Telegrams on Two Reports Concerning the Issue
(November 30, 1955)

To the Gansu Provincial Committee of the CPC, with copies to the Party Committees of Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Fujian, and Rehe Provinces, as well as to all other provincial, municipal, and autonomous regional Party committees:
We have reviewed the Gansu Provincial Committee’s report dated November 10, 1955, concerning the criticism of “the theory of Gansu’s backwardness” and other right-leaning opportunist ideas, together with its report of November 23 on the progress of agricultural collectivization. We believe your line is correct; however, your plan for the development of collectivization is somewhat too modest. You state that “at present, farmers actively seeking to join cooperatives account for about 40 percent of all farming households, and when combined with those already in cooperatives, this figure reaches around 50 percent.” Yet at your Fifth Enlarged Provincial Committee Meeting, you set a target of only “having cooperative members comprise 30 percent of all farming households” by 1956. This falls short of the peasants’ aspirations. You should revise this plan: admit the 40 percent of households already eager to join cooperatives in two phases this winter and next spring, bringing the total proportion of cooperative members up to approximately 50 percent alongside those already enrolled. In doing so, you will take the initiative. A further surge in the autumn and winter of next year would then enable you to achieve basic collectivization. Such an approach would be highly conducive to developing production and promoting culture and education through comprehensive planning.  Based on data from the provinces of Central China, East China, North China, and Northeast China—excluding Fujian and Rehe, where figures remain unconfirmed, and Hunan, which is reported to be able to reach only about 30 percent cooperative membership among all farming households this coming winter and spring—the remaining sixteen provinces have, in most cases, already attained a cooperative membership rate exceeding 50 percent, while even in the few provinces where this level has not yet been reached, it should be possible

to
『toj By this coming winter and spring, they can raise the proportion to over 40 percent. All these provinces are of the view that basic collectivization—that is, reaching a cooperative membership rate of 75 percent or higher—can be essentially completed in the second half of 1956. According to the Qinghai Provincial Committee’s report of November 23, the number of households either already in cooperatives or in the process of joining has already reached 50 percent, with the potential to rise further to over 60 percent. It appears that the masses across the various provinces are highly motivated. If, this winter and spring, the lowest percentage of cooperative members in any province nationwide can be raised to at least 40 percent, we may confidently expect that, by the second half of 1956, all provinces except the Xinjiang Autonomous Region will have essentially completed primary-form collectivization. This would be extremely advantageous for our future work.  What are your views? Please consult with the local party committees, conduct a thorough study, and inform us by telegram without delay.
The Central Committee
November 30, 1955