Comments on Reports Concerning the Coverage of the Eighth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of Our Party [1]
(September 4, 1959)

Comrades Qiaomu and Lengxi [2]:

These two items could perhaps be published in the form of news dispatches by Xinhua News Agency and *Renmin Ribao*, etc., to boost morale and to put certain people in the Soviet Union on the spot. Please consider.

Mao Zedong
September 4

[1] Refers to the telegram sent on August 31, 1959, by the Chinese Embassy in Czechoslovakia to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the telegram sent on August 30, 1959, by the Chinese Embassy in the German Democratic Republic to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The main content of the telegram from the Embassy in Czechoslovakia is as follows:
(1) From August 28 to 30, the major newspapers in Czechoslovakia continued to report on the Eighth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of our Party and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, with prominent layout and strong headlines. The key points emphasized were as follows:
(1) China’s achievements are great.
(2) The people’s communes are good.
(3) The resolution of the Eighth Plenary Session is correct.
(2) Some newspapers published commentaries, the main points of which were:
(1) The significance of the Eighth Plenary Session was pointed out.
(2) The greatness of our country’s achievements was emphasized.
(3) The reasons for our country’s great achievements were analyzed.
(4) Our adjustment of the plan was commented upon.
(5) Regarding the struggle against the Right-deviationist tendency, apart from *Rudé Právo*, no other newspapers mentioned it.
The telegram from the Embassy in the German Democratic Republic stated that the newspapers of various parties, major mass organizations, and the military in the GDR all attached great importance to the communiqué and resolution of the Eighth Plenary Session of our Party, and their propaganda line was basically consistent with the spirit of our communiqué. All newspapers emphasized that our country’s Great Leap Forward last year was unprecedented in history and that this year it is continuing. Regarding the issue of our revision of the 1959 plan, they also provided explanations and positive assessments. At the same time, they consciously helped us counter the propaganda of Western newspapers. *Renmin Ribao* published two Xinhua News Agency dispatches on September 5, 1959, titled "People’s Communes Promote the All-Round Development of the Rural Economy" and "China Builds Socialism with Irresistible Momentum," respectively introducing the above-mentioned reactions of the press in Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic.

[2] Qiaomu, namely Hu Qiaomu, was then an alternate secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Mao Zedong’s secretary. Lengxi, namely Wu Lengxi, was then the director of Xinhua News Agency and editor-in-chief of *Renmin Ribao*.