Comment on the Investigation of the Lianmeng Agricultural Cooperative in Shangzhuang Township, Zhuo County, Hebei (February 24, 1957)

This document [1] is sent to Comrade Ma Guorui [2] of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee:

Regarding whether what is said in this document is true, and what the reasons are, please send someone to Shangzhuang Township, Zhuo County, to conduct a thorough investigation, and I hope you will inform me of the results!

Mao Zedong
February 24

Published according to the manuscript.

Notes

[1] Refers to Mo Yuping's report on the investigation of the 1956 production situation and opinions on rectifying the cooperative at the Lianmeng Agricultural Producers' Cooperative in Shangzhuang Township, Zhuo County, Hebei Province. Mo Yuping was the Deputy Director of the Metal Recovery Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry and was studying at the Central Senior Party School at the time. He wrote this report while visiting his hometown during the winter vacation. The report states: The peasants' enthusiasm for production is now low, cooperative members are unwilling to go to work, and are not active in accumulating fertilizer; the disaster situation in 1956 was similar to the previous year, but the production decrease was severe, and peasants' incomes generally fell; in some places, there have been phenomena of slaughtering draft animals and forcibly taking back large carts and livestock. The report believes that the large-scale production decrease in 1956 was a man-made disaster, caused by subjectivism, commandism, and poor organization and management. The main reasons were: production plan targets were too high; new technologies were forcibly and blindly promoted; cultivation was crude, with much land left fallow; during harvesting, grain was casually dropped on the ground and wasted; and sideline production was not well managed. The report also reflects the cooperative members' opinions about the cooperative leadership and the Party branch, saying that the cooperative leadership forced peasants to join the cooperative and invest, had an undemocratic work style, lacked financial transparency, was unfair in its handling of affairs, showed little concern for the members, had factionalism among cadres, and the Party branch monopolized the work of the cooperative, etc. As a result, the thinking of the cooperative members was extremely confused, and if allowed to develop, the cooperative was in danger of collapsing.

[2] Ma Guorui was then a secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee.