Forwarded Comment on Comrade Nie Rongzhen’s Report on the Situation of the Technological Revolution Movement in Guangzhou and Chongqing
(25 March 1960)

Comrade Nie Rongzhen’s letter to the Central Committee[2] provides a very good systematic summary of the current technological revolution movement, and is hereby distributed to comrades for study, reference, and emulation. The nationwide movement of technological revolution and cultural revolution on our country’s industrial and communications front, agriculture-forestry-animal husbandry-sideline-fishery front, finance-trade-circulation front, culture-education-health front, and national defence front is developing vigorously, with new people and new events emerging one after another. It is imperative that you observe carefully, sum up at all times, and extend them for wider application.

Mao Zedong
25 March 1960

[1] Nie Rongzhen, then Vice Premier of the State Council and concurrently Director of the Science and Technology Commission.
[2] Refers to Nie Rongzhen’s report of 16 March 1960 to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Mao Zedong on certain circumstances of the mass movement for technological revolution in factories in the two cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing. The report states: During this trip, I took the opportunity to gain a preliminary understanding of the technological innovation and technological revolution movement in factories in the two cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing, and feel that this campaign to vigorously promote semi-mechanization, mechanization, and automation has progressed extremely rapidly, created much good experience, and also raised many new problems. 1. The technological innovation and technological revolution movement is of great momentum, developing rapidly, and has now entered a new stage. Its characteristics are: (a) Due to the victory in opposing Right deviation, the movement has great momentum, a broad scope of mobilization, and quick results, surpassing all previous technological innovation movements. (b) Compared with the past, the objectives are sharper and the focus is clearer, thus making it more possible to carry out planned, comprehensive, and direction-oriented technological transformation. (c) This transformation is a process of fundamentally reforming the tools of production, and also a process of transforming the thinking and technical level of the labourers; therefore, its impact is more profound than in the past. 2. Several pieces of good experience. (a) Vigorously launching mass movements. In this movement, the methods of mass movement have undergone new development, such as on-site meetings combined with solving specialized technical problems, and combined with the systematic summation of technical experience. (b) Combining indigenous and foreign methods, i.e., combining relatively elementary technology with relatively advanced modern technology. (c) Self-reliance. The entire series of processes from design to appraisal are resolved by oneself. (d) Internal and external three-way combination. Within the factory, implement the three-way combination of the worker masses, leading cadres, and technical personnel; outside the factory, implement the combination of factories with external universities, colleges, and scientific research institutions. (e) Combining the resolution of current key links with long-term, comprehensive technological transformation. 3. Constantly breaking the old balance and creating a new balance. Our attitude should be one of active balance, not passive balance, and we should not fear advanced links breaking through the old production order. 4. Adjusting the relations of production to keep pace with the rapid development of the productive forces. The division of labour in factory production, specialization, and the division of workshops within the factory must be rational; the factory’s planning, production organization, and production scheduling must be adjusted in a timely manner and mutually adapted; labour organization, labour force allocation, and wage policy must be handled well. 5. The movement must continue to develop greatly. Using mass movements to innovate technology, carry out technological revolution, and raise the level of mechanization and automation in our country’s industrial production is a new phenomenon on the front of our country’s socialist industrial production and construction, with an immeasurable future. 6. Regarding the interpretation of terms such as mechanization, semi-mechanization, automation, and semi-automation, it is necessary to continue studying a unified standard.