What should our policy be towards non-Marxist ideas? As far as unmistakable counter-revolutionaries and saboteurs of the socialist cause are concerne… - Mao Zedong

Our Party has laid down the general line and general policy of the Chinese revolution as well as various specific lines for work and specific policies. However, while many comrades remember our Party’s specific lines for work and specific policies, they often forget its general line and general policy. If we actually forget the Party’s general line and general policy, then we shall be blind, half-baked, muddle-headed revolutionaries, and when we carry out a specific line for work and a specific policy, we shall lose our bearings and vacillate now to the left and now to the right, and the work will suffer.

在上海时，一个中央分裂为两个中央，在长征中与张国焘分裂，高饶事件是部分分裂。部分的分裂是经常的。去年以来。全国有一半的省份在领导集团内发生了分裂。人身上海天都要脱发、脱皮，这就是灭亡一部分细胞。从小孩起就要灭亡一部分细胞，这才有利于生长。如果没有灭亡，人就不能生存。自从孔夫子以来，人要不灭亡那不得了。灭亡有好处，可以做肥料，你说不做，实际做了。精神上要有准备。部分的分裂每天都存在。分裂灭亡总会有的。没有分裂．不利于发展。整个的灭亡，也是历史的必然。整个讲，作为阶级斗争工具的党和国家，是要灭亡的。但在它的历史任务未完成前，是要巩固它，不希望分裂，但要准备分裂。没有准备，就要分裂。有准备。就可避免大分裂。大型、中型的分裂是暂时的。匈牙利事件是大型的，高饶事件、莫洛托失事件是中型的。每个支部都在起变化，有些开除，有些进来，有些工作很好，有些犯错误。永远不起变化是不可能的。列宁经常说：国家总有两种可能。或者胜利，或者灭亡。我们中华人为共和国也有两种可能，胜利下去，或者灭亡。列宁是不隐讳灭亡这种可能性的，我们人民共和国也有两种可能性，不要否定这种可能性。我们手里没有原子弹，打起来，三十六计，走为上计，他占北京、上海、武汉，我们打游击，倒退十几年，二十年，回到延安时代。所以一方面我们要积极准备，大搞钢铁，搞机器，搞铁路，争取三四年内搞几千万吨钢，建立起工业基础，使我们比现在更巩固。

Since ancient times, it has been rare for a man to live to seventy. I am now more than eighty. In my old age I have thought often of death. In China it is said, “You can judge a man only after they close the lid of his coffin.” Although my “coffin lid” is not yet closed, it will happen soon, so it is a time to sum up. During my life I have accomplished two things. First, over the course of several decades, I fought against Chiang Kai-shek and chased him to the islands. During eight years of the war against Japan, I requested that the Japanese soldiers return home. We conquered Beijing and ultimately seized the Forbidden City. There are few people who do not acknowledge this. And there are only a few people who buzz into my ears that I should retake these islands quickly. The second thing you all know about. This is the launching of the Great Cultural Revolution. There are not many who support it, and not a few who oppose it. Both of these tasks are unfinished. This “legacy” must be handed down to the next generation. How should that be done? If it can’t be done peacefully, then it must be done via shock tactics. If we really do not engage in this, then “the wind and rain will turn red with blood.” How will you deal with this? Only Heaven knows.