(May 1964)
1. We must pay very close attention to class struggle. The "Four Clean-ups" in the countryside is class struggle, and the "Five Antis" in the cities is also class struggle. The cities should not boast; the "Five Antis" work cannot be completed this winter and next spring. We must be prepared for it to take three to five years to finish. Class status should also be designated in the cities. As for how to designate it, standards will have to be set in the future. We must not fall into the theory of class status alone; Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin were none of them from working-class backgrounds.

2. On the Third Five-Year Plan. We must rouse our full energy and must set aside sufficient reserves. We cannot base the plan on our age. The plan must have an objective basis. I am over seventy, older than you, but we cannot base the plan on the wish to see communism before we die. In my view, the Third Five-Year Plan still pays too much attention to quantity and not enough to quality.
The plan absolutely must not be based on subjective wishes; it must have an objective basis and be practical and reliable.

3. The question of self-reliance. Self-reliance is extremely important. Not only must a country be self-reliant, but even a factory, a people's commune, or a production team must be self-reliant. In the management of people's communes, those that have truly achieved results are the communes that rely on self-reliance. All communes and production teams that have loans are run somewhat worse. At present, there are three truly self-reliant communes in our country: one is the Chen Yongkang Commune in Jiangsu, another is the Chen Yonggui Commune in Shanxi, and the third is the Chen Koukou Commune in Qufu, Shandong. They have never asked the state for a single cent and have built themselves up entirely through their own strength.

4. The question of cadres participating in labour. Cadres must participate in labour. This problem has not yet been properly resolved. Leading cadres must squat at selected points; they cannot rely solely on listening to reports. Ministers must all squat at points, otherwise there will be no meetings...

5. This year's wheat output is estimated to increase by five billion jin compared to last year. It seems that the abundant spring rains this year have brought more benefits than harm.

6. Taking so many people from the countryside into the cities to become workers under the Third Five-Year Plan is not a good approach.