1. If we do not wish to plunge into such a quagmire, [2] we must pay even fuller attention to implementing the leadership method of the mass line and must not be the least bit negligent.
To this end, we need to establish certain systems to ensure the implementation of the mass line and collective leadership, so as to avoid individual prominence and individual heroism that are divorced from the masses, and to reduce subjectivism and one-sidedness in our work that are divorced from objective reality.

2. The historical experience of our Party is also that it has tempered itself in the course of struggling against various erroneous lines, thereby achieving great victories in revolution and construction.
As for partial and individual errors, they often occur in the course of work. It is only by relying on the collective wisdom of the Party and the wisdom of the masses, and by promptly exposing and overcoming them, that they have been prevented from gaining opportunities to develop, from becoming nationwide and long-term errors, and from becoming major errors that harm the people.

3. Communists must adopt an analytical attitude toward the errors that occur in the communist movement.
Some people believe that Stalin was completely wrong. This is a serious misunderstanding.
Stalin was a great Marxist-Leninist, but he was also a Marxist-Leninist who committed several serious errors without being conscious that they were errors.
We should view Stalin from a historical perspective, making a comprehensive and appropriate analysis of both his correct and erroneous aspects, so as to draw useful lessons.
Both his correct aspects and his erroneous aspects are phenomena of the international communist movement, bearing the characteristics of the times.
On the whole, the international communist movement has only a little over a hundred years of history, and only thirty-nine years have passed since the victory of the October Revolution. Experience in many revolutionary tasks is still insufficient.
We have achieved great successes, but there are still shortcomings and errors.
Just as one success is followed by the creation of new successes, when one shortcoming or error is overcome, new shortcomings or errors may arise, awaiting our efforts to overcome them.
Yet successes always outnumber shortcomings, correct aspects always outnumber erroneous ones, and shortcomings and errors are always eventually overcome.
A good leader is not one who never makes mistakes, but one who takes mistakes seriously.
There has never been a person in the world who is completely free from error.
Lenin said: "Openly admitting mistakes, exposing the causes of mistakes, analyzing the circumstances that gave rise to them, and carefully discussing the methods to correct them—this is the hallmark of a serious party, this is how a party fulfills its duties, this is how it educates and trains the class, and even the masses." [3]
Following Lenin’s behest, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is now seriously addressing certain serious errors of a grave nature committed by Stalin in leading socialist construction and the consequences they have left behind.
Because of the severity of these consequences, it is necessary for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, while affirming Stalin’s great merits, to sharply expose the essence of the errors he committed, call upon the entire Party to take this as a warning, and resolutely eliminate the adverse consequences caused by these errors.
We Chinese Communists firmly believe that after this sharp criticism at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, [4] all positive factors that were severely suppressed by certain erroneous policies in the past will surely become widely active again. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet people will unite more closely than before, striving to build a great communist society the likes of which humanity has never seen and to fight for lasting world peace.
All reactionary forces in the world are now mocking this matter, mocking us for overcoming our own errors within our camp.
What will be the result of such mockery? Without a doubt, the result will be that standing before them will be an even stronger and forever invincible great camp of peace and socialism headed by the Soviet Union, while the man-eating enterprises of the mockers themselves will be in a very sorry state.

Printed based on Mao Zedong’s manuscript.

**Notes**
[1] These are several paragraphs added by Mao Zedong when reviewing the editorial article "On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" by *People’s Daily*. The article was published on April 5, 1956.
[2] This refers to the statement in "On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat": "After the victory of the revolution, when the working class and the Communist Party have become the class and party leading the state power nationwide, the leading personnel of our Party and state, subjected to various attacks of bureaucratism, face the great danger of possibly using state organs to act arbitrarily, become divorced from the masses, break away from collective leadership, practice commandism, and undermine the democratic system of the Party and the state."
[3] See Lenin’s *"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder*. The new translation reads: "Openly admitting mistakes, exposing the causes of mistakes, analyzing the circumstances that gave rise to them, and carefully discussing the methods to correct them—this is the hallmark of a serious party, this is how a party fulfills its duties, this is how it educates and trains the class, and then educates and trains the masses." (*Selected Works of Lenin*, Vol. 4, People’s Publishing House, 1995 edition, p. 167)
[4] The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held in Moscow from February 14 to 25, 1956. After completing the main agenda of the congress, First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev delivered a secret report titled "On Overcoming the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" to all delegates. This report exposed the errors committed during Stalin’s era and their serious consequences, playing a certain role in breaking superstition and emancipating the mind. However, the report completely negated Stalin’s historical status and role, bringing a tremendous shock to the international communist movement.