Chapter 82 Clearing the ranks of class struggle, resulting in hundreds of millions of people suffered 1968-1969

Journalist: “By purging the class ranks, are you creating another wave of persecution?”

Mao: “Yes, in 1968, I once again unleashed a large-scale class struggle, with over 30 million people throughout the country being targeted and over 500,000 people suffering persecution, resulting in the implicating of their relatives and affecting over 100 million social relationships.

Even my most trusted Central Guard Regiment, in May 1968, dispatched cadres to the Beijing Changxindian Second Seventh Vehicle Factory to carry out a campaign to cleanse the class ranks. They claimed to have exposed eight espionage organizations involving over 270 people and identified 215 counter-revolutionaries. However, in reality, only 12 of them truly posed an antagonistic contradiction, while the rest were falsely accused. The coerced confessions included over 20 veteran party members and old workers being driven to suicide. Out of over 1,400 veteran workers, more than 900 of them were subjected to investigation.”

Journalist: “Wow, you dispatched your trusted guard regiment to create false exemplars for the class struggle?”

Mao: “Yes, once the false exemplars were introduced at the Second Seventh Vehicle Factory, by August 1968 in Beijing, they claimed to have exposed over 68,000 ‘bad elements.’ By February 1969, the number had increased to over 99,000.

In Shanghai, over 169,000 people were investigated, with over 5,400 being persecuted to death. Jiangsu claimed to have unearthed over 83,000 counter-revolutionaries.

In Zhejiang, hundreds of thousands were detained and persecuted, resulting in over 9,000 deaths.

In Shaanxi, more than 400,000 people were targeted and many died unjustly in cowsheds. Gansu detained over 300,000 people. Heilongjiang claimed to have identified over 100,000 enemies, with over 4,100 deaths.

In Jilin, they exposed over 90,000 class enemies, resulting in over 1,900 deaths.”

Journalist: “Wow, it seems that provinces across the country were swept up in large-scale persecutions that are difficult to quantify?”

Mao: “In Liaoning, over 20,000 people were reported dead. They implemented people’s judgments and people’s dictatorship. It was said that Li Benzhu, the Party Secretary of Lu’an Brigade in Xinjin County, had a sexual relationship issue with Xu Lianrong, who was 23 years old. Xu Lianrong’s brother had previously been sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly participating in a reactionary organization. In the purge, they concluded that Xu Lianrong was a class enemy who used seduction to corrupt cadres. On July 11, 1968, Xu Lianrong’s brother was brutally tortured and sentenced to 10 years in prison by a people’s tribunal. On July 16, Xu Lianrong was arrested, beaten, and forced to confess. That evening, Xu’s elderly parents, two sons, and three daughters hanged themselves together. The words ‘unjust death’ was written on the wall. In Xu Lianrong’s suicide note, she requested a physical examination, and the results indicated her virginity.”

Journalist: “Are cases of false accusations and wrongful convictions like these quite common?”

Mao: “Yes, in the case of the ‘Anti-Communist Salvation Corps’ in Lingyuan County, Liaoning Province, over 900 people were arrested, resulting in the deaths of over 20 individuals and the disabling of over 50.

In the case of the ‘Inner Mongolian Party’ in Inner Mongolia, after 1947, there was no such organization as the ‘Inner Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party.’ In July 1968, Teng Haiqing, a leader in Inner Mongolia, determined that the ‘Inner Mongolian Party’ was a separatist reactionary organization, an underground group of Ulanhu. They carried out extensive investigations, coerced confessions, and used various forms of torture that were horrifying. Over 500,000 people were detained, resulting in over 27,000 deaths and over 120,000 disabilities.”

Journalist: “Wow, the coercion and persecution in Inner Mongolia were the most severe?”

Mao: “Yes, the wrongful case of the traitor group in Shenze County, Hebei Province. In February 1968, Jiang Qing claimed that there was a traitor group in Shenze County. Wang Kangzhi, the Party Secretary of Tianjin City who was originally from Shenze, was falsely accused of being a traitor and soon after committed suicide. Over 300 people in Tianjin were labeled as members of the ‘Shenze Traitor Group.’ The identified traitors in Shenze County were paraded and showcased in the county’s market, wearing placards and hats, bending down in rows, with over 1,500 people displayed for public viewing.

In the wrongful case of the traitors in eastern Hebei, Li Chuli, the Deputy Minister of the Central Organization Department, had previously served as a leader in the region. After he was labeled a traitor, the party organization in eastern Hebei was also branded as the Kuomintang. Over 80,000 people were implicated, and over 3,000 were persecuted to death.”