Comrade Shaoqi, Comrade Xiaoping: [2]

This document [3] is very useful. Please take a look. Can it be issued in the name of the Central Committee to all provinces and municipalities [committees] and to the Party groups of the Ministry of Commerce and the General Cooperative Council, instructing them to notify all localities to carry out trials?

Mao Zedong
June 2

[1] Zeng Shan, then Deputy Director of the Fifth Office of the State Council and Minister of Commerce.
[2] Xiaoping, i.e., Deng Xiaoping, then Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[3] Refers to Zeng Shan’s report of May 30, 1955, to the Party Group of the Ministry of Commerce, copied to the Fifth Office of the State Council, Zhou Enlai, all Vice Premiers, the Central Committee, and Mao Zedong, regarding the situation of the Hongtai Department Store specialized commission agency in Nanchang City. The report stated: While assessing market conditions in Nanchang, we observed certain practices of the privately-run Hongtai Department Store specialized commission agency in Nanchang, which greatly inspired us on how to transition private commerce through state capitalism into socialist commerce. At the time of Liberation, the store had capital of 390 million yuan (old currency) and 40 employees. After Liberation, due to poor management, overstaffing, declining turnover, and mounting losses, they applied to the Municipal Department Store Company for a commission agency arrangement. Under the strict supervision of the contract, they improved management and operations, expanded turnover, and the employees’ sense of ownership consciousness was further enhanced. The internal relations within the store have already undergone changes, creating conditions for future transition to a state-run store. This merits study and attention.
On June 3, 1955, the CPC Central Committee forwarded this report to the Shanghai Bureau, all central sub-bureaus, all provincial and municipal Party committees, as well as the Fifth Office of the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Party Group of the General Cooperative Council.