(November 30, December 28, 1954)
Reviewed by Liu, Zhou, Zhu, Chen, and Deng; returned to Comrade Peng Dehuai for implementation. The meeting is to be chaired by Comrade Peng Dehuai; I do not intend to attend.
Mao Zedong
November 30th
(1)
Returned to Comrade Peng Dehuai.
On page 13, line 7, the two characters “motives” should be supplemented with the six characters “reactionary or counter-revolutionary.” The remainder is approved.
Mao Zedong
December 28th

--- Notes

This first document is a note written by Mao Zedong on Comrade Peng Dehuai’s report dated November 30, 1954. Peng Dehuai, a member of the CPC Central Military Commission, Vice Premier of the State Council, and Minister of National Defense, had submitted this report concerning the agenda, attendees, and procedures of the expanded meeting of the Military Commission scheduled for December 15, as decided at the Commission’s fourteenth session. The second document is Mao Zedong’s note on Peng Dehuai’s draft summary (for review) of the expanded meeting of the Military Commission, submitted on December 27. The main contents of the summary report are:
(1) To accelerate the modernization of our armed forces, implement compulsory military service, regulations governing officers’ terms of service, and an officers’ salary system.
(2) In order to reduce the number of leading bodies within the Military Commission and to facilitate air defense command and overall work leadership during wartime, the country will be divided into twelve military regions, while provincial military districts will remain in place.
(3) Continuing the decision that public security forces in each province shall be under the unified leadership of the provincial military district, and with a view to gradually establishing a national police system, a portion of the public security forces will be progressively converted into police units.
(4) Regarding military training of troops and military education for cadres, it was decided that troop training should be the central focus of the entire armed forces, with cadre training institutions serving as the “center of the center.” To strengthen leadership over this work, a General Headquarters for Military Training was established.
(5) Maintaining the political and ideological purity of all members of the armed forces, particularly the cadre corps, was designated as a serious political task.
(6) Raising the ideological awareness of cadres and preventing corruption and degeneration.