Comment on the Situation Report
(April 24, 1964)
To be read by Liu, Zhou, Deng, and Peng[1]. This material[2] can be looked at, and after reading, return it to Xu Zirong.
[1] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Deng refers to Deng Xiaoping, who was then General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Peng refers to Peng Zhen, who was then a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee.
[2] Refers to the report of the Party Group of the Ministry of Public Security dated April 7, 1964, on the investigation and handling of the Hu Zhiyun case, submitted to Mao Zedong. The report stated: In accordance with your instructions, it has now been ascertained that the problems reported by the transferred-down cadre Hu Xiuyun are completely true. The reeducation-through-labor detainee Hu Zhiyun of the Beijing Beiyuan Reform-through-Labour Chemical Plant confessed her problems, but instead of receiving leniency, she was given an additional punishment (extension of reeducation through labor by one year). Hu Zhiyun, female, was admitted to the Beijing Medical College in 1955, was branded a Rightist in 1957, and was given the punishment of being allowed to remain in school but under labor surveillance. In September 1959, because she still refused to admit guilt, she was expelled from school and sent for reeducation through labor. In November 1963, when her term of reeducation through labor expired, the squadron cadres, in accordance with the Party's policy and the fact that her thinking had indeed been reformed, proposed removing her Rightist label and terminating her reeducation through labor. However, the leadership of the Beiyuan Reform-through-Labour Chemical Plant and the Labor Reform Division of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, based on one-sidedly excerpted materials that deleted the content of Hu's self-criticism, characterized her confession as spreading revisionism and adhering to a reactionary stance, and decided to extend her term of reeducation through labor by one year. This led to the absurd situation where confession resulted not in leniency but in severity. After investigation, the Labor Reform Division of the Municipal Public Security Bureau and the leadership of the chemical plant conducted self-criticism, and re-handled Hu Zhiyun's case, announcing the revocation of the original decision to extend her reeducation through labor, the removal of her Rightist label, the termination of her reeducation through labor on schedule, and the intention to arrange suitable employment. In early April, Vice Minister of Public Security Wang Dongxing personally presented this report from the Party Group of the Ministry of Public Security to Mao Zedong. After reading it, Mao Zedong said to Wang Dongxing, "You see, this matter does indeed exist! Some people only love things, not people; they only value production, not reform. Treating prisoners merely as laborers performing forced service and relying solely on coercion will not work. In fact, firmly grasping ideological and political work will not only not hinder production, but on the contrary, will promote production." On April 13, Wang Dongxing conveyed this to the public security departments.

Comment on the Report of the Ministry of Public Security on the Investigation and Handling of the Hu Zhiyun Case
Comrade Rong[1]:
Mao Zedong
April 24
People can be reformed, provided the policies and methods are correct.
[1] Xu Zirong, then Vice Minister of Public Security.