Comments Requesting Hu Qiaomu [1] to Read the Article “In a Period of Great Social Change”
(April 1957)
To Comrade Hu Qiaomu: Please read this. It is regrettable that the People’s Daily lacks an article of this kind.121
Mao
[l]
Hu Qiaomu, who at the time served as an alternate member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and as Mao Zedong’s secretary.
[2]
Refers to the April 13, 1957 editorial of the Ta Kung Pao newspaper, “In a Period of Great Social Change.” The article stated that our country is currently undergoing a period of profound transformation. First, due to the decisive victory of socialist transformation and the tremendous development of socialist construction, China’s social system has undergone a fundamental change. Second, the drastic changes in the economic system are bound to be reflected in the thoughts and consciousness of the broad masses of the people. Third, our economic endeavors and other work cannot remain at their present level of technology; they should—and inevitably will—achieve a high degree of development. In this era of great upheaval, the times have placed upon us a momentous historical mission. On the front of economic construction, we must effectively organize and manage the people’s economic activities, which requires us to master the management of socialist enterprises and to gradually carry out the technological upgrading of the national economy. On the ideological front, the people’s mental outlook should be commensurate with the socialist economic base and capable of promoting the development of economic undertakings.