Dear fellow reporters and comrades, I am writing to you today with a message different from that of my usual dispatches. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that through bits and pieces of my reporting, my words have been nothing less than reckless. In the early 1950s, I published a piece in On the Ground in China that inaccurately described the goals of the great Chairman Mao’s Land Reform initiative. I claimed that Chairman Mao was engaging in theatrics as he set out to achieve the wonderful rewards that Land Reform would bring to the masses. Upon reflecting, however, I feel it is wrong for me to imply that the Chairman engages in theatrics. Chairman Mao is a man who sets out to achieve goals for the people, not to play around. I should have known from some of the Chairman’s most famous words that he was not here to engage in theatrics. He tells us, “Our stand is that of the proletariat and of the masses. For members of the Communist Party, this means keeping to the stand of the Party, keeping to Party spirit and Party policy.” [LRB 15] I have always understood the importance of standing with the proletariat and I hope that I can be forgiven for my remarks.
Comrades, this is not the only place where I have made false claims. In my article about the Three Years of Natural Disasters, I wrote “I can only wonder who will claim responsibility for the devastating past few years.” I would never ever accuse the Chairman of causing three years of natural disasters. Surely that is outrageous. Of course, it is impossible for the Chairman to somehow cause terrible storms to ravage the countryside. Am I silly? Do I not know how the weather works? As I should know during these Three Years of Natural Disasters, many sacrifices were made. “Wherever there is struggle there is sacrifice, and death is a common occurrence” [LRB 82]. I understand the implications of my reckless comments throughout my reporting. I am wholeheartedly in support of the great Chairman, who I know will only bring our great country to new heights never seen before.