Chairman Mao said: "What is there to be afraid of? Have you read Li Xuefeng's briefing? His two children ran out, and after returning, they educated Li Xuefeng, saying: 'Why are the old leaders here so afraid of the Red Guards? We haven't even hit you.' Everyone just won't self-criticize. Wu Xiuquan's family has four children, divided into four factions. Many classmates go to his house, sometimes more than a dozen people. Once you have more contact, there's nothing to be afraid of. You'll find them very cute. You have to educate people, and educators must first be educated. You are inflexible, afraid to meet the Red Guards, afraid to tell the students the truth, acting like officials and overlords. First, you're afraid to meet them, then you're afraid to speak. After decades of revolution, you're getting dumber and dumber. Liu ××'s letter to Jiang ×× criticized Jiang ××, saying he was stupid. Was he himself so smart?"

Chairman Mao asked Liu Lantao: "What do you plan to do when you go back?" Liu replied: "Go back and see." The Chairman said: "You always speak so hesitantly."

Chairman Mao asked about the Premier's meeting. The Premier said: "The meeting is almost over. We'll have another half-day tomorrow. Specific problems will be resolved according to the general principles." The Chairman asked Li Jingquan: "What about Liao Zhigao (First Secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee)?" Li replied: "He wasn't very receptive at first, but he's generally better after the meeting." The Chairman said: "What 'consistently correct'? You yourself slipped away, scared out of your wits, and ran to live in the military region. When you go back, you must buck up and do a good job. It's not good to put up Liu Deng's big-character posters on the streets. You have to allow people to make mistakes, allow people to make revolution, allow them to change! Let the Red Guards read *The True Story of Ah Q*."

The Chairman said: "This meeting is better than the last one. The last meeting was like pouring water that didn't go in; we had no experience. This time we have two months of experience. In total, we have less than five months of experience. The democratic revolution took twenty-eight years, how many mistakes did we make, how many people died! The socialist revolution has been going on for seventeen years, and the Cultural Revolution has only been going on for five months. It will take at least five years to gain experience. A big-character poster, a Red Guard, a great exchange of experiences – no one expected it, not even me. It has made the provinces and cities wail. The students have also made some mistakes, but the main mistakes are made by us old men."

The Chairman asked Li Xiannian: "How did your meeting go today?" Li replied: "The University of Finance and Economics said they wanted to hold a denunciation meeting. I wanted to self-criticize, but they wouldn't let me speak." The Chairman said: "You go to self-criticize again tomorrow, otherwise people will say you slipped away." Li said: "I'm going abroad tomorrow." The Chairman said: "Tell them first. In the past, it was 'Mother Teaches Son,' now it's 'Son Teaches Mother.' I think you're a bit lacking in spirit."

The Chairman said: "If they don't listen to your self-criticism, you insist on self-criticizing. If they denounce you, you admit your mistakes. The trouble was stirred up by the Central Committee, the responsibility lies with the Central Committee, but the localities also have responsibility. My responsibility is the division into first and second lines. Why divide into first and second lines? First, my health wasn't good, and second, the lessons of the Soviet Union. Malenkov was immature. Stalin didn't wield power before his death. At every meeting, he toasted and flattered. I wanted to establish their prestige before I died, but I didn't expect the opposite. (Comrade ×× interjected: "Power was lost.") The Chairman said: "I deliberately let power slip away, but now they're setting up independent kingdoms, not consulting me on many things, such as the land conference, the Tianjin speech, the Shanxi cooperatives, negating investigation and research, and excessively praising Wang Guangmei. These should have been discussed by the Central Committee and a resolution made. Deng Xiaoping never looks for me. From 1959 to now, he doesn't look for me about anything. I was dissatisfied with the Lushan Conference in August 1959. They were the only ones who had their say, and I couldn't do anything about it. In 1962, suddenly four vice-premiers, Li Fuchun, ×××, Li Xiannian, and ×××, went to Nanjing to find me, and then to Tianjin. I immediately agreed, and the four went again, but Deng Xiaoping didn't come. I was dissatisfied with the Wuchang Conference. The high targets left me helpless. When we went to Beijing for a meeting, you could hold it for six days, but I couldn't hold it for one day. It doesn't matter if you don't complete the task, don't look like you're mourning your parents. After the Zunyi Conference, the Party was relatively centralized. After the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee in 1938, Xiang Ying and Peng Dehuai set up independent kingdoms. (The New Fourth Army's Southern Anhui Incident, Peng Dehuai's Hundred Regiments Offensive) They didn't inform anyone about those things. After the Seventh National Congress, there were few people in the Central Committee. When Hu Zongnan attacked Yan'an, the Central Committee split into two routes. I, together with Enlai and Ren Bishi, were in northern Shaanxi, and Liu ×× and Zhu × were in northern China. It was still relatively centralized. After entering the city, we dispersed, each doing our own thing. Especially the division into first and second lines made us even more dispersed. After the 1953 financial and economic conference, we had already given instructions that everyone should keep each other informed, inform the Central Committee, and inform the localities. Liu and Deng were doing things openly, not secretly, unlike Peng Zhen. In the past, Chen Duxiu, Zhang Guotao, Wang Ming, Luo Zhanglong, and Li Lisan all did things openly, which didn't matter. Gao Gang, Rao Shushi, and Peng Dehuai all used double-dealing tactics. Peng Dehuai colluded with them, but I didn't know. Peng Zhen, Luo Ruiqing, Yang Shangkun, and Lu Dingyi were doing things secretly. Those who do things secretly don't have a good ending, a good result. Those who make line mistakes must correct them. Chen, Wang, and Li didn't correct them (Premier Zhou interjected: Li Lisan's thinking didn't change). No matter what small cliques, no matter what factions, they must be closed tightly and strictly. As long as they correct themselves and their opinions are consistent, unity is good. We must allow Liu and Deng to make revolution, allow them to change. You say I'm a mud-mixer, I am a mud-mixer. At the Seventh National Congress, Chen Qihan said: We can't elect those who made Wang Ming's line mistakes as members of the Central Committee. Wang Ming and several others were all elected as members of the Central Committee. Now only one Wang Ming has left, and the others are still there! Luo Fu was no good. I have a good impression of Wang Jiaxiang. He approved of the Donggu battle. At the Ningdu Conference, Luo Fu wanted to expel me, but Zhou and Zhu disagreed. He played a good role at the Zunyi Conference. We couldn't do without them at that time. Luo Fu was stubborn. Comrade ×× opposed them, and Nie Rongzhen also opposed them. We can't write off ××× with one stroke. If you have mistakes, correct them! If you correct them, that's fine. Go back and buck up, and work boldly. I suggested holding this meeting. The time is so short, I don't know if it's clear, maybe it's better than last time. I didn't expect that a big-character poster, a Red Guard, a great exchange of experiences would stir up such a big thing. Some students have bad backgrounds, but do we all have good backgrounds? Don't recruit deserters and accept traitors. I have many rightist friends, Zhou Gucheng, Zhang Zhizhong. How can you not approach a few rightists? How can you be so clean? Approaching them is investigation and research, understanding their dynamics. That day in Tiananmen Square, I deliberately pulled Li Zongren together. It's better not to place this person than to place him. It's better to have no position or power. Do we need democratic parties? Is one party enough? School Party organizations shouldn't be restored too early. Many Party members were developed after 1957. Are Jian Bozan, Wu Han, and Li Da all Communist Party members, are they all so good? Are the democratic parties so bad? I think the democratic parties are better than Peng, Luo, Lu, and Yang. We still need democratic parties, and we still need the CPPCC. Explain clearly to the Red Guards that China's democratic revolution was started by Sun Yat-sen. There was no Communist Party at that time. It was led by Sun Yat-sen, opposing Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, opposing the imperial system. This year is the 100th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's birth. How should we commemorate it? Discuss it with the Red Guards. We should also hold a memorial meeting. My division into first and second lines went in the opposite direction (Comrade Kang Sheng said: The political report of the Eighth National Congress had the theory of the extinction of class struggle). We read the report, it was passed by the congress, we can't just hold them two responsible.

Factories and rural areas should still go back in stages and batches to get through the thinking of the students in the provinces and cities, and hold the meetings well. Shanghai should find a quiet place to hold the meetings, and let the students make trouble. We held a seventeen-day meeting, which was beneficial. As Comrade Lin Biao said, we must do a good job of political and ideological work for them. Stalin said in 1936 that class struggle had died out, but in 1939 he launched the purges. Isn't that class struggle? When you go back, you must buck up and do a good job. Who will overthrow you?