You may take a look at one article by Li × in the fifth issue of *Philosophical Research* and another by Feng ×× in the sixth issue. Formal logic is the science of the quantitative change stage and is a component of dialectics. Quantitative change and qualitative change form a unity of opposites. Things possess a relative fixity. Formulating plans and adopting resolutions represent a relative equilibrium. After they are set, change remains inevitable. Equilibrium, consolidation, unanimity ... are all temporary; imbalance and the stirring of contradictions are absolute. Those attending a meeting always have the thought of its adjournment, and the longer it drags on, the more they wish to adjourn.

Formal logic is akin to elementary mathematics, while dialectical logic resembles advanced mathematics. This formulation merits further study. When a circle is divided into thousands of fragments, it becomes square. Circle and square constitute a unity of opposites.

Forms of thought manifest as: concepts, judgments, inferences. Formal logic studies the forms of thought. Formal logic often contains erroneous major premises, hence it cannot yield correct judgments. Yet, from the perspective of formal logic, it commits no error. It deals solely with quantity, disregarding content. Content is the concern of various branches of science.

Yesterday we discussed the two sets of twelve articles. Below, I will address several more issues:

**1. Water, fertilizer, soil, and the other twelve items** must be grasped and kept in mutual balance. Water without fertilizer, or fertilizer without water, will not work; they are interconnected. In agriculture, electrification should be implemented after ten years (perhaps it will require even more time). Electric plowing of fields. Livestock husbandry is linked to fertilizer — it also provides motive power, meat, and industrial raw materials. The elimination of the four pests is related to labor capacity: it enhances physical strength and boosts morale.

**2. The twelve articles for industry, handicrafts, agriculture, etc.**, must be grasped.

**3. Combating waste.** Take materials from Shanghai: the Meilin Canned Food Factory wasted 450,000 yuan over four years, amounting to half its assets — enough to build a factory of the same size in eight years. This is a widespread problem. How much material could be saved if every factory, school, agency, and cooperative undertook such an effort? Everything requires proof; without proof, no one will believe it. A single example suffices. Dissecting one sparrow is enough — there is no need to dissect too many.

During the rectification campaign, devote ten days specifically to combating waste (from “release” to “rectify” can take ten to fifteen days). Tens of billions can be achieved.

**4. The ratio between consumption and accumulation** must be studied as a major issue. This ratio could be forty-five percent, fifty percent, fifty-five percent, sixty percent, and so on — various allocations need research. Tackle it in the spring; if not, it will be too late. This is a critical issue; mishandled, workers and peasants will be dissatisfied. In 1954, we procured 96 billion catties, antagonizing several hundred million peasants. This year it is 85 billion catties, tentatively fixed for three years. I lean toward fifty percent. Poor harvests and bumper harvests differ somewhat. Integrate this with household thrift to make a living feasible. Weddings, funerals, and celebrations — all shall be conducted simply.

**5. Experimental fields must be pursued.** The Hubei Provincial Party Committee’s report on experimental fields is a good report. (×× interjects: The Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee’s report drew attention because of the *People’s Daily* commentary.) Henceforth, translated books shall not be published without prefaces. First editions must include a preface; second, revised editions must also have a preface. Consider how many prefaces *The Communist Manifesto* has. For many works from the 17th and 18th centuries, how should we now regard them? This also constitutes the integration of theory with China’s reality — a matter of great significance.

**6. Redness and expertise.** Politics and professional work form a unity of opposites. Critique must be conducted on both fronts. Focusing solely on politics without mastering professional work is not good. Politics and professional work are precisely “redness” and “expertise.” It is challenging for those engaged in politics all to become expert, but a major portion should acquire some specialization. The Hubei Provincial Party Committee’s experimental fields have been very effective, and the time invested has not been long.

**7. Eliminate bureaucratic airs.** Proposed in Shanghai. Do not act as officials; thoroughly eradicate all bureaucratic airs and stand as equals with the common people.

**8. Submit plans on time.**

**9. Eliminate the four pests.** Launch a patriotic health campaign centered on eliminating the four pests, with a major inspection each month. “Five years hinge on three years; three years hinge on the first year” — this saying is excellent.

**10. Afforestation.** This year, grasp it thoroughly, make plans, and undertake it on a large scale. I hear that trees over thirty meters tall absorb and release more than a ton of water daily — could this affect groundwater?

**11. The Second Five-Year Plan.** The proportion of local industrial output in each province should surpass agricultural output (including industries devolved to local management). Nationwide balance must be maintained; anarchism is impermissible.

**12. Methods for convening meetings.** Large, medium, and small meetings should all be held. (Provincial) “extraordinary sessions” (such as Party congresses), once or twice a year; medium-sized meetings of a few dozen to two or three hundred people (such as county Party secretary conferences); and small meetings, such as prefectural Party committee secretary sessions. Go down and convene meetings among them to understand their conditions. “Extraordinary sessions” should discuss politics; professional meetings must also address politics.

**13. Provincial Party secretaries and committee members** should take turns leaving their offices for four months a year, traveling widely. They may adopt two approaches: “viewing flowers on horseback” or “dismounting to view flowers.” Spending three or four hours in one place and then leaving is fine; spending a week or half a month there is also acceptable. Staying in one location for three or four months is not necessarily required.

**14. Internally, no hosting of banquets,** no pressuring others to invite to restaurants, no ceremonial greetings or send-offs. No special dance parties, no invitations to theatrical performances. Whoever goes to the airport to receive guests shall be disciplined — the person being received is to be penalized. This is one aspect of eliminating bureaucratic airs.

**15. On the question of the two types of contradictions.** One type is contradictions between ourselves and the enemy; the other is contradictions among the people. Contradictions among the people fall into two categories: one bears the nature of class struggle; the other exists within the working class and the working people, characterized by the conflict between the advanced and the backward. Class contradictions are the primary ones (during the transition period) — they are about revolutionizing something, after all. The Constitution stipulates three great transformations, but essentially there are two: transforming the bourgeoisie and transforming the petty bourgeoisie. If handled well, another ×× years should suffice. ×× years plus eight years makes a total of ×× years; ×× years are unnecessary. If we carry out such rectification campaigns once every year, bourgeois ideology will be eradicated. A vast number are contradictions between the advanced and the backward. Contradictions with the broad intermediate strata are class contradictions. Among well-to-do middle peasants, forty percent support cooperativization, forty percent are not so enthusiastic, and twenty percent wish to withdraw from the cooperatives — though not all genuinely withdraw. Those resolutely withdrawing are a minority; perhaps five percent might be rightists, but they are still working people, not to be labeled as rightists. They must be captured and released seven times.

Causes giving rise to contradictions among the people:
1. The influence of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideology on working people. Individualism, liberalism, absolute egalitarianism, and bureaucratism (which should now be charged to the account of the bourgeoisie) are all influences of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideology.
2. Subjectivist causes. Failing to discern clearly, underestimating, leaning rightward. One must constantly be reminded to keep pace with the evolving situation.
3. Causes related to leadership. When leadership is somewhat better, the advanced form the majority and the backward the minority. One may lead in one way or another (as Zhejiang’s Pingyang and Huangyan counties differ) — by dissecting just one sparrow, one can understand the entire climate. How to lead well is well worth studying. In Shouzhang County, Shandong, there is Liu Chuanyou, who provides in-depth leadership. In western Shandong, there was no custom of raising pigs; now every household raises two. He is also improving the soil. In Zhejiang’s Tonglu County, the oil mill and distillery compared output rates under identical conditions, enabling the backward to catch up with the advanced — excellent materials. Wang Pu’s short commentary in *People’s Daily* was also well written, containing dialectics (see the January 3 issue of *People’s Daily*). Propagate theory, explain dialectics, expound materialism — for instance, the relationship between superstructure and economic base, and between the relations of production and productive forces, are basic contents of historical materialism.

Frequently keep questions in mind and ponder them; chat informally with individual comrades, a few comrades, or with your secretary on equal terms; see what their views are; invite several Party secretaries to a discussion — not to make decisions, but as deliberation. In a given period, think over and chat about a few questions as an important method. Do not fail to exercise your mind beforehand, not thinking things over before convening meetings. Some things mature only gradually.

**16. On the theory of uninterrupted revolution.** The theory of uninterrupted revolution I speak of differs from Trotsky’s — these are two distinct theories of uninterrupted revolution. The steps of our revolution are:
1. Seizing political power and overthrowing the enemy — this was accomplished in 1949.
2. The agrarian revolution — fundamentally completed from 1950 to March 1952.
3. Another agrarian revolution, socialist in nature — now focused on the collective ownership of the primary means of production, also basically accomplished in 1955, with some remnants trailing into 1956. These three tasks followed close upon one another, resolved within two three-year periods. Strike while the iron is hot — this is a tactical necessity. One must not let too long an interval elapse, must not let the momentum die, and must not go about “establishing a new democratic order.” If such an order had been established, additional effort would have been required to dismantle it later. In Poland and Hungary, the momentum was “cut off” for such a long stretch that bourgeois ideology took firm root, making further advances extremely difficult: above-middle peasants no longer wished to pursue cooperativization. Bulgaria fared somewhat better, achieving thirty percent cooperativization.
4. The socialist revolution on the ideological and political fronts — the rectification campaign. This time, it can be completed in the first half of this year. In the first half of next year, it will need to be carried out again.
5. There remains the technological revolution.

Items 1 through 4 all pertain to the nature of the economic base and the superstructure. Land reform entailed the destruction of feudal ownership; it pertained to the relations of production. The technological revolution concerns the issues of productive forces, management methods, and operational techniques, and it must be carried out during the Second Five-Year Plan. Items 1, 2, and 3 will no longer exist in the future. Revolutions on the ideological and political fronts will still occur — a person, after a year or two, may again grow moldy. But the emphasis will be placed on the technological revolution. Technical experts must be developed in large numbers; emulation of those proficient in technology must be launched. In factories and rural areas, there are primary-level technical experts. Leading cadres in Hong’an County were previously armchair political specialists; later they became both red and expert. In industry, follow the direction of Tonglu County, linking experimentation with the technological revolution, so that politicians and technical specialists combine.

Beginning in 1958, while continuing to accomplish the revolution in ideology and politics, focus on the technological revolution — concentrate efforts on carrying it out well. When Stalin advanced the slogan “Cadres Decide Everything,” he also initiated the technological revolution.

Stressing the technological revolution does not mean that politics need no longer be pursued; politics and technology cannot be divorced. Ideological and political work serves as the commander; politics also provides the guarantee for professional work.

It would be good if the elimination of classes could be attained in another ×× years. Thereafter, ideological and political struggles (or revolutions) among people will continue, but their nature will differ: they will not be class relationships; they will all be contradictions between the advanced and the backward among the working people. The struggles at that juncture will also be of two kinds: one arising from the influence of bourgeois ideology on working people; the other stemming from subjectivism — epistemological causes, or possibly causes related to leadership. Those who grasp the Marxist art of leadership fare better; otherwise, they fare worse. The “theory of no conflicts” is metaphysical. Why was a paragraph on dialectics added to the Moscow Declaration? Because it is suited to past, present, and future. In the future, when the entire world is unified, struggles between two factions vying for power will still exist, for opinions diverge: they will publish various newspapers, stage various plays, each seeking to win over the masses. There will be clashes of thought. At that time, superstructure and ideology will surely still exist; contradictions between the relations of production and the productive forces, and between the superstructure and the economic base, will persist; hence there will be people of the Left, Center, and Right. Under the superstructure in the hands of the die-hard backward elements, they will not permit free airing and grand contending. Errors will not fail to be rectified; conflicts will still occur. Without armies, fists or clubs might be used. In that era, without classes, if handled well, the conflict may be non-antagonistic; if handled poorly, it too may become antagonistic. One line is progressive, the other backward; they are mutually exclusive — antagonistic. After ×× years, the state’s internal coercive function will gradually cease to exist, for all will be working people. As far as the working people are concerned now, coercive power is already essentially nonexistent. One can only persuade the working people, not coerce them. State power cannot be applied to the working people; applying power is coercion. This may seem ultra-“Left” but is actually very Right-wing — it smacks of the Guomindang style. Eliminate bureaucratic airs — it is absolutely necessary. To be majestically imposing toward the enemy is correct, but toward the people, it will not do.

Seventeen. Politicians must have some knowledge of professional work—set up experimental fields in agriculture and trial products in industry. Comparisons must be made; comparison is the unity of opposites. Imbalances exist between enterprises, and within an enterprise between workshops, groups, and individuals. Imbalance is not only a social law but also a universal one. As soon as balance is achieved, it is immediately broken; balance is always giving way to fresh imbalance. Appraisals should be conducted, and under broadly equivalent conditions, the advanced and the backward can be compared—they are comparable, not incomparable.

Politicians must always understand some aspects of professional work. Comparisons should be made in technology, and also in politics. Technology and politics must be combined. Let us see who does it better.

Everyone should read a few articles—the special airing of views on opposing waste carried out at Shanghai’s Meilin Factory, published in Liberation Daily, and the Renmin Ribao report on January 3 about the output rate comparison at Tonglu Factory, along with the short commentary written by Wang Pu. A single incident often reflects national-level issues, and we must all treat others’ good work as our own. In building socialism, no matter where a problem arises, it should be regarded as our own concern.

Among the rightists within the student body, 80 percent can continue their studies at the university. Work should be intensified with them, students should engage with them, and gradually transform them. When they do good deeds, they should be commended—though of course some may be feigning enthusiasm.

Do not assume that after this rectification campaign, everything is as clearly divided as the Yellow River boundary line.