Commentary on the “Guangming Daily” Article Entitled “The Backward, Dark, Reactionary, and Cruel Social System of Tibet” (April 29, 1959) Comrade Qiaomu [1]: This document [2] is worth reading.
The People’s Daily and Xinhua News Agency should also publish this material [3], and they might elaborate on it a bit further; there is a need for such information both at home and abroad.
Mao Zedong April 29 Published 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] Refers to the article “The Backward, Dark, Reactionary, and Cruel Social System of Tibet,” compiled by the newspaper’s documentation department and published in the Guangming Daily on April 29, 1959.
The article depicts the social system of Tibet from three perspectives: the forms of exploitation practiced by feudal lords over serfs, usurious exploitation by the lords, and the miserable conditions of the working people. [3] On April 30, 1959, the People’s Daily published an article titled “The Dark, Backward, and Cruel Serfdom in Tibet,” prepared by the newspaper’s domestic information team.