Forwarded Comment on the Experience of the Agriculture Department of Hebei Province in Examining Old Personnel

(April 20, 1951)

To all Central Bureaus, and forward to sub-bureaus, provincial Party committees, regional Party committees, Party committees of large and medium-sized municipalities, all greater military regions, and forward to all provincial military districts, the Volunteer Army Command, departments directly under the Central Military Commission and all special service arms commands, and all Party groups in the Central Government:

This typical experience of the North China Bureau concerning the examination of old personnel and new intellectuals [1] is extremely good. With this experience, we now have full confidence in the examination of the more than one million old personnel and new intellectuals currently participating in work nationwide. Please make full use of this experience.

Mao Zedong
April 20

Printed from the manuscript.

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[1] Refers to the report submitted to the Central Committee by the North China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on April 12, 1951, concerning the experience of the Agriculture Department of the Hebei Provincial Government in examining old personnel and new intellectuals. The main experiences are: 1. High-level leading organs first need to conduct the "Three Examinations" (examination of history, examination of ideology, examination of work), and also have the conditions to carry them out. 2. It is necessary for the leading cadres to take responsibility and personally take action, with the administrative body and the Party branch coordinating with each other, mobilizing the entire Party and all activists outside the Party to do the work well. 3. The content and purpose of the Three Examinations must be put forward directly and straightforwardly; beating around the bush will instead cause unnecessary confusion. 4. In conducting the Three Examinations among non-Party cadres, a distinction must be made from within the Party; working methods must be flexible, making more use of individual talks and small meeting formats to avoid reaching an impasse. 5. It is essential to grasp the key points, namely, to focus on individuals with serious problems, and to concentrate on historical and political issues; do not delve into trivial details of daily life, and even more so, do not get entangled with persons of secondary importance. 6. Properly resolve the contradiction between the Three Examinations and work.