Returned to Zhou [2] for further review. I suggest that neither Yang Chengwu nor Zhang
Pinghua [3] be mentioned in this document, leaving room for further discussion. It will not
be too late to mention them in the future. Please decide.
Mao Zedong,
April 6

[1] In the March 30, 1968, request for instructions from the Hunan Provincial Drafting
Committee Preparatory Group to Mao Zedong and others regarding the establishment of the
Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Committee, the group mentioned Yang Chengwu, Zhang
Pinghua, and others when referring to the so-called "largest handful of capitalist roaders in
power within the Party and their agents in Hunan." Zhang Pinghua's name was also
mentioned in the comments of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, the Central
Military Commission, and the Central Cultural Revolution Group on March 30, approving the
Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Preparatory Group's request. When Zhou Enlai submitted
the draft for review, he added a note to the Central Committee's comments: "The Central
Cultural Revolution Meeting and the Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Preparatory Group
representatives both advocate mentioning Zhang Pinghua's name. Please decide whether
this is permitted." "There are two more references on page 5. Please decide." During his
review, Mao deleted these three references and wrote this comment. When Zhou Enlai and
others sent the draft of the Central Committee's comments and its attached report, the
Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Preparatory Group, to Mao Zedong for review, they also
wrote that the Central Cultural Revolution meeting, while listening to and discussing the
report of the Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Preparatory Group, which included eight
representatives from the military, cadres, and the masses, had proposed incorporating
Comrade Long Shujin and appointing him as the first deputy director of the Provincial
Drafting Committee. Mao Zedong, after reading it, wrote, "Act accordingly." On April 6, the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China forwarded the Hunan Provincial
Revolutionary Preparatory Group's request.
[2] Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai.
[3] Yang Chengwu was formerly Deputy Head of the Cultural Revolution Group of the PLA, a
member of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission and Deputy
Secretary-General, and Acting Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army. In
March 1968, Lin Biao and Jiang Qing conspired to fabricate a major case of false accusations



and persecution against Yang Chengwu, Yu Lijin (Political Commissar of the PLA Air Force),
and Fu Chongbi (Commander of the PLA Beijing Garrison), known as the "Yang, Yu, and Fu
Incident," resulting in the dismissal of their positions. In July 1974, with Mao Zedong's
approval, they were rehabilitated, their reputations restored, and their jobs reassigned. On
March 28, 1979, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Notice
on Public Rehabilitation of the 'Yang, Yu, and Fu Incident,'" fully rehabilitating them. Zhang
Pinghua, formerly Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central-South Bureau of the CPC
Central Committee and First Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee, was transferred
to the position of Executive Vice Minister of the Central Propaganda Department during the
early stages of the Cultural Revolution. He was wrongly criticized during the Cultural
Revolution. In 1971, he became Secretary of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee and
Deputy Director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee. In 1973, he became Second
Secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and Political Commissar of the Provincial
Military Region.





















A Remark on the Essence of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
(1968)

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is, in essence, a great political revolution carried
out by the proletariat under socialist conditions against the bourgeoisie and all other
exploiting classes. It is a continuation of the long-standing struggle between the Communist
Party of China and the broad masses of revolutionary people under its leadership and the
Kuomintang reactionaries, and a continuation of the class struggle between the proletariat
and the bourgeoisie [1].

[1] On April 10, 1968, the People's Daily and the Liberation Army Daily published an editorial
titled "The Morning Sun Shines in the Land of Hibiscus: Warmly Cheer for the Establishment
of the Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Committee." The editorial quoted this passage in
boldface after the line "Chairman Mao recently and profoundly pointed out."



















Statement in Support of the Afro-American Struggle Against Repression [1]
April 16

Some days ago, Martin Luther King [2], the Afro-American clergyman, was suddenly
assassinated by the US imperialists. Martin Luther King was an exponent of nonviolence.
Nevertheless, the US imperialists did not on that account show any tolerance toward him,
but used counter-revolutionary violence and killed him in cold blood. This has taught the
broad masses of the Black people in the United States a profound lesson. It has touched off
a new storm in their struggle against violent repression sweeping well over a hundred cities
in the United States, a storm such as has never taken place before in the history of that
country. It shows that an extremely powerful revolutionary force is latent in the more than
twenty million Black Americans.
The storm of Afro-American struggle taking place within the United States is a striking
manifestation of the comprehensive political and economic crisis now gripping US
imperialism. It is dealing a telling blow to US imperialism, which is beset with difficulties at
home and abroad.
The Afro-American struggle is not only a struggle waged by the exploited and oppressed
Black people for freedom and emancipation, it is also a new clarion call to all the exploited
and oppressed people of the United States to fight against the barbarous rule of the
monopoly capitalist class. It is a tremendous aid and inspiration to the struggle of the people
throughout the world against US imperialism and to the struggle of the Vietnamese people
against US imperialism. On behalf of the Chinese people, I hereby express resolute support
for the just struggle of the Black people in the United States.
Racial discrimination in the United States is a product of the colonialist and imperialist
system. The contradiction between the Black masses in the United States and the US ruling
circles is a class contradiction. Only by overthrowing the reactionary rule of the US
monopoly capitalist class and destroying the colonialist and imperialist system can the Black
people in the United States win complete emancipation. The Black masses and the masses
of white working people in the United States have common interests and common
objectives to struggle for. Therefore, the Afro-American struggle is winning sympathy and
support from increasing numbers of white working people and progressives in the United
States. The struggle of the Black people in the United States is bound to merge with the
American workers’ movement, and this will eventually end the criminal rule of the US
monopoly capitalist class.
In 1963, in the Statement Supporting the Afro-Americans in Their Just Struggle Against Racial
Discrimination by US Imperialism [3], I said that “the evil system of colonialism and



imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes,
and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the Black people.” I still
maintain this view.
At present, the world revolution has entered a great new era. The struggle of the Black
people in the United States for emancipation is a component part of the general struggle of
all the people of the world against US imperialism, a component part of the contemporary
world revolution. I call on the workers, peasants, and revolutionary intellectuals of all
countries and all who are willing to fight against US imperialism to take action and extend
strong support to the struggle of the Black people in the United States! People of the whole
world, unite still more closely and launch a sustained and vigorous offensive against our
common enemy, US imperialism, and its accomplices! It can be said with certainty that the
complete collapse of colonialism, imperialism, and all systems of exploitation, and the
complete emancipation of all the oppressed peoples and nations of the world are not far off.
Send this to Comrade Lin Biao [4] for review. Please read it out at the meeting and approve
it. There may be revisions.
Mao Zedong
April 16, 4:00 PM

[1] The first part is Mao Zedong's statement on April 16, 1968, supporting the African
American struggle against violence in the United States, published in the People's Daily on
April 17. The second part is a comment on the revised draft of Zhou Enlai's statement
submitted for review at noon on April 16.
[2] Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement and a
nonviolent advocate. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. On April 4, 1968, he was
shot and killed by a racist in Memphis, Tennessee, sparking protests by black people in over
100 cities across the United States.
[3] Mao Zedong's statement was published on August 8, 1963, and was published in the
People's Daily on August 9, 1963.