On December 14, 1965, while listening to Comrade Li Zhizhong’s report on work matters, Chairman Mao gave the following instructions on confidential communications and security work:

The Chairman said: Confidential communications and security are extremely important. We must safeguard Party secrets, prevent them from being exploited by revisionists, and also guard against revisionist tendencies within our ranks. When war breaks out, we must be vigilant against all kinds of evil forces—monsters and demons—that may emerge to sabotage us. Please convey these points to the Central Confidential Communications Bureau and the Confidential Office, as well as to the heads of the military’s confidential communications departments and the Radio Administration; they must all pay close attention.

The Chairman then asked: How can we prevent revisionism from taking root in the confidential communications sector?

Comrade Li Zhizhong replied:

(1) We should study and apply the Chairman’s works in a living, practical way, strengthening our ideological armament.

(2) We should organize cadres to participate in the “Four Cleansings” campaign, and also arrange for staff members of government organs to engage in manual labor and serve in the army, so as to temper their revolutionary will.

The Chairman said: Very good! It is precisely young intellectuals who tend to develop revisionist tendencies.