Letter to Tan Zhenlin [1] on the Issue of Alleviating the Burden on Peasants (October 15, 1952) Comrade Zhenlin: The information Comrade Chen Yun [2] has obtained concerning Xiaozheng Township in Qingpu County [3] is highly worthy of attention. I am sending it herewith for your perusal and request that you also forward a copy to the Sub-Central Committee of South Jiangsu. According to Comrade Bo Yibo [4], while he was in Shanghai, he learned that last year both Zhejiang and South Jiangsu had imposed excessively heavy grain requisitions, and the East China Bureau had decided to return a portion of the requisitioned grain to the peasants. I wonder what the outcome of this matter was? How much grain in total was returned in these two regions? How many people’s difficulties were thereby alleviated? What has been this year’s harvest like? Has the amount of grain requisitioned been substantially reduced?  In order to thoroughly resolve this problem, I suggest that you convene a special meeting at the East China Bureau, bringing together the heads of the two regions and the secretaries of several representative county Party committees from each region. Prior to the meeting, you should dispatch two fact-finding teams—one to Zhejiang and one to South Jiangsu—to visit rural areas in several counties, surveying a dozen townships specifically to ascertain the true situation regarding peasants’ public grain obligations and other burdens, so as to provide a basis for discussion at the meeting. In short, those peasants who, in the past, were unable to make a living because of excessive burdens must have their relief effectively addressed; and this year’s grain requisitions must not exceed the ratio prescribed by the Central Government [5], thereby significantly lightening the burden on the people. Please let me know your views.

With comradely greetings!  Mao Zedong October 15, 1952  Printed from the manuscript. Included in Selected Letters of Mao Zedong. Notes [1] Tan Zhenlin was then Third Secretary of the East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. [2] Chen Yun was then Vice Premier of the State Council and Director of the Financial and Economic Commission. [3] Refers to materials submitted by Chen Yun to Mao Zedong on October 14, 1952, concerning the situation of peasants in Xiaozheng Township, Qingpu County. These materials were prepared by a student attending the High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University (whose father was a Communist Party member and veteran cadre) during his summer vacation, following Chen Yun’s instruction to conduct a brief investigation. The materials revealed widespread hardship among peasants due to three consecutive years of poor harvests, excessively high grain-requisition rates, and a large population relative to limited arable land. [4] Bo Yibo was then Deputy Director of the Financial and Economic Commission of the State Council and Minister of Finance. [5] In February 1950, the State Council stipulated that the rate of public grain collection in newly liberated areas should be “no more than seventeen percent of total agricultural income. Local people’s governments may impose additional public grain levies not exceeding fifteen percent of the principal grain.” The State Council’s “Instructions on Agricultural Tax Work for 1952” further provided: “In areas of the later-liberated regions where land reform has already been completed, a unified, full-scale progressive tax system shall be implemented in 1952, with progressive tax rates ranging from seven to thirty percent (and no additional taxes are permitted under any circumstances).” This measure served to lighten the burden on the peasantry.