Comments on the Report Concerning the Yang Xianzhen Issue and Proposed Handling Measures [2]
(September 24, 1965)

Comrade Peng Zhen [3]:

I have reviewed everything. On the last page (page 16) of this document [4], four attachments are listed. Remove the two attachments concerning Hou and Sun, leaving two. The omission of Yang’s “explanation” as an attachment should be rectified by adding it.

Mao Zedong
September 24

**Notes**

--- Notes

[1] Yang Xianzhen, then Vice President and member of the School Affairs Committee of the Senior Party School of the CPC Central Committee.
[2] This comment was written on the report submitted by the School Affairs Committee of the Senior Party School of the CPC Central Committee on June 9, 1965, to the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong regarding the Yang Xianzhen issue and proposed handling measures. The report stated: We are submitting the “Report on the Yang Xianzhen Issue,” four attachments, and one written explanation by Yang Xianzhen. From July to October 1964, under the direct leadership of the Central Committee, we mobilized all school participants and staff to expose and criticize Yang Xianzhen’s errors. Over the past year, we held numerous discussions and individual conversations with him, patiently assisting him in the hope that he would recognize his errors and consciously reform. However, his attitude has remained consistently poor, showing no sign of repentance. Given the severity of his errors and his persistent refusal to turn back, we deem him unfit to continue holding leadership positions at the Central Party School. We recommend that the Central Committee revoke his posts as Vice President and member of the School Affairs Committee of the Senior Party School of the CPC Central Committee. The CPC Central Committee approved this recommendation and distributed the original report of the Senior Party School’s School Affairs Committee to the entire Party as Document Zhongfa [65] No. 592. On August 27, 1979, the Party School Committee of the CPC Central Committee issued a review report on Comrade Yang Xianzhen’s case, concluding that the original report by the School Affairs Committee of the Senior Party School was erroneous. It recommended that the Central Committee revoke Document Zhongfa [65] No. 592 and rectify Yang Xianzhen’s unjust case based on facts. The review report stated that while Yang Xianzhen had certain shortcomings and errors during his tenure leading the Senior Party School, he earnestly implemented the Party Central Committee’s and Chairman Mao’s directives on cadre education and Party school operations, achieving notable results. The reactionary labels, fabricated accusations, and slanderous charges imposed on him by Kang Sheng and others, as well as the defamatory characterization of the Senior Party School as a “stubborn bastion opposing Mao Zedong Thought,” must all be completely overturned and fully rehabilitated. The Secretariat of the Central Committee approved this review report.
[3] Peng Zhen, then member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.
[4] Refers to the report submitted by the School Affairs Committee of the Senior Party School of the CPC Central Committee to the Central Committee on March 1, 1965, regarding the Yang Xianzhen issue. The report detailed the exposure and criticism of Yang Xianzhen by all participants and staff of the Central Party School since July 1964, listing ten so-called “major errors” attributed to Yang Xianzhen.
[5] The four attachments listed on the last page of the report were: 1. Investigative materials on Yang Xianzhen’s shielding of counterrevolutionaries and placement of relatives and fellow townspeople; 2. Materials on the issue of Comrade Hou Weihuang; 3. Materials on the issue of Sun Dingguo; 4. Yang Xianzhen’s written self-criticism. When reviewing this report, Mao Zedong removed the second and third materials—namely, those concerning Hou Weitan, former Second Secretary and Vice President of the Senior Party School of the CPC Central Committee, and Sun Dingguo, former Deputy Director of the Philosophy Teaching and Research Office of the Senior Party School of the CPC Central Committee. The original Attachment 4 was renumbered as Attachment 2, and an additional Attachment 3, “Yang Xianzhen’s Written ‘Explanation,’” was added.