A Comment on the Minutes of a Forum [I]
(March 16, 1961)

[I]
Refers to the minutes of a forum submitted on March 15, 1961, by Chen Boda, Director of the Political Research Office of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary to Mao Zedong. The minutes state that on March 14 and 15, the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and an investigation team from Beijing exchanged views with Liang Jinan, General Party Branch Secretary of Mengkeng Brigade, Lidong Commune, Xinxing County, and Su Pinfang, Commune Propaganda and Education Committee Member, on several important issues concerning the people’s communes. 1. The issue of commune and brigade scale. Mengkeng Brigade originally consisted of two advanced cooperatives, one with high income and the other with low income. After communization, they were merged into one basic accounting unit, leveling out the differences, which caused strong dissatisfaction among those originally with high income. Recently, following the scale of the original advanced cooperatives, they were divided into two brigades, resolving the contradiction between poor and rich villages. Both sides are now active in production and manure accumulation, and they also cherish the draft cattle and farm tools. During the forum, regarding the disparity between rich and poor among the various teams within other brigades, they believed the following solutions could be adopted: (1) The production quota targets for rich villages could be set lower, enabling them to receive more rewards for exceeding quotas; (2) Help poor villages develop more sideline occupations to increase income; (3) As medium-level villages develop production, they can also increase their income. They believed that making the basic accounting unit too small is also not good, the reasons being poor leadership capacity, limited strength with fewer people, limited accumulation, difficulty in expanding reproduction, inconvenience in developing a diversified economy, and lack of significant development prospects. 2. The issue of distribution. In the past, a 30-70 split was practiced, which in fact allowed those who did not work to receive food. Therefore, consideration could be given to breaking this framework and fully implementing distribution according to labor, using public welfare funds and public welfare grain to subsidize households in difficulty. This would mobilize the labor enthusiasm of all commune members. 3. The issue of mess halls. They advocated distributing grain to each household and operating mess halls during busy farming seasons. In this way, the production team’s vegetable plots could potentially supply more vegetables to the market, and commune members could also raise pigs and accumulate manure. 4. The issue of fixed grain requisition and fixed purchase. The grain requisition and purchase quotas should be fixed, so that peasants have a clear understanding, remaining unchanged for at least three years, and even better if they can remain unchanged for five years. After fixing the requisition and purchase quotas, a certain proportion of the production team’s output exceeding the quota can be retained as reserve grain. It is necessary to gradually ensure that every team, every commune, and every county has reserve grain, and at the same time, gradually ensure that every household also has grain reserves.

An important document, to be distributed to all comrades [II] for discussion.
Mao Zedong
March 16, 1:00 a.m.

[II]
Refers to the comrades then attending the CPC Central Committee Working Conference in Guangzhou.