Two Sentences About the Intellectuals
(May 3, 1975)

In the fields of education, science, literature and art, journalism, and medicine—places where intellectuals are concentrated—there are indeed some who are sound and have a certain grasp of Marxism-Leninism.

“The ‘Old Nine’ must not be discarded.” [2]

Notes
Printed according to documents of the CPC Central Committee.
[1] Sections I and II of this text consist of two remarks made by Mao Zedong during a conversation he convened on May 3, 1975, with members of the CPC Central Political Bureau then in Beijing. These two sentences were quoted in bold type in “Evidence of the Anti-Party Clique Composed of Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Jiang Qing, and Yao Wenyuan (Material No. 3),” which was forwarded by the CPC Central Committee on September 23, 1977.
[2] During the Cultural Revolution, intellectuals were derisively referred to as the “stinking old nine.” Here, Mao Zedong borrows the term “old nine” to refer to intellectuals.