Comrades Chen Yun and Xiaoping,[1]

It is truly necessary to gradually bring important native products and non-staple foods under state and cooperative management. This represents a great source of wealth, which can not only solve our own problems but also assist fraternal countries. Please convene Comrades Ye Jizhuang, Zeng Shan, Yao Yilin, Cheng Zihua,[2] and others for a special discussion on this matter, and formulate purchase and sales plans for the remaining two months of this year and for next year. For example, items such as oils and fats (vegetable oils and animal fats), oil-bearing materials (soybeans, peanuts, sesame, rapeseed, tea seeds, cottonseeds, etc.), commercial live pigs, commercial cattle and sheep for slaughter, eggs, and vegetables in large and medium-sized cities (regarding the cooperative transformation of vegetable farming, I have already instructed Chen Boda and Liao Luyan[3] to discuss this at the mutual aid and cooperation conference at the end of this month) should gradually be brought under state and cooperative management. We must start planning and taking action now. Take the 50 million commercial live pigs, for instance—the state and cooperatives have handled only 6 percent, or 3 million head (of which 1.9 million were exported). This is far too little. Next year, we should at least double this to 12 percent, or 6 million head. If there are outlets in foreign and domestic trade, we can increase it further. Vegetables in large and medium-sized cities must be managed, with the cooperative transformation of production and supply and marketing (the latter supplemented by state control) proceeding simultaneously. In the past, we have entirely neglected this area. Oils, fats, and oil-bearing materials are even more valuable than ordinary grain. At present, the vast majority remains in private hands. This winter and next year, they must be brought under state and cooperative management. Of course, it may not be possible to manage all or most of them in the next few years, but it would be good if we could manage one-third or half. We must give our full assistance to Germany. I think we can agree to a deal worth 320 million rubles, but we should state to them: (1) It cannot be fulfilled in the first half of next year; in the second half, we will make every effort to meet their demands. (2) Germany should supply us with more of the daily necessities we need (those they have or can produce) and fewer machines that we cannot use for the time being (though we should also prepare to accept some politically motivated stockpiling or even deferred payments). They are suffering far more than we are, and we cannot ignore their plight. Please consider this matter further with the comrades in foreign trade.

Mao Zedong
October 16, 1953, 24:00 hours

With Korea, it is a matter of aid; with Germany, it is barter trade—the two are different, because Germany did not fight a war. However, Germany, like Korea, stands on the front line of the struggle against the enemy. Within the democratic camp, only these two countries are divided in two; Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and others are all unified.

Based on the manuscript.

**Notes**
[1] Chen Yun, then Vice Premier of the Government Administration Council and Director of the Financial and Economic Committee. Xiaoping, i.e., Deng Xiaoping, then Vice Premier of the Government Administration Council and Deputy Director of the Financial and Economic Committee.
[2] Ye Jizhuang (1893–1967), from Xinxing, Guangdong, then Minister of Foreign Trade of the Central People’s Government. Zeng Shan (1899–1972), from Luling (present-day Ji’an), Jiangxi, then Minister of Commerce of the Central People’s Government. Yao Yilin (1917–1994), from Guichi, Anhui, then Vice Minister of Commerce of the Central People’s Government. Cheng Zihua (1905–1991), from Xie County (present-day Yuncheng), Shanxi, then member of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Government Administration Council and Director of the Central Cooperative Administration Bureau.
[3] Chen Boda (1904–1989), from Hui’an, Fujian, then Deputy Director of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee. Liao Luyan, then Deputy Director of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.