Christopher Howe

Peng Dehuai’s ‘Letter of Opinion’

This Lushan Meeting is important. I made several talks at the meetings of the Northwest Group, but there I have not fully developed some opinions of mine. Therefore, I write this letter to you for reference. But I am a simple man like Chang Fei [a hero in the popular novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms] though I have only his roughness without his cautiousness. For this reason, whether this letter is of reference value or not is for you to decide. If what I say is wrong, please correct me.

Overcome the Mood of Pride and Self-satisfaction in Leading Cadres in Industry

There is a mood of pride and self-satisfaction currently spreading, in differing degrees of severity, amongst a section of leading, industrial cadres. In some cases, it has even developed to the stage where the situation has become dangerous. This mood of pride has already created very heavy losses in industrial construction.

Proposals of Lianjiang County Committee [Fujian Province] Concerning the Work of Readjusting the People’s Communes through Winter and next Spring (Draft), 5 January 1963

The rural people’s communes in our county have carried out several years of readjustment and improvement. Basically they rest on firm foundations. Most of the communes and teams are managed very well. However, since the spirit of individual enterprise started this year [1962] a series of problems have appeared. The main problem is that cadres and commune members have lost direction and their ideology has become confused. Their leaning towards low production and their emphasis on individualism, while belittling collectivisation, have become widespread and serious. In the realms of organisation and management there are also problems waiting to be solved. An important problem is that there has been no consistent practice of work recording and evaluation of work points; the system of labour and fertiliser management has been weak; and the system of rewards and penalties has not been implemented. At the same time, in some places there are problems concerning the behaviour of cadres, such as the adoption of undemocratic attitudes; doing private financial deals; corruption and greed. Based on these considerations, the County Committee’s proposal to develop a commune rectification movement this winter and next spring is entirely necessary and timely. Through it we must strengthen socialist education, further consolidate the socialist camp in rural areas and maintain our faith in collectivisation.

Rejecting the Absurd Proposal to Contract Labour and Production Down To The Household

The reorganisation of the people’s communes in our province, which has been going on for a year, has followed a firm, sound path of development. In the process of reforming the communes, a common practice in all areas has been to adopt a collective production responsibility system in which the production brigade — the basic unit of accounting — contracts labour, production, investment and over-fulfilment bonuses with the production team. This is in line with the principle of unified direction combined with three levels of accounting and management. As a result, it has greatly raised the initiative of all levels of management, and also the incentive to produce of a great many commune members, thus guaranteeing the two abundant harvests of summer and autumn. At present the rural people’s communes throughout the province are working in the spirit of the resolution of the Eighth Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee to oppose rightist ideology, promote revolutionary enthusiasm to carry out the work of contracting labour, output and investment, and bonuses for exceeding production quotas in 1960, further strengthening the collective productive responsibility system and raising the incentive for collective production, thus achieving a continuation of the Great Leap Forward in agriculture.

We Must Construct More Medium- and Small-scale Enterprises

The Party’s policy on the question of the scale of construction of industrial enterprises is that construction of large-scale enterprises must be carried out in close co-ordination with the construction of medium- and small-scale enterprises. Even if we put great efforts into constructing those large-scale enterprises which form the backbone of our industry, we must also newly construct and reconstruct, in a planned way, those medium- and small-scale industrial enterprises that are suited to relatively small-scale management. This is the policy stipulated long ago by the Party in the Eighth Session of the National People’s Congress.

Break the Old Balance: Establish New Balance

Recently, a great deal of encouraging news has been continually appearing in the newspapers: many provinces will not take ten years to complete the tasks put forward in the National Programme for Agricultural Development (revised draft), but are resolved to accomplish them within a period of five, six or seven years; and local industry in many provinces and towns is not planned to increase by 90 per cent within the next five years, but by many times. For example, Gansu province is resolute that, with the whole population at work and with self-reliance, within five years the gross value of output of its local industry will increase sixteen to nineteen times, thus reaching or even surpassing the provincial gross value of agricultural output. All this kind of news illustrates that the leaders of these areas and departments have already broken the bonds of the old ideology; and have dared to put forward new tasks; and dared to go all out to mobilise the masses, thus promoting a leap forward in socialist construction. Their ideology has already overtaken that of the past and consequently the red banners are bright and the people are in great spirits. Such developments correspond to the current favourable trends both within the country and abroad, and to the aspirations of the broad masses of the people.

Bo Yibo Discusses The Ten Great Advantages of Steel Smelting Being Carried Out By All the People

On 21 October, Comrade Bo Yibo, deputy committee member of the Central Political Bureau and vice-premier of the State Council, spoke while investigating Xuzhou’s iron, steel and engineering industries. He praised profusely the spirit of the people of Xuzhou for their handling of the iron and steel industries and, moreover, on the basis of the situation in Xuzhou, he discussed the advantages of all the people being involved in the iron and steel industries. He said that in a movement to involve the masses in the iron and steel industries, there would be at least ten great advantages.

Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Directive on Present Problems in Industry, 15 September 1961

During the three years of the Great Leap Forward, China’s industrial construction has achieved great successes. Targets for the major industrial products under the Second Five-year Plan have been achieved ahead of schedule. Equipment in basic industries has been increased and technical capacity has developed rapidly. Some new industrial sectors have begun to be established. The self-sufficiency rate of key materials and equipment has been greatly increased. The regional distribution of industry has become more rational than in the past, and we have a better knowledge of geological resources. In industrial technology many effective techniques have been developed and significant progress has been made in technical and scientific research. At the same time, the Party’s leadership has been strengthened in industrial construction and Party committees at various levels have begun to gain ability in directing industry. Mass movements in enterprises have been significantly developed so that the political consciousness of the industrial workforce has been raised remarkably. All of these achievements have created a sound base for building China into a socialist country with modern industries, modern agriculture, modern defence and modern science, which will be of profound significance in our socialist construction.

Section 7 of Resolutions on the Further Strengthening of the Collective Economy of the People’s Communes and Expanding Agricultural Production, Adopted in September 1962

7. The release by the Central Committee of its Draft Regulations Governing the Activities of Rural People’s Communes and its directive on taking the production team as the basic unit of accounting, have greatly promoted the enthusiasm of the peasants and have thus created favourable new conditions for consolidating the collective economy and for expanding agricultural production. The above policies relating to the support of agriculture, the direction of industrial development, the increase in agricultural investment, purchase, levy and prices, all have as their goal the stimulation of a positive spirit of production among the collective groups of peasants and the further consolidation of the collective economy of the people’s communes. These policies, which affect the relationship between the State and the collective economy of the people’s communes, are the ones which the party desires to implement on a long-term basis.