July 1957

[Article written during the conference of the secretaries of provincial and
municipal Party committees held in Tsingtao in July 1957 and printed and
distributed at the conference. It was circulated among the leading cadres
of the Party in August of the same year. ]


During the period of socialist revolution in our country the contradiction
between the people and the bourgeois Rightists, who oppose the Communist
Party, the people and socialism, is one between ourselves and the enemy,
that is, an antagonistic, irreconcilable, life-and-death contradiction.

The bourgeois Rightists who have launched wild attacks against the working
class and the Communist Party are reactionaries or counter-revolutionaries.
They are not so labelled but are instead called Rightists because, first,
this will make it easier to win over the middle and, second, it will help
split the Rightists and enable some of them to change and come over.

Those bourgeois Rightists who remain unchanged to the bitter end are die-hards,
but they too will be given work and not deprived of their civil rights, unless
they act as secret agents or carry on sabotage. This line of action is being
taken because, judging from many events in the past, extreme policies produce
bad results. We should take a long view, and decades from now when we look
back on the present events we shall see how this treatment of the bourgeois
Rightists profoundly influenced and greatly benefited the revolutionary cause
of the proletariat.

Our aim is to create a political situation in which we have both centralism
and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and personal
ease of mind and liveliness, and thus to promote our socialist revolution
and socialist construction, make it easier to overcome difficulties, build
a modern industry and modern agriculture more rapidly and make our Party
and state more secure and better able to weather storm and stress. The general
subject here is the correct handling of contradictions among the people and
those between ourselves and the enemy. The method is to seek truth from facts
and follow the mass line. The derivative methods are those of holding meetings
attended by both Party and non-Party people to discuss major policies, conducting
the rectification movement publicly, and criticizing many of the Party's
and the government's shortcomings and mistakes in the press. The rectification
and the socialist education movement should proceed by batches and stages
in the democratic parties, in the various circles comprising education, the
press, science and technology, literature and art, public health, industry
and commerce, and among the working class, the different strata of the peasantry,
handicraftsmen and other urban and rural working people. With regard to the
bourgeoisie and bourgeois intellectuals, the problem is to get them to accept
socialist transformation, and the same holds for the petty bourgeoisie (including
the peasants and the urban and rural self-employed working people), and
especially the well-to-do middle peasants; but where the basic ranks of the
working class and the Communist Party are concerned, the problem is to rectify
their style of work. These are problems concerning two social categories
that are different in character. This being the case, why is rectification
used as a slogan for both? Because most people are receptive to this slogan.
We can say to people: Since the Communist Party and the working class are
undergoing rectification, do you think you can do without it? Thus the initiative
will be completely in our hands. The method of rectification is to make criticism
and self-criticism, present the facts and reason things out. The aim of
rectification is to guide the struggle in such a way as to set right the
political orientation, raise the ideological level, overcome shortcomings
in work, unite with the broad masses, and isolate and split the bourgeois
Rightists and all other anti-socialist elements. The bourgeois Rightists
referred to here include those who have sneaked into the Party and the Youth
League and whose political complexion is exactly the same as that of the
Rightists outside; they have betrayed the revolutionary cause of the proletariat
and launched wild attacks against the Party, and therefore must be fully
exposed and expelled in order to preserve the purity of the ranks of the
Party and the Youth League.

Firm faith in the majority of the masses, and first and foremost in the
majority of the basic masses, the workers and peasants -- this is our
fundamental point of departure. Even in the case of industrialists and
businessmen and intellectuals, most people, who may have been deceived for
a time and wavered during the period of the Rightists' frenzied attack, regained
their bearings and came over to our side a few weeks later when the
counter-attack against the Rightists started. Therefore, the majority in
these circles are trustworthy in the long run, they can accept socialist
transformation. At one time or another, quite a few comrades made the mistake
of underestimating the strength of the proletariat and overestimating that
of the bourgeois Rightists. There are still many cadres in prefectures, counties,
districts, townships and factories who do so, and we should patiently persuade
them not to underestimate our own strength and overestimate that of the enemy.
In the countryside the landlords and rich peasants are being remoulded; some
are still making trouble and we must heighten our vigilance. A great number
of the well-to-do middle peasants are willing to stay in the co-operatives;
a small number clamour to withdraw, eager to take the capitalist road. We
should deal with each case on its merits. In the countryside it is imperative
to pay attention to the class line and enable the former poor peasants and
farm labourers to occupy the dominant position in the leading bodies, while
at the same time pains must be taken to unite with the middle peasants. I'm
all for a directive to be issued at once by the Central Committee to initiate
a large-scale socialist education movement among the entire rural population
to criticize Right opportunist ideas within the Party, the departmentalism
of certain cadres and the capitalist and individualist ideas of the well-to-do
middle peasants, and to strike at the counter-revolutionary activities of
landlords and rich peasants. The criticism should be directed mainly against
the vacillating well-to-do middle peasants whose capitalist ideas should
be struggled against by arguing things out. From now on such struggle should
be resolutely carried out once a year in co-ordination with the rectification
movement among the district and township cadres and with the check-up of
Class III co-operatives, so that all co-operatives may gradually be consolidated.
In the countryside, let the peasants too have the "free airing of views"
first, that is, make criticisms and comments. Then accept what is good and
criticize what is bad. All this should proceed step by step in the rural
rectification movement, which is to be conducted by the local cadres with
the assistance of work teams sent from above. In the rural areas as in the
cities the struggle is still one between the two roads -- between socialism
and capitalism. Complete victory in this struggle will take a very long time.
It is a task for the entire transition period. In the countryside diligence
and thrift should be encouraged in running the household as well as in running
the co-operative, and love of the country and the co-operative as well as
love of the family. We must rely in particular on the efforts of the women's
organizations to tackle the problem of running the household thriftily. Over
the next few years, the annual sum of 35,000 million catties of grain in
tax and of 50,000 million catties in state purchases must be obtained without
fail. However, some adjustments may be made, depending on whether the harvest
is good or poor. As production rises year by year and the number of
grain-deficient households correspondingly falls, there should be annual
reductions in rural grain sales. In cities wherever grain sales are excessive,
there should also be appropriate reductions. Only thus can the state increase
its grain reserves each year and meet possible emergencies. Failure to collect
these 85,000 million catties of grain will affect market prices, check the
smooth fulfilment of the national economic plan as a whole and leave us helpless
in the face of emergencies, and that would be very dangerous. Before the
autumn harvest sets in this year, it is imperative to wage a struggle in
the countryside against individualism and departmentalism, both of which
ignore the interests of the state and the collective.

Counter-revolutionaries must be eliminated wherever found. Kill few, but
on no account repeal the death penalty or grant any general pardon. Arrest
and punish again those persons who commit fresh crimes after having served
prison terms. Punish the gangsters, hooligans, thieves, murderers, rapists,
embezzlers, and other felons in our society who undermine public order and
grossly violate the law; also punish those whom the public identifies as
bad elements. At present, certain functionaries in the judicial and public
security departments are neglecting their duties and allowing persons who
should be arrested and punished to remain at large; this is wrong. Just as
over-punishment is wrong, so is under-punishment, and these days the danger
lies in the latter. Prohibit gambling. Strictly enforce the ban on reactionary
secret societies. Rightist student leaders should be thoroughly criticized;
in most cases they should be kept where they are, to be reformed under
supervision and to serve as "teachers". The above points hold good
for the transition period, and it is the responsibility of the provincial,
municipal and autonomous region Party committees to have them carried out.
Subject to the policies and laws of the central authorities, local
departments in charge of justice and public security and of cultural and
educational affairs must act without fail under the direction of the provincial,
municipal and autonomous region Party committees and people's councils.

Our general subject is the correct handling of contradictions among the people.
Keep on talking about it until it becomes familiar, then what once seemed
bewildering will no longer be so. Clarify in your own mind the question of
contradictions among the people, openly and clearly explain it, correctly
handle a number of these contradictions, and then, having achieved results
and gained experience, you won't be afraid of it any more.

Let me repeat. Correctly handling the contradictions among the people means
following the mass line, which is consistently stressed by our Party. Party
members should be good at consulting the masses in their work and in no
circumstances should they alienate themselves from the masses. The relation
between the Party and the masses is like that between fish and water. Without
good relations between the Party and the masses, the socialist system cannot
be established or, once established, be consolidated.

The armed forces have carried out rectification on many occasions; the Three
Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention are enforced;
democracy is practiced in military, political and economic affairs; in times
of war mutual-aid groups are organized in the squads; officers are integrated
with men and the army with the people; and hitting or swearing at people
is forbidden, and so is the execution of deserters. As a result, morale is
high and our army is invincible. If this can be done among soldiers bearing
arms, why can't democracy be practiced in factories, villages, offices and
schools and their problems (contradictions) solved by persuasion and not
by coercion?

Why be afraid of our own people when we are not afraid of the imperialists?
He is no true communist who fears the common people and believes the masses
are not open to reason and must be coerced rather than convinced.

Except for renegades and persons who have grossly violated the law, we should
protect all Party and Youth League members during the rectification movement,
and make great and sincere efforts to help them correct their mistakes and
shortcomings, improve their method of work, enhance their competence and
raise their political and ideological level. A Party member must be full
of vigour and strong in revolutionary will, be endowed with the drive to
defy all difficulties and to persevere in overcoming them, and be determined
to rid himself of individualism, departmentalism, absolute egalitarianism
and liberalism ; otherwise, he is not a Party member in the real sense of
the term. Those Party members who prove wanting in vigour and revolutionary
will or who persist in their mistakes should be duly dealt with by the Party
committee if they refuse to mend their ways after repeated warnings and,
in serious cases, they should be disciplined.

Within six to twelve months the first secretaries (and the other secretaries
too) of provincial, municipal and autonomous region Party committees should
each make a personal study of a particular co-operative, factory, store and
school to obtain some knowledge and earn the "right to speak" and so give
better guidance to their work in general. The secretaries of prefectural,
county and district Party committees should do likewise.

Don't underestimate the significance of our current criticism of the bourgeois
Rightists. This is a great socialist revolution on the political and ideological
fronts. By itself, the socialist revolution of 1956 on the economic front
(that is, in the ownership of the means of production) is not enough, nor
is it secure. This has been borne out by the Hungarian incident. There must
be a thoroughgoing socialist revolution on the political and ideological
fronts too. In the democratic parties and in intellectual and in industrial
and commercial circles, it is of course out of the question for the Communist
Party to exercise leadership over some people (the Rightists), for they are
our enemies, and the Party's leadership over most people (the middle section)
has not been consolidated in certain cultural and educational units the Party's
leadership has not been established at all. Firm leadership over the middle
section must be established, and the sooner the better. The bourgeoisie and
bourgeois intellectuals do not gladly submit to the Communist Party, and
the Rightists among them are determined to match their strength with ours.
Once beaten in a trial of strength, they will realize that the game is up
and their position is hopeless. Not until then will the majority (the middle
section plus a number of the Rightists) begin to behave themselves, gradually
abandon their bourgeois stand, come over to the side of the proletariat and
make up their minds to throw in their lot with it. A small number will refuse
to change to the very end; we'll just have to let them take their reactionary
views with them to the grave. We must however heighten our vigilance. It
must be realized that at the first opportunity they will again stir up trouble.
Counting from now, this struggle will probably last ten or as many as fifteen
years. The time can be shortened if things are well managed. Of course, this
is not to say that class struggle will cease in ten to fifteen years: As
long as imperialism and the bourgeoisie exist in this world of ours, the
activities of the domestic counter-revolutionaries and bourgeois Rightists
will always partake of the nature of class struggle, and, what is more, they
will invariably mesh with those of the foreign reactionaries. After a necessary
period of time, the form of the present struggle should change from that
of a strong gale and a torrential downpour to a gentle breeze and a mild
rain so that ideologically the struggle can become deeper and more
thorough-going. We have won the first decisive battle in the last few months,
mainly in the last two months. But in order to win complete victory, several
more months of deep digging are needed, and we must not wind up the struggle
in a hurry. Make no mistake, if this struggle is not won socialism is impossible.

This great debate among the people throughout the country has solved or is
in the process of solving questions of cardinal importance, such as whether
our work in the revolution and in construction is correct (that is, whether
achievements in the revolution and in construction are primary), whether
the socialist road should be taken, whether the leadership of the Communist
Party, the dictatorship of the proletariat and democratic centralism are
needed, and whether our foreign policy is correct. It is natural that such
a great debate should have taken place. It took place in the Soviet Union
in the twenties (the debate with Trotsky and others on whether socialism
could be built in one country [1] ), and it is
taking place this year in our country, in the fifties. If we fail to win
complete victory in the debate, it will be impossible to continue our march
forward. Once we triumph in the debate, our socialist transformation and
socialist construction will receive a big impetus. This debate is a great
event of world significance.

We must understand that, counting from now, ten to fifteen years will be
required to build a modern industrial and modern agricultural base in China.
Only when the productive forces of our society have been fairly adequately
developed over a period of ten to fifteen years will it be possible to regard
our socialist economic and political system as having obtained a fairly adequate
material base (now far from adequate), and will it be possible to regard
our state (the superstructure) as fully consolidated and our socialist society
as fundamentally built. It is not built yet, and ten to fifteen years more
are needed. To build socialism, the working class must have its own army
of technical cadres and of professors, teachers, scientists, journalists,
writers, artists and Marxist theorists. It must be a vast army; a small number
of people will not suffice. This is a task that should be basically accomplished
in the next ten to fifteen years. The tasks after that will be to make further
efforts to develop the productive forces and expand the army of working-class
intellectuals, create the pre-conditions for the gradual transition from
socialism to communism and get prepared to catch up with and surpass the
United States economically in eight to ten five-year plans. All members of
the Communist Party and the Youth League and the nation as a whole should
be aware of this task, and everybody should study hard. Wherever possible
they should strive to acquire technical skill and vocational knowledge and
study Marxist theory, so that a new army of working-class intellectuals will
be formed (including all the intellectuals from the old society who take
a firm working-class stand after having been genuinely remoulded). This is
a great task history sets us. The revolutionary cause of the working class
will not be fully consolidated until this vast new army of working-class
intellectuals comes into being.

It is a major achievement that experience has been gained at the central
and the provincial and municipal levels in the three tasks of rectification,
criticism of the Rightists and winning over the middle section of the masses.
With this experience things will be easier. The task for the next few months
is to teach those at the prefectural and the county levels how to gain this
experience. Between now and the coming winter and spring, the task is gradually
to teach those at the district and the township levels to do likewise. In
the cities it is to teach those at the district level and in factories and
mines at the basic level as well as the neighbourhood committees. As a result,
many people will be enlightened, the mass line will cease to be a mere phrase
to them, and it will be easier for contradictions among the people to be
resolved.

The first secretaries and all the other members of provincial, municipal
and autonomous region Party committees must take full command of this great
struggle. They must assume full control over the work of political transformation
and ideological remoulding in the democratic parties (political circles)
and in the circles of education, the press (including all newspapers and
periodicals), science and technology, literature and art, public health,
and industry and commerce. Each province, municipality and autonomous region
should have its own Marxist theorists, scientists and technical personnel,
writers, artists and literary critics, and first-rate editors and reporters
on its own newspapers and periodicals. The first secretaries (and the other
secretaries too) should pay particular attention to newspapers and periodicals
and not be lazy about it; each should read at least five papers and five
periodicals for comparison, so that they can improve their own publications.

Our criticism of the Rightists has given a great shock to everybody in the
democratic parties and in intellectual and in industrial and commercial circles.
It should be noted that the majority of them (the middle) are inclined to
accept the socialist road and the leadership of the proletariat. This inclination
varies in degree with different categories of people. It should be further
noted that although they now merely show an inclination towards a genuine
acceptance of the fundamentals, namely, the socialist road and the leadership
of the proletariat, this very inclination signifies the first step on their
long journey from the stand of the bourgeoisie to that of the working class.
After a year of rectification (from May this year to May next year), they
will be able to take a big step forward. In the past they were mentally
unprepared to take part in socialist revolution. For them this revolution
happened all of a sudden. This was also the case with a number of Communist
Party members. The criticism of the Rightists and the rectification movement
will give these people and the broad masses a profound education in socialism.

The big-character poster can be put to use everywhere except in the salesrooms
of stores, rural areas (districts and townships), primary schools, and the
battalions and companies of the armed forces. In the conditions obtaining
in our country, it is a form of struggle favourable to the proletariat and
unfavourable to the bourgeoisie. Fear of the big-character poster is groundless.
Big-character posters, forums and debates are three excellent forms for revealing
and overcoming contradictions and helping people make progress in institutions
of higher education, in departments and organizations at the central, the
provincial and municipal, the prefectural and the county levels and in large
urban enterprises.

At no time should production and other work be neglected during the rectification
movement. The authorities in various places should not start rectification
in all the units under them at the same time, but should stagger it and carry
it out by groups.

Don't be afraid of the violent storm, toughen yourselves and bear it. In
each unit, the crest of the torrent will pass in two or three weeks, and
the unit can then switch to the new stage of counter-attack on the Rightists.
Faced with the Rightists' wild attacks during these two or three weeks, the
leading cadres of various units should toughen themselves and hear them out
without rebutting, concentrate on analysing and studying the situation, muster
strength for the counter-attack, and unite with the forces of the Left, win
over the middle, and isolate the Rightists -- all this makes an excellent
set of Marxist tactics

The stage of freely airing views (carrying out reform at the same time),
the stage of counter-attack on the Rightists (carrying out reform at the
same time), the stage of putting the emphasis on reform (with a further free
airing of views) and the stage in which everyone studies relevant documents
and makes criticism and self-criticism to raise his own political
consciousness--these are the four indispensable stages of the rectification
movement at the central, the provincial and municipal, the prefectural and
the county levels. In addition, rectification is to be conducted at the grass
roots in the cities and the countryside. After such a movement, it is certain
that the whole Party and the whole people will take on a fresh complexion.

The first secretaries of the provincial, municipal and autonomous region
Party committees and of the prefectural Party committees are requested to
devote some time in August to studying the check-up of co-operatives, production,
grain, and other questions in rural areas in preparation for the plenary
session of the Central Committee to be held in September. Please study the
forty articles of the Programme for Agricultural Development one by one and
see whether changes are needed.

NOTES


1. History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(Bolsheviks), Short Course Chapter 9, Section 5.

Transcription by the Maoist Documentation Project.