Comments on the Report Regarding the Heilongjiang Province Three-Tier Cadre Conference
(December 26, 1966)


Comrade Chen Boda [1]:
Please have you and the comrades in the group [2] examine whether this document [3] can be forwarded to the county- and regiment-level units for use as reference material. In my view, it seems somewhat better than Comrade Xuefeng’s self-criticism [4]. As stated at the end of the text, the attached document [5] has not yet been received.
Mao Zedong
December 26


Printed from the manuscript.


Notes


[1] Chen Boda was at that time a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Central Cultural Revolution Group.


[2] Refers to the Central Cultural Revolution Group of the CPC Central Committee.


[3] Refers to the report submitted by the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the CPC to the Central Committee and the Northeast Bureau on December 23, 1966. The report states that from November 14 to December 7, our province convened a three-tier cadre conference involving provincial, prefectural (city), and county-level cadres, focusing on resolving three major issues: understanding of the Cultural Revolution, understanding of the struggle between two lines, and how to correctly approach oneself. The conference was divided into four stages: studying documents to raise awareness, promoting democracy, encouraging open expression and debate; clearing up ideological misunderstandings and achieving unified understanding; summarizing the conference and making work arrangements. Each stage had its own emphasis while remaining interconnected, progressing step by step. Clearing up ideological confusion and rescuing cadres ran throughout the entire conference. The entire process of the conference was, in essence, a process of conducting political and ideological work. On December 29, the CPC Central Committee forwarded this report to county- and regiment-level Party committees for reference.


[4] Refers to the key points of Li Xuefeng’s self-criticism delivered on December 16, 1966, at the offices of the North China Bureau. Li Xuefeng was then an alternate member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, First Secretary of the North China Bureau, and First Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee. See note [3] on page 178 of this volume.


[5] Refers to the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the CPC’s “Examination of the Line Errors Committed by the Provincial Committee in the Cultural Revolution Movement and Opinions on Future Work.”