Mao Zedong March 5, 1949

　　The Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held from March 5th to March 13th, 1949 in Xibaipo Village, Pingshan County, Hebei Province. Thirty-four members of the Central Committee and 19 alternate members of the Central Committee were present. This meeting was held on the eve of the national victory of the Chinese People's Revolution. It was an extremely important meeting. Mao Zedong's report at this meeting proposed various policies to promote the rapid victory of the revolution across the country and organize this victory; it explained that in the situation of national victory, the focus of the party's work must be moved from the countryside to the city, and urban work must be centered on production and construction; it stipulated that the party's victory across the country must be From then on, the basic policies that should be adopted in politics, economy, and diplomacy were analyzed with special emphasis on the conditions of various components of the Chinese economy at that time and the correct policies that the party must adopt, and pointed out the development direction of China's transformation from an agricultural country to an industrial country, and from a new democratic society to a socialist society. Mao Zedong assessed the new situation of class struggle at home and abroad after the victory of the Chinese People's Democratic Revolution, and promptly warned that the "sugar-coated bullets" of the bourgeoisie would become the main danger to the proletariat. Mao Zedong's report, together with his article "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship" written in June of the same year, formed the policy basis of the "Common Program" adopted by the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and which served as a provisional constitution in the early days of the founding of New China. The second plenary session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party adopted corresponding resolutions based on Mao Zedong's report. After this meeting, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China moved from Xibaipo Village, Pingshan County, Hebei Province to Peiping.

　　一

After the three battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin, the main force of the Kuomintang army has been eliminated. There are only more than one million combat troops left by the Kuomintang, spread over a vast area and a long front from Xinjiang to Taiwan. From now on, there are only three ways to deal with the more than one million Kuomintang troops: Tianjin, Peiping, and Suiyuan. To use combat to defeat the enemy, such as the enemy in Tianjin, is still the first thing we must pay attention to and prepare for. All commanders and combatants of the People's Liberation Army must not relax their will to fight even a little. Any thought of relaxing their will to fight or underestimating the enemy is wrong. The possibility of solving the problem according to the Peiping method has increased, which means forcing the enemy to use peaceful methods and quickly and thoroughly reorganize the People's Liberation Army into the People's Liberation Army according to the system of the People's Liberation Army. Using this method to solve problems is worse than using war to quickly clear away counterrevolutionary remnants and counterrevolutionary political influences. However, this method will inevitably appear after the enemy's main force has been eliminated. It is unavoidable; at the same time, it is beneficial to our army and the people, that is, it can avoid casualties and destruction. Therefore, the leading comrades of all field armies should pay attention to and learn such a way of struggle. This is a way of struggle, a bloodless way of struggle, and it does not mean that problems can be solved without struggle. The Suiyuan method is to deliberately preserve a part of the Kuomintang army and keep it intact or largely unchanged, that is, to make temporary concessions to this part of the army in order to help win this part of the army to side with us politically or to remain neutral, so that we can concentrate our efforts on first solving the main part of the remaining Kuomintang forces, and after a considerable period of time (for example, after a few months, half a year, or a year), we will reorganize this part of the army into the People's Liberation Army according to the People's Liberation Army system. This is another way of fighting. This method of struggle will retain more counterrevolutionary relics and counterrevolutionary political influence than the Peiping method, and it will remain for a longer period of time. But there is no doubt that these counterrevolutionary relics and counterrevolutionary political influences must be eliminated in the final analysis. We must not think that if the counter-revolutionary forces obey us, they will become a revolutionary party, and their counter-revolutionary ideas and counter-revolutionary intentions will no longer exist. Nothing like that. Many of them will be reformed, some of them will be eliminated, and some determined counterrevolutionaries will be suppressed.

　　二

The People's Liberation Army will always be a fighting team. Even after the national victory, during the historical period when classes were not eliminated at home and the imperialist system existed in the world, our army was still a fighting force. There can be no misunderstanding or wavering on this point. The People's Liberation Army is also a work force, especially when problems are solved in various parts of the south using the Peiping method or the Suiyuan method. As the fighting gradually diminished, the role of the task force increased. There is a possibility that within a short period of time, the entire People's Liberation Army will be transformed into work teams. We must estimate this situation. The 53,000 cadres who are now preparing to accompany the army south are not enough for the extremely vast new area that will soon be occupied by us. We must prepare to turn the entire 2.1 million field army into work teams. In this way, there will be enough cadres, and work can be carried out in a wide area. We must regard the 2.1 million field army as a huge cadre w88 casino.

　　三

From 1927 to the present, the focus of our work has been on the countryside, gathering strength in the countryside, surrounding the cities with the countryside, and then capturing the cities. The period of such a way of working is now over. From now on, the period begins from the city to the countryside and the city leads the countryside. The focus of the party's work has moved from rural areas to cities. In various parts of the south, the People's Liberation Army will occupy cities first and then the countryside. Both urban and rural areas must be taken into consideration, and urban work must be closely linked with rural work, workers and farmers, and industry and agriculture. We must never abandon the countryside and only focus on the cities. If you think so, it is completely wrong. But the focus of the work of the party and the army must be on the city, and great efforts must be made to learn to manage and build the city. We must learn to fight political, economic and cultural struggles against the imperialists, the Kuomintang and the bourgeoisie in the cities, and we must learn to fight diplomatically against the imperialists. We must learn to fight against them both openly and covertly. If we do not pay attention to these problems and do not learn to fight these struggles against these people and win in the struggle, we will not be able to maintain our power, we will not be able to stand, and we will fail. After the enemies with guns are eliminated, enemies without guns will still exist. They will inevitably fight to the death with us. We must not underestimate these enemies. If we do not raise questions and understand problems in this way now, we will make a huge mistake.

　　four

In the urban struggle, who do we rely on? Some confused comrades believe that we should not rely on the working class but on the poor masses. Some more confused comrades believe that they rely on the bourgeoisie. In the direction of industrial development, some confused comrades believe that the main thing is not to help the development of state-owned enterprises, but to help the development of private enterprises; or conversely, they think that it is enough to pay attention to state-owned enterprises and that private enterprises are insignificant. We must criticize these confused ideas. We must rely wholeheartedly on the working class, unite other working people, win over intellectuals, and win as many national bourgeois elements and representatives who can cooperate with us as possible to stand on our side, or to keep them neutral, so that we can fight resolutely against the imperialists, the Kuomintang, and the bureaucratic bourgeoisie, and defeat these enemies step by step. At the same time, we started our construction work, learning to manage the city step by step, and restore and develop the production undertakings in the city. Regarding the issue of restoring and developing production, we must determine: first, the production of state-owned industry, the second, the production of private industry, and the third, handicraft production. From the first day we took over the city, our eyes have been directed toward the recovery and development of the city's production. We must avoid blindly scrambling and forgetting the central task, so that after occupying a city for several months, production and construction work is not on track, and even many industries have come to a standstill, causing workers to lose their jobs, reduce their living standards, and make them dissatisfied with the Communist Party. This state of affairs is completely unacceptable. For this purpose, our comrades must make great efforts to learn production technology and methods of managing production. They must learn commercial work, banking work and other work that are closely related to production. Only by restoring and developing urban production and turning consumption cities into production cities can the people's political power be consolidated. Other work in the city, such as the organizational work of the party, the work of government agencies, the work of w88 unions, the work of various other mass organizations, cultural and educational work, counter-revolutionary work, and the work of news agencies, newspapers, radio stations, all revolve around and serve the central work of production and construction. If we are ignorant in production work, cannot learn production work quickly, cannot restore and develop production as quickly as possible, and achieve tangible results, first improving the lives of workers and improving the lives of ordinary people, then we will not be able to maintain our political power, we will not be able to stand, and we will fail.

　　五

The situations in the south and the north are different, and the party's work tasks must also be different. The South is still an area ruled by the Kuomintang. Here, the tasks of the Party and the People's Liberation Army are to eliminate the reactionary armed forces of the Kuomintang in cities and villages, establish party organizations, establish political power, mobilize the people, establish w88 unions, peasant associations and other mass organizations, establish the people's armed forces, eliminate the remaining forces of the Kuomintang, and restore and develop production. In the countryside, the first step is to carry out the struggle to eliminate bandits and oppose the bullies, that is, the landlord class, and complete the preparations for reducing rents and interest rates, so that about one or two years after the People's Liberation Army arrives in that area, the task of reducing rents and interest rates can be achieved, creating the prerequisites for allocating land; at the same time, attention must be paid to maintaining the current level of agricultural production as much as possible without reducing it. In the north, except for a few newly liberated areas, the situation is completely different. Here, the rule of the Kuomintang has been overthrown, people's rule has been established, and the land issue has been fundamentally solved. The party's central task here is to mobilize all forces to restore and develop production. This is the focus of all work. At the same time, we must restore and develop cultural and educational undertakings, eliminate the remaining reactionary forces, consolidate the entire north, and support the People's Liberation Army.

　　Six

We have carried out extensive economic construction work, and the party's economic policies have been implemented in practical work and have achieved remarkable results. However, there are many confused ideas in the party on the issue of why this economic policy should be adopted rather than another economic policy, and on issues of theory and principle. How should this question be answered? We think it should be answered this way. The proportion of China's industry and agriculture in the national economy, nationwide, before the Anti-Japanese War, was about 10% in modern industry, and about 90% in agriculture and handicrafts. This is the result of the oppression of China by the imperialist system and the feudal system. This is the economic manifestation of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal social nature of old China. This is also the basic starting point of all issues during the period of the Chinese revolution and for a long period after the victory of the revolution. Starting from this point, a series of strategic, tactical and policy issues arise for our party. Further clear understanding and solutions to these problems are our party's current important tasks. This means:

First, China already has about ten percent of its modern industrial economy, which is progressive and different from ancient times. Because of this, China already has new classes and new parties - the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the proletarian party and the bourgeois party. The proletariat and its political parties have been tempered by the oppression of several enemies and have become qualified to lead the Chinese people's revolution. Anyone who ignores or underestimates this point will make the mistake of right opportunism.

Second, China still has about 90% scattered individual agricultural economy and handicraft economy. This is backward and not much different from ancient times. About 90% of our economic life still remains in ancient times. The feudal land ownership system in ancient times has now been abolished by us, or will soon be abolished. In this regard, we have or will soon be different from ancient times, and have achieved or will soon achieve the possibility of gradually developing our agriculture and handicrafts towards modernization. However, today, and for a long time to come, our agriculture and handicrafts, in terms of their basic form, are still and will remain dispersed and individual, that is to say, similar to those in ancient times. Anyone who ignores or underestimates this point will make the mistake of "Left" opportunism.

Third, although the output value of China's modern industry only accounts for about ten percent of the total output value of the national economy, it is extremely concentrated. The largest and most important capital is concentrated in the hands of the imperialists and their lackeys, the Chinese bureaucratic bourgeoisie. Confiscating these capitals and returning them to the People's Republic under the leadership of the proletariat will enable the People's Republic to take control of the country's economic lifeline and make the state-owned economy the leading component of the entire national economy. This part of the economy is a socialist economy, not a capitalist economy. Anyone who ignores or underestimates this point will make the mistake of right opportunism.

Fourth, China’s private capitalist industry occupies the second place among modern industries. It is a force that cannot be ignored. China's national bourgeoisie and its representatives, because they are oppressed or restricted by imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism, often take a stance of participating in or remaining neutral in the people's democratic revolutionary struggle. Because of these, and because China's economy is still in a backward state, for a long period after the victory of the revolution, it is necessary to make full use of the enthusiasm of urban and rural private capitalism to facilitate the forward development of the national economy. During this period, all urban and rural capitalist elements that are not harmful but beneficial to the national economy should be allowed to exist and develop. This is not only inevitable, but also economically necessary. However, the existence and development of capitalism in China is not like that in capitalist countries where it is unrestricted and allowed to spread. It will be limited in several ways - in terms of scope of activities, in terms of tax policy, in terms of market prices, in terms of labor conditions. We must adopt appropriate and flexible restrictive policies against capitalism from all aspects and in accordance with the specific conditions of each place, industry and period. We still must use Sun Yat-sen's slogan of restraining capital. However, for the benefit of the entire national economy and the current and future interests of the working class and working people, we must not restrict the private capitalist economy too much or too rigidly. We must allow them room to exist and develop within the orbit of the People's Republic's economic policy and economic plan. The adoption of restrictive policies against private capitalism is bound to be resisted by the bourgeoisie in various degrees and in various ways, especially by large business owners in private enterprises, that is, big capitalists. Restrictions and counter-restrictions will be the main forms of class struggle within new democratic countries. It is completely wrong to think that we should not restrict capitalism now and that we can abandon the slogan of "restraining capital". This is the view of right opportunism. But on the other hand, it is completely wrong to think that private capital should be restricted too much and too rigidly, or that private capital can be eliminated very quickly. This is the view of "left" opportunism or adventurism.

Fifth, it is possible and necessary to guide the dispersed individual agricultural economy and handicraft economy, which account for 90% of the total output value of the national economy, in the direction of modernization and collectivization carefully, gradually and actively. The view of letting them go their own way is wrong. It is necessary to organize production, consumption and credit cooperatives, as well as the leading organs of cooperatives at the central, provincial, municipal, county and district levels. This kind of cooperative is a collective economic organization of the working people based on private ownership and under the management of state power led by the proletariat. The cultural backwardness of the Chinese people and the lack of cooperative tradition may cause us to encounter difficulties; but it can be organized, must be organized, and must be promoted and developed. If we only have a state-owned economy without a cooperative economy, it will be impossible for us to lead the individual economy of the working people to gradually move toward collectivization, it will be impossible for us to develop from a new-democratic society to a future socialist society, and it will be impossible to consolidate the leadership of the proletariat in state power. Anyone who ignores or underestimates this point will make a huge mistake. The state-owned economy is socialist in nature, the cooperative economy is semi-socialist in nature, plus private capitalism, plus individual economy, plus state-capitalist economy of state-private cooperation, these are the main economic components of the People's Republic, and these constitute the economic form of New Democracy.

Sixth, the recovery and development of the national economy of the People's Republic of China is impossible without the control policy of foreign w88. The rule of imperialism, feudalism, bureaucratic capitalism and the Kuomintang (which is the concentrated expression of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism) has been eliminated from China. The problem of establishing an independent and complete industrial system has not yet been solved. This problem can only be finally solved when the economy has achieved extensive development and transformed from a backward agricultural country to an advanced industrial country. To achieve this goal, it is impossible without the control of foreign w88. After the Chinese revolution triumphed across the country and the land issue was resolved, two basic contradictions still existed in China. The first is domestic, that is, the contradiction between the working class and the bourgeoisie. The second type is foreign, that is, the contradiction between China and imperialist countries. Because of this, the state power of the People's Republic led by the working class cannot be weakened but must be strengthened after the victory of the people's democratic revolution. Domestic control of capital and external control of w88 are the two basic policies of this country in its economic struggle. Anyone who ignores or underestimates this will make a huge mistake.

Seventh, China’s economic heritage is backward, but the Chinese people are brave and hard-working. With the victory of the Chinese People’s Revolution and the establishment of the People’s Republic, the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and the assistance of the working class of various countries around the world, mainly the assistance of the Soviet Union, the speed of China’s economic construction will not be very slow but may be quite fast. China’s prosperity can be measured in time. There is no basis for the pessimistic argument about China's economic revival.

　　seven

Old China was a semi-colonial country controlled by imperialism. The thoroughly anti-imperialist nature of the Chinese People's Democratic Revolution made the imperialists extremely hostile to this revolution and did their best to help the Kuomintang. This further aroused the Chinese people's deep anger against the imperialists and caused the imperialists to lose their last bit of prestige among the Chinese people. At the same time, the entire imperialist system was greatly weakened after World War II, and the strength of the world anti-imperialist front headed by the Soviet Union grew unprecedentedly. All these circumstances make it possible and necessary for us to adopt a policy of step-by-step and complete destruction of imperialist control in China. This kind of control by the imperialists is manifested in politics, economy and culture. In every city and every place where the Kuomintang troops were eliminated and the Kuomintang government was overthrown, the imperialists' political control was immediately overthrown, as were their economic and cultural control. However, the economic and cultural undertakings directly run by the imperialists still exist, and the diplomats and journalists recognized by the Kuomintang still exist. For these, we must prioritize and give proper solutions. Not recognizing the legal status of any foreign diplomatic agencies and diplomats from the Kuomintang era, not recognizing the continued existence of all traitorous treaties from the Kuomintang era, abolishing all imperialist propaganda agencies in China, immediately controlling foreign w88, and reforming the customs system. These are the first steps we must take when entering a big city. After doing this, the Chinese people stood up before imperialism. The remaining economic and cultural undertakings of imperialism can be allowed to exist temporarily and be supervised and controlled by us until we have victory across the country and then resolve them. For ordinary foreigners, their legitimate interests will be protected and not violated. As for the issue of imperialist recognition of our country, not only should we not rush to solve it now, but we should not rush to solve it even for a considerable period of time after the national victory. We are willing to establish diplomatic relations with all countries on the basis of the principle of equality, but imperialism, which has always been hostile to the Chinese people, will never treat us as equals soon. As long as they do not change their hostile attitude, we will not grant legal status to imperialist countries in China. As for doing business with foreigners, there is no problem. If there is business, we must do it, and it has already begun. Businessmen from several capitalist countries are competing with each other. As far as possible, we must do business first with the socialist countries and people's democracies, but also with the capitalist countries.

　　eight

All conditions for convening a political consultative conference and establishing a democratic coalition government are mature. All democratic parties, people's organizations and non-partisan democrats stand with us. The bourgeoisie in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Basin are trying to build relations with us. North-South air and mail services have begun. The Kuomintang, which was in disarray, had become separated from all the masses. We are preparing to negotiate with the reactionary Nanjing government. The driving forces of the Nanjing reactionary government in this negotiation were the Guangxi warlords, the Kuomintang peace faction and the Shanghai bourgeoisie. Their purpose is to have their share in the coalition government, to preserve as many troops as possible, to preserve the interests of the Shanghai and southern bourgeoisie, and to strive to give the revolution a moderate color. This group of people admits that they use our eight points as the basis for negotiations, but they hope to bargain so that their losses will not be too great. It was Chiang Kai-shek and his cronies who attempted to sabotage this negotiation. Chiang Kai-shek still has sixty divisions located in the Jiangnan area, and they are still preparing for battle. Our policy is not to refuse negotiations, to require the other party to fully acknowledge the eight points, and not to bargain. The conditions in exchange were not to attack the Guangxi clique and other KMT peace factions; not to reorganize their army for about a year; some personnel in the Nanjing government were allowed to join the Political Consultative Conference and the coalition government; and certain interests of the Shanghai and southern bourgeoisie were allowed to be protected. This negotiation is comprehensive. If it can succeed, it will reduce many obstacles to our march to the south and occupy the major cities in the south, which will be of great benefit. If it fails, local negotiations will be held in various places after the invasion. Negotiations are scheduled for late March. We hope to occupy Nanjing in April or May, then convene a political consultative conference in Peiping, form a coalition government, and make Peiping the capital. Since we allow negotiations, we must be prepared for many troubles to come after the negotiations are successful, and we must prepare a clear mind to deal with the other party's policy of Sun Walker getting into the belly of Princess Iron Fan to stir up trouble. As long as we are fully prepared mentally, we can defeat any Sun Walker who causes trouble. Whether it is a comprehensive peace negotiation or a partial peace negotiation, we should prepare in this way. We should not be afraid of trouble and seek peace and quiet from accepting these negotiations, nor should we accept these negotiations in a muddle-headed manner. Our principles must be firm, and we must have all the flexibility that is allowed and necessary to realize our principles.

　　Nine

The people's democratic dictatorship led by the proletariat and based on the alliance of workers and peasants requires our party to seriously unite the entire working class, the entire peasant class and the vast number of revolutionary intellectuals. These are the leading and basic forces of this dictatorship. Without this unity, this dictatorship cannot be consolidated. At the same time, our party is also required to unite as many representatives of the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie, their intellectuals and political factions as possible who can cooperate with us, so as to isolate the counter-revolutionary forces during the revolutionary period and completely defeat the domestic counter-revolutionary and imperialist forces; after the victory of the revolution, quickly restore and develop production, deal with foreign imperialism, steadily transform China from an agricultural country to an industrial country, and build China into a great socialist country. Because of this, our party’s policy of long-term cooperation with non-party democrats must be determined ideologically and work-wise throughout the party. We must regard the majority of democrats outside the party as our own cadres, discuss and resolve issues that must be discussed and resolved with them sincerely and frankly, give them work to do, enable them to have authority in their posts, and enable them to achieve results at work. Starting from uniting them, we should seriously and appropriately criticize or fight against their mistakes and shortcomings to achieve the purpose of uniting them. It is wrong to be accommodating to their mistakes or shortcomings. It is also wrong to adopt a closed-door attitude or a perfunctory attitude toward them. Every big city and every medium-sized city, every strategic region and every province should cultivate a group of authoritative non-party democrats who can cooperate with us. The incorrect attitude towards non-Party democrats developed by the closed-door style in our Party during the Agrarian Revolutionary War was not completely overcome during the Anti-Japanese War and reappeared in 1947 during the climax of land reform in various base areas. This attitude will only isolate our party, prevent the people's democratic dictatorship from being consolidated, and enable the enemy to gain allies. Now China's first political consultative conference under the leadership of our party is about to be held, the democratic coalition government is about to be established, and the revolution is about to win nationwide. The whole party must have a serious review and correct understanding of this issue, and must oppose the two tendencies of right accommodationism and "left" closed-doorism or perfunctoryism, and adopt a completely correct attitude.

　　十

We will soon be victorious across the country. This victory will break through the Eastern Front of imperialism and has great international significance. Winning this victory will not take a long time or a lot of effort; consolidating this victory will take a long time and a lot of effort. The bourgeoisie doubts our ability to build. The imperialists estimate that we will eventually have to beg from them to survive. Because of victory, arrogance within the party, the attitude of claiming to be a hero, the attitude of standing still and not seeking progress, the attitude of being greedy for pleasure and not wanting to live a hard life anymore, may grow. Because of the victory, the people will thank us and the bourgeoisie will come out to support us. It has been proven that the enemy's force cannot conquer us. The applause of the bourgeoisie may conquer the weak-minded among our ranks. There may be some Communists who have never been conquered by enemies with guns, and they are worthy of the title of heroes in the face of these enemies; but they cannot withstand the attacks of people's sugar-coated bullets, and they will lose the battle in front of sugar bullets. We must prevent this. Winning nationwide victory is only the first step in a long march of thousands of miles. If this step is something to be proud of, it is relatively small. What is even more worthy of pride is yet to come. Looking at the victory of the Chinese People's Democratic Revolution decades later, it will seem like it was just a short prologue to a long drama. The play must begin with a prologue, but the prologue is not yet the climax. China's revolution is great, but the journey after the revolution will be longer, the work greater and more arduous. This must be made clear to the party now. Comrades must be enabled to continue to maintain a style of modesty, prudence, and no arrogance and impetuosity. Comrades must be enabled to continue to maintain a style of hard work. We have the Marxist-Leninist weapon of criticism and self-criticism. We can get rid of bad styles and maintain good ones. We can learn things we didn't understand before. Not only are we good at destroying an old world, we will also be good at building a new one. Not only can the Chinese people live without begging from the imperialists, but they will also live better than those in imperialist countries.