Marginal Comments on a Speech Draft [I]
(September 1968)

On the second page, in the last paragraph, delete one sentence.

This sentence is not wanted.

Zhou Enlai and others, on September 28, 1968, submitted for review Lin Biao’s draft speech for the rally celebrating the 19th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. (Lin Biao had been re-elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee at the Eleventh Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee and was soon referred to as Vice Chairman of the Central Committee.) The last paragraph on the second page of the draft stated: “Worker Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Teams, formed by thousands upon thousands of industrial workers across the country, in coordination with People’s Liberation Army Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Teams, have already entered or are entering universities, middle schools, primary schools, and all places where intellectuals congregate, mounting the political stage of struggle, criticism, and transformation in all spheres of the superstructure. This is a great event of the 1960s. This is a great pioneering undertaking in the history of the communist movement since the publication of the *Communist Manifesto* in 1848.” When Mao Zedong reviewed it, he deleted the final sentence—“This is a great pioneering undertaking in the history of the communist movement since the publication of the *Communist Manifesto* in 1848”—and wrote two marginal comments, namely items I and II of this text. On October 1, Lin Biao delivered the speech based on this draft at the celebration rally in Tiananmen Square. The speech was published in *Renmin Ribao* on October 2.