PERSONAL DIARY

Diary entry written by an educated youth participating in a political campaign in a village. Part of the campaign was to attack two local officials.

June 10 “...Afraid of offending people. I have already announced publicly that I’m not afraid of offending people, and that I will “Confront first, attack first.” But in the process of the campaign, to a greater or lesser extent, I still have a little [fear of offending people]. My attitude toward Wang Jiangqi is a conspicuous example. Toward Zhang Zhiyou, I have no problem exposing him or carrying out criticism. Toward Wang Jiangqi, I recognize that he has problems, but these are still contradictions among the people. Besides, he has a lot of relatives and deep roots here, so he’s hard to purge. So I have still not expressed myself particularly clearly on this issue, and I haven’t “confronted first.”

Quotation on Diary: “The enemy won’t destroy themselves. Whether it’s the Chinese reactionaries or the invading strength of the American imperialists in China, neither one will leave the stage of history by themselves.”

From "Carrying the Revolution Through to the End," 1948.