Comrades First Secretaries of the Party Committees of Provinces, Municipalities, and Districts:

I have been in Wuchang for five days now. After reviewing the materials from Hubei’s six-level cadre conference and receiving additional documents from several provinces, municipalities, and districts, I believe there is an important issue that warrants our discussion. The Henan document has already been forwarded to you; it advocates taking the production team as both the basic accounting unit and the distribution unit within the people’s communes. While still in Zhengzhou, I received a March 8th directive from the Hubei Provincial Party Committee concerning the management system of the people’s communes and grain policy, which stipulates: “We must firmly establish the original senior-level cooperatives—now known as production teams—as the basic accounting units. Where a former senior-level cooperative has already been divided into several production teams, these should be reconsolidated into a single basic accounting unit. Such consolidated teams may later be subdivided if necessary. In a few instances where the original senior-level cooperatives were very small and their economic conditions were broadly similar, and they had already been combined into one production team, if the cadres and members of those cooperatives are willing to form a single basic accounting unit, this decision may be reviewed and approved by the commune party committee and then submitted to the county party committee for ratification.” Upon arriving in Wuchang, I immediately summoned Comrade ××× here and, together with Comrade Wang ××, held a brief discussion. I asked ×× whether they favored the Henan approach or the Hubei approach. He replied that they supported the Henan method, since in their region each production brigade generally oversaw only about six production teams—teams that had largely been formed by dividing three original senior-level cooperatives, with each cooperative being split into two teams. Subsequently, we also received a report dated March 11 from the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, which proposed implementing the “three determinations and five relaxations.” The first of the three determinations was “to define the basic accounting unit,” insisting that this unit be based uniformly on the original senior-level cooperatives (Guangdong once had 32,000 such cooperatives, averaging around 320 households per cooperative). Some of these correspond roughly to today’s production teams or brigades, while others, having been split into two or three production teams after the commune movement, could be promptly merged to form a new team serving as the basic accounting unit. As for the very small original senior-level cooperatives, or those located within a single natural village yet differing substantially in economic conditions, they too might be consolidated into a single basic accounting unit with the consent of the local masses. Thus, both Henan and Hubei provinces are advocating the use of the production brigade (administrative district) as the basic accounting unit. Which of these approaches is preferable? Or might the two be pursued concurrently? According to Comrade Wang ××, this very question is currently under intense debate at the Hubei conference, with sharp contention between the two opposing views. Generally speaking, the county party committees, commune party committees, and production brigades (administrative districts) tend to favor the brigade as the basic accounting unit. I regard this as a highly significant matter, directly affecting the interests of over 300,000 grassroots-level cadres—including production team leaders and squad leaders—and hundreds of millions of farmers. Should we adopt either the Henan or the Hubei approach, we must secure the genuine consent of these grassroots cadres. If they feel coerced or reluctant, it would be better to retain the production team—the original senior-level cooperative—as the basic accounting unit, so as not to alienate the masses. At this juncture, losing touch with the people would be extremely dangerous, potentially jeopardizing this year’s production targets. Although Henan has already made its decision, I nonetheless urge the provincial party committee to solicit the views of grassroots cadres at the ongoing four-level cadre meeting. If they concur with the provincial decision, then proceed accordingly; otherwise, consider revising it. The phrase “team-based” as recorded in the minutes of the Zhengzhou Conference refers specifically to the production team—the original senior-level cooperative—and not to the production brigade (administrative district). In short, we must act in accordance with the will of the masses. Only measures that genuinely meet their needs will prove viable; otherwise, they are bound to fail. Please deliberate and decide how best to proceed.

Wuchang, March 15, 1959