Issuance
Comments on the Article “Some Noteworthy Developments in Ideological Education Regarding Grain Issues” [1]
(December 30, 1960)


This document is to be circulated among all comrades. The experience of Jinzhou is very good and can be extended to all industrial and mining enterprises; it may also be implemented in government organs, schools, and the armed forces. All group members are requested to discuss it.
Mao Zedong
December 30th
[I]
The article, published in No. 113 of “Propaganda and Education Briefing,” compiled and printed by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee on December 26, 1960, states that a report dated October 24 from the Industrial Department of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee, entitled “On Rapidly Launching an Ideological Education Campaign Among Workers Concerning Grain Issues,” indicated that since May and June, production in Liaoning Province had consistently failed to improve, primarily due to disturbances over grain supplies. There were three main causes for these disturbances: first, public anxiety; second, the influence of the struggle between two lines in the countryside; and third, the exploitation of the situation by the “five categories of counter-revolutionary elements” to spread rumors and stir up trouble. The only way to resolve the grain unrest, the article asserts, was to place politics first, conduct positive education on grain issues with the aim of increasing production and practicing economy, carry out large-scale mass discussions and debates, and organize veteran workers to share their personal experiences through comparative accounts. In every unit that adopted this approach, the grain problem was successfully resolved. At Factory 401 in Jinzhou City, 85 percent of the workforce had initially been either involved in or sympathetic to the grain disturbances; however, following educational debates, the factory managed to reduce its grain allocation by more than 9,000 jin, and not a single person continued to complain about insufficient food. In forwarding this report on October 30, the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee emphasized that the key to solving the grain problem lay in thorough political and ideological work, further instilling a spirit of hard struggle and overcoming difficulties, while at the same time vigorously combating rightist, hesitant attitudes among cadres.
[2]
Refers to comrades who were then attending a meeting of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing.