To the Party Committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, and to all central-level ministries and commissions as well as Party leadership groups: Please read this document [1] and forward it to county-level Party committees.
The problems discovered in Shandong are certainly present in varying degrees throughout all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions.
The situation is serious; it cannot be left unaddressed.
In some counties and communes, last March’s Zhengzhou Resolution [2] has been forgotten, as have the eighteen provisions adopted at the April Shanghai Conference [3]. The “communist wind,” the exaggeration craze, and the commandist style have all resurfaced.
Some commune officials are exceedingly arrogant, completely lacking any sense of discipline, and dare to carry out equalization and reallocation [4] without higher-level approval.
Moreover, three other maladies—corruption, waste, and bureaucratic inefficiency—are once again running rampant, inflicting grave harm on the people.
They pay no heed whatsoever to the law of value or to the principle of equivalent exchange.
All of these actions are being perpetrated at the commune level.
The scale is neither large nor small.
It remains to be determined whether roughly one-tenth of all communes are engaging in such reckless behavior.
The Central Committee is confident that the vast majority of communes act with prudence, fairness, and strict adherence to discipline; only a small minority are behaving irresponsibly.
Even among the staff of these errant communes, not everyone is guilty of misconduct; only a portion are responsible.
These individuals should be dealt with appropriately, according to their specific circumstances.
Education should be the primary approach, with punitive measures employed only as a supplement.
Those most egregiously at fault must be firmly removed and replaced by new personnel.
With regard to equalization and reallocation, a full accounting must be made, and all improperly transferred resources must be returned without exception.
Serious cases of embezzlement must be prosecuted under the law.
Why have certain county Party committees failed to notice these issues? They have gravely neglected their duties and must henceforth take diligent steps to rectify this shortcoming.
As for those few county committees that are truly incapable, they too should be decisively replaced.
Comrades should understand that this is a long-standing, objective problem.
The emergence of such negative phenomena is both inevitable and unavoidable—it represents the lingering vestiges of harmful practices from the old society. Overcoming them will require sustained educational efforts.
Therefore, annual rectification campaigns are necessary, and twice-yearly six-level cadre conferences should be convened.
The overall national situation remains very favorable, with good people and good deeds undoubtedly accounting for more than ninety percent of the total.
Such exemplary conduct deserves commendation.
For comrades who have committed minor errors but are willing to correct them, an educational approach should be taken to assist them in rectifying their mistakes while continuing to perform their duties.
Our calls for firm removal or legal prosecution apply specifically to those whose offenses are extremely grave and arouse intense public indignation.
Those who are demonstrably unfit for their positions and unable to continue their work must also be resolutely relieved of their posts.
Issued by the Central Committee on March 23, 1960, based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.


Notes [1] refers to the second issue of “Conference Briefing,” compiled and published by the Secretariat of the Shandong Province Six-Level Cadre Conference. The main issues covered in this briefing include: First, questions concerning the transitional process. Key situations include: 1) Some commune cadres show signs of impatience to accelerate the transition; some plan to achieve collective ownership next year, while others intend to push ahead with the transition after the autumn harvest; 2) Poorer production teams eagerly await the transition, whereas wealthier ones fear it and exhibit sluggish productivity; 3) There is insufficient clarity regarding the theoretical basis for the transition and the policy boundaries governing related issues. Second, matters pertaining to the development of the collectively owned economy. Commune-level and team-level cadres hold differing views on equalization and reallocation. For example, team leaders criticize the commune for unilaterally requisitioning materials without compensation, while commune officials resist, concerned about potential accountability. Third, issues of cadre conduct. Certain counties exhibit tendencies toward exaggerated reporting and boastfulness; in some areas, substantial funds and supplies intended for productive purposes are diverted to non-productive construction projects such as grand auditoriums, office buildings, and hotels. There are also instances of wasteful feasting and drinking, as well as acts of corruption, among cadres.

[2] refers to the Minutes of the Expanded Meeting of the CPC Central Political Bureau held in Zhengzhou from February 27 to March 5, 1959, which were subsequently issued. See note [6] on page 30 of this volume.

[3] refers to the Minutes titled “Eighteen Questions Concerning People’s Communes,” produced during the Expanded Meeting of the CPC Central Political Bureau held in Shanghai from March 25 to April 1, 1959. These minutes were preliminarily approved at the Seventh Plenary Session of the Eighth CPC Central Committee, convened in Shanghai from April 2 to 5 of the same year. The minutes set forth several fundamental principles governing the management system of people’s communes, further clarifying that the basic form of ownership within a commune remains that of the production team. Moreover, they revised the earlier provision found in the Zhengzhou Meeting Minutes—that debts incurred through equalization and reallocation during the collectivization process generally need not be settled—to stipulate that such accounts should normally be settled. Specifically, whenever county-level or commune-level authorities utilize the labor or resources of production teams, or when commune-level units appropriate members’ personal property, a thorough review must be conducted, and the items in question either returned in kind or compensated for at fair market value.

[4] Equalization and reallocation—see note [1] on page 33 of this volume.