Comments on the Materials Concerning Dozens of Canteens in the Daozhu Brigade of Pingjiang County, Hunan Province, Which Were Disbanded and Then Reinstated (August 5, 1959) — To Be Distributed to All Comrades. This document [1] is well worth reading. In one brigade, dozens of canteens were all disbanded at once; shortly thereafter, they were all restored. The lesson is this: we must not yield in the face of difficulties. Matters such as the people’s communes and public canteens have deep socio-economic roots; it is neither advisable nor feasible to sweep them away with a single stroke. While certain canteens may indeed be abolished, there will always be some—indeed, the majority—who will insist on re-establishing them. Whether after a few days, several dozen days, a few months, or even longer, they will inevitably be brought back. Sun Yat-sen said: “When a matter accords with natural law, human sentiment, the tide of world progress, and the needs of the masses, and when those who are far-sighted resolve to carry it out, there can be no failure.” This statement is correct. Our Great Leap Forward and the people’s communes fall into this category. Difficulties exist, and mistakes are bound to occur, but both can be overcome and corrected. A pessimistic trend of thought is an extremely harmful current that corrodes the Party and the people; it runs counter to the will of the proletariat and the poor peasantry, and it is incompatible with Marxism-Leninism. Printed from the manuscript by Mao Zedong on August 5.

Notes [1] Refers to materials compiled on July 1, 1959, by the work team of the Xiangtan Prefectural Committee of the CPC, detailing the situation in the Daozhu Brigade of the Tancen Commune, Pingjiang County, Hunan Province, where dozens of canteens were first disbanded and then reinstated. According to the materials, the brigade had sixty-three canteens in early June, but sixty-one of them were subsequently dissolved. Twenty days later, however, all of them were restored, bringing the total to eighty-nine. The reason for the dissolution was widespread public debate and mixed opinions about the canteens, coupled with ambivalence among cadres; the immediate cause, though, was a shortage of food rations. The canteens were eventually revived for three main reasons: 1) Some commune members themselves urged their re-establishment; 2) Certain production team leaders and work-group heads felt that without the canteens, it would be difficult to maintain unified leadership over production; and 3) Higher-level leaders criticized the decision to disband the canteens. As this case illustrates, the core issues underlying the controversy over the canteens were essentially managerial and operational in nature. Once these problems were resolved, it became possible to win over the majority of the masses. 4£±