Draft Amendments to the Directive on the Transformation of Capitalist Industry and Commerce [1]
(November 1955)
In order to further advance the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce,
it is essential to cultivate a core group among the private industrialists and merchants. Each major city should have several hundred such core members, while smaller and medium-sized cities should also have dozens or even just a few. These core members, having received Party education and thereby raised their political consciousness, have gradually resolved to follow the socialist path; as a result, they have come to no longer fear communism and are able to rally around the Party, carrying out propaganda and organizational work among their fellow private industrialists and merchants. Party committees should, through their own leading officials, government functionaries, personnel from the United Front Work Department, and staff of economic organs, regularly educate these core members, show concern for their work, provide guidance, and effectively help them overcome their difficulties and problems. In this way, they can be used to unite the ranks of private industrialists and merchants.
[1]
The text typeset in Song typeface consists of passages added or revised by Mao Zedong.