Inner-Party Communication
(March 17, 1959)

Comrade First Secretaries of Provincial, Municipal, and Regional Party Committees:

On the question of county and commune meetings.

The six-level cadres conferences in the provinces, municipalities, and regions are about to conclude. Should we then convene four-level or five-level cadres conferences at the county level? My opinion is that we should, and we should do so with great fanfare, only that none of it should be published in the newspapers. Counties in Henan are now holding four-level cadres conferences, and they are very lively and very beneficial. Responsible comrades at the provincial level in Henan are directly guiding several counties, using their experience to direct other counties. Hubei, Guangdong, and Jiangsu have already arranged for all counties in their provinces to hold such meetings. The Jiangyin County Party Committee in Jiangsu Province has already arranged to convene a meeting of ten thousand people. Two counties in Henan have held meetings of ten thousand people; the majority of counties have held meetings of four to five thousand people. I suggest that counties should convene five-level cadres conferences, that is: county Party committee level, commune Party committee level, production brigade (or management district) level, production team (i.e., former advanced cooperative) level, and production squad (i.e., production group, also called work group) level. Each level must send representatives, so that all squad leaders of the commune, all branch secretaries and production team leaders, all general branch secretaries of management districts and production brigade leaders, as well as a number of cadres at the commune level, attend the meeting. There must be people whose thinking has not yet been straightened out, people belonging to the wait-and-see faction and the "settling accounts" faction; it is best if they make up one-tenth of the attendees. A small number of activists from among the commune members may also be found to attend. Let all these people hear the speech by the First Secretary of the county Party committee, because his speech will be somewhat higher in level than that of an ordinary commune First Secretary. Then initiate discussions, let those who speak incur no blame, let there be free airing of views, and over a few days, unify thinking. Three kinds of opposing viewpoints should clash at the meeting: one, a clash between basic-level cadres and their superiors (commune and county); two, a clash between those whose thinking has not been straightened out and those whose thinking has already been straightened out; three, a clash between the one-tenth who belong to the wait-and-see faction and the "settling accounts" faction (many of those regarded as the wait-and-see faction and the "settling accounts" faction are not actually of the wait-and-see faction or the "settling accounts" faction; they have been misjudged by others) and the nine-tenths who are positive figures. Three to four days of debate will be enough. Then spend another three to four days resolving specific problems; a total of seven or eight days will be quite sufficient. The county-level five-level conference will certainly be more vivid and more lively than the provincial six-level conference. Tell the First Secretaries of the commune Party committees and the county Party committees how to carry out their work. During the conference, specially convene these comrades once and lecture them, so that from the sharp lesson of the past few months — when certain measures were inappropriate, the "communist wind" was blown, equal distribution, uncompensated transfer of resources, and recovery of loans[1] were practiced, and they temporarily became estranged from the masses — they may draw experience. Thereafter, they must be good at pondering problems, good at doing their work, and then they will be able to become one with the masses. Discussion should be held, in addition to the system of three-level ownership, three-level management, and three-level accounting by the commune, the management district (i.e., production brigade), and the production team (i.e., former advanced cooperative), on the question of partial ownership by the production squad (production group or work group). This question was raised by Comrades Wang Renzhong and Tao Lujia.[2] I think it is reasonable and worth discussing. The county conferences can conclude by the third ten-day period of March, and for the entire month of April, commune representative assemblies need not be held. Busy oneself with production for a month, hold some small meetings, resolve some specific problems, and let each production team, during spare time from work, convene Party members' meetings and then mass meetings, forming a collective discussion by all the people. Since several hundred people from each commune will have already attended the county conference, and the issues will have been thoroughly elucidated, the collective discussion by all the people during spare time from work can proceed directly. Some counties in Hubei are already conducting collective discussion by all the people. In May, all communes throughout the country should set aside three days (three days will suffice) to convene the First Commune Member Representative Assembly. The representatives should include men and women, old and young, positive and negative figures (not landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, or bad elements, but well-to-do middle peasants should be included), discuss some issues, and elect the commune management committee. Such representative assemblies are recommended to be held four times a year, each time for one day, two days, at most three days. Commune First Secretaries must learn to be adept at guiding such meetings. Our comrades, the commune Party committee secretaries, must every day and every hour care for the interests of the masses, and always bear in mind that their own policies and measures must suit the present level of consciousness of the masses and the present urgent demands of the masses. Anything that contravenes these two principles is absolutely unworkable and will certainly fail. County Party committees and prefectural Party committees must all pay attention to strengthening leadership over the communes, and must send comrades who are politically strong to help commune comrades who are politically weaker. Prefectural Party committees must pay attention to sending people to help county Party committees with weaker leadership. Both counties and communes must pay attention to strengthening the leading core of the production team (generally the former advanced cooperative) that serves as the basic accounting unit. The above are merely offered as suggestions. As to exactly how to handle matters to make them more appropriate, please consider and decide, and implement swiftly. When the county holds meetings, personnel must be left at all levels of the commune to lead production, or they may attend the meetings in rotation, so as not to miss the farming season.

Mao Zedong
7:00 a.m., March 17, 1959, in Wuchang

[1] "Equal distribution, uncompensated transfer, and recovery of loans" was the main manifestation of the "communist wind" during the people's commune movement. That is: equal distribution leveling the rich and poor was practiced within the commune; county and commune levels transferred certain properties of production teams (including those of individual commune members) without compensation. "Recovery of loans" refers to banks recalling all loans previously issued to rural areas.

[2] Wang Renzhong, then First Secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee. Tao Lujia (1917–2011), a native of Liyang, Jiangsu, then First Secretary of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee.