Chapter 40 Mao Zedong deployed the "Yangmou"

On May 14, 1957, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued "Instructions Concerning Reporting Criticism of Party and Government Work by Non-Party People". The full text is as follows: Recently, non-Party people in various places are criticizing the work of the Party and the government. This is a very good phenomenon. This will not only greatly help our party's rectification movement, eliminate the barriers with non-Party people, but also expose right-wing elements among the masses. appearance.For the time being, we Party members should not refute false criticisms made by people outside the Party, especially those made by right-leaning elements, so that they can speak freely.Newspapers around us should continue to fully report the speeches of non-Party people, especially the speeches of right-wing elements and anti-communists. Molecules, with great benefits.Recently, many of our party newspapers have deleted some anti-communist speeches, which is inappropriate. This actually helps the rightists and makes people feel that we are afraid of these speeches. Please correct this phenomenon immediately.

However, in reporting, there are three types of speech that must be led and controlled, namely, (1) news and speech that are likely to affect market prices; (2) news and speech that are contrary to the country’s foreign policy and are easy to be provoked and used by imperialism , including news and speeches about the Soviet Union and people's democracies; (3) news and speeches involving the specific facts of individual counter-revolutionary cases. For the above-mentioned points, please call the comrades in charge of the party newspaper to make arrangements, which is very important. Note two things about this file:

1. They are not called "rightists" but "rightists"; Second, it only emphasized that the party newspaper should not delete anti-communist speeches, without mentioning how to deal with it in the future. It is obvious that this document explicitly orders party newspapers at all levels to "lure the enemy to go deep" and not to counterattack for the time being. On May 16, 1957, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued "Instructions on Dealing with Current Criticism by Non-Party Personnel".The manuscript of this instruction is in Mao Zedong's handwriting, but it is not included in the fifth volume of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", and most people do not know that it is Mao Zedong's article.

This is the "May 16 "Notice"" of 1957! The scope of this instruction is "all provincial party committees, municipal party committees directly under the municipality, and autonomous region party committees, heads of ministries and commissions directly under the central government, and responsible comrades of state organs and people's organizations."Zhou Yang was then the Deputy Minister of Propaganda of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and he was the "head of the ministries and commissions directly under the Central Committee", so he saw this document.

Mao Zedong wrote: In the past few days, a small number of people with anti-communist sentiments have been eager to try and made some inflammatory remarks in an attempt to guide the correct direction of correctly solving the contradictions among the people, consolidating the people's democratic dictatorship, and benefiting socialist construction. Going in the wrong direction, please pay attention to this point, let them publish freely, and temporarily (for a few weeks) do not refute, so that the right-wing elements will expose their reactionary face in front of the people, and then study the issue of refute after a period of time.We told you about this on May 14th.In order to study the problem, I ask you to read more newspapers.In some places, such as Shanghai, criticism from outside the party is quite tense. We should grasp the situation well, try to unite the majority of the middle forces, gradually isolate the rightists, and strive for victory.

Also note two things about this file: One, not called "rightists", but "rightists"; Second, it is clearly pointed out that "after a period of time" it is necessary to "refute", that is, to fight back.And this "period" is "several weeks". Later facts showed that after "a few weeks", Mao Zedong really launched a big counterattack and launched a massive "anti-rightist movement". Although Mao Zedong wrote the programmatic "Things Are Changing", after all, only "Liu, Zhou, Zhu, Chen, and Peng Zhen" were invited to read that document at the time, and it was not issued until June 12 to the "Central Level certain comrades” and “provincial and municipal party committees”.This document is the first document that directly greets the top leaders of the CCP.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued this document on May 16, and Zhou Yang told Shao Quanlin on the phone on the evening of May 18 that the direction of the wind had "turned" because Zhou Yang had read this document. After the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued these two important documents on May 14 and 16, it issued a more important document on May 20, namely, "Instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening the Leadership of the Current Movement" ".The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China requires "combining the two telegrams on May 14 and May 16 to study and implement them together."

This instruction includes a total of six items, the preface and the first three items are reproduced below: Regarding how to deal with the current criticism from non-Party people, the Central Committee has told you in two instructions on May 14 and 16.The current situation is that in Shanghai, Beijing and other places where the movement has already started, the speeches of right-wingers are quite rampant, but the reactionary face of some people has not been exposed or exposed enough.Criticism by middle elements is generally well-intentioned and beneficial, but most of them focus on criticism, and there are still few correct speeches, especially those who refute the reactionary speeches of the right wing. Speaking, the Communist Party members adopt the policy of not speaking for the time being.Therefore, in recent newspapers, it is natural that criticism, dissatisfaction and even abuse occupy the main space.This was absolutely necessary in the previous stage, but it is not good for newspapers to report this way for too long and with too much weight, especially if there are too few positive remarks.In order to "take a good grasp of the situation, try to unite the majority of the middle forces, gradually isolate the rightists, and strive for victory" (instructions issued on May 16), local party committees must effectively strengthen the leadership of the movement according to the development of the local movement.For this reason, the central government puts forward the following points, please pay attention.

(1) The reporting policy of local party newspapers should be: a. Continue to publish some reactionary speeches of right-wingers, preferably those that can fully expose their reactionary features (the more reactionary the better), but the speeches of right-wingers are in the The proportion of newspapers should be gradually reduced, especially the general criticism and abuse should be published less or not.B. Special attention should be paid to publishing the more reasonable speeches of the centrists, criticizing some reactionary arguments of the right-wingers or criticizing some erroneous views. Such speeches should gradually increase and occupy the main space of the newspaper.C. We should gradually increase the speeches of some left-wingers, but we should not overdo it for the time being. Pay special attention to posting some of their convincing things, and do not post their unconvincing and too angry things, especially "challenging labeling" things .Ding, factual reports on improving work should be published, and comrades should be told how to improve their work.E. In a short period of time, it is still better for party members not to speak for the time being, but the provincial and municipal party committees must instruct the propaganda departments and party newspapers to immediately begin to classify and study right-wing reactionary speeches and other bourgeois arguments, and prepare for an appropriate time (the central government will notify later) ) published a number of papers and editorials to refute and criticize.

(2) According to the above-mentioned propaganda policy of the party newspaper, at various meetings and conferences, the speeches of some leftists and centrists, especially those of some centrists, should be organized in a planned way so that they can be reported accordingly. (3) In order to avoid troubles due to scattered forces and poor care, the current aspect of sports must not be too much.In the near future, we should concentrate on resolving the contradictions between us and non-Party people and intellectuals within the government agencies and the cultural and educational system. In addition, we should not start fires, especially not to launch workers’ and students’ criticism movements in factories and schools at the same time, because the workers 2. Once the students are mobilized, they will put forward many specific requirements, which cannot be handled without a lot of energy.Therefore, in the newspapers, these two issues should not be provoked at present, and news of riots by workers, students, and peasants should not be published, and debates on economic policies and wage policies should not be published.If workers and students cause disturbances, they should be dealt with quickly by means of persuasion, education and reasonable solutions.

... Please note that in this document, it is still referred to as "right-wing elements", not "right-wing elements". This document can be said to clearly describe the planning of "Yangmou". It is precisely in accordance with the instruction of this document that "the more reactionary the better", after the People's Daily discovered Ge Peiqi's "reactionary remarks" from the inconspicuous school magazine of Renmin University of China, it quickly reprinted them in a prominent position.