Comments on the Draft Directive from the Central Committee Forwarding the Gansu Provincial Party Committee’s Report on Current Account-Settling and Production Arrangements [1] (June 1959): After being submitted to Liu and Peng Zhen [2] for their review, it was sent by telegraph by Shangkun [3]. … Printed according to Mao Zedong’s handwritten manuscript. Notes [1] On June 2, 1959, the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee wrote a report to the Central Committee and to Mao Zedong stating that account-settling work throughout the province was now being fully launched. Through this phase of work, we have come to a full appreciation of the importance of the account-setting issue. The Provincial Committee deemed it necessary to continue, in June, to carry out in a solid and thorough manner a large-scale, in-depth, and meticulous mass campaign for universal account setting, using the Party’s policies to address and dispel farmers’ grievances, conducting intensive political work to restore the masses’ trust in us, and thereby reversing the current tense situation. As for production, the most pressing task at present is to resolutely and conscientiously implement the Central Committee’s Five Urgent Instructions on Agricultural Production and Chairman Mao’s intra-Party correspondence on Six Questions Concerning Agriculture, swiftly putting the relevant specific Party policies into practice. On June 3, the Gansu Provincial Committee again reported to the Central Committee that Lintao County had achieved remarkable results in its account-setting efforts, with grain supplies declining day by day over an eighteen-day period. On June 8, the Central Committee forwarded these two reports from the Gansu Provincial Committee to the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, noting that the Gansu Provincial Committee’s views were correct and that the spirit of acting in accordance with local conditions should be encouraged. As for

within a single province, given the varying circumstances in different prefectures, counties, and communes, methods may also differ; there is no need to impose uniformity. Mao Zedong’s comments were written directly on this draft directive from the Central Committee. [ ] Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Peng Zhen was then a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee. [3] Shangkun refers to Yang Shangkun, who at that time served as an alternate member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.