Commentary on the Experience Gained at the Four-Tier Cadre Conference in Xingyang County, Henan Province (March 18, 1959)

Comrade Xiaoping [1]: The experience of the four-tier cadre conference held in Xingyang County, Henan Province [2], is worthy of reference by all provinces and counties. Please immediately circulate this to the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. I request that, following the approach adopted by the Henan Provincial Party Committee, when each province, municipality, or autonomous region convenes its own four- or five-tier cadre conferences in the various counties, they select a model county to accumulate experience and use it to guide work throughout the entire province. Mao Zedong March 18

Based on the manuscript. Notes [1] 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. [2] Briefing No. 8 from the CPC Xingyang County Committee, dated 9:00 a.m. on March 16, 1959, addressed to the Zhengzhou Municipal Party Committee and concurrently reported to the Henan Provincial Party Committee, stated that our county’s four-tier cadre conference was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, instructions from the Chairman and the decisions of the provincial six-tier cadre conference were first conveyed. A combined approach of theoretical discussion and practical deliberation was employed—beginning with ideological clarification before turning to concrete issues—along with an open and vigorous style of free speech and debate, in order to resolve ideological questions, followed promptly by the addressing of institutional and policy-related problems. The second stage focused on discussing the 1959 production plan (with particular emphasis on determining output targets) and making arrangements for current production. The method used in holding the meeting primarily involved integrating county-level meetings with commune-level meetings, and cadre meetings with mass meetings, thereby ensuring coordination between upper and lower levels and resonance between internal and external forces. By adopting a policy of complete openness and immediate action once matters were decided, the conference was highly successful, and both cadres and the masses displayed high morale. Drawing on our county’s experience, it is clear that while resolving ideological issues, we must also consciously address practical problems. Only in this way can the Party’s policies reach the masses more quickly, ideological understanding be achieved more rapidly, relations between commune-level and grassroots cadres be improved, and both cadres and the masses feel more at ease.