Comments on Removing the “Rightist” Labels from Huang Shaofa and Liu Wang Liming[1]
(October 26, 1960)


To be forwarded to the Premier and Fu Chun for review.
It would be more advantageous to remove the “rightist” labels from Huang Shaofa and Liu Wang Liming. Please let the Premier and Fu Chun make the final decision. Should they subsequently be found to have engaged in serious counter-revolutionary or even anti-revolutionary activities, we can then deal with them as appropriate; we will still retain the initiative.
Mao Zedong
2:00 a.m., October 26
[1]


Huang Shaolong served as a member of the State Council’s Administrative Committee, a member of the Standing Committee of the First National People’s Congress, and a member of the Central Standing Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang. Liu Wang Liming was a member of the Standing Committee of the Second National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
[2]


In an official request submitted on October 14, 1960, by the Organization Department and the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee to the Central Committee and to Mao Zedong regarding a list of rightists under central-level approval whose “rightist” labels were proposed to be removed that year, it was stated: “Since Huang Shaolong was labeled a rightist, no subversive statements have been detected. After Liu Wang Liming was designated a rightist, she has studied diligently and acknowledged that there were problems with her own thoughts and sentiments. Prior to the Anti-Rightist Campaign (August 1956), at the World Women’s Temperance Conference, she opposed the Taiwanese delegate and refuted imperialist slander alleging that ‘China traffics in opium.’ After careful consideration, we believe it would be beneficial to lift their ‘rightist’ designations. Whether or not to do so should be decided by the Central Committee.” On October 16, Li Fuchun, a member of the CPC Central Politburo and Secretary of the Secretariat, forwarded this report to Zhou Enlai for review before passing it on to Mao Zedong and others. Mao Zedong’s comments were written directly on Li Fuchun’s report. On October 27, the CPC Central Committee formally approved the list of rightists under central-level approval whose “rightist” labels were to be removed that year, and both Huang Shaolong and Liu Wang Liming were included on the list.