毛泽东选集/镇压反革命必须实行党的群众路线

#§Please make certain that you strike surely, accurately and relentlessly in suppressing the counter-revolutionaries.

#§One batch of bandit chieftains, local tyrants and secret agents has been executed in twenty-one counties in western Hunan, and another batch is to be executed by local authorities this year.

# For only thus can we deflate the enemy's arrogance and raise the people's morale.

# If we are weak and irresolute, if we are tolerant and indulgent, it will bring harm to the people and alienate us from the masses.

# To strike relentlessly means resolutely to kill all such reactionary elements as deserve the death penalty (of course, those who don't will not be executed).

# So long as we avoid wrong executions, we don't have to worry even if the bourgeoisie raises an outcry.

#§In Shantung there is lethargy in some places and rashness in others.# Generally speaking, both these deviations are to be found in all the provinces and cities in the country and attention should be paid to setting them right.

# In particular, rashness presents the major danger.

# Please exercise strict control over the work of suppressing counter-revolutionaries, and be sure to proceed with caution and correct any deviation of rashness in handling the job.

#§In regard to the counter-revolutionaries ferreted out in the Communist Party, People's Liberation Army and organs of the People's Government and in educational, industrial and commercial and religious circles, democratic parties and people's organizations, the Central Committee has decided as follows.# Whereas those whose crimes do not deserve the death penalty shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or various prison terms or put under public supervision and surveillance, with respect to all counter-revolutionaries deserving capital punishment execution shall be confined to those who owe blood debts, or who have committed other major crimes which evoke public indignation, such as frequent rape or the plundering of large amounts of property, or who have done extremely serious harm to the national interest, while the policy towards the rest shall be one of passing the death sentence, granting a two-year reprieve and subjecting them to forced labour during this period to see how they behave.

# It can disintegrate the counter-revolutionary forces and contribute towards the thorough elimination of counter-revolution.

# Therefore, it is a correct policy.

# Of all the counter-revolutionaries deserving death who are ferreted out in the above-mentioned Party, government, military, educational, industrial and commercial and people's organizations, it is estimated that those who owe blood debts, those who have committed other crimes which evoke public indignation and those who have done extremely serious harm to the national interest make up only a small number, roughly 10 to 20 per cent, while those to be sentenced to death but to be granted a reprieve probably account for 80 to 90 per cent, that is to say, 80 to 90 per cent may be saved.

# These counter-revolutionaries differ from the bandit chieftains, hardened brigands and local tyrants in the rural areas, from the local tyrants, bandit chieftains, hardened brigands, leaders of criminal gangs and heads of reactionary secret societies in the cities, and also from certain secret agents who have done extremely serious harm to the national interest in that they have contracted no blood debts or committed no other major crimes that incur the deep hatred of the masses.

# The harm they did to the national interest, while serious enough, had not yet reached an extreme.

# They have committed capital offenses, but the masses were not the direct victims.

# If we have such people executed, it will not be easily understood by the masses, nor will the response from public figures be so favourable; at the same time it will deprive us of a large pool of labour-power and will not serve to split the enemy ranks; besides, we may make mistakes on this question.

# Therefore, towards such persons the Central Committee has decided on a policy of passing the death sentence with a reprieve and subjecting them to forced labour to see how they behave.

# If some are beyond reform and continue their wrongdoing, they can be executed later on, as the initiative is in our hands.

# All the local authorities are asked to adhere to the foregoing principle in dealing with the counter-revolutionaries uncovered in the Party, government, military, educational, industrial and commercial and people's organizations.

# As a precaution, the very small number of executions to be carried out (amounting to roughly 10 to 20 per cent of all those sentenced to death) must without exception be reported to the greater administrative areas or the greater military areas for approval.

# As for prominent figures whose execution might affect our united front work, approval must be obtained from the central authorities.

# In the case of counter-revolutionaries in the rural areas, we shall likewise put to death only those whose execution is necessary to assuage the people's anger, and none shall be executed unless the people so demand.

# To some we should similarly apply the policy of passing the death sentence with a reprieve.