Commentary on the Issuance of Wang Qinglin’s Letter Concerning the Rural Situation in Rizhao County, Shandong Province [1] (July 13, 1959)

To be circulated to all comrades for reference. Mao Zedong, July 13. Printed from the manuscript.

Note [1] In this letter dated July 4, 1959, Wang Qinglin, a cadre of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, reported that last year the “communization craze” did not sweep through Rizhao County, Shandong Province to any great extent; instead, the Great Leap Forward had brought about a thorough transformation of the county. There was a bumper agricultural harvest last year, and the numbers of poultry and livestock also increased substantially. At present, the masses are highly motivated in production, and a peak in summer production has been reached. One notable feature is that each production team has cultivated considerable vegetable plots, which adequately meet the needs of the commune members. Following the summer harvest, the vast majority of teams have adopted a system of communal catering; the canteens have remained intact, though a few are not operating very well. According to reports from cadres at the county, commune, and team levels, several problems still exist: (1) The Central Committee’s instructions on private plots have not been earnestly implemented; to this day, no private plots have yet been allocated to commune members. (2) Summer food rations have not yet been fully distributed to individual households. (3) The masses are very enthusiastic about raising pigs, but they are dissatisfied with the fact that they have long been unable to eat meat. (4) County and commune cadres believe that there are currently too many documents and meetings, leaving them no time to go down to the grassroots level; they also have very little time for study, making it impossible for them to improve their capabilities.