Comrades Lin Biao, Enlai [2], and all comrades of the Cultural Revolution:
Please read this. The views of the extreme leftists are wrong. Comrades of the Cultural
Revolution, please try to persuade them.
Mao Zedong,
May 29

[1] On May 27, 1967, Tang Wensheng, a translator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and
Wang Hairong, a cadre in the General Affairs Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs'
General Office, wrote to Mao Zedong: "Recently, there has been a trend of attacking Premier
Zhou. This has also been reflected within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Revolutionary Rebel
Liaison Station and its affiliated combat teams, where debate has become quite heated."
"We believe that the Premier's mistakes and shortcomings can be raised in the form of small
posters or letters to the Central Cultural Revolution Group, directly to the Premier himself, or
directly submitted to you and Vice Chairman Lin. If there are different interpretations of the
Premier's instructions or if there are disagreements with the Premier on certain issues, we
can present the facts and use reason to engage in normal and thorough debate among the
masses. However, this cannot be used as an excuse to attack or smear the Premier, labeling
him as a capitalist roader or his backers." They also said: "We absolutely cannot agree with
the statement that 'attacking the Premier is the general direction of the current movement.'
Such a statement is wrong."
[2] Lin Biao was re-elected to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC
Central Committee at the 11th Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee and was
soon named Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Committee. Enlai is Zhou Enlai.