striving for new victories.
Wishing the Bulgarian people new achievements in the cause of building socialism. Wishing China
May the brotherly friendship between the peoples of China and Bulgaria last forever.
Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Liu Shaoqi, President of the People’s Republic of China
People’s Republic of China
Zhu De, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China,
Zhou Enlai, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China
September 8, 1962

Comments on Improving the Operation and Management of Production Teams [!]
(September 8 and 25, 1962)
Comrades Tao Zhu, Ren Zhong, Pinghua, and Yanchun:
Please read this document carefully; after you have done so, let us discuss it.
Return to Mao.
Distributed to all comrades | To be kept. All provincial, municipal, and regional party committees are requested to pay close attention to studying this matter and adopting practical measures to improve the operation and management of production teams.
Mao Zedong
September 25th
[I]
This first piece is a comment written by Mao Zedong on a letter dated August 7, 1962, from his nephew Mao Huachu—Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the CPC and concurrently Deputy Director of the Provincial Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Resources Office. The second piece is a comment Mao Zedong wrote on a letter dated September 9 of the same year from Zhang Pinghua, First Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the CPC. In his letter, Zhang Pinghua stated: “I have read Comrade Mao Huachu’s letter and Chairman Mao’s instructions. The issue of production team operation and management mentioned in Huachu’s letter is indeed worthy of study. The responsibility system for production falls under specific operational forms. As long as it helps consolidate the collective economy, motivates members to actively participate in collective production, and promotes output, various approaches should be permitted. We have also previously considered the ‘yield-based responsibility system’ that Huachu mentioned. However, at present, broadly advocating for such a system could easily lead to misunderstandings. Without strong leadership, there is indeed a risk of sliding toward the household contract responsibility system. Nevertheless, under the premise of collective ownership, collective management, and unified distribution, allowing certain agricultural tasks or crops to adopt yield-linked rewards and penalties, or using output as the basis for work-point calculations—as an auxiliary form of the overall production responsibility system—is acceptable.”
At present, there are many excellent management practices among the masses that require our summarization and promotion. I am now sending along materials titled “Introducing a Production Team with Outstanding Management,” submitted by Wang Yanchun, for your review. The provincial committee plans to discuss these materials with secretaries of local prefectural and city party committees before promoting them more widely. The materials submitted by Wang Yanchun summarize the experience of the 13th Production Team of Xiaogang Brigade, Zhoukou Commune, Hanshou County, compiled by a working group dispatched by the Hunan Provincial Committee. According to the materials, over the past few years, this production team has successfully consolidated its collective economy and achieved rapid production growth, largely due to the establishment of a relatively complete and rigorous production responsibility system. Based on different types of farm work and varying production needs at different times, the team combines unified arrangements with voluntary participation to form temporary labor groups, implementing short-term seasonal or year-round contracted work as well as specialized contracting assignments. Major farming tasks are carried out collectively, while routine chores are assigned individually; some responsibilities are allocated to groups, others to individuals. Responsibility systems have also been put in place for animal husbandry, forestry, fisheries, and other sideline productions, as well as for managing livestock, farm tools, irrigation facilities, and other public property. In the process of implementing the production responsibility system, the team focused on the following key areas:
First, strengthening political and ideological education;
Second, practicing democratic management of the team;
Third, reinforcing labor discipline;
Fourth, operating the team economically and frugally;
Fifth, learning from and summarizing the farming experiences of the peasant masses.
[2]
Tao Zhu was then First Secretary of the Central South Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Ren Zhong refers to Wang Renzhong, who served as Second Secretary of the Central South Bureau at the time. Pinghua refers to Zhang Pinghua. Yanchun refers to Wang Yanchun, who was then a secretary of the Secretariat of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the CPC.
[3]
In his letter dated August 7, 1962, Mao Huachu outlined several points regarding rural work, covering a total of five issues:
(1) Issues related to agricultural collectivization and mechanization;
(2) Problems concerning operation and management;
(3) The free market and exchange issues;
(4) Cadre education work;
(5) Rectifying Party and Youth League branches. Under the second point, he stated:
Currently, in the operation and management of the agricultural collective economy,
the implementation of yield-based responsibi…