Comments on the Report on the Public Canteen Situation
( March 2 and 4, 1960 )

Print 9 copies and distribute to all comrades for perusal, in preparation for a discussion on the afternoon of the 3rd.
Mao Zedong
March 2, 4:00 a.m.

To the East China Bureau, all cooperative zone committees, all provincial, municipal, and autonomous region party committees:
The Guizhou Provincial Party Committee’s report on the current situation of rural public canteens is very well written. It is now issued to you for study, and it must be implemented in all cases without exception. The Central Committee has reached this definitive conclusion because this canteen report from Guizhou is a scientific summation that can enable us to make a great leap forward in the cause of the transition from socialism to communism within five to ten years. Therefore, it should be emulated nationwide without exception. In emulating it, proceed step by step, exercise strong leadership, raise the consciousness of cadres and the masses, and follow the mass line. Within the year 1960, it would be excellent if all canteens nationwide could reach the level currently achieved in Guizhou. In places where leadership is weak, this may not be attainable within one year; in that case, it is acceptable to reach it by 1961. Even if it takes a bit longer, that is also acceptable. In short, it must be achieved, and further improvements must be made. You are requested to convene a relatively large-scale meeting specifically on the canteen issue this spring; this is of the utmost importance. This document and its attachment may be published in party journals and forwarded to commune party committees.
The Central Committee
March 4, 1960

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[2]

--- Notes

This first part is written on the report of the CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee, dated February 24, 1960, on the current situation of rural public canteens, submitted to the Central Committee and Mao Zedong; the second part is the directive drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Committee to forward the Guizhou Provincial Committee’s report.


The report of the CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee states: From February 16 to 18, 1960, we convened a three-day meeting of the first secretaries of the prefectural, prefecture-level city, and autonomous prefecture party committees, primarily to discuss the issue of rural public canteens. There are currently over 130,000 rural public canteens in our province, of which about 80 percent are fixed or basically fixed, and about 20 percent are unfixed. Among the fixed canteens, a number have been run exceptionally well. Their characteristics are: 1. The leadership advantage of the poor and lower-middle peasants has been firmly established; basic-level cadres and party and league members all participate in the canteens and integrate with the masses. 2. The mass line is followed, and democratic management is practiced. 3. Necessary management systems have been established, first and foremost a grain ration management system, implementing the principles of planned grain use, economical grain use, fixed quotas per person, and savings kept by the individual. 4. The canteens have developed their own production and built up a reserve. 5. Reforms in cooking utensils have yielded significant results, reducing the labor intensity of kitchen staff and improving the quality of meals. These well-run canteens have become the centers of political, economic, and cultural activities for the production teams, consolidating the people’s communes. Production is also carried out very well, demonstrating the superiority and importance of the canteens. Some have further raised the level of collectivization, forming larger residential clusters and creating conditions for building new villages. There are three types of unfixed canteens: First, although collective cooking is done, the food prepared is insufficient, so it is distributed to individual households, and responsibility is shirked. Second, they operate intermittently. Third, each household cooks separately, and the canteen exists in name only. In these places, isolated cases of people fleeing, suffering from edema, and dying have occurred. The main reasons are: First, there are problems in the basic-level organizations; some are controlled by well-to-do middle peasants who do everything possible to drag down the canteens and undermine the people’s communes. Second, practical work is not grasped firmly, concretely, or effectively, allowing the canteens to disintegrate.
At present, the most urgent task is to immediately rectify the unfixed and unstable canteens. We have decided to adopt the following steps: 1. Immediately organize cadres to go down with grain supply quotas to carry out rectification. 2. Fully mobilize the masses, rely on the poor and lower-middle peasants, convene canteen representative meetings, establish canteen management committees, and finalize grain arrangements. 3. Elect canteen management personnel. 4. Establish management systems. 5. Use the good canteens as models to further improve canteen operations. For those canteens that are already fixed, they must also be rectified and improved according to standards. In terms of the distribution system, the change is from the grain supply system and semi-supply system to the food supply system. At present, it appears that the canteens will inevitably need to appropriately expand their scale. To this end, we plan: 1. During this year’s summer harvest, we must ensure that grain is placed in the hands of the basic accounting units, with grain rations periodically issued by the basic accounting units to the canteens. 2. At an appropriate time, transfer the management of the canteens to the basic accounting units, with each production team running one canteen; the basic accounting unit may run one itself as a central canteen. On February 26, 1960, the Central Committee of the CPC forwarded this report to the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. On March 6, the Central Committee also distributed the directive drafted by Mao Zedong to all localities.