To the Shanghai Bureau, all provincial and municipal party committees, and all autonomous region party committees:

We are now forwarding to you for reference the report of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee of August 5, 1955, on deployment issues concerning agricultural producers' cooperatives.

The Central Committee considers the Hubei Provincial Party Committee's policy to be correct.

Regarding the question of why "some cadres, in the process of socialist transformation, are not showing greater drive and higher enthusiasm than during the land reform period, but are instead developing an extremely dangerous attitude of passivity and fear of difficulties," this should be analyzed and given a clear answer.

Regarding the question of how many cooperatives each province and region can actually develop before the autumn of 1956, according to actual circumstances, we hope you will study this together with a larger number of comrades, determine a plan, and report it to the Central Committee.

The Hubei prefectural party committees are currently convening activist meetings at the level of district party committee members and above, to discuss the planning and layout of prefectures, counties, and districts. The Hubei Provincial Party Committee plans to convene a joint conference of prefectural party secretaries to further study and finalize the provincial planning scheme. The Central Committee hopes that all provinces and regions will also do likewise, whether at the end of August or in the first or second ten days of September, and considers it appropriate to study and finalize the provincial or regional planning scheme before September 20.

Regarding the very important question of making great efforts, in several stages, to earnestly rather than superficially consolidate existing cooperatives — this was not mentioned in the Hubei report. The Central Committee hopes you will pay serious attention to this, and before September 20, be sure to make a concrete plan and submit it together with the province-wide development plan.

The Central Committee

August 13, 1955

For reading by Liu, Chen, Zhou, and Xiaoping; to be handled by Shangkun. Also copies to be printed and distributed to all Central Committee members and alternate members in Beijing, the Central Rural Work Department, the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, and all relevant comrades.

[1] The report of the CCP Hubei Provincial Committee states: On August 3 and 4, 1955, we convened in succession an enlarged meeting of the Provincial Party Committee and a meeting of the Provincial Party Committee's Standing Committee, at which we conveyed Mao Zedong's directive "On the Question of Agricultural Cooperation" and examined the work of the Provincial Party Committee since the beginning of this year. The Provincial Party Committee believes that there was a rightist deviation in thinking on the question of the socialist transformation of agriculture, manifesting itself in fear of too many [cooperatives] and fear of disorder, and in an insufficient understanding of the spirit of the Central Committee's May 17 meeting concerning the active development of cooperatives. At the Provincial Party Congress in June, although the question of why "some cadres, in the process of socialist transformation, are not showing greater drive and higher enthusiasm than during the land reform period, but are instead developing an extremely dangerous attitude of passivity and fear of difficulties" was examined, and its causes analyzed, no thought was given to whether the Provincial Party Committee's leadership of the movement was bold enough, whether it had the spirit to lead a great movement, or whether there were shortcomings in imposing overly strict and rigid conditions for establishing cooperatives. The Provincial Party Committee believes that Chairman Mao's directive "On the Question of Agricultural Cooperation" is the guiding principle for all work during the transitional period; all work should fully tap potential, overcome difficulties, and do everything possible to speed up the pace of socialist construction; and it is necessary to oppose the rightist thinking of passivity and wavering in the face of difficulties. The meeting determined the plan for developing agricultural producers' cooperatives for the whole province, reaching 120,000 cooperatives by the autumn of next year, comprising about 25 percent of the province's agricultural population. Discussions were also held on the question of overall planning and strengthening leadership, and it was decided to convene a joint conference of prefectural party secretaries at the end of August to further study and finalize the provincial planning scheme.

[1b] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Chen refers to Chen Yun, then Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the CPC and Vice Premier of the State Council. Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, then Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the CPC and Vice Premier of the State Council.