Comment on Comrade Liu Shaoqi’s Letter to
the Comrades in Shanxi and Suiyuan1
(July 25, 1947)
This letter by Comrade Shaoqi is very well-written, and very necessary. The problems Comrade Shaoqi points out in the letter exist not only in one Liberated Area
but in all the Liberated Areas to varying degrees. The principles he lays out are
thus applicable to all Liberated Areas. This letter should therefore be sent to all
localities, with the expectation that the leading organs everywhere will distribute
it to all cadres at every level in the Party, the government, and the military. They
should, moreover, be instructed to study the letter and use it to evaluate all mass
work under their leadership, correcting their mistakes, adding to their achievements, thoroughly resolving the land problem, reforming all organizations that are
detached from the masses, and supporting the people’s war all the way to victory.
Mao Zedong
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 8, p. 159, where it is reproduced
from a brochure called Tudi wenti zhinan, published by the Northwest Bureau’s Propaganda
Department in 1947.
1.  This text is of particular interest in the light of the Cultural Revolution criticisms of
Liu Shaoqi for an excessively radical approach to land reform in 1947. Liu’s letter, of which
Mao here gives his unequivocal approval, advocated precisely the “leftist” line that was
rectified in the spring of 1948 and for which Mao would condemn Liu two decades later.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-12