Comments on Chen Yonggui’s [1] Several Suggestions Regarding Rural Work
(September 3, 1975)
Comrade Xiaoping (2):
Please read this document (3). Kindly consider whether it may be circulated to the members of the Political Bureau, and
[1]
Chen Yonggui was at that time a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[2]
Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, who was then Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.
[3]
This refers to several suggestions on rural work submitted by Chen Yonggui on August 24, 1975. The main contents are as follows:
First, on the issue of the basic accounting unit in the people’s communes: Judging from the situation in Xiyang County, during the initial period after the establishment of the people’s communes, small-team accounting was entirely appropriate. However, after several years of production development, small-team accounting has become unsuitable. In recent years, in many places I have visited where work has been done well, most of the brigades adopt brigade-level accounting. I have discussed this matter with numerous comrades below the county level, and they too believe that, in order to achieve rapid and vigorous development in agriculture and to narrow the differences between teams, it is imperative to implement brigade-level accounting. Second, on the management of labor in the people’s communes: The method practiced in Dazhai is called “standard work points, self-reporting followed by collective deliberation.” By adopting such a system of work-point assessment, political leadership is placed at the forefront. At present, in most parts of the country the prevailing practice remains fixed-quota contracting coupled with rigid point-setting and flexible evaluation. Its weaknesses lie in the fact that it gives priority to work points and fails to impose necessary restrictions on bourgeois legal rights, thereby widening the disparities among individuals. Third, on how to assist poor teams: I am of the view that this problem should not be solved by the state providing funds to raise the value of work points. We must steadfastly uphold political leadership and begin by accelerating the development of production in the poorer teams. Fourth, on the construction of housing for commune members: Collective construction is preferable to individual households building on their own. This is an important measure to prevent the widening of differences among commune members and the emergence of polarization. Fifth, on the issue of grain owed by commune members to the collective: In my opinion, under certain conditions, it is better to grant exemptions rather than allow debts to remain outstanding, as this can greatly stimulate the socialist enthusiasm of the peasants.

Let it be discussed once in the Political Bureau.
Mao Zedong
1975, September,