The Six Articles of Public Security (), more formally known as the Regulations on Strengthening Public Security Work in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (), was a directive promulgated on January 13, 1967, by the

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is the Central committee, highest organ when the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, national congress is not ...

and the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

. 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 The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. 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:

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. They were used by the radical Party faction led by the

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to th ...

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 Xie Fuzhi (; 26 September 1909 – 26 March 1972) was a Chinese Communist Party military commander, political commissar, and national security specialist. He was born in 1909 in Hong'an County, Hubei and died in Beijing in 1972. Xie was known ...

with a variety of crimes.

References

External links

* {{Cultural Revolution 1967 works Cultural Revolution Ministry of Public Security (China) 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Documents of the State Council