--- Notes

Central Instructions Forwarding the Shandong Provincial Party Committee’s Report on Living Arrangements (March 15, 1960) This report from Shandong [1] is very well written. It includes investigation, analysis, research, and concrete measures. The decision to focus on twenty key backward counties, dispatch more than two hundred capable cadres led by strong leaders—with over twenty cadres assigned to each of these counties to provide assistance—is an excellent approach. We must thoroughly and earnestly resolve the grain shortage problem within a short period.

The Central Committee recommends that, for backward counties, communes, and production teams where the leading cadres are genuinely incapable, decisive action should be taken without delay to remove them and replace them with better ones. There should be no hesitation or indulgence that would only allow wrongdoing to fester and cause serious delays.

Dated and signed by the Central Committee, based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.

Notes [1] Refers to the report submitted by the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee to the Central Committee and the Shanghai Bureau on February 27, 1960, concerning living arrangements. The main contents of the report are as follows:

(1) From the provincial party committee down to the grassroots level, all party committees have attached considerable importance to arranging the lives of commune members. A total of over 45,000 cadres at the provincial, prefectural, county, and commune levels, led by responsible officials at each level, were dispatched to various localities to conduct in-depth investigations and provide targeted assistance, achieving relatively significant results.

(2) At present, some counties, communes, and production teams still face varying degrees of problems in organizing people’s livelihoods; in a small number of cases, these problems are quite severe. Livelihood arrangements have not been properly implemented, resulting in population outflow and edema. The main reasons are: first, there is a widespread contradiction between contracted production teams and basic accounting units in terms of distribution, and these units often also suffer from ideological and organizational impurities. Second, last year our province experienced natural disasters unprecedented in several decades, the most serious of which was drought. Third, some cadres were blindly optimistic about the rural situation, reporting only good news while concealing difficulties, and failing to carry out painstaking and meticulous ideological work, thereby hindering the rapid implementation of livelihood arrangements.

(3) Based on the actual situation, the provincial party committee has determined that the current guiding principle for rural work is to take continuing socialist education as the overarching task, center on spring plowing and cultivation, comprehensively arrange the people’s lives, and thereby drive continuous advances in all areas of work. It requires that first secretaries of party committees at all levels personally take charge, simultaneously focusing on both production and people’s livelihoods—doing a good job of ideological work while effectively solving practical problems. The specific measures are as follows:

1. Focus on key areas and prioritize resolving the problems of twenty-four backward counties and cities. In addition to increasing state-supplied grain quotas and relief funds, more than 260 cadres have been sent to these counties to station themselves there and assume full responsibility. The Provincial Party Committee’s Office for People’s Welfare directly oversees conditions in these counties and addresses any issues promptly upon discovery.

2. In distributing state-supplied grain, it is necessary to ensure the minimum supply standard for areas experiencing shortages while striving not to exceed the adjusted distribution targets.

3. Two hundred million jin of feed will be allocated to specifically address the issue of livestock feed.

4. For units where the lives of commune members have already been arranged, it is important to prevent complacency and slackness; cadres must change their working style and strengthen ties with the masses.

5. While launching a campaign to conserve grain, vigorous efforts should be made to sow spring vegetables and manage winter crops, cultivating early-maturing melons and vegetables suited to local conditions.  On March 18, 1960, the CPC Central Committee forwarded this report.