Comments on "Several Issues in Socialist Construction (Study Materials)"
(2) Revolutionary enthusiasm and scientific spirit; (3) Respect objective laws and give play to subjective initiative;
(4) Both Rightist and "Leftist" errors are divorced from reality;
(5) Both achievements and mistakes have a dual character; (6) The important issue lies in being good at learning.
[2]


1. On page 15, the following passage from Mao Zedong's speech at the Second Zhengzhou Conference in March 1959 was excerpted: "Many people still do not recognize that the ownership system of the commune must undergo a process of development. Within the commune, a process is needed to transition from the small collective ownership of the team to the large collective ownership of the commune. This process will take several years to complete." Mao Zedong deleted the last sentence of this passage, "This process will take several years to complete."


2. On pages 25 to 26, the following passage from Mao Zedong's speech at the Second Zhengzhou Conference in March 1959 was excerpted: "The current problem is that the county and the commune, especially the commune level, must understand the law of value and exchange of equal value. This is an objective law, an objective principle (in foreign languages, principle and law are the same thing). Violating it will lead to severe consequences." Mao Zedong deleted the phrase "an objective principle (in foreign languages, principle and law are the same thing)" from this passage.


3. On page 40, the following passage from Mao Zedong's speech at the Conference on the Question of Intellectuals convened by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on January 20, 1956, was excerpted: "When various departments set targets and plans, they must be placed on a feasible basis. Failing to do what is originally achievable and should be done is called Rightist conservatism; pursuing things without sufficient basis and that are unworkable is called blindness, termed 'Leftist' adventurism. I think, at present, this is probably not yet a major tendency in the whole Party, but such a tendency can already be discerned, which involves an unclear mind." Mao Zedong deleted the phrase "which involves an unclear mind" from this passage.


4. On page 36, a conversation of Mao Zedong at the Wuchang Conference on December 11, 1958, was excerpted: "The mind must be both hot and cold, two opposing aspects of unity. Soaring enthusiasm is hot. Scientific analysis is cold. In our country, at present, some people are a bit too hot. They do not want to allow their minds a period of coldness, are unwilling to do analysis, and only love heat. Comrades, this attitude is not conducive to leadership work; they may stumble, and these people should be reminded to cool their minds a bit. Others love cold and dislike heat. They are unaccustomed to some things and cannot keep up. The tide-watchers and the account-settlers belong to this category. For these people, their minds should be gradually warmed up." This passage had originally been deleted in the draft submitted for review. Mao Zedong wrote "restore" beside it and deleted the phrase "The tide-watchers and the account-settlers belong to this category."


5. On page 39, the following two paragraphs from Mao Zedong's article "Ten-Year Summary" dated June 18, 1960, were excerpted:
"Initiative is just 'operating from a strategically advantageous position' and 'sweeping all obstacles before one.' This comes from seeking truth from facts, from the truthful reflection of objective conditions in people's minds, that is, the process of people's understanding of the dialectics of the objective external world. Through many erroneous understandings in between, these errors are gradually corrected to arrive at correctness." "It is impossible not to make mistakes. As Lenin said, there has never been a person who does not make mistakes. A serious party values recognizing mistakes, identifying their causes, analyzing the subjective and objective reasons for making mistakes, and openly correcting them. Our Party's general line is correct, and practical work has basically been done well. Some mistakes are also hard to avoid. Where is there a so-called sage who never makes mistakes and completes the truth in one go? The understanding of truth is not completed in one go but is gradually completed. We are dialectical materialist epistemologists, not metaphysical epistemologists. Freedom is the understanding and transformation of necessity. The leap from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom is gradually completed in a long process of understanding. Regarding our country's socialist revolution and construction, we already have ten years of experience and have understood quite a few things. However, our experience in socialist construction is still insufficient. Before us, there is still a large unrecognized realm of necessity. We do not yet deeply understand it. We must continue to investigate and study it in future practice, to find its inherent laws, so as to use these laws to serve the socialist cause." These two paragraphs had originally been deleted in the draft submitted for review. Mao Zedong wrote "restore" beside them and made some individual textual revisions. The text quoted above is the revised version from this time. Mao Zedong later made further revisions to these two paragraphs.


6. On page 44, a speech by Mao Zedong at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on November 15, 1956, was excerpted: "Achievements have a dual character, and mistakes also have a dual character. Achievements can encourage people, but at the same time make them arrogant; mistakes bring misfortune, cause anxiety, and are an enemy, but at the same time they are our very good teacher." This passage had originally been deleted in the draft submitted for review. When Mao Zedong reviewed it, he wrote "restore" beside it.

--- Notes



Lin Ke, then secretary in Mao Zedong's office.
[3]


Refers to another study material for cadres, "Several Issues Concerning Party Life (Study Materials)," compiled in accordance with the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Rotational Training of Cadres."
[4]


Tian Jiaying, then deputy director of the Political Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and secretary to Mao Zedong.
[5]


The six revisions and restorations made by Mao Zedong are as follows: