(March 9, 1958)
The following issues are now raised for discussion. You should also raise your own issues.

1. The issue of coordination. At present, the problem of coordination is widespread. This was raised by Comrade Kou Kou. Nationwide, between provinces and provinces, between cities and cities, between cooperatives and cooperatives, in agriculture, industry, commerce, transportation, trade, culture and education—all must coordinate.

2. How to carry out central work and non-central work. When the county party secretary focuses on central work, other comrades become unhappy. Below the county level, one should not neglect other tasks because of the central work.

3. Issues concerning the tax system and prices.

4. Labor laws in local industries. Should county and township industries implement the eight-hour workday? What about labor protection, wages, and welfare?

5. The issue of the "second account" should be discussed here, with principles proposed. After approval by the Party Congress, it will be submitted to the People's Congress for approval in June or July.

6. How long will it take to complete the ten-year agricultural plan and industrial plan? Some cooperatives have already completed it or will do so in one or two years, or through three years of arduous struggle. Twelve provinces aim to complete it in five years, but if lean years are not factored in, it may fall through. Hubei plans to complete it in five to seven years (including two years of famine), striving for completion in five years, which is relatively proactive. Now that the accounts have been made public, failing to fulfill them will invite scolding. Is there confidence? Being scolded is not serious; it’s not a capital offense—it’s nothing more than subjectivism. I’m now feeling a bit "opportunistic" again, nothing more than fearing a spanking. Local industries are showing great momentum nationwide. In the Northeast, agricultural momentum is lacking. Liaoning’s industry already accounts for 85%, focusing heavily on industry without paying attention to agriculture, failing to pursue both simultaneously. It’s a case of "Iron-Crutch Li", where agriculture has a short leg.

7. The issue of recruiting workers. There’s now a wave of large-scale recruitment, which is alarming. Shandong wants to recruit 150,000 people, and Shanxi wants to hire 170,000 temporary workers. In 1956, wages surged by over one billion. If we’re not careful, waste will occur.

8. The issue of balance. The balance among the whole country, between provinces, and between urban and rural areas needs careful study. As industries develop nationwide, what will happen to workers in Shanghai? Where will they find their livelihood? It now seems as if balance is not wanted, but perhaps a little is still needed. Some people now think the more imbalance, the better—is there any sense in that?

9. The issue of fixed grain quotas. Zhejiang has a report, which has been distributed.

10. The issue of unity and decentralization—local decentralization. Europe currently has no unified countries, yet local regions have developed. Since the Qin Dynasty, China has been a unified realm under one rule; once unified, local regions did not develop. Each approach has its pros and cons.

11. What exactly are the problems regarding the relationship between the superstructure and the economic base, and between productive forces and production relations? What is the state of these two types of contradictions? What are the trends in overcoming them?

12. A comparison of two methods. One is the Marxist "advance rashly", and the other is the non-Marxist opposition to "advancing rashly". Which one should be adopted? I think we should adopt "advancing rashly". Many issues can be framed this way. For example, in eliminating the Four Pests, one method is to eliminate them, and the other is to let them persist. There are also two methods for eliminating the Four Pests—one fast and one slow; faster action can get rid of them, slower action cannot. In implementing plans, one method is to stretch a ten-year plan over 20 years, and the other is to complete a ten-year plan in two or three years. Another example is fertilizer: in 1956, it doubled compared to 1957, and in 1958, it doubled again over 1956. Is more fertilizer better, or less? Last year, production lacked momentum; this year, not only has it recovered, but it has surpassed 1956. Which method is better? Is the 1957 "Marxist" opposition to "advancing rashly" better, or is the 1958 "advancing rashly" better? These two methods must be compared. Achieving change through three years of arduous struggle is feasible, but "eliminating the Four Pests in one day" or "three days of arduous struggle" is not Marxist.

13. Culture and education. Someone proposed tackling 14 items. Should commerce also tackle 14 items?

14. The technological revolution and the cultural revolution. The theory of continuous revolution. At the Nanning Conference, only the technological revolution was proposed; now, someone has added the cultural revolution, which can be studied.

15. There must be a leap forward, but no empty shouting. There must be methods and techniques; setting very high targets that cannot be realized is problematic. Tong County originally had a per-mu yield of 150 jin, which leaped to 800 jin in 1956 but was not achieved—this was subjectivism. But it did no great harm, and the spanking shouldn’t be too severe. Does the current leap forward suffer from false reporting, empty shouting, or unrealistic flaws? Now is not the time to pour cold water but to advocate honest reporting and shouting, with concrete measures to ensure the realization of slogans.

16. The issue of rectification. The "Two Oppositions" have grasped the key theme. The slogan for intellectuals, "specialized, deep, red, and thorough", is very good. Like Liu Bei’s marriage ploy—pretence turned into reality—there is authenticity among them, and also falseness. A small portion is entirely false, while the majority is half-true and half-false, capable of sudden change. It won’t take long for them to change, because with last year’s rectification and anti-rightist campaign as the foundation, and this year’s production upsurge, there has been a significant shift in thinking—this is the situation of rectification. How should grassroots rectification be carried out? It requires extensive airing of views, large-scale rectification, and major reforms. Some erroneous ideas among the masses must also be resolved. All this work must be done; otherwise, enthusiasm won’t be sufficiently high.

17. Should rightist conferences be held? Holding rightist conferences in a city, district, or school, with the participation of leftists, aims primarily to win over and divide the rightists, offering them a way out. Strike and pull, strike while pulling—this means giving the rightists a way out.

18. The movement to reform agricultural tools must continue until tractors are achieved. The cart-ization in Dangyang County, Hubei Province, is the sprout of technological innovation.

19. The "Sixty Articles" is not yet an official document; it needs revision or rewriting. The basic viewpoints are correct but require additions and deletions.

20. How should newspapers be run? How can central, provincial, municipal, prefectural (municipal), county, and district newspapers change their character and become lively and dynamic? The *People’s Daily* has proposed 23 items, with the possibility of a leap forward. Organizing and guiding work relies mainly on newspapers; relying solely on meetings yields limited results.

21. The international situation and foreign policy. Huan Xiang said that Britain’s memorandum stung us very uncomfortably. Actually, they used needles to prick us, while we used an awl to prick them—I find it very comfortable. They don’t hope for our public rebuttal because the international situation, their domestic majority, and trade are unfavorable to them. Conditions in Indonesia and the Arab world are good. Korea and Poland (agricultural issues) are hopeful, not all darkness. The economic coordination among the 12 countries must be studied. Politics must be integrated with professional work; does foreign trade have political shortcomings? We can ask fraternal countries to manufacture goods we need. Whether to attend the 12-country coordination meeting, whether to become a formal member—I think the issue is not the form but the substance.

22. The issue of the national defense plan.

23. The issue of publishing a theoretical journal.

24. The experience of the past eight years should be summarized. Opposing "advancing rashly" is a matter of guiding principles, discussed at the Nanning Conference. The purpose of clarifying this issue is to enable everyone to share a common language and facilitate work. Rules and regulations. Comrade Kou Kou discussed rules and regulations at the Nanning Conference. A large batch of rules and regulations was copied from the Soviet Union—for example, copying Soviet guard systems, which restricted the activities of responsible comrades, with escorts in front and behind, forbidding them from going to restaurants or buying shoes on the street. This refers to the Ministry of Public Security. Other ministries all have similar issues. Now, with the "Two Oppositions" and rectification, there’s great hope. Some rules and regulations fetter productive forces, create waste, and spawn bureaucracy. This is also buying experience with money. At the founding of the nation, there was no alternative—this holds some truth, but not the whole truth. It cannot be considered that copying was absolutely unavoidable. Doctrinalism in politics and military affairs was committed historically, but for the entire Party, only a minority made this mistake; the majority never had the idea of rigid copying. During the Party’s founding and the Northern Expedition period, the Party was relatively lively and dynamic; it was only later that rigid copying occurred. Rules and regulations are red tape, superstructure—all are "ritual", a vast amount of "ritual". The Central Committee didn’t know, the State Council didn’t know, and ministers weren’t necessarily aware. The industrial and educational departments copied extensively; agriculture also copied somewhat, but because the Central Committee kept a firm grip, with several charters and details passing through the Central Committee, and some local experiences distributed, copying from reality was a bit less. Agriculture had both materials and people; industry had materials but no people; commerce seemed to copy less; planning, statistics, infrastructure procedures, management systems, and finance copied quite a bit. The basic approach was using rules and regulations to manage people. Copying requires analysis, not rigid copying. Rigid copying means failing to think independently, forgetting the historical lesson of doctrinalism. That lesson is the integration of theory and practice—theory comes from practice and returns to practice. This principle hasn’t been applied to economic construction. The universal truth of Marxism-Leninism must be integrated with the concrete reality of the Chinese revolution—this is materialism; the two form a unity of opposites, which is also dialectics. Why rigidly copy? It’s because dialectics is ignored. The Soviet Union has its own set of methods; Soviet experience is one aspect, and Chinese practice is another aspect—this is the unity of opposites. Soviet experience can only be adopted selectively—adopt what is good, and discard what is not. Treating Soviet experience in isolation, without considering Chinese reality, is not selective adoption. For instance, in running newspapers, copying the set patterns of *Pravda* without independent thought is like a three-year-old child who needs support in everything, losing spirit and independent thinking. Two approaches should always be proposed for comparison—this is dialectics. Otherwise, it’s metaphysics. For railway alignments, factory siting, and the Three Gorges dam site, several alternatives exist. Why can’t rules and regulations also have several alternatives? In the military, rules and regulations were also adopted without analysis, rigidly and mechanically, importing "complete sets of equipment" (not in construction). Ownership, interrelations, and distribution constitute the three major parts of production relations; some rules and regulations belong to production relations, and wages and welfare belong to distribution—all are production relations.