Circular Requesting Opinions on the Seventeen Articles on Agricultural Work
(December 21, 1955)

Source: Xuanji, V, pp. 260-263. Available English Translation: SW, V, pp.
277-280.

This is a circular drafted by Maw on behalf of the CPC Central Committee and sen to
the Shanghai Bureau of the CPC as well as to the Various provincial and autonomous
region Party committees,

As noted in the opening paragraph of this document and elsewhere in this volume (see text Dec. 6, 1955, note 7, and texts Oct, 11, 1955[1] and [2]), the seventeen articles discussed here were part of a larger process of developing a con:
sensus within the Chinese leadership over the key elements for developing
agricultural production. By January 1956. as a result of this process of circulating and discussing these draft articles, the forty-point Draft National
Program for Agricultural Development was produced,

This document sheds light an Mao's role in developing that consensus and on
his openness to key issues, e.g.. whether landlords and rich peasants should be
allowed to join the cooperatives, and how fast and in what form cooperativization should proceed, Mao's efforts to tnitiaie discussion and strugele over such
critical issues are also apparent in his discussions of the issues surrounding
communization in late 1958 and eariy 1959 (see texts Mar. 15, and 17, 1959).

attended by the secretaries of the various provincial, municipal, and autono-
Party committees, so thal jhgy can be incorporated inte the plan

Te - as
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-five per cent.

We must strive to fundamentally achieve the higher-stage form of cooperate
tivization by 1960.’ Is it possible to shorten the time by one year end rive tk
achieve [this goal] fundamentally by 19599 To this end, it is for ¢

«iN OF, preferably, district [authorities). Then, in 1957, another group should
be established. These two groups [of cooperatives} should make up
twenty-five per cent of the Peasant households and should SeTVe AS EXA

eratives,” should we, in 1956, handle this accarding to the suggestion wate
by) the provinces of Anhui, Shanxi, and Heilongjiang," that is, allow ¢ho 7
who are good to join the cooperative, and allow those who are not good, Bt

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OCTOBER ~ DECEMBER 1955 / 687

nol bad either, (o participate in the Production in the cooperative without giving them the tide of membership, and have bad ones engage in production
under the surveillance of the cooperative? In all old cooperatives where there

there ts One shortcoming, Which is that inevitably this. will compel those
upper-middle peasants who are Presently still reluctant to Join the cooperative

4) [Regarding] the conditions for increasing production: (a) [We must) carry
out Several basic measures (the contents {of which] are stil) to be discussed,
and there can be differences from place to place); (b) [We must] propagate
advanced experiences. (Every year [we should) collect {information on) typical Cases, and each province should Publish # volume [based on them}.)

5) In 1956, all provinces, [special] districts, xian, districts, and xiang must
produce a comprehensive, long-term plan covering all necessary items, giving
emphasis to the plans of the sian and xiang. The preliminary draft should be
one in the first half of the year, and in the second half of the year the draft

many [of these pluns] may be very rough. Still, We niust stnive fo make the
plans of a few xian and xiang relatively realistic so that they can he easily pro.
Pagated [as models].

7) Integrated with the plans for river basins, small-scale Water-conseryation
Projects should be built extensively in order to guarantee that within seven
years ordinary floods and droughts will be basically eliminated,

8) Within seven years, more thin a dozen insect pests and diseases that are
harmful to the crops should be basically eliminated.

%) Within twelve years we must basically eliminate wastelands and barren
hillsides. Trees should be planted acconting to specified requirements in all
Ovuilable space, [for instance] beside houses, beside Villages, along roads,


688 / MAQ ZEDONG

beside streams, and on wasteland and barren hills so as io
greening of our country.

10) Within twelve years, ninety per cent of the fertilizer in most an
100 per cent in some areas should be provided by the localities and cy,
tives themselves.

1!) Within twelve years, the average grain yield per mu for places nogp ,
the Yellow River, the Qinling [Mountains). the Bailongjiang, and the Y¢ Jal
River ((that part of it] inside Qinghai [Province)}) should aim at reach) ft
hundred cutties; [for areas} south of the Yellow River but north of 4 he Hi
River jt should be five hundred catties, and (for areas) south of ¢ i;
River, the Qinling {Mountains}, and the Bailongjiang it should be e eight f ;
dred catties.” sedbenbyclir| <eiphesahutesiepeeo teary ¥
tea, hemp, sugarcane, and fruits, please suggest quotas for future di:

12) (We must,] within seven years, basically eliminate some of
that are most severely harmful to people and livestock; for instance,
miasis, filariasis. bubonic plague, encephalitis, rinderpest, und hog
Please study the endemic diseases in each province and anne
see which ones are capable of being basically eliminated within se
whicl tay requice-a Jooger period before thiey can be elpasheieaitia dy
ones are impossible to eliminate at the present time.

13) Eliminate the four pests, that is, within seven years, basically elim
rats (and other harmful animals), sparrows (and other harmful bi
Whether or not it is advisable to eliminate crows remains to bes ot
and mosquitoes.”

14) Within seven years, [we must) basically sweep away illiteracy. By
person must he uble to recognize 1,500 to 2,000 characters,

15) Within seven years, |we must] build, according to specifie
ments, all types of necessary roads in the provinces, [special] distric
districts, and xiang. (Some of them are highways, sone ata
pathways.) -_

16) Within seven years, [we musi] set up a wired broadcasting networ
that every x/ang and every cooperative can receive browdcasts.

17) Within seven years, (we must] complete a telephone network b
the xiang and the large-scale cooperatives.

Please study the items mentioned ubove with comrades concerned af
plete your preparation before January 3. The Cena! Cognit m8
January 4, first invite some provincial [Party] committee secretaries 10°
and study [these matters) for a few days in order to prepare suggestions fa
conference of January 10.

Notes

|. For information on the Tmin nesting. «ce K. Licberthal (1976), pp, 75-76. Ligber®
states that there is no available cata on the Hangrinai meeting.

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OCTOBER — DECEMBER 1955 | 69

7. This refers to the Conference on the Question of Intellectuals sponsored by the CPC Central
Committee, January 14-20, 1956, in Beijing. See K, Lieberthal (1976), p 77. Licberthal alse
suggests that there is indication that a meeting starting on Dec, 28, 1955, was held prior to this
meeting, which may have been devoted to the study of the question of the twelye-year program
for agricultural development. There is, however, no available documentation of this earlier meeting

3. See text Oct. 15, 1953, note 2

4. See text Oct, 15, 1953, nose 2,

5. For more on the issue of landlord and rich peasant membership in the cooperatives, see text
Oct, 1h, 1955.

6. There is no specific indication of the documents which Mao might have been refernng to
here. About this time, miny CPC provincial commitiees, including those of the three mentioned
here, filed reports on the cooperativization movement in their provinces. These reports usually
Sollowed the convening of conferences in the provinces on the work of cooperativizatiin, A nuhter
lengthy set of these reports can be found in Shi Jingtang et al., eds. (1957), Il, pp 899-898, A
brief reading of the reports from these three provinces does not reveal any significam connection
to Mao’s point here. What Muo may huye been referring to instead are Heilongjiang provincial
Party Committee first secretary Feng Jixin's report to the third mecting of the First People’s
Representative Conference of Heilongjiang Province on Dec. 1, 1955, and 4 teport compiled by
the Rural Work Deparunent of Shanxi Province in carly 1954 (in Shi Jingtang et al., eds. [1957],
Il, pp. 774-785, 659-663, respectively). There is ne document from Anhui Province in this
collection that is relevant precisely to this point.

7, See text July 31, 1955, note 14.

8. The targets for these three areas were incorporuled as article 6 of “The Draft Program for
Agricultural Development.” They were subsequently referred to as “the three categories of land.”

9, Mao's suggestion here was incorporated into article 27 of the *'Forty-Article Program,” and
these became officially known as the si hai (four pests). See text Jen. 25, 1956, note 3. Later, a
directive drafted by Mao on behalf of the Party Center in March 1960 stated: “Another thing, we
need not eliminate any more sparrows; we should put buys, instead of sparrows, in our slogan,
which should read ‘Eliminate rats, bugs, Mies, and mosquitoes.’ '’ See SHV, V, p. 280, footnote.
10. Sew text Dec. 6, 1955, note 11.