Comments on the Report of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Light Industry Concerning the Vigorous Development of Pigskin Tanning (November 13, 1958)

Comrades Shang Kun [1] and Xiaoping [2]: (1) This document [3] is very good and should be approved for circulation. (2) What about the matter concerning the people’s communes’ large-scale development of light industry [4] (namely, the one distributed at the Zhengzhou Conference)?
Has it been approved for circulation? (3) The issue of provincial-level training courses combining Western medicine with traditional Chinese medicine has been dragging on for too long.
To draft a brief approval note of about one hundred words, asking the Ministry of Public Health to do so clearly will not work; we should handle it ourselves.
It could be written in thirty minutes.
What do you think? [ ] Mao Zedong, 8:00 a.m. on November 13, in Zhengzhou.

Printed from the manuscript.
Notes [ ] Shang Kun refers to Yang Shangkun, who at that time served as an alternate member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.

[2] Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, who at that time held the post of General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

[3] Refers to the report dated November 7, 1958, submitted by the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Light Industry to Mao Zedong and the central authorities, advocating the vigorous development of pigskin tanning.
The report stated that with the Great Leap Forward in industrial and agricultural production and the expansion of export plans, there was a severe shortage of leather for industrial and agricultural uses as well as for export footwear.
However, the production potential of the leather industry had not been fully realized, particularly in large coastal cities where leather factories were operating below capacity.
The root cause lay in a superstitious attachment to cowhide and a failure to break free from the “cowhide mindset.”
To achieve a major leap forward in the leather industry, it was essential to discard this fixation on cowhide and vigorously develop pigskin tanning.
Some comrades hesitated to utilize pigskins, fearing that the public would be unaccustomed to consuming pork without its skin, believing pig leather inferior to cowhide, and worrying that producing pig leather would be unprofitable.
All these views reflected conservative thinking, since public habits could be gradually changed.
For example, in Shandong Province, only the Changwei and Laiyang administrative areas originally had the custom of removing pig skins; however, through strong leadership and active promotion, most other areas have now adopted this practice.
As for lowering the price of pigskins, this too could be achieved with determined effort.
Technically, pig leather could already be made smooth and even, and could also be processed into rolled leather for the textile industry and leather for clothing.
In developing pigskin tanning, priority should be given to the people’s communes, as the main market for footwear in the future would lie in rural areas rather than urban centers.
Therefore, every commune and every county could establish raw-skin processing plants, tanneries, and shoe factories, enabling the leather and footwear industries to surge ahead and flourish nationwide.

[4] Refers to the report dated October 30, 1958, submitted by the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Light Industry to Mao Zedong and the central authorities regarding the people’s communes’ extensive involvement in industrial development.
See note [1] on page of this volume.

[ ] On September 25, 1958, the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Public Health submitted a summary report to Mao Zedong and the central authorities on organizing detached-study classes combining Western medicine with traditional Chinese medicine.
On October 11, 1958, Mao Zedong wrote his instructions on the report.
On November 18, 1958, the CPC Central Committee forwarded the Ministry of Public Health’s report to the Shanghai Bureau and to the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions.
See pages – 4 of this volume.