Remarks During the Meeting with the Albanian Military Delegation [1]
(May 1, 1967)
At the Seven-Thousand-Person Conference in 1962 [2], I stated:
“The struggle between Marxism-Leninism and revisionism remains unresolved. It is quite possible that revisionism will prevail while we suffer defeat.” By reminding everyone of this potential failure, I aimed to heighten vigilance against revisionism and strengthen efforts to guard against and combat it. In reality, the class struggle within the Communist Party—the conflict between two classes and two lines—has always existed. No one can deny this fact. As materialists, we naturally ought not to deny it. Since that conference, the manifestations of this internal struggle within our Party have taken the forms of “left” in appearance but “right” in essence versus its opposite, denial of the existence of class struggle versus emphasis on it, and centrist approaches versus the primacy of the proletariat’s interests.


[1] This is part of Mao Zedong’s remarks during his meeting with the Albanian military delegation.


[2] The Seven-Thousand-Person Conference was an enlarged Central Work Conference convened by the CPC Central Committee in Beijing from January 11 to February 7, 1962. Approximately 7,000 leading officials from county-level Party committees upward attended, hence the name “Seven-Thousand-Person Conference.” Mao Zedong presided over the meeting. Liu Shaoqi delivered a written report on behalf of the Central Committee, summarizing twelve years of work since the founding of New China, particularly the experiences and lessons learned since the Great Leap Forward. During the proceedings, many participants felt that insufficient attention had been paid to combating bureaucracy and promoting intra-Party democracy, and they requested the opportunity to speak. Mao Zedong and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau acceded to their requests. On January 30, Mao delivered an important speech, emphasizing and systematically elaborating on the implementation of democratic centralism and the promotion of democracy both within and outside the Party. As a result, the conference evolved into a forum characterized by democracy, criticism, and self-criticism. Participants voiced criticisms directed at various provincial committees, central bureaus, and state organs, and leaders from different regions and departments engaged in self-criticism.