The note appended to Liu Shaoqi’s letter〔1〕 concerning the strict handling of retaliatory attacks in the countryside has been reviewed (October 1964). We will convene a meeting as soon as all comrades have read it. Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript.

Note 〔1〕 In his letter of October 19, 1964, addressed to Mao Zedong and also to Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Zhen, and others, Liu Shaoqi stated that in the past the socialist education campaign in the countryside had not been carried out thoroughly enough, and numerous instances of retaliation by corrupt cadres and class enemies against poor peasants and active elements among the lower and middle peasants had already occurred. Should we wait until their crimes had grown even more heinous before taking action against such counterrevolutionary reprisals? I believe this would be inadvisable, as it would entail serious losses on political, economic, and production fronts.

So how ought these matters to be handled now? My view is that the Central Committee and the provincial committees should immediately dispatch cadres—supplemented by personnel from some prefectural and county committees—to form roving inspection teams to go to the localities for investigation and resolution. As for Party members and cadres who have engaged in relatively serious acts of retaliation against poor and lower-middle peasants or in counter-revolutionary “reversal of gains,” once the facts are confirmed through investigation, they should all be removed from their posts and expelled from the Party; those whose offenses are particularly grave should be arrested and brought to justice, and in individual cases where public indignation is very great, the death penalty should be imposed. Likewise, any commune, district committee, or county committee cadres who have supported these wrongdoers, once their complicity has been clearly established, should also be removed from their posts and expelled from the Party.

Will this result in too many Party members and cadres being disciplined or expelled? I do not think we should fear an excessive number; of course, care must be taken to avoid unjustly punishing innocent people, combining strictness with prudence. In areas where incidents of retaliation and counter-revolutionary “reversal of gains” are particularly severe, the provision stipulating that no more than two percent of cadres and Party members may be disciplined under the “Two Decrees” can hardly remain applicable. Unless we deal sternly with these bad elements, we will not be able to unite the vast majority of the masses. If such cases continue to spread, the number of those who will eventually need to be dealt with will inevitably increase. I request that the Chairman convene the Standing Committee for a discussion on this matter. Whether this can be done should be decided at your discretion.