Commentary on Seven Excellent Documents from Zhejiang Province Concerning Cadres Engaging in Labor [1] (May 9, 1963)  These seven documents from Zhejiang Province [2] are all very good. The writing is also quite readable. It is recommended that they be circulated to all Central Bureaus, as well as to the provincial, prefectural, county, and commune levels, for cadres to study. Two or three of them could be selected for oral presentation and explanation to cadres with limited literacy, so as to draw their attention and gradually deepen the understanding among the broad ranks of cadres—especially those at the county, commune, brigade, and production team levels—of the great revolutionary significance of participating in productive labor, thereby reducing resistance and obstruction among many cadres whose thinking is still backward.

The Central Committee had already issued, on March 23 of this year, a model example from Xiyang County, Shanxi Province, concerning the participation of all four-level cadres in the entire county in productive labor, together with a corresponding commentary [3]. On this major issue, some comrades have paid due attention—for instance, Zhejiang, which devoted considerable discussion to it at its provincial Party Congress and made specific arrangements; in other localities, however, there has been comparatively little response. It is suggested that leading comrades in various regions take appropriate opportunities within the current year to hold several discussions on the extremely important question of cadres engaging in labor, and to widely circulate the document from Xiyang County, Shanxi. Each province, municipality, and autonomous region undoubtedly possesses its own good examples; a few (not too many) should be chosen for cadres to study.

We hope to achieve, within three years, that all rural branch secretaries nationwide will earnestly participate in productive labor. In the first year, if we can secure the participation of one-third of these secretaries, that would already constitute a major victory. Secretaries of factory Party branches in urban areas should likewise be proficient in production.

Class struggle, the struggle for production, and scientific experimentation are the three great revolutionary movements for building a powerful socialist country. They serve as a solid guarantee for safeguarding the Communist Party against bureaucratism, revisionism, and dogmatism, ensuring its permanent invincibility, and as a reliable assurance for enabling the proletariat to unite with the broad masses of working people and implement the dictatorship of the proletariat. Otherwise, the landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements, and all manner of evil forces will run rampant, while our cadres remain indifferent—many even failing to distinguish friend from foe, colluding with the enemy, becoming corrupted and infiltrated, fragmented and split apart, lured away or planted within our ranks. Meanwhile, numerous workers, peasants, and intellectuals will be subjected to both coercion and enticement by the enemy. If matters proceed in this way, it will not take long—perhaps only a few years, a decade or two at most—before a nationwide counter-revolutionary restoration becomes inevitable. The Marxist–Leninist Party will inevitably transform into a revisionist party, then into a fascist party, and the whole of China will undergo a fundamental change in character.

Comrades, just think: what an extremely dangerous scenario this would be! Is solving this problem very difficult? Not really. As long as we recognize the seriousness of the issue, conduct thorough investigations and gather reliable data, gain a clear understanding of the situation, make a firm resolve, adopt sound policies and methods, and have a core leadership composed of a few politically strong comrades, then, within the scope of a single commune, a few weeks will suffice; for a county, a few months will do; and for a province, carried out in stages and phases with meticulous care, it will require approximately one to two years, or perhaps a little longer. For this socialist education movement is itself a great revolutionary campaign, encompassing not only the issue of class struggle but also that of cadres’ participation in labor, as well as the task of learning, through rigorous scientific methods and experimentation, to resolve a series of problems in enterprises and institutions.

It may seem daunting, but in reality, once approached with due seriousness, it is not difficult to accomplish.

This struggle is one of re-educating the people and reorganizing the revolutionary ranks of the working class, waging a sharp, head-on confrontation against the rampaging capitalist and feudal forces that are currently mounting fierce attacks upon us, suppressing their counter-revolutionary momentum, and transforming the vast majority of individuals within those classes into new people. At the same time, it involves cadres and the masses jointly engaging in productive labor and scientific experimentation, further elevating our Party to become more glorious, greater, and more correct, and cultivating cadres who are both politically astute and professionally competent—“red” and “expert”—not floating above the masses as officials and masters detached from the people, but truly integrated with the masses and genuinely supported by them. Upon completion of this educational campaign, a thriving and vibrant atmosphere will prevail throughout the country. With nearly one quarter of humanity thus transformed, our internationalist contribution will be greatly enhanced.

Mao Zedong, May 9, 1963. Printed according to a document of the CPC Central Committee. (Includes Mao’s handwritten draft.) Notes [1] This commentary was written on “A Collection of Materials on Cadres Engaging in Labor,” compiled and printed in April 1963 by the General Office of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee. While reviewing these materials, Mao Zedong revised the title on the cover page to “Seven Excellent Documents from Zhejiang Province Concerning Cadres Engaging in Labor.” Subsequently, this commentary, together with the seven Zhejiang documents, was issued as Appendix 7 to Central Document No. 3 of 1963 (the “Ten Points”). [2] The seven documents are: (1) “How We Have Persisted in Participating in and Leading Production,” written by Liao Xilong, Secretary of the CPC West Town People’s Commune Committee in Pingyang County; (2) “Comrade Ying Siguan Works Well and Performs His Labor Well,” authored by Qian Tianzhen, Secretary of the Yuexi Brigade Party Branch of the Yuexi Commune in Ninghai County; (3) “How Can We Participate More Actively in Labor?” an interview with Chen Shuangtian, an old model worker and Secretary of the Tangxi Brigade Party Branch of the Tangxi Commune in Jinhua County, conducted by Zhang Yizhong; (4) “Comrade Yan Ruzhan Went Three Times to a Backward Team,” written by Lou Bingyi, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Tonglu County Committee; Yan Ruzhan was Deputy Secretary and Team Leader of the Yuji Brigade of the Yuzhao Commune in Tonglu County; (5) “The Participation of Production Brigade Cadres in Labor in Longshan Commune,” authored by Ji Diankai, Secretary of the CPC Ruian County Committee; (6) “An Investigation Report by the Rural Work Department of the CPC Yuhang County Committee on the Good Practice of Brigade Cadres in Yuchang Commune Participating in Labor”; (7) “Experiences Over Five Years of Cadres’ Persistent Cultivation of Experimental Fields,” written by Yuan Changze, Secretary of the CPC Qingtian County Committee. [3] See Note 2 on page 1 of this volume.