Chapter 46 Daxing investigation and research style[1]

(January 13, 1961) This time the central work conference was held better than in the past few times, and everyone's minds were clearer.For example, with regard to the combination of cold and heat, in the past it was always not cold enough, and it was a little hotter. This time, the combination has improved compared to the past, and the problem has been analyzed, and the situation is relatively clear.Of course, there are many situations where the central government and the provincial government still don't know the truth.We are doing it in the direction of finding out the bottom line, which is a step forward.The secretaries, standing committee members, and members of the provincial party committee, including the first secretary of the prefectural party committee, do they just get the bottom line? If they get the bottom line, it won't be a problem.But it should be said that it has gone a step further than in the past. It is moving and using pilot methods to understand the situation.

I hope that after the comrades go back, they will conduct investigations and studies, put aside trivial matters, and spend part of their time with a few assistants to investigate and study one or two production teams and one or two communes.In the cities, one or two factories and one or two urban people's communes should be thoroughly investigated.The first secretary of a provincial party committee has to investigate both the countryside and the cities, so it needs to be carefully arranged.To conduct investigations is to make sure that one has a bottom line in one's mind, and one cannot act without a bottom line.To understand the situation, you need to see with your eyes, ask with your mouth, and take notes with your hands.When you talk, you have to talk, otherwise you will be deceived.It depends on whether the masses are well-fed, and whether the food of the masses is in short supply, sufficient, or very sufficient can be seen.

Over the years, our comrades have not done research and research work.If we do not do investigation and research, but only rely on imagination and estimation, our work will have no basis.Therefore, comrades are invited to vigorously investigate and study after returning home, proceed from reality in everything, and do not make up your mind if you are not sure.Investigation and research work is not that difficult, it does not require so much time, and the number of units involved in the investigation does not need to be so many.For example, there are one or two production teams and one or two communes in the countryside, and one or two factories, one or two stores, and one or two schools in the cities. There are only about ten of them in total.These investigations do not have to be conducted by themselves.If you do it yourself, one or two in the countryside and one or two in the cities are enough.It is necessary to organize a research and research team and guide them to do it.For example, the investigation of Jiangshiwo in Baodi County was not carried out by our central government, but by the Central Rural Work Department.In my opinion, this is a great credit to them.The material on Tonghaikou in Mianyang County was conducted by comrades in Hubei Province; the investigation in Xinyang was conducted by the Xinyang Prefectural Committee; the investigation in Lingbao County was conducted by comrades in the Henan Provincial Committee.Investigation and research are extremely important, and all provincial party committee secretaries, as well as provincial party committee standing committee members, responsible comrades at the provincial level and various provincial departments, prefectural party committee secretaries, county party secretaries, and commune party committee secretaries must be taught to conduct investigation and research.If they don't investigate, the situation is unclear.The party secretary of the commune may not always know about the leveling situation within the commune.There are an average of thirty production teams in a commune. How could he know so much? Impossible! But, there is a way. He only needs to investigate three of the thirty production teams, one for the worst, one for the middle, one of the best.

When we talk about the situation clearly, with great determination and with the right method, we must have these three things. The first condition is clear.This is the basis of all work. If the situation is unknown, there is no way to start everything.Therefore, it is necessary to find out the situation and do research and research. The second determination is great.We held this meeting for more than 20 days, and the situation gradually became clearer, and our determination gradually increased, but the determination was still uneven.Some comrades talked about going bankrupt and paying off debts.It doesn't sound so nice to say this, but in fact it means going bankrupt to pay off debts.At the county and communal levels, if they go bankrupt in order to pay off their debts, they start from scratch.It is a fundamental principle that the proletariat cannot expropriate the working people, not the peasants and small urban producers, but only the expropriators.The bourgeoisie and the landlord class expropriate the working people, and they make the small producers go bankrupt, so that there is the proletariat.Their method of deprivation is a little "smarter" than some of us.They make the small producers default and bankrupt step by step, while some of us take over from others all at once.It is not acceptable to use this method to establish a socially-owned economy or a state-owned economy.For example, the purchase of agricultural and sideline products is very unequal, and it is too aggressive and divorced from the masses.The principle of implementation is easy to talk about, and many of our comrades understand it, but it is more difficult to implement it.

Now, are all the first secretaries of the provincial party committees so determined to go bankrupt and pay off their debts? I have to wait and see.In the future, there will be unevenness among provinces, which is also the law of imbalance.It depends on which provinces go bankrupt to repay their debts and completely refund compensation, which can unite the peasants around them.In dozens of counties or more than one hundred counties in a province, there will also be uneven situations. The third method is right.During the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, we were more serious in our investigations and studies, proceeding from reality and seeking truth from facts.Through investigation and research, when the situation is clear and we make up our minds, the resolution will be great and the method will be right.Methods are measures and methods, and there must be a set of methods to realize the principles and policies.There are no guidelines or policies in these three articles, because we already have guidelines and policies.With good guidelines and policies, if your situation is unclear, your determination is not strong, and your method is wrong, it still means nothing.The principles and policies of the Zhengzhou Conference[2] are correct, but there is only one thing that is wrong, that is, do not settle accounts.The Zhengzhou meeting was held in early March.With the experience of Zhejiang[3] and the experience of Macheng[4], the Shanghai meeting in April came up with 18 articles[5], and it was decided that old scores must be resolutely settled.The comment [6] I wrote is still early.In those two months, I wrote more than 20,000 words.Litigation with pen and ink is not very useful, whether it is 20,000 characters or doubled, it will not work.The counties, communes, and teams below are blocked, what can you do.Our provincial and prefectural levels did not have such a consistent understanding as they do now.A comrade said that the Zhengzhou meeting was for persuasion, not persuasion.That's right, there was a gap in understanding at that time.

With regard to agriculture, that is all I have to say. What about the industry? We have already found out some basics, and we need to continue to find out.Generally speaking, this year's plan is to shorten the capital construction front, shorten the industrial front, and shorten the heavy industry front.In addition to coal, timber, mines, railways, etc., everything else must be shortened.In particular, it is necessary to shorten the capital construction front. This year, no new infrastructure construction will be carried out, only projects under construction or in urgent need of construction will be carried out; not all projects under construction or in urgent need of construction will be carried out this year, and some of them will not be carried out this year. Let him have a dysentery head.

As for the long-term plan, we can't make it yet.We have to do it for another ten years. Now it seems that there is no need to be so anxious to start socialist construction.If you are in a hurry, you can't get things done, and the more urgent you are, the more you can't get things done. It's better to slow down and move forward in waves.This is the same as walking, you have to take a rest after walking for a while.When marching in the army, there are big rests and small rests, a combination of work and rest, and there is work and rest.There is also a break between the two battles.We have held this meeting for more than 20 days. Of course, we are quite tired, but we do not hold meetings every morning, afternoon, and evening.This meeting is not considered a "fairy meeting", it is a very tense meeting, but it is not so tense, and there are relatively few documents.In the past, we held a meeting and made many resolutions. We thought these resolutions would be effective, but they were not so effective.More resolutions at a meeting are not necessarily effective, and less are not necessarily effective. The key lies in whether the situation is clear, whether the resolution is strong, and whether the method is right.

I read a piece of news today, saying that West Germany produced 34 million tons of steel last year, Britain produced 24 million tons of steel last year, France produced 16 million tons the year before last, and last year it was 17 million tons. Ton.It took them many years to achieve it.I think we will do it slowly for a few years, and then we will talk about it.Be more solid this year, next year, and the year after that.Don't try to make a false name and invite real disasters.We have to do consolidation work, improve product quality, increase varieties and specifications, improve management level, and increase labor productivity.

In short, we still don't have a clear understanding of the domestic situation, our determination is not strong, and our methods are not so correct.We have to survey the bottom of the provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in batches, twenty-seven places separately.Each province, each city, and each autonomous region is investigated separately by prefecture, county, and commune.How about a year of seeking truth from facts this year? There is Hejian County in Hebei Province, and the Han Dynasty granted a king named Hejian Xianwang.Ban Gu said in "Hanshu Hejian Xianwang Liude" that he "seeks truth from facts", and this sentence has been passed down to the present.Proposing that this year be a year of seeking truth from facts, of course, does not mean that we were not at all seeking truth from facts in the past.Our party has a tradition of seeking truth from facts, which is to combine the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with China's reality.But since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially in recent years, we don't have a good idea of ​​the actual situation, probably because the officials have become bigger.I am a person who has become a big official. I used to do research and research in Jiangxi, but now I do very little.I will do a little bit this year. After this meeting, I want to go to a place and do some research work.Otherwise, we will have no idea of ​​the actual situation.If you don’t get to know a rural commune, a city commune, a factory, a school, a store, or a company, you can’t do it.In fact, it is almost enough to find out the situation of these few units.

Now we see a direction, that is, comrades must recover the spirit of seeking truth from facts. Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is part of Mao Zedong's speech at the Central Work Conference of the Communist Party of China on January 13, 1961.This meeting was held in Beijing from December 24, 1960 to January 13, 1961. [2] The Zhengzhou meeting refers to the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held in Zhengzhou from February 27 to March 5, 1959.

[3] Refers to the ten regulations (draft) of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China on March 22, 1959 on rectifying the people's communes.Among them, the "account issue" stipulated in the tenth item: "In dealing with the economic relationship between the commune and the production team, all old accounts should be settled according to the principle of equivalent exchange." [4] See note [4] on page 37 of this volume, and see note [3] on page 36. [5] See note [3] on page 165 of this volume. [6] Refers to Mao Zedong's comments on March 30, 1959 in Tao Lujia's report on the situation of the five-level cadre meeting in various counties in Shanxi.See page 34 of this volume.