Comments on the Article “A Critique of the Central Line from September 1931 to January 1935”
The title no longer exists; cadres will not fly into a rage upon reading this article, nor will they be forbidden from making mistakes.
Comrades correct their errors, thereby undermining the Party’s policy of “learning from past mistakes to prevent future ones, curing the illness to save the patient.”
As for the year this piece was written, I can’t recall exactly—probably sometime in 1940 or during the first half of 1941—since it makes no mention of Hitler’s initiation of World War II.
Mao Zedong
May 12, 1965
[1]
Refers to an extensive article of over 50,000 characters that Mao Zedong wrote after the September 1941 meeting of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, critiquing Wang Ming’s “left” opportunist line through nine documents. These nine documents are: (1) “The Party’s Urgent Tasks Arising from the Red Army’s Breakthrough of the Third Encirclement Campaign and the Gradual Maturation of the Revolutionary Crisis” (September 20, 1931); (2) “The Central Committee’s Resolution on the Japanese Imperialists’ Aggression and Occupation of Manchuria” (September 22, 1931); (3) “The Central Committee’s Letter to Comrades Concerning the Current Situation” (December 11, 1931); (4) “The CPC Resolution on Striving for Revolutionary Victory First in One or Several Provinces” (January 9, 1932); (5) “The Central Committee’s Resolution on the January 28 Incident” (February 26, 1932); (6) “A Letter from the Central Committee to Party Organizations at All Levels” (March 30, 1932); (7) “Opportunist Vacillation Within the CPC in the Struggle for Revolutionary Victory First in One or Several Provinces of China” (April 4, 1932); (8) “The Central Committee’s Letter to Soviet Area Party Organizations Opposing Imperialist Aggression Against the Soviet Union and the Partition of China” (April 14, 1932); and (9) “The Resolution of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Areas on Leading and Participating in the Week-Long Campaign Against Imperialist Aggression Against the Soviet Union and the Partition of China, and on Expanding the National Revolutionary War Movement” (May 11, 1932). The article focuses on analyzing these documents from both political and ideological perspectives, dividing them into nine sections, also known as nine separate articles. All nine documents pertaining to Wang Ming’s “left” opportunist line were issued by the CPC Central Committee after the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee, spanning from September 1931 to May 1932. These documents broadly reflect the guiding principles and key policies advocated by Wang Ming and others. After completing the initial draft, Mao Zedong revised it several times. The original title was “On the Major Documents Related to Bogu’s Line,” which was later changed to “On Some Major Documents Related to the ‘Left’ Opportunist Line” and then to “A Critique of the Central Line from September 1931 to January 1935.” Substantial adjustments were also made to the content itself.
In May 1965, Mao Zedong again made significant revisions, adding new text and changing the title to “Refutation of the Third ‘Left’ Deviationary Line (A Critique of the Central Line from September 1931 to January 1935).” Initially, there were no plans to publish this article. In January 1965, Mao wrote in a letter soliciting comments on the revision: “Whether it should be published in the future (decades hence) is for our successors to decide.”
[2]
Parts one and two consist of Mao Zedong’s marginal notes, dated March 25, 1964, written on the cover bearing the title “A Critique of the Central Line from September 1931 to January 1935.” Part three comprises Mao’s annotations from January 2, 1965, made when he submitted the article for review. Part four contains Mao’s notes following his May 12, 1965, revision of the article.
[3]
Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Deng refers to Deng Xiaoping, who at the time served as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. Peng refers to Peng Zhen, then a member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and Secretary of the Secretariat. Kang refers to Kang Sheng, then an alternate member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and Secretary of the Secretariat. Chen refers to Chen Boda, an alternate member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, Director of the Central Political Research Office, and Mao Zedong’s secretary. Wu Lengxi, known as Lengxi, was then President of the Xinhua News Agency and Editor-in-Chief of People’s Daily.
[4]
Chen Yi was a member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau at the time.
[5]
Xie Fuzhi was Minister of Public Security at the time. Li Jingquan served as a member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, First Secretary of the Southwest Bureau, and First Secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Committee. Tao Zhu was First Secretary of the CPC Central South Bureau and First Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee, and in January 1965 he also became Vice Premier of the State Council.
[6]
Refers to the “Resolution on Certain Historical Issues” adopted by the Seventh Plenary Session of the Sixth CPC Central Committee on April 20, 1945.
[7]
Refers to Zhou Enlai.
[8]
Upon careful examination of the article’s content, several passages mention details first disclosed at the September 1941 meeting of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, indicating that the work must have been completed after that meeting.
[9]
At the same time, namely during the period when Liu Shaoqi was serving as a member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau.
[IO]
It should be the Central Archives.
[11]
Hitler, the leader of German fascism.

Budapest