Comments on a Briefing Regarding the Situation at the Six-Level Cadres’ Conference in Anhui Province
Some are themselves confused in their thinking, mistaking the “Communist Wind” for a “good wind”;
second, some have contracted a “contagious disease” and are infecting each other;
third, some of this was passed down by relevant departments at the provincial level. During the discussions, commune-level cadres did not speak much. The provincial Party committee has already convened a special meeting for them, once again clarifying that the provincial Party committee bears the main responsibility, so as to allay their concerns, but also requiring them to examine their own experiences and lessons and speak out boldly. When approving and circulating this briefing, Mao Zedong changed the title of the report to “Anhui’s Experience.”

[3]
Refers to the second report sent by the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee at 23:00 on March 11, 1959, to the Central Committee and Mao Zedong regarding the implementation of the resolutions of the Zhengzhou Conference.

[4]
Refers to the report sent by the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee on March 10, 1959, to the Central Committee and Mao Zedong concerning the implementation of the guiding principles of the Zhengzhou Conference, and the supplementary report sent by Shu Tong, First Secretary of the Shandong Provincial Committee, at 4:00 p.m. on March 12 regarding the situation at the Shandong Six-Level Cadres’ Conference, addressed to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee.
The report from the Shandong Provincial Committee states: From the 5th to the 8th of this month, we convened a meeting of prefectural, municipal, and county Party secretaries to convey the spirit of the Zhengzhou Conference and prepare for the six-level cadres’ conference. At the meeting, everyone unanimously reported that after hearing the Chairman’s instructions, they had found the key to resolving the current problems in the countryside, which is to start with the issue of ownership and attach importance to the ownership of the production teams. In the past, the communes exercised excessive unified control; the practices of “equalitarianism, transfer of resources, and blind commandism” seriously undermined the initiative of the production teams and the individual peasants. That some cadres were overly aggressive and some peasants were overly negative both stemmed from this, and the erroneous tendency to equate the socialist principle of distribution according to work with communist ideology arose from this as well. After hearing the conveyance, many cadres experienced a sudden clarity of thought and called back one after another to demand an end to the practice of opposing departmentalism. However, the discussions also revealed many erroneous understandings and ideological concerns, with considerable debate over whether to take the production team or the management zone as the basic accounting unit. These issues await further resolution at the six-level cadres’ conference. Shu Tong’s report states: Our province’s six-level cadres’ conference began on the 9th of this month and has now been in session for three days. After hearing the spirit of the Zhengzhou Conference, the mood is one of high morale; the overwhelming majority of grassroots cadres believe the Chairman’s instructions are entirely correct, have grasped the principal contradiction, and that acting accordingly can fundamentally resolve the current tense situation. The grain problem, production problems, and many other contradictions will also be readily solved. Many cadres are calling or writing back, asking their home areas to engage in proper production and correct the erroneous practices of the past. In order to make the conference deep and thorough, we propose conducting it in two stages: the first stage, speaking one’s mind and laying out the contradictions; the second stage, resolving misgivings, formulating rules, and drafting documents concerning the commune management system and certain policy issues. After the conference, participants can return directly to their communes to hold meetings, integrating the implementation of the Zhengzhou Conference spirit with the ongoing rectification campaign in the communes. County-level meetings can be postponed and held later as circumstances require.