Taking the initiative is an extremely important matter.
To have the initiative means to adopt a strategic, overarching perspective and to advance with irresistible momentum.
This stems from seeking truth from facts—the true reflection of objective reality in people’s minds—and represents the process by which people come to understand the dialectics of the external world.
Our socialist revolution and socialist construction over the past decade have been precisely such a process.
Along the way, we passed through numerous erroneous understandings, gradually corrected these mistakes, and ultimately arrived at the correct path.
At present, not all Party members hold correct views; many still lack a proper grasp of the Marxist-Leninist stance, viewpoint, and method.
It is our responsibility to assist them, especially comrades at the county, commune, and production team levels.
I myself have also made many mistakes. Some were committed jointly with others involved. For example, at Beidaihe [2], I agreed that 30 million tons of steel could be produced in 1959; then, in December, in Wuchang [3], I endorsed a target of 20 million tons; and later, at the Shanghai Conference [4], I approved a figure of 16.5 million tons. Again, during the Second Zhengzhou Meeting [5] in March 1959, I initially argued that accounts pertaining to the “one-level adjustment, two-level reallocation” policy [6] need not be settled. It was only in April, inspired by comrades from Zhejiang and Hubei, that I firmly insisted on settling those accounts without fail. There are many similar instances.


Apparently, it is impossible to avoid making mistakes. As Lenin said, there has never been anyone who never erred. What distinguishes a serious party is its attitude toward errors: it takes them seriously, identifies their root causes, analyzes the objective factors that led to them, and openly rectifies them. [7] Our Party’s general line [8] is correct, and our practical work has generally been well done. A certain degree of error was probably unavoidable. After all, where can one find a so-called “sage” who never errs and attains absolute truth on the first try? Truth is not achieved all at once; it is reached step by step. We are epistemologists grounded in dialectical materialism, not metaphysical ones. Freedom consists in the cognition of necessity and the transformation of the world. The leap from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom is accomplished gradually through a prolonged process of cognition. With ten years of experience under our belt in China’s socialist revolution and construction, we have already gained considerable insight. Nevertheless, we still harbor significant ignorance regarding the revolution and construction of the socialist period—a vast, largely unrecognized realm of necessity that we have yet to fully comprehend. We should devote another decade to investigating and studying this realm, uncovering its inherent laws, so as to harness these principles for the cause of socialist revolution and construction.


Printed from the original documents preserved in the Central Archives.


Notes [1] This is part of Mao Zedong’s “Ten-Year Summary,” written during the enlarged meeting of the CPC Central Political Bureau held from June 14 to 18, 1960. [2] Refers to the enlarged meeting of the CPC Central Political Bureau convened in Beidaihe from August 17 to 30, 1958. [3] Refers to the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth CPC Central Committee, held in Wuchang from November 28 to December 10, 1958. [4] Refers to the Seventh Plenary Session of the Eighth CPC Central Committee, held in Shanghai from April 2 to 5, 1959. [5] Refers to the enlarged meeting of the CPC Central Political Bureau held in Zhengzhou from February 27 to March 5, 1959. [6] “One-level adjustment, two-level reallocation”—see note [1] on page 33 of this volume. [7] See Lenin’s “Left-Wing” Childishness in Communism. The new translation reads: “The attitude a political party adopts toward its own mistakes is the most important and reliable criterion for judging whether that party is truly serious and genuinely fulfilling its obligations to its own class and to the working masses. Openly acknowledging errors, exposing their causes, analyzing the circumstances that gave rise to them, and carefully discussing ways to correct them—this alone constitutes the hallmark of a serious party. Only thus does a party fulfill its duties; only thus can it educate and train its own class, and through it, the broader masses.” (Selected Works of Lenin, Vol. 4, People’s Publishing House, 1995 edition, p. 167) [8] Refers to the general line adopted at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in Beijing from May 5 to 23, 1958: “mobilize all forces, strive for excellence, and build socialism more quickly, better, and more economically.”