Chapter 52 "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" Becomes an Anti-Rightist Weapon

It is not enough to specify the target of the counterattack, people must also have ideological weapons in their hands.Therefore, Mao Zedong was busy revising his "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People". The article "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" was compiled and revised by Mao Zedong's secretary Chen Boda. According to what Chen Boda told the author in his many interviews from 1988 to 1989, Mao Zedong's "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People" was originally written by Mao Zedong on February 27, 1957. In his speech at the Eleventh Session of the Supreme State Council, Mao Zedong only wrote an outline of more than 2,000 words. At the meeting, Mao Zedong spoke casually according to the outline.After the lecture, Chen Boda was asked to organize it into a document.When Chen Boda was sorting out, he "kneaded" the content of Mao Zedong's speeches on other occasions.Initially, the title Mao Zedong wrote on the speech outline was "How to Handle Contradictions Among the People". When Chen Boda sorted out the first draft, Mao Zedong changed the title to "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People".

Chen Boda said that Mao Zedong attached great importance to this speech, so he repeatedly revised it.The author asked Chen Boda how many times he changed it, and he said he couldn't remember.Now, according to the research of the manuscripts by experts on the history of the Communist Party of China, a total of 15 drafts have been revised before and after "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People"!If the original outline written by Mao Zedong himself is included, there are sixteen manuscripts in total! Mao Zedong not only revised "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" by himself, but also printed and distributed it in a small area to listen to opinions.Mao Zedong instructed: "The comrades who received this document are requested to put forward revision opinions, and submit them to Comrade Chen Boda for revision." one.

Originally, the article was revised.Constantly revising works is what any serious writer or theorist does.However, Mao Zedong repeatedly revised "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People", but there was another important reason: after he wrote "Things Are Changing", in view of "things are changing", Mao Zedong could not Corresponding revisions and supplements are not made to suit the changed situation. On May 27, when the fourth draft was issued, Mao Zedong wrote the following instructions: The "fourth draft" mentioned by Mao Zedong here is actually the ninth draft.

The section on "A Hundred Flowers Blooming" that Mao Zedong said "has an important revision," referring to the addition of six criteria for distinguishing fragrant flowers from poisonous weeds, which were not included in the original speech. The newly added content of this paragraph is as follows: The so-called fragrant flowers and poisonous weeds, each class, class and social group also have their own views.So, from the point of view of the broad masses of the people, what is our standard for distinguishing fragrant flowers from poisonous weeds today?In the political life of our people, how should we judge the right and wrong of our words and actions?We believe that, according to the principles of our country's constitution, according to the will of the overwhelming majority of our people and the common political views of our country's various political parties, this standard can be roughly defined as follows:

(1) It is conducive to uniting the people of all nationalities in the country (quote's note: "all nationalities in the country" was added in the tenth draft on May 28.), rather than dividing the people; (2) Conducive to socialist transformation and socialist construction, not detrimental to socialist transformation and socialist construction; (3) Conducive to the consolidation of the people's democratic dictatorship, rather than undermining or weakening this dictatorship; (4) Conducive to the consolidation of democratic centralism, rather than undermining or weakening the system;

(5) Conducive to consolidating the leadership of the Communist Party, not getting rid of or weakening this leadership; (6) Conducive to the international solidarity of socialism and the international solidarity of the peace-loving people of the world, not to the detriment of these solidarities. According to the research of Mr. Shi Zhaoyu from the Literature Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China①, on the eve of the publication of "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People", Mao Zedong added a sentence at the end of the previous paragraph:

"Of the six criteria, the two most important are the road to socialism and the leadership of the party." These six criteria, Mao Zedong said, are the criteria for dividing fragrant flowers and poisonous weeds. Later, it evolved into a political criterion for distinguishing whether it is right-wing speech or not. Later, it evolved into a political criterion for dividing rightists. In "A Hundred Flowers Blooming", another important revision made by Mao Zedong was to add criticism of revisionism.This is not in the original speech. This is based on Mao Zedong's new assertion in his article "Things Are Changing".In "Things Are Changing" states:

"For months, people have been criticizing dogmatism and letting go of revisionism." Mao Zedong believed that rightists were revisionists.Therefore, in "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People", he added a large paragraph about criticizing revisionism: Revisionism, or Right opportunism, is a bourgeois trend of thought that is more dangerous than dogmatism.Revisionists, Right opportunists, pay lip service to Marxism, and attack "dogmatism" there.But what they are attacking is the very essence of Marxism.They oppose or distort materialism and dialectics, oppose or attempt to weaken the people's democratic dictatorship and the leadership of the Communist Party, and oppose or attempt to weaken socialist transformation and socialist construction.After the basic victory of the socialist revolution in our country, there are still some people in society who dream of restoring the capitalist system. They want to fight the working class from all aspects, including the ideological struggle.And in the struggle, the revisionists are their best assistants.

Mao Zedong also made new additions to the ideological class struggle. According to Shi Zhaoyu’s research, in the sixth draft, Mao Zedong added this sentence: "The struggle between proletarian ideology and bourgeois ideology is still sharp, long-term, and sometimes even very intense." Soon, change to: "The struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and the ideological class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and between bourgeois intellectuals, is still sharp, long-term, and sometimes very intense." Afterwards, Mao Zedong deleted "bourgeois intellectuals".

Afterwards, Mao Zedong added another sentence at the end of the sentence: "In this regard, the question of who will win between socialism and capitalism has not yet been resolved." In addition, some outdated words in Mao Zedong's original speech, such as his enthusiastic affirmation of Wang Meng's novels, were deleted one by one. Mao Zedong continued to revise "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People".Especially on June 8, when the battle against the rightists started, Mao Zedong, although very busy with work, still did not forget to write a letter to his political secretary, Chen Boda:

The "this document" mentioned in Mao Zedong's letter refers to the letter sent by Chen Zhengren to Mao Zedong on June 7, 1957. Chen Zhengren fought with Mao Zedong as early as in Jinggangshan, so after reading the draft for comments on "On Correctly Handling Contradictions among the People", he wrote to Mao Zedong to discuss his views. In his letter, Chen Zhengren suggested adding the word "revolutionary period" before the sentence "the large-scale mass class struggle has ended" in "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People". Mao Zedong asked Chen Boda to "consider it", and Chen Boda adopted Chen Zhengren's opinion.Later, in the published draft of "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People", the word "revolutionary period" was added. On June 9th, Mao Zedong, in the midst of dealing with the anti-rightist battle, wrote instructions on his proofreading marked "June 8th Revised Draft": After such repeated revisions, "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People" was finally finalized on June 17, 1957. On June 19, "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" was published by "People's Daily" and other newspapers in the capital. This document immediately became an important study document for the people of the whole country, and became a theoretical weapon to fight back against the rightists. Although this speech was given before the anti-rightist movement, many new expositions were added later. For readers in the upsurge, there is still a strong pertinence. Mao Zedong has always been in an active position, step by step to clean up those "rightists" who have entered the "pockets"...