Endorsement of the Report on the Spirit of the Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau
( April 2, 1951 )

Comrade Zihui,[1] with copies to Comrades Shushi, Xiaoping, Zhongxun, Yibo, Gaogang, and Jianying[2]:

Comrade Zihui’s report of March 22 has been received. I approve the various policies and plans set forth in this report. It is very necessary to clearly delineate the land reform process into three stages.[3] All newly liberated areas should educate cadres to carry out the steps of the three stages accordingly, without omission or skipping. It is also correct to define the tasks in the countryside after land reform as production, education, and democracy—that is, in addition to the two tasks of production and education, there is also the task of establishing democratic life. In regions such as the Central-South, it is necessary for each province to convene a congress of representatives from the Soviet areas, but please note that when publishing news in the newspapers, the old name "Old Red Areas" should be used, not the term "Soviet areas."

In factories and enterprises, wherever the two tasks of denouncing the old system and overcoming bureaucratism have not yet been carried out, it is very necessary to conduct them universally once. On the issue of suppressing counterrevolutionaries, the report’s emphasis on intensifying propaganda and guarding against inaccuracies is quite correct. The method for guarding against inaccuracies is to have the prefectural or municipal party committee level meticulously review the arrest lists before making arrests, and then carry out arrests according to the lists. This means that the power of arrest previously vested in the county level is to be reclaimed by the prefectural party committee level. The report states: "In various counties of Henan, the practice of having the county draw up lists, submitting them to the peasant representative congress for discussion, and obtaining approval from the special commissioner’s office is very good and should be promoted and implemented." This should mean reclaiming the power of arrest from the county level to the prefectural party committee level. The method of the Tianjin Special Commissioner’s Office is likewise the same, and this method is the most reliable. Regarding the purge of leading Party, government, and military organs as well as key departments, plans should be drawn up now and work should begin. The experience of the Southwest[1] has already been circulated to you. Recently, Comrade Rao Shushi’s report[2] set forth specific steps and methods, which have been issued in a circular; please follow them accordingly.

Mao Zedong
April 2

[1] Refers to the summary report of the Public Security Department of the Southwest Military and Political Committee, dated March 8, 1951, on purging reactionary elements from finance, economics, transportation, and other departments, submitted to all public security departments and copied to the Central Public Security Ministry.
[2] Refers to Rao Shushi’s report of March 29, 1951, to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee on issues such as purging the outer, middle, and inner layers during the suppression of counterrevolutionaries.