(April 1956)
Heavy industry is the priority—this is beyond debate. But if the investment ratio between light and heavy industry construction is set improperly, if light industry is set too low, it means one has no resolve to develop heavy industry. To develop heavy industry, it is necessary to appropriately increase investment in light industry.

In addition to the relationships between light industry and heavy industry, coastal and inland areas, the individual and the collective, the local and the central, there is also the relationship between the economy and national defense. Building industry is precisely for the sake of national defense. Reducing some national defense and developing more industry is exactly for national defense. Comrade Khrushchev[2] is right—do not fall into Dulles’s[3] trap. He does not wish us to improve the people’s livelihood but hopes we will produce more munitions.

The defense industry was originally scheduled to meet wartime requirements by 1964; it may also be considered to postpone it by another year, that is, to 1965. Because the zone of peace is gradually expanding, from the Philippines in the east to France in the west.

[1]
Sections 1 to 3 of this text are part of Mao Zedong’s interjections made on April 20, 21, and 24, 1956, while successively listening to reports on the Second Five-Year Plan.
[2]
Khrushchev, then First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
[3]
Dulles, then U.S. Secretary of State.

Learn two sets of skills: practice the ability to produce civilian products within the military industry, and practice the ability to produce military products within the civilian industry. This method is good and must be carried out in this way.

Regarding the contradiction between national defense and administration on one hand and the economy and culture/education on the other, we must reduce expenditures on national defense and administration as much as possible to expand economic and cultural/educational construction.

National defense expenditure should be greatly reduced in the Third Five-Year Plan, and further reductions can also be considered in the Second Five-Year Plan. Whether the defense industry should produce such a large quantity of products is also worth studying. In the Soviet Union’s First Five-Year Plan, the proportion of national defense and administrative expenditures was very small, whereas our proportion is much larger. What measures can be taken to reduce it somewhat? I always want to find ways to cut military and administrative expenditures to devote more to economic construction. We can observe for another two years to see whether national defense and administrative expenditures can be further reduced.

Archival Photo
From April 30 to May 10, 1956, the National Conference of Advanced Producers was held in Beijing. The photo shows state leaders Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, and others at the conference.
April 1956, Mao Zedong and Zhu De at the National Conference of Advanced Producers.

April 1956, Mao Zedong and others at the National Conference of Advanced Producers.
April 1956, Mao Zedong and others meeting with representatives attending the National Conference of Advanced Producers.

Archival Photo
April 30, 1956, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Zhen, Peng Dehuai, and others meeting with the presidium of the National Conference of Advanced Producers, the Hong Kong and Macao workers’ delegation, and foreign trade union delegations.

April 1956, Mao Zedong, accompanied by Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Zhu Xuefan, meeting with representatives attending the National Conference of Advanced Postal and Telecommunications Workers.

Archival Photo
April 1956, central leading comrades Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Zhen, and others meeting with all representatives attending the Xinhua News Agency Domestic Branch Work Conference.
April 1956, Mao Zedong and other central leading comrades with all comrades attending the Xinhua News Agency Domestic Branch Conference.