Chapter 4 Disagreement on academic matters should not be forbidden to discuss[1]

(February 19, 1956) I think this kind of free speech [2] should not be banned.This is a different opinion on academic thought, anyone can talk about it, and it doesn't matter if it damages prestige.So don't talk to Eugene[3] about it.If the country disagrees with any leader on such academic issues, it should not be prohibited.It would be entirely wrong to attempt to ban it. Mao Zedong Published from manuscript on February 19th. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] These are Mao Zedong’s comments on the report to the Central Committee of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on February 1, 1956, concerning whether to reflect to the relevant parties of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union some words spoken by Soviet scholars during their visit to China.

[2] It refers to a Soviet scholar who was giving lectures in China at that time, on his way to visit the former residence of Sun Yat-sen in Zhongshan County, Guangdong, and talked to his Chinese entourage about his different views on Sun Yat-sen's world outlook in Mao Zedong's "On New Democracy". [3] Eugene (1899-1968), Soviet philosopher and academician of the Academy of Sciences.At that time, he was the ambassador of the Soviet Union to China.