Comments on the Draft Directive of the CPC Central Committee Concerning the Establishment of Systems, Control of Procurement and Sales, and Improvement of Grain Work (August 3, 1955)

To Comrades Liu, Zhu, Zhou, Chen, Deng, and Xian’nen [1] for your review; handled by Shangkun [2].

Proceed accordingly. Several sentences were revised or added on pages one, two, three, and four [3].

Mao Zedong August 3 The various measures and forms have been reviewed and shall be implemented as proposed.

Printed from the manuscript. Notes [1] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Zhu refers to Zhu De. Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Chen refers to Chen Yun, who at that time served as a Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Deng refers to Deng Xiaoping, who at that time was Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Xian’nen is Li Xiannian, who at that time was Vice Premier of the State Council and Director of the Fifth Office.

[2] Shangkun is Yang Shangkun, who at that time was Deputy Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.

[3] Mao Zedong’s revisions to the draft directive of the CPC Central Committee on establishing systems, controlling procurement and sales, and improving grain work include: On page one, he added the heading: “Shanghai Bureau, Provincial, Municipal, and Autonomous Region Party Committees”; on page two, he replaced the phrase “On the whole it is satisfactory, though there are still many problems” in the sentence “The Central Committee has examined the work of unified procurement and sale of grain since 1953 and has come to the conclusion that, on the whole, it is satisfactory, though there are still many problems” with “Although there are still many problems, it is generally satisfactory”; after the sentence on page three stating, “It is estimated that if the 1955 production plan is fulfilled, grain output will increase by 20 billion jin over that of 1954, while the amount requisitioned by the state will be more than 6.4 billion jin less than last year’s actual collection. In this way, farmers will be able to retain a larger share of their grain to improve their living standards,” he added the six characters “and increase livestock feed”; and on page four, he revised the sentence “It is imperative to tighten control over sales from July to December each year; during this period, sales should be reduced as much as possible to prevent excessive consumption among ordinary farmers when they have grain, or excessive sales by the state” to read: “It is imperative to tighten control over sales from July to December each year; during this period, farmers should be educated to eat less and to make their food more diluted, while the state should reduce sales as much as possible to avoid excessive consumption by ordinary farmers when they have grain, or excessive sales by the state.”