[Remarks on an Excerpt from the Book "What We Must Know About Communism"]
(January 1960)

Read by all comrades, return to Mao.

[1]
The book *What We Must Know About Communism* was written by the American psychologists Harry and Bonaro Overstreet, published in the United States in October 1958. The book consists of 3 parts, divided into 18 chapters, totaling nearly 200,000 words. Before his death, Dulles recommended this book to Eisenhower. The International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made excerpts of the content closely related to the international situation at the time and concerning the basic anti-Soviet and anti-communist policies of the United States, and added four subheadings: (1) Capitalism and communism are irreconcilably opposed; (2) Khrushchev's peaceful competition "is an imperialist war"; (3) Negotiations "must proceed from a position of strength"; (4) The Communist Party of the United States "is not permitted by law."

Remarks on an Excerpt from the Book *What We Must Know About Communism*
Well said.
III
[1]
The third part of the excerpt from the book *What We Must Know About Communism*, titled "Negotiations 'Must Proceed from a Position of Strength'," states: "From the communist point of view, the representatives attending the conference table represent not merely their nations. More profoundly, they represent one side in the class struggle; and this is not, in any basic sense, a struggle that can be negotiated. The reason it cannot be negotiated, according to Marxist-Leninist theory, is that class struggle will not produce peace until the bourgeoisie is eliminated; and this class 'will never voluntarily relinquish one iota of its power and privileges.' Therefore, the conference table—even if called a peace table—is merely another arena for waging war." Beside this passage, Mao Zedong added emphasis marks and wrote this remark.