Speech at a Meeting of Provincial Party Secretaries

This meeting will primarily study three questions: the question of ideological trends, the question of rural work, and the question of economic work. It will also study some other questions, such as increasing production and practicing economy, the legal system (including the suppression of counter-revolutionaries), organizational structure (mainly simplification), the division of power between the central and local authorities, taxation, the united front, ethnic minorities, disaster areas, students (from primary school to university), thinking of every possible way to solve this year's difficulties, and issues like grain, mountainous areas, and rectification.

The question of ideological trends—ideological trends within the Party, ideological trends in society—must be grasped.

Some are matters of personal gain, scrambling for fame and fortune; "seeking only profit" has developed significantly within the Party. If promoted one grade, they won't get out of bed; if promoted two grades, they still cry; only when promoted three grades do they get up. Within the Party, the comparison is not about arduous struggle or doing more work, but about treatment and status. In the past, the Kuomintang had a Tang Shaoyi, who went from being Premier of the Cabinet to being the county magistrate of Zhongshan County in Guangdong Province. We in the Communist Party have not yet had a minister go to be a county magistrate. In short, they can only be promoted, not demoted; they compare themselves with those who are higher, not lower; they compare extravagance, not arduous struggle.

Another issue is the view on socialist transformation. Is there any hope for the cooperatives? Are cooperatives better or is the individual economy better? I hear there are no problems in heavily disaster-stricken areas and in areas with bumper harvests; the problems arise in those areas that are disaster-stricken but not heavily, and have a harvest but not a bumper one. A portion of the people have not seen an increase in income but a decrease, and so the discussions have started. This is also reflected within the Party. Some ministers in Beijing, after returning from the countryside, say: "The peasants are listless, their enthusiasm for production is low." Some cadres comment: "The cooperative movement is on the verge of collapse." "The cooperatives have no superiority." In some places, even the propaganda department heads dare not publicize the superiority of cooperativization. The heads of cooperatives cannot hold their heads up, are criticized everywhere, and are cursed from three sides. The agricultural departments held a meeting, and the two systems of the Rural Work Department and the Ministry of Agriculture were demoralized. The question of whether the Forty Articles are necessary and can be implemented has also arisen.

The year before last, we opposed right deviation, and rash advance emerged. Last year, we opposed rash advance, and right deviation emerged again (right deviation mainly refers to the rural areas; other aspects have not been fully examined). There is a gust of wind here, which may exist in all localities, only differing in magnitude. It's like a typhoon of grade eight or grade twelve. Among the cadres, one point is worth noting: the families of most cadres are landlords, rich peasants, or well-to-do middle peasants (well-to-do middle peasants are a wavering class). After listening to their families, they say the cooperatives are no good. Cooperativization will be done well no matter what. But it cannot be done well in one or two years. Our cooperativization has actually only had a history of one and a half years. With a history of three years, it can be basically stable; with a history of five years, it will be unshakeable.

Schools have been established, but graduates cannot be assigned jobs and are dissatisfied. The Ministry of Geology has a geology school in Zhengding County, Shijiazhuang Prefecture, where more than a thousand people went on strike and caused trouble because they were not assigned jobs. They wanted to go to Beijing. Their slogans included "Down with fascism!" "We want war, not peace!" "Socialism is backward and has no superiority!" A student at Peking University openly said: "One day, I will kill thousands, tens of thousands of people." ××× went to speak: "You want to kill people, I will exercise dictatorship!" Over eighty percent of the students in Beijing's institutions of higher learning are children of landlords, rich peasants, well-to-do middle peasants, and big, medium, and small capitalists. The children of workers and poor peasants make up less than twenty percent. Gomułka originally opposed dogmatism, and his words were very popular among the students. Now he has turned to opposing right deviation, and it's no longer working. The speeches of Tito and Kardelj are also welcomed by some people. I hear that in the countryside, the landlords and rich peasants are quite well-behaved, and in the cities, the democratic parties and capitalists are also relatively well-behaved. This is because these people have no ground under their feet, no capital. As for whether these people will change if the world changes, if an atomic bomb is dropped on Shanghai or Beijing, it is hard to say. These young people now have no experience, they are not as worldly-wise as their fathers, so they have popped their heads up and are shouting and screaming.

After the 20th Congress of the CPSU, the majority of people in our Party are normal and stable, while a few have wavered. Before it rains, ants always come out of their holes. In China, there are also a few ants that want to come out and be active. Now that Khrushchev has changed, the ants have also retreated. After the 20th Congress of the CPSU, two major storms occurred, and the parties in many countries suffered losses. The British party lost a quarter, the Swiss party lost half, and the American party was thrown into chaos. The Eastern parties and the Chinese party were less affected. The Stalin question involves the entire communist movement. Some people criticize Stalin without analysis; those who supported Stalin most fiercely in the past are now the ones who oppose Stalin most fiercely. They suddenly turned 180 degrees, not talking about Marxism-Leninism, not talking about morality. Some people in the Party waver as soon as a typhoon comes. The wavering elements waver as soon as there is a sign of trouble. Some waver once or twice and then stop wavering! Some waver forever. Small trees, rice, sorghum, corn, and the grass on the wall always sway when the wind comes. Only big trees do not sway. There are typhoons every year, but political typhoons may not occur every year. This phenomenon is a natural phenomenon of social politics.

The Chinese party is a party of the proletariat and semi-proletariat, but many of its members come from landlord, rich peasant, and capitalist families. Although some Party members have struggled arduously for many years, they have not learned Marxism-Leninism well and cannot withstand typhoons ideologically and politically. This should be noted. Some people in the Party have passed all other tests, but cannot pass the test of socialism. Xue Xun, a deputy secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, was a representative of the students who went south to petition after the "September 18th Incident." She wavered during the unified purchase and sale and resolutely opposed it. Meng Yongqian, a deputy director of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, also submitted a memorial to state his views, resolutely opposing the unified purchase and sale. In fact, the unified purchase and sale is an important step in realizing socialism. These people just cannot pass this test of socialism. These phenomena within our Party have not ended. They may not end in another ten years. After ten years, it is not certain whether everyone will genuinely believe in socialism. As soon as a problem arises, some people will say they had thought of it long ago.

The reflections of army cadres on the life of the peasants must be analyzed. There is a reasonable part (such as high salaries), and also an incorrect part. It is possible that some people, having listened to their families, are complaining on behalf of the peasants. In the first half of 1955, Liang Shuming also complained on behalf of the peasants, and some people in the Party also complained, as if the Party Central Committee and the provincial Party committees did not represent the peasants, and only they represented the peasants. There was an investigation in Jiangsu which found that most of those who complained were from families with surplus grain that they did not want to sell. Some comrades in the army reflected that: "The countryside is 'left,' the cities are 'right.'" This statement is fundamentally wrong. For example, a peasant's annual income is sixty yuan, while a worker's monthly income is sixty yuan. But a worker supports a family of four, with an average of fifteen yuan per person. Calculated by household, a worker gets seven hundred and twenty yuan a year, and a peasant gets two hundred and forty yuan a year. But expenses are high in the city and low in the countryside. The improvement of the peasants' livelihood depends on their own production; the state cannot pay them wages. Many rural subsidiary occupations are not taxed. The tax collected is eight percent of the peasants' income. Another portion is taken from the peasants through the price scissors, less than twelve percent. The two parts together do not exceed twenty percent at most, which is much less than the forty-five percent in the Soviet Union. As for unified purchase, it is only bought at the market price. The state helps the peasants mainly with fertilizer and water conservancy (small-scale water conservancy is done by the peasants, large and medium-scale water conservancy is done by the state). The cities seem to be "right." In the past, the capitalists took away one hundred and fifty million a year, nine hundred million in six years. Now, with fixed interest for seven years, we give them eight hundred million, a total of one point seven billion. At that time, we will have to see the situation; this is related to international issues. We spent this little bit of money to buy out this class (including its intellectuals and democratic parties, about eight million people in total). They are a class with relatively high knowledge. We must strip them of their political capital. The methods are, one, to buy them out with money, and two, to arrange positions for them. The Communist Party plus the leftists occupy two-thirds; the other one-third has no choice but to raise their hands. If they don't raise their hands, they won't have food to eat. If their children want to learn from Hungary, they will get a spanking when they are moved to their father's side.

University students are given scholarships to study. If you want to expand democracy, I am not afraid. When faced with great democracy, first, I welcome it; second, I analyze it. I will accept what is right and expose what is wrong. If I am unreasonable, I will admit my mistake and resolutely correct it. If you are unreasonable, I will grab you by your pigtail. The strike and trouble at the geology school were differentiated as soon as it was discussed. Among the seventy representatives, only a dozen or so supported the three slogans, while over fifty opposed them. When it was put to the more than four thousand people for discussion, no one supported them, and the dozen or so people were isolated. Expanding democracy is a good thing. Without great democracy, Hungary could not have suppressed the counter-revolutionaries. The emergence of trouble is a good thing; once the sore has burst, the pus is gone, and the problem is solved. Don't be afraid of trouble.

In the past, we were not afraid of imperialism and Chiang Kai-shek, so should we be afraid of great democracy? It is too unseemly for the Communist Party to be afraid of great democracy, worse than Duan Qirui. The current Party and government are revolutionary; this point is written into the constitution. The young people who are madly shouting "Down with fascism" and "We want war" are violating the constitution. China's reforms will not be toppled by these young people. If a few student kids can topple us, then we are just good-for-nothings.

Last year was an eventful year, the most intense year of China's socialist transformation.

I will only talk about one issue.

For other issues, there is a document on increasing production and practicing economy.

The suppression of counter-revolutionaries must be upheld; all counter-revolutionaries must be suppressed. It is not acceptable to be timid. But the legal system must be observed.

Simplification must be resolutely carried out. One is to reduce personnel, the other is to make arrangements. People must be properly arranged first before being sent out of the organs.

Regarding the division of power between the central and local authorities, you feel it is not "satisfying": "no money, no power." Please feel free to propose what you want.

United front work: there is a tendency to focus on arrangements rather than on transformation.

In letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, there is a fear of transforming intellectuals. The opinions of Ma Hanbing and four other comrades on literary and art work are not good. In the Soviet Union, those at the lower levels support letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend; those at the top say: "Only fragrant flowers can be allowed to bloom, not poisonous weeds." Our opinion is that only counter-revolutionary flowers cannot be allowed to bloom, but if they want to bloom under a revolutionary guise, they must be allowed to bloom. There are both grain and weeds inside. To only allow grain to bloom and not weeds is in fact impossible. When weeds are turned over, they become good fertilizer. The task of our writers is to struggle against the weeds. Weeds grow every year, and they are removed every year. Without the Kuomintang, the goodness of the Communist Party would not be apparent. Without idealism, the goodness of materialism would not be apparent. Without opposition, there is no struggle. Only that which comes out of struggle can withstand tests. Contradictions constantly arise, are constantly struggled against, and are constantly resolved. This will be so for a hundred million years. After learning the positive side, one must also learn the negative side. If you only talk about materialism and not idealism, only talk about dialectics and not metaphysics, you will not know the negative things, and the positive things cannot be consolidated. Therefore, not only should the complete works of Sun Yat-sen be published, but the complete works of Chiang Kai-shek should also be published. Hegel, Kant, Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, the two Cheng brothers, Zhu Xi, and Wang Yangming should all be discussed. If you have not read Chiang Kai-shek's articles, you cannot oppose him well. Some people say that since the policy of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend was proposed, literature has declined. ×××'s report was only five months ago. Even if literature has declined, how could it be so fast? Great works require long-term preparation and cannot be written in a short time. Writers must work; if they don't work, they won't be given food. If a writer sits at home and does not go outside, with nothing in his belly, how can he write good things?

The issue of cadres not being promoted and having their salaries cut needs to be studied.

The student issue has two problems: enrollment and employment.

The ethnic minority issue is quite serious.

The issue of thinking of every possible way, I am very much in favor of it. (A great invention of Ke Qingshi)