Two Letters on Providing Technical Assistance

(October 12, 1954)

Dear Comrade Khrushchev[1] and the Delegation of the Soviet Government:

On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Delegation of the Soviet Government, on behalf of the Soviet people, presented to the Chinese people the machinery and equipment necessary for organizing a state grain farm with a sown area of 20,000 hectares. During the period of organizing the state grain farm and the first year of familiarization with farm production, the Soviet Government, in order to provide organizational and technical assistance to China in the construction and management of the state grain farm, intends to dispatch a group of specialists to the People’s Republic of China to serve as advisers, so that the Chinese staff members leading this state grain farm can, together with the Soviet specialists, master the techniques and the management methods for large-scale grain farms in the shortest possible time. On behalf of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese people, I express warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to the Soviet Government and people for this important, tremendous, and fraternal assistance.

Undoubtedly, this state grain farm will not only play an important exemplary role in promoting the socialist transformation of China’s agriculture, but will also help China train technical personnel in agricultural production and learn from the Soviet Union’s valuable experience in reclaiming virgin and fallow lands. From this generous assistance of the Soviet people, the Chinese people once again see the profound friendship of the Soviet people for the Chinese people and their concern for and support of the Chinese people’s construction cause.

Long live the great fraternal friendship between China and the Soviet Union!

Mao Zedong
October 12, 1954

Dear Comrade Khrushchev and the Delegation of the Soviet Government:

I have respectfully received the letter of October 5, 1954, from the Delegation of the Soviet Government.

I have learned that the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has presented to our country 83 exhibits, including machine tools and agricultural machinery, from the Exhibition of Soviet Economic and Cultural Construction Achievements now being held in Beijing. On behalf of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese people, I express heartfelt thanks to the Soviet Government. The Chinese people will regard this generous gift as a concrete manifestation of the intimate friendship of the Soviet people for the Chinese people.

Mao Zedong
October 12, 1954, in Beijing

[1] Khrushchev, then First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, was leading a delegation of the Soviet Government to participate in the celebrations of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

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Written Instruction on Arranging for Ye Gongchuo and Zhu Yunshan[1] to Participate in the Work of the CPPCC

(October 13, 1954)

Comrade Li Weihan[2]:

It seems that Ye Gongchuo and Zhu Yunshan should be given arrangements within the CPPCC.

Mao Zedong
October 13, 1954

[1] Ye Gongchuo, formerly Minister of Finance of Sun Yat-sen’s Generalissimo Government and Minister of Railways of the Kuomintang Government. Returned to Beijing from Hong Kong in 1950 and served as a member of the Culture and Education Committee of the Government Administration Council. After the First Session of the First National People’s Congress decided to abolish the Culture and Education Committee, his position had not yet been arranged. Zhu Yunshan, then Standing Committee Member and Head of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.
[2] Li Weihan, then Head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary-General of the National Committee of the CPPCC.