Comments on the Draft Directive for Launching the Campaign to Increase Production and Practice Economy [1] [2]
(February 15, 1957)
[1]
The directive states that in 1956 China’s socialist transformation and socialist construction made rapid progress, achieving tremendous successes. However, the annual economic development plan for that year also suffered from the drawback of being too hasty, and proper control was relaxed in certain aspects of its implementation. First, the pace of basic construction was excessively high, with too many projects initiated, leading to imbalances between the supply and demand of materials and between cash inflows and outflows in 1956. Second, the number of employees increased too much, which not only resulted in excessive wage expenditures for enterprises and fiscal outlays for the state, but also lowered labor productivity and caused urban population to grow too rapidly, thereby accelerating the demand for urban infrastructure. Third, due to the overexpansion of the workforce and the broadening of wage increment coverage, inappropriate payments were made for certain welfare benefits and bonuses, and some personnel received unwarranted wage increases. As a result, the growth of social purchasing power far outstripped the increase in consumer goods, creating a tight supply situation in the market, particularly in urban areas. Moreover, the annual agricultural production plan for 1956 could not be fulfilled owing to natural disasters, which had an adverse impact on the development of all sectors of the national economy in 1957, especially on the production and supply of consumer goods and on fiscal revenue. In order to alleviate the strain on material supplies and fiscal expenditures, to shift the economic front from its vigorous advance in 1956 toward steady progress while making necessary adjustments, it is imperative in 1957 to appropriately adjust the scale and speed of construction and to launch, with redoubled effort nationwide, a mass campaign to increase production and practice economy.
[2] These comments were written on the “Directive of the CPC Central Committee on Launching the Campaign to Increase Production and Practice Economy in 1957” (revised draft dated January 30, 1957), issued by the Confidential Office of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee on January 30, 1957. While reviewing this draft, Mao Zedong changed the words within parentheses—“revised draft dated January 30”—to “adopted by the Political Bureau on February 8, 1957” and moved this note below the title. The directive was officially issued on February 1, 1957.

To Comrade Hu Qiaomu:
This document may be used. Please draft a telegram in the name of the Central Committee instructing all central ministries and commissions, Party leadership groups, and the Party committees of provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions to promptly forward it upon receipt to county Party committees, urban district Party committees, and army-level Youth League committees, and to publish it in Party periodicals.
Mao Zedong
February 15
[1]
Hu Qiaomu, at that time a candidate member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Mao Zedong’s secretary.