Sixty-six years ago today, on August 2, 1959 (June 28, 1959), the Lushan Conference criticized Peng Huang and Zhang Zhou for being an "anti-Party clique." On August 2, 1959, the Eighth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Lushan. The Plenary Session accused Peng Dehuai's letter of "right opportunism attacking the Party and trying to usurp the Party's program for seizing power," declaring that Peng Dehuai, Huang Kecheng, Zhang Wentian, and Zhou Xiaozhou had formed an anti-Party clique in the nature of a "military club." Mao Zedong spoke at the opening of the Plenary Session and again at the Plenary Session on August 11. He said: "The struggle that has arisen in Lushan is a stage struggle, a continuation of the life-and-death struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in the two major confrontational stages of the socialist revolution in the past ten years." On August 16, the Plenary Session passed resolutions such as the "Decision on the Error of the Anti-Party Group Led by Comrade Peng Dehuai", which decided to remove Peng, Huang, Zhang, and Zhou from leading positions in national defense, foreign affairs, and the provincial party committee. Lin Biao was then appointed Minister of National Defense and presided over the daily work of the Military Commission. The meeting also adjusted the economic indicators for 1959: steel was reduced from 18 million tons to 12 million tons, coal was reduced from 380 million tons to 335 million tons, grain was reduced from 10 50 billion catties to 5,250 kilograms, and cotton was reduced from 100 million to 6.20 million. The meeting also passed the "Resolution on Launching a Campaign to Increase Production and Save."