I. On the Issue of Not Attending the 23rd Congress of the CPSU:

We will not attend the Soviet "23rd" Congress. The Soviet Union is holding this congress under internal and external difficulties. We rely on self-reliance, not on it, and we must not be equivocal or indecisive. To ask others not to waver, we must first not waver ourselves. By not attending, the Leftists’ stance is firmed up, and the centrists lean toward us. By not attending the "23rd" Congress, at worst they will come to our gates threatening war; if war can’t happen, it’s just a war of words. If we don’t attend, we can still send a letter. We have called them renegades and scabs; it’s good that the Soviet Union is anti-China — once they oppose us, we have material to work with. Renegades and scabs will always oppose China. Our banner must be clear; we must not be equivocal or indecisive. Castro is nothing but a jackal blocking the way. (Someone asked: Since we are not attending this time, should we still send congratulatory telegrams if the revisionists hold a congress in the future?) Yes, we should still send them; the telegrams are addressed to the Soviet people.

II. Issues in Academia and the Education Sector:

We are completely in the dark, unaware of many things. In fact, in academia and education, the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie hold sway. In the past, our policy toward the national bourgeoisie and bourgeois intellectuals was distinct from that toward the comprador bourgeoisie; they should be distinguished, and the policy of differentiation is very effective. It is wrong to treat them as identical. Now, most of the universities, middle schools, and primary schools are monopolized by intellectuals of bourgeois, petty bourgeois, landlord, and rich peasant origins. After liberation, we took them all onto the payroll; at the time, that was correct. Now, in carrying out academic criticism, we still need to protect a few, such as Guo Moruo and Fan Wenlan, who are also of the "emperors, kings, generals, and ministers" school. Now, every medium-sized city or larger has a department for the study of literature, history, philosophy, law, or economics. Those who study history cover all kinds of history; every academic discipline has its own history — there is history, general history, and the histories of philosophy, literature, and natural sciences; not a single discipline lacks a history. In the natural sciences, we have not yet taken action. From now on, let us criticize them every five or ten years, reason things out, and train successors; otherwise, these fields will remain in their hands. The proletariat and the bourgeoisie view the natural sciences differently; both idealism and materialism involve questions concerning the natural sciences as well. Fan Wenlan is very interested in emperors, kings, generals, and ministers. Some of these people belong to the "emperors-and-kings" clique; they are very interested in emperors, kings, generals, and ministers, and oppose the 1958 method of studying history. (Lin Biao: This is class struggle.) When criticizing, do not fire empty cannons; study the historical materials. This is a severe class struggle; otherwise, revisionism will emerge, and it is precisely this group of people who will produce revisionism in the future. People like Wu Han and Jian Bozan are all opposed to Marxism-Leninism. Both of them are Communist Party members, yet they oppose the Communist Party and oppose materialism. (Lin Biao: This is a socialist ideological construction project.) This is a broad class struggle. Presently, in 15 out of the 28 provinces and municipalities across the country, this struggle has been launched; in the other 13, there has been no movement yet.

Taking intellectuals onto the payroll had advantages and also disadvantages. They’re on the payroll, receiving fixed interest payments, working as professors and chancellors; this group of people is actually a bunch of Guomindang elements. (Lin Biao: Newspapers must be tightly grasped; the newspaper is a major matter, as if it issues orders on behalf of the Center every day.) And that Beijing journal *Qianxian* (Frontline) — in fact, it is the frontline of Wu Han, Deng Tuo, and Liao Mosha; there is a "Three Family Village" run by them. Liao Mosha was a promoter of "Li Huiniang" and advocated the "theory that having ghosts is harmless." The class struggle is very sharp and broad; please pay attention, all regional bureaus and provincial Party committees: matters such as academia, newspapers, publishing, literature and art, film, and drama — all these areas must be managed.

Comrade ××’s article has been published; it is well written. ×× is the director of the Institute of History; he is Comrade Zhao ××’s younger brother. His article was written in 1964 and was held back for a year and a half before publication. Concerning articles by young people, neither the good ones nor the bad ones should be suppressed. Do not be afraid of offending Luo Ergang or Jian Bozan; after all, we are not depriving them of their right to earn a living. What does it matter? Do not be afraid of offending the "authorities."

(××: In literary and art circles and the medical circles, work teams are being organized to go to the countryside.)

It is good that they all go to the countryside. Specialized secondary schools and technical schools, with their half-work, half-study programs, should all go to the countryside. Merely reading ancient texts won’t do; they must engage with reality. ××× cannot produce good material. In studying literature, do not start from ancient literature — that includes Lu Xun’s works, and mine. They must learn to write. Literature departments should teach poetry writing and fiction writing, not the history of literature. How can it work if you don’t start with writing? As long as one can write, that is sufficient; later, writing will take the lead, just as foreign language study takes listening and speaking as primary. Writing is like composition; learning to write means taking writing as the primary task. As for studying history, that can wait until they are working. In our army, those generals and division commanders know nothing about Emperor Yao, Emperor Shun, and the like, and have never studied Sun Tzu’s *Art of War*, yet haven’t they fought battles just as well? No one ever fights a battle exactly according to *The Art of War*. (Lin Biao: There are so many rules in books, but you can never find the right one when the time comes; no battle, big or small, is identical to another. It is better to be a bit simpler and act according to the actual situation.)

There are two approaches: one is to launch criticism and to implement half-work, half-study, and carry out the "Four Clean-ups" movement. Do not suppress young people; let them rise. Just like ×××’s criticism of Luo Ergang — × is a staff member in the Letters and Visits Office of the General Office of the Central Committee, and Luo is a professor. Do not be afraid of offending Luo Ergang or Jian Bozan; neither good nor bad articles should be suppressed. We even published a complete works for Khrushchev! (Lin Biao: We are building materially, and they are building a bourgeois spiritual edifice.) (Peng ×: Actually, it is their dictatorship; the leadership is in their hands. If you oppose them, they deduct your work points.) Liberate the students, lecturers, and a portion of the professors. For the rest, if they can reform, that’s fine; if not, forget about them. (Peng ×: There can be no cooperation in building our doctrine.) (Lin Biao: This is class struggle; they will have something to say.) Comrade ×× is still correct in what he said. ×× said that the younger and less learned will overthrow the older and more learned. (Zhu ×: Overthrow those authorities.) (Chen Boda: Overthrow the bourgeois authorities, cultivate newborn forces, establish proletarian authority, and cultivate successors.) Who are the authorities now? They are Yao Wenyuan, ×××, ××. The question of who can dissolve whom has not yet been resolved. (Chen Boda: Successors must emerge naturally. Stalin promoted Malenkov, but it didn’t work; he withered before Stalin even died. The point is, do not let those kinds of people succeed.) Let those who are young, less learned but firm in stance, and politically experienced and steadfast take over and become the successors. This is a very big issue.

III. Issues of the Industrial System:

There are some problems you cannot figure out — can you really manage so much? (Peng ×: The Center and the localities should be like the field armies and the local armies.) In Nanjing, I talked with Jiang ××: when war breaks out, the Center has, first, no soldiers to send; second, no generals to dispatch; third, a bit of grain but not much, and it can’t be delivered; fourth, no clothing; and fifth, a few guns and cannons but not many. Let each Greater Region, each province, take care of things on its own; everyone must fight on their own; each province should manage itself. The Navy and Air Force cannot be run by the localities; the Center should manage them uniformly. When war comes, we still must rely on the localities; you cannot rely on the Center — it’s unreliable. The localities form guerrilla forces; ultimately, we still rely on armed struggle.

In Eastern China, there are two methods for managing industries. Jiangsu’s method is good: the province does not directly manage industries. Nanjing and Suzhou have developed them on their own; Suzhou has 100,000 industrial workers and an output value of 800 million yuan. Jinan adopts another method: the larger enterprises are under the province, the smaller ones returned to the city — entanglements that can never be sorted out.

(Liu ××: How to try out the universal labor system — universal participation in labor and voluntary labor? Currently, there are too many people detached from production: 800,000 workers and staff, and another 800,000 dependents.) We must do widespread propaganda now, breaking with old conventions, and implement it step by step.

Our country is composed of 28 "states." There are large "states" and small "states," such as Tibet and Qinghai, which are small "states" with few people. (Premier Zhou: We must mechanize.) The central bureaus, provinces, prefectures, and municipalities alone — when you go back, hold airing-of-views sessions. In the four months from April, May, June, and July, the provinces, prefectures, and municipalities must all hold such sessions. The great debate and airing of views must be linked to the principle of "Prepare for war, prepare for famine, for the sake of the people"; otherwise, they won’t dare speak out freely. (Premier Zhou: They fear being accused of decentralism.) Localities must accumulate funds; as matters stand now, everything goes to the national treasury. Shanghai has its own accumulation — first, it has funds; second, it has raw materials; third, it has equipment. Not everything can be concentrated in the Center; we cannot drain the pond to catch all the fish — the Soviet Union suffered precisely from draining the pond dry. (Peng ×: Shanghai used machinery to support agriculture; what was illegal has become legal.) It was illegal; we must acknowledge that it’s legal now. Historically, many things shifted from illegal to legal. Sun Yat-sen was illegal at first, then became legal; the Communist Party also changed from illegal to legal. Yuan Shikai changed from legal to illegal. What is legal is reactionary; what is illegal is revolutionary. Now, the reactionary means are precisely those that prevent people from taking initiative, that restrict them from making revolution. It is still best for the Central Government to practice "virtual monarchy and republicanism" — like the British Queen or the Japanese Emperor. The Center should practice virtual monarchy and republicanism, only managing major policies, and even those major policies are aired from the localities; the Center then runs a processing factory to manufacture them. Only when the provinces, municipalities, prefectures, and counties air their views can the Center then produce something. This is good: the Center manages only the virtual, not the concrete, or manages very little of the concrete. The Center has taken back too many factories; whoever took them over should be sent from the Center down to the local level — send them down along with the people and the horses. (Peng ×: Setting up trusts means even Party work is taken over by the trusts; this is, in effect, an industrial party.) The "Four Clean-ups" work will all belong to you; the Center is only responsible for the *Twenty-three Articles*. What experience do you have regarding the ×× Political Department? The army still relied on local forces first, only later becoming regular forces. I don’t have much experience myself. In the past, there were March summaries and half-year summaries — weren’t they all based on reports from below? The building of ordnance factories all relied on local efforts; the Center provided the spirit — the Center didn’t give a single bullet or a single grain of rice, only produced a bit of spirit. Now we have the situation of transporting grain from the south to the north, and coal from the north to the south; this cannot continue. (Premier Zhou: Defense industries should also be transferred to the localities; the general approach is to delegate downward, not to hoard upward; the Center will only manage advanced, cutting-edge projects.) Aircraft factories haven’t even been relocated. When war breaks out, guns can’t be sent out. Each province needs a small steel plant; a province with tens of millions of people, how can ten thousand tons of steel be enough? — one province should build several dozen such plants.

(Yu Qiuli: We need the "three old" to lead the "three new" — old factories to lead new factories, old bases to lead new bases….) (Lin: The old leading the new — this is China’s path.) This is like the guerrilla forces in the Anti-Japanese War period. We must promote socialism, not individualism. (Peng ×: There were ×× small steel plants, but the Center completely took them over.) Why strip them from others? They all belong to them. (Peng ×: Next year we’ll work out a method.) Why wait until next year? As soon as you return, hold a meeting. Whoever wants to take things from others, send them to serve as deputy factory directors. (Premier Zhou: Now, in promoting agricultural mechanization, we still have to borrow the east wind. The Eighth Ministry of Machine-Building set up trusts and took back numerous factories.) Then send ××× from the Eighth Ministry of Machine-Building to go and be a factory director!

Some are really hard on the peasants. In Jiangxi, one load of grain incurs taxes (collected during delivery) three times; I think they should be beaten with carrying poles — hold a meeting with both civilian and military personnel; allow beating in response to exorbitant taxes and levies.

Central planning must be integrated with local planning. The Center cannot exercise a rigid, deadening control, nor can the provinces impose rigid control. (Liu ××: Allocate a part of the plan to the localities.) You can intimidate them with war; once the atom bomb falls, they’ll stop their individualism. When war breaks out, will *Renmin Ribao* (the *People's Daily*) still be able to publish? We must pay attention to the delegation of power. Do not drain the pond to catch all the fish. The current situation is that no one at the top is really taking charge, and those below have no authority to manage. (Tao ×: The Center doesn’t have authority either!) Now, let us permit asserting independence — demand independence from bureaucratism, like Comrade ××× did. Students should also assert their independence, should air their views on academic issues. There was a chemistry professor whose lecture notes students read for several months without understanding; when university students asked him, he didn’t know either. Students should undermine his position. People like Wu Han and Jian Bozan make a living off history. Yu Pingbo has no learning at all. (Lin Biao: It’s still necessary to study Chairman Mao’s works.) Don’t study things like those by Jian Bozan, nor should you study things by me. In study, you must break through; do not be restricted, do not merely explain or just take notes; do not be bound. Lenin was not bound by Marx. (Lin Biao: Lenin also transcended; now we must advocate studying Chairman Mao’s works; it is spreading the seeds of Chairman Mao’s thought.) Well, you could put it that way, but do not become superstitious, do not be bound; there must be new interpretations, new viewpoints, new creations.

It’s just a matter of students overthrowing the professors. (Lin Biao: These people only think of dictatorship.) A Party secretary in charge of culture and education in Jilin wrote a good article criticizing the concept of "thinking in images." *Guangming Daily* criticized *The Bureaucrats: A Revelation*; this clarifies a major matter of right and wrong — *The Bureaucrats: A Revelation* is reformist. In sum, the so-called "condemnation novels" were reactionary, anti-Sun Yat-sen, pro-monarchy, and aimed to perpetuate landlord dictatorship. They wanted a bit of revision, a slight improvement, and were part of a declining trend.

Distribute the documents on agricultural mechanization to the provinces for discussion; I will not elaborate on them here.