Regarding the Revision and Issuance of the Report "On the Question of Agricultural Cooperation": Instructions and Notices
(August and October 1955)

Comrades:

This document has undergone some revisions based on the discussions at the provincial and municipal Party committee secretaries' meeting held from July 31 to August 1. The revisions mainly consist of adding one section on the preparatory work for establishing cooperatives and two sections on the Soviet experience; the rest are textual modifications. Please review it within one or two days upon receipt, submit your revision suggestions, and return it to me by August 24 or 25.

Mao Zedong
August 23

[I]
These are the instructions and notices written by Mao Zedong when revising his report "On the Question of Agricultural Cooperation," delivered on July 31, 1955, at the meeting of provincial, municipal, and autonomous region Party committee secretaries convened by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. The first is an instruction he wrote on August 23, 1955, after revising the draft report; the second is a notice he drafted for the Central Committee on August 26 regarding the issuance of the revised version of "On the Question of Agricultural Cooperation" to the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions; the third and fourth are two instructions he wrote on October 13, 1955, after further revising the report. The official version after this final revision was published in the *People's Daily* on October 17, 1955.

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Instructions and Notices Regarding the Revision and Issuance of the Report "On the Question of Agricultural Cooperation"

II
For immediate distribution to Liu, Zhou, Chen Yun, Xiaoping, Peng Zhen, Elder Dong, Peng Dehuai, Chen Boda, Lu Dingyi, Chen Yi, Tan Zhenlin, Deng Zihui, Li Fuchun [1]—thirteen persons in total.

To the Shanghai Bureau, and the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions:

Comrade Mao Zedong's report on the question of agricultural cooperation (revised version), delivered on July 31, 1955, at the meeting of provincial, municipal, and regional Party committee secretaries, is hereby issued to you. Upon receipt, you may immediately print and distribute it to Party committees at all levels, Party leading groups, Party cadres, down to rural Party branches, but refrain from publishing it in open newspapers or periodicals for the time being. The unrevised versions taken away by the secretaries of provincial, municipal, and regional Party committees are to be returned to the General Office of the Central Committee.

The Central Committee
August 26, 1955

[1]
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III
Comrades:

This is the third revised draft. Please review it immediately upon receipt, submit your revision suggestions, and return it to me before 2:00 p.m. on October 14. The revisions mainly involve: merging the original second and third sections into the second section; adding a ninth section explaining the issue of the worker-peasant alliance; in the second section, changing the phrase "except for backward townships" to "except for some border areas"; in the third section, deleting part of the example from Hebei Province; in the fifth section, making some modifications to the first and second lines discussing the issue of member composition and the lines discussing whether landlords and rich peasants can join cooperatives; deleting the sentences discussing landlords and rich peasants joining cooperatives in the tenth section; and making some modifications in the tenth and eleventh sections as well. The issue of emphasizing quality has been mentioned in the second line of the third section, and the second and thirteenth lines of the fourth section. In "Point Three" of the eighth section, the meaning of having pauses and intervals, and the point of having timely criticism, have been added.

Mao Zedong
6:00 p.m., October 13, 1955

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IV
Comrade Shangkun [1]:

Upon receipt of this document, please immediately send it for typesetting, instruct careful proofreading to avoid errors, produce twenty-three proof copies, and before 10:00 p.m. tonight, distribute one copy each to the ten members of the Political Bureau in Beijing, the eight Deputy Secretaries-General [1], Comrade Zihui, Boda, Luyan [2], and deliver two copies to me.

Mao Zedong
6:00 p.m., October 13

Please attach the letter addressed "To All Comrades" when distributing.

[1]
Regarding the Revision and Issuance of the Report "On the Question of Agricultural Cooperation": Instructions and Notices

[1]

--- Notes

Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Chen Yun was then a Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Xiaoping, i.e., Deng Xiaoping, was then Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Peng Zhen was then an Alternate Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Elder Dong, i.e., Dong Biwu, was then a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and President of the Supreme People's Court. Peng Dehuai was then a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Chen Boda was then Deputy Director of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee. Lu Dingyi was then Director of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee. Chen Yi was then Vice Premier of the State Council. Tan Zhenlin was then Deputy Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee. Deng Zihui was then Director of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Li Fuchun was then Vice Premier of the State Council.


Shangkun, i.e., Yang Shangkun, was then Deputy Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.


Refers to Tan Zhenlin, Ma Mingfang, Song Renqiong, Liu Lantao, Lin Feng, Li Xuefeng, Yang Shangkun, Hu Qiaomu—the eight Deputy Secretaries-General of the CPC Central Committee.
[2]
Luyan, i.e., Liao Luyan, was then Deputy Director of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Agriculture.