To the Red Guards of the Middle School Attached to Tsinghua University
(July 31, 1966, August 1)

Comrades:

Please consider whether this document [2] (and the attachments [3]) are correct. If there are errors, please point them out.

Mao Zedong
July 31st

[1] Refers to Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Tao Zhu, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and Chen Boda, head of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, Kang Sheng, advisor, and Jiang Qing, Wang Renzhong, and Zhang Chunqiao, deputy heads, Wang Li, Yao Wenyuan, Guan Feng, and Qi Benyu, members, and Li Xuefeng, First Secretary of the North China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and First Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee, and Wu De, Second Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee, a total of 15 people.
[2] That is, item two in this collection. This letter was not sent.
[3] Refers to the big-character posters written by the Red Guards of the Middle School Attached to Tsinghua University on June 24, 1966, "Long Live the Revolutionary Rebel Spirit" and on July 4, "Further Discussion on the Revolutionary Rebel Spirit." On July 28, they sent these two big-character posters to Jiang Qing for review and asked Jiang Qing to forward them to Mao Zedong for instructions. These two big-character posters were later published in the eleventh issue of the "Red Flag" magazine published on August 21, 1966, with the titles changed to "Long Live the Revolutionary Rebel Spirit of the Proletariat" and "Further Discussion on the Revolutionary Rebel Spirit of the Proletariat." The "People's Daily" reprinted them on August 24.

Letter to the Red Guards of the Middle School Attached to Tsinghua University

Comrades of the Red Guards of the Middle School Attached to Tsinghua University:

I have received the two big-character posters you sent me on July 28, as well as the letter you forwarded to me asking me to answer. Your two big-character posters of June 24 and July 4 demonstrate anger and denunciation of the landlord class, the bourgeoisie, imperialism, revisionism, and their running dogs, who exploit and oppress workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals, and revolutionary parties, and show that it is right to rebel against the reactionaries. I express my warm support to you. At the same time, I express my warm support to the big-character poster of the Red Flag Combat Team of the Middle School Attached to Peking University, which states that it is right to rebel against the reactionaries, and to Comrade Peng Xiaomeng's excellent revolutionary speech delivered on behalf of their Red Flag Combat Team at the meeting of all teachers, students, and staff of Peking University on July 25.

Here, I want to say that I and my revolutionary comrades-in-arms all adopt the same attitude. Whether in Beijing, in the whole country, or in the Great Cultural Revolution movement, we give warm support to all those who adopt the same revolutionary attitude as you. Furthermore, while we support you, we also ask you to pay attention to striving to unite all those who can be united. For those who have committed serious mistakes, after pointing out their mistakes, we should also give them a way out to work and correct their mistakes and start anew. Marx said that the proletariat must not only liberate itself, but also liberate all mankind. If all mankind cannot be liberated, the proletariat itself cannot be finally liberated. Please also pay attention to this principle, comrades.

Mao Zedong
August 1, 1966

Those Who Suppress the Student Movement Will Come to No Good End [1]
(July 1966)

The big-character poster of Nie Yuanzi on May 25 is the declaration of the Paris Commune in China in the 1960s, and its significance exceeds that of the Paris Commune. We cannot write such a big-character poster.

(Several Young Pioneers put up a big-character poster for their father, saying that their father had forgotten the past and had not told them about Mao Zedong Thought, but instead asked them about their grades in school, and gave prizes for good grades.)

(Mao Zedong asked Chen Boda to tell these children that the big-character poster was very well written!)

I tell everyone that youth is the main force of the Great Cultural Revolution! We must give full play to them.

After returning to Beijing, I felt very sad, cold and desolate, some school gates were closed, and even the student movement was suppressed. Who is suppressing the student movement? Only the Northern Warlords! The Communist Party's fear of the student movement is anti-Marxist. Some people talk about taking the mass line and serving the people every day, but in reality, they are taking the bourgeois line and serving the bourgeoisie. The Central Committee should stand on the side of the students, but it is standing on the side of suppressing the students. Who opposes the Great Cultural Revolution? American imperialism, Soviet revisionism, and Japanese reactionaries.

The excuse of "distinguishing between internal and external" is fear of revolution. Big-character posters [2] are put up and then covered up. This situation cannot be allowed. This is a directional error and must be reversed quickly. Smash all the frameworks to pieces!

[1] This is a conversation between Mao Zedong and several responsible comrades of the Central Committee.
[2] Refers to the big-character poster entitled "What Exactly Are Song Shuo, Lu Ping, and Peng Peiyun Doing in the Cultural Revolution?" posted on the east wall of the large dining hall at about 2:00 pm on May 25, 1966, by Nie Yuanzi, Song Yixiu, Xia Jianzhi, Yang Keming, Zhao Zhengyi, Gao Yunpeng, and Li Xingchen of the Department of Philosophy of Peking University.

Those Who Suppress the Student Movement Will Come to No Good End

We believe in the masses, (therefore, students of the masses can be teachers of the masses. This Cultural Revolution is a world-shaking event. Can we, dare we, pass this socialist test? This test is to finally eliminate classes and shorten the three major differences.

Oppose, especially the bourgeois "authoritative" thinking, this is destruction. Without this destruction, socialism cannot be established, and it is impossible to achieve one struggle, two criticisms, and three reforms. Sitting in the office and listening to reports is not enough. We can only rely on the masses, believe in the masses, make trouble to the end, and be prepared for the revolution to be carried out on our own heads. Party and government leaders and responsible party members should be prepared for this. Now we must carry out the revolution to the end, train ourselves and transform ourselves in this respect, so that we can catch up, otherwise, we can only rely on being outside.

Some comrades are very fierce in struggling against others, but not against themselves, so they can never pass the test. Rely on yourselves to ignite the fire and fan the flames, dare you? Because it is burning on your own heads, comrades answer like this: be prepared, if it doesn't work, then dismiss yourselves from your own posts, live as a Communist Party member, die as a Communist Party member, and living a life of sitting on the sofa and blowing the fan is not acceptable.

It is not acceptable to set frameworks for the masses. When Peking University saw the students rising up, it set frameworks, euphemistically calling it: "incorporating into the right track," but in fact, it was incorporating into the wrong track.

Some schools put the label of "counter-revolutionary" on students. (Zhang Yan of the Foreign Affairs Office ran outside and put the label of counter-revolutionary on more than twenty people.) This puts the masses on the opposite side. Don't be afraid of bad people, how many bad people are there after all? The vast majority of students are good people.

(Someone asked, what if the archives are messed up during the chaos?)

What are you afraid of? Bad people come to prove that they are bad people, what are you afraid of for good people? We must replace a word of fear with a word of courage. We must finally prove whether the socialist test is passed.

You must put politics in command, go into the masses, be with the masses, and make the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution even better.

Those who suppress the student movement will come to no good end!