Telegram to Wang Zhen [1] Regarding the Trial Operation of Collective Farms and Other Matters (December 17, 1951) Comrade Wang Zhen; also to Comrades Zhongxun and Zongxun [2]; to All Central Bureaus and Major Military Regions:  (1) We have received Wang Zhen’s report of December 14 [3]. I consider this report to be correct. With the exception of its final point, it may be submitted to the expanded meetings of the sub-bureaus and to the production representative conferences of the military regions.  (2) Your plan includes utilizing the experience of collective labor within the army to pilot ten collective farms run by peasants. This is an excellent plan. In the forthcoming “Draft Resolution on Developing Agricultural Mutual Assistance and Cooperation” [4] that the Central Committee is about to issue, we have already added a provision calling for each province to establish one or several pilot collective farms. Of course, at present such collective farms can only be few in number—only one to several per province. In Xinjiang, since part of the land reclaimed by the army, along with certain irrigation works and buildings repaired by the army, are being turned over to the peasants, and if machinery assistance can also be provided, the peasants are likely to be very willing to undertake this endeavor. I hope you will report on your experiences in this regard as they occur.  (3) All military regions and localities that already operate state-owned farms or individual collective farms employing machinery for plowing and harvesting—for example, the peasant collective farm in Langfang, Tianjin County, Hebei—or those which are preparing to do so, are urged to treat this as a major undertaking, devote substantial effort to its management, and regularly summarize their experiences, reporting them to the Central Committee.  (4) Wang Zhen’s report is hereby transmitted to all major military regions and central bureaus for their information. Mao Zedong December 17 Based on the manuscript copy. Notes  [1] Wang Zhen was then Secretary of the Xinjiang Sub-Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Acting Commander and Acting Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Military Region of the People’s Liberation Army.  [2] Zhongxun refers to Xi Zhongxun, who at the time served as First Secretary of the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Political Commissar of the Northwest Military Region of the PLA. Zongxun refers to Zhang Zongxun, who was then First Deputy Commander of the Northwest Military Region of the PLA.  [3] This refers to Wang Zhen’s report dated December 14, 1951, addressed to Mao Zedong and sent simultaneously to Xi Zhongxun and Zhang Zongxun, concerning the contents of the Xinjiang Military Region’s production conference and next year’s production plan. The report stated that, during the land reform to be carried out in the winter of 1952, the military region intended to transfer the small irrigation canals constructed by its scattered production units over the past two years, together with the tens of thousands of mu of cultivated land and the buildings thereon, and to assign party members and cadres from the army to assist local peasants in organizing ten collective farms (each comprising 10,000 to 15,000 mu of land), thereby making serious attempts to establish peasant collective farms by drawing on the army’s experience in collective labor. Meanwhile, apart from performing garrison duties, the army would concentrate on large-scale reclamation and operation of state-owned farms.  [4] The CPC Central Committee’s draft resolution on mutual assistance and cooperation in agricultural production was not transmitted by telegram but was issued in document form to various localities. At the time Mao Zedong was drafting this telegram to Wang Zhen, the Xinjiang Sub-Bureau had not yet received this draft resolution.