A Letter Requesting Li Suwen to Spend More Time at the Grass-roots Level and Engage with Reality (with Annotations by [1])
(November 14, 1975)
This seems acceptable. Please have Comrade Deng Kui discuss the matter with Comrade Li Suwen and let her decide accordingly.
November 14th
[1]
Li Suwen, a member of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, wrote to Mao Zedong on November 1, 1975, stating:
“I have long worked in finance and trade at the grass-roots level. Recently, I have also been involved in some high-level financial and trade affairs. I deeply feel that although the current situation on the finance and trade front is quite good, the channels of communication are not very smooth, and the links between different levels are not tight enough. I have been eager to do something about this, earnestly implementing the Chairman’s instruction to follow the ‘three-one-third’ policy and conducting solid investigations and studies. This year, I was transferred to the central leadership to oversee finance and trade work. This is a mark of the Party’s trust in me. However, I worry that if I stay too long at the top, I may become bogged down in piles of documents, preoccupied with official receptions and formalities. I hope to be given more opportunities to go to the grassroots, to come into contact with the masses and with real conditions, to carry out more investigative research, and thereby improve the work of finance and trade. Furthermore, I have recently been asked to take charge of certain women’s affairs, but I am really not familiar with this area. I suggest that another comrade who is more experienced assume responsibility for it, so that I can concentrate my efforts on doing a good job in finance and trade.”
[2]
Deng Kui refers to Ji Dengkui, who at the time was a member of the CPC Central Politburo, a member of the Central Organization and Propaganda Group, and Vice Premier of the State Council.