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For the intellectuals, the change from the old to the new is a painful process. They have to be 'immersed in clear water three times, bathed in bloody water three times, and cooked in salt water three times.' Shao Ch'uan-lin, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Writers' Union addressing a symposium on short story writing, Dairen, 1962. Introduction Ever since the Tenth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in September 1962, the Peking regime has made it increasingly clear that it regards Soviet-style modern revisionism as a major threat to the achievement of its revolutionary goals both inside and outside China. The Party believes that the revisionist stress on more consumer goods and personal comfort for the ordinary citizen saps the revolutionary will of the masses. It stimulates a boundless appetite for more, undermining past efforts to hasten industrialization and modernization through forced collective saving. Furthermore, any body of doctrine which advocates peaceful coexistence among nations, including the capitalist archenemies, is an anathema to the militant Chinese leaders who regard the export of their revolution and the total defeat of capitalism as sacred duties. The designation of modern revisionism as an evil on a par with capitalism was triggered by the recognition during the early 1960's that the Chinese body politic was by no means immune to revisionist infection, as the consequences of the Great Leap's failure were felt in full force, and as relations with the Soviet Union grew worse. The desires for peace and physical comfort were as contagious on the China Mainland as they are among human beings elsewhere. As a result, in 1963, the Party launched the massive Socialist Education Movement, a long-term effort to re-indoctrinate the populace and uproot these "debilitating attitudes." Since the beginning of 1964, operating under the broad rubric of Socialist Education, the Peking government has channeled its increasing alarm over the drift toward revisionism into a series of practical programs, each designed to combat the disease in a particular sector of society. A new system of political departments, modeled after the network in the Peoples' Liberation Army and designed to intensify day-to-day mass indoctrination has been established in industry, communication, trade, and finance. In agriculture, Poor and Lower Middle Peasants' Associations have been set up