Speech on Mutual Aid and Cooperativization in Agriculture
(November 4, 1953)

tere: Xuanji, V, pp. 120-124 (Second Speech.) Available English Transla-
“SW, V, pp. 135-140,

Mee ters Oct, 15, 1953, source note


we fT WEP ZEEE

Whenever we do any type of work it must be in accord with realy.
be in accord with reality is a mistake. To be in accord with regi
observing both needs and possibilities. [The notion of] possibilities
political conditions, economic conditions, and conditions [ d
cadres’ [abilities]. There are now both the need and the Possibility of di A
ing agricultural producers’ cooperatives;' this has great potential.

tap [this potential], we will be taking finn steps but not od a
are made for walking; it would be wrong if we just stood here ap
move, It is incorrect to forcibly dissolve cooperatives that have §
lished under adequate conditions. This is wrong at any time. The &

“rectify impetuous and adventurist advance” was, after all, a gust of
wasn’t it?” It has blown down to the lower levels and has blown dows
agricultural producers’ cooperatives that shouldn't have been blown 4
Those that haye been blown down mistakenly should be identified
cases) clarified, and the mistake admitted, Otherwise, the xiang cady
the activists there will be angry and frustrated.

We must engage in socialism, “Guaranteeing private propeny) em
geois concept. “People whe stay together talking all day but never sp
fundamentals and who like t dispense «mull favors are diffict
with.” By “talking but never speaking to fundamentals” we mean hat
never talk about socialism; they never engage in socialism, ae a)
cultural credit, distributing food grain for relief, assessing taxation a
to [fixed] nites, reducing taxes) or exempting [people from taxes] ae
to aw, building small-scale watet-conservation projects, api.
digging ditches, engaging in deep plowing and close planting, applyia :
lizer in a rational way, popularizing the new type of walking plows: ‘
conveyance machines, sprayers, agricultural insecticides, and so 0 mn, a
good things. However, if we do not rely on socialism but rather d *
things only on the basis of the small-scale peasunt economy, that wal
merely dispensing small favors to the peasants. But if these good thin
linked up with the general line and with socialism then things will t
ent; it will not be merely dispensing small favors. We must a
socialism so that all these good things can be linked up with socialism,
“puaranteeing private property” and the “Four Freedoms,” these a
more [clearly under the category of] small favors that, moreover, b on:
rich peasants and the well-to-do middle peasants, To hope to greatly
grain production, to resolve the grain problem, and to resolve the ©
problem of the national economy und the people's livelihood without re,

on socialism, [but rather] by making much of the small-scale p
economy and dispensing small favors on the basis of [such} an indi i
economy — this is really “difficult to deal with.”

There is un old saying, “Once the headrope of a fishing net is pulled up
its meshes will open.” One must take up the headrope before the mesh
be opened. The headrope is the main theme. The contradiction Det
socialism and capitalism, and moreover, the step-by-step resolition OF

http://d


VEL EMUGER 92 | wer

qction, is the main theme: i
- vari d ~ it is the
my the various particulars ; headrope, Once thi
the peasants will fall into of the political work and prs net is raised,
are contradicti place. momic Work 10
eonpertives The ictions both inside and outside the
Ane, present agricul agricu
jalist while indivi tural producers’ cooperati ltiral producers’
wo! vidual peasant ; dex are ai ;
gste™ of complete private 5 outside the coo . still semihs ownership; he perutives
iwo [systems]. snip; hence there are . practice a
|. The mutual aid team i contradicti
+ cgoperative; the mutual pry is different from an ions between
ownership systems," The eensat Sere involves only collective “isaakoe
puilt on the basis of private ow agricultural producers’ coopera =
“yools that were owoad'by the tod nership: land, draft animal peratives ure
ihe cooperatives], [so] poh have been suche hes large farm
naive and the private ownershi cooperatives the facts for shares. Jin
fiction must be gradually aa system are also +n conitradicti of a socialist
public and semiprivate ved, In the future, when tion. This contra-
“agpltectiv Wate ownership [system i s the existing
e ownership this | is transformed i 2 semichosen are sadly: from cookin wil be eld. i oF
socialism [we will] i ded pee aid teams |which jn steps we have
prodiicers’ cooperali peratives (which sho and then advance
mutual aid leams are Sti n collective farms agricultural
At one ti still the basis of the agri ). Generally speaki
at lime, there were several dk agricultural producers’ ng. the
r= cooperativization; to all xcuments that did not me COOpERAIVES,
mutual aid and c of these [documents] I adde mio nautual aid
cary cooperativization d words to the
out necessary and A should be deve effect
People would : practicable li ical loped or that we must
Ant eourny have tied uber tials a0 tis and economic work, So
ace; my, and therefore they were mething out of the smail-scal me
sive hone (the affairs of] the Se ate opposed to excessi © peaslevels ap i Scie Chars: _ At that ime, there was i ve inter-
Sion bel every one of these was tt were the “Five Excesses’”! bakiainiail
Won't i ow. Tt won't do to ha t downward and a the top
2 ae do (to have these) in ~3 these “Five Excesses” Son ea great confu-
Basferen either. The Center ter de i won't dain ace ea wal
Uke j rence. This is issued several docume im or in
into ’ good, What is s nis opposi a
fi considerath § excessive intert ng excessive
Vist, or that tion needs and possibilities erence? Plans that do
Ngs| are are realistic bul are carried . that are unrealistic and sh
Hever do excessive interferences out ina commandist® subjece
MI <eat not in ten thousand mie Subjectivism and co aan such
WE my mt peasant economy, but i - Not only will it not x ndism will
sto’t refi y, but it will not doi in a scattered
ch yy er to those things that in the coo 5
T - method of Fétoonl i need to be done, that ives either, But
Sib » This Standard must niation is aot comnsnutsslt can be done, and for
yp eetivist or nust be the criterion in reviewi ist, as excessive interf
10g thin unrealistic is wrong. Wh n reviewing our work. What =F
25 out, itis wro g Wherever commandism i : ever ts
ng. ‘To take steady s ism is applied i
y steps without movi mee
oving forward


428 | MAO ZEDONG

would be a Right [deviation]; to force the implementation {of ply
the practical possibilities is u “Left" {deviation}; thea a “a
[manifestations of) subjectivism, Adventurist advance is Wrong; te
from doing what can be done is also wrong; to force (the cooperay af
solve is an even greater error. ‘a
“Life in the rural areas is hard, things do not look very good, and o
ures are not suitable for the small-scale peasant economy. "There an ec
ments like this both inside and outside the Party. True, there is some hig a
in the countryside, but we must analyze [the situation] properly. In fj
in} the rural areas is not all that hard. No more than ten pe cent ol
holds suffer 4 shortage of food. Of these, one half are in very areal di
they are widowers and widows, orphans or old people without
support them];"” they lack labor power, sec the iosoal Sit an nd
cooperatives can give them some help. At least their life is mas)
the life they led under the Kuomintang; at least land has been ¢
them]. People in disaster areas are really suffering, but they too b
given relief grain, Generally speaking, the life of the peasants is goo
improving, that's why eighty to ninety per cent of the peasants are rej
and support the government, Approximately seven per cent of the rural pi
lation, made up of the landlords and rich peasants, are dissatisfied wath
government, “There is hardship in the countryside and things are rb:
shape"; I have never viewed the situation this way. Some people,
lalk about the hardships in the countryside, also say that the count
decentralized, referring, that is, to the decentralized character of the sn
scale peasant economy, But when they talk about this decentralized ch
they do not also talk about establishing cooperatives. To carry out the soe
transformation of the individual economy, to promote mutual aid and coop
alivization and to establish cooperatives - this is not only the direction,
which we must proceed) but the immediate task [to be accomplished) a:
Without the Conference on Financial and Economic {Work] je
and August, the problem of the general line would not have been §
many of our comrades." The main [accomplishment of] the Confere nce
Financial and Economic [Work] in July and August was primarily the re *
tion of this problem, The criticism of Bo Yibo was precisely for his 1
deviating from the general tine."” In short, the general line
summarized as follows: gradually realize the socialist industrialization ©
nation and the socialist transformation of agriculture, of handicraft ind ite re
and of capitalist industry and commerce. When we carried out the p ant
purchase and planned supply of grain this time, it also lent a great i ;
socialism. "" In the wake of that, we held this Conference on Mutual nid
Cooperativization, which also lent a great impetus [to socialism], We mut
more active at this conference, in view of the faci that for the greater p
this year the mutual aid and cooperativixation movement has receded so
what. Still, the policies should be explained clearly. It is 4 very impo

matter to make our policies known.
ae


OCTOBER — DECEMBER 1953 | 429

, quavel yctive leadership [and] steady development.” This is a very good
nt. (The mutual aid and cooperativization movement] shrank. hack a
he larger part of this year. We took steady steps but failed to move fori: this is Not quite nght. Nevertheless, there are some advantages, For
wr ance. When fighting a war, you fight a battle and then relax and
gnize, and then you launch another battle. The problem is that in some
we we have withdrawn a bit too far from our positions, and in other cases, it
1 a matter of withdrawing too far, but of no development where there
have been some. People were forbidden to develop [mutual aid teams
cooperatives); they were not given permission, so they established illegal
ratives}. Many newborn and correct things throughout the world are
illegal. In the past we were “illegal,” and the Kuomintang was “legal”!
put these illegal cooperatives have continued (o persist and have been run
well. Can you still refuse to acknowledge them’? You have to recognize them
gs legal and admit that they have won.

At the conference we talked about active leadership and steady development, But we must also anticipate some possible trouble. You may talk about
being active and steady, bat im practice the leadership may not be active and
the steps taken may not be steady development. To be active and steady
means that there should be control figures,’” and assignment of tasks, and
afterward an inspection to sce whether [the tasks] have been fulfilled. Lf things
that can be accomplished are allowed to remain unaccomplished, it won't do;
it shows [you are] Jacking in enthusiasm for socialism. According to our Survey. five to ten per cent of the cooperatives now show a decrease in
production and are not well-managed; this is the result of not having active
leadership. Naturally, it is unavoidable for a small number of cooperatives to
reduce their production because of mismanagement, however, if twenty per
cent, or even more, of the cooperatives were to reduce production, then that
would present a problem,

The venetal line is to change the relations of production step by step. Stalin
“aid that the basis-of the relations of production is the system of ownership. 2
Our comrades must be clear about this, At the moment, the system of private
OWnetship and the system of socialist public ownership are both legal, but the
8Ysiem of private ownership will gradually become illegal. If you “guarantee
Private property” on three mie of Lind and promote the “Four Freedoms” the
Tesult would be to promote {the interests of] the small number of rich peasants
and follow the capitalist road. The work of the xian and district cadres must
poually turn toward mutual aid and cooperativization of agricultural produc-

‘on and toward promoting socialism. If they don’t engage themselves in

“cialist undertakings, then What are they doing? Are they attending to the
Affairs of individual economy’? The secretaries of the xian [Party] committees
ard the district [Party] committees must consider working for socialism as a

jor thing. We must put the responsibility on the secretaries, {and} 1 am the
ey for the Central Committee. The secretaries of the [regional] bureaus

the Central Committee, the provincial [Party] committee secretaries. the

is N00


430 | MAO ZEDONG

[special] district [Party] committee secretaries, the xian [Party] op
secretaries, the district [Party] committee secretaries, and the [Part

is chnicedittated on the matter of promoting the socialist transformatic
culture, {Similarly,] the transformation of capitalist industry and comp
also the promotion of socialism. Our comrades of the rural work deparn

in the socialist transformation of agriculture; {you} must become & nie
understanding theory, line, policy, and , q
The supply of vegetables to the cities [should be settled} primarily th
planned supply. In large municipalities and newly developed cities, the p
lation is very concentrated. How can they do without vegetables t cut!
problem has to be solved, If it is difficult to resolve [the problem of] prm
ing and supplying vegetables [to the cities) by establishing mutual ; aid
in the suburban areas, then we can bypass the mutual aid teams and gop
establish semisocialist cooperatives, or even fully socialist cooperative:
issue deserves some study,
The plan to develop the producers’ cooperatives has already been prop
This winter and next spring, right up to the autumn harvest next year,
set up over 32,000 [cooperatives] and, by 1957, we can expand th
700,000, But we must anticipate that sometimes |the number of cooper
may grow all of a sudden, possibly to one million, or perhaps to more
million, In short, [we must) establish more [cooperatives] and at th f
time run them well; we must exercise active leadership and develop steadi
This conference has been very successful. If we had not held it nov
had waited until next January to hold it, we would have been late. This wi
would have been wasted. We will meet again on March 26 next year, to 1)
ine how the plan (drawn up] this [time] has been implemented. At this com
ence, we have decided the date of the next conference and we have)
decided to check the implementation of the resolutions made al)
conference at the next conference: This is a very good method. Next aull
we shall hold yet another conference to discuss and formulate the task
next year’s winter.

Notes

mn See text Oct. 15, 1953, note 2

2. Here Mao plays on the slogan wen bu er gianjin, which means “‘advance with firm # use

(See text Sept. 7, 1953, note 4.) The phrase wen Aw has & double meaning: it can mean 10P
Steady steps” as in the slogan, or it can mean “WW come Wy a halt and take 4 fem stance.”
33 Here Mao refers to the drastic reduction of the number af cooperatives in North Chiaiay ‘
9,000 t0.6.000, in July 1953, For “adventurist odvance,""see ext Aug, 12, 1953¢1), mie 22
term “ust of wins” (yi gw feng) is Commonly used! te describe an upsurge of Certain aitite
practices, (See. for instance, Mao's wstge of the term “‘cormmenist wind," text Feb, 27. 1959
’
nis semence, gun hong, sum bu jt yi, hao xing xiao hud, ma yi ais Fx i Lan yu
‘ag of Confucius), section 16, chapter "Wei Ling gong” (see J. Legge (1933), pp-

(Are), The original meaning of the sentence is that nothing can be made of people who con-

226-2")! tay long and gossip but never touch on the subject of moral righteousness (y/} and who
. Zoi in ihe excereive of petty strayvdness (xiao ful). Mao here modifies the meaning of (he se

we by jransferring the meaning of the character yi from “moral righteousness” to “soctalism”

iy suv), and by substituting the original character hui, meaning “shrewdness.” with
phowve rocaning “favor.” This comment 14 intended as u criticisit of the Right opportunist

re upped Ue (socialist) cooperativization of agricultare and who instead advocated piecemeal
and construction on the basis of the smuill-seale peasant economy (by small favors). Mac

izaso clearly alluding to the criticisms leveled at the CPC by cenain people yuch a» Liang Sh.

"who accuse the CPC of not pursuing “benewulent policies.” Mao’s rejoinder is that vuch
yeograms 4 Ling slaggests are nothing bait “small favors," See text Sept. 16-18, 1953, and text

f2, 1953, note 1),

5. See lent Oct. 15, 1955, note 9,

5 This metaphor, gang ju mu zhang, for the relationship between principles arwi details, bs
faben from Shi pu xu (A Preface to the Compendium of Poetry) written by Zheng Xuan in the tate
ord cenitiry A.D, Other faci classtcus of this saying ate Cal Cen's Zu chuan, and Wang
 Tony’s Zhony Shaw, the later written cirea 600) A.D. The allusion ts to a fishnet, the individual

meshes of which are hardly discemible when the net ts (ying ina heap, When the net ts raised by

as beadlope (game), the individual meshes become clearly perceived. This metaphor has been
edoumonly used in Chinese political slogans, and the character (gang) is often translated as “key
fink “| may also be poled thal this metaphor was prominent after the Cultural Revolution in the
debate over whether the principle and defining issue (gang was class struggle (as Mao and his
suppeeters contended) or the development of the forces of production (as Deng Xiaoping and othere argues), Since 1976 and the arrest of the “Gang of Four” the metuphor hus slipped from prom-

Inence

7 Sce wxt Aug. §2, 1953, note 9.

%. See toxt Oct, 15, 1953, neste 2.

9. See text Oct, 15, 1953, note 1.

10, Sce text Oct. 15, 1953, hast paragraph.

Ah, See text March 19, 1953.

12, See text June 6, 195001), note 11,

13, See text Oct. 15, 1953. note 10,

\4. See texur July 4, 1953, and Agog. 12, 1953. Also, K. Licberthal (1976), pp. 59-60

15, See text Aug. (2, 1953, note 5.

be Dpeebehigane:. bgp) sicmnr neste pabeabeedathay salaries peewee

of the Government Administration Council in Nov. 1953, “On the Planned Purchasing and
ing of Grain,” This policy of fang gow long riser was later based on the APC's as units, and

Fesilioit in the decree, promulgated by the State Council in Oct. 1956, on nationwide planned

Perchasing and marketing of grain and other foodstuffs

7. Sce text Oct 15, 1953, ne 6.
18. “See Stalin, “Dialectical and Histoncal Materialism.’ (Nuanji, Vp. 124.)


432. / MAO ZEDONG