ABSTRACT
The post-Lushan upsurge of the leap forward lasted to mid-1960, but even in the first half of the year signs of retrenchment appeared. Key measures for dealing with the problems of people's communes were enacted in the November 1960 Twelve Articles and March 1961 Sixty Articles. Measures were also taken to deal with the crisis in industry. The rectification aim of both correcting specific deviations and restoring an efficient and motivated cadre force proved unattainable. The unsuccessful attempt to reassert the rectification approach was only one aspect of a broad effort to restore traditional Party norms. Mao Tse-tung sought both to curb the sweeping "reversals of verdicts" and - by emphasizing the Party's traditional rectification approach - at the same time to reassure cadres that inner Party norms would still be maintained. The "reversal of verdicts" was then intensified but at the Tenth Plenum, as part of the larger policy reassessment, Mao called for a curbing of the process.
