A Directive on the Telegram Draft "Experience of the Military Control Commission of the Beijing Xinhua Printing Factory in Mobilizing the Masses to Carry Out the Struggle Against the Enemy"
(May 19, 1968)


Comrade Wenyuan [2]:
I suggest this document be distributed throughout the country. First print a number of copies for distribution to the comrades concerned, then read it aloud once at a briefing meeting, revise it, and then issue it with a directive. Among the materials of this kind that I have read, this one is the best written.
I have heard about the situation at this factory twice from individual comrades. Could you go there to have a look and make some inquiries?
Mao Zedong
May 19


Printed according to the document of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. (Manuscript exists)
Notes

--- Notes



[1] This telegram draft, published in the special internal reference issue "Trends of the Cultural Revolution" compiled and printed by Xinhua News Agency on May 12, 1968, stated that in mobilizing the broad revolutionary staff and workers to carry out the struggle against the enemy, the Military Control Commission of the Beijing Xinhua Printing Factory guided the masses to correctly handle the two different types of contradictions, unite the great majority, and strike hard at and isolate the small handful of class enemies, achieving stability, accuracy, and ruthlessness. Their experience was: 1. Regarding the broad revolutionary masses, one must resolutely rely on them, and also be good at guiding them; 2. Regarding those who have made serious mistakes, one must be strict with them, and also pay attention to uniting with them; 3. Regarding the small handful of class enemies, one must strike them hard, and also disintegrate and demoralize them, and point out a way out for them. On May 25, 1968, the Central Committee of the CPC and the Central Cultural Revolution Group transmitted this document on experience to the whole country, demanding that it be implemented with reference. On September 28, 1979, the Central Committee of the CPC approved the report of the Beijing Municipal Committee and the State Publication Administration on the complete exoneration of the Beijing Xinhua Printing Factory issue, pointing out that the false experience document concocted by the "Gang of Four" at the Beijing Xinhua Printing Factory in 1968 should be negated; all slanderous and false accusations imposed on the broad cadres of the said factory should be overturned; and all unjust, false, and wrong cases created should be redressed and their victims exonerated.


[2] Wenyuan refers to Yao Wenyuan, who was then a member of the Central Cultural Revolution Group of the Central Committee of the CPC.