Endorsement on the Circular Concerning the Implementation of the Central Authorities’ Directive on Agriculture
(19 May 1959)

This document has reference value and is to be distributed to the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and regions for reading.

The Central Committee
19 May 1959

1. On the issue of expanding the sown area. Every effort must be made to expand the sown area of farmland, strive for large-scale high yields, and increase total output. In accordance with the “Eight-Character” Charter, formulate various measures to increase production and properly allocate the labour force.
2. On the issue of contracted production targets. Contracted production targets must both be based on seeking truth from facts and must give full play to the spirit of going all out, setting the targets on a basis that can be achieved through effort.
3. On the issue of raising pigs, chickens, geese, and ducks, and the allocation of private plots. The Central Committee’s policy of attaching equal importance to collective and household pig-raising must be publicised, walking on two legs. Communes and production brigades should support commune members in raising pigs; after fulfilling their tasks, members shall be free to slaughter and sell them. Private plots should be allocated to households by May.

To be reviewed by Liu [1] and Deng [1]; to be handled by Shangkun [2].

--- Notes

[1] Refers to the five-point emergency directive on agriculture issued by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on 7 May 1959.
[2] This report, sent on 14 May 1959 by the Party Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to all league and municipal Party committees, banner and county Party committees, and submitted to the Central Committee, states that after discussing Chairman Mao’s intra-Party communication on six agricultural issues and the Central Committee’s five-point emergency directive on agriculture, the regional Party committee considers them to be entirely in line with conditions in the Inner Mongolia region, and all localities must resolutely implement them. The following stipulations are made on several specific issues:

[1] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Deng refers to Deng Xiaoping, then General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[2] Shangkun refers to Yang Shangkun, then Alternate Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and Director of the General Office of the Central Committee.