Commentary by the Central Committee on a Brief Report from the Henan Provincial Party Committee Regarding the Implementation of the Beidaihe Conference [1] Arrangements (August 27, 1960)

This document [2] is to be circulated to all Central Bureaus and to the party committees of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions for their reference. Printed by the Central Committee on August 27, based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.

Notes [1] Refers to the CPC Central Committee Work Conference held in Beidaihe from July 5 to August 10, 1960.

[2] In its report dated August 24, 1960, to the Central Committee on implementing the Beidaihe Conference resolutions, the CPC Henan Provincial Committee stated that from August 17 to 22 the Standing Committee had received a briefing on the spirit of the Beidaihe Conference and had studied and made arrangements concerning the Central Committee’s three important directives on ensuring grain supplies, maintaining steel production, and guaranteeing the fulfillment of foreign trade obligations. The members of the Standing Committee unanimously agreed that it was essential to hold high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought, adhere to the principles of Marxism-Leninism, and wage a resolute, prolonged, and thorough struggle against right-wing opportunism internationally, as represented by Khrushchev. In this struggle, they fully endorsed the Central Committee’s policy of upholding principles while preserving unity, as well as the principle of acting with justification, advantage, and restraint. In order to systematically implement the spirit of the Beidaihe Conference, the Provincial Committee decided to convene a work conference on August 26, to last eight to ten days, beginning with a briefing and discussion of the current situation, followed by a detailed examination of how to launch in Henan a campaign focused on increasing production and economizing, with grain and steel production as the central priorities, and to plan the work for the final four months of the year. On September 4, the CPC Central Committee forwarded this report from the Henan Provincial Committee.