Central Instructions on Strengthening Leadership of the Campaign for Technological Renovation and Technological Revolution (March 16, 1960) To the Shanghai Bureau, the Committees of Various Cooperative Zones, the Provincial, Municipal, and Autonomous Regional Party Committees, and the Central Ministries and Leading Party Groups:  Two documents are hereby transmitted to you: (1) a report by the Leading Party Group of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions on the current situation of technological renovation and technological revolution;[1] and (2) “Economic News,” Issue No. 10, entitled “A Bumper Harvest in the Technological Revolution.”[2] Please forward these materials without delay to all city party committees, industrial and mining party committees, and rural commune party committees for study and reference. These are two important summary documents, and they should be given serious attention.

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has summarized the experience of seven major cities—Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Lüda, Harbin, Taiyuan, and Chongqing. However, this is still far from sufficient. Wuhan, Guangzhou, Xi’an, Lanzhou, as well as the provincial capitals and other medium-sized cities throughout the country—for example, Tangshan, Shijiazhuang, Qingdao, Luoyang, Huangshigang, Zhuzhou, Wuxi, Zhanjiang, Pingxiang, and hundreds of other important urban centers—should promptly draw up their own summaries and disseminate them widely. County-run industries and commune industries should likewise prepare selective summaries and promote their application.

The campaign for technological renovation and technological revolution has now become a great mass movement. There is an urgent need to summarize experiences, strengthen leadership, and promptly resolve the problems arising within the movement, so as to steer it onto the correct, scientific, and all-people-oriented track. Such survey, research, and summarization work should be substantially completed during March, April, and May of this year. This task is to be undertaken separately by the leading party groups of the central ministries and commissions, by party committees at all levels, and by the leading party groups of various departments, and…

Large-scale on-site meetings should also be convened. In January of this year, the Ministry of Machine-Building Industry held an on-site meeting in Harbin, but most cities were not invited to attend—even such major centers as Wuhan and Guangzhou were excluded—thereby missing a valuable opportunity for widespread and rapid dissemination of best practices. This oversight must be carefully avoided in the future; it is of paramount importance.

Issued by the Central Committee on March 16, 1960, based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.

The swift improvement in levels of mechanization and semi-mechanization has already demonstrated tremendous effectiveness in production, significantly boosting labor productivity, freeing up large numbers of workers to expand output, and ensuring a strong start to the year in January, thus laying a solid foundation for realizing the year’s ambitious leap-forward plan.

At present, the party committees of various cities, drawing on their accumulated experience, have formulated preliminary plans for this year, projecting substantial increases in both gross industrial output and labor productivity. It appears that this year will be one of remarkable achievements in China’s socialist construction.

The impact of the technological renovation and technological revolution movement extends not only to the economic sphere but also to the political realm. Having been relieved of arduous manual labor, the working masses have come to cherish the Communist Party and Chairman Mao even more deeply, and are increasingly supportive of and committed to implementing the General Line.

Taking this movement to a higher stage—toward automation and semi-automation—will rapidly transform our country’s backward technological condition.

To ensure that the movement yields even better results, the following issues must be addressed: (1) Material supply. The materials required should primarily be obtained through self-reliance and resource conservation; no production materials should be diverted. (2) Enterprise management. Corresponding reforms are needed in areas such as labor organization, technical provision and design, machinery maintenance, and internal regulations, so as to meet the demands of the movement’s development. (3) Worker education. Once production has been mechanized, semi-mechanized, or automated, semi-automated, workers will require higher levels of cultural and technical proficiency. Educational programs must therefore be organized to equip them with the skills necessary to master new technologies.

On March 18, 1960, the CPC Central Committee forwarded this report.

Specifically: 1. The movement has greatly stimulated current production. In February, the vast majority of major industrial products nationwide exceeded their planned targets, with many enterprises completing their first-quarter plans ahead of schedule. New and cutting-edge products have begun to emerge in large quantities. 2. The degree of mechanization has risen markedly, resulting in substantial labor savings. Workers’ physical exertion has been reduced, and working conditions have improved; for this reason, they refer to the technological revolution as a “second liberation.” 3. New avenues have opened up for conserving raw materials and supplies. 4. The mental outlook of the workforce is also changing. Many workers have been fighting day and night without regard for remuneration, fully demonstrating the proletariat’s lofty aspirations and communist spirit.

At present, technological renovation and technological revolution have evolved into a nationwide mass movement. It is anticipated that by the first half of this year, industrial, transportation, and infrastructure sectors in large and medium-sized cities will largely be able to break free from heavy manual labor, and by year’s end, mechanization and semi-mechanization will be largely achieved, with automation and semi-automation becoming an inevitable trend. On March 18, 1960, the CPC Central Committee forwarded this material.

--- Notes

Notes [1] The report submitted by the Leading Party Group of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions to the CPC Central Committee on March 5, 1960, states that the Federation recently convened officials responsible for production from Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Lüda, Harbin, Taiyuan, Chongqing, and the Liaoning Provincial Federation of Trade Unions to discuss the development of the technological renovation and technological revolution movement. It was concluded that a movement centered on mechanization and semi-mechanization had grown into a vigorous mass movement, advancing with extraordinary speed and suggesting that our country might achieve mechanization and semi-mechanization at a very rapid pace.


[2] This article, originally titled “The Technological Revolution Movement Has Reaped a Wide-Scale Harvest,” reports that the nationwide campaign for technological renovation and technological revolution in industry, construction, and transportation has already yielded initial, extensive results.