(On September 6, the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee of the Party
successfully concluded. At the closing meeting, Mao Zedong gave important instructions on
the Party’s line education, the study of senior cadres, and the unity inside and outside the
Party. When talking about the issue of senior cadres reading several books by Marx and
Lenin):
Now people don’t read Marx and Lenin’s books. If they don’t read them, they will bring out
the third edition (2) and brag about it. So, have you read them? If you haven’t, you will be
fooled by these black scholars. Some of them are red scholars. I advise comrades who have
reading ability to read a dozen books. It’s just a basic start, and it won’t interfere with work.
You should read a few books on the history of philosophy, the history of Chinese philosophy
and the history of European philosophy. If you talk about reading the history of philosophy,
that’s terrible. How can I work today? Actually, there is time. If you don’t read a little, you
won’t know. This time, I was fooled and learned a lesson. They told me which version and
which edition it was, but when I asked, I didn’t read it myself.
(When talking about the struggle of the Lushan Conference, they were about to blow up
Lushan and stop the earth from turning):
Lushan Mountain cannot be blown up, the earth will still turn. To put it in the extreme, it just
has that flavour. I said you can blow up Lushan Mountain, I will not listen to you. You
represent the people? I have not represented the people for more than ten years. Because
they think that the symbol of representing the people is to be the president of the country. I
stopped being the president more than ten years ago, doesn’t that mean I have not
represented the people for more than ten years? I said who wants to represent the people,
you can be the president, I won’t do it. You can blow up Lushan Mountain, I won’t do it.
What can you do?
(When talking about the unity inside and outside the party):
"It is not good not to talk about unity. If we don't talk about unity, we won't get the approval
of the whole party, and the masses won't be happy." "What is unity? Of course, it is unity
based on Marxism-Leninism, not unity without principles. It is always better to raise the
slogan of unity, because there are more people. Including some of the comrades present
here, who have always been at odds with each other in the past, and are still doing so now, I
think it is still permissible. Such people are indispensable. You know, there are such people in
the world, what can you do? Do you have to make it so clean, so that you can feel
comfortable and sleep well? I don't think so. At that time, it will be divided into two again.
We must unite the majority inside and outside the party, so that things can be done well."



[1] This article is excerpted from the “Struggle to Smash the Counter-Revolutionary Coup of
the Lin Biao-Chen Anti-Party Group (Material 1)” compiled by the Central Special Case Group
and forwarded by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on December 11,
1971. The draft of the notice forwarding this material by the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China was sent to Mao Zedong for review, and Mao Zedong instructed:
“Distribute it as is.”
[2] Refers to the preface written by Engels for the third German edition of Marx's The
Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. In his collection of Quotations from Engels, Lenin
and Chairman Mao on Genius, compiled during the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth CPC
Central Committee, Chen Boda quoted a sentence from this preface written by Engels: "This
is a work of genius." Chen Boda was then a member of the Standing Committee of the
Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. During the Cultural Revolution, he actively
participated in the conspiracy of the Lin Biao and Jiang Qing counter-revolutionary groups to
seize the highest power of the party and the state. After the Second Plenary Session of the
Ninth CPC Central Committee in 1970, he was placed under investigation in isolation. In
September 1973, the First Plenary Session of the Tenth CPC Central Committee passed a
resolution to expel Chen Boda from the party and revoke his all-party duties. In January
1981, the Special Court of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China
confirmed that Chen Boda was the main culprit in the Lin Biao counter-revolutionary group
case and sentenced him to 18 years in prison and deprived him of political rights for 5 years.