Annotations and Revisions to the Draft Reply from the CPC Central Committee to the CPSU Central Committee [1] (April, May, June 1963)  To Lin Ke [2]: Regarding the discussion on the reply to the Soviet side, please arrange for Comrades Deng Xiaoping, Kang Sheng, Lu Dingyi, and Chen Boda [3] to come to Hangzhou on either the 21st or 22nd of this month. Kindly notify them and request that they arrive as scheduled. Mao Zedong April 17, 4:00 a.m. Printed according to the manuscript  1. The proletariat and its political party should, on the basis of the worker–peasant alliance, unite all strata that can be united, and organize a broad united front against imperialism and its lackeys.

2. In the revolutionary struggle of oppressed nations and peoples, the proletarian party can only carry the national democratic revolution through to the end and steer it onto the socialist track by independently formulating a thorough anti-imperialist, anti-feudal program, conducting independent mass work, constantly expanding the ranks of progressive forces, winning over the middle forces, and isolating the reactionary elements.

3. Under no circumstances should peaceful coexistence be extended to relations between oppressed and oppressor nations or between oppressed and oppressor classes. Nor should peaceful coexistence be presented as the main content of the transition from capitalism to socialism, let alone as the universal path for all humanity toward socialism. For peaceful coexistence among countries with different social systems does not, and cannot, in any way, touch even a hair of those countries’ respective social structures. By contrast, class struggle, national liberation struggles, and the transition from capitalism to socialism are all fierce, life-and-death revolutionary struggles aimed at fundamentally transforming social systems—entirely separate matters that have nothing to do with peaceful coexistence.

4. No socialist country, even decades or centuries after achieving socialist industrialization and agricultural collectivization, can claim to be entirely free of such elements as the bourgeois parasites, freeloaders, profiteers, swindlers, idlers, hooligans, and embezzlers repeatedly denounced by Lenin. Nor can it be said that a socialist state no longer needs, or has abandoned, the task set forth by Lenin to “eradicate these infectious diseases, plagues, and ulcers left over from capitalism” in the socialist society.

5. In socialist countries, the question of which—socialism or capitalism—will ultimately prevail will require a long historical period to be gradually resolved.

6. While combating revisionism, the principal danger facing the international communist movement, communists in all countries must also oppose dogmatism.

7. If one merely echoes others without independent thought or critical analysis, blindly copying foreign experiences and following the lead of foreign powers without engaging in serious investigation and study to gain a clear understanding of the precise trends within one’s own classes, then one ends up with a hodgepodge that combines both revisionism and dogmatism—but lacks any principled adherence to Marxism-Leninism. A party reduced to such a state is utterly incapable of waging revolutionary struggle, achieving revolutionary victory, or fulfilling the great historic mission of the proletariat.

8. To recognize only the contradiction between socialism and capitalism while ignoring or underestimating the contradictions within the capitalist world—the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the contradiction between oppressed nations and imperialism, the contradictions among imperialist states and between monopolistic capital groups—as well as the struggles arising from these contradictions, is erroneous.

9. To believe that the contradiction between the two systems will naturally disappear through an “economic competition,” and that all other contradictions in the world—including those between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, between oppressed nations and imperialism, and between imperialist states and monopolistic capital groups—will likewise vanish automatically along with it, giving rise to a “world without war” and a “new era of peaceful cooperation,” is equally mistaken.

10. While striving to win over the masses of the Social Democratic Party and the revolutionary left (and in some countries, even the centrist forces opposed to foreign imperialist domination), communists must at the same time draw a clear line from Social Democracy and purge its ideological influence from the international workers’ movement and among the working masses.

Printed according to Mao Zedong’s revised version.  11. Suggestions on the General Line of the International Communist Movement (The CPC Central Committee’s Reply to the CPSU Central Committee’s Letter of March 30, 1963) Printed according to Mao Zedong’s manuscript.  12. Harnessing the enthusiasm and creativity of the masses, carrying out socialist construction in a planned manner, developing production, improving people’s living standards, and strengthening national defense;  13. Given that Sino–Albanian relations have deteriorated to such a grave extent, do the leaders of the CPSU truly feel no sense of responsibility? We once again sincerely hope that the CPSU leadership will adhere to the principles governing fraternal relations between parties and countries and proactively seek effective ways to improve Sino–Albanian ties. Printed according to Mao Zedong’s revised version.

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Notes [1] This section (1) consists of annotations written by Mao Zedong on the draft reply to the CPSU Central Committee. Sections (2), (4), (5), (6), (7), and (8) contain Mao Zedong’s revisions to the draft reply dated May 19, 1963. Sections (9), (10), and (11) comprise his revisions to the draft dated May 21. Section (3) reflects two successive rounds of revisions by Mao Zedong to the same passage in both the May 19 and May 21 drafts. Sections (12), (13), and (14) represent Mao Zedong’s revisions to the draft dated June 5. Among these, (12) is the title Mao Zedong proposed for the reply. Text printed in Song typeface throughout indicates words added or altered by Mao Zedong. The CPC Central Committee’s reply to the CPSU Central Committee, dated June 14, 1963, was published in the People’s Daily on June 17 of the same year. On July 20, the CPC Central Committee decided to publish in the People’s Daily the CPSU Central Committee’s open letter of July 14 addressed to all Party organizations and members across the Soviet Union, simultaneously reissuing the full text of its own reply to the CPSU Central Committee, so that its own Party members and the general public could become familiar with both sides’ positions and engage in comparative study. [2] Lin Ke was, at the time, secretary to Mao Zedong’s office. [3] Deng Xiaoping was, at the time, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. Kang Sheng was, at the time, an alternate member of the CPC Central Political Bureau and a secretary of the CPC Central Secretariat. Lu Dingyi was, at the time, an alternate member of the CPC Central Political Bureau, a secretary of the CPC Central Secretariat, and Minister of Propaganda. Chen Boda was, at the time, an alternate member of the CPC Central Political Bureau, Director of the CPC Central Research Office, and Mao Zedong’s secretary.