Main Points of the Resolution Adopted at the Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of Main Points of the Resolution Adopted at the Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following edition: Main Points of the Resolution Adopted at the Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 5, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1977.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is an inner-Party circular drafted by Comrade Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the 18th of February, 1951. It was first published in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 5, in 1977.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#MAIN POINTS OF THE RESOLUTION ADOPTED AT THE ENLARGED MEETING OF THE POLITICAL BUREAU OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA

#CIRCULAR OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA

#Mao Zedong
#18th of February, 1951

#★

The Political Bureau convened a meeting in mid-February at which responsible comrades from the bureaus of the Central Committee were present and various important questions were discussed. We hereby notify you of the main points of the resolution.

#1. 22 MONTHS FOR PREPARATION

The idea of «three years for preparation and ten years for planned economic construction» must be made clear to all cadres from the provincial and municipal level upward. Counting from now, we have 22 months left for making preparations, and so we must step up our work in all fields.

#2. PROPAGANDA AND EDUCATION MOVEMENT FOR RESISTING U.S. AGGRESSION AND AIDING KOREA

Persistent efforts must be made to push this movement throughout the country, to deepen it where it is already underway, and spread it where it is not, so as to make sure that this education reaches everyone in every part of the country.

#3. LAND REFORM

  • During the busy farming season, land reform in every place should stop for a while and experience should be summed up.
  • Strive for a good harvest this year.
  • Rely on the county conferences of peasant representatives and on the training classes.
  • Work hard to prepare the necessary conditions. Whenever and wherever they are not ripe, don't force the land reform through.
  • As soon as land reform is completed, switch over to the two major tasks of production and education.
  • East China's method of returning security money in instalments1 is approved.
  • Persuade the peasants that it is to our advantage to refrain from using torture, which is illegal.
  • After the land reform, establish more districts and townships and reduce the area under the jurisdiction of each district and township.

#4. SUPPRESSION OF COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES

  • As a general rule, before passing a death sentence, refer the case to the masses and consult democratic figures.
  • Exercise strict control, guard against indiscriminate action, and avoid mistakes.
  • Pay attention to the «middle layer»,2 and carefully weed out counter-revolutionaries hiding among the old personnel and among the intellectuals recently drawn into our work.
  • Pay attention to the «inner layer», carefully weed out counter-revolutionaries who have sneaked into the Party, and strengthen to the maximum our work of safeguarding secret information.
  • In addition, give education to the cadres and back them up in their work.

#5. URBAN WORK

  • Every bureau and sub-bureau of the Central Committee and every Party committee at the level of province, municipality, and administrative region must call two meetings on urban work during the year with the agenda set by the Central Committee and report twice on this subject to the Central Committee.
  • Strengthen the leadership of the Party committees over urban work and carry out the resolution adopted at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee.
  • Educate the cadres so that they are clear in their minds about relying on the working class.
  • In factories, the Party should exercise unified leadership over the work of the Party organization, the management, the trade union, and the Youth League, with the fulfilment of production plans as the central task.
  • Strive for a gradual improvement in the workers' living conditions on the basis of increased production.
  • The idea of serving the needs of production and of the workers should permeate the planning of urban construction.
  • The National Federation of Trade Unions and the higher levels of each trade union should lay stress on solving the specific problems of the lower levels.
  • Party committees and trade unions should make a point of creating models and promptly spread their experience to other places.

#6. PARTY CONSOLIDATION AND PARTY BUILDING

  • Ours is a Party that is great, glorious, and correct; this is the primary aspect, which must be affirmed and made clear to cadres at all levels. However, it must also be made clear to them that there are problems which have to be straightened out and that in the new Liberated Areas a prudent attitude should be adopted toward Party building.
  • The consolidation and building of the Party should proceed under the strict control of the Central Committee and its bureaus, and organizations at lower levels must in no case act as they please.
  • The consolidation of the Party should be accomplished in three years. The steps to be taken are as follows. Devote one year (1951) to extensive education on what is required of a Communist, so that the entire membership will know the standards a Communist should live up to, and to the training of personnel for organizational work. At the same time, experiment with typical units to serve as models. Then, in the light of the experience gained, proceed with consolidation; in cities, however, this can start in 1951. In Party consolidation, first clear out the «persons in the fourth category».3 Then differentiate between the «persons in the second category» and the «persons in the third category», and persuade those who, after education, are still not up to the standards of Party membership to withdraw from the Party, but make sure that they withdraw of their own free will and that their feelings are not hurt. Don't repeat the practice of «removing rocks»4 as in 1948.
  • A policy of prudence must be adopted in building the Party in the cities and the new Liberated Areas. In the cities, Party organizations should be set up primarily among the industrial workers. In the rural areas, it is only after the completion of the land reform that Party branches can be set up by admitting those who prove themselves qualified for Party membership as a result of education, and for the first two years, the membership of a rural Party branch should in general not exceed ten. In city and countryside alike, education on how to be a Communist should be conducted among activists who are ready to receive it, and after such education, those really qualified for Party membership should be admitted.

#7. UNITED-FRONT WORK

  • The bureaus and sub-bureaus of the Central Committee and Party committees at the level of province, municipality, and administrative region are required to call two meetings in 1951 to discuss united-front work and report twice on this subject to the Central Committee.
  • It must be made clear to the cadres why our united-front work needs to be strengthened.
  • It is necessary to unite intellectuals, industrialists and businesspeople, leading religious figures, the democratic political parties, and democratic figures on the basis of the struggle against imperialism and feudalism and to carry out education among them.
  • Work conscientiously among the minority nationalities, the two central tasks being to push for regional autonomy and to train cadres from these nationalities.

#8. RECTIFICATION MOVEMENT

This movement should be carried out once every winter for a short period; the aim is to review our work, sum up experience, enhance achievements, and overcome mistakes and shortcomings, and thus educate the cadres.

  1. Editor's Note: Before Liberation the peasants who rented land from the landlords had to pay a considerable sum of security money in advance for their tenancy. During the Land Reform Movement, the peasants demanded reimbursement of this money by the landlords, and this was known as the return of security money. Those landlords who were also running industrial and commercial enterprises or who were unable to repay the sum all at once were allowed to return it in instalments. ↩

  2. Editor's Note: In the Movement to Suppress Counter-Revolutionaries, there were three layers to be swept clean: the outer, middle, and inner layers. To sweep clean the «outer layer» refers to uncovering counter-revolutionaries lying low in society at large; to sweep clean the «middle layer» refers to uncovering counter-revolutionaries lying low in the people's army units and government organizations; and to sweep clean the «inner layer» refers to uncovering counter-revolutionaries lying low in the Party. ↩

  3. Editor's Note: During the 1951 Party consolidation, Party members were classified into four categories: first, those who were qualified members; second, those who were not fully qualified or had fairly serious shortcomings and who had to be remoulded and to raise their political consciousness; third, inactive and backward elements who did not measure up to the standards for Party membership; and, fourth, alien-class elements, renegades, political speculators, and debased elements who had hidden in the Party. ↩

  4. Editor's Note: «Removing rocks» was advocated by Liu Shaoqi in 1948 during the land reform and Party consolidation in the Liberated Areas. He maligned large numbers of rural cadres as «rocks» weighing down on the peasants and wanted to have them removed from their posts and expelled from the Party. ↩