Thoroughly smashing the hierarchy and privilege class (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ bourgeois decadent lifestyle)
—— Speech at the conference by the returning students Zunyi Corps’ only fighting team
The largest clique within the Party, led by Liu and Deng, which advocates for the capitalist road, opposes Chairman Mao’s wise instructions. Over the past seventeen years, in some departments and units, they have cultivated a new type of bourgeoisie and spiritual aristocrats, forming the social basis for their reversion to capitalism in China. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, controlled by the bourgeoisie road’s most influential figure, Chen Yi, is an important base for them. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassies abroad, a revisionist privileged class headed by Chen Yi has already begun to take shape.
This privileged class is composed of a small group of bourgeoisie advocates, class enemies, and degenerate elements. Chen Yi is their political representative, and Liu and Deng are the main backstage supporters of this privileged class.
Below, using the embassy of × as the main example, we analyze the various manifestations of this privileged class’s corruption and decadence in life.
1. Unreasonable wage system
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Wage disparity
The ambassador’s monthly salary is over 800 yuan RMB, and the ambassador’s wife earns 450–500 yuan. They do not spend money on transportation, entertainment, or even entrance tickets when abroad, which are reimbursed by the government. They leave half of their salary abroad to buy foreign goods in large quantities, and send the other half back home, which is barely usable.
Meanwhile, the clerical staff earn only about 100 yuan per month. Due to high foreign prices, their activity expenses, and even plane tickets for returning home or seeking medical treatment abroad, must be paid out of pocket, which is barely enough. Their half salary abroad, after deducting food expenses, is even lower than that of students living abroad; the other half sent home is also barely enough. -
Various economic privileges and numerous sources of extra income
- Clothing allowance: When going abroad, the ambassador receives 5,000–6,000 yuan for clothing, with the ambassador’s wife enjoying the same treatment. The third secretary’s clothing allowance is 1,000 yuan, and his wife gets the same. In contrast, the clerical staff only get 500–650 yuan. (The ambassador often returns to China, receiving clothing allowances every year.)
- Subsidies: Not based on actual needs but determined by wages. For example, a clerical worker earning 43 yuan per month, with a family of seven and an elderly, ill father who has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for thirteen years, has received only over 100 yuan in total subsidies. Conversely, a cadre (dual-income family) with four members earning 140 yuan per month, only gets 150 yuan in subsidies when a child falls ill.
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Abusing authority for personal gain, embezzlement, and accepting bribes
- Hosting banquets: They conduct diplomatic activities through wine and meat banquets, hosting several times a week. The main goal is to satisfy themselves: the host’s satisfaction is primary. Many banquets are unnecessary, just for their own indulgence. The ambassador personally arranges the menu, regardless of guests’ preferences; if their favorite dishes are missing, they become furious. Leftovers are reserved for the next meal.
- Besides entertaining foreigners, they also host internal guests. Although central regulations generally prohibit internal banquets, they defy directives to please superiors.
- They idolize Western customs. To satisfy their desire to eat Western food, they hire translators to run around the city, buying American cookies, bread from country ×, Hungarian ham, etc., preventing middle-level cadres from doing their work and constantly running around to support their luxurious, decadent lifestyle.
- When buying houses abroad, middlemen demand 100,000 yuan in foreign exchange, which these officials pay. This caused a sensation in the country, and the middleman became a millionaire and a local nouveau riche.
- They also conduct research to satisfy bourgeois desires, such as watching obscene movies or visiting the dirtiest nightclubs, and sightseeing at famous scenic spots.
- They accept bribes and embezzlement. For example, ambassadors and counselors prohibit others from buying foreign goods, establishing many rules, but these rules are for subordinates, not for themselves. They buy the most foreign goods and at the highest prices using privileges. In 1962, they smuggled rice, flour, and frequently brought back watches and other high-end items, evading customs duties. They even bought over 40 watches in Switzerland, which would severely damage the country’s reputation if discovered.
- Exhibited fabrics are only sold to others in one set, but ambassadors buy three sets because they are much cheaper abroad.
- They dine out daily, spending a lot of state funds. Some ambassadors and their wives eat very little at home but gorge themselves during official banquets.
- They oppose Chairman Mao’s instructions on gift-giving. Gifts given and received are considered representing the country; thus, they should be handed over to the state and processed uniformly. However, these ambassadors often convert gifts into private property. Once, a civil servant handed in a paper basket, and the ambassador returned in a rage, insisting on retrieving it. If even a paper basket is treated this way, other valuable items are even more so.
- Clerical staff must hand over even small gifts like lighters. Sometimes, they swap out bad items for good ones using mean tricks.
Such examples are countless. Concerning these unreasonable revisionist systems, there is only one solution—revolt, to thoroughly smash them. Only then can the broad masses of clerical workers truly be liberated, and China can genuinely prevent revisionism and achieve victory in communism.
2. The privileged class headed by Chen Yi turns embassies and consulates abroad into independent kingdoms
There, they live bourgeois lives. Ambassadors have dedicated chefs, barbers, clerks, drivers, and others. Some ambassadors even have eleven servants. They passionately pursue Western bourgeois lifestyles. Here are some readily available examples for comparison:
Clothing
They wear long coats (the ambassador’s wife alone spent 1,600 yuan on one coat, and the counselor’s wife 2,000 yuan on a leather coat), suits, Zhongshan suits, trench coats, pajamas, bathrobes, morning coats, etc. There are also disgusting cheongsams; one ambassador’s wife owns over 100, with colors varying by season. Some wives have high heels in a long line, several boxes full.
Meanwhile, poor local workers and their children live in ragged clothing, constantly threatened by cold and hunger.
It must be pointed out: after Chairman Mao personally issued the “Nine Nine” instructions, they fundamentally did not take them seriously; instead, they resisted and opposed. They still cling to bourgeois clothing, wearing suits, ties, and pointed shoes. When criticized by the masses, they angrily shout, “We must hold on!” openly defying Mao’s “Nine Nine” instructions. This is intolerable!
Eating
They act as officials and aristocrats, not participating in labor at all, even having food served to them. When the cooking is unsatisfactory, they scold the cooks until satisfied. They prefer egg whites, not yolks; eat peanut oil, soybean oil, corn oil; some ambassadors like to eat live turtles and dogs.
Sometimes, they go out to eat Western food at high-end bars instead of returning to the embassy, with a fish soup costing 20 yuan. An ambassador in country × spends 1,400 yuan in a week, equivalent to three years’ wages of clerical workers. Some ambassadors keep dogs; two dogs cost 5 yuan daily for food, while clerical workers get only 1.5 yuan daily.
When going out, clerical staff can only eat leftovers; some with bigger appetites are scolded for eating a little more.
Poor local people cannot even afford a 0.17 yuan breadstick. On the streets and in subways, many rely on begging for survival, and some children rummage through trash. Every day, countless impoverished people struggle on the brink of starvation and cold—this is a world apart from the bourgeois decadence of these officials.
Housing
The ambassador’s house was bought for 3 million yuan, called a “small palace.” It was once inhabited by an American high-class prostitute. The purchase caused a sensation in the capital due to its high cost. Only the ambassador, counselor, and a few servants live there. When they travel abroad, their accommodations are very expensive; daily rent can reach 100 yuan. The ambassador’s house must maintain a constant temperature—neither too hot nor too cold—and is equipped with oxygen lamps to avoid sunlight and prolong life.
When they first arrived in the country, the ambassador and counselor stayed in luxurious mansions, while clerical staff had no place to live, sleeping in hallways, corridors, damp basements, or even caves. Summer in the basement is unbearably hot and stuffy; even young men sleep for over an hour before needing to come out for air. In one embassy, two people died from heat exhaustion. In winter, it is freezing; they need to hug hot water bottles to sleep.
Sleeping
The ambassador has a double bed (worth 5,000 yuan in foreign exchange) and a single bed, but a tall doctor only sleeps on a small bed with no space for his feet, hanging in the air. Sofas and carpets are not for sleeping, for fear of damage; some sleep on tables, others in bathtubs before the embassy building was constructed.
Compare this with local workers living in dilapidated slums, made of tin and stones, some in broken cars, sleeping by the river or in subway tunnels. In summer, snakes and insects are rampant; in winter, cold winds blow. These are not places for humans to live!
Do these ambassadors and counselors think that two-thirds of the suffering masses in the world are not there? They are completely immersed in bourgeois lifestyles—no sign of communist cadres! They are thoroughly “revisionist”!
Travel
The ambassador owns three cars: a Red Flag, a French Mercedes 300, and a Soviet-made GIL. They demand that the car be neither too fast nor too slow, and arriving one minute early is unacceptable.
To ensure comfort and convenience, they refuse to open car doors when getting out, requiring the driver to do so. Once, at a foreign embassy, the car couldn’t get in, so the ambassador refused to walk the fifty steps and had to rent a small car to be driven in.
Another ambassador in country ×, to watch “The Sun Never Sets,” traveled from Beijing to Shanghai by car, only for personal amusement, disregarding others’ safety.
After the “Nine Nine” instructions, some proposed that ambassadors and counselors should not ride in small cars but travel with the masses in large vehicles. However, these officials strongly opposed, continuing to use small cars.
Even more disgraceful, a political counselor in country ×, upon taking office, arrived in a U.S. small car with the Chinese flag flying, showing off bourgeois arrogance and luxury! Do they still have any integrity of the Chinese nation? None at all!
Embassies and consulates abroad have various inexplicable and hierarchical systems—some doors, hallways, and toilets are reserved for ambassadors and their wives, and others cannot use them. The desks are divided into five or six types: for the chief, counselor, secretary, general staff, all different.
The ambassador’s wife, for example, demands that the female translator change clothes if her outfit is the same, or she will be criticized. A driver wearing a yellow watch was scolded because it matched the counselor’s wife’s. Aren’t these the same behaviors as the rotten bourgeoisie wife Wang Guangmei, the Khrushchev’s monster?
Furthermore, they exploit their travel abroad to buy大量 foreign goods, passionately pursuing Western bourgeois lifestyles—true dog slaves! Here are two examples: according to incomplete statistics, the ambassador’s family owns at least eleven watches, two cameras, two tape recorders, a refrigerator, and a TV, among others. Their monthly salary exceeds 1,000 yuan, with savings of hundreds of thousands of yuan.
The counselor’s family in country ×, with six members, occupies two luxury apartments, with only the kitchen, bathroom, washroom, and storeroom excluded. The bedrooms and living rooms alone number six, luxuriously furnished with carpets, sofas, and high-end items like a TV, radios, tape recorders, typewriters, record players, German cameras, projectors, and more. They even brought back 38 Japanese automatic ballpoint pens during their return trip. Their clothing alone fills 17 large suitcases—this is just a small part of their possessions, less than one-twentieth of their total wealth.
Seeing these shocking examples, we cannot help but ask: what are these officials doing abroad? They are not working but indulging in pleasure. They think only of eating, dressing up, and entertainment, not revolution or national affairs or world revolution. One ambassador’s wife, for example, went to great lengths to find the same perfume used by American movie stars. An ambassador’s hair dye alone has four bottles. After the Cultural Revolution began, they suggested moving a nude statue from the courtyard, but the ambassador moved it into his own room. These people also use their privileges to watch obscene movies. They pursue bourgeois aristocratic lifestyles and will never be satisfied with decadent bourgeois things, sinking deeper into revisionism. Their souls are extremely filthy, hide from others, and their lives surpass even those of past capitalists. An embassy counselor (from a big capitalist family) openly said his current life is better than before. As pointed out in the “Nine Commentaries,” “They live a parasitic, rotten bourgeois life completely detached from the Soviet working people.”
These bourgeois worldview conditions are fully exposed under the favorable conditions abroad! Their decadent and corrupt lives inevitably lead to fear of death in politics and capitulation diplomacy in external struggles.
Look at how terrified they are of death:
- Ambassador × traveled all the way from Europe to Hong Kong to get “longevity” injections, drinking “longevity” soup regularly.
- Ambassador ×, fearing the sun’s scarcity and that it might affect his lifespan, had someone buy a high-altitude oxygen lamp for him; meanwhile, the broad masses of clerical workers labor daily in damp basements with no concern.
- Many ambassador wives fear for their lives, eating only egg whites and not yolks. Some, like ambassador ×, fear flying—afraid of crashes or derailments; some even waste large sums on five airline tickets just to avoid death.
They fear death, which manifests in their surrender to the “Three Surrenders and One Extinction” policy of capitulation diplomacy. How can such people resolutely implement Chairman Mao’s proletarian diplomatic line and fight tirelessly against international enemies? Can they stand up to defend the dignity of the motherland like Zhao Xiaoshou during the Indonesian counter-revolutionary coup? Such people cannot shoulder the heavy burden of world revolution. Therefore, we must thoroughly expose and punish their crimes! We must smash this privileged class!
Manifestations of the “privileged class” in a certain embassy
—— Speech by the representative of the embassy’s “Nine Nine” combat battalion at the meeting
I am an ordinary clerical worker at the embassy. I want to expose the various manifestations of the “privileged class” in the embassy.
First, I expose the ambassador’s wife. She is from a landlord background with a serious bourgeois ideology. After going abroad, she was seduced by bourgeois decadent life, often riding luxury cars to buy clothes and cosmetics, sometimes even during working hours, calling translators to accompany her. She and her husband have been at the embassy for over three years, never folding the quilt, let alone participating in cleaning or other chores. All her clothes, even sanitary supplies, are washed by clerical staff.
This noble lady changes shorts daily, and she takes multiple baths a week. Before each external activity, clerical staff must iron her silk cheongsam and polish her high heels. She leaves work two or three hours early, being driven by the ambassador’s chauffeur to the embassy to dress up. First, she takes a one-hour bath, then wears a bathrobe, and enjoys a specially prepared feast. Then she does her makeup and powder… busy all the time. The comrades below are anxious about being late for diplomatic activities, and they stare anxiously. After a long wait, she slowly walks down the stairs, smoking.
These high officials understand health preservation and believe in the “life philosophy.” A commercial counselor’s wife, who is very white and fat, has no health issues but frequently visits hospitals for minor ailments, claiming her throat is blocked. She repeatedly undergoes examinations, but nothing is found. This only adds to the foreign doctors’ confusion—because she is actually healthy, how can they find anything wrong?
There is a military officer in the embassy who is a typical coward. He is called the “health champion.” Before meals, after washing hands, his hands become “holy hands,” and others dare not shake hands with him for fear of bacteria. After washing, he dares not even wipe his hands with a towel. Sometimes, he fears contaminating the water when turning off the tap after washing, so he uses his foot to press the button. Even more disgusting, the toilets in the embassy are flushed by pressing buttons with hands, but this coward uses his foot to step on the buttons to avoid bacteria. Others have to press the buttons with their hands after him, which is extremely selfish and harmful!
Blood and tears: Accusation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “privileged class” for brutal persecution of clerical workers
Excerpt from the exposure at the conference by the returning students Zunyi Corps
The counterrevolutionary revisionist “privileged class” led by Chen Yi in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has long been high and mighty, acting as aristocrats. They abuse their power, act recklessly, discriminate and brutalize clerical workers, treating laboring people as beasts, even torturing them to death—an evil beyond measure!
Taking our embassy in country × as an example, over the years, under the brutal persecution of the bourgeoisie clique within the party, four murders have occurred, unjustly taking the precious lives of four of our class brothers.
The weather in the host country is hot, and people seem to live in a steamer. Of course, this poses no threat to the ambassador and counselor. They live in spacious houses, occupied by several people. The houses are equipped with air conditioning, which can be adjusted at will. They can also stop working and relax all day… However, the broad masses of clerical workers face a different fate. They live in corridors, small attics, basements, or even caves. They have to work in hot environments and under scorching sunlight. Two cooks in the embassy, due to long-term work near high-temperature stoves, fell ill from overwork and their health deteriorated. The embassy aristocrats ignored this and criticized the cooks for their diet, causing the cooks to become ill and eventually die from torture.
Another driver, just after returning from a National Day event, was immediately called by the chief consulate’s wife to decorate lanterns and do arrangements, working tirelessly. After a long time, the driver, just wanting to rest and drink water, was scolded by the wife of the chief consulate, who accused him of laziness. Under her tyranny and coercion, the driver could only grit his teeth and continue working. Because he suffered from hypertension and overwork, he felt dizzy and fainted while repairing electrical lines, falling from the second floor and dying tragically.
Another civil servant, recovering from a serious illness and very weak, was forcibly asked to swim with a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (who was passing through the country with a delegation). To enjoy the swim, the official desperately swam into the deep, disregarding the civil servant’s physical condition. To protect the official’s safety, the civil servant had to follow and swim. When returning, facing headwinds and rising tides, the civil servant could no longer hold on and began to sink. The official watched indifferently as the civil servant sank to the bottom and did not save him. Three hours later, residents nearby retrieved the body. The official shamelessly said, “I was tired myself at the time.”—such disregard for human life is intolerable!
These are just some examples of the brutal persecution of clerical workers by the “privileged class” in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These bloody facts deeply expose the heinous crimes committed by the “privileged class” against the Party and the people, powerfully demonstrating how wise and correct Chairman Mao’s “Nine Nine” instructions are. “Revolutionize or be in danger.” Comrades of the proletarian revolution, let us follow Chairman Mao’s teachings and fight bravely to thoroughly smash the anti-revolutionary revisionist “privileged class” led by Chen Yi in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and resolutely realize proletarian revolutionization of the foreign affairs system!
The petty “privileges” of the officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Many vice ministers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs occupy a whole building each, equipped with secretaries, chauffeurs, cooks, guards, and other staff; some even hire personal attendants, with government providing carpets, sofas, wardrobes, steel beds, desks, and other furniture.
- According to revelations, ambassador × brought back over forty boxes when returning from abroad, amassing great wealth; vice minister × bought an electric refrigerator in Hong Kong but, due to high import taxes, transferred it to the state using his authority, then later kept it for himself. This way, he avoided paying the purchase price and taxes, acquiring a refrigerator for free. Ambassador ×, who loves calligraphy and paintings, spent large sums to decorate the embassy with famous paintings for his enjoyment. He also took advantage of the difficult period when the ambassador’s luggage was not inspected to buy flour in Hong Kong. Vice minister × even violated central policies by using foreign currency to buy foreign goods.
- The officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have long enjoyed luxurious lives, rarely exercising, always riding in new, Western-style cars. For example, ambassador ×, to show off, bought a “Seagull” brand car from the Soviet Union, sacrificing national dignity. Some, like the director of Africa affairs, refuse to obey regulations that prohibit officials from using cars after work, insisting on riding in small cars every day. Once, the deputy director of Africa affairs used a small U.S. car with the Chinese flag to arrive at his post, showing off bourgeois arrogance and luxury! Do they still have any integrity of the Chinese nation? None at all!
- Their lives are extremely decadent. Each vice minister, ambassador, and director earns several thousand yuan annually, with millions in savings. During times of national hardship, when people’s lives are affected, they still indulge extravagantly. They regularly receive additional supplies like yellow sheep and fish from their agencies, and often dine at places like Diaoyutai, Friendship Hotel, and international clubs. They also receive many gifts from foreigners returning home.
- These officials not only enjoy their privileges but also undermine the system, allowing their family members and children to enjoy privileges too. Truly, one official’s appointment benefits the whole family. For example, when hosting foreign guests, many staff members cannot participate, but our ministers and directors can bring their families to sit in the VIP seats or even bring nannies. Sometimes, they violate regulations by taking family members to visit confidential projects. They also abuse their authority to assign their children abroad. For instance, a child of a certain ambassador refused to do manual labor at a police school, so he illegally arranged for her to attend the Foreign Affairs University, with special teachers assigned solely for her. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs even arranges high-level officials’ children to fly around Beijing to “broaden their horizons.” Some young masters and misses often act as delegates, traveling domestically and internationally with their parents. For example, the son of ambassador ×, to show off, brought his father’s pistol to school. Such cases are countless.
Proletarian revolutionaries, comrades, let us rise up with Mao Zedong Thought’s mighty stick and smash this “privileged class” in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!I was born into a poor peasant family in Henan. My mother died when I was three years old, and my father passed away when I was six. As a result, I had to go out begging, becoming a homeless beggar. An old man who sold fried dough sticks saw my plight and asked me to help him sell them, providing food but no clothing; I followed him to make a living. Sometimes I also helped him carry goods. I remember I was in my twenties and had never worn a single cotton-padded coat or cotton pants; I only wore torn clothes and shoes I picked up. Even on snowy days, I slept in a mat shed, with sorghum stalks as bedding, living a life like that of cattle and horses. It wasn’t until 1933, when the Red Army came to our area, fought the landowners, and redistributed land, that I was liberated and joined the Fourth Front Army. From then on, I embarked on the revolutionary path.
I traveled with the Red Army through Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, and then began the Long March of 25,000 li. In Yan’an, I saw the most red, most radiant Red Sun in our hearts—our greatest leader, Chairman Mao Zedong. From that moment, my determination grew even stronger: I was resolute to follow Chairman Mao for a lifetime of revolution, forever remaining a faithful soldier of Chairman Mao.
The Party Committee of the department, led by Chen Yi, has, over the years, engaged in many revisionist activities. They look down on workers and peasants, believing they lack culture, and always try to exclude us. In 1958, I was only 54 years old, and the leaders of the General Affairs Department’s Political Office came to persuade me to retire, saying I was “old” and “should rest”; they also said that as long as I agreed to retire, they would give me three or four thousand RMB and a house to live in. I was so upset I couldn’t speak for a long time, and tears fell. I thought: I have followed Chairman Mao’s words and fought in the revolution for so many years. Now that the revolution has succeeded, what’s the point? Should we be discarded just because we’re rough farmers? Is my old Zhou finished like this? I firmly replied to them: “Old is not a problem. I can still work, I still want to revolutionize. My revolution is not for money!” Through my firm struggle, they finally left me and transferred me to feed pigs at Dongjiao Farm, and later I worked at Zhuo County Farm for three years. After returning from Zhuo County, they again urged me to retire. But I insisted on working, willing to do as much as I could. I cannot live a day without working for the people after eating their food for free!
Since coming to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I feel completely different from my time in the army. Back then, we shared a piece of biscuit between superiors and subordinates, leaders were comrades, superiors loved subordinates, and subordinates loved superiors—full of class feelings. But where has that class feeling gone in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? When I guarded the gate for Ji Pengfei and others, Ji Pengfei looked down on us. When he went to deliver a message or bring something to his home, he completely ignored us, never even greeting us or offering a seat. When entering or leaving, he was even more indifferent. His wife, Xu Hanbing, is a typical official’s wife. Seeing us, she looked as if we owed her money! Sometimes, if I opened the door a little late, she would get very angry, saying she had been waiting outside for half an hour! In fact, she waited at most two minutes. — What kind of conduct is this? During Chairman Mao’s leadership in land warfare and the Anti-Japanese War, did such conduct exist?
I have fought in wars for half my life. After the Long March, I fought the Japanese in Shandong for eight years, then participated in the liberation war in Northeast China. It wasn’t until 1950 that I stopped fighting when I came to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but now I am fighting again! Now, it’s against the most powerful faction within the party that is taking the capitalist road. In this struggle, I will definitely follow Chairman Mao closely, follow the revolutionary young guards, and swear to cut off Liu and Deng’s claws that stretch into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs! Overthrow Chen Yi! Overthrow Ji Pengfei! Overthrow Qiao Guanhua! I swear to turn the Ministry of Foreign Affairs into a red, Mao Zedong Thought university!
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Management Section Zhou Chaohai
