Concerning the Fate of China’s Socialism [I]
(August 2, 1959)

There are 191 members and alternate members of the Central Committee, with 147 present at the meeting and 15 attending as non-voting delegates, making a total of 162 people. The meeting agenda:

(1) The issue of revising targets: The Sixth Plenary Session of the Central Committee in Wuhan decided on this year’s targets. At the Seventh Plenary Session of the Central Committee in Shanghai, some people advocated revising the targets, but the majority disagreed. It seems that even if revised, the revision would not be thorough. There are still five months left this year. It would be better to revise them and then pass through the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. The high targets were set by ourselves; we set up the idol ourselves and worshipped it ourselves. Now we must break it—break the targets that do not conform to reality, for steel, coal, grain, cotton, etc.

(2) The issue of the line: Some comrades have doubts—is it correct or not? Before going up to Lushan, it was unclear. After going up to Lushan, some people demanded democracy, demanded freedom, said they dared not speak out, that there was pressure. At the time, we could not make head or tail of it, did not know what the so-called lack of democracy was about. The first half of the month was an “immortals’ meeting,” with no tense situation. They said there was no freedom, meaning they wanted to attack the General Line, to undermine the General Line. The freedom they wanted was the freedom to undermine the General Line, the freedom of speech to criticize the General Line. They demanded a tense situation. Their criticism focused mainly on last year, but also criticized this year’s work. They said last year’s work was done badly. Since the First Zhengzhou Conference last November, we have corrected the “Communist Wind,” corrected some “Left” tendencies such as “equalitarianism, indiscriminate transfer of resources, and arbitrary collection of funds.” They fail to see the work of the past nine months, are dissatisfied with it, and demand a re-discussion; otherwise, they consider it suppression of democracy. They found the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau unsatisfying, saying there was too little democracy. Now we are holding a plenary session, where democracy is greater, and we plan to hold a Party Congress next year. Judging by the situation, if necessary, it could be held in September or October this year. Did we not demand great democracy, great airing of views, great contending, and great debate in 1957? The Lushan Conference has already been going on for a month. Comrades who have newly arrived do not know what it is all about. First, we will hold small group meetings for a few days, then hold larger meetings, and finally adopt resolutions.

The method for conducting the meeting should be the one approved by everyone, starting from the desire for unity. The unity of the Central Committee plenum concerns the fate of China’s socialism. As we see it, we should unite. At present, there is a tendency toward splitting. At the Eighth Congress last year, I said the dangers are nothing more than: first, a world war; second, a split in the Party. At that time, there were no obvious signs, but now there are such signs. The method for unity is to start from the desire for unity, go through criticism and self-criticism, and achieve the goal of new unity on a new basis. Toward comrades who have made mistakes, we adopt the policy of learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the sickness to save the patient. Give comrades who have made mistakes a way out, allow them to correct their mistakes and continue the revolution. Do not be like Squire Zhao in *The True Story of Ah Q*, who forbade Ah Q from making revolution. Toward comrades who have made mistakes, we must first observe, then help. Only observing without helping, doing no work, is not good. We oppose mistakes; poison must not be consumed. We do not appreciate the stench of mistakes. Criticizing and struggling against them is to bring them closer to us, and to push their shortcomings and mistakes as far away from us as possible. There must be analysis of comrades who have made mistakes. There are simply two possibilities: one is that they can change, the other is that they cannot. So-called observing means seeing whether they can change; so-called helping means helping them to change. Some comrades temporarily went over to that side. Through criticism and persuasion, plus changes in objective circumstances, many comrades have changed back and broken away from those people. The Li Lisan line and the Wang Ming line were corrected at the Zunyi Conference. After that, it took ten years, right up to the Seventh Congress, passing through the Rectification Movement in between. Ten years were necessary. For a person to correct mistakes, several processes are required. You cannot force correction all at once. Marx said: “A commodity is recognized as having a dual character only after being exchanged thousands of times.” Luo Fu initially did not admit his line mistake. At the Seventh Congress, through struggle, Luo Fu admitted his line mistake. In that struggle, Wang Ming did not change, and Luo Fu also did not change completely; his old illness recurred. He still suffers from malaria and emerges whenever there is an opportunity. The majority of comrades have corrected themselves well. As for line mistakes, historical facts prove that they can be changed. We must have this confidence. Those who cannot change are isolated cases. It is evident that the policy of curing the sickness to save the patient is effective. We must have good intentions to help them. Toward people, we must have compassion; toward erroneous things, we should be merciless—they are poison, and we must adopt an attitude of deep-seated hatred and abhorrence. But do not use the methods of Wu Song, Lu Zhishen, or Li Kui. They were very resolute. They could join the Communist Party, but their shortcoming was that they did not pay much attention to strategy and did not know how to do political work. We must adopt the method of presenting facts and reasoning things out, using great debate, big-character posters, medium-character posters, and the briefings of the Lushan Conference.

When I went up the mountain, I said three sentences: Great achievements, quite a few problems, and a bright future. Later, the phrase “quite a few problems” ran into trouble. It became a problem of right opportunism launching a frenzied attack on the Party. The problem of the “Communist Wind” is gone, “equalitarianism, indiscriminate transfer of resources, and arbitrary collection of funds” is gone, boasting and exaggeration are also gone. Now it is not a matter of opposing “Left” but of opposing Right. It is a problem of right opportunism launching a frenzied attack on the Party, on the 600 million people, and on the vigorous socialist movement. Now we want targets—the more down-to-earth, the better. After opposing “Left” deviation for several months, Right deviation is bound to emerge. Shortcomings and mistakes do exist, but they have already been corrected, yet they still demand correction. They seize on these things to attack the General Line, to lead the General Line onto an erroneous path.