Speech at the Zhengzhou Conference (VI)
(March 1959)

What does it mean to build socialism? It is a concentrated expression.

Should there be a line between collective ownership and ownership by the whole people? There still needs to be a line. Comrade Stalin drew a line and pointed out three conditions, the prerequisites. That was correct, but the shortcomings were that they were not stated concretely enough. The Forty Articles put forward something more concrete. There are many issues Stalin did not mention: simultaneous development, the whole Party and the whole people running industry, mass movements, putting politics in command, rectification.

The issue of urban people's communes is very complex. Don't be afraid of going slowly, but adopt an active attitude.

On the question of the peasants: During the Great Leap Forward, the peasants' enthusiasm was underestimated. Since the Great Leap Forward began, it has still been a peasant question. The peasants have been overestimated. After all, is it Anshan Steel that is the Big Brother, or is it Xushui? It is still the working class, Anshan Steel is the Big Brother. Some "theorists" give discounts whenever they encounter practical problems. They evade what capitalism has left behind: commodity production and the law of value. The question lies in how to understand them. See whether they are beneficial to our socialist construction. If beneficial, then use them and make them serve us. We must utilize commodity production and the law of value.

If ownership by the whole people is publicized prematurely, the state will have to requisition and allocate, which essentially deprives the peasants. The peasants would not be happy. Who would be happy to do this? Taiwan, which is eager to see chaos under heaven.

The communes can also run industries that yield relatively high profits. (Stalin did not dare to hand tractors over to the collective farms.)

Some people treat the peasants as workers. This is wrong.

Don't be afraid of commodity production. The question is what kind of economy it is linked to.

The relationship between people must not be regarded as a father-son relationship, but as a relationship of equality. Eliminate inequality, but there must still be differences.

Steel, iron, machinery and electricity are very important. Forestry is very important and should also become one of the fundamental issues.

The law of value does not play a regulatory role; it is merely a tool for calculation.

Even if the people's communes implement ownership by the whole people, it still doesn't count as communism.

Fight hard for three more years, and after another twelve years we can make the transition to communism.