Chapter 55 Letter to Huang Yanpei[1]

(February 17, 1951) Mr. Huang Ren: I just sent a copy of Guangdong to rectify the broad and boundless information, and now I have sent another copy to Guangxi, please refer to it.These two places are the most typical examples, and other places are not so different, but they are not far from each other, causing dissatisfaction among the masses, which is very common.If you don't kill bandit leaders and habitual bandits, the bandits will not be wiped out, and the more bandits will be suppressed, the more they will be suppressed.If the tyrants are not killed, the peasant association cannot be formed, and the peasants dare not divide their fields.If important secret agents are not killed, sabotage and assassination will continue.In short, a policy of resolute suppression must be adopted against bandit chieftains, bullies, and secret agents (important), so that the masses can recover and the people's power can be consolidated.Of course, those who can be killed but not killed should be sentenced to imprisonment, or placed under surveillance by the masses, and reformed by labor, so they should not be killed.Just as leniency should have a limit, so should repression. It is wrong to have no limit. In areas where the problem has been solved and the masses are satisfied, there should be no more killings.Best regards!

Mao Zedong February 17 According to the "Selected Letters of Mao Zedong" published by People's Publishing House in 1983. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Huang Yanpei, courtesy name Renzhi, is the main person in charge of the China Democratic Construction Association.At that time, he was a member of the Central People's Government and a vice-premier of the Government Administration Council.