--- Notes



Central Instructions Forwarding the Jilin Provincial Party Committee’s Report on the Situation of the Technical Renovation and Technical Revolution Campaign (March 3, 1960)  To the East China Bureau, the Committees of Various Cooperative Zones, and the Provincial, Municipal, and Autonomous Region Party Committees:

The report of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee on the situation of the technical renovation and technical revolution campaign [1] is very well written. It is now forwarded to you for study and reference. It is hoped that the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and regions will promptly summarize their own experiences on this important issue and submit a report to us, while also notifying all subordinate levels to take note and comply. This document and its attachments may be published in Party periodicals and further circulated to local prefectural, municipal, and county party committees.

Issued by the Central Committee on March 3, 1960, based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.

Two copies were distributed this afternoon to the comrades present at the meeting [2], for discussion. Printed from the manuscript by Mao Zedong at four o’clock in the morning on March 3.

Notes [1] The report submitted by the CPC Jilin Provincial Committee to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee on February 26, 1960, states that over the past three months, a vigorous technical renovation and technical revolution campaign centered on mechanization, semi-mechanization, automation, semi-automation, and continuous production has been vigorously carried out in our province. This campaign is more thorough and solid than previous ones and has entered a new stage. Its main features are as follows: First, the campaign is shifting from ordinary improvements based on existing equipment to comprehensive technological transformation. Second, it has evolved from disseminating isolated advanced practices to promoting systematic, integrated packages of advanced techniques in a planned, centrally led, large-scale, and all-round manner. Third, in addition to routine renovation projects, efforts are now being directed toward cutting-edge technologies, accompanied by new developments in mass scientific research. Fourth, there is a strong emphasis on the comprehensive utilization of resources to increase output and conserve raw materials. In the course of this campaign, several valuable lessons have emerged that deserve careful study and further development. First, this campaign is both a production drive and a mass ideological movement—an undertaking for the self-improvement of the working masses. Second, closer cooperation has been established among leading cadres, engineering and technical personnel, and workers in many enterprises; some research institutes and institutions of higher learning have also joined, forming new intra- and inter-enterprise “three-combination” arrangements and broad-based collaborative networks. Third, technical renovation and revolution must be closely linked to current production activities and continuously improve enterprise management standards so as to accommodate and promote the development of the mass movement. Fourth, we must proceed from actual conditions, implement the principle of combining indigenous and foreign approaches (“walking on two legs”), and adhere to the policy of testing everything before widespread application. Fifth, ideological revolution, technological revolution, and cultural revolution should be integrated with one another. Based on the actual progress of the current campaign, we have put forward the slogan of a “double doubling” movement—renovating equipment and doubling production capacity—in order to link this campaign with increased output and resource conservation and to carry it forward in a broader and deeper direction. When the time is right, we will also focus on consolidating the results of the campaign.

[2] Refers to the twenty-four comrades mentioned in the letter on page of this volume, “A Letter to Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping Regarding Three Draft Comments on Central Documents Forwarding Reports from the Guangdong, Jilin, and Guizhou Provincial Party Committees.”