"On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People"
In 1956, new problems and new trends were becoming apparent in China and in the international situation. To gain a correct understanding of and properly address the conflicts and challenges facing Chinese society was a major issue for the CPC Central Committee headed by Mao Zedong.
At the Supreme State Conference in February 1957, Mao Zedong delivered a speech entitled "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People." He pointed out: Socialist society is also full of contradictions, and the basic contradictions are still those between the relations of production and the productive forces and between the superstructure and the economic base. But they are fundamentally different in character and have different features from the contradictions in the old societies. These contradictions can be constantly resolved through the self-readjustment and improvement of the socialist system itself.
He also pointed out: In a socialist society, there exist two types of social contradiction – those between ourselves and the enemy and those among the people. The two are totally different in nature. The former should be resolved through methods of coercion and dictatorship, while the latter can only be resolved through democratic methods, persuasion and the formula of "unity-criticism-unity." We should never handle contradictions among the people with methods used to resolve contradictions between ourselves and the enemy.
Mao's speech summarized the experience in building socialism, analyzed the new problems emerging after socialist transformation was basically completed, proposed a method of differentiating two contradictions different in nature and a means of handling these, and expounded on the contradictions in a socialist society. This added important value to the theory of scientific socialism.
《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》
1956年，国际社会和中国国内都出现了一些新的矛盾和动向。正确认识和处理中国社会主义社会的各种矛盾，成为以毛泽东为核心的中共中央着重思考的重大课题。1957年2月，毛泽东在最高国务会议上发表《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》的讲话，指出社会主义社会充满着矛盾，社会主义社会的基本矛盾仍然是生产力和生产关系、经济基础和上层建筑之间的矛盾，不过社会主义社会的这些矛盾同旧社会的这些矛盾具有根本不同的性质和情况，可以通过社会主义制度本身的自我调整和完善，不断地得到解决。毛泽东还指出，社会主义社会存在着敌我之间和人民内部两类性质根本不同的矛盾，前者需要用强制的、专政的方法去解决，后者只能用民主的、说服教育的方法，即“团结―批评―团结”的方法去解决，决不能用解决敌我矛盾的方法解决人民内部的矛盾。
《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》总结了社会主义事业发展中的历史经验，研究回答了中国社会主义改造基本完成后出现的新问题，提出了严格区分两类不同性质矛盾、正确处理人民内部矛盾的理论，科学阐明了社会主义社会的矛盾问题，是对科学社会主义理论的重要发展，具有重大的理论和实践意义。
