We held two meetings and talked about some of the revolutionary work in the universities, mainly about the need to withdraw the work teams and to change the policy of dispatching work teams. The day before yesterday, I said the work teams were no good. The former Municipal Committee has rotted, the Central Propaganda Department has rotted, the Ministry of Culture has rotted, the Ministry of Higher Education has gone bad, and the People's Daily is also no good. When the big-character poster was published on June 1st, it was already considered that there was no other way. The Cultural Revolution must rely on them to carry it out; who else can we rely on? You go in without understanding the situation; you won't understand it in two months, you won't understand it in half a year, and a year won't be enough. Take Jian Bozan, who has written so many books; can you read them? Can you criticize them? Only they can understand the situation; it won't work even if I go. We can only rely on the revolutionary teachers and students. Right now, fear is always in command. Always afraid of chaos. Now classes are suspended, but meals are provided. After eating, they will get fired up. They need to make trouble; what else are they supposed to do if not make trouble? We can only rely on them to do it. If we continue with the current methods, it will be cold and cheerless for two months; when will it ever be finished? Yesterday I said, you must change the policy of dispatching work teams. What role are the work teams playing now? First, they are an obstacle; second, they are incompetent: one, they don't know how to struggle; two, they don't know how to reform. I am no good either. Right now, it's just about making revolution: one is to struggle against bad people, the other is to revolutionize ideology. The Great Cultural Revolution is to criticize bourgeois ideology and authorities. How much of a target for struggle is Lu Ping? How much of a target for struggle is Li Da? Jian Bozan has published so many books; can you struggle against him? The masses came up with a couplet, saying he is "a small temple with great gods, a shallow pond with many turtles," to go after him. Can you do it? I can't do it either, nor can the provinces. As for things like teaching reform, I don't understand them either. We can only rely on the masses, and then centralize their ideas.

The work teams should be turned into liaison officers or be called advisors. You say advisors have great power, so let's just call them liaison officers. After working for over a month, they have played the role of obstructing the revolution; in reality, they have helped the counter-revolutionaries. Some work teams sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, watching students struggle against students. At Xi'an Jiaotong University, they restricted people from making phone calls, sending telegrams, and restricted them from going to Beijing. It should be written in the documents that they can make phone calls, send telegrams, and send people to the Central Committee; this has long been in the Party Constitution! The Xinhua Daily in Nanjing was surrounded; I think it's fine to surround it. If the paper doesn't come out for three days, it's no big deal. If you don't make revolution, it will come to your own head. Why is it not allowed to surround the provincial and municipal committees, newspaper offices, the State Council? When good people come, you don't see them. If you don't go out, I will go see them. You send out junior cadres, but you don't go out yourselves; I will go out. In short, fear is in command, fear of counter-revolutionaries, fear of knives and guns. None of you go down, none of you go to see the places where there is chaos. Li Xuefeng, Wu De, you don't go to see, you are busy with concrete affairs every day. Without perceptual knowledge, how can you give guidance? The three debates at Peking University, I think they were not bad. All who attend the meeting must go to the places where there is chaos. Some people are afraid to speak; if asked to speak, just say a few words: we are here to learn, to support your revolution, we will come when called, be there on demand, and will come again later.

You say the revolutionary teachers and students have no faults at all, but after one or two months, you have no perceptual knowledge at all? Does your going there mean you will be surrounded? The issue of people being beaten at the Broadcasting Institute and Beijing Normal University—some people are afraid of being beaten and ask the work teams to protect them. No one has died! It is a form of tempering for the leftists to be beaten. In short, the work teams, one, cannot struggle, and two, cannot reform. Half a year is not enough, and a year is not enough. Only the people of the unit itself can struggle and can reform. To struggle is to destroy, to reform is to establish. Textbooks can't be compiled in half a year. I think we can simplify things, remove what is wrong. There's no time to add things; if we add, we should add Central Committee editorials and circulars. (Someone suggested: add the Chairman's works.) Those are the direction, the guide; they cannot become dogma. For example, in handling the beatings at the Broadcasting Institute, which book has the answer? Which general flips through a book while fighting a battle? At this stage, we must turn the direction around.

The Cultural Revolution Committee must include the left, the center, and the right; there must also be a few rightists. For example, Jian Bozan can be used by the rightists and also by the leftists; he is a living dictionary. But they cannot be concentrated, like at the Zhonghua Book Company. A training class can be set up for living dictionaries, as long as they do not arouse great popular indignation. The congress of representatives and the revolutionary committee must both have an opposition; the standing committee, however, cannot have them.

Apart from your (referring to Li Xuefeng) Municipal Committee, don't have too many people. With too many people, they will want to make revolution, make phone calls, and issue reports. I only have one person here, which is very good. Nowadays, many ministers want secretaries; get rid of them all. I didn't have one before I went to Yan'an. The Municipal Committee office can have a mail room. Your wife (unclear who is being referred to) should not be a secretary anymore; she should go down to do manual labor! Some ministries of the State Council can be changed into sections. Bloated organizations have always been useless.

Some people don't think: one, there are no classes; two, meals are provided; three, they need to make trouble. Making trouble is making revolution. After the work teams leave, some will want a restoration. A restoration is no big deal. Are some of our ministers that reliable? Who is in control of some ministries and newspaper offices? Four days after I returned to Beijing, I was still inclined to preserve the existing state of affairs. Many work teams are just obstructing the movement, like at Tsinghua and Peking University. It must be written in the documents that only those who commit assault, murder, arson, or poisoning are to be called counter-revolutionaries. Those who write big-character posters or reactionary slogans cannot be arrested. Someone wrote "Support the Party Central Committee, Oppose Mao Zedong." Why arrest him? He still supports the Party Central Committee! Don't strike down historical counter-revolutionaries; keep them for use. If their performance is not good, struggle against them! Don't allow people to be beaten. Let them speak out! What is there to be afraid of from a few big-character posters, a few reactionary slogans?