Prevent the Formation of Aristocratic Stratum and the Deterioration of People’s Regime

At the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in November 1956, Mao Zedong pointed out: “There are several hundred thousand cadres at the level of the county Party committee and above who hold the destiny of the country in their hands. If they fail to do a good job, alienate themselves from the masses and do not live plainly and work hard, the workers, peasants and students will have good reason to disapprove of them. We must watch out lest we foster the bureaucratic style of work and grow into an aristocratic stratum divorced from the people. The masses will have good reason to remove from office whoever practices bureaucracy, makes no effort to solve their problems, scolds them, tyrannizes over them and never tries to make amends. I say it is fine to remove such fellows, and they ought to be removed.”

In order to prevent the formation of the aristocratic stratum and the deterioration of the people's political power, Mao Zedong stressed that the economic foundation of socialism must be consolidated. He pointed out that if our country does not establish a socialist economy, “the dictatorship of the proletariat will be transformed into the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.”

Mao Zedong believed that we must oppose cadres becoming privileged. In November 1960, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, stated in its instruction which replied the report called “Senior Cadres’ and Senior Intellectuals’ Need of Special Supply”: "It is just here wherein revisionism finds its breeding and spreading soil. The lesson of Yin Dynasty is not far away; we must be vigilant and take precautions against it.”

Mao Zedong emphasized that we must firmly believe in and rely on the broad masses inside and outside the Party, expose and eliminate the dark side of the Party, and fight unswervingly against all kinds of corruption phenomena such as abuse of power for personal gain, bribery and corruption. In 1955, the CPC issued an instruction to gradually the special schools for the children of the cadres. Mao Zedong pointed out that we must care about and strictly require the offsprings of the cadres. Mao Zedong pointed out: the cadres should make strict demands on themselves and they should demonstrate strict concern for their children. He said: "We do not represent the exploiting class, but the proletariat and the working people, if we don’t make strict demands on our children, they may degenerate and engage in bourgeois restoration, consequently, will also degenerate, and the property and power of the proletariat will be taken back by the bourgeoisie.”