(March 22, 1958)
It is worth reading. Where there is bourgeois freedom, there can be no proletarian freedom; and where there is proletarian freedom, there can be no bourgeois freedom. One must annihilate the other—there can be no compromise. The more thoroughly bourgeois freedom is eliminated, the more extensively proletarian freedom will expand. From the bourgeoisie’s point of view, this is what they call “a country without freedom.”
[l]
This refers to an article titled “Big-Character Poster by Two Rightists at Shanghai Institute of Chemical Technology,” published in the March 13, 1958 issue of “Propaganda and Education Briefing,” compiled and printed by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. The article stated that students at Shanghai Institute of Chemical Technology were currently vigorously exposing bourgeois corruption and degeneration within their classes, creating a powerful “anti-bourgeois, pro-proletarian” current. Many so-called “kingdoms of freedom,” “free realms,” and “free collectives” had already been uncovered. Two rightist students at the institute had also written a big-character poster, the details of which, upon investigation by the school, were found to be true. The poster described Room 203 in Dormitory No. 3 as follows: Every night the lights burned brightly, smoke filled the air, and the door was bolted from the inside. Students with high hairdos, eccentric clothing, and cigarettes dangling from their lips would gather there, setting out pineapple-flavored liquor on the table, humming lewd songs, and playing bridge with cards stolen from the cultural activities department. A couplet hung by the window read: “With a bosom friend over wine, a thousand cups are few; when words fail, half a sentence is too much.” This was their daily routine during evening self-study. In terms of academics, they never took their studies seriously, always sat at the back of the classroom to read novels, and showed particular disdain toward political courses and political campaigns. They not only slandered the teachers of political subjects but also went to great lengths to evade all political activities. Those who frequented this room—the so-called “bosom friends”—were mostly rightists exposed during the current Anti-Rightist Campaign, along with some backward elements and those who lacked clear political understanding scattered throughout various classes. The leadership had previously paid insufficient attention, indicating a bureaucratic style among the cadres. Mao Zedong’s comments on this report, together with the report itself, were distributed as meeting documents at the Chengdu Conference.
In reality, it is a movement to suppress the bourgeoisie and elevate the proletariat: as proletarian freedom rises, bourgeois freedom is extinguished.
See “Propaganda and Education Briefing,” March 13, 1958.

Mao Zedong
March 22nd
Sichuan
This note was written by Mao Zedong following the article “Big-Character Poster by Two Rightists at Shanghai Institute of Chemical Technology.”