Why Do Right Opportunists Now Launch An Offensive?

August 16, 1959

[SOURCE: Long Live Mao Zedong Thought, a Red Guard Publication.]

Comrades who committed errors of right opportunism did not air their opinions at the Changchow conference last November, nor at the Pei-tai-ho conference on high production targets, nor at the Wu-chang conference last November, nor at the Peking conference last January, nor at the Chengchow conference last February, nor at the Shanghai conference toward the end of last March and the beginning of last April, but they did air them at the Lu-shan conference.

Why didn’t they bring up their opinions on those occasions, but did so now? Because what they advocate could not be brought up on those occasions. If they had correct ideas, better than ours, they should have brought them up at the Pei-tai-ho conference. They waited until the Central Committee had solved the problems, or most of the problems, and then brought up their opinions, believing that if they did not bring them up now, they could not very well do so later. They felt that if they did not bring them up now, the situation would have changed for the better a few months from now. Once the opportune time is gone, they will be put in a very unfavorable position. That’s why they were anxious to make the move now.

Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung