Comments Reflected in the Directive Letter
(December 28, 1960)
This document is to be circulated among all comrades. The issues raised in the letter should be discussed by each group.
Mao Zedong
December 28
[I]
Refers to materials compiled on December 17, 1960, by the Secretariat of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee. These materials state that, since the issuance of the Central Committee’s Urgent Directive Letter on Current Policies Concerning Rural People’s Communes, more than forty letters have been received from various localities. All of these letters express strong support for the Central Committee’s directive, believing it fully reflects the current hopes and demands of the peasants.
As the policy has taken deep root among the masses, the production enthusiasm of commune members has greatly increased. The letters also raise the following points: First, there remain doubts as to whether the policy can actually be implemented. Second, some are not interested in the provision in the directive letter that surplus production should be rewarded primarily with cash, and instead request rewards in kind. Third, there are objections to the practice of increasing both output targets and purchase quotas, with requests to set fixed output and purchase plans. In addition, a few letters mention that taking the production brigade as the basic accounting unit is highly detrimental to stimulating mass initiative; that there is no time to raise private pigs; and that rural cadres are calling for the introduction of a system of regular leave, among other matters.
[2]
Refers to the comrades who were at the time attending the CPC Central Committee Work Conference in Beijing.