Comments and Revisions on the Draft of the Decision by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council Concerning the Improvement of the Rural Financial and Trade Management System to Meet the Requirements of the People’s Commune Movement
(November 24, 1958)


Comrade Xian’nen11:


This document12 is very good. I have only made a few textual revisions and additions(3). Please consider them carefully.


(l] Xian’nen refers to Li Xiannian, who at that time served as a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
(2]
This refers to the “Decision by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Improving the Rural Financial and Trade Management System in Response to the People’s Commune Movement (Revised Draft)”. The draft decision pointed out that the financial and trade management system must adapt to the new situation following the establishment of the people’s communes and undergo necessary reforms, implementing the policy of “two devolutions, three unifications, and one responsibility.” The “two devolutions” mean decentralizing personnel and assets; the “three unifications” refer to unified policies, unified planning, and centralized management of working capital; and the “one responsibility” entails assuming responsibility for fiscal targets. By adopting this approach, it would be possible both to ensure the comprehensive implementation of all national fiscal and economic policies and to enable people’s communes to handle their affairs with greater flexibility while adhering to these policies; to guarantee the execution of the state’s unified plan while also allowing communes to exercise comprehensive management and coordination over industrial, agricultural, commercial, educational, and military activities; and to secure state fiscal revenues while fully stimulating the enthusiasm of people’s communes to develop production and increase accumulation.


The Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth CPC Central Committee, held from November 28 to December 10, 1958, deliberated and adopted this decision, which was jointly signed by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and publicly announced on December 20, 1958.


On December 23, 1958, the People’s Daily published the full text of the decision.
(3]
See paragraphs two through four of this document.


This document should be circulated among comrades for discussion (with potential for certain revisions), and after approval by the Central Committee plenum, it may be made public. Please forward my revisions to Comrade Xiaoping for his review.


Mao Zedong
November 24, 5:00 a.m.


That part of bourgeois legal rights which has now become an obstacle to social and economic development is being abolished, while the useful elements are retained to serve the socialist cause.


At the present stage, utilizing forms such as commodity production, commodity exchange, the monetary system, and the law of value is conducive to promoting socialist production, facilitating the transition toward a comprehensive system of public ownership across society—in the current context, such ownership exists only in state-owned industry, transportation, and other state enterprises and institutions, and thus is not yet complete—and gradually laying the groundwork for a future transition to communism.
Four


Currently, although communes across the country have already been set up in principle and can be said to have been basically established, it will still take at least several months to clarify procedures and get everything properly organized, operational, and running smoothly in terms of ideology, organization, production, distribution, living standards, welfare, and all other aspects of work. Therefore, the state financial and trade departments should continue to strengthen their leadership over commune-level financial and trade operations through planning and management, business guidance, and technical assistance, particularly during the initial phase of commune establishment, when they should provide vigorous support to assist in the communes’ reorganization and consolidation efforts.