Notes and Amendments to the First Draft of the “Forty Articles of the Fifteen-Year Program for Socialist Construction (1958–1972)” [1] (November 1958)  I. To Comrade Shang Kun [2]: Please forward this to Comrade Xiaoping [3] for review and action. There have been minor revisions.  Mao Zedong, 8 November, 10:00 p.m.

II. Comrade Shang Kun: Kindly convene Comrades Liu, Deng, and Boda [4] to examine this document, make final adjustments, and arrange for its immediate printing. Distribute it to all comrades attending the meeting [ ] before dawn. Any necessary changes should be made right away; I will not review it again.  Mao Zedong, 10 November, 10:00 p.m.  Printed from the manuscript.

III. The task facing the Chinese people is to rapidly develop social productive forces through the organizational form of the people’s commune, thereby promoting national industrialization, commune-level industrialization, and the mechanization of agriculture. In this way, we shall gradually transform socialist collective ownership into socialist public ownership, and further evolve incomplete socialist public ownership into fully developed socialist public ownership, thus building socialism. At the same time, as we advance in socialist construction, communist elements will inevitably grow, laying both material and spiritual foundations for the transition from socialism to communism.

Printed according to Mao Zedong’s revised text.  IV. At the First Plenary Session of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in September 1956, two long-term plans were adopted: the Second Five-Year Plan, covering industry, agriculture, transport, education, culture, and health from 1958 to 1962; and the Forty Articles on the Development of Agriculture from 1956 to 1967. After one year of implementation under the former and three years under the latter, both plans have been substantially completed—in most major areas and many specific targets—and in some cases even surpassed. This remarkable achievement is the result of the united and heroic efforts of the entire Party and the whole nation. Now, both the Party and the people desire that we formulate a new, long-term programmatic outline to replace the outdated one, serving as the common goal for the entire Party and the entire nation. The “Fifteen-Year Program for Socialist Construction” is precisely such a new program. As its first draft, it was adopted at the Zhengzhou Conference in mid-to-late November 1958. Subsequently, in late November, it was approved once more—still as the first draft—at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the CPC. Being a long-term plan spanning three five-year periods, based on our experience up to this point (1958), the answers it provides to certain questions, particularly those concerning industry, remain largely speculative. Therefore, we—the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee—believe that, over the next three years of arduous struggle, this draft should be studied only among senior cadres at and above the county level within the Party. During these three years, we will accumulate considerable experience. Around the year [ ], at the latest by spring of that year, the draft may be publicly released for broad discussion throughout the Party and among the people, after which it can be submitted to the National Congress of the Party and the National People’s Congress for formal adoption.

Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript.  V. Under the aforementioned conditions, by 1972, we aim to limit annual sowing on existing cultivated land nationwide—totaling 1.8 billion mu—to approximately 600 million mu, while allowing another 600 million mu to lie fallow or be planted with green manure, and using the remaining 600 million mu for afforestation and grassland development, thereby turning the entire countryside into a verdant landscape.

VI. Beginning in 1958, all cultivated land shall be deeply plowed on a rotating basis every three years, to a depth of one to three feet; in some cases, even deeper—up to four, five, six, or seven feet.

Printed according to Mao Zedong’s revised text.  VII. Forestry operations, wherever feasible, should also progressively adopt deep plowing, fertilization, and irrigation techniques.

Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript.  VIII. Work and rest must be rhythmically balanced. Every worker must be guaranteed sufficient sleep, rest, and recreational time; the total daily time devoted to these activities should not be less than twelve hours, with at least two hours reserved for study.

Printed according to Mao Zedong’s revised text.  IX. Abolish the irrational patriarchal system inherited from the past. In residential architecture, care should be taken to ensure that housing facilitates the gathering of all family members—men, women, young, and old.

X. Consider work in canteens as a noble service to the people.

XI. View work in nurseries and kindergartens as a noble service to the people.

Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript.  XII. People’s communes should organize production systematically, guided by the principle of meeting social needs. While developing self-sufficient production directly satisfying the commune’s own requirements, they must also expand commodity production as widely as possible. Such commodity production, through market exchange, can both satisfy growing social demand and provide equivalent resources to meet the commune’s increasing production and the daily needs of its members. In the process of commodity circulation, value, price, and money will continue to play their active roles.

XIII. In order to create the necessary conditions for utterly defeating any imperialist aggressor who might launch a war against our country, our nation must implement a system of universal military service.

XIV. All work must strive for practicality, harmonizing revolutionary enthusiasm with a spirit of seeking truth from facts. Empty rhetoric, ostentation, falsification of achievements, and hypocrisy—these are all unacceptable.

Printed according to Mao Zedong’s revised text.  Notes  [1] The first draft of the “Forty Articles of the Fifteen-Year Program for Socialist Construction (1958–1972)” was a document submitted for discussion at the First Zhengzhou Conference in November 1958. Mao Zedong made numerous revisions to this draft. Parts (I) and (II) consist of his annotations accompanying these revisions, whereas parts (III) through (XIV) present the actual textual changes he made, with newly added or altered passages printed in Song typeface.  [ ] Shang Kun refers to Yang Shangkun, who at the 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.  [3] Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, then General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee.  [4] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Deng refers to Deng Xiaoping. Boda refers to Chen Boda, who at the time was an alternate member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and Director of the Central Research Office.  [ ] denotes the working conference then being held in Zhengzhou, attended by several central leaders, regional heads, and secretaries of provincial and municipal party committees—the First Zhengzhou Conference.