Please ask the Premier [2] to read it and then hand it over to Director Wang [3] for printing
and distribution to all comrades in the Central Committee. Comrade Deng Xiaoping's
mistakes are serious. But they should be distinguished from Liu Shaoqi. (1) He was purged in
the Central Soviet Area, that is, he was one of the four criminals Deng, Mao, Xie, and Gu [4],
and was the leader of the so-called Maoists. The materials on his persecution can be found
in the two books "Two Lines" and "Since the Sixth National Congress". The person who came
out to punish him was Zhang Wentian. [5] (2) He had no historical problems. That is, he had
never surrendered to the enemy. (3) He assisted Liu Bocheng [6] in fighting and was
effective, and had military merits. In addition, after entering the city, he did not do anything
bad, such as leading a delegation to Moscow for negotiations, and he did not succumb to
the Soviet revisionists. I have talked about these things many times in the past, and I will say
them again now.
Mao Zedong
August 14, 1972


[1] Deng Xiaoping, formerly General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Vice
Premier of the State Council. He was overthrown after being wrongly criticized during the
"Cultural Revolution". He had been "evacuated" to Jiangxi at that time. On August 3, 1972,
he wrote a letter to Mao Zedong, exposing and criticizing Lin Biao, and at the same time
expressed his willingness to do some work. On March 10, 1973, with the approval of Mao
Zedong, the CPC Central Committee made a decision to restore Deng Xiaoping's party
organization life and the position of Vice Premier of the State Council.
[2] Premier refers to Zhou Enlai.
[3] Refers to Wang Dongxing, Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.
[4] Deng refers to Deng Xiaoping, who was the secretary of the CPC Huichang Central County
Committee in the winter of 1932 and led the work of Huichang, Xunwu and Anyuan
counties. In March 1933, he was the Minister of Propaganda of the CPC Jiangxi Provincial
Committee. Mao refers to Mao Zetan, who was the secretary of the Yongfeng, Ji'an and
Taihe Central County Committees in June 1931 and the Secretary-General of the CPC Soviet
Central Bureau in March 1933. Xie refers to Xie Weijun, who was the commander of the
Second Military Sub-district of the Jiangxi Provincial Military Region and the commander of
the Independent Fifth Division in March 1933. Gu refers to Gu Bo, who was the secretary of



the Party Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial Soviet Government in March 1933. In the
situation where the enemy was strong and we were weak, they, based on the actual
situation, had expressed some opinions that were conducive to resisting the "encirclement
and suppression" and consolidating the revolutionary base areas, and resisted Wang Ming's
erroneous practice of "leftist" adventurism. From March 1933, they were accused of being
the "creators of the Jiangxi Luo Ming line" and suffered cruel struggles and were dismissed
from their posts.
[5] Zhang Wentian was appointed as a member and standing member of the Provisional
Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China in September 1931. In January
1933, he entered the Central Revolutionary Army base area with the Provisional Central
Committee. In the initial stage of the struggle against the "Luo Ming Line" in Jiangxi, he
directly participated in the leadership. Later, he also reviewed this issue many times and
learned lessons from it.
[6] Liu Bocheng, during the Sino-Japanese War, served as the commander of the 129th
Division of the Eighth Route Army. Together with political commissar Deng Xiaoping, he
established the Jindianyu Anti-Japanese Base Area and the Ji'nan, Taiyue, Jiluyu Anti-
Japanese Base Area. During the Liberation War, he served as the commander of the Jinjiluyu
Military Region, the Central Plains Military Region, and the Second Field Army. Together with
political commissar Deng Xiaoping, he led his troops to advance into the Dabie Mountains,
participated in the command of the Huaihai Campaign, the Crossing the Yangtze River
Campaign, and the liberation of the Southwest.