Commentary by Mao Zedong on Tan Zhenlin’s [1] Summary of the First Agricultural Cooperation Conference of the Five Provinces and Municipalities in East China (July 7, 1958) Comrade Chen Boda [2]: This document [3] seems suitable for publication in Red Flag.
What do you think?
Tan Zhenlin has gone to Zhengzhou and is expected to return to Beijing in about a week.
We can discuss it with him after his return.
Let us choose another title.
Only minor revisions to the text are needed—no extensive changes.
Mao Zedong July 7 Based on the manuscript copy.
Notes [1] Tan Zhenlin was at that time a Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee. [2] Chen Boda was then the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Red Flag. [3] Refers to Tan Zhenlin’s summary delivered on June 25, 1958, at the First Agricultural Cooperation Conference of the Four Provinces and One Municipality in East China, held in Hefei.
In discussing the situation of agricultural development, the summary pointed out: Judging from the conditions in the four provinces and one municipality of East China—Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, and Shanghai—there is great promise for the growth of agricultural production.
Last year, the total grain output of these five regions amounted to only 71.5 billion jin; this year it may reach 120-plus billion jin, an increase of more than 50 billion jin over last year.
In other words, the target of providing each person in these five areas with 1,000 jin of grain, originally envisioned to be achieved over four or five years, has now been met within a single year, essentially resolving the problem of food supply.
Nationwide grain production is estimated to exceed 500 billion jin.
The task confronting us

on the front of agricultural production is to strive energetically for a bountiful autumn harvest this year and an even greater harvest next year, so as to achieve adequate food and clothing throughout the country within two or three years.
The summary also set forth requirements concerning the pursuit of a comprehensive bumper harvest, the assurance of full implementation of the summer sowing plan, the strengthening of field management, and the conscientious promotion of improved farm implements and new types of animal-powered agricultural tools.
This summary by Tan Zhenlin was later published in the sixth issue of Red Flag, dated August 16, 1958, under the title “Strive to Achieve Adequate Food and Clothing Within Two or Three Years.”