Critique on Distributing "Views of Some Comrades in Tianjin on the Great Leap Forward of 1958"
(July 19, 1959)

This document [1] is to be distributed to all comrades for study.

Mao Zedong
July 19

Printed from the manuscript.

Note
1. Negation of last year's Great Leap Forward. They believe that the nationwide steelmaking campaign in industry resulted in losses outweighing gains, that grain was insufficient for consumption in agriculture, that unprecedented tension appeared in the market, and that the Party's prestige is not as high as before.
2. Industry leaped forward, but agriculture did not. They believe that "industry and agriculture were not developed simultaneously," and that the state "attaches importance to industry and despises agriculture."
3. Politics leaped forward, but the economy did not. In particular, they hold views on the policy of "taking steel as the key link," believing that steelmaking may be justifiable on the political account but not on the economic account. Its harms are: first, it affected the autumn harvest; second, it affected industrial production; third, waterwheels and pots were smashed, and the steel produced was unusable; fourth, the state lost 2.3 billion. "In short, it exhausted the people and wasted wealth, was highly uneconomical, brought great difficulties to production and livelihood, and caused overall tension."
4. They believe that the People's Communes "advanced too quickly and brought side effects."
When Mao Zedong approved the distribution of this material, he changed the title of the material to "Views of Some Comrades in Tianjin on the Great Leap Forward of 1958."

--- Notes

[1] Refers to the article "Several Arguments Negating and Doubting the Great Leap Forward of 1958," published in Issue No. 45 of *Propaganda and Education Trends*, compiled and printed by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee on June 20, 1959. The article introduces some views of certain Party cadres in Tianjin Municipality regarding the Great Leap Forward of 1958: