Chapter 12 On Tibet's counter-insurgency[1]

(April 15, 1959) Some people have sympathy for Tibet, but they only sympathize with a few people, not the majority. Out of a hundred people, they sympathize with a few people, that is, the rebels, but they don't sympathize with more than 90 percent of the people.In foreign countries, there are some people who only sympathize with Tibet with 10,000 to 20,000 people, at most 30,000 to 40,000 people.There are about 1.2 million people in the main part of Tibet (only talking about the three areas of Qamdo, Qianzang, and Houzang).There are 1.2 million people, tens of thousands of people are subtracted by subtraction, and there are more than 1.1 million people. Some people in the world do not sympathize with them.We are on the contrary, we sympathize with these 1.1 million people, but do not sympathize with the few people.

Who are those few people? They are exploiters and oppressors.Speaking of nobles, Panchen[2] and Ngapoi[3] are also considered nobles, but there are two kinds of nobles, one is progressive and the other is reactionary, and they are both progressive.Progressives advocate reform, the old system is not needed, just let it go.The old system is not good, and it is not good for the Tibetan people. First, they are not happy, and second, they are not prosperous.Tibet is a big place, but the population is too small now, so it needs to be developed.I have talked to the Dalai [4] about this matter.I said, you need to develop the population.I also said, I don't believe in your Buddhism, which is Lamaism, but I agree with you.However, can some rules be changed slightly? Among your 1.2 million people, there are 80,000 lamas. These 80,000 lamas do not produce, firstly, they do not produce material things, and secondly, they do not produce people.You see, as far as the priests are concerned, Christianity allows marriage, Islam allows marriage, and Catholicism does not allow marriage.Lamas in Tibet cannot marry and do not give birth.At the same time, lamas must engage in production, agriculture, and industry, so that they can last for a long time.Don’t you want to believe in Buddhism forever? I don’t agree with believing in Buddhism forever, but if you want to believe in it, what can you do? We have no choice but to decide whether to believe in religion or not.

As for the aristocracy, what is our attitude towards those revolutionary aristocrats who stand on the side of progress and advocate reform, and the less revolutionary aristocracy who stand vacillating in the middle but not on the side of counter-revolution? My personal opinion is: Can their land and their manors be used in the way we treat the national bourgeoisie, that is, to implement a redemption policy so that they will not suffer losses.For example, our Central People's Government subcontracts their lives. If you exploit the serfs, you get a little bit, and the central government also gives you a little bit. Why do you have to exploit the serfs to be comfortable?

In my opinion, the serf system in Tibet is like the manor system in our Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. It says that slaves are not slaves, and free farmers are not free farmers. It is a serf system between the two.The aristocracy sitting on the volcano of serfdom is not stable. Every day they feel that there will be an earthquake. Why not give up the serfdom system, the manor system, and give up the land to the peasants.But what to eat? In my opinion, for revolutionary nobles, revolutionary manor owners, and middle-of-the-road nobles and centrist manor owners, as long as they do not stand on the side of the counter-revolution, the redemption policy will be used.I'll discuss it with you and see if it's possible.Now we are countering the rebellion, and we can’t even talk about reforms. In the future reforms, all revolutionary nobles and centrists who waver, in short, as long as they are not on the side of counter-revolutionaries, we will not make them suffer. approach to capitalists.Moreover, we will cover him to the end all his life.Capitalists also pay for it all their lives.After a few years of fixed interest[5], you have to keep it, you have to give him a job, you have to give him a salary, you have to give him a job, and you have to keep it for the rest of your life.In this way, the peasants (accounting for more than 95% of the population) got the land, and the peasants no longer hated these nobles, and the hatred was gradually untied.

There was a newspaper in Japan that wailed and wrote an article, which said that the Communist Party had suffered a big defeat on the Tibet issue, and the whole world was against the Communist Party.Say we lost a big battle, who won a big victory? There must be one who won a big victory.How can there be such a thing as only people losing a big battle and no one winning a big battle? Tell me, what is the outcome? Assuming that we Chinese have lost a big battle on the Tibet issue, then who won a big victory? What? Can it be said that the Indian interventionists won a big victory? I think it is hard to say.He won a big victory, why did he cry so bitterly, as if mourning his concubine? Do you think there is any truth in my words?

There is also an American named Alsop who writes a column.He wrote an article seriously at such a distance, saying that Tibet cannot be pacified without 200,000 troops, and these 200,000 troops require 10,000 tons of supplies every day, so it is impossible to transport so much. The mountains in Tibet are so high. Terrible, it is rare for the Communist Party's army to go.Therefore, he concluded that the rebels could not be destroyed.Can the rebels be destroyed or not? I think everyone has this question.Because whether it can be destroyed or not, people who have not been there personally, and have not fought guerrilla warfare, will not know.Let me answer here: counterinsurgency does not require 200,000 troops, only 50,000 troops, a quarter of 200,000.Before 1956, we had 50,000 people (including cadres) there. In 1956, we withdrew more than 30,000 people, leaving more than 10,000 people.At that time we did seriously announce that there would be no reform for six years. After six years, if we still did not agree, we could postpone it. This is what we said [6].You know, the entire Tibetan population is not 1.2 million, but 3 million.The main part of Tibet (Qamdo, Qianzang, and Houzang) mentioned just now has 1.2 million people. Where are the others? Mainly in the west of Sichuan, which is the former Xikang[7] area, and in the northwest of Sichuan, Maoergai and Songpan , Aba those places.These places have the most Tibetans.The second is Qinghai, with 500,000 people.The third is southern Gansu.The fourth is the northwestern part of Yunnan.These four regions have a combined population of 1.8 million.The Sichuan Provincial People's Congress held a meeting to discuss some democratic reforms in the Tibetan areas. After hearing a little wind, it immediately spread to the former Xikang area, and some people staged an armed rebellion.Now the Tibetan areas in Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan have been reformed, and the people are armed.The Tibetans took up their guns and organized self-defense armed forces, very brave.These four areas can clear out the rebels, why can't Tibet be cleared? You say it's complicated, the former Xikang area is very complicated.The original Xikang rebels were defeated and fled to Tibet.They ran there, raped and looted, and robbed a mess.If he wanted to eat, he had to rob him, so he had conflicts with the Tibetans.There are more than 10,000 people who went to Xikang and Qinghai.Do more than 10,000 people want to eat it? If they want to eat it, where do they come from? Among the 1.2 million people, they have eaten it, and it has been almost a year since last July.This time we shot down the rebels and confiscated their guns.For example, in Shigatse, the guns armed by the local government were confiscated, Gyantse was also confiscated, and Yadong was also confiscated.Where guns were confiscated, the crowd rejoiced.The common people are afraid of three things: first, they are afraid of his seal, that is, they are afraid of that seal; second, they are afraid of his gun;When these three were collected, the masses were very happy, very happy, and helped us move guns and ammunition.The common people in Tibet are in great pain.The reactionary serf owners there gouged out the eyes of the common people, forced their cramps, and even used the feet bones of teenage girls as musical instruments, and used human skulls as drinking vessels for drinking.Such utterly barbaric rebels can be completely wiped out. They don't need 200,000 troops, only 50,000 troops are needed, and they can be completely wiped out.Does it kill all of them? No.The so-called extermination does not mean killing them, but arresting them and rehabilitating them, including reactionaries such as Sukang[8].Such a person ran away. If he comes back and repents, we will not kill him.

Let me talk about a Chinese argument.This person is in Taiwan, named Hu Shi[9].He said that according to his opinion, this "revolutionary army" (that is, the rebels) cannot be destroyed.He said that he was from Huizhou. When the Japanese invaded China, they occupied Anhui, but they did not go to Huizhou.Why? There are too many mountains in Huizhou, and the terrain is complex.The Japanese dare not even go to the mountains in Huizhou, and the Communist Party dares to go to that mountain in Tibet? I say that Hu Shi’s methodology is wrong, and his “bold assumption” is dangerous.He boldly assumed and reasoned, saying that the mountains in Huizhou are small and the Japanese dare not go there, but the mountains in Tibet are much larger and higher, so would the Communist Party dare to go there? Therefore, the conclusion is: the Communist Party must not dare to go there, and the Communist Party cannot destroy that place armed rebels.Now if you want to criticize Hu Shi's methodology, I think he will lose. He doesn't "carefully seek proof", only "bold assumptions".

Some people, like some of the Indian bourgeoisie, are different in that they have two faces.On the one hand, they are very unhappy, very opposed to our resolute suppression of the rebellion that started after March 20, very opposed to our policy, and they sympathized with the rebels.On the other hand, they are unwilling to fall out with us. They think that in the past thousands of years, China and India have never had a falling out, and there has been no war.In 1954 China and India signed a treaty[10], which was the treaty stating the Five Principles, and they recognized Tibet as a part of China and its territory.They kept a hand and didn't do anything.The British are the worst. The British Foreign Secretary Lloyd and the Labor Party MP asked this and that, but he always asked three questions and said: No news, we have no contact with Tibet in the UK, and there is no personnel there, so I have nothing to do inform.Always say that.He also said that we will not talk until the person from Tibet comes out and see how he is doing.What he means is that after the Dalai Lama comes out, let's see what he has to say.The Chinese Communist Party did not close the door, saying that the Dalai Lama was kidnapped, and published three more letters from him[11].This time at the People's Congress, Premier Zhou's report[12] will talk about this matter.We hope that the Dalai Lama will come back, and we also suggest that this election should not only elect the Panchen Lama, but also the Dalai Lama.He was a young man, only twenty-five now.If he lives to be eighty-five years old, there will be sixty years from now, and it will be the twenty-first century. What will happen to the world? It will change.At that time, I believe he will come back.He will not come back for fifty-nine years, and he may come back in the sixty-nine years.The world changed at that time.This is the country of his parents. He was born in Si and grew up in Si. Now he goes to a foreign country to rely on others, and he has surrendered all his guns.We take this attitude to be more proactive, and we will not do anything.

In the Prime Minister's report, he wants the Dalai Lama to return to China.If he is willing to return to China and can get rid of those reactionaries, we hope that he will return to China.However, in fact, it seems that it is difficult for him to return home now.He can't get away from that bunch of people.At the same time, with his own emotions, he didn't want to come back the last time he was in India, but the Panchen Lama wants to come back.At that time, the Prime Minister persuaded, and possibly Nehru[13] persuaded, that it is better to return than not to return.At that time, I told him this: What is the purpose of you going to India? It is just to be an apartment, to eat there, to separate from the masses, from the land and people of the motherland.At present, it is not seen that he has the determination to reform.To say that he wants to reform is to stand on the side of the people and the side of the working people, which seems to be wrong.Can his world view be changed? Maybe it can be changed in sixty years, maybe not in sixty years.But now it seems that it is difficult to get him back all at once.If he wants to come back, he can come back tomorrow, but he has to carry out reforms and quell the rebellion, that is, he must completely stand on our side.It seems that he is actually having a hard time all of a sudden.However, our article is not exhausted.

Published based on the transcript of the conversation kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is the part of Mao Zedong's speech at the Sixteenth Supreme State Council about the Tibet issue.On March 10, 1959, the upper-level reactionary groups in Tibet, with the support of foreign forces, deliberately sabotaged the implementation of the "Agreement on the Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" and publicly declared "Tibet independence."On the 17th, the Dalai Lama fled to India.On the 19th, the rebels launched a full-scale attack on the People's Liberation Army troops stationed in Lhasa and the central representative office.On the 20th, the Chinese People's Liberation Army troops stationed in Tibet launched a counterattack against the armed rebels in Lhasa, and successively quelled armed rebellions in other areas, maintaining national unity and ethnic unity.

[2] Panchen Lama, that is, Panchen Lama Erdeni Choji Gyaltsan (1938-1989), a native of Xunhua, Qinghai.One of the former Tibetan local religious and political leaders.At that time, he was the vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the acting chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee. [3] Ngapoi, namely Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, born in 1911, is a native of Lhasa, Tibet.At that time, he was the vice-chairman and secretary-general of the Tibet Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee. [4] The Dalai Lama, the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935 in Huangzhong, Qinghai.One of the former Tibetan local religious and political leaders.He once served as vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee, and honorary chairman of the Buddhist Association of China.In 1959, when the upper-level reactionary group in Tibet launched an armed rebellion, he fled to India. [5] Fixed interest is a form of redemption of the means of production of national capitalists after the implementation of public-private partnerships in capitalist industry and commerce in my country, that is, regardless of the profit or loss of the enterprise, the private shares determined by the state every year according to the assets and capital verification at the time of the joint venture. Amount, fixed interest (generally 5% per annum) is issued to capitalists.Fixed interest paid since 1956.Payments ceased in September 1966. [6] On December 30, 1956, Zhou Enlai said in a conversation with the Dalai Lama, Chairman Mao Zedong asked me to tell you that it is certain that there will be no talk of reform within the Second Five-Year Plan; Six years later, if it can be changed, it will still be decided by the Tibetan local government according to the situation and conditions at that time. [7] Xikang, that is, Xikang Province, was revoked in 1955.When revoked, the original jurisdiction was assigned to Sichuan Province. [8] Suokang, that is, Suokang Wangqinggele, was a member of the Tibet Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee.One of the instigators of the armed rebellion of the upper-level reactionary group in Tibet in 1959. [9] Hu Shi (1891-1962), courtesy name Shizhi, was born in Jixi, Anhui.In 1919, he published the article "Study More Questions, Talk Less about "isms"", opposed the spread of Marxism, and proposed a research method of "bold assumptions, careful verification".In 1948, he went to the United States, and then to Taiwan. [10] On April 29, 1954, the governments of China and India signed the "Sino-Indian Agreement on Trade and Communications between Tibet, China and India" in Beijing.The agreement clearly takes the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as the guideline for the relationship between the two countries, and based on this, it defines various specific measures to promote trade and commerce between Tibet, China and India, and to facilitate mutual pilgrimage between the two peoples.The main contents are: the mutual establishment of business agencies by the two sides; merchants and pilgrims from both sides conducting trade and pilgrimage as usual at designated places, and passing through certain mountain passes and roads; regulations on diplomatic, official personnel and national transit matters of the two countries, etc.The Agreement entered into force on June 3, 1954, and will be valid for eight years, expiring in June 1962. [11] Refers to the "People's Daily" published on March 30, 1959, that the Dalai Lama wrote to Tan Guansan, the acting representative of the Central Committee in Tibet and political commissar of the Tibet Military Region, on March 11, 12, and 16. three letters.The letter on March 11 said: "Yesterday I decided to go to the military area to see a theater, but due to the instigation of a few bad people, the monks and the lay people did not understand the truth and followed after them, blocking them. I am full of worries, and I am at a loss." He also said: "The reactionary bad elements are carrying out activities that endanger me under the pretext of protecting my safety." The letter on March 12 said: "For yesterday's , I am doing everything I can to deal with the serious separation between the central government and the local government that happened the day before yesterday in the name of protecting my safety." The letter on March 16 said: "Although the current situation inside and outside Still difficult to deal with, but I'm using ingenious methods to divide the line between the progressive and the anti-revolutionary people within the government officials. Once a few days later, when there is a certain number of reliable forces, there will be a secret way to the military area." [12] Refers to the "Government Work Report" that Premier Zhou Enlai will deliver to the first session of the Second National People's Congress. [13] Nehru (1889-1964), then Prime Minister of India.