Comments and Revisions on Two Documents of the 14th National Public Security Conference

(June 29 and July 10, 1965)

I.
Minister Xie:
Both documents have been reviewed. Proceed accordingly. If the conference yields good suggestions, they may be incorporated.

Mao Zedong
June 29
(Published based on the handwritten manuscript.)

II.
A few revisions have been made.
(Published based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten manuscript.)

III.
A small number of reformed convicts or individuals who have completed their sentences and remained at the site, who have made special contributions to production and construction—such as Wang Canwen (a person who remained at the site), an engineer at the Jinzhou Electrical Machinery Plant who developed vacuum smelting and electron bombardment furnaces—may have their sentences reduced, be released early, or have their labels removed. They may also be granted the status of engineer or other appropriate economic benefits.

IV.
The Chairman said: When the world is at peace, it is good. When the world is in great chaos, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Chaos (referring to war) has its great advantages. For example, our Party has experienced twenty-five years of war (not counting the Sino-Indian border war), and have we not emerged victorious in all of them?

(Published based on Mao Zedong’s revised manuscript.)

Notes

--- Notes

1. Refers to the transcript of Minister of Public Security Xie Fuzhi’s speech at the 14th National Public Security Conference on June 11, 1965, and the report of the Party Group of the Ministry of Public Security on the 14th National Public Security Conference on July 9, 1965. Xie Fuzhi’s speech addressed the following four issues with his views and opinions: 1) Relying on the masses for dictatorship, reducing arrests, and not escalating conflicts; 2) Public security work in preparation for war; 3) The issue of churches and reactionary secret societies; 4) The "Four Cleanups" and political work within the public security forces. The report of the Party Group of the Ministry of Public Security raised several specific issues requiring formal approval from the Central Committee: 1) Control over arrests, detentions, and reeducation through labor; 2) Strengthening reform work; 3) Several issues concerning the development of the people’s police force.

2. Section (I) is Mao Zedong’s comment written on Xie Fuzhi’s letter of June 28, 1965, submitting the transcript of his speech at the 14th National Public Security Conference for review. Section (II) is Mao Zedong’s comment written on Xie Fuzhi’s letter of July 10, 1965, submitting the draft notice for the Central Committee’s approval to forward the two documents of the 14th National Public Security Conference to Peng Zhen, Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee. Section (III) is Mao Zedong’s revision of a passage in the second issue, "Strengthening Reform Work," of the report by the Party Group of the Ministry of Public Security. Section (IV) is Mao Zedong’s revision of a passage in the second issue, "Preparation for War," of the transcript of Xie Fuzhi’s speech. The text printed in Song typeface represents the words he added or revised.

3. One document refers to the transcript of Xie Fuzhi’s speech at the 14th National Public Security Conference; the other refers to the material compiled by the Office of the Central Air Defense Committee on the effective mobilization of the masses in Nanning, Gejiu, and Zhanjiang to dig air-raid shelters and trenches.

4. See Sections (III) and (IV) of this text.