Comments on a Serious Matter
(December 4, 1955)
Comrade Chen Yun [1]:
Please take a look at the report from Jiangsu contained in this document. In connection with this issue, when you are examining the questions raised by Zeng Xisheng [3], please conduct a comprehensive study and draft, on behalf of the Central Committee, a telegram replying to Zeng Xisheng and informing all localities. It would be best if it could be completed and dispatched within about a week.
Mao Zedong
December 4
[1]
Chen Yun was then a Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[2]
Refers to the report “Serious Phenomenon of Slaughtering Draft Cattle in Rural Areas of Jiangsu Province,” published in Issue No. 239 of Xinhua News Agency’s Internal Reference, compiled and printed on December 3, 1955. The report stated that the number of draft cattle slaughtered across Jiangsu Province was astonishing; the provincial animal-products company had purchased 50 percent more cowhide so far this year than during the same period last year. According to information received, many of these cattle were still capable of plowing. The main reasons for the widespread slaughter of draft cattle were as follows: First, agricultural cooperatives had offered excessively low compensation for older and younger cattle when incorporating them into the cooperative. Second, the system for approving the slaughter of draft cattle was not strictly enforced; in many areas, slaughter could proceed simply after veterinary inspection and the affixing of a seal by the district clerk. Third, there were flaws in the pricing policy, under which the price of a dead cow was higher than that of a live one.
[3]
Zeng Xisheng was then Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Committee of the CPC.