First Preface to «Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside»

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of First Preface to «Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside» has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following edition: Prefaces to Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 5, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1977.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is the first prefaces written by Comrade Mao Zedong for the collection Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside in September and December 1955 when he revised the book. It was first published in the three-volume Chinese edition of the book in January 1956, which included 176 articles.

An abridged one-volume edition was also published at that time, which included 44 articles and the corresponding editor's notes by Comrade Mao Zedong.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#FIRST PREFACE TO SOCIALIST UPSURGE IN CHINA'S COUNTRYSIDE

#Mao Zedong

#25th of September, 1955

#★

The general line of the Communist Party of China for the period of transition from capitalism to socialism is fundamentally to accomplish the industrialization of China together with the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist industry and commerce. This transitional period will cover roughly 18 years, that is, the three years of rehabilitation plus the span of three five-year plans. On the surface, there has been a consensus in our Party on this formulation of the general line and the specification of the time-limit, but in reality, there have been differences of opinion. At present, these differences manifest themselves chiefly on the question of the socialist transformation of agriculture, or agricultural cooperation.

Some people say that, in the last few years, there seems to have been a certain rule operating in agricultural cooperation, namely, expansion is encouraged in winter, but is bound to be opposed in the spring by certain persons as rash advance. There are reasons for that remark, for they have seen opposition to the alleged rash advance on several occasions. For example, there was an expansion in the winter of 1952, only to be opposed as a rash advance in the spring of 1953; again there was an expansion in the winter of 1954, only to be opposed once more as a rash advance in the following spring. Opposition to the alleged rash advancement not only halting the expansion but compulsorily dissolving (or «axing») large numbers of cooperatives already set up, thus awakening dissatisfaction among the cadres and peasant masses. Some peasants were so disgusted that they refused to eat, or kept to their beds, or skipped work a dozen days in a row. They said: «You were the ones who told us to set up the cooperatives, and now you are the ones who tell us to disband them.» Dissolution gladdened the upper-middle peasants, but saddened the poor peasants. When the news about the halting of expansion or the dissolution reached the poor peasants in Hubei Province, they were «chilled to the bone», but some middle peasants said: «This is as good as a pilgrimage to Mulan Hill.» (On Mulan Hill in Huangpi County, Hubei Province, there stands the Mulan Temple, a place peasants like to visit on pilgrimage.)

Why this wavering on the part of some comrades which most people find absolutely uncalled for? Because they have fallen under the influence of some of the middle peasants. At the initial stage of the cooperative movement, some of the middle peasants, especially the upper-middle peasants, who had strong leanings toward capitalism, were averse to socialist transformation. Here, what makes the difference is the Party's policy and method of work with respect to the middle peasants in the cooperative movement. Many middle peasants, mainly the new and old lower-middle peasants, who are not so well off and have a higher level of political consciousness, are willing to join the cooperatives, provided we pursue a policy which benefits both strata, that is, the poor and also the middle peasants, and not a policy exclusively beneficial to the former, and provided our method of work is good. However, even if we follow this policy, some middle peasants will still prefer to stay outside the cooperatives for the time being and «to remain free if only for a year or two». This is perfectly understandable, for cooperation means a change in the peasants' private ownership of the means of production and the entire mode of management; for them, this is a fundamental change, so naturally, they want to give the matter careful consideration, and for some time may find it difficult to make a decision. Some of our comrades failed to tackle problems in accordance with the Party's policy and method of work and, when faced with complaints from the upper-middle peasants and certain flaws in our work, they panicked, raised a hue and cry against «rash advance», and «axed» cooperatives at will as if they were malignant tumours which would be fatal unless removed at once. But this is not at all how things stand. Shortcomings there are in our work, but on the whole, the movement is healthy. The masses of the poor and lower-middle peasants welcome the cooperatives. If some of the middle peasants want to wait and see, we should let them. As for the upper-middle peasants, we should give them even more time to wait and see, except for those willing to join. At present, the main defect in the movement is that, in many places, the Party leadership has failed to keep pace; the comrades in charge have not taken the leadership of the whole movement into their hands, they have no overall plan for the province, county, district, or township, but adopt a piecemeal approach, and they lack initiative, enthusiasm, warm responsiveness, and drive. Thus, a big problem has arisen. With the movement spreading widely at the grassroots, but receiving insufficient attention from above, some troubles naturally occur. In the face of such troubles, instead of providing stronger leadership and better planning, our comrades take a negative attitude and try to check the progress of the movement or rush to «axe» a number of cooperatives. Of course, this is wrong and is sure to give rise to more troubles.

We have just compiled a book, How to Run Agricultural Producers' Cooperatives.¹ It includes factual examples from various provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, a total of more than 120 articles. The bulk of the material covers the period January-August 1955 and the rest the second half of 1954. Most of the articles have been reprinted from the inner-Party publications of provinces, municipalities, or autonomous regions, some have been taken from newspapers, others are reports of Party committees or of working personnel to Party committees at higher levels, and one is a verbatim record of a talk by the director of a cooperative who was invited to Beijing. We have made only a few verbal changes in the material, keeping intact the original contents. We have written comments on some of the articles. To keep our comments separate from those of the editors of the original publications, ours carry the designation «Editor's Note». We believe that the views of the authors as expressed in the material are correct or fundamentally correct. From this material, the reader will see the scope and direction of the cooperative movement in the country and the prospects for its development. The material shows that the movement is healthy. Troubles occurred only in places where the Party committees had failed to give proper guidance. But once they caught up and gave proper guidance according to the policy of our Party's Central Committee, the problem was solved right away. The material is very convincing; it can mobilize to action those who have so far adopted a passive attitude toward the movement; it can help those who still do not know how to run a cooperative to find ways to run it; what is more, it can silence those who are fond of «axing» cooperatives at will.

It is indeed a tremendous task to carry out the socialist transformation of agriculture among several hundred million peasants. The movement has not been going on very long in the country as a whole, and the experience gained is still inadequate. In particular, we have not yet conducted extensive and effective propaganda throughout the Party; as a result, many comrades have paid no heed to the subject and do not understand the principles, policies, and measures for the movement, and so, there is still a lack of unity of will within the Party. The Sixth Plenary Session of our Party's Central Committee is soon to be convened to discuss the subject and a new resolution on it will be adopted. We should start extensive and effective propaganda in accordance with the resolution, so as to achieve unity of will throughout the Party. The publication of this book may be of some help to our propaganda work.