Six Articles of Public Security

The Six Articles of Public Security (Chinese: 公安六条), more formally known as the Regulations on Strengthening Public Security Work in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (Chinese: 关于无产阶级文化大革命中加强公安工作的若干规定), was a directive promulgated on January 13, 1967, by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council of the People's Republic of China. Its six points directed state and Party organisations to take steps to punish counterrevolutionaries, strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat and defined categories of "bad members of society". It was one of the main formal justifications for the mass persecution of millions of people in the Cultural Revolution. In 1979, the Central Committee cancelled it after the directive had been blamed for the large numbers of unjust punishments and false accusations that accompanied the Cultural Revolution.

The six articles

The directive is subdivided into six points, from which it takes its name. The points are:

1) Punishment shall be carried out according to the law for counterrevolutionary elements who commit murder, arson, poisoning or looting, secretly carry out assassinations through staged traffic accidents, or make open attacks on prisons or institutions where criminals are kept, or who have illicit relations with foreign countries, steal state secrets, and engage in destructive activities.
2) Punishment shall be carried out according to the law for those who attack and slander the great leader Chairman Mao and his close comrade-in-arms, Lin Biao, by mailing out counter-revolutionary anonymous letters, overtly or covertly posting and disseminating counter-revolutionary pamphlets, and writing and shouting reactionary slogans.
3) The revolutionary masses and revolutionary mass organizations shall be protected. Leftists shall be protected. Fighting is strictly prohibited. Punishment shall be carried out to those who are the principal culprits in, who are heavily involved in, or who conspire behind the beating up of the revolutionary masses.
4) Landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries and rightists are not permitted to participate in the great exchange of revolutionary experience, sneak into revolutionary organizations, or establish their own organizations.
5) Disseminating reactionary statements under the guise of greater democracy or other means is prohibited.
6) Punishment shall be carried out against party, state, military, and public security officials who violate the stipulations above or suppress the revolutionary masses on fabricated charges.^[1]

Impact

The Six Articles gained notoriety for their use in the Cultural Revolution to persecute millions on bogus charges of opposing Mao or other counter-revolutionary activity, or simply of being the wrong class.^[2] They were used by the radical Party faction led by the Gang of Four to punish dissidents and anyone else considered an enemy. Following the fall of the Gang of Four, the Central Committee annulled the document on 17 February 1979 and charged the Gang and former Minister of Security Xie Fuzhi with a variety of crimes.^[3]

References

^ 40 Years of Chinese Communist Party Rule. Chinese Communist Party Data Publishing House. 1989. p. 287.
^ Feng Chongyi (2016). "China's Socialist Rule of Law". In John Garrick; Yan Chang Bennett (eds.). China's Socialist Rule of Law: Reforms Under Xi Jinping. Routledge. p. 54.
^ Jian, Guo; Song, Yongyi; Zhou, Yuan (2015). Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-4422-5172-4.

External links

Chinese Wikisource has original text related to this article: 关于无产阶级文化大革命中加强公安工作的若干规定

[1] 40 Years of Chinese Communist Party Rule. Chinese Communist Party Data Publishing House. 1989. p. 287.

[2] Feng Chongyi (2016). "China's Socialist Rule of Law". In John Garrick; Yan Chang Bennett (eds.). China's Socialist Rule of Law: Reforms Under Xi Jinping. Routledge. p. 54.

[JianSong2015-3] Jian, Guo; Song, Yongyi; Zhou, Yuan (2015). Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-4422-5172-4.

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v t e Cultural Revolution
Prelude	Anti-Rightist Campaign Great Chinese Famine Great Leap Forward Lushan Conference Seven Thousand Cadres Conference Socialist Education Movement Taoyuan Experience
Major events	Down to the Countryside Movement Cleansing the Class Ranks 12-3 incident January Storm February Countercurrent Wuhan incident 9th Party Congress One Strike-Three Anti Campaign Project 571 Lin Biao incident 10th Party Congress Black Painting incident Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius Hangzhou incident 1975 Banqiao Dam failure Counterattack the Right-Deviationist Reversal-of-Verdicts Trend 1976 Nanjing incident 1976 Tiananmen Incident
Massacres	Red August Daxing Massacre Guangxi Massacre Inner Mongolia incident Guangdong Massacre Hunan Massacres Daoxian massacre Shaoyang County Massacre Yunnan Massacres Zhao Jianmin spy case Shadian incident Ruijin Massacre
Key figures	Mao Zedong Liu Shaoqi Zhou Enlai Lin Biao Deng Xiaoping Gang of Four (Jiang Qing Zhang Chunqiao Yao Wenyuan Wang Hongwen) Peng Dehuai Wu Han Peng Zhen Tao Zhu Chen Boda Wang Dongxing Xie Fuzhi Ji Dengkui Wang Li Qi Benyu Wu Faxian Qiu Huizuo Yang Chengwu Chen Zaidao Kang Sheng Mao Yuanxin Hua Guofeng Ye Jianying
Documents	A List of Cadres to Be Protected Bombard the Headquarters Quotations from Chairman Mao Hai Rui Dismissed from Office May 16 Notification Six Articles of Public Security Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits On Class Origins
Concepts	Four Olds Newborn socialist things Struggle session Feudal fascism Big-character poster Cow demons and snake spirits Bloodline theory Continuous Revolution Theory Seizure of power Violent Struggle One Divides into Two Democracy Wall Eight model plays Loyalty dance Capitalist roader Yiku sitian Learn from Daqing in industry Learn from Dazhai in agriculture Stinking Old Ninth Five Black Categories Five Red Categories
Groups	Red Guards Conservative Faction Little Red Guards Rebel Faction Scarlet Guards Ultra-Left Faction Xiaoyao Faction May Sixteenth elements Five Man Group Cultural Revolution Group Central Case Examination Group Central Organization and Propaganda Leading Group Hunan Provincial Proletarian Revolutionary Great Alliance Committee Revolutionary committee in Heilongjiang in Shanghai 8341 Special Regiment Sent-down youth 61 Renegades Barefoot doctor Worker-Peasant-Soldier student May Seventh Cadre School Xiang River Storm and Thunder
Related topics	Maoism Mao Zedong's cult of personality Mango cult List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party Class struggle Sino-Soviet split Two Whatevers Morning Sun (film) 3rd Plenum of the 11th Central Committee Boluan Fanzheng New Enlightenment Scar literature
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