Comments on Recent Letters [l]
(October 30, 1975)
To be circulated among the Politburo members in Beijing.
Please let Comrade Wang Dongxing handle this as he sees fit.
Mao Zedong
October 30
[1]
In October 1975, Zeng Zhi, wife of Tao Zhu—former Standing Committee member of the CPC Central Politburo, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat, and Vice Premier of the State Council—and their daughter Tao Siliang each wrote letters to Mao Zedong. They recounted Tao Zhu’s attitude toward his personal historical issues during his lifetime, challenged the investigation team’s conclusions regarding these so-called historical matters, and requested that other comrades be assigned to review Tao Zhu’s case. They also asked that the historical findings be communicated to the family before being submitted for central discussion and the Chairman’s approval. The General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued these two letters together with Mao Zedong’s comments as Document No. 262 of 1975, circulating it to the Central Politburo.
In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee reviewed and rectified the previous erroneous conclusions concerning Tao Zhu, recognized his contributions to the Party and the people, and thus overturned the wrongful verdict against him.
[2]
Wang Dongxing, at that time a member of the CPC Central Politburo and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.

Archival photo
October 1975: Mao Zedong shakes hands with Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Shu.