Mao Zedong Attaches Importance to Letters from the Masses

Comrade Mao Zedong attached great importance to letters from the masses and often opened letters sent to him by the masses and replied to them as much as possible. In 1934, Mao Zedong pointed out in his article "Care for the lives of the masses and pay attention to the methods of work": "All the problems of the real life of the masses are problems to which we should pay attention. If we pay attention to these problems, solve them, and meet the needs of the masses, we will truly become the organizers of the lives of the masses, and the masses will truly surround us and enthusiastically support us."

With the smooth progress of the War of Liberation, the political enthusiasm of the people was unprecedentedly high, and more and more letters from the masses reflected the situation and made suggestions to the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong. According to Mao Zedong's proposal, in August 1949, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved the establishment of the Political Secretary Office of the Central Secretariat, which is responsible for handling letters and calls from the people to Mao Zedong and the Party Central Committee. This is the first official organization of the Communist Party of China to handle letters from the masses. after the founding of new china, mao zedong managed every day, but still personally handled letters from the masses. According to incomplete statistics, in early May 1950 alone, he replied to nearly 80 letters, of which 18 letters were returned on May 7. Mao Zedong set an example for the whole party with his own actions.

In 1950, the Political Secretary Office of the Central Secretariat was renamed the Secretary Office of the Central General Office. On November 29, the Secretary Office of the General Office of the Central Committee reported to Mao Zedong on the work of handling letters from the masses in various places, and proposed to strengthen the organization and leadership of the handling of letters from the masses. It is recommended that the central bureaus, provincial committees, and prefectural committees set up institutions for handling letters or designate Special personnel are responsible, and necessary systems such as registration, research, transfer, and case closing have been established. The next day, Mao Zedong personally drafted a work instruction on behalf of the Central Committee: "We agree with the comments made in the report, and we ask you to be serious and responsible for the letters from the masses, to deal with them and to meet the demands of the masses. Organs and individuals who have adopted a neglectful attitude towards this issue should correct this incorrect attitude, look forward to a review, and look forward to a reply."

On April 30, 1951, the Secretary Office of the General Office of the Central Committee reported to Mao Zedong on the handling of letters from the masses from January to March of that year. The report outlined the handling of nearly 20,000 letters received from the masses. On May 16, Mao Zedong made a long instruction in this "Report on Handling Letters from the Masses. This comment raised the handling of letters from the masses to the height of "a method for the Communist Party and the people's government to strengthen ties with the people", and emphasized that "do not adopt a bureaucratic attitude that is ignored lightly". This is an important understanding of Mao Zedong, and it has become a fundamental principle for the party and government to treat letters from the masses in the future.

Under Mao Zedong's cordial care and guidance, party and government leading comrades at all levels attached importance to letters from the masses and solved a large number of practical problems for the people.

(Author unit: Party History Department of the Central Party School)

Xing Hao
Source: People's Daily-People's Daily