Thoroughly exposing and criticizing Liu Shaoqi’s counterrevolutionary revisionist crimes in history
Chairman Mao’s Quotations:
Revisionism, or right opportunism, is a bourgeois ideology that is more dangerous than dogmatism.
Revisionists, right opportunists, also verbally claim Marxism, and attack “dogmatism.” But what they attack is precisely the most fundamental part 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, oppose or attempt to weaken socialist transformation and socialist construction.
— “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People”
Editor’s note:
Liu Shaoqi was the top capitalist-road rightist within our Party. His heinous crimes against the Party, socialism, and Mao Zedong Thought must be further and thoroughly rectified. Workers, poor and lower-middle peasants, revolutionary teachers and students, and revolutionary cadres, under the banner of Mao Zedong Thought, unite to thoroughly criticize Liu, Deng, and Tao’s bourgeois reactionary line in all periods and fields; let the great red flag of Mao Zedong Thought fly high.
We will print out the materials exposing Comrade Li Jingyu’s revelations for comrades to analyze and refer to when criticizing Liu, Deng, and Tao’s bourgeois reactionary line.
Comrade Li Jingyu is an old cadre who has long worked behind enemy lines in the Northern Bureau. He has fought long-term against counterrevolutionary revisionists like Liu Shaoqi and Peng Zhen. Therefore, he was also one of the earliest victims of Liu and Deng’s bourgeois reactionary line. Liu Shaoqi and Peng Zhen have long harbored resentment, and finally, in 1960, accused him of harboring the Ministry of Agriculture’s leftists Ye, Li Xing, and Xie Wenjing as “anti-party groups,” and expelled him from the Party. (Left, Li, and Xie were leftists implementing Mao Chairman’s revolutionary line in the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1960, Liu Shaoqi’s close aides, traitors Liao Luyan, An Ziweng, and others, carried out shocking class revenge, branding them as “anti-party groups,” until they were rehabilitated during the Cultural Revolution. We also plan to print this material.)
This material is based on Comrade Li Jingyu’s speech at the conference, not reviewed by him personally, hereby declared.
March 7, 1967
Dear Red Guards and comrades:
The revolutionary masses liberated me, giving me the opportunity today to denounce Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. This is a great victory of Mao Zedong Thought.
Currently, the proletarian Cultural Revolution has entered a critical moment. The proletarian revolutionary line is engaged in a decisive battle against the bourgeois reactionary line. This battle concerns the fate and future of the Chinese revolution and also the fate and future of the world revolution. The history of the international communist movement proves that the revolutionary line of the proletariat always advances and develops in fierce struggle against the bourgeois reactionary line. Without thoroughly destroying the bourgeois reactionary line and overthrowing its leading figures and followers, the proletarian revolutionary line cannot be implemented, and the revolution cannot advance.
In the history of the international communist movement, the first International’s proletarian revolutionary line was represented by the world revolution’s pioneers, the great revolutionary mentors Marx and Engels, while the bourgeois reactionary line was represented by Bakunin, Proudhon, and Lassalle; during the Second International, the proletarian revolutionary line was represented by Lenin, the world revolutionary mentor of that time, while the bourgeois reactionary line was represented by the infamous Bernstein and Kautsky; the contemporary world proletarian revolutionary line is represented by our great mentor, great leader, great commander, and great helmsman Mao Zedong, while the bourgeois reactionary line is represented by Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and other revisionists.
In China, the early reactionary line was represented by Chen Duxiu’s right opportunism and Wang Ming’s “Left” line. After Wang Ming, it was Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, Tao Zhu, and their accomplices.
Chairman Mao taught us: “Care about national affairs and carry the proletarian cultural revolution through to the end!” I have long worked under Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, but I now want to serve as a witness to expose and denounce Liu and Deng’s bourgeois reactionary line.
1. The butcher who stifled workers and peasants’ movements, stumbling block of the “December 9” student movement
1. Liu Shaoqi’s attitude towards the workers’ movement
In November 1935, Liu Shaoqi took office as the North China representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, disguised as a university professor living in the British concession in Tianjin, representing the Party Central Committee to handle North China Bureau work.
At that time, Japanese imperialism was rampant in northern China; Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang ignored the national crisis, implementing a pro-Japanese, traitorous policy of “internal stability first, external suppression later.” At this critical moment of national life and death, our great leader Mao Zedong issued a call for resistance against Japan and to fight to the end. Mao’s article “On the Strategy Against Japanese Imperialism” (December 27, 1935) pointed out:
“…The revolutionary situation is shifting from local to national, from an unbalanced state to a certain state of equilibrium. We are on the eve of a great upheaval. The Party’s task is to unite the activities of the Red Army, workers, peasants, students, petty bourgeoisie, and all other forces into a unified national revolutionary front.”
— “Selected Works of Mao”, Volume 1, p. 146
Mao’s call for resistance to Japan resonated nationwide. Workers went on strike, peasants revolted, students boycotted classes, and the anti-Japanese patriotic movement surged unprecedentedly. The revolutionary climax had arrived, especially in northern China. But how did Liu Shaoqi, as the North China representative of the Central Committee, respond to this revolutionary movement?
His instructions in the article:
Soon after Liu Shaoqi arrived in the North, he wrote two articles claiming that the revolutionary situation in the North was in a “low tide.” Based on this analysis, he believed that work in the White Area should pursue “legal struggle” and advocated “lurking and not acting.” In his article “On the Work of Trade Unions,” he gave three directives for the workers’ movement:
- Do not strike if there is no hope of victory;
- Do not strike if it will expose the organization;
- Only propose economic demands relevant to the local situation, and never political demands like “opposing Japanese imperialism,” “opposing the Kuomintang,” “supporting the Soviet area,” or “supporting the Red Army.”
This is clearly stifling the revolution! We must ask Liu Shaoqi:
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First, you say “Don’t strike if there’s no hope of victory,” but where does victory come from without struggle? Do strikes fall from the sky? If you do not support leadership, there will never be victorious strikes!
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Second, Mao taught us: “Make firm resolutions, fear no sacrifice, overcome all difficulties, and strive for victory.” If the Party does not lead the workers’ struggle, who will lead? Liu Shaoqi says, “If exposing the organization, then no strike,” but are you going to hide the Party’s organization in a cellar, begging the enemy for mercy? Revolutionary struggle inherently involves risks of sacrifice; the Party’s organization grows stronger precisely through struggle!
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Third, Chinese workers are oppressed economically and politically, with no freedom at all. They are not only hungry and cold but can be beaten, expelled, and killed by capitalists at any time. Therefore, their political demands are entirely justified and align with Mao’s revolutionary line of “shifting from economic to political struggle.” They naturally oppose Japanese imperialism and the Kuomintang, and support the Red Army and the Soviet area!
Liu Shaoqi forbade workers from raising political slogans, even forbidding “support for the Red Army.” On what class stand do you base your position?
In short, Liu Shaoqi’s three directives are not about promoting the workers’ movement but severely restricting and strangling it.
Facts speak louder than words: The large strike involving 35,000 workers at Kailuan Wutong Mine, which started in 1934, was suppressed after Liu Shaoqi’s arrival and his directives, and the originally vigorous strike became quiet.
2. Liu Shaoqi’s attitude towards the peasant movement
In 1935, the peasant movement in North China reached a climax under the Party’s leadership, inspired by Mao’s “August 1” anti-Japanese declaration and the “Six Major Programmes for Anti-Japanese National Salvation,” and the encouragement of the Red Army’s eastward anti-Japanese campaign.
Especially in Jinan South, peasant struggles surged, quickly rising from economic to political struggles, and soon developing into armed struggles, organizing the “North China Anti-Japanese Anti-Jiang First Division,” giving heavy blows to the Japanese invaders, Jiang’s bandits, and the landlord class. First-class landlords fled to big cities, second-class landlords slipped into medium-sized cities, and small landlords surrendered one after another, creating a revolutionary atmosphere in the countryside.
At this time, Liu Shaoqi jumped out to criticize the Party’s leadership as “left adventurism.” Before the “December 9” movement, he issued three directives:
- Do not interfere with guns (hide guns);
- Disperse and lurk;
- Transfer main forces to Taihang Mountains.
He also demanded that special committees choose their own implementation, causing confusion of thought. Ultimately, he was forced to implement the “disperse and lurk” policy, resulting in the main forces being defeated one by one by the enemy, with over 800 revolutionary masses killed by the Kuomintang. A six-month peasant uprising was thus suppressed by Liu Shaoqi!
Although the Jinan South peasant uprising had issues (such as weak political work and inability to conduct guerrilla warfare), its overall direction was completely correct and the result of Mao’s revolutionary line.
However, Liu Shaoqi, in the 1937 White Area Work Conference, slandered it as a product of “Wang Ming’s leftist line,” which was a serious slander against Mao’s revolutionary line!
3. Liu Shaoqi’s attitude towards the “December 9” student movement
The “December 9” student movement erupted during the eastward anti-Japanese campaign of our army and the continued capitulation and surrender of Chiang Kai-shek, with Japanese imperialist aggression in North China. It was a high tide of patriotic forces nationwide.
Students demanded resistance against Japan, took to the streets for demonstrations, and were suppressed by the Kuomintang with swords, water cannons, and machine guns, but they refused to yield and heroically resisted. At this moment, Liu Shaoqi stood out to support Peng Zhen, as the head of the Northern Party organization, demanding that students “shift to legal struggle,” not contact workers and peasants, and even offered swords and flags to the 29th Army of the Kuomintang under Song Zheyuan.
He also supported professors Zhang Youyu, Yang Xiufeng, Feng Youlan to hold the “North China Anti-Japanese Zhuge Liang Conference,” and published articles under the pseudonym “Tao Shangxing” in the “Great Wall Magazine” advocating legal struggle, refusing to implement Mao’s series of directives on resistance.
As a result, the student movement was isolated and divided, unable to form a joint force with workers and peasants.
Liu Shaoqi and Peng Zhen during the “December 9” movement were not leaders but fire extinguishers and stumbling blocks! They later boasted repeatedly about their “major contributions,” which is a gross claim of credit!
2. Betrayal of the revolution, surrender to the Kuomintang
Since the Japanese imperialist invasion in 1931, at the critical moment of the life and death of the Chinese nation, countless brave revolutionaries, guided by Mao Zedong Thought, stood firm and sacrificed generously, worthy of being outstanding sons and daughters of the Chinese nation.
However, a group of cowards afraid of death, led by Peng Zhen, Bo Yipao, An Ziweng, Liu Lantao, and Liao Luyan, knelt and surrendered in enemy prisons, betrayed the Party, and turned traitor, against Mao Zedong Thought. The organizers of this collective treason were precisely Liu Shaoqi.
They used “anti-communist notices,” “anti-communist declarations,” and “anti-communist statements” to exchange for their lives!
Further investigation shows that Liu Shaoqi was the main leader of these traitors. In 1936, after dismissing Gao Wenhua, he led the White Area work, instructing: “People are needed outside; follow orders; Party members in prison can apply for self-surrender procedures to be released.” He also used Xu Bing, through Kong Xiangzhen, to write letters to the prison Party branch secretary Bo Yipao, and passed them via Wei Mengling.
This led to fierce struggles between two lines inside the prison:
- One line was led by Bo Yipao, Yang Xianzheng, etc., collaborating inside and outside, jumping around, “unifying understanding,” and drafting “self-surrender to anti-communism” documents to exchange for life;
- The other line was led by Comrade Liu Geping, insisting on struggle and resolutely not surrendering, vowing to sit in prison for life, the true revolutionary faction.
See the original “Anti-Communist Notice” of Liu’s traitor clique:
“The previous ideology was simple, observation weak, associations careless, speech and conduct improper, resulting in detention in Beiping Military Reflection Institute for self-reflection and reform. During this national crisis, all Chinese youth need to determine their stance and fight for the interests of the motherland. I am fortunate to be forgiven by the government, no blame for past mistakes, and allowed to reform. I have now sincerely repented and am willing to resolutely oppose communism under government leadership, to be a loyal citizen, and will never participate in Communist organizations or other reactionary activities in the future. I hope the youth will not be misled by them in the future. This is a public statement.”
Liu Xiwu, Luo Linxiang
October 31, 1936
Think about it: is this just a blank sheet of paper? No! It means countless revolutionaries’ heads will fall!
Anyone who has written a “anti-communist notice” is a traitor! Liu Shaoqi is more insidious and thorough than ordinary traitors and must be completely overthrown and root out!
Liu Shaoqi’s traitor clique and the Kuomintang’s anti-communist policies are closely related
A secret document from the Kuomintang secret service states:
“Our active method is: widely propaganda the crimes of the Communist Party to workers, peasants, soldiers, youth, and students, so that they fundamentally understand the essence of the Communist Party’s deception of the people, and never be used again; or make those who have gone astray repent and withdraw voluntarily, and fiercely counterattack the Communist Party.”
The head of the Kuomintang secret agents, Ye Xiufeng, Xu Enzeng, have successively formulated policies of “self-reflection and reform” and “solve cases and leave roots, follow-up追击”.
From this, it is clear that traitors like Liu Shaoqi are tools and products of the Kuomintang’s anti-communist policy!
Formation and development of Liu Shaoqi’s traitor clique
Liu Shaoqi’s traitor clique was formed based on former Northern Bureau traitors, as early as the 1930s, and later expanded continuously. He gathered many traitors to Yan’an, claiming it was “preserving cadres”; while the cadres who truly adhered to Mao’s line in the front and in the White Area were kept behind, supposedly “indispensable.”
According to investigations, during the Yan’an rectification of cadres in 1942, Liu Shaoqi used the Central Party School and the “Seventh Congress” to conspire, setting up a defensive alliance, with Peng Zhen as the Party School head, and said:
“Our release from prison was decided by the organization, and we will not do the cadre review; the organization will handle it separately.”
Liu Shaoqi then defended them, saying:
“These traitors wrote ‘fake self-surrender letters.’”
At the 7th Party Congress in 1945, Liu and Deng attempted to include “traitors can also be elected as Central Committee members” into the Party constitution. Although strongly opposed and unsuccessful, most of these traitors became Central Committee members under Liu Shaoqi’s protection.
In 1962, during the “Organization Conclusion List” of Liu and Deng, they repeated the old tricks, colluding and claiming:
“Whoever investigates, says the Central Committee knows.”
“This is an organizational secret, cannot tell you.”
Liu Shaoqi’s traitor protection network
Liu Shaoqi, Bo Yipao, Peng Zhen, An Ziweng, Liu Lantao, and Liao Luyan, mutually support and cover each other, praising Liu Shaoqi as the “model of correct strategy for White Area work,” attempting to lay the groundwork for his restoration of capitalism.
Anyone who exposes them is branded as a “counter-revolutionary, anti-Central Committee” element. Comrades like myself in the Ministry of Agriculture were also victimized by their joint efforts.
Liu Shaoqi himself admitted he was an “old opportunist,” but he never made real contributions to the revolution. Since the Great Revolution, he has never held truly important positions. From 1933, he served as a chairman in the Soviet area, where almost no industrial workers existed among the 3-4 million population.
The Party’s successor should not be Liu Shaoqi, but certainly Comrade Lin Biao!
Liu Shaoqi’s “rise” relied not on struggle but on a large number of traitors after 1935, who were praised as “Number Two figure.”
3. During the eight-year Anti-Japanese War, Liu Shaoqi and others’ counterrevolutionary surrender activities
The great eight-year Anti-Japanese War was a life-and-death struggle between Japanese imperialism and Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang reactionaries against the anti-Japanese national united front led by the Chinese Communist Party. It was a major victory of our great leader Mao Zedong’s correct line against Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, and others’ bourgeois reactionary line.
This struggle between two lines was concentrated in the following four aspects:
United front, mobilizing the masses, military policy, Party’s unified leadership, and democratic centralism.
The Kuomintang is fake anti-Japanese, true anti-communist; Liu Deng Peng actively cooperate with the Kuomintang’s anti-communist efforts
In 1936, although Chiang Kai-shek publicly agreed to resist Japan and established a patriotic united front, it was in fact a fake anti-Japanese, true anti-communist stance.
Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, Luo Ruiqing, Yang Shangkun actively responded to the Kuomintang’s anti-communist policies, serving the Kuomintang, and using capitulationism to oppose Mao’s revolutionary line.
Peng Dehuai opposed the Party’s united front policy, advocating reliance on the Kuomintang
After the “Luochuan Conference” in 1937, Peng Dehuai openly opposed Mao’s policy of the anti-Japanese national united front. He proposed:
“The resistance against Japan should be led by the Kuomintang, relying on the Kuomintang, and not criticizing or fighting the Kuomintang or its allies.”
In the same year, Wang Ming returned to China and also began systematically opposing Mao, and in 1938, formulated the capitulationist “March Political Bureau Summary,” followed by the Linfen Conference, where Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun immediately obeyed and conveyed:
“Resisting Japan is above all, everything for resisting Japan, everything through the united front, everything obeys the united front; no matter left, middle, or right, the armies of the Kuomintang and the CCP should help each other, fight together, and achieve victory together.”
Flattering Kuomintang generals, ceding bases, sending troops
When the Kuomintang spread rumors attacking the Communist Party in Shanxi, Peng Dehuai even came out to “explain the misunderstanding”:
“After victory in the war, it will not be the Kuomintang’s world, nor the Communist’s, but a world of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.”
They welcomed Kuomintang warlord Lu Zhonglin to Hebei as governor and even sent special personnel to greet him and hold a mass rally.
Deng Xiaoping and Yang Xiufeng went further, insisting on ceding the Jin-Cha-Ji armed area to Lu Zhonglin, and directly sending Shaobei military support troops (more than 3,000) out!
In Shandong, they even proposed establishing a “model base for Kuomintang-Communist cooperation”!
Bo Yipao advocated “preserving Shanxi’s regime,” while Liu Deng actually engaged in surrender
In Shanxi, Bo Yipao proposed “preserving Yan Xishan’s regime,” forbidding Communist cadres from serving as county heads, allowing only Yan Xishan’s guerrilla forces, and not establishing Eighth Route Army government institutions.
As a result:
Communist cadres received no money, no grain, no development, and no governance.
The Shanxi Special Committee did not accept this and continued to develop the Eighth Route Army and organize Communist county governments, while Bo Yipao mobilized three regiments for armed interference.
This issue eventually reached the 129th Division, and even Comrade Liu Bocheng disagreed with Bo Yipao’s surrender policy.
“No right to arrest in districts, no right to kill in counties”—opposing mass dictatorship, protecting landlords and traitors
Liu Deng and others proposed the notorious “order”:
- “No right to arrest in districts, no right to kill in counties”;
- “People’s revenge (i.e., poor people killing landlords)”.
These policies turned into:
- Enemies can kill us, so we kill enemies in revenge;
- Mass struggle could not be carried out, and the anti-Japanese base areas became “local protectors”;
- Landlords, spies, and traitors became “protected middle forces.”
The broad masses were extremely angry. Cadres repeatedly reported problems, but they still insisted on implementing these rightist capitulation policies.
Suppressing mass movements and crushing the revolutionary高潮
In 1940, the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses was high, and the anti-Japanese storm swept across the country. Under Mao’s correct leadership, the revolution achieved successive victories:
- Defeated Shi Yousan in Jinan South;
- Defeated Lu Zhonglin and Zhu Huishui in Taihang;
- Defeated Zhang Youti in Jizhong;
- Defeated Qin Qirong, Yu Xuezhong, and Shen Honglie in Shandong.
Rent reduction, punishing traitors, expanding Red political power—vitality everywhere!
But at this critical moment, Liu, Deng, and Peng launched a frantic counterattack, again suppressing mass movements.
In the 1940 Taihang Mountain “Licheng Conference,” Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, Yang Shangkun, Bo Yipao, Yang Xiufeng jointly proposed a surrender line centered on “striving for middle forces.”
They abandoned Mao’s three major tasks: “develop progressive forces, strive for middle forces, oppose stubborn forces,” emphasizing only “striving for middle forces,” with the purpose of protecting landlords, capitalists, spies, and traitors!
Peng Dehuai proposed “freedom, equality, fraternity,” opposing people’s war ideas
In 1943, at the Taihang branch senior cadre meeting:
- Peng Dehuai made three reports, falsely claiming “democratic governance is the core task of the enemy behind the lines”;
- Deng Xiaoping made two reports, opposing mobilizing the masses;
- Luo Ruiqing said, “Do not impose on others what you do not want,” claiming that people’s dictatorship is “oppression.”
They advocated “using reformative persuasion to defeat the enemy,” rather than unleashing the masses, relying on guns, and organizing people’s war!
Peng Dehuai also slandered that “relying on basic masses (the poor)” is “prostitute’s thinking,” and conflicts at the meeting were constant.
Peng Dehuai’s “Hundred Regiments Offensive” and “Integration Policy” destructive effects
During the Anti-Japanese War, Peng Dehuai, Deng Xiaoping, Luo Ruiqing, and others, in order to “defend the Kuomintang,” disregarding Mao’s directives, launched the “Hundred Regiments Offensive,” expanding from 36 to 100 regiments, with the slogan:
“Smash Japanese inducement policies, defend Xi’an, Kunming, Chongqing.”
They claimed this was “to defend Chiang Kai-shek’s regime,” not to defend the people’s regime!
Although the initial phase achieved some victories, the cost was enormous. The Guanjiaona Battle, led by Peng Dehuai himself, was a victory but with heavy casualties, exposing the deployment of the Eighth Route Army.
As a result, Japan mobilized a million troops for a “big sweep” across our strategic zones.
The disastrous consequences of the Hundred Regiments Offensive
The enemy used tactics like “iron arm encirclement” and “comb comb tactics” to eat away and sweep through our revolutionary base areas, causing huge losses. Jinan South cadres reported:
“Nightly gunfire, daily sweeps, daily enemy reports.”
Subsequently, Peng Dehuai proposed the “integration policy,” forcibly merging local guerrilla units into regular armies, resulting in rural emptiness, lack of protection for the masses, and Japanese massacres!
In Jinan South Military District, local cadres strongly opposed this, but Peng Dehuai dismissed them as “localism.”
He arrogantly opposed Mao’s people’s war line “power comes from the barrel of a gun,” committing unpardonable crimes.
After the Wannan Incident, Peng Dehuai moved to an extremely “Left” line, plotting to establish an independent kingdom
After the failure of the Hundred Regiments Offensive and the outbreak of the Wannan Incident, Peng Dehuai shifted from right-wing capitulation to extreme “Left” adventurism. He issued an appeal:
“Fight to Chongqing, capture Chiang Kai-shek alive, to clear the court.”
Openly opposing Mao’s “Central Military Commission spokesperson’s speech” and the CCP’s orders!
He then established the Plainfield Military District, attempting to command the New Fourth Army in the Su-Han-Yu area and establish a “independent kingdom”.
Mao quickly identified this problem and issued an “enhance party spirit” directive, severely criticizing Peng Dehuai.
Liu Shaoqi is their backstage boss
Peng Dehuai, Luo Ruiqing, Yang Shangkun, and others are so rampant because Liu Shaoqi is their backstage boss.
In 1942, Liu Shaoqi passed through Yan’an on his way back from the New Fourth Army and gave a report titled:
“On the Strategy and Tactics of the Chinese Revolution”
Its core idea was capitulationism:
- Praising the Kuomintang as “an alliance of several classes,” not a bourgeois party;
- Saying opposing big landlords and big capitalists does not mean opposing the Kuomintang;
- Declaring “Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek are also banners,” claiming “Three Principles of the People” are more legitimate than the Communist Party.
He advocated:
“The Chinese revolution should be carried out under the banner of the Kuomintang’s Three Principles of the People, within its legal framework, most smoothly.”
These words directly oppose Mao’s idea that “the Party leads everything” and “the Kuomintang is fake anti-Japanese!”
Chairman Mao’s rebuke
Chairman Mao angrily rebuked:
“Fortunately, the Chinese Communist Party still preserves the common sense of the Chinese people, and does not obey those who send the liberated areas to the Japanese’ orders.”
Mao listed the Kuomintang’s traitorous acts:
- Restriction of activities by opposition parties;
- Dissolution of the New Fourth Army;
- Demanding the Communist Army retreat north of the Yellow River;
- Proposing to cancel the Communist Party;
- Handing over local government and military power entirely to the Kuomintang.
Chairman Mao pointed out:
“Without the leadership of the Communist Party, the liberated areas would have fallen long ago, and China’s resistance war would be impossible to discuss.”
Liu Shaoqi’s “Peace Fantasy” and Surrender Orders
After the victory in the resistance war, the Kuomintang pretended to be peaceful and prepared for a large-scale attack on the liberated areas. At this time, Liu Shaoqi was still immersed in his “peace fantasy”.
At the Yan’an cadre meeting, he advocated:
“The resistance war has ended, a new era of peace and democracy has arrived.”
“In the future, we will enter cities through votes, not by guns.”
He even ordered representatives from various regions to go to Nanjing to participate in the puppet National Congress, and he himself prepared a Mao-style formal dress!
Chairman Mao exposed Chiang Kai-shek’s peace conspiracy, and Liu Shaoqi’s scheme failed.
Bo Yibo’s “Fishing and Killing Dogs” Theory
At the Handan meeting, Bo Yibo made bizarre remarks:
“The era of peace has arrived, the army will demobilize, and it will be like fishing and killing dogs at home.”
He also fabricated stories about two armed friends: “Little Tyrant Zhou Tong” and “Jin Mao Hou Ni Long,” using them as models of “civilian armed forces.”
Liu Shaoqi and Bo Yibo colluded with the Kuomintang, brazenly speaking and acting from a counter-revolutionary stance!
Chairman Mao clearly pointed out:
“We must be tough against the Kuomintang, seize every inch of power, and fight for every inch of land!”
However, Liu Shaoqi advocated surrender, compromise, and submission, completely betraying Mao Zedong Thought!
4. Opposing the Central Instructions and Mao Chairman’s Revolutionary Line
Chairman Mao pointed out:
“The Seventh National Congress is a victorious and united congress.”
This congress clarified the party’s line:
“Rely on the masses, strengthen the people’s power, under the leadership of our Party, defeat Japanese invaders, liberate the entire nation, and establish a new democratic country.”
Chairman Mao called on comrades:
“Carry the spirit of the Seventh Congress back to your work posts, promote the party’s line, and widely explain it to the people through all party members.”
Liu Shaoqi openly Opposes Mao Chairman’s Call
After the “Seventh Congress,” he told representatives returning to North China:
“The instructions of the Seventh Congress will not be conveyed for now; the priority is unity against the enemy.”
This means: not implementing Mao Chairman’s call!
His so-called “unity” is to unite Peng Dehuai, Deng Xiaoping, Yang Shangkun, Luo Ruiqing and others who implement the rightist surrender line.
In fact, the rightist line implemented by Peng Dehuai was directly supported and promoted by Liu Shaoqi!
1946 Handan Meeting: Deliberate Suppression of the “Seventh Congress” Spirit
At that time, the Kuomintang was preparing a large-scale attack on the liberated areas. The situation was tense, and the masses called for implementing Mao Chairman’s “Seventh Congress” spirit.
But Liu Shaoqi, Bo Yibo and others still adhered to their surrenderist line, refusing to convey the instructions of the Seventh Congress.
I was then a team leader in Jinan South District, and I reflected the strong demand of the masses to convey the spirit of the Seventh Congress. Bo Yibo responded:
“We need to discuss this with Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping first.”
The result was: no news, no response.
Suppressing revolutionary voices and killing revolutionary cadres
In the 1947 National Land Work Conference, I was prepared to speak out to expose Peng Dehuai’s wrong line. Bo Yibo blocked me and threatened:
“The front is resisting the war, and you are causing trouble behind.”
Even at this time, the spirit of the “Seventh Congress” was still suppressed.
I painfully realized: where Liu Shaoqi’s line is, cadres implementing Mao Chairman’s line are suppressed; comrades opposing the rightist line are labeled as ‘Wang Ming line’ adherents.
This is purely political slander, aimed at covering up their implementation of the rightist surrender line or the “left” in appearance but right in essence bourgeois reactionary line.
5. Liu Shaoqi’s Surrender Activities on the Eve of Liberation
After Japan’s surrender, the three-year liberation war broke out.
The situation was extremely favorable to us:
- The liberated areas kept expanding,
- The number of party members increased,
- The strength of the army rapidly grew,
- The people’s hearts leaned towards the Communist Party and Mao Chairman.
Chiang Kai-shek was on the brink of a desperate struggle, superficially shouting “peace,” but secretly preparing for war against communism.
However, at this critical moment that determined the future of the revolution, Liu Shaoqi again shouted “peace has arrived” and advocated surrender!
At the Yan’an cadre meeting, he said:
“The resistance war has ended, a new era of peace and democracy has arrived.”
He also advocated:
“Peace is not achieved by guns, but by votes.”
Liu Shaoqi even Ordered Representatives to Attend the “Puppet National Congress”
Even more absurdly, Liu Shaoqi ordered representatives from various regions to go to Nanjing to participate in Chiang Kai-shek’s “puppet National Congress”! He even prepared a “Mao-style” formal dress for himself!
Fortunately, Mao Chairman saw through Chiang Kai-shek’s conspiracy early and stopped this farce.
What is the essence of Liu Shaoqi’s “peace fantasy”?
- First, to lull the people’s fighting spirit and abolish armed revolution;
- Second, to use so-called peace to disintegrate Mao Chairman’s revolutionary front, allowing the Kuomintang to complete the annexation of the Communist Party and seize power.
Bo Yibo’s “Fishing and Killing Dogs” Theory Reappears as Surrenderism
At the 1946 Handan meeting, when Bo Yibo conveyed Liu Shaoqi’s instructions, he said:
“The era of peace has arrived, the army should be reduced. It will be like fishing and killing dogs at home, leaving only a few friends among the people, and having some armed forces is enough.”
This “two armed friends” story fully shows that they had long prepared to hand over the people’s army to the Kuomintang, allowing the revolution to dissolve into “peace fantasy.”
Chairman Mao Clearly Opposes All This!
Chairman Mao said:
“We must be tough against Chiang Kai-shek, seize every inch of power, and fight for every inch of land.”
Liu Shaoqi and others advocating compromise, concessions, and retreat are utter surrenderism incompatible with Mao Chairman’s thought!
6. The Bourgeois Reactionary Line in Land Reform Movement Must Be Thoroughly Criticized
Liu Shaoqi’s General Land Reform Policy: “Left” in Appearance, Right in Reality, Undermining Mass Dictatorship
During the 1947 land reform, Liu Shaoqi spoke extensively at the Central Bureau meeting in Jin-Cha-Ji about his “land reform experience,” proposing:
“Send work teams, organize poor peasant associations, go beyond party branches, move stones, and kick out village cadres.”
He also attacked Mao Chairman’s policies of rent reduction and interest reduction during the resistance war, falsely claiming:
“The united front within the country has been destroyed, cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists is not worth much, and delaying land reform until 1942 or 1943 is not wrong.”
In essence: Mao Chairman’s “rent reduction and interest reduction” during the resistance war was rightist and wrong, and Liu Shaoqi believed land reform should have started early.
Liu Shaoqi’s Fake “Left” Policy: Arbitrary Killings and Undermining Unity
Liu Shaoqi said:
“When landlords counterattack and kill our people, we kill a hundred of theirs; we kill their entire families. Kill them thoroughly.”
He also said:
“This is a war of land revolution.”
As a result, many cases of arbitrary killing of innocents appeared in land reform:
- Children were killed,
- Family members of revolutionary comrades were mistakenly killed,
- Even some poor peasants who supported the revolution were implicated.
These serious deviations are direct consequences of Liu Shaoqi’s implementation of the “left” in appearance but rightist bourgeois reactionary line!
Violating Small and Medium Farmers, Eliminating Rich Farmers, Destroying Rural Economic Foundation
In the same report, Liu Shaoqi said:
“Landlords exploit peasants, engage in industry and commerce in cities… Let the peasants do their work honestly.”
“Rich farmers? Sometimes they are okay, but a few should be kept to prevent medium farmers from wavering.”
In reality, during land reform:
- There were widespread violations of the interests of medium farmers;
- Many rich farmers were wrongly classified, falsely accused, and wrongly killed;
- Rural economic order was disrupted, causing instability in rural social structure.
This is the serious consequence of Liu Shaoqi’s false slogan “Poor peasants overthrow the landlord class and establish the regime”!
Chairman Mao Firmly Criticized and Corrected Liu Shaoqi’s Wrong Line in Time
In 1948, Mao Chairman clearly pointed out in “On Several Important Problems in the Current Party Policy”:
“We must insist on few killings, strictly prohibit random killings. The idea of killing more and killing indiscriminately is completely wrong; it will only cause our Party to lose sympathy, alienate the masses, and become isolated.”
At the same time, Mao also criticized the wrong ideas of “Supremacy of Poor Peasant Groups” and “Poor Peasants Sitting on the Land and Ruling the Country”:
“The slogan ‘Poor peasants sit on the land and rule the country’ is wrong. In the countryside, it is the joint effort of hired farmers, poor peasants, middle peasants, and other laboring people under the leadership of the Communist Party to build the country, not just poor hired peasants alone.”
Mao also pointed out: “Many comrades remember the party’s specific work line and policies, but forget the party’s general line and policies.”
It was Mao’s timely intervention and firm criticism that restored the land reform movement to the correct line!
Liu Shaoqi Also Engaged in Economicism, Undermining the Financial Foundation of People’s Power
Liu Shaoqi said:
“Farmers have land but no money. We should lend them money to produce. For this purpose, printing more money and inflation are good.”
He even said:
“The more inflation, the richer the people.”
What a ridiculous logic!
The facts are:
- Severe inflation eroded the financial foundation of the liberated areas;
- The cost of living for the masses increased, harming workers and peasants most;
- Revolutionary finances are on the brink of collapse.
Mao Chairman pointed out:
“We face many difficulties, and inflation has reached a considerable level, but our organizational work, especially in finance, is inadequate, which is one of the reasons for the difficulties.”
This is a fundamental critique of Liu Shaoqi’s economic line!
Liu Shaoqi’s Evasion in the Cultural Revolution Must Be Exposed
During the Cultural Revolution, Liu Shaoqi, faced with criticism of land reform errors, cunningly said:
“I did not stop it in time.”
This is completely shirking responsibility!
He was not only the implementer of wrong policies but also the designer, formulater, organizer, and staunch executor of these reactionary lines!
We must thoroughly criticize:
- The bourgeois reactionary line Liu Shaoqi formulated and implemented during the land reform movement,
- Liu Shaoqi’s counter-revolutionary acts of destroying production and condoning economicism,
- Liu Shaoqi’s reactionary line in the “Four Cleanups” movement and the proletarian cultural revolution,
All must be eradicated root and branch!
7. Conclusion
Based on Liu Shaoqi’s past crimes and the issues uncovered by revolutionary comrades and Red Guards during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, it is enough to prove:
Liu Shaoqi is a thorough capitalist-roaders within the Party, a great traitor, China’s Khrushchev, and the chief enemy of the Party, socialism, and Mao Zedong Thought for a long time. He is a usurper of the Party, military, and government, and an ambitious reactionary trying to restore capitalism!
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution exposed him, and this is a great victory of Mao Zedong Thought!
My Reflection and Accusation
Although I once worked in the Northern Bureau led by Liu Shaoqi and knew about his wrong line, and fought against it, due to insufficient study of Mao Zedong Thought and limited understanding of Liu Shaoqi’s errors,
I have also blindly followed his line at times.
Especially during the Taihang Mountain rectification movement, the setbacks I suffered caused serious consequences, and I am still deeply pained!
Past Struggles: Debates with Peng Zhen on Six Major Points in 1937
At the 1937 Yan’an White Area Work Conference, I and seven comrades including Li Yifu jointly submitted a letter opposing Liu Shaoqi, raising six points:
- Liu Shaoqi believed North China situation was “relatively stable,” but we believed war could break out at any time under Japanese pressure (the Marco Polo Bridge Incident happened immediately);
- He believed the White Area work “completely failed,” but we believed the struggle in the White Area was anti-imperialist and anti-Chiang Kai-shek, brave and effective;
- He advocated “accumulating strength and lurking without action,” but we believed this was rightist surrenderism, “lying down and doing nothing”;
- He opposed workers’ organizations “Red Trade Unions,” advocating joining yellow unions for legal struggle, but we believed legality was just a means, and illegal struggle was core;
- He favored traitors and looked down on workers and peasant cadres, attacking loyal revolutionary elements;
- He burned many documents under the guise of “confidentiality,” destroying valuable revolutionary materials, which we resolutely opposed.
We finally proposed: Do not agree to Liu Shaoqi returning to the North to lead work.
Exposing Traitor Peng Zhen and Facing Suppression and Revenge
I once questioned Peng Zhen: “What procedures did you go through to be released from prison after turning traitor?”
He blushed and was furious.
I reported these issues to the Central Committee. Although I had contact with Mao Chairman, at that time, the Chairman was writing “On Practice,” busy with affairs, so I did not fully reflect this fundamental issue.
I did not persist in these struggles to the end, which was disloyalty to the Party and the revolution. I am willing to make a deep self-criticism to the Party and Mao Chairman!
Later, I suffered brutal persecution from Liu Shaoqi, Peng Zhen, and others
In 1960, Liu Shaoqi, together with traitors from the Ministry of Agriculture Liao Luyuan, the Organization Department An Ziwen, the State Organs Party Committee Gong Zirong, the Central Supervision Committee Wang Congwu, and the major traitor Liu Xiwu, fabricated various charges:
- Accusing me of “bourgeois personalist ambitions”;
- Framing me for “covering up anti-Party groups in the Ministry of Agriculture”;
- Falsely claiming I “always opposed Liu Shaoqi’s correct line in the White Area.”
Under their manipulation, I was expelled from the Party, stripped of all positions, and cast into the cold palace, trying to silence me forever, preventing me from exposing their true colors!
Call for More comrades to come forward and thoroughly expose Liu Shaoqi
Currently, Liu Shaoqi’s issues are still insufficiently exposed, especially the pre-Founding history, most of which is concealed. His accomplices certainly will not expose him, and the old comrades oppressed by him may still have concerns.
But I hope these comrades can bravely rebel, stand up and speak for Mao Chairman and the people!
I have already written to the Central Committee, Mao Chairman, and Premier, requesting the establishment of an Old Cadres Rebel Group! (Applause)
Finally, let us shout the revolutionary slogans together:
Long live the Proletarian Cultural Revolution!
Long live the glorious, great, correct Chinese Communist Party!
Long live Mao Zedong Thought, invincible!
Long live the great leader, great teacher, great commander, and great helmsman Mao Chairman! Long live! Long live! Long live!
Note:
This material is the full text of Comrade Li Jingyu’s revelation in the “Thoroughly Expose and Criticize Liu Shaoqi’s Counterrevolutionary Revisionist Crimes” issued by the “Capital Red Generation Chinese People’s University Third Red Group to Expose Liu Bing Team Second Detachment” on April 1, 1967.
