Commentary on the Report Concerning Discussions in Nine Counties of Henan Province on the Speech Delivered at the Zhengzhou Meeting [1] (February 1959) There is still an excessive concentration of thought—namely, too much power, material resources, and manpower have been concentrated.

Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript. Note [1] This commentary was written on a report compiled by the Office of the Fourth-Level Cadre Conference of the Henan Provincial Committee of the CPC during the night of February 27, 1959, concerning how cadres in nine counties, including Gongxian and Taikang, had discussed Mao Zedong’s speech delivered that day at the Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held in Zhengzhou. The report stated that after hearing the briefing on the Chairman’s instructions, the vast majority of cadres expressed strong support, and the discussions were particularly vigorous. However, because their thinking was not yet fully prepared, many remained apprehensive and held confused views. Some argued that with production teams now serving as primary accounting units, they would no longer bear heavy burdens; yet at the same time, it would be difficult to implement unified planting plans, industrialization and mechanization would proceed more slowly, and it would be hard to mobilize labor for other purposes. Consequently, doubts arose regarding the advantages of the people’s communes in exercising unified control over human, material, and financial resources. Others contended: if things were done this way, what authority would the commune still have? With the power of the production teams greatly enhanced, parochialism would only grow stronger. Mao Zedong’s commentary was penned precisely in response to these very concerns.