Party Communication [I]
(March 9, 1959)
Comrade Xiaoping121:
Enclosed is Letter 131. After you have read it, please immediately forward it to Comrade Shaoqi for his review. Instruct Comrade Shangkun141 to transmit it by telephone tonight (March 9) to all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, except Tibet.
I understand that Hunan has scheduled its six-level cadres’ conference for March 16, which is too late; hence this letter.
Mao Zedong
3:00 A.M., March 9
Qiaomu is currently assisting Comrade Wu Zhipu in revising the two documents for the conferenceI坷 and will return them to you in a day or two.
川
This is a letter from Mao Zedong to the first secretaries of the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions regarding the convening of a six-level cadres’ conference focused on discussing people’s communes. The title was proposed by Mao Zedong.
[2]
Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, who at that time served as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
［匀 means Section Two of this document.
[4]
Shangkun refers to Yang Shangkun, who at the time held the positions of Alternate Secretary of the CPC Central Secretariat and Director of the Central Office.
[5]
These refer to “The Regulations of the CPC Henan Provincial Committee on the Management System and Certain Policies of the People’s Communes” and “Outline for the Summary of the CPC Henan Provincial Committee’s Six-Level Cadres’ Conference.”

Comrades, First Secretaries of the Party Committees of Provinces, Municipalities, and Autonomous Regions:
The Central Committee has decided to hold an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau in Shanghai on March 25, and all of you are expected to attend. Based on the spirit of the resolutions adopted at the Zhengzhou Conference, the six-level cadres’ conferences to be convened by each province, municipality, and autonomous region—centered around discussions on the people’s communes—are likely to last about ten days. Therefore, they should be called without delay. For example, the Hubei Provincial Committee has set the date for March 11, which is appropriate. Any further postponement would be detrimental. If the time allotted is too short, the analysis, exposure, and discussion of issues will inevitably be insufficient, leading to inadequate and incomplete solutions—meaning the deliberations will lack depth and thoroughness. Each provincial, municipal, and regional conference ought to adopt a resolution concerning the management system of the people’s communes and several specific policy matters, and the first secretary should deliver a summarizing speech to provide a deep and comprehensive explanation of the principal contradictions currently facing the people’s communes as well as various policy issues. These two documents should be promptly circulated downward so that lower-level cadres and masses have clear guidelines to follow. However, formulating the ideas and drafting the text for these documents requires time. Should the conference open on March 11, it might not conclude until March 20 or 22, allowing the respective first secretaries sufficient time to prepare and travel to Shanghai for the meeting on March 25, thus avoiding undue haste. In Henan, the six-level cadres’ conference can wrap up by March 10, with their resolution and summary speech finalized by March 9. The Central Committee will deliver these two documents to you by airplane no later than March 14 for your reference. The next step in Henan is to convene four-level cadres’ meetings at the county level to convey and discuss the policies adopted at the provincial six-level conference, while also deliberating on concrete methods of implementation at the county, commune, and production team levels. Attendees at the county-level four-level meeting will include: (1) several officials at the county level; (2) several officials at the commune level; (3) one to two representatives from each production brigade; and (4) one representative from each production team. Additionally, there will be a number of observers and accountants. The total attendance will range from a few hundred to over two thousand people. The meeting is scheduled to last seven to ten days. All counties in Henan are planning to convene simultaneously on March 13 or 14 and complete the proceedings before March 23 or 24. There remains one more week in March

for party communications
to be used by communes, brigades, and production teams to hold their own meetings. In short, during March we can essentially clarify and resolve a host of confused ideas and conflicting issues surrounding the people’s communes. Starting in April, the entire Party and the whole nation will be able to advance the Great Leap Forward with unified purpose. I hope that all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions will proceed in the same manner. If the six-level cadres’ conferences in your respective jurisdictions can be held as early as March 11, like in Hubei, and concluded by March 20 or 22, with county-level four-level meetings wrapping up by the end of March and discussions at the commune and production team levels finished before April 10, then you would only be about ten days behind Henan. Some comrades may argue that this schedule is too rushed and that preparations are insufficient, suggesting a postponement of the conferences. However, I do not believe this is advisable. We already have clear policies in place: quickly gather the six-level cadres, promptly disseminate these policies, and within just a few days major and minor conflicts will be brought to light, winning the support of the majority. By taking the initiative, those who resist or nitpick will have nothing to say. Of course, a certain segment of the population may remain unconvinced and even criticize us as regressing. Such individuals may experience sleepless nights and poor appetite for a few days, but this discomfort will soon pass once they come to understand the situation. In essence, slowness is undesirable; we must move swiftly. Preparatory work can certainly be done—for instance, gradually aligning thinking at both the county and township levels. It is not necessary to achieve complete consensus; a few days’ preparation would suffice. From March 4 to 10, we have six or seven days to make preparations—isn’t that ample time? Quite enough. Prolonging the process would only be counterproductive.
The above is my suggestion. Whether it is feasible remains for you to decide based on your own circumstances.
Mao Zedong
4:00 A.M., March 9, 1959, in Zhengzhou