For the first eight years, we simply copied foreign experience. However, beginning with the articulation of the Ten Major Relationships in 1956, we started to forge a path suited to China’s conditions. The Anti-Rightist Campaign and the Rectification Movement of 1957 reflected objective laws in the course of socialist revolution, whereas the earlier period had merely begun to reflect China’s own economic realities. At the Party Congress in May 1958, a relatively complete General Line was adopted, accompanied by an appeal to break free from dogma—to dare to think, to dare to speak, and to dare to act—thus initiating the Great Leap Forward. In August of last year, it was discovered that people’s communes were viable. Strikingly displayed on a wall in Qiliying Township, Xinxiang County, Henan Province, were the words: “Qiliying People’s Commune.” I visited large-scale production cooperatives in Xiangcheng and Changge Counties. Comrade Shi Xiangsheng of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, together with Comrade Li Youjiu from the editorial board of the central journal Red Flag, collaborated with the Suiping County Party Committee and the Piyashan Party Committee to draft the Articles of Association for the Piyashan People’s Commune. These articles were fundamentally sound. In August, a resolution on people’s communes was drawn up at the Beidaihe meeting of the Central Committee and published in September. Within a few months, the framework of the communes was established; yet numerous disorders arose, and when this coincided with the massive steel drive during the autumn and winter, the problems multiplied. Consequently, the Zhengzhou Conference in November raised a series of issues, primarily concerning the law of value, equivalent exchange, self-sufficiency, and commodity production. It also stipulated the need to balance work and rest—ensuring adequate sleep, leisure, and labor—and to manage both production and daily life with equal attention. At the Wuchang Conference in December, a lengthy resolution on people’s communes was adopted, which was basically correct but addressed only two external boundaries: the demarcation between collective and state ownership, and the dividing line between socialism and communism. It failed to recognize the three-tiered system of ownership within the communes themselves.  The Beidaihe Meeting in August 1958 set a target of ×× million tons of steel to be produced in 1959. By the Wuchang Meeting in December 1958, this figure had been lowered to ×× million tons. A January 1959 meeting in Beijing was convened in an attempt to reduce it further. Both Comrade ×× and I felt uneasy about this, yet there was considerable pressure within the meeting not to make changes. I, too, could not propose an appropriate target. At the April 1959 Shanghai Conference, a quota of ×× was set, which still did not correspond to reality. I voiced criticism at the meeting, prompted by the fact that, two days before it began, no written plan had been presented—not even to the provinces, nor to me—and decisions were being made unilaterally without consultation. Frustrated, I lodged my critique. As everyone remembers, I declared that I would take personal charge. The following month, at the Central Conference in Beijing, the target was set at ×× million tons, which finally reflected objective possibilities. A small dip appeared in May, June, and July. During July and August, Lushan essentially regained the initiative, though it remained passive in agriculture. To this day, some comrades responsible for agriculture or commerce have occasionally erred in their approach, neglecting the principle of seeking truth from facts and succumbing to one-sided, metaphysical thinking. At the Lushan Conference of the summer of 1959, right-wing opportunism launched a fierce offensive. They served as a wake-up call, bringing us back to our senses. We counterattacked and emerged victorious. At the Shanghai Conference of 1960, targets for the subsequent three-year period were set. Even then, I perceived a grave danger: insufficient margin of safety, a tendency to hold back, and a gross underestimation of actual possibilities—matters that those involved still did not fully grasp. In 1956, Comrade ××’s Second Five-Year Plan left a substantial three-year buffer for most targets, including steel production—how wise that was! However, mistakes were made in the agricultural sector, where overly ambitious targets rendered completion impossible. A firm decision was made to rectify this at the Party Congress held in July of this year, after which we fully assumed the initiative.  Comrades, taking the initiative is of paramount importance. It means having a commanding perspective and moving with irresistible momentum—qualities that stem from seeking truth from facts and from an accurate reflection of objective circumstances in our thinking. This process involves a dialectical understanding of the external world, marked by numerous erroneous perceptions that are gradually corrected until the right view is attained. At present, not all Party members think correctly; many still lack a proper grasp of the Marxist–Leninist stance, viewpoint, and method. It is our duty to help them understand, especially comrades at the county, commune, and brigade levels.

It seems inevitable that mistakes will be made. As Lenin observed, there has never been anyone who has never erred. What distinguishes a serious party is its commitment to acknowledging errors, identifying their causes, analyzing both subjective and客观 factors that may have contributed to them, and making public corrections. Our Party’s General Line is correct, and our practical work has generally been well done. Some degree of error is unavoidable. Where, indeed, is the so-called sage who attains truth without ever erring? The pursuit of truth is not accomplished at once; it unfolds step by step. We are epistemologists grounded in dialectical materialism, not metaphysics. Freedom arises from the recognition of necessity. The leap from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom is achieved gradually through a prolonged process of cognition. With ten years of experience in socialist revolution and construction behind us, we have come to understand quite a lot. Nevertheless, our accumulated experience in socialist construction remains insufficient, and before us lies a vast, largely unexplored realm of necessity that we have yet to fully comprehend. We must continue to investigate and study it in future practice, in order to discern its inherent laws and harness them for the cause of socialism. This applies not only to China but to the entire world as well.

I have attempted to summarize these ten years of experience. What I have outlined here is merely a rough sketch; many issues have been left out because it was composed within two hours, solely to serve as the basis for today’s afternoon address.