Comrade Shaoqi and comrades of the Secretariat:

The letter and the draft resolution [1] have been received.

The draft resolution has been revised to make it more substantiated and clearer.
Participating in the revision were several comrades here [2], and Comrade Lin Biao [3] also expressed his agreement.

It seems appropriate to convene a plenary session of the Central Committee to adopt this resolution, so as to demonstrate due prudence.
The majority of the Central Committee members are in Beijing; only a minority are not. Convening a session is very easy, with the addition of a number of comrades bearing important work responsibilities attending the meeting.
Whether this proposal is feasible, please give it your consideration.

If a plenary session is to be convened, the time in late January would be suitable [4].
The agenda could have three items: (1) to approve the work of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee since the Third Plenary Session; (2) to decide on convening a National Party Conference within this year to discuss the outline of the First Five-Year Plan; (3) to adopt the resolution on strengthening Party unity.

The report should be delivered by Comrade Liu Shaoqi, written in advance, with four to five thousand characters being sufficient.
The report can be divided into three sections: the first section briefly recounting achievements in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, land reform, the suppression of counterrevolutionaries, economic recovery, the general line for the transition period, and the first year of the First Five-Year Plan; the second section stating that in order to discuss and adopt the outline of the First Five-Year Plan, it is necessary to convene a National Party Conference within this year, and noting that the delegates have already been elected and the conference can be convened as soon as the documents are ready; the third section outlining the main points of the draft resolution on strengthening Party unity and requesting the plenary session to discuss and approve this resolution.
This report can be completed in three to five days. If time permits, please send it to me by wire for a look. If the meeting is set for January 25, there will be ample time.

For the rest, Comrade Shangkun [5] will report in person.

Mao Zedong
January 7, 1954

The plenary session should issue a brief communiqué, simply announcing the three agenda items; everything else need not be made public.
A postscript.

Regarding the third agenda item, every effort should be made to provide only a positive explanation, without launching criticism against any comrade.

Published based on the manuscript.

**Notes**
[1] Refers to the draft resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on strengthening Party unity. This draft resolution was adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the CPC on February 10, 1954.
[2] Mao Zedong was in Hangzhou at the time.
[3] Lin Biao was then Vice Chairman of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People’s Government. He was recuperating in Hangzhou.
[4] The Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the CPC was held in Beijing from February 6 to 10, 1954.
[5] Shangkun, i.e., Yang Shangkun, was then Director of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC.