Premier, Comrade Boda [2]:
I think this document is good. Can it be forwarded to various places for reference and
decision? The problem of graduates sorting themselves out is a common one, not only in
universities but also in a large number of middle and primary schools.
Mao Zedong
March 30

[1] This report, submitted by the Heilongjiang Provincial Revolutionary Committee to Mao
Zedong and others on March 19, 1968, summarized the experience gained from the 1966
college and university graduate placement work, which began in September 1967. The key
points were: 1. Regarding the direction of college and university graduate placement, we
firmly adhered to the principle of focusing on the countryside, factories, and the grassroots,
with a focus on rural areas below the county level, enabling graduates to truly integrate with
the masses and grow through the three major revolutionary movements. 2. Regarding the
ideological education of graduates, we organized large-scale Mao Zedong Thought study
sessions in all colleges and universities, focusing on "fighting self and repudiating
revisionism" as the guiding principle. With the goal of transforming our world outlook, we
actively studied and applied the "Five Old Articles" and Chairman Mao's latest directives
during the Cultural Revolution. Through class education, we raised our class consciousness
and prepared them to serve where the Party needed them most. Third, in implementing the
mass line, we must break away from the past practice of a few people sitting in a cold,
secretive room, creating a highly secretive allocation process. Without disclosing Party and
state secrets or confidential graduate allocation and transfer procedures, we must truthfully
share the guidelines, policies, allocation plans, individual preferences, and allocation lists
related to graduate allocation with the graduates, and then solicit their opinions through
various channels. Fourth, regarding the authority over graduate allocation, while promoting
the great revolutionary unity, we must establish and fully utilize the "three-in-one" graduate
allocation team to ensure the smooth progress of the graduate allocation process. On April
4, 1968, the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, the Central Military Commission, and
the Central Cultural Revolution Group forwarded this report from the Heilongjiang Provincial
Revolutionary Committee.