Telegram to Poland on Bierut's Death
(March 13, 1956)

Source: Kau & Leung, The Writings of Mao Zedong 1949-1976, Vol. II
Pages 40-40
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40 {/ MAO ZEDONG

9. An annotative remark in parentheses in the original text here explains that this refers
to zi you zijin (capital funds that the cooperatives hold by themselves).

10. The All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives was affiliated with
the Ministry of Commerce under the State Council, so the comparison being made here is
between the whole and a part thereof.

11. The Chinese here reads nongye shengchan she, which we take to be an abbreviated
form of the term nongye shengchan hezuo she (agricultural producers’ cooperatives). See
text Oct. 15, 1953, vol. I, note 2.

12. Here again the term is zheng, used in the perjorative sense. See note 7.

13. We cannot identify which locality is being referred to here.

14. Mao’s analogy here is a bit baffling. The municipality of Shashi 1s in the southern
part of Hubei province, and Hankou is also in the province of Hubei, about 170 km northeast
of Shashi. The two municipalities would therefore fall within the same administrative region.
Hankou is a major river port city and would serve a considerable region. Changsha is in the
province of Hunan and would not fall within the same administrative region as Shashi.
Moreover, it is considerably farther from Shashi than is Hankou, so there would appear to
be no natural reason why people in Shashi would use Changsha instead of Hankou. The
statement here thus does not appear to be consistent with the following one concerning
Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

15. See text Dec. 6, 1955, note 3, text Oct. 11, 1955(1), note 56, text Oct. 11, 1955(2),
note 18, and text Dec. 21, 1955, all in volume I.

16. See note 8. ,

17. See text Oct. 11, 1955(1), vol. I, note 26.

18. See text Mar. 12, 1950, source note, notes | and 2, and text Oct. 11, 1955(1), note
2, all in volume I.

19. See text Mar. 20, 1957, note 20.

20. An annotative remark in parentheses in the text here explains that this refers to Lt
Ajannian.

21. Taiyuan is the capital city of Shanxi province. Shanhaiguan is a critical mountain
pass on the coast that straddles the boundaries between Liaoning province and Hebei
province. Thus the term “outside of Shanhaiguan” would refer to places in Liaoning
province, north of the pass. Qinhuangdao is a major port in Hebei province and only about
10 km from Shanhaiguan..

22. An annotative remark in parentheses in the text here explains that this means: “If
you are not engaged in promoting big batches [of merchandise], you should be engaged in
promoting the small batches.”

23. An annotative remark in parentheses in the text here explains that this refers to the
low price.

24. See text Mar. 5, 1956, note 12. -

25. An annotative remark in parentheses in the text here explains that this refers to the
idea that the supply and marketing cooperatives collect and purchase many things.

26. The Chinese text here reads, for the respective numbers, “X wan dun” in the first
case, “XX wan dun’ in the second case, “X nian” in the third case (referring to the number
of years). In each case it is rendered as an indeterminate (and indeterminable) number, except
that in the first case one character was replaced, while in the second case, two characters
were replaced. It is our editorial policy to render all such cases as simply X.

27. We are unable to determine who Bai XX might be, and there is no corroborating
evidence.

28. An annotative remark in parentheses in the text here explains that this sentence is
directed toward Li Xiannian.

29. Mao is referring to the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the
CPC.