Comrades Lin Biao and Zhou Enlai:

Please circulate this document to all comrades attending the Expanded Meeting of the Central Military Commission. The military’s approach in this instance is correct, and it is hoped that the entire armed forces will adopt the same practice.

Mao Zedong

April 23

Appendix: Leading Officials of the Shaanxi Garrison Earnestly Heed Public Opinion and Improve Their Work

Since mid-April, Comrade Huang Jingyao, Commander of the Shaanxi Provincial Military District; Comrade Yuan Kefu, Political Commissar; and Comrade Hu Wei, Commander of the ×××× Army unit stationed in Shaanxi, together with other leading officials, have successively convened symposiums with representatives of the rebel factions from Xi’an Jiaotong University and Xi’an University of Electronic Science and Technology, as well as with delegates from the Cultural Revolution Committee of Jiaotong University, to listen to their views and criticisms regarding the “supporting the left” policy.

During these discussions, the students criticized the military for failing to take a sufficiently clear stand in its earlier work, for inadequate investigation and study, for not supporting the genuine revolutionary rebels but instead at times backing conservative organizations and suppressing the revolutionary camp. They also pointed out that the military had failed to link training activities with the Cultural Revolution in the Xi’an area, opting instead for a repressive, isolationist approach—conducting “closed-door training”—which led to several surges in the posting of big-character posters directed at the army. (“There is no need to fear criticism. It is precisely through such criticism that the entire armed forces will come to a correct understanding of the world and transform it.” — Mao’s note)

Comrades Huang Jingyao and Hu Wei warmly welcomed and expressed their gratitude for the students’ sincere, well-intentioned, and frank criticisms. Seizing the opportunity, they steered the discussion toward how to grasp the overall direction of the struggle and make preparations to promote unity among the rebel factions. Student Li Shiying (a student leader at Jiaotong University who had previously been branded a counter-revolutionary and nearly arrested to death, only to be rescued—Mao’s note) put forward several suggestions to the Military District: First, the Military District must take an unequivocal stance and make its position crystal clear in supporting the left. Second, newly formed organizations should be thoroughly investigated and treated differently; conservative groups should be actively won over to unity on the basis of acknowledging their mistakes and agreeing on the general direction of the struggle.

Third, assistance should be provided to Unit × of the Workers’ Headquarters to carry out reorganization and cleansing, thereby removing obstacles to a broad united front. Fourth, effective work must be done among the leading figures of the various factions.

Fifth, attention should be paid to ideological education, with confidence placed in the vast majority of cadres and the masses—this is the most fundamental point. — Mao’s note)

Building on the work already underway in the various institutions, a method of mutual liaison should be adopted to conduct extensive heart-to-heart talks, enhance mutual understanding, strengthen solidarity, and facilitate a grand united front between the two major revolutionary factions. (“The practice of holding heart-to-heart talks is an excellent approach.” — Mao’s note)

Comrades Huang Jingyao and Hu Wei concurred that Li Shiying’s suggestions were sound, expressed their support, and decided to convene on April 21 the heads of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an University of Electronic Science and Technology, Xi’an Metallurgical Institute, and Jiaotong University for further consultations on how to grasp the overarching direction of the struggle and advance the great united front of the rebel factions.