To the Shanghai Bureau, Party Committees of All Provinces and Municipalities, and Party Committees of Autonomous Regions: We are now transmitting one copy of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee’s report dated August 5, 1955, on the deployment of agricultural production cooperatives [1], for your reference. The Central Committee deems the Hubei Provincial Party Committee’s approach to be correct. The question of why “some cadres, rather than demonstrating greater vigor and higher enthusiasm than during the land reform period in the course of socialist transformation, have instead developed an extremely dangerous attitude of passivity and fear of difficulty” should be thoroughly analyzed and clearly answered. With regard to the specific number of cooperatives that each province and region can realistically develop by the autumn of 1956, we urge you to conduct in-depth studies with a broad range of comrades, formulate a concrete plan, and submit it to the Central Committee. Currently, various prefectural committees in Hubei are convening meetings of activists at or above the level of district committee members to discuss planning and spatial layout at the county and district levels. The Hubei Provincial Party Committee intends to hold a joint conference of prefectural secretaries to further study and finalize the province-wide development plan. The Central Committee hopes that other provinces and regions will follow suit, either by the end of August or in mid-to-late September, so as to complete the study and determination of provincial-level plans no later than September 20. As for vigorously, 3£°

the issue of systematically and conscientiously—rather than superficially—rectifying existing cooperatives is of great importance. Since this matter was not addressed in the Hubei report, the Central Committee requests that you pay close attention to it and, before September 20, make concrete arrangements accordingly, submitting them together with your overall provincial development plans. Central Committee, August 13, 1955 Reviewed by Liu, Chen, Zhou, and Xiaoping [2]; handled by Shangkun [3]. Also distributed to all Central Committee members and alternate members residing in Beijing, as well as to the leading party groups of the Central Rural Work Department and the Ministry of Agriculture, and to relevant comrades. Printed based on Mao Zedong’s manuscript. Notes [1] The report of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee states that on August 3 and 4, 1955, it successively convened an enlarged meeting of the provincial party committee and a meeting of the standing committee to convey Chairman Mao’s instructions on “The Question of Agricultural Collectivization” and to review the committee’s work since the beginning of the year. The provincial committee acknowledged the presence of rightist tendencies in the socialist transformation of agriculture, manifested in an excessive fear of complexity and disorder. It also noted insufficient understanding of the spirit of the Central Committee’s May 17 meeting advocating vigorous development of cooperatives. At the June provincial party congress, although the committee examined the phenomenon whereby “some cadres, instead of displaying greater zeal and enthusiasm than during the land reform period in the process of socialist transformation, have developed an extremely dangerous attitude of passivity and fear of difficulty,” and analyzed its causes, it failed to reflect on whether its own leadership of the movement had been sufficiently bold and decisive, or whether overly rigid and inflexible restrictions on the conditions for establishing cooperatives constituted a shortcoming. The provincial committee believes that Chairman Mao’s instructions on “The Question of Agricultural Collectivization” serve as a guiding principle for all work during the transitional period: every task should fully tap potential, overcome difficulties, and do everything possible to accelerate socialist construction, firmly opposing rightist ideas characterized by passive capitulation in the face of adversity. The meeting finalized a provincial plan for developing agricultural production cooperatives, aiming to establish 120,000 cooperatives by next autumn, covering approximately 25 percent of the province’s agricultural population. Discussions were also held on comprehensive planning and strengthening leadership, with plans to convene a joint conference of prefectural secretaries at the end of August to further study and determine the overall provincial plan. [ ] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Chen refers to Chen Yun, who at the time served as a secretary of the CPC Central Secretariat and vice premier of the State Council. Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, who at that time held the positions of general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council. [3] Shangkun refers to Yang Shangkun, who at the time served as deputy secretary-general of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Central Office.