Comprehensive Reports Are Very Necessary[1]

(August 20, 1948)

Your comprehensive report of August 15 has been received, much to our satisfaction. Such comprehensive reports and individual reports on specific problems not only do not conflict with each other, but it is also essential to have such reports, and only after having many such reports can we see the full picture of a large strategic area. There is also a benefit for the comrade writing such a report, namely that in the course of writing he must both connect with and transcend various specific problems and various routine tasks, and reflect carefully for a while on the overall situation and on commonalities. Such reflection is indispensable for a leading comrade; without it, leadership work will fail.

[1] This is the main content of Mao Zedong's telegram in reply to Lin Biao.