Comment on the Article
“Striking a Large Area to Protect a Small Handful” Is a Component Part of the Bourgeois Reactionary Line
[I]
(29 March 1967)

Comrades Wang Li and Guan Feng:

This piece is very good. It may be published openly and broadcast. In addition, the situation in one or two schools and one or two organs should be investigated.

Mao Zedong
29 March

Please first print and distribute it to the comrades attending the briefing meeting and other comrades for their perusal.

Sichuan

This article was written in the name of an investigator from the editorial department of *Hongqi* magazine, originally titled “Investigation into the Situation of the Tsinghua University Work Team Carrying Out the Bourgeois Reactionary Line on the Cadre Question.” The present title was revised and decided upon by Mao Zedong during his review. The original title, with the time period added, serves as the subtitle: “Investigation into the Situation of the Tsinghua University Work Team Carrying Out the Bourgeois Reactionary Line on the Cadre Question in June and July 1966.”

On 28 March 1967, when Wang Li and Guan Feng submitted this article to Mao Zedong, they wrote: “‘Striking a large area to protect a small handful’ is a component part of the bourgeois reactionary line. On this matter, our past investigation was insufficient, our exposure was insufficient, and our criticism was insufficient. It seems that in the course of realizing the revolutionary ‘three-in-one combination,’ this issue should be fully exposed and criticized. Some typical materials could perhaps be distributed to leading comrades within the Party for their perusal.” This article was later published in the fifth issue of *Hongqi* magazine on 30 March 1967, and reprinted in major newspapers such as *Renmin Ribao*.