During the Qing Dynasty, then the Beiyang warlords, and later the Kuomintang, all
suppressed student movements [2]. Now, even the Communist Party is suppressing student
movements. What's the difference between this and Lu Ping and Jiang Nanxiang [3]?!
The central government has disobeyed its own orders. It ordered a six-month suspension of
classes to focus on the Cultural Revolution, and then, when students rose up, it suppressed
them again. It's not that no one has raised dissenting opinions, but that they simply won't
listen; alternative opinions, however, are enthusiastically entertained. To put it mildly, this is
a directional issue. It's actually a problem of direction, a problem of line. It's a line error, a
violation of Marxism. This conference must resolve this issue, or it will be very dangerous.
They gave orders to coax students into revolution, and then suppressed them once they did.
Their so-called mass line, their belief in the masses, their Marxism-Leninism, and so on are
all shams. This has been going on for years, and whenever something like this happens, it
explodes. They clearly side with the bourgeoisie and oppose the proletariat. They say
opposing the new municipal committee is anti-Party, and if the new municipal committee
suppresses the students, why can't we oppose it?!
I didn't go to the grassroots to observe them. The more they observe them, the more they
side with the bourgeoisie and oppose the proletariat. They stipulated that no contact



between classes, departments, or schools was allowed. This was repression and terror, and
this terror came from the central government. Some people have objections to the central
government's criticism of the June 18th Incident [4], but it's hard to say.
The big-character poster by Nie Yuanzi and seven others at Peking University was the
manifesto of the Paris Commune—the Peking Commune—in the 1960s. Posting bigcharacter posters is a good thing, and it should be shared with people all over the world!
However, the Xuefeng [5] Report stated, "The Party has its own discipline, and the state has
its own laws. There should be a distinction between inside and outside. Big-character
posters should not be posted outside the main gate for foreigners to see." Besides
confidential areas like the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security,
which are off-limits to outsiders, what other areas are important? Under the dictatorship of
the proletariat, mass petitions, demonstrations, and complaints are permitted. Moreover,
freedom of speech, assembly, association, and publication are enshrined in the Constitution.
Judging from this suppression of the student Cultural Revolution, I do not believe that the
current Central Committee possesses true democracy or Marxism-Leninism. Instead, it sided
with the bourgeoisie in opposing the proletarian Cultural Revolution.
The Communist Youth League Central Committee not only failed to support the youth
student movement but also suppressed it. They should be dealt with severely.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong's speech at the enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee
of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.
[2] During the 50 days from early June to late July 1966, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping
presided over the work of the Central Committee and carried out the Cultural Revolution in
the traditional way of official political movements. The methods included: sending work
teams, categorizing the masses as "left, centre, and right", labelling those who dared to give
opinions to the leadership as "rightists" and "counter-revolutionaries", and collecting black
materials on them. Across the country, there were widespread phenomena of students
confronting work teams and the suppression of students by work teams and party
committees, such as the June 6th incident at Xi'an Jiaotong University, the June 7th incident
at Qinghua University, the June 8th incident at Guangxi, the June 20th incident at Beijing
Municipal People's Court, the June 20th incident at Beijing Normal University, and the
"Minutes of Conversation" incident at the Forestry Institute. At Qinghua University alone,
more than 800 students were labelled "counter-revolutionaries".
 [3] Lu Ping, former president and party secretary of Beijing University. Jiang Nanxiang,
former president and party secretary of Qinghua University. Both of them suppressed the
Cultural Revolution movement at their respective universities.



[4] On June 18, 1966, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., while the Beijing University work team was in
session, the masses left their work and engaged in a struggle session against over 40
university leaders and professors, some of whom were violent. The work team stopped
them, "clearly pointing out that engaging in random fights without the work team's
supervision is harmful to the revolutionary movement, and pointing out that such practices
could and had already been exploited by bad elements." It also stipulated that "any struggle
against someone must be approved by the work group" (see "Beijing University Cultural
Revolution Bulletin (No. 9)"). On June 20, 1966, Liu Shaoqi, who was in charge of the Central
Committee's work, added comments and forwarded it to various locations: "We are now
sending you Beijing University Cultural Revolution Bulletin (No. 9). The Central Committee
believes that the Beijing University work team's approach to handling the fights is correct
and timely. If such incidents occur in any unit, you may refer to the Beijing University
approach."
[5] Xuefeng, also known as Li Xuefeng, was the First Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party
Committee at the time. After the big-character poster by Nie Yuanzi and seven others was
posted, Li Xuefeng rushed to Beijing University that evening and subsequently convened a
meeting, stating: "I am very dissatisfied with the appearance of a big-character poster
deliberately leaking secrets at Beijing University. The Cultural Revolution cannot be carried
out recklessly. It must be carried out in a systematic manner under the leadership of Party
committees at all levels. Big-character posters must be approved before they can be posted.
Do not post big-character posters on internal and external issues together. Big-character
posters on internal Party issues involving Party and state secrets should not be posted
outside. There must be a distinction between internal and external affairs." "The Party has
its own discipline, and the state has its own laws. We are not carrying out the Cultural
Revolution as a mob; we cannot do it in a chaotic manner. Beijing University must be well
organized, the artillery fire must be fierce, and we must hit the vital points, but there must
be organization. The Beijing University Party Committee must lead the movement well." He
then submitted the draft of his speech to the Central Committee.