Comments on
〈Recent Situation in Shanghai (March 24th,
Telephone Report)〉 [l]
(March 25, 1958)
May be read. The awakening of the backward elements and the soaring communist spirit are the salient features of the current domestic situation.
Mao Zedong
March 25th
[l]


1. Many factories have doubled or even more than doubled their output; most notably, the Yongtai Electric Machinery Plant has seen its output increase twenty-sixfold compared with last year, while new products continue to emerge.


2. The ideological awareness of the masses has risen to varying degrees. Whereas previously motivating workers often involved bargaining and negotiation, such practices have now disappeared.


3. Cooperative relationships within and between factories have markedly improved. At the Shanghai Silk Spinning Mill, workers in the three shifts had long been at odds, leaving management powerless to resolve the conflict. During a recent inspection, it was pointed out that unless unity was achieved, the mill would fail to catch up with Britain. Since then, the three-shift teams have begun to support one another, resulting in a substantial increase in production.


(6) Revision of work quotas. State-owned large enterprises traditionally revised their quotas around April or May, but this year the process has been brought forward. Factories in the electrical machinery, rubber, and textile sectors have independently proposed revising their quotas. The procedure involves workers themselves putting forward suggestions, which are discussed from the bottom up, after which successful cases are publicized as “good news reports” to other factories whose quotas have yet to be adjusted.


(7) Recently, instances of simplistic, coercive directives have been observed—for example, in promoting government bond sales, savings campaigns, tax collection, and afforestation efforts. These matters have already attracted the attention of the Municipal Party Committee.


(8) Developments in the commercial sector:


1. With the advancement of the movement, particularly following improvements in efficiency, companies and grassroots stores have found themselves overstaffed. Many employees have posted big-character posters calling for relocation to the countryside. In addition to sending them to suburban areas, Jiangxi Province, and Changxing Island, alternative employment opportunities need to be explored.


2. Regarding institutional and systemic reforms, after careful deliberation, Shanghai’s six municipal bureaus have been consolidated into three: the First and Second Commercial Bureaus have been merged into the First Commercial Bureau, with retail operations devolved to the district level and wholesale activities at the municipal level transferred to central stations for joint management; the Service Bureau, the Grain Bureau, and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative Bureau have been combined into the Second Commercial Bureau; the Foreign Trade Bureau remains unchanged.


3. Adjustments to the commercial network are currently being piloted in select districts and specific industries. Mao Zedong’s comments and this document were distributed as materials for the Chengdu Conference.

--- Notes



The main content of “Recent Situation in Shanghai (March 24th Telephone Report)” is as follows:


(1) The movement to outdo one another—achieving more, faster, better, and with less expenditure—is further gaining momentum. Comparisons are being made among workers of the same trade, between different departments, across industries, between factories, between workshops, between administrative offices, and individually; the more such comparisons take place, the deeper the movement penetrates.


(2) Compared with the previous phase, the movement has begun to shift toward devising solutions, identifying key points, competing in ingenuity, and vying in the effectiveness of measures. Many factories have convened “Zhuge Liang meetings” or set up competitive platforms. For example, the Jiangnan Shipyard pinpointed the crucial factor in shortening shipbuilding and repair cycles, formulated advanced targets and specific measures, and reduced the time required to build a 5,000-ton vessel from 18 months to 9 months. The ship-repair cycle was also cut by half.


(3) As the movement deepens, numerous rules and regulations have effectively been overridden. Previously, finished products were packed into crates and then submitted to commercial departments for inspection, a process that was both time-consuming and costly. Now, representatives from the commercial sector come directly to the factories to carry out inspections. Similarly, there used to be extensive formalities between successive production stages within factories and between workshops and inspection personnel; these procedures have now been greatly simplified.


(4) In some factories, new regulations have failed to keep pace with developments, leading to operational difficulties. For instance, at the Jiangnan Shipyard, production was formerly managed through work orders and dispatch slips. However, workshop foremen and section chiefs now directly assign tasks on the shop floor, significantly boosting productivity. Unfortunately, the corresponding regulatory framework has not kept up: the planning department cannot accurately track production progress, and the labor and wages office is unable to disburse salaries. This issue must be resolved promptly, and the industrial authorities have been instructed to summarize experience in this regard.


(5) Significant changes have occurred across various fronts: