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Comments on the Experience of the Bayi Cooperative in Hezuo Township, Jingshan County, in Operating a Permanent Canteen (July 14, 1958) To be read by Comrade Chen Boda [1]. Return to Mao.

Page eleven: The case of a cooperative canteen in Hezuo Township, Jingshan County, Hubei Province [2], may be considered for publication in Red Flag. Issued from the manuscript, signed by Mao Zedong on July 14.

Notes [1] Chen Boda was at that time the editor-in-chief of the journal Red Flag.

[2] Issue No. of the “Internal Reference” compiled and printed by Xinhua News Agency on July 12, 1958, carried an article titled “The Operation of Canteens in Agricultural Cooperatives Has Greatly Promoted Production and Improved Living Standards,” authored by a working group from the Hubei Provincial Grain Department. The article described the experience of the Bayi Cooperative in Hezuo Township, Jingshan County, in maintaining a year-round canteen. It noted that whenever the subject of the canteen was raised among either the cooperative cadres or the members, everyone would smile and enthusiastically praise it. The farmers of this cooperative favored the canteen because its operation brought four major benefits: first, it saved labor and increased members’ incomes; second, it conserved grain; third, it economized on fuel, thereby reducing household expenses; and fourth, it helped to expand hog production. However, the canteen did not get off to a good start. It went through three attempts at establishment, only to fail twice, mainly due to inadequate management and problems with the method of food distribution. In response to the concerns expressed by the members—that the arrangements might be unfair, that the administrators could embezzle, and that wealthier peasants feared exposing their prosperity—the cooperative leadership undertook the following measures: First, they took the lead themselves, setting an example and dispelling the members’ misconceptions through concrete actions. Second, they established formal structures to strengthen management. A canteen management committee was formed, chaired by the director responsible for financial and economic affairs and comprising relevant personnel; each production team also set up its own canteen management group. Their main tasks were to audit the accounts, regularly solicit feedback from the masses on the canteen’s operations, and hold periodic meetings to discuss ways of improving its work. Third, they adhered strictly to the principle of voluntary participation. Households that chose not to join the canteen continued to receive their full allotments of grain and firewood according to the established distribution system. Thanks to this commitment to voluntariness, combined with the steadily improving performance of the canteen, even those who had initially been reluctant eventually volunteered to participate. The fifth issue of Red Flag magazine, published on August 1, 1958, featured this article under the title “How Was the Canteen at the Bayi Agricultural Cooperative Successfully Established?”