Shanghai Bureau, provincial and municipal Party committees, and Party committees of autonomous regions: The reports from the Jiangsu and Shandong provincial Party committees on how to complete the consolidation work after developing a large number of cooperatives, so as to consolidate them and facilitate the large-scale development of agricultural production next spring, are hereby forwarded to you for reference.
In the two reports, especially the one from Shandong, there are many new ideas that deserve attention from all localities.

These two provinces (along with Yunnan, Guizhou, and several other provinces), because they carried out preparatory work in the summer (June, July, and August) after the meeting of provincial and municipal Party secretaries convened by the Central Committee on May 17 this year (Shandong’s shorter preparation time was a shortcoming), managed to complete their annual development plans in the first two months of autumn (September and October).
They plan, over the next five months (from November this year to March next year), to combine the unfinished tasks such as the "three fixings" for grain and the state monopoly for purchase and marketing, and vigorously complete the work of consolidating the cooperatives. This mainly involves establishing and improving the management organs of the cooperatives, establishing and improving labor organizations, making sound production plans, making mutually beneficial arrangements on issues such as production tools and production funds, formulating cooperative charters, and carrying out tasks such as winter plowing and planting (in the south) and accumulating fertilizer, so as to benefit next spring’s production.
On the issue of seasonal arrangements, the Central Committee believes that doing so is very advantageous.

All provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country can do the same, advancing the work of establishing and consolidating cooperatives by one season. That is, complete the preparatory work for establishing cooperatives in summer, complete the establishment work in autumn, and complete the consolidation work in winter and spring.
As long as the preparatory work in summer is done fully and properly, the establishment of cooperatives in autumn does not require much time and can be completed in two months.
The remaining time in autumn and the entire winter and spring seasons can be used for consolidation work and other tasks.
Please study this matter and properly arrange the work for 1956.

After a large batch of cooperatives has been developed, district and township cadres feel that there are many problems and heavy burdens that are difficult to resolve. Such a situation does exist.
In fact, this is not difficult to resolve.
The method is to identify one or two cooperatives with the most problems in each township, delve deeply into them, conduct research, and find solutions. This can then guide all cooperatives in that township to quickly follow suit.
In a district, as long as a few cooperatives are well consolidated, it can guide the cooperatives in all townships of the district to quickly follow suit.
Here, establishing cooperative network organizations at the township, district, and county levels is very useful.
Please emphasize this point to county, district, and township cadres.

As for promptly announcing a halt to development after a large batch of cooperatives has been developed according to plan, so as to shift the movement to the consolidation stage, this is absolutely necessary.
According to the seasonal plan mentioned above, only one season of the year is for development, while the other seasons are for consolidation and preparation for development.
There may also be some sporadic and individual developments in the other seasons, but the main development period is only one season, and even then, only two months of that season are needed. In this way, "leftist" errors caused by unrestrained expansion can be basically avoided.
Because of such planned development and consolidation, the overall progress of cooperativization is good. In some counties, districts, and townships, where the development of cooperatives is somewhat slower due to various reasons, it is not a serious problem. They can gradually catch up in the following years, and there is no need to fear being criticized as right-leaning opportunists.
From now on, the main demand across the country is the quality of cooperatives, not the quantity.
Because the issue of quantity has already drawn the attention of the entire Party, while the issue of quality has not yet done so.

Central Committee
November 1, 1955
Printed based on Mao Zedong’s manuscript.