In his letter to the Red Guards, Chairman Mao said that the revolutionary actions of the Red Guards "express your wrath against and your denunciation of the landlord class, the bourgeoisie, the imperialists, the revisionists and their running dogs, all of whom exploit and oppress the workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals and revolutionary parties and groups. They show that it is right to rebel against reactionaries. I warmly support you." Afterwards, Chairman Mao received 13 million Red Guards and other revolutionary masses from all parts of the country on eight occasions at Tien An Men in the capital, which heightened the revolutionary fighting will of the whole country.

The revolutionary movements of the workers, peasants and revolutionary functionaries developed rapidly. Increasing numbers of big-characters posters spread like a raging prairie fire and roared like guns; the slogan "It is right to rebel against reactionaries" resounded throughout the land. And the battle of the people in the hundreds of millions to bombard Liu Shao-chi's bourgeois headquarters developed vigorously.