Directive on the Issue of the Army Supporting the Left
(August 1967)

When the petty bourgeoisie holds power, the big bourgeoisie will soon take the stage. The army’s support for the Left has great benefits, namely that it educates the army itself, and through actual struggle the army will come to understand this issue. Supporting the Left means not only supporting the revolutionary masses and the Leftist organizations, and not only seeing that the struggle between two lines exists in all aspects of society; at the same time, one must also see that the struggle between two lines exists within the army, and see that class struggle is also reflected inside the army. Through supporting the Left, the army likewise exposes problems within society, thereby strengthening the army and raising the ideological level of our army. This is materialist dialectics.

Our army must not be thrown into disorder. Problems within the People’s Liberation Army can be handled through negotiations province by province.

Action must be as swift as possible, but work must not be done in undue haste; it must be carried out thoroughly, with painstaking care. ([1]
[1] This directive was given to the 6299 Troops additionally dispatched to Wenzhou.