Notes on a Letter from Yuan Xuezhu [1]
(December 18, 1975)
Forwarded to the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee for appropriate handling.
Mao Zedong
December 18
[1] On December 13, 1975, Yuan Xuezhu wrote to Mao Zedong stating that he had joined the Communist Party in 1927. In early 1931, he was dispatched by the Central Military Commission to the 26th Army Group to carry out military-civilian mobilization work, organized the Ningdu Uprising, and established the Red Fifth Corps. After breaking out of the Central Soviet Area, he was arrested twice in Shanghai.
In 1937, he went to Yan’an, where he underwent four years of investigation before his Party membership was restored. In 1958, he transferred to work at the Tianjin Institute of Chemical Industry. During the Cultural Revolution, after repeated investigations, it was once again confirmed that he had not revealed his identity as a Party member or a Red Army commander during either of his arrests; rather, he had been implementing, not violating, the Party’s policy of concealment.
In 1974, he resumed participation in Party organizational activities, but to this day he has not been assigned any work. Having served in the military for several decades and deeply devoted to it, he requested approval to return to service in the armed forces. Mao Zedong’s notes were written on an abstract of this letter, printed by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee on December 17, 1975.
In 1978, Yuan Xuezhu was appointed Vice Minister of Civil Affairs.