All Localities Should Pay Attention to
Summarizing the Experience of Work
in the Cities
(February 25, 1948)
To all central bureaus, sub-bureaus, and front committees, and for the information
of the Central Work Committee:
Regarding work in the cities:
	 1.	 The work experience of Shijiazhuang City described in the Central Work
Committee’s February 19 telegram1 must attract the notice of the entire
Party. All central bureaus, sub-bureaus, and front committees must discuss
the Central Work Committee’s February 19 telegram, and print it out and
disseminate it as an internal Party document down to the level of local Party
committee in the localities and the level of regimental committee in the military. Receipt of the Central Work Committee’s February 19 telegram should
give rise to discussion in the Party committees at all levels.
	 2.	 From now on, the work policies and methods of bureaus and armies occupying cities and managing them immediately after occupation should be based
on the policies and methods for occupying and managing Shijiazhuang during the initial period, as described in the Central Work Committee’s February
19 telegram.
	 3.	 Over the years, we have occupied numerous cities and gained a wealth of
experience, but we have failed to summarize what we have learned, and we
have allowed our experiences to be buried. This allowed all kinds of erroneous policies and methods to be repeated again and again, while good experiences were limited to one place and could not be adopted throughout the
Party. This is a result of the empiricism and localism that continue to occupy
an important position in our Party and that is manifested in these matters.
It seems that the central bureaus, local bureaus, and front committees have
not yet carried out serious studies of the cities they have occupied and managed, and they have not reported their work experiences in the cities to the
Central Committee in a relatively comprehensive manner. We have occupied
and managed dozens of large and medium-sized cities for lengthy periods of
time, including Zhangjiakou, Handan, Changzhi, Jincheng, Huaiyin, Yantai,
Weihaiwei, Zichuan, Boshan, Dezhou, Chengde, Chifeng, Andong,2 Harbin,
Qiqihaer, Mudanjiang, Jiamusi, and Shijiazhuang, and we have temporarily occupied and quickly withdrawn from Shenyang, Changchun, Jiaozuo,
Hancheng, Xuchang, Luohe, Yuncheng, and other places. However, our work
experience in these cities (which cannot be called meager) has never been
reported, except for when the Handan Bureau reported on the disorderly situation after our troops entered Yuncheng. An important experience such as
that of Shijiazhuang has been summarized by the Central Work Committee.
It is only from the Central Work Committee’s February 19 telegram that
we learned of the experience in Zhangjiakou two years ago.3 The extremely
deplorable habit of failing to ask in advance for instructions on significant
matters (these are not small or technical matters, but rather significant political matters) and failing to report on such matters after the fact have still not
been eradicated following the Seventh National Congress, and they are now
seriously affecting the development of our Party’s work.
	 4.	 In order to guide our Party’s attention away from overemphasizing warfare
and rural work and toward work in the cities, to quickly take care of the work
at hand in the cities that we have captured, and to have sufficient mental and
organizational preparation for work in the cities we will occupy in the future,
the Central Committee tasks each central bureau, local bureau, and front
committee to produce concise summaries of work in each city with a population of over 50,000 that they have occupied. Complete these summaries
within three to four months, and report them to us via telegram.
The Central Committee

--- Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 71–73, where it is reproduced
from Mao’s handwritten manuscript.

1.  The Central Work Committee’s telegram summarized its experience of work in the
city of Shijiazhuang after the takeover. The committee recommended having armies and
militias to protect rather than to destroy or remove machines, goods, and buildings and
to set up a unified committee to collect, purchase, and allocate goods. Troops should not
engage in looting but should engage in hard work and plain living. The committee advocated relying on outside cadres for managing the city, maintaining social order, and preventing the over-hasty organization of trade unions, associations of the poor, or anarchist
groups. Notorious traitors and bullies should be punished, and all functionaries of the previous regime should be registered. Consultative bodies should be set up and workers should
be sent back to work.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-93


2.  Andong is today’s Dandong.

3.  The Central Work Committee’s telegram reported that soon after the takeover
of Zhangjiakou, leading Party organs moved in from the countryside, and some cadres
engaged in opportunistic and corrupt behavior that created resentment.