SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF THE “FIVE EXCESSES”: March 19, 1953

Abstract

This chapter explains the concept of five excesses and the problems related to it. In the rural areas, there are problems involving the serious alienation of the party and government organizations from the peasant masses and violations of the interests of the peasants and peasant activists; these are known as the five excesses. The five excesses consist of an excess of assignments, an excess of meetings and training courses, an excess of documents, written reports, and statistical forms, an excess of organizations, and an excess of side jobs for activists. Some of the five excesses are a legacy of the periods of the revolutionary war and agrarian reform and have remained unchanged to this day. In the greater administrative areas and the provinces and municipalities, the comrades in charge of central committee bureaus and sub-bureaus, provincial and municipal party committees and the administrative apparatuses at the corresponding levels are held responsible for tackling the problem of the five excesses, working out solutions and reporting to the central committee.