**Comments on the Report by the Ministry of Petroleum Industry Party Leadership Group on the Current Production Situation and Future Measures in the Petroleum Industry**
(13 October 1959)

Sent to Comrade Chen Boda [1]:
This document [2] is worth a look. Most of the text, with slight revisions, seems suitable for open publication in *Red Flag* [3]. However, Comrade Yu Qiuli has already published a long article in the *People's Daily*, which I have not read. I do not know whether its content is exactly what is stated in this report. If it is, then it would be inappropriate to publish it again in *Red Flag*. Please find that article and have a look, and discuss it with Yu Qiuli.

Mao Zedong
13 October

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**Comments on the Formulation of Economic Slogans**
(13 October, 15 October 1959)

This document [1] and the attachment [2], please ask Comrade Chen Boda [3] to have a look and offer his opinions as requested!

Mao Zedong
13 October

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This letter [1] and the attachment [2] are to be immediately sent to Comrades Li Fuchun, Peng Zhen, Liu, Zhou, Zhu, Lin, Wang Jiaxiang, and Hu Qiaomu [3] for reading. Return to Mao after reading.
Finish reading within two days, on the 16th and 17th of October. Hold a discussion meeting at my place on either the 17th or 18th.

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[1] Chen Boda, then serving as Editor-in-Chief of the journal *Red Flag*.
[2] The main content of this report, submitted by the Ministry of Petroleum Industry to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee on 24 September 1959, is:
(1) The petroleum industry in 1959 still presents a situation of Great Leap Forward. (2) Regarding maintaining the continued Great Leap Forward in the petroleum industry, we have two points of experience: 1. For the leading cadres and leadership group of an enterprise, the most important thing is to observe the overall situation, discern the main trend, and distinguish the direction of the wind. 2. Through more than a year of practice, we have more deeply realized that combining mass movements with centralized leadership can tap production potential to the maximum extent. (3) To ensure overfulfillment of this year's production tasks, effective measures must be taken to do well in oil well management, exploration, equipment maintenance, and transportation, among other aspects of work.
[3] Yu Qiuli, Minister of the Petroleum Industry, later revised this report slightly and published it in *Red Flag* magazine, Issue 21, 1959, under the title: "Observe the Overall Situation, Discern the Main Trend, Distinguish the Direction of the Wind, Mobilize Positive Factors—Viewing the Great Victory of the Party's General Line on the Industrial Front from One Link."


[1] Refers to the request for instructions report submitted by Li Fuchun, Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, and concurrently Director of the State Planning Commission, to Mao Zedong on 12 October 1959, concerning the principles and tasks for national economic construction in 1960. The report stated that the previously submitted report on drafting the outline plan for the 1960 national economic plan had proposed the principles and tasks for developing the national economy in 1960, which, generally speaking, should be: better implement the Party's General Line, strive for the continued Great Leap Forward of the national economy based on the successive Great Leap Forwards of 1958 and 1959; simultaneously, in accordance with the principle of taking agriculture as the key link in national economic development, correctly handle the relations among the agricultural, light industrial, and heavy industrial sectors, and gradually eliminate weak links within heavy industry, creating conditions for better and greater leaps forward in future years. Among these, is the formulation of taking agriculture as the key link for the entire national economic development appropriate? Or should it be formulated as taking agriculture as the foundation, or perhaps mentioned within the Party but not outside the Party, or simply not mentioned at all? Please consider and advise. I feel that proposing to take agriculture as the foundation poses no problem.
[2] Refers to the report by the State Planning Commission Party Leadership Group on drafting the outline plan for the 1960 national economic plan.
[3] Chen Boda, then serving as Alternate Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Central Political Research Office.


[1] Refers to the letter from Chen Boda to Mao Zedong on the afternoon of 15 October 1959. Mao Zedong added a title to the letter: "On the Formulation of Economic Slogans." In the letter, Chen Boda stated: Comrade Fuchun's letter to you mentioned the issue of the formulation regarding agriculture. This is a question with theoretical implications and can be made public. It seems inappropriate to adopt different formulations inside and outside the Party. I think we can continue to maintain your original formulation of "developing industry must proceed simultaneously with developing agriculture." This formulation possesses scientific rigor and has already deeply penetrated people's hearts. When it comes to practical measures, plan deployments, and problem explanations, we should concretize the opinion you recently expressed about placing agricultural development in the primary position, so that comrades clearly understand this issue. The sentence in the Planning Commission report stating, "in accordance with the principle of taking agriculture as the key link in national economic development, correctly handle the relations among the agricultural, light industrial, and heavy industrial sectors," seems modifiable to: "implement the principle of developing industry and developing agriculture simultaneously, correctly handle the relations among the agricultural, light industrial, and heavy industrial sectors." On 30 December 1959, in the report by the State Planning Commission Party Leadership Group to the Central Committee and Mao Zedong on the 1960 national economic plan, this sentence was changed to: "The arrangement of the 1960 national economic plan should further establish the principle of taking agriculture as the foundation, in accordance with the principle of combining the priority development of heavy industry with the rapid development of agriculture, better handle the relations among the agricultural, light industrial, and heavy industrial sectors, and strengthen weak sectors such as transportation, power industry, and extractive industry in a planned and step-by-step manner, creating conditions for a better comprehensive leap forward in future years." On 30 January 1960, the Central Committee forwarded this report to the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and the Party leadership groups of all ministries and commissions.
[2] Refers to three materials compiled by the Central Political Research Office of the CPC Central Committee and attached to Chen Boda's letter on the afternoon of 15 October 1959: "Lenin on Developing Agriculture," "Stalin on the Relationship Between Industry and Agriculture in 1926," and "Agricultural Labor Productivity in the United States."
[3] Peng Zhen, then serving as Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee. Liu refers to Liu Shaoqi. Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Zhu refers to Zhu De. Lin refers to Lin Biao, then serving as Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council. Wang Jiaxiang, then serving as Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee. Hu Qiaomu, then serving as Alternate Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary to Mao Zedong.