Congratulatory telegram?
Still send it, send it to the Soviet people.
(II) Problems in Academia and Education
In the past, we were kept in the dark, not knowing many things; in fact, the bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie were in control there. In the past, our policy toward the national bourgeoisie and bourgeois intellectuals was different from that toward the comprador bourgeoisie, changing the policy of the past Soviet areas. This policy was flexible and correct. They should be distinguished; it is wrong to equate them. Now, the majority of primary, middle, and high schools are monopolized by intellectuals from bourgeois, petty bourgeois, landlord, and rich peasant backgrounds. After liberation, we took them all in; it was right to take them all in at that time. Now, we must carry out revolution. A few people should be protected, such as Old Guo and Old Fan[1], but the others should not be protected. Mobilize the young people to challenge them, and they should be named by name. They were the first to provoke the struggle. We will struggle in the newspapers.
Now, every city of medium size and above has a research department for literature, history, philosophy, law, and economics. For those who study history, there are all kinds of history; every academic discipline has a history. There is history, general history; philosophy, literature, and natural sciences all have histories. There is not a single discipline without a history. We have not yet touched the history of natural sciences. From now on, every five or ten years, we will criticize a bit, reason things out, and cultivate successors. Otherwise, everything will be in their hands. Old Fan is of the emperor school; he is very interested in emperors, kings, generals, and ministers, opposes young people studying history, and opposes the method of studying history from 1958. When criticizing, do not fire blank shots; one must study historical materials. This is a serious class struggle; otherwise, revisionism will emerge.
The ones who produce revisionism are this group of people, such as Wu Han and Jian Bozan[2].
[1] Old Guo refers to Guo Moruo, who was then the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an authority in the fields of literature and history. Old Fan refers to Fan Wenlan, a famous historian, who was then the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Historical Association, editor-in-chief of the *Abridged General History of China*, and was long engaged in the revision of this book. Both were renowned masters of traditional Chinese studies.
[2] Wu Han was an expert on Ming history and then Vice Mayor of Beijing Municipality. He had written the new historical play *Hai Rui Dismissed from Office*. Jian Bozan was a historian and then Vice President of Peking University. He opposed Yao Wenyuan's criticism of Wu Han's *Hai Rui Dismissed from Office*.

The Complete Works of Mao Zedong
Volume 48
Both are opposed to Marxism-Leninism. They are both Communist Party members, yet Communist Party members oppose the Communist Party. Now, among the twenty-eight provinces and municipalities in the whole country, fifteen have launched this struggle, and thirteen have not yet moved.
Taking in the intellectuals has its advantages and disadvantages. They were taken in, received fixed interest, and became professors and university presidents. This group of people is actually a group of Kuomintang. And that Beijing publication of yours, *Frontline*[1], is the frontline of Wu Han and Jian Bozan. Liao Mosha[2] was one who applauded for *Li Huiniang* and advocated the "theory that ghosts are harmless." The scope of the class struggle is very broad, including newspapers, periodicals, literature and art, films, and drama. The class struggle is very sharp and very extensive. I ask all the greater administrative regions to pay attention; newspapers and all aspects of literature and art must be managed.
Yin Da's article[3] has been published; it is well-written, and all newspapers should reprint it. Yin Da is the director of the Institute of History; he is Zhao Yimin's[4] younger brother. His article was written in 1964 and was suppressed for a year and a half before being published. Articles by young people, whether good or bad, should not be suppressed. As for Wu Han and Jian Bozan, do not deprive them of their right to eat; what does it matter? Do not be afraid of offending Luo Ergang[5], Jian Bozan, and others.
[1] *Frontline* was the publication of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee. "You" here refers to Peng Zhen, who was then the Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee.
[2] Liao Mosha was then the Director of the United Front Work Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee. On August 31, 1961, he published an article in the *Beijing Evening News* titled "The Theory that Ghosts are Harmless."
[3] Yin Da, original name Liu Huoju, was a famous historian and archaeologist, then Director of the Institute of Archaeology. On March 2, 1966, the *People's Daily* reprinted his article from the 3rd issue of *Red Flag* in 1966, "The Revolution in Historiography Must Be Carried Through to the End." The author's note indicates the article was written in August 1964.
[4] Zhao Yimin, original name Liu Kun. After the 22nd Congress of the CPSU in 1961, Sino-Soviet relations deteriorated further. In 1962, the Italian Communist Party held its party congress. To coordinate with the CPSU in suppressing the Communist Party of China, it invited only one delegate to attend. Zhao Yimin was appointed as the CPC representative to attend the Italian Communist Party's congress. At the meeting, in the face of the anti-China chorus stirred up by some people, Zhao Yimin stood alone, argued on the basis of reason, and defended the dignity and honor of the Communist Party of China.
[5] Luo Ergang was a famous historian and an expert on the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. On August 3, 1964, he published in the *People's Daily* "The Loyal Prince Li Xiucheng's Surrender Was Actually a Ruse of Self-Injury to Gain the Enemy's Confidence," arguing that the Loyal Prince Li Xiucheng of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom feigned surrender to Zeng Guofan.

Secondary specialized schools, technical schools, and half-work, half-study programs should all go to the countryside.
The literature department should write poetry and novels, not literary history. How can you succeed if you don't start with writing? Writing is equivalent to learning composition; learning composition is mainly about listening and writing. As for writing history, that can be discussed when one starts working. Don't just read dead things and not engage in application. Our PLA army commanders and division commanders did not know about the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, Yao, or Shun, but they still won battles. Of those who read *The Art of War* by Sun Tzu, not a single person fights according to his methods.
Two methods: one is to launch criticism, the other is half-work, half-study, and carrying out the Four Cleanups. Do not suppress young people; let them emerge. Qi Benyu[1] criticized Luo Ergang; Qi is a staff member of the Letters and Visits Office of the General Office of the Central Committee, and Luo is a professor. Neither the good nor the bad should be suppressed. We are even publishing the complete works of Khrushchev!
Lin Biao: We are engaged in material construction, while they are engaged in the spiritual construction of the bourgeoisie.
Liberate the new forces, such as students, teaching assistants, lecturers, and a portion of the professors, and isolate the remaining portion of old professors who stubbornly refuse to change. It's good if they change, and it doesn't matter if they don't. Yin Da is still the one who is right. Yin Da said that the young and less learned should overthrow the old and more learned.
[1] In December 1965, Qi Benyu published "Studying History for the Revolution" in *Red Flag* magazine, criticizing Jian Bozan's "supra-class" "historicism" viewpoint. In the 4th issue of *Historical Research* in 1963, Qi Benyu published the article "A Critique of Li Xiucheng's Autobiography—And a Discussion with Messrs. Luo Ergang, Liang Jielu, Lü Jiyi, and Others." Based on Li Xiucheng's autobiography, the article proposed that Li Xiucheng "described himself as 'riding on a tiger's back, unable to get off'" and "after becoming a marshal, Li Xiucheng did not maintain his style of arduous and simple living." "The Loyal Prince's Mansion was an unfinished project, with several thousand workers building it for more than three years, and it was still not completed when Suzhou fell." "When Li Hongzhang saw the Loyal Prince's Mansion, he could not help but sigh: 'Jade towers and palaces, winding balustrades and secluded chambers, truly like the dwelling of an immortal.'" "In the same era, under the same historical conditions, there existed two completely different kinds of people. One kind would rather die than submit, meeting their fate with heroism; the other kind surrenders and defects, kneeling to the enemy," concluding that Li Xiucheng's surrender was genuine, "taking the enemy for his father." The *People's Daily* reprinted an abstract on July 24, 1964. After reading Qi's article, Mao Zedong specially requested to read the photocopy of *The Autobiography of the Loyal Prince Li Xiucheng* and wrote a comment: "Black words on white paper, the evidence is ironclad; disloyal in his later years, not worthy of being a model."

Zhu De: Overthrow those authorities.
Chen Boda: Overthrow the bourgeois authorities, cultivate new forces, establish proletarian authority, and cultivate successors.
Who are the authorities now? They are Yao Wenyuan[1], Qi Benyu, and Yin Da. Who will melt whom has not yet been resolved.
Chen Boda: Successors must emerge naturally. Stalin set up Malenkov, but it didn't work; he fell from grace before you died.
It is precisely these people who should not be successors. We need young, less learned, firm in their standpoint, politically experienced, and resolute people to be successors.
(III) Problems of the Industrial System
There are some problems you can't figure out. Can you manage that much? In Nanjing, I talked with Jiang Weiqing. If war breaks out, the Center will, one, not send troops; two, not send generals; three, have little grain, and even if it does, it can't be delivered; four, have no clothes; and five, have few guns and cannons. All the greater administrative regions and all the provinces should manage on their own. Each person must fight for himself, and each province must manage on its own. The navy, the air force, and local areas cannot manage them; the Center will manage them uniformly. When war breaks out, we still rely on the localities. If you rely on the Center, you cannot rely on it.
[1] Yao Wenyuan was then on the editorial board of Shanghai's *Jiefang Daily*. On November 10, 1965, he published an article in Shanghai's *Wenhui Bao* titled "A Critique of the New Historical Play *Hai Rui Dismissed from Office*." The article said that Wu Han, as an expert on Ming history, did not hesitate to distort historical facts to create a perfect image of a fake Hai Rui; the "return of land" and "redressing of grievances" in the play were not historical facts. The historical "return of land" was to ease class contradictions and protect some small and medium landlords and rich peasants, but the play said it was to protect poor and hired peasants. Historically, the son of the retired Grand Secretary Xu Jie, Xu Ying, was only sentenced to military exile, and it was not Hai Rui who sentenced him, but the play said Hai Rui "made up his mind and had Xu Ying executed." As a Communist Party member, instead of advocating class struggle, he promoted the feudal argument of "upright officials saving the people," depicting the poor and hired peasants in the play as only capable of begging "Your Lordship to stand up for us," kowtowing to Hai Rui and shouting "Your Lordship stands up for the people, the poor people of Jiangnan will have good days from now on!" It is very obvious that Wu Han used his own bourgeois viewpoint to transform this character.

The localities should organize guerrilla forces, and still rely on weapons from struggle.
There are two ways of managing industry in East China. The method in Jiangsu is good; the province does not manage industry, so Nanjing and Suzhou have developed. Suzhou has 100,000 workers and an output value of 800 million. Jinan is another kind; the large enterprises belong to the province, the small ones to the city, and it's a mess.
Liu Shaoqi: How to pilot a universal labor system? Universal participation in labor, participation in voluntary labor. There are too many people divorced from production now. There are 800,000 staff and workers, and also 800,000 family members.
Now we must carry out universal propaganda, break the old mold, and implement it step by step.
Our country is composed of twenty-eight "countries." There are "large countries" and "small countries." For example, Tibet and Qinghai are "small countries," with not many people.
Zhou Enlai: We must achieve mechanization.
First, let the Central Bureaus, provinces, prefectures, and cities, etc., have a "blooming and contending" when you go back. For the four months of April, May, June, and July, the provinces, prefectures, and cities, etc., must all have a "blooming and contending." The great blooming and contending must be linked to "prepare for war, prepare for famine, and for the people," otherwise they will not dare to speak out.
Zhou Enlai: They are afraid of being called decentralists.
The localities must grasp accumulation; now everything goes to the state treasury. Shanghai has accumulation: one, it has funds; two, it has raw materials; three, it has equipment. Not everything can be centralized at the Center; one cannot drain the pond to get all the fish. The Soviet Union suffered from draining the pond to get all the fish.
Peng Zhen: Shanghai uses machinery to support the countryside, turning the illegal into the legal.
What is illegal must be recognized as legal. Historically, everything has gone from illegal to legal. Sun Yat-sen was illegal at the beginning, and later became legal; the Communist Party also went from illegal to legal. Yuan Shikai went from legal to illegal. The legal is reactionary, the illegal is revolutionary. The reactionaries now just don't let people have initiative, restricting their revolution. It is better for the Center to be a "constitutional monarchy with a figurehead monarch."[1] The Queen of England and the Emperor of Japan are both "constitutional monarchies with a figurehead monarch." It is better for the Center to be a "constitutional monarchy with a figurehead monarch," only managing major policies and principles. And even the major policies and principles come from the "blooming and contending" in the localities; the Center opens a processing factory and manufactures them. Only when the provinces, cities, prefectures, and counties let them out can the Center manufacture them. This would be good; the Center only manages the virtual, not the real, or manages less of the real. The Center has taken over too many factories. All those that have been taken over should be told to leave the Center and go to the localities, taking both men and horses with them.
Peng Zhen: In setting up trusts[2], the Party's work is also brought under the trust; this is in fact an industrial party.
The Four Cleanups are all up to you; the Center only manages the Twenty-Three Articles[3].
[1] "Constitutional monarchy with a figurehead monarch." Mao Zedong believed that high centralization at the Center was not conducive to the socialist cause and proposed the concept of a "constitutional monarchy with a figurehead monarch." The thorough implementation of this concept during the "Cultural Revolution" constructed the high centralization of the Center in China's planned system, forming a system where local governments became the main body of economic activities, thus distinguishing China's planned economic system from the Soviet model.
[2] Trust. In the early 1960s, Liu Shaoqi, who was in charge of the front-line work, suggested piloting trusts (monopoly enterprises). On February 26, 1964, the Ministry of Coal Industry proposed to the Central Committee to establish the East China Coal Industry Corporation in Xuzhou to pilot a trust. On April 30, it was approved by the CPC Central Committee, and the first pilot trust enterprise in our country was formally established. In April 1964, the State Economic Commission, on the basis of repeated investigation and research, drafted the "Report on Opinions on Piloting Industrial and Transport Trusts (Draft)," which was approved. In 1964 and 1965, a total of 16 national and regional trusts were piloted across the country, but some problems were encountered during the pilot process, mainly in three major aspects: the contradiction between national or cross-regional trusts and the localities, the contradiction between unified management within the trust and graded management of its subordinate enterprises, and the contradiction between the trust and the original economic management system. The trust was opposed to Mao Zedong's proposal of a "constitutional monarchy with a figurehead monarch."
[3] From the end of 1964 to January 1965, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee convened a national work conference. Under the chairmanship of Mao Zedong, it discussed and formulated "Some Current Problems Raised in the Socialist Education Movement in the Rural Areas" (a total of twenty-three articles), which defined the content of the "Four Cleanups" as cleaning up politics, cleaning up the economy, cleaning up the organization, and cleaning up ideology. It emphasized that the nature of this movement was to resolve the "contradiction between socialism and capitalism" and proposed that the focus of this movement was to rectify "those in power within the Party who are taking the capitalist road."

What military region political departments, what experience do you have? The army still relied on local forces, which later became regular armies. I have no experience. In the past, the three-month summaries and half-year summaries, were they not all based on reports from below? The arsenals were all built by relying on the localities. The Center only produces spirit. For example, during the War of Liberation, the Center had nothing, not a single person, not a single grain of rice, not a single bullet. It only had the practical experience derived from you, and based on your experiences of winning and losing battles, it produced some spirit. Now it is "transporting grain from the south to the north, and coal from the north to the south"[1]; this will not do.
Zhou Enlai: The defense industry should also belong to the localities. The general principle is to delegate downward, not to transfer upward. The Center only manages the most advanced.
The aircraft factories have not moved either. If war breaks out and we need guns, they cannot be sent out. A province should have a small iron and steel plant. A province has tens of millions of people; 100,000 tons of steel is not enough. A province should have several dozen of them.
Yu Qiuli: We need the two olds to lead the three news: old factories lead new factories, old bases lead new bases, old products lead new products.
[1] Transporting grain from the south to the north. The strategic position of the northern provinces and regions such as Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Liaoning, as well as the Beijing area, was very important, but all these areas without exception had to import grain. The natural conditions in the southern areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, and Hubei were good, and grain production was abundant. The state long implemented a policy of transporting grain from the south to the north, and imported grain was also mainly used to supply these areas. Despite this, the grain rations and income of farmers here were still lower than the national average. The most serious problem in the north was the frequent occurrence of disasters, among which drought was the most severe. Starting in 1968, the State Council comprehensively deployed the work of drilling machine-operated wells in the North China region and took this as a major strategic measure to reverse the situation of transporting grain from the south to the north. In the following years, construction continued at a rate of more than 300,000 machine-operated wells per year. This was a grand farmland capital construction project on the North China Plain. The state provided financial subsidies in its plans and supplied equipment and materials, which was warmly supported by the broad masses of farmers. During the "Cultural Revolution," nearly 2 million machine-operated wells were drilled on the land of North China, and more than 100 million mu of cultivated land was irrigated by extracting groundwater, which greatly changed the agricultural production conditions of nine droughts in ten years. Coupled with the development of the chemical fertilizer industry, grain output increased substantially, reversing the long-term situation of transporting grain from the south to the north in Chinese history. Transporting coal from the north to the south. China's coal resources are mostly concentrated in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and western Inner Mongolia, while the major coal "users" are concentrated in the East China and South China regions, thus forming a pattern of transporting coal from the north to the south.

Lin Biao: The old leading the new, this is the Chinese road.
This is like leading guerrilla forces during the War of Resistance. We must engage in socialism, not individualism.
Peng Zhen: There were 4,000 small steel plants, and the Center unified them all.
Why did you divide up what belonged to others? Give it all back to them.
Peng Zhen: We will work out a method next year.
What are you waiting for next year for? When you go back, just hold a meeting. Whoever wants someone else's, just tell him to go be a deputy factory director.
Zhou Enlai: The current agricultural mechanization is still borrowing the east wind. The Eighth Ministry of Machine Building is setting up trusts and has taken over many factories.
Then just tell Chen Zhengren[1] of the Eighth Ministry of Machine Building to go be a factory director!
Some are really digging too hard from the peasants. In Jiangxi, a picul of grain is taxed three times. I think they should be beaten with carrying poles. The civil and military should hold a meeting and permit the beating against exorbitant taxes and levies.
The central plan must be combined with the local plans. The Center cannot control things to death, and the provinces cannot unify things to death.
Liu Shaoqi: Allocate a portion of the plan to the localities.
You scare them with war. Once the atomic bomb goes off, individualism will be gone. If war breaks out, can the *People's Daily* still be published? We must pay attention to decentralization, and not drain the pond to get the fish. Now it is that no one manages at the top, and no one has the power to manage at the bottom.
Tao Zhu: The Center has no power either!
Now we allow the practice of independence. You should practice it against bureaucratism! One must practice independence like Qi Benyu and others, practice independence against erroneous things. You, the propaganda minister, should not suppress it! Students want to rebel, and rebellion should be allowed. The Cultural Revolution must carry out a mass movement, let the students "bloom and contend."
[1] Chen Zhengren was then the Minister of the Eighth Ministry of Machine Building (formerly the Ministry of Agricultural Machinery, renamed the Eighth Ministry of Machine Building in January 1965).

I am in favor of digging up their cornerstones, including digging up the cornerstones of ministers. There was a chemistry professor whose lecture notes, after being read by students for several months, were still not understood. When the university students asked him, he didn't know either. The students just want to dig up his cornerstone. Wu Han and Jian Bozan make a living from history. There are Ming histories that the students have read, but Wu Han has not! Yu Pingbo[1] has no learning at all.
Lin Biao: We still need to study Chairman Mao's works.
Don't study those things of Jian Bozan, and don't study those of mine either. If you want to study, you must make breakthroughs, not be restricted; don't just explain, just record; don't be fettered. Lenin was not fettered by Marx.
Lin Biao: Lenin also copied. We now need to advocate studying Chairman Mao's works, which is to sow the seeds of Mao Zedong Thought.
That can be said, but don't be superstitious, don't be fettered. There must be new interpretations, new viewpoints, and new creations. It is precisely that professors should be overthrown by students.
Lin Biao: These people only want to exercise dictatorship.
A secretary for culture and education in Jilin has an article criticizing figurative thinking, which is well-written. The *Guangming Daily*'s criticism of *Vignettes from the Official World* and *The Strange Eyewitnessed Events of the Past Twenty Years* is good; it has clarified the major issues of right and wrong. *Vignettes from the Official World* is reformist. In short, the so-called "novels of denunciation" are reactionary, anti-Sun Yat-sen, royalist, and for the dictatorship of the landlords. They want to revise a bit, to reform a bit; they are decadent.
Distribute the document on agricultural mechanization to all provinces for discussion; we will not discuss it here.

Revision of a Passage in the Draft Joint Communiqué of the CPC Delegation and the JCP Delegation[1]
(March 1966)
As the 1957 Declaration and the 1960 Statement[2] of the Conference of Representatives of Communist and Workers' Parties emphasized, while opposing the main danger, modern revisionism, we must at the same time resolutely oppose and overcome dogmatism and sectarianism within our two parties. And what is most important is to resolutely oppose the modern revisionist trend of thought within our two parties, which is a reflection within our parties of the anti-communist, counter-revolutionary, and anti-people trend of thought of the bourgeoisie at home and abroad. If we do not pay attention to it and take measures to overcome it, it will be extremely dangerous. Modern revisionism, headed by the Soviet leading group, when opposing us, does not say we are revisionists, but says we are dogmatists and sectarians. This statement refers precisely to genuine Marxism and the unity of genuine international revolutionary parties and revolutionary people, and nothing else.
[1] At the invitation of the CPC Central Committee, a JCP delegation headed by General Secretary Kenji Miyamoto paid a friendly visit to the People's Republic of China from February to April 1966. During the visit, the delegations of the two parties held talks, and a drafting group of both delegations drafted a joint communiqué. This piece is Mao Zedong's revision of a passage in the draft communiqué submitted for review on March 27, 1966. The text printed in Song typeface is the text added by Mao Zedong. Later, no agreement was reached on this draft communiqué.
[2] The 1957 Declaration refers to the "Declaration of the Conference of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties of the Socialist Countries" adopted by the Conference of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties of twelve countries held in Moscow from November 14 to 16, 1957. The 1960 Statement refers to the "Statement of the Conference of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties" adopted by the Conference of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties of eighty-one countries held in Moscow in November 1960.
[1] Yu Pingbo was a famous scholar of *Dream of the Red Chamber* and, along with Hu Shi, a founder of the "New Redology School." He had already become famous before liberation in the 1920s. In 1923, Yu Pingbo published *A Disquisition on Dream of the Red Chamber*, which verified that only the first eighty chapters of the original book *Dream of the Red Chamber* were written by Cao Xueqin, and the last forty chapters were a sequel by Gao E. However, his research on *Dream of the Red Chamber* was based on bourgeois idealism. Mao Zedong not only liked *Dream of the Red Chamber* but also studied it extensively, and could also be called a Redologist. Regarding *Dream of the Red Chamber*, Mao Zedong used the method of class analysis for critique, while Yu Pingbo used pragmatist philosophy for research. Mao Zedong believed that *Dream of the Red Chamber* depicted very detailed history and contained rich social-historical materials; Yu Pingbo believed that *Dream of the Red Chamber* was merely a reflection of personal life and character. Mao Zedong believed that *Dream of the Red Chamber* was a classical realist novel; Yu Pingbo believed that the nature of *Dream of the Red Chamber* was similar to that of Chinese-style leisure books. Mao Zedong believed that *Dream of the Red Chamber* was the best-written among Chinese classical novels; Yu Pingbo believed that the position of *Dream of the Red Chamber* in world literature was not high.