Comments on the State Planning Commission’s Materials Containing Forecasts Regarding Our Country’s Progress in Surpassing Certain Major Industrial Products [1] (December 1959) To all comrades: Please read immediately and return directly to Mao this afternoon. This is an extremely important document, printed according to Mao Zedong’s manuscript. Note [1]: These comments were written on the Special Issue No. 2 of the “Briefing on Planning Work,” issued by the General Office of the State Planning Commission on December 27, 1959. The main contents of this issue were as follows: First, once the preliminary plan for the eight-year period (1960–1967) has been realized, China will not only greatly exceed the Soviet Union’s level in 1937 but will also surpass its level in 1958. Second, building upon the implementation of the eight-year plan and further developing during the Fourth Five-Year Plan—that is, by 1972—China will be able to approach or catch up with the Soviet Union in terms of output of major industrial products. Third, by 1972, China will also have caught up with and surpassed the United States in the production of major industrial goods.