MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE SECRETARIES
(January 1957)
I have only platitudes. Achievements should be subject to rigid
evaluation. There should be no exaggeration. Underestimation is also a
mistake, a serious mistake....
Last year's achievements are basic. The Second National Party
Congress had already resolved this question. But democratic personages
and some of our comrades hold different views; they think there are many
errors and shortcomings. I would like therefore to talk about it again.
Underestimation of achievements has made cooperatives look ludicrous.
Our consistent policy is to support mess halls, not install new
kitchens, but still providing meals. In 1946 Wang Yun-sheng in an editorial in the Chungking Ta Kung Pao said, "Don't install any new kitchens.
But I said that "Chairman Chiang" must provide the food. However, he did
not provide such meals. Now we are in control. We have a comprehensive
plan that looks after the interests of all people and takes in all parties,
all democratic personages and even Kuomintang members, for we want to
all positive elements for socialist construction. This is a strategy which
works better and causes less trouble. Unified purchasing and marketing is
the way to provide food for 600 million people. We provide food for all
households in villages and cities that are short of it. Even counter
revolutionaries are given a share. For a man with a stomach and intestines
naturally needs food to eat. Soviet Russia's measure is different; she does
not provide food for all. Even under a comprehensive plan not all students
can enroll at universities. But proper accommodations should be provided
them, giving them training, sending them to the rural areas or frontiers, or
providing relief for them. We should impress upon those who are not clear
about this that we should not let anybody die of starvation. We should
provide accommodations for everybody. This policy causes little trouble.

Think of all possible measures to increase production and to eco
nomize. If you do that, you will overcome all difficulties. Such difficul
ties as we encounter now are nothing compared to crossing the grassland
during the Long March. On the grassland there was not a single house.
There was only open air. After crossing the Tatu River, where should we go?
We racked our brains to make a decision. Now we are not racking our brains
at all.
Now about the international situation. Eisenhower's letter to Chiang
Kai-shek first dampened his spirits and then pepped him up. It asked Chiang
to play it cool, refrain from impulsiveness and pin his hope on our internal
crisis.
An incident broke out on the Suez Canal. This is a peculiar thing.
Nasser wanted to reclaim the canal and Eden dispatched troops to prevent
him from taking it. Sly and crafty politicians don't often stir up a crisis
like this. But right now Eden, confused in mind, made a mistake. The
result is to turn the Middle East over to the U.S. The greatest contradic
tion is with the U.S., not with Nasser. The U.S. is trying to maneuver
Britain out of the Middle East, for it harbors the sinister design of taking
over the Middle East. The world's greatest contradiction is the contradic
tion between socialism and imperialism. Under the pretext of anti-Soviet
and anti-communism, imperialism is scrambling for the Near East and the
Middle East. The two camps of imperialism are fighting for colonies. The
greatest imperialist power is the U.S. while Britain and France come second.
But a national independence movement has broken out in the colonies. The
U.S. is ready to use its military force to defend Taiwan. It plans to use
both civil and military tactics in the Middle East. The crises they are
stirring up are beneficial to us.
Our policies are "protectionism" and "right opportunism". We put
under our control 600 million people. We won't budge from the I-pei River,
the 38th parallel and the 17th line. We have drawn these demarcation lines
and let them squabble. But we have the right to speak too. Both sides are
engaged in subversive activities.... We have them among us (landlords, the
bourgeoisie, democratic parties shall we mention labor reform criminals)
and they have ours among them (communists, workers and progressive persons).
It will take a long time to liquidate classes. It will take scores of years
to convert capitalists to workers. Basic liquidation is a gigantic struggle.
Our Soviet comrades are unwilling to come to grips with this problem. The
internal contradictions of imperialism in scrambling for colonies are great.
We can make use of their contradictions to accomplish our ends. This is
strategy.
On Sino-American relations. It is more advantageous to establish
relations with the U.S. after a few years. Russia had its revolution in
1917 and after a lapse of 17 years it established relations with the U.S.
in 1934. The U.S. was then going through a great depression and Roosevelt
became President.

On the Middle East. A Soviet letter caused the U.S. to alert its
Third Army. Who is afraid of whom after all? Both parties are afraid.
But who is more afraid of whom? My opinion is that imperialism is more
afraid of us. In view of this estimation if we slept for three days we
would be in danger. We should be prepared for the worse eventuality that
imperialism will go mad.
It is not likely that a world war will break out at the present time.
The powers concerned should think of the eventualities should they start a
world war. I said to Sukarno that we need not be anxious to join the United
Nations or to establish diplomatic relations with the U.S. Let the U.S.
appear like a villain internationally and be deprived of its political
capital domestically and isolated at present. Eventually we shall establish
diplomatic relations with her. Should diplomatic relations be established
101 years from now, the U.S. would become more impotent and would regret
its own delay. We have cleaned our house and eradicated the four pests.
The U.S. can no longer find its friends here.... It will regret it in no
time. Imperialism harbors sinister designs but nations defeated by it have
no fear. The principal imperialist power is the U.S.
On Sino-Soviet relations. Differences always exist. Never think
that there are no differences in the world. Marxism is an ism with dif
ferences because it has contradictions which lead to struggle. Sino-Soviet
relations have their differences at present, but they are not major dif
ferences. As a matter of fact, the two countries are drawing closer to
gether. The Soviets do things differently than we. We have to wait and do
some work. Concerning the divergent views in the party, we have work to do
with the party members; we need to talk with them and hold meetings. When
we came to the south and crossed the Yangtze River, we ran into snakes,
mosquitoes, scorching weather and a shortage of food. We crossed the river
physically, but not mentally. Organizationally we joined the party but not
mentally. Thought reform is a difficult task, but we should not be afraid
of difficulties. There is often divergence of views in the party. That is
why we hold meetings in order to solve problems.
Circumstances are stronger than man. Circumstances compelled our
Soviet comrades to change step by step. Their old manner of governing won't
work at home or abroad. The 20th Soviet Party Congress may be utilized.
Both imperialism and Tito have utilized the Congress before and we can
utilize it too. We shall help them but not immediately. We shall proceed
slowly and shall have a face-to-face talk with the Soviets. Our trump
cards should not be used all at once. "Profit blinds one's wisdom." It
boils down to 50 million tons of steel, 300 million tons of iron and 20
million tons of petroleum. These quantities of materials are actually not
too important. Even if we double them or increase them tenfold, they are
still not too important ~ just that much excavated from the earth. When
one gets to a higher official position such as a first secretary, one may
get nervous and confused. One should be severely reprimanded in this
state. This time Chou sharply criticized and argued before the audience.

Among ten fingers nine show unanimity, one deviation. The central govern
ment and provincial and municipal authorities may have divergent views.
There will always be contradictions. We should seek unanimity and note
differences.
International propaganda should be curtailed a little. Cultural work
corps and exhibitions should reduce their propaganda and cut back a little.
We still should learn from the Soviet Union. We can learn a lot of
things from them. But we should learn selectively. We should learn pro
gressive and useful things and should study their blunders critically. In
three five-year plans we should be able to learn their basic things. We
should also learn from other countries than the Soviet Union. Chou's slogans
abroad are to seek peace, friendship and knowledge. Knowledge should be
sought everywhere. It is too monotonous to seek it only in one place.
"Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend"
is a correct policy. Truth develops from struggle with falsehood. Beauty
emerges from comparison and struggle with ugliness. Good things and good
people emerge from comparison and struggle with bad things and bad people.
Fragrant flowers emerge from comparison and struggle with poisonous weeds.
Materialism emerges from comparison and struggle with idealism. Many people
hate Chiang Kai-shek. But few people know what kind of bad man he is. Therefore
we should publish Collected Works of Chiang Kai-shek, and also Collected
Works of Sun Yat-sen and Collected Works of Kang Yu-wei. It is a dangerous
policy to forbid people to side with ugliness, blunders, idealism and metaphysics. This will lead to thought decline and stagnation. A lonely indivi
dual is too shy to face the world and cannot put up a two-party show. We
communists know little of the opponent and are too simple in perspective.
We are therefore unable to talk persuasively. Marx, Engels and Lenin were
different from us; they studied energetically current and historical things
and urged the people to do the same. Stalin was less studious. He rejected
German philosophy (Kant and Fuerbach) and because Germany was defeated, he
also rejected German military science. Germany's classical philosophy is
the progenitor of Marxism. As a matter of fact, Stalin believed in metaphysics and did not recognize the unity of opposites. A dictionary of
philosophy expounds metaphysically. War will not turn into peace and peace
will not turn into war. These two entities are separate and disconnected.
They won't change from one to the other. They only struggle; they have no
unity. Lenin said that war is the continuation of politics, a special
strategy; peace is the result of war; politics is peace-time struggle,
peace develops in time of war and war develops in time of peace. Stalin
taught the wrong thing to many people. They became metaphysical and stagnant
in thought and consequently they committed political blunders. Whoever is
in dissent is condemned. The penalty for counterrevolution is execution.
Whoever disagrees with the Soviet Union is said to be anti-Soviet. But
actually Stalin could not enforce severe penalties. He did not execute
or imprison all renegades. He put to death more people in 1936 and 1937,

but fewer in 1938 and still fewer in 1939. This shows that we cannot kill
all dissenters. Even we ourselves had differences with Stalin. We wanted
to sign a Sino-Soviet treaty of amity but he didn't want to. We asked for
the return of the Chinese Eastern Railway but he was reluctant to give it
up. However, there is still a way to get a piece of meat from the mouth of
a tiger.
We haven't refuted some spurious statements in the press but have
published some articles which shouldn't have been published, such as "On
Inevitability." The article entitled "Further Discussion on the Historical
Experience of Proletarian Dictatorship" has a great argument on inevita
bility. Who likes to commit blunders? Blunders are discovered after they
have been committed. At the beginning we always believe that we are doing
100 percent right. But the end result shows that we have blundered. Our
historical experience teaches us to set as our goal the commitment of as
few blunders as possible. After full preparations and with full persuasive
power we will respond to the press. If we have not made full preparations,
we need not respond in a hurry. Some works such as major literary pieces
may take ten years to write. Some works are inevitable in a certain period.
We have exercised strict control over drama and if we now lift it a little
bit, all freaks and monsters will break loose. Since you haven't seen any
before, you may as well take a look now. Don't denounce the moment it
appears that which would affect neither the increased production of food
and cotton nor state finance. It is all right to stage some plays with love
themes. Let the audience judge them. You don't need to ban them at once.
Put fragrant flowers in the dominant position, not stinking ones, and
poisonous weeds in the secondary position. By the same token, put the
Communist Party in the dominant position and the democratic parties in the
secondary position, and the nucleus in the dominant position and the elec
trons in the secondary position. Though the nucleus is small, it is heavy;
it takes the power of several locomotives to split it. The electrons around
the nucleus are very light. They are liberal and indispensable. This is
again the unity of opposites.
We plan to publish 400,000 copies of Ts'an-k'ao Hsiao-hsi (Reference
News) to expose imperialism and the bourgeoisie. We are doing a service to
imperialism. Our purpose is to put non-Marxist ideology and poisonous weeds
in front of our comrades and non-communists so that they may undergo the
test, for it is not good if they should know Marxism and nothing else. But
leadership should be strengthened. Like vaccination let there be a struggle
inside the human body, thereby producing resistance. Read "Reference News"
to know about idealism. Publication of Collected Works of Chiang Kai-shek
is like vaccination.
Trouble-making by the people is worth looking into. This is a new
problem. In the past we stood side by side with the people to struggle
against the enemy. We and the people were on one side while the enemy was
on the other side. Now we are confronted with a problem. The people are

staring at us with hostile eyes. We should be prepared for constant troublemaking by a small group of people. If we are not prepared for it, we will be
in a passive position. Secretaries, vice ministers, ministers and
political secretaries, ministers and vice ministers should discuss,
analyze and exchange experiences.
Rakosi and Gero were overthrown because no preparations had been made for the
Hungarian incident. We should learn a lesson from them and make preparations. The trouble
created by a small group of people is a kind of revolution. An amnesty
order was issued, releasing counterrevolutionaries. This amounted to digging
our own graves. The Hungarian incident developed step by step because no preparations had been made.
Some people rioted at X X forestry school. Nothing could be done. They were not
afraid of Chiang Kai-shek or imperialism but apprehensive of student
or peasant riots.
This is a new thing. We should be prepared for the two worst possibilities. If no trouble
occurs, that is all right. There are two possibilities; The Dalai Lama either escapes to India or returns.
If the Dalai Lama doesn't return, the Chinese mainland won't sink
into the sea. The outbreak of trouble is due to our economic and political
blunders, the rigidity of our work and the imbalance of counterrevolutionaries. What we should be careful of is to take the correct
attitude toward trouble. Even if we cause nationwide disturbance,
and the enemy occupies several provinces, we should not be afraid. If we
cause nationwide disturbance, we should follow the example of Kadar who could not sleep well
at night. We should be mentally prepared. History is spiral. Such a thing
is quite possible. In the Chinese Revolution of 10 October 1911, the
situation was very bad. But eventually the situation was stabilized.
There may be disturbances. We should be able to handle them. After the
heroes will emerge and restore order. Eventually the situation will be solidified.
But we should not be afraid of trouble-makers.
We should not be afraid of trouble-makers. We should not be afraid of
arrests. We should not be afraid of dismissals. We should not be afraid
of divorce. We should not be afraid of execution. We should not be afraid
of expulsion from the party. We should not be afraid of being branded as
counterrevolutionaries. We should not be afraid of being branded as
opportunists. We should not be afraid of being branded as careerists. We
should not be afraid of being branded as splitters. We should not be afraid
of being branded as X X. We should not be afraid of losing our political capital.
X X arrested 60 persons. His
way of disposing of them was very simple. X X wanted to arrest 100 persons.

His
way of disposing of them was very simple. X X wanted to arrest 100 persons.
We should not lightly shoot people or arrest them. If we must shoot,
aim skyward. Don't be afraid of trouble. There may be good reasons for
making trouble. If there are no good reasons, the trouble won't last long.
It won't be trouble like the student movement of 9 December 1935. Remember
we were trouble-makers before.
All ministers and provincial and municipal [leaders] should study the
people's ideological trends. So far they have not done so because they have
been too busy with their work. This negligence should be rectified. As far
as possible, avoid the use of force. Don't follow the Kuomintang way. X X's
way is very much like the Kuomintang's. Force is to be used against real
counterrevolutionary violence.
We should intensify our work and remedy our shortcomings. We should
strengthen political work on workers, peasants, businessmen, students and
soldiers. Right now everybody is occupied with his own work but it is
dangerous to neglect political work. Comrade X X often goes to universities
and makes reports. We should all go to schools and make reports. Schools
and the army are important. I was told that the political thought of army
cadres has deteriorated. How shocking! Adjustment should be made in the
midst of increased production, economy and rectification drives. The will
of the cadres should be strengthened. The students of X X want to come to
Peking to present a petition. It may not be wise to stop them for their
coming may do some good after all. Life should have some complication,
otherwise, it would be too monotonous. A flush in mahjong is difficult to
get.
The Youth League should intensify its work in schools while trade
unions should intensify their work in factories. Let democratic personages
criticize so that we may have a two-party show. Criticism is in two cate
gories: correct criticism helps us rectify our shortcomings; incorrect
criticism — the more wrong the better — will be exposed once the person
concerned goes up to the platform and talks. Liang Shu-ming [2733 3359
2544], P'eng I-hu [1756 0001 3275], and Huang Yen-p'ei [7806 3508 1014]
have raised their voices and have later examined themselves. Chang Nai-chi
[4545 0035 0892] has criticized our unified command. Let them criticize, for
once they criticize us they are isolated. After their struggle in the National
Reconstruction Association, we still gave them food and allowed them to con
tinue as ministers. The greater the blunders are, the more educational value
they have. Don't be afraid of criticism like the Kuomintang was. Criticism
should be made according to circumstances. Sometimes we should take the
initiative and criticize. Sometimes we should delay our criticism. We
should unite and struggle simultaneously. This is protracted struggle. The
working class, the workers, and the intellectuals will benefit and get train
ing through struggle. Evil people and evil things have dual natures; they
have inherent good functions. Many of our comrades failed to grasp this
principle as seen in their attitudes toward the Wang Ming problem. Evil
things have good ingredients while good things have bad ingredients. When
anything untoward happens, we say it is bad without analyzing it. This is

the metaphysical viewpoint. The great victory last year contained negative
elements. But people were too elated to notice them.
In the reconstruction period we lacked experience in class struggle
(which is partial) and internal struggle among the people (which is primary).
This is a science. It should be carefully studied. Even ten thousand years
from now there will still be people making trouble. We should get experience
in the three five-year plans.
On the problem of law. We must abide by the laws, liquidate all
counterrevolutionaries and give recognition to achievements. We mean here
socialist laws. Nobody should violate them. These laws were enacted by
workers. They protect the workers' interests, productive power and the
economic foundation. We therefore must abide by them. Continue the liquida
tion of counterrevolutionaries within one year. In spite of liquidation
efforts many suspects have escaped. We should liquidate them step by step
in the course of events. We should give recognition to past achievements
so as to back up the cadres engaged in the liquidation task. Let democratic
personages criticize. We should not hold back just because they criticize.
Trouble-makers may become useful citizens if they are reformed. Hsu Mao-kung
made trouble at the age of 12 but he became Prime Minister later. Blunders
in the course of liquidation should be severely criticized. Do it bravely
in accordance with the law, not timidly.
Strive for a bumper harvest this year so that the people may set their
minds at rest. Cooperatives may be consolidated in five years starting from
basic-level cooperatives. Agriculture above all concerns the food problem
of 500 million people. The production of non-commercial goods is very great
for two-thirds of the economy is self-sufficient. If the 500 million people
can be self-sufficient the situation will be stabilized. Secondly it is the
raw materials market for light industries. Thirdly, agriculture buys largely
from the industrial market such things as chemical fertilizers, farm imple
ments, railway equipment, highway accessories, electricity, coal, petroleum,
equipment for large-scale water conservancy projects, and building materials.
The market for heavy industry is in the rural area. The U.S. does not have
a feudal system. Its market is very large. Fourthly, exports consist
principally of agricultural products. They earn foreign exchange to support
industry. Thus agriculture and industries are closely related. Fifthly,
development of agriculture is the principal source of state accumulation.
That's why we should persuade the cadres to go to the rural areas. Indus
trialization depends upon agriculture. Capital accumulation should be
carried out proportionately. Excessive capital accumulation as ordered by
Stalin adversely affected industry. What ratio it should be should be
studied. In short, it should encourage cooperatives to engage in reproduc
tion and guarantee even greater capital accumulation so that the source won't
be exhausted.
Agricultural producer cooperatives should carry out economic account
ing, utilizing the law of value to assess cost. The price of commercial

grain should be raised 5 percent at a certain time. The total amount of
commercial grain at present is only 10 million catties. In 12 years it
should be increased to 50 million catties. If the price of commercial grain
is too low, who will till the land? I am not saying that we should raise
the price right now. I am suggesting that we should review the policy of
prices.
The capital accumulation of cooperatives has increased year after
year, but it is still not such a big amount as to enable the peasants to
have more to eat. If there is a bumper harvest this year, the increase-production departments may increase their public accumulation funds. In
a year of plenty we should accumulate more in readiness for a year of want.
Everything happens in wave-like or spiral motion. Taking a walk,
holding a meeting, an electric current, a sound wave, a dramatic performance,
talking and writing are all wave-like motions. I support the study of
dialectics.