Dismissal of Peng Zhen.
Comment on the Proposal to Stop Birthday Celebrations for Individuals
(January 12, 1955)
Agree with this handling.
Mao Zedong
January 12
[1]
This comment was written on a letter from Peng Zhen, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, to Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun, and Deng Xiaoping dated January 3, 1955. The letter stated: Vice Chairman Huang Yanpei once wrote to the General Office of the NPC Standing Committee, proposing that the state should not hold birthday celebrations for individuals. I believe it would be best to take this opportunity of Huang’s proposal to stop the practice of state-sponsored birthday celebrations, lest it become a convention and the state be obliged to celebrate the birthdays of many individuals one after another. If the Central Committee decides to accept Huang’s proposal and abolish the precedent already set, I will circulate Huang Yanpei’s letter within an appropriate scope among the Standing Committee members and, when meeting with several democratic personages, conduct appropriate deliberation in the manner of soliciting opinions, so as to reach a consensus informally with non-Party individuals.