Comrade Liu Shaoqi: How was your tour? I presume you have already arrived in Hangzhou.

According to Comrades An Ziwén and Hu Qiaomu [2], there are still many individuals—such as Yin Yigang of the Hebei Party School—who, like those who wrote the letter mentioned earlier, express disagreement with the notion that the semi-proletariat is also a leading class. This issue has been raised in party rectification campaigns across numerous localities, and their arguments are valid. Therefore, we must now correct the relevant wording in the draft resolution on party rectification.

At present, we find ourselves in a passive position; only by making this correction can we regain the initiative.

I am hereby sending you one telegram [3], one report from An Ziwén [4], and one letter from Yin Yigang and others of the Hebei Party School for your review and opinion. Please let me know your views and instruct the messenger to take the documents back with them. Thank you.

Here, all matters are proceeding well; please do not worry.

Wishing you all good health and peace!  Mao Zedong, December 15th.  To Comrades Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yun, An Ziwén, Hu Qiaomu, and Yang Shangkun [5]: We previously wrote to Comrade Liu Shaoqi seeking his opinion on this matter and have now received his reply. Please review it.

I have also made some revisions to the telegram [6] and believe it would be advisable to circulate the letters from Comrades Yin and Luo, along with An Ziwén’s report and the Central Committee’s telegram, to all localities. Only in this way can we clarify the issue and enable the Central Committee to take the lead on it.

If you agree, please have Comrade Yang Shangkun handle the matter.  Mao Zedong, December 23rd.  Printed from the manuscript.

Notes [1] During both the New Democratic Revolution and the Socialist Revolution, the working class has consistently been recognized in Chinese Communist Party documents as the leading class of the Chinese revolution. The assertion that the semi-proletariat is also a leading class appeared only in a few documents around the time of the founding of the People’s Republic.

In February 1948, when revising the draft of the “Central Committee’s Regulations on the Classification of Various Social Classes in Land Reform and Their Treatment,” Mao Zedong used this formulation, stating: “The proletariat and the semi-proletariat (poor peasants) constitute the leading classes of the people’s democratic revolution and the new state power, with the proletariat serving as the principal leading force.”

During the First National Organizational Work Conference convened by the CPC Central Committee in March–April 1951, the draft resolution on “Rectifying Grass-roots Party Organizations,” prepared on the basis of Liu Shaoqi’s report, likewise noted: “In the past, the Chinese revolution was led by the urban working class and the rural semi-proletariat; henceforth, leadership by the working class will be even more essential.” In July of the same year, the Central Committee’s “Explanation Regarding the Leading Role of the Working Class and the Semi-Proletariat” revised this sentence to read: “In the past, the Chinese revolution was led by the working class and the semi-proletariat in both urban and rural areas.”

On October 27 of that year, Yin Yigang and Luo Yunlu of the CPC Hebei Provincial Party School wrote a letter expressing dissent over the claim that the semi-proletariat is also a leading class. Mao Zedong forwarded the letter to An Ziwén, requesting that he submit recommendations for handling the matter. An Ziwén proposed amending the wording to remove the semi-proletariat from the category of leading classes. Mao Zedong concurred with this revision and wrote to seek Liu Shaoqi’s opinion. Liu quickly replied in agreement.

That December, the CPC Central Committee formally issued the “Revised Instructions on the Question of the Leading Class in the Chinese Revolution,” stating: “With regard to the leadership of the Chinese revolution, whether in the past or in the future, it should always be stated that the revolution is led solely by the working class (through its vanguard, the Communist Party of China), and the semi-proletariat should no longer be included.”  [2] An Ziwén (1909–1980), a native of Shuanghuyu Town, Suide County, Shaanxi Province (now part of Zizhou County), served at the time as Deputy Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. Hu Qiaomu was then Deputy Minister of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and Mao Zedong’s secretary.  [3] Refers to the draft of the CPC Central Committee’s “Revised Instructions on the Question of the Leading Class in the Chinese Revolution” then being prepared.  [4] Refers to An Ziwén’s report dated November 28, 1951, addressed to Mao Zedong, recommending that the formulation regarding the semi-proletariat as a leading class be amended.  [5] Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Zhu refers to Zhu De. Chen refers to Chen Yun, who at the time held the posts of Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the Government Administration Council. Yang Shangkun (1907–1998), a native of Tongnan County, Sichuan Province (now part of Chongqing Municipality), served at the time as Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.  [6] Mao Zedong’s main revision to the draft of the CPC Central Committee’s “Revised Instructions on the Question of the Leading Class in the Chinese Revolution” consisted of adding, after the passage mentioning that previous Party documents had occasionally referred to the semi-proletariat as part of the leading class and had “included it,” the following sentence: “The Central Committee deems such past formulations inappropriate, while the views of Comrades Yin Yigang and Luo Yunlu of the Hebei Provincial Party School are correct.”