Comments on Paying Attention to Cases of Coercive Orders and Violations of Law and Discipline Occurring in Various Localities (December 1, 1958) 1. In recent issues of the Xinhua News Agency’s “Internal Reference,” there have been numerous reports detailing instances of coercive orders and violations of law and discipline in various localities—primarily within some people’s communes—which are well worth reading. All comrades are requested to take note of these matters. Mao Zedong, December 1, 1958

2. This document [1] is to be circulated by Comrade Xiaoping [2]. Printed from Mao’s manuscript.

Notes [1] Refers to a report submitted by Wang Renzhong, First Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the CPC, to Mao Zedong on November 28, 1958, concerning falsification by cadres in Jintun Township, Suixian County, Hubei Province, in connection with an experimental paddy field touted as yielding “60,000 jin.” The report states that in September of this year, after learning that a one-mu experimental plot of medium-season rice at Guangda No. 9 Brigade in Jintun Township had allegedly produced a “satellite” yield of 60,000 jin, the Suixian County Party Committee dispatched a team to investigate on-site. The investigation revealed that several leading officials of the township and brigade had coerced the masses into uprooting nine and three-quarters mu of medium-season rice over the course of a single day and night and transplanting it onto the designated experimental plot. Following clarification of the facts, the County Party Committee carried out a rectification campaign in the township and took disciplinary action against the relevant cadres. As a result, the work style of the cadres has undergone a significant transformation. Mao Zedong’s comments together with this report were distributed as an official document at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the CPC. [2] Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, who at that time served as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee.