Comments on Deng Xiaoping’s Explanatory Draft of the Resolution on Convening the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (September 18, 1955)

Comrade Enlai, please review; return to Xiao Ping for handling. I think it can be presented as it stands, with only a few words changed. Mao Zedong, September 18. Printed from the manuscript.

Notes [1] Deng Xiaoping was then Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee.

[2] In his explanatory draft concerning the resolution to convene the Eighth National Congress, Deng Xiaoping focused on elucidating the reasons why the Eighth Congress had not been held earlier, its main agenda items, the election of delegates, and the timing of its convocation. He stated: The Seventh National Congress of the Party was held in 1945, and the Eighth Congress was convened in 1956, an interval of eleven years. It must be admitted that this was a rather long gap. However, it should be pointed out that there were valid reasons for the delay. From 1945 to 1949, we were engaged in a fierce revolutionary war; from 1950 to 1952, we devoted all our efforts to accomplishing the arduous tasks of completing democratic reforms, restoring the national economy, and consolidating the people’s democratic dictatorship, while at the same time conducting the intense struggle to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. During those seven years, it was entirely understandable that no Party Congress could be held. In 1953, our country embarked on the construction of the First Five-Year Plan. By the end of 1952, while the Political Bureau and the Secretariat were considering the convening of the National People’s Congress, they also gave thought to holding the Eighth National Congress of the Party. At that time, it was decided to first convene a National Representatives’ Conference of the Party. Subsequently, in the latter half of 1953, following the National Economic Work Conference and the National Organizational Work Conference, the Party Central Committee uncovered the Gao Gang–Rao Shushi anti-Party clique. Accordingly, the Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee in February 1954 and the National Representatives’ Conference of the Party in March of this year were held one after another to deal sternly with this matter. Clearly, after resolving such a major issue as the Gao–Rao anti-Party clique, it would be far more appropriate to consider the question of convening the Eighth Congress. Over these years, the Party formulated the General Line for the Transitional Period; the National People’s Congress adopted and promulgated the Constitution; and valuable experience was accumulated in socialist construction, socialist transformation, and other fields. Meanwhile, through rectification and party-building campaigns, cadre screening, dissemination of the General Line, and a series of practical struggles aimed at educating the membership in the principles of socialist construction and transformation, the Party organization became more united and consolidated, and the political awareness of Party members was further enhanced. All of these developments effectively provided a more thorough political and organizational preparation for the Eighth Congress. Looking back today, although the late convening of the Eighth Congress does constitute a shortcoming, both politically and organizationally, holding it in 1956 was undoubtedly a more complete and successful undertaking. 3£¸