Commentary on Xinhua News Agency’s Report Concerning the Urgent Need to Prepare for Coal Production (June 1959) To Jiang Qing: I have now read all of this material. The first news item [1] you may take a look at. Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript. Note [1] refers to the first news report published in Issue No. 2,788 of Xinhua News Agency’s “Internal Reference,” dated June 3, 1959, entitled “The Urgent Need to Prepare for Coal Production.” The report states that, according to information obtained by the reporter at a field meeting convened by the Ministry of Coal Industry in Fushun, inadequate production preparation is a prominent problem in current coal-mining operations. Apart from the fact that output has increased several times over, creating certain difficulties for tunneling work, the main reason for the lag in production preparation lies in a one-sided leadership mindset that prioritizes output over tunneling, thereby exacerbating the growing imbalance between mining and excavation. Furthermore, violations of technical policies—such as haphazard mining and tunneling, resulting in deteriorated engineering quality and neglected roadways—have also had a significant adverse impact on production preparation.