Central Committee’s Comments Transmitting the Hebei Provincial Committee’s Report on the Plan for Agricultural Cooperativization and the Plan for Increasing Agricultural Production
(September 9 and 10, 1955)

To be reviewed by Liu, Zhu, Chen, Deng, Peng Zhen, Zihui, and Boda;[1] to be sent by telegraph by Shangkun,[2] with additional copies printed as previously instructed.

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

Mao Zedong
September 9

[1] 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. Deng refers to Deng Xiaoping, then Secretary-General 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. Zihui refers to Deng Zihui, then Director of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Boda refers to Chen Boda, then Deputy Director of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.

[2] Shangkun refers to Yang Shangkun, then Deputy Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.

The Hebei Provincial Committee’s report of September 1 on the plan for agricultural cooperativization and the plan for increasing agricultural production is hereby forwarded to you for reference. The Central Committee holds that the Hebei Provincial Committee’s orientation is correct.

What is particularly noteworthy in this report is that, in addition to the cooperativization plan, it includes a province-wide plan for increasing agricultural production. You are requested to study this with emphasis. The Central Committee requires that all provincial Party committees, municipal Party committees, and Party committees of autonomous regions nationwide, uniformly following Hebei’s approach (the Anhui Provincial Committee took note of this issue several years ago, but merely omitted this section from its recent cooperativization report), conduct research on the issue of increasing agricultural production in their respective areas, draw up comprehensive plans, and report them to the Central Committee. This is of the utmost importance.

Central Committee
September 10, 1955

[1] The report of the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee states: From August 17 to 30 this year, the Provincial Committee convened its Fourth Party Representative Conference, which focused on discussing the plan for agricultural cooperativization in our province over the next three years and the issue of achieving increases in grain and cotton production. The plan for the development of agricultural cooperativization in the province over the next three years was determined as follows: This winter and next spring, 25,000 to 30,000 new cooperatives shall be established, bringing the proportion of peasant households joining cooperatives to approximately 50 percent of the total; by the end of 1956, this shall reach approximately 60 percent; by the end of 1957, it shall reach 70 to 75 percent; and by 1958, it shall exceed 80 percent, thereby realizing agricultural cooperativization across the province. The focus of cooperative development this winter and next spring shall be placed on cotton-producing areas, suburban areas, areas where the proportion of households joining cooperatives is below 50 percent, and some villages where no cooperatives have yet been established. In order to make thorough preparations before development, we emphasize the need to unify the understanding of cadres, criticize and rectify right-leaning sentiments, carry out propaganda and education among grassroots Party members and the masses, analyze the class and stratum situation in the countryside, vigorously develop mutual-aid teams, pay close attention to training core personnel, and at the same time conscientiously carry out the work of consolidating and strengthening existing cooperatives, demanding that over 90 percent of the cooperatives achieve increases in production. The conference also set the requirements for increasing grain and cotton production over the remaining three years of the province’s First Five-Year Plan, reviewed the implementation of the grain and cotton production increase plan over the past two years, and studied future measures for increasing production. It was unanimously held that, so long as we foster a firm confidence in overcoming natural calamities, make long-term plans for agricultural production, carry out comprehensive planning, and tap potential in all respects, it is entirely possible to achieve increases in production.