Transcript of a Talk to a Gathering of
Responsible Persons from Various Democratic
Parties and Non-party Democratic Personages
30 APRIL 1957
[146] For several years [we've] all been thinking of rectification, but
haven't found the opportunity. Now [we] have. Anything that
involves a large number of people cannot be done without a campaign. [We] need to create an atmosphere; it won’t work without an
atmosphere. Now an atmosphere of criticism has been created. This
atmosphere should continue; [and] with handling contradictions
among the people as its subject, [it should] analyze various aspects of
[these] contradictions.
ee
Sources: 10:146-52; alternate text 1:316-22, with extra sentence, p. 321. This is the long-
“Suspected, but officially unacknowledged, talk Mao gave at a hastily called session of the
“Supreme State Conference in Beijing following his provincial tour. Because there was much