The Guangdong Provincial Party Committee’s “Instructions on Several Major Issues in the Current Work of People’s Communes” is an excellent document, highly relevant to the present situation of shortcomings and errors within the people’s communes and to the urgent need to correct them. It can be confidently assumed that the conditions across all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions are broadly similar to those in Guangdong: these same five problems have arisen. All localities should therefore accord them serious attention, follow Guangdong’s example by issuing a clear and easily understood directive, and promptly rectify these deficiencies and mistakes.  The Central Committee recommends circulating Guangdong’s instructions down through the party committees at the prefectural, county, and commune levels. Commune-level party committees are urged to hold several thorough discussions, engage their minds, and carefully and calmly reflect upon, deliberate over, and resolve these five issues so as to correct the existing shortcomings and errors. At present, the overall situation is very favorable; the existing problems are still confined to certain areas. Nevertheless, they must be addressed without fail to prevent these currently localized errors from spreading further.  A considerable number of our cadres currently possess limited political awareness, economic theory, and analytical understanding of practical work—indeed, for some, these capacities remain quite low. They are still in the process of maturing in these respects, which constitutes one aspect of their current limitations. On the other hand, their strong drive and high enthusiasm, coupled with their ambitious aspiration to transform China into a great, powerful, prosperous, and morally elevated socialist and communist nation, are highly commendable. These two aspects coexist. With particular regard to the former—that is, their shortcomings—cadres are encouraged to study diligently and think critically, aiming within a few years—for instance, five to ten years—to achieve a significant enhancement and greater maturity in their political, theoretical, and professional competencies. In this connection, it may be noted that the central authorities likewise recommend that the industrial and transportation sectors, as well as the education, culture, and science sectors, and the health, medical, and pharmaceutical sectors, adopt a similar approach to resolving their own respective challenges.  Note: The five issues referred to in this commentary are as follows:  1. Signs of prematurely transitioning from collective ownership at the production team level to communal ownership without due consideration of local conditions.  2. Strengthening the commune-level economy by weakening the economic base of the production brigades, thereby repeating the mistake of the “communist wind.”  3. Excessive accumulation of resources by the communes, including the reclamation of individual plots reserved for household use, the centralized management of privately raised livestock and poultry, and the unwarranted restriction of subsidiary household production activities.  4. A lack of sound economic accounting among commune- and brigade-level cadres, accompanied by extravagance and waste.  5. Failure by commune- and brigade-level cadres to report the true situation; a superficial, cursory, and insincere style of work; failure to consult with the masses; and insufficient concern for their living standards.