Two Comments on Understanding the Rectification of Agricultural Cooperatives in Boye County, Hebei Province
(September 13 and October 23, 1955)

I
This document[1] is to be sent to Comrade Lin Tie[2] of the Hebei Provincial Committee for his perusal.
Zhong Shuntong is a security staff member here. According to him, some cooperatives in Boye County have not been seriously rectified. The Provincial Committee is requested to pay attention to this matter. If it is true, measures should be taken to resolve it.

Mao Zedong
September 13

[1] Refers to the report written by Zhong Shuntong on August 5, 1955, on the situation of agricultural cooperatives in his hometown—Xujiaying, Dugezhuang, and Beiyan townships in Boye County, Hebei Province. The report, when discussing the rectification of cooperatives, stated that this rectification only involved registering property, cooperative names, cooperative heads, and key cooperative cadres, while the problems existing within the cooperatives were not resolved. The peasants demanded that after autumn, agricultural cooperatives must be rectified, cadres and Party members must be rectified, and policy and ideological education for rural cadres, especially those at the township, village, and cooperative levels, must be strengthened.

[2] Lin Tie was then serving as Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and Governor of Hebei Province.

II
Ye Zilong[1] called Comrade Lin Tie:
This letter[2] has been received. Thank him.

Mao Zedong
October 23

[1] Ye Zilong was then serving as Mao Zedong’s secretary.

[2] Refers to Lin Tie’s letter to Mao Zedong on October 20, 1955, regarding the inspection of work in Boye County. The letter stated that after receiving the report written by Zhong Shuntong and forwarded by Mao Zedong, the Hebei Provincial Committee immediately dispatched a working group to coordinate with local cadres in inspecting three townships in Boye County. The actual situation was as follows: In April of this year, over 100 trainees from the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s training class went to the county for fieldwork and conducted a registration using ten types of forms, which indeed resolved few problems. Through this inspection, the existing problems have drawn the attention of the Boye County Party Committee. In addition to resolving some issues during the inspection, the County Party Committee is now addressing the remaining problems in the ongoing rectification process in conjunction with this year’s cooperative establishment efforts.