revive the Association for
National Salvation, and he was listed as a Rightist element. For more biographical information
on Wang, see Zhonggong renmin lu, p. 62. Wu was an actress with the Shanghai Film-Producing
Company at this time.
54. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 48.
55. Ibid., note 44.
56. See text July 1, 1957, paragraph 6, and text surrounding note 21. This explanation
about the behavior of the CPC’s own newspapers (presumably including RMRB) does not
appear in text July 8, 1957(2).
57. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 45.
58. In text July 8, 1957(2), the general positions of this paragraph and the preceding one
are reversed.
59. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 46.
60. The text here diverges from that of text July 8, 1957. Here the Chinese reads bu da
yuanyi, whereas the July 8 text reads bu duan youyi, thus the varying translations. The
phonetic proximity of the two phrases leads us to speculate, however, that the mistake was
made by one of the transcribers.
61. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 47.
62. Ibid., note 48; see also notes 53 and 54 above.
63. Ibid., note 49.
64. Ibid., note 50.
65. Ibid., note 51.
66. Ibid., note 52. While the tone employed here vaguely appears to convey that Mao
was describing things that had already happened, the text July 8, 1957(2) passage is couched
as a directive, or command.
67. Ibid., note 53.
68. Ibid., note 54.
69. Ibid., note 55.
70. Ibid., note 56.
71. Ibid., note 74. Zhuge Liang’s honorific (zi) is Kongming.
72. Ibid., note 57.
73. Ibid., note 58.
74. See text Sept. 16–18, 1953, vol. I, note 21. Sun the Acarin is another title for Sun
Wukong, the celebrated Monkey King in the novel Xi you ji (Journey to the West). It is the
Buddhist title (meaning “disciple” or “one who pursues the way of self-discipline and merit”)
given to him in the novel and is a title by which the character is popularly known in Chinese
folklore. On the double-meaning for “tails” here, and the subject of the intellectuals showing
their tails, see also text Sept. 16–18, 1953, vol. I, note 20.
75. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 59.
76. Ibid., note 60.
77. Ibid., note 61. In text July 8, 1957(2), Mao mentions a Shanghai capitalist who is
not identified. Here he omits the reference altogether.
78. Ibid., note 63. In text July 8, 1957(2), Mao does not mention the term “Three Big
Mountains” specifically.
79. Ibid., note 62.
80. Ibid., note 64.

JULY – SEPTEMBER 1957 / 637

81. Ibid., note 65.
82. Ibid., note 66.
83. Ibid., note 67.
84. The term liang shang junzi originally refers to burglars and petty thieves. The story
in “Chen Shi zhuan” (The Biography of Chen Shi) in Hou Han shu (History of the Later-Han
Dynasty) recalls that one night a burglar broke into Chen Shi’s house and concealed himself
behind a lofty beam. Chen discovered the burglar, but instead of exposing him, he assembled
his family and admonished them, saying that a burglar does not become a burglar by nature
or by the innate evil of his character, but by gradually sinking into the habit. He then referred
to the burglar as a “junzi [a noble man, or a gentleman] on the beam.”
Here Mao obviously extends and twists the original meaning of the term somewhat to arrive
at the notion of people who are suspended, in a quandary, and unable to go anywhere unless they
alight on a specific “skin.” However, it may also be indicative of a moderate sense of compassion
for these people and reluctance, at least for the time being, to condemn them outright. This
description became popular after Mao used it here, perhaps particularly because it was picked up
and reiterated by Deng Xiaoping in his Report on the Rectification Campaign (see section 2 of
“Report” in RMSC [1958], p. 34, and translation in R. Bowie and J. Fairbank, eds. [1962], p. 346)
on September 23, 1957, which was addressed to a larger audience than Mao’s speech here.
85. See text July 8, 1957(2), note 68.
86. Ibid., note 69.
87. Ibid., note 70.
88. Ibid., note 72.
89. Ibid., note 73.
90. Ibid., note 71.
91. Ibid., note 74. See also note 71 above.
92. Ibid., note 75.
93. Ibid., notes 76 and 77.
94. Ibid., note 78.
95. Ibid., note 79.