To Comrade Chen Boda:
This document contains numerous errors and should be significantly edited out, at least onethird removed.
Mao Zedong
July 6
Comrade Chen Boda:
I haven't read this volume, 'On Education,' and it may contain some bad material. I would
like you and the comrades from the Cultural Revolution Group to review it, along with the
volume you edited. Delete all the bad parts, and keep only about half of the more accurate
ones.
Mao Zedong
July 6
Comrade Chen Boda:
I have made some minor revisions. Please review it. If you find it acceptable, it can be
printed and distributed.
Mao Zedong
December 6

[1] This first part is a critique of "Chairman Mao on Education," compiled and published by
the Political Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in
June 1967. This booklet is divided into nine sections: 1. Politics in Command; 2. Class
Struggle; 3. The Purpose of Education; 4. Revolution in Teaching; 5. Teaching Content; 6.
Teaching Methods; 7. Teacher-Student Relationship; 8. Education Should Be Oriented to and
Rely on the Masses; 9. Schools Must Have a Strong Leadership Team. On June 27, Chen
Boda, head of the Cultural Revolution Group of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of China and director of the Central Political Research Office, wrote in this pamphlet,



"The Political Research Office has compiled the pamphlet 'Chairman Mao on Education,'
intending to distribute it to everyone as a positive teaching material and a guideline for the
revolution in the teaching system. It invites discussion and, through investigation and
research, a preliminary plan for teaching reform in universities, middle schools, and primary
schools to be proposed for the Central Committee's consideration." This second part of the
article was written in the pamphlet "Chairman Mao on Education," compiled and published
by the Tianjin University "August 13" Red Guards in May 1967. This booklet consists of the
following 15 sections: 1. Party Leadership; 2. Educational Policies; 3. Class Struggle on the
Educational Front; 4. Education Must Be Revolutionary; 5. Politics as the Commander and
Soul; 6. The Mass Line; 7. Focusing on Learning, While Learning Other Things as a Secondary
Tool; 8. Teaching Methods; 9. The Transformation of Intellectuals; 10. Youth; 11. Mass
Education and Frugal Management; 12. Integrating Theory with Practice; 13. On Knowledge;
14. Dispelling Superstition; 15. Critical Inheritance. Also included at the end is the material
from "Comrades Chen Boda and Qi Benyu's Discussion with Representatives of
Revolutionary Teachers and Students of Peking University on Educational Reform." Part
Three of this section contains comments on "Chairman Mao on the Educational Revolution,"
a book compiled and published under the name of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of China's Cultural Revolution Group. Published by the People's Publishing House in
December 1967, the book contains over 50 of Mao Zedong's statements on education from
1927 to 1967, arranged in chronological order. On December 7, 1967, the Central Committee
of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, the Central Military Commission, and
the Central Cultural Revolution Group issued a notice distributing the book to all provincial,
municipal, and autonomous regional revolutionary committees (preparatory groups),
military control commissions, military regions, and universities, colleges, and primary and
secondary schools nationwide.
[2] Page 9 contains an excerpt from a speech Mao gave at the meeting of heads of
delegations at the Second Session of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party
of China on May 18, 1958. In the excerpt, Mao stated, "In short, these materials are
intended to prove this: Is it true that the humble are the most intelligent and the noble the
most foolish? This is to deprive those high-ranking intellectuals of their capital, who are too
proud to show off their wealth?" Mao Zedong added a note in parentheses after "These
materials of mine": "At that time, a batch of materials on inventors from ancient and
modern times, both Chinese and foreign, were printed." Page 11 of the second section
contains an excerpt from Mao Zedong's speech at the Spring Festival Symposium on
February 13, 1964. During his review, Mao changed the sentence "Confucius came from a
declining slave-owning aristocracy, never attended university, and was a trumpeter" to:
"Confucius came from a declining slave-owning aristocracy, never attended middle school or
university, and initially worked as a funeral director, probably as a trumpeter." After the
sentence "Later, he became a high-ranking official in the State of Lu and was no longer aware
of the people's affairs," he added: "He later ran a private fund and opposed students



We must focus our criticism on the biggest capitalist roaders in power within the Party.
(July 7, 1967)

I personally feel that there is a tendency to abandon the struggle against the enemy, the
struggle against the biggest capitalist roaders in power within the Party. During the last
discussion here, I raised this issue and said that it should be addressed in a more focused
way, targeting the biggest capitalist roaders in power within the Party. Currently, this
contradiction is not focused but rather scattered. This makes it difficult to criticize and
denounce the biggest capitalist roaders in power within the Party.