**Comments and Annotations on Li Xiannian's[1] Report Concerning the Grain Issue**
(May 22, 1959)

Comrade Xiaoping[3]:

Please issue this document in the name of the Central Committee to the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions for implementation[1].

Mao Zedong
May 22

Mao's annotation: The proposal to simultaneously promote industry, agriculture, and commerce is very good, and this must be done. If commerce is devalued and does not take the lead, the two sectors of industry and agriculture will not develop.[2]

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[1]
Li Xiannian, at that time Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Financial and Economic Group, Vice Premier of the State Council, and concurrently Minister of Finance.

[2]
Refers to the report on the grain issue delivered by Li Xiannian on the afternoon of May 3, 1959, at the National Conference of Secretaries for Finance and Trade. The main contents are:
First, concerning the allocation and transport of grain. The grain transfer plans for the third quarter must be resolutely completed by all localities and cannot be postponed. Second, concerning the distribution of summer grain in rural areas. Before the autumn harvest, the summer grain retained per person in rural areas should generally be calculated at around one hundred *jin*. Third, concerning the procurement of summer grain. The state should procure as much grain as possible, but must not over-procure. Fourth, concerning grain sales. In the cities, the sales level, after having been reduced, will not be raised again before the autumn harvest; in the rural areas, after the new grain is available, the state will basically cease sales. In grain sales, it has always been easy to relax controls but difficult to tighten them; therefore, if things are a bit tighter in the autumn and winter, the lean season before the new harvest will be easier to get through, and our work will be more proactive. This is an important lesson from experience. Fifth, concerning grain inventory. Provinces that have drawn upon the central government's grain stocks must replenish them with grain outside the fixed quota differential stipulated by the central government. Sixth, concerning reserves. In the future, in addition to normal turnover inventory, both the central and provincial governments must establish some reserves. Seventh, concerning properly managing procurement and sales through the communes. Both grain procurement and sales should be handled through the communes, with quotas basically allocated to the production teams, and the communes must guarantee the fulfillment of the state's tasks. Eighth, concerning exports. Export tasks for grain that were not completed in the first and second quarters should be added to the third quarter's tasks and completed together.

[3]
Xiaoping, i.e., Deng Xiaoping, at that time General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.

[1]
On May 23, 1959, the CPC Central Committee transmitted Li Xiannian's report to the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions.

[2]
Li Xiannian's report stated: "Sichuan has proposed the simultaneous promotion of industry, agriculture, and commerce, which I believe has some merit." Following this sentence, Mao Zedong added this annotation in parentheses.