Comment on the Report on Agricultural Cooperation
(August 31, 1955)

To the Shanghai Bureau, provincial and municipal Party committees, and Party committees of autonomous regions:

The report of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee dated August 21, 1955, on agricultural cooperation is hereby forwarded to you for reference. The Central Committee holds that the policy of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee is correct. The Anhui Provincial Party Committee has sharply criticized the Right opportunist thinking on the question of agricultural cooperation, and such criticism is entirely necessary. The Anhui Provincial Party Committee has also put forward its own opinions on ten specific questions [1]. The Central Committee holds that Anhui may proceed in accordance with these opinions, test their correctness in the course of implementation, and make revisions if certain parts need to be amended at that time. The Central Committee holds that these ten opinions should be raised before all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country, discussed at appropriate meetings, solicited for opinions, and reported to the Central Committee before this year’s National Day.

The Central Committee
August 31, 1955

After reading by Zhou and Chen [2], send immediately to Liu, Zhu, Chen, Peng Zhen, Xiaoping, Zihui [3] for reading, and to Shangkun [4] for immediate dispatch by telegraph. Also copy to all members of the Central Committee in Beijing, all deputy secretaries-general, the Rural Work Department, and the Party group of the Ministry of Agriculture.

1. On the handling of draft animals and farm implements, three methods are proposed: valuation and transfer to the cooperative, private ownership with rental, and valuation in batches, for the masses to choose from. Over a year’s experience shows that the masses are most willing to accept the first method.
2. On the distribution of land and labor, three methods are also proposed for each cooperative to choose from, namely: proportional distribution within the fixed output with above-quota output going to labor, the fixed rent system, and the proportional share system based on actual output. Trial results show that the method of proportional distribution within the fixed output with above-quota output going to labor is adopted by the majority, and preparations are made to continue popularizing this method.
3. On the question of member investment, the method adopted is: pooling according to land shares in the first year, and democratic agreement in the second year to deduct from the total income.
4. On the question of members’ private plots, it is limited to vegetable garden plots for members’ own consumption. As for small orchards not owned by ordinary people and mature trees, they are not to be brought into the cooperative in the early stages of running the cooperative.
5. On the question of sideline occupations, our approach is: sideline occupations of a certain scale should be completely planned and handled uniformly within the cooperative; as for small-scale sideline occupations of an amateur nature, members should be allowed to engage in them on their own provided they do not affect the overall situation.
6. To prevent individual peasants and mutual-aid teams from being unwilling to build water conservancy projects, we stipulate: if individual peasants and mutual-aid teams build small-scale water conservancy projects on their own land and change the water conservancy conditions, their land grade should be raised and their land remuneration increased when the land is later brought into the cooperative.
7. On the question of encouraging members to accumulate fertilizer, we stipulate: it should be apportioned based on the annual fertilizer needs of the cooperative, with each household as a unit, according to the output fixed per mu, and work points should be given based on the quantity and quality of the fertilizer.
8. For peasants such as widowers, widows, orphans, and the childless who lack labor power, we stipulate: under conditions within the capacity of the agricultural cooperative, a certain number of households should be admitted (roughly one household for every ten), and trial results show that this is generally willingly done.
9. On the question of small handicraftsmen in rural areas joining agricultural production cooperatives, we stipulate: those of a specialized nature should join handicraft cooperatives; those of a concurrent occupation nature, after joining agricultural production cooperatives, are still allowed to engage in handicraft work. If their income is entirely handed over to the cooperative, their labor work points are calculated as skilled labor, and tools are uniformly repaired by the cooperative. If their income is not handed over to the cooperative, the cooperative does not calculate work points for them, and they provide their own tools.
10. On the question of year-round mutual-aid teams, our opinion is that under the circumstances of high mass consciousness and great development of cooperatives, it is no longer necessary to emphasize organizing year-round mutual-aid teams. However, before cooperatives have developed universally, it is still very necessary to call on the masses to organize large numbers of temporary mutual-aid teams to solve production difficulties and increase production.

--- Notes

[1] Refers to the opinions on ten specific questions concerning agricultural production cooperatives put forward in the report of the CPC Anhui Provincial Committee to the Central Committee on August 21, 1955:

[2] Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Chen refers to Chen Boda, then Deputy Director of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.
[3] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Zhu refers to Zhu De. Chen refers to Chen Yun, then Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Peng Zhen, then Alternate Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Xiaoping, i.e., Deng Xiaoping, then Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Zihui, i.e., Deng Zihui, then Director of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[4] Shangkun, i.e., Yang Shangkun, then Deputy Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the Central Committee.