Comment on the Report of the Poor and Lower-Middle Peasants’ Representative Conference of Xincheng County (!]
(January 15, 1965)

Print and distribute immediately. Also request all comrades [2] to print and distribute it to the county level upon their return, as reference material.

Mao Zedong
4:00 a.m., January 15, 1965

[1]
[2]

--- Notes

This comment is written on the report of the Party Committee of the Baoding Prefectural Committee’s “Four Cleanups” Work Team, dated January 13, 1965, regarding the Poor and Lower-Middle Peasants’ Representative Conference of Xincheng County, addressed to the Party Central Committee, Mao Zedong, the North China Bureau, and the Hebei Provincial Party Committee. The report states: In order to implement the spirit of Chairman Mao’s instructions and swiftly open up the situation for the “Four Cleanups” movement across the entire county, we convened the Poor and Lower-Middle Peasants’ Representative Conference of Xincheng County on January 9. Responsible comrades of the Prefectural Committee Work Team Party Committee separately delivered mobilization reports on the “Four Cleanups.” The reports mainly addressed four issues: First, they thoroughly exposed the lid on class struggle in Xincheng County and the facts of serious “Four Unclean” cases, demonstrated the determination to carry out the “Four Cleanups” thoroughly, and announced that the “Four Cleanups” would begin comprehensively at the county, commune, and brigade levels, to be carried out simultaneously from top to bottom and from left to right. Second, they announced that the “Four Cleanups” movement would only clean up “Four Unclean” cadres and would not rectify commune members. They exposed the various activities of a small number of bad cadres and cadres with serious “Four Unclean” problems who controlled and intimidated commune members, thus liberating the masses of commune members. Third, they actively educated cadres, setting forth different demands for cadres according to varying circumstances and pointing out a way forward. We would only isolate and strike at the very few individuals who have committed serious errors or crimes while refusing to accept education and resisting or sabotaging the “Four Cleanups.” Fourth, the “Four Cleanups” must ultimately be grounded in construction. It is necessary not only to carry out the “Four Cleanups” well but also to do a good job in winter agricultural and sideline production, properly arrange the livelihood of the masses, and strive for a bumper harvest this year. The conference greatly shook the entire county. The broad masses of poor and lower-middle peasants and commune members felt that the most gratifying aspect of this conference was that the “Four Cleanups” would only clean up “Four Unclean” cadres and would not rectify commune members; the most satisfying aspect was that the “Four Cleanups” would be carried out simultaneously from top to bottom and from left to right, digging up the roots of “Four Unclean” wherever they were embedded; the most empowering aspect was that, from the central authorities down to the production teams, poor peasant associations would be established at all levels, enabling the poor and lower-middle peasants to be masters of their own affairs, with the power to remove bad cadres, no longer fearing retaliation or persecution. The spirit and momentum of the conference, widely disseminated by the poor and lower-middle peasant representatives and the cadres and masses, opened up the situation for the “Four Cleanups” movement in Xincheng County. In the future, we will choose an appropriate time to convene mass meetings to expose, criticize, and recover illicit gains from a very small number of individuals whose offenses—such as embezzlement, theft, speculation, and profiteering—are of an extremely serious nature, as well as new local despots who have incurred great public wrath, and to deal with them according to law. This will embody the policy spirit of winning over the majority while striking at a tiny minority of bad elements, thereby promoting a new upsurge in the movement.


Refers to the comrades who were attending the Central Work Conference of the Communist Party of China in Beijing at that time.