Comrades of the Cultural Revolution Group and the meeting:
I suggest that this document be forwarded to all locations for reference. It is concise and to
the point, and it addresses the essence of the problem. Please discuss and decide.
Mao Zedong
November 15th

[1] This comment was written on a report submitted by the Yunnan Provincial Military
Control Commission to the Central Military Commission and the Central Cultural Revolution
Group on November 11, 1967. The report stated that all prefectures, counties, and districts
in the province were implementing the call for large-scale Mao Zedong Thought study
sessions. Over the past month, local military Party committees, military control commissions
at all levels, and support-the-left organizations have prioritized this work and strengthened
leadership. According to incomplete statistics, by the end of October, 356 study sessions of
various types had been held or were ongoing, with over 13,000 participants. The main
achievements of these sessions include: 1. Petty-bourgeois factionalism, mountaintopism,
and small groupism have been examined and overcome to varying degrees, promoting the
great revolutionary unity. 2. A deeper understanding of the significance of liberating
revolutionary cadres has been achieved, and the "selfish" nature of cadre issues has been
examined and overcome to varying degrees. 3. We have further recognized the favorable
situation of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and established a firm resolve and
confidence to carry it through to the end. Study sessions are being summarized in various
locations. Initial insights from some sessions in southern Yunnan are as follows: 1. The
guiding ideology must be clear. We must take "fighting selfish and repudiating revisionism"
as our guiding principle, summarize the lessons learned from the previous period, and learn
to use Mao Zedong Thought to answer and resolve the most pressing and important issues
in the current movement. 2. We must always focus on Chairman Mao's "Five Old Articles"17
and his latest directives. We must study them repeatedly and diligently, focusing on issues
such as the great unity, cadre issues, and the "three combinations," continuously deepening
our understanding and conducting comparative examinations. We must focus on the major
issues and the general direction, and avoid getting bogged down in minor details. 3. We
must grasp the key points. In light of actual conditions, we must thoroughly address one or

17 The articles were Serve the People, In Memory of Norman Bethune, The Foolish Old Man Who Moved the
Mountains, On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party, and Combat Liberalism.



two key issues. 4. In implementing the mass line principle, we must consistently apply the
formula of "unity-criticism and self-criticism-unity." We must engage in self-criticism, refrain
from blaming others, and avoid imposing our own opinions on others. 5. We must
strengthen leadership. We should study together with the students, foster and cultivate the
advanced and emerging ideas among the masses, and summarize and promote them.