Request for Opinions on the 17-Article Document Concerning Agriculture

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of Request for Opinions on the 17-Article Document Concerning Agriculture has been translated, 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 editions:

• Request for Opinions on the Seventeen-Article Document Concerning Agriculture, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 5, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1977.
• Request for Opinions on the 17-Article Document Concerning Agriculture, in the Collected Works of Mao Zedong, First Chinese Edition, Vol. 6, People's Publishing House, Beijing.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is an inner-Party circular drafted by Comrade Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the 21st of December, 1955. It was first published in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 5, in 1977.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#REQUEST FOR OPINIONS ON THE 17-ARTICLE DOCUMENT CONCERNING AGRICULTURE

#CIRCULAR OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA

#Mao Zedong

#21st of December, 1955

#★

#To the Shanghai Bureau and All Provincial and Autonomous Region Party Committees

In November this year, a 17-article document was agreed upon after consultations held by Comrade Mao Zedong in Hangzhou and Tianjin with secretaries of the Party committees of 14 provinces and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. The Central Committee holds that the document should be confirmed at the conference of secretaries of the provincial, municipal, and autonomous region Party committees to be convened by the Central Committee on the 10th of January, so that it can be incorporated in the 1956 plan and begin to be carried out in earnest. To this end, on receiving this message, please summon the secretaries of all the prefectural Party committees and of some of the county Party committees under your jurisdiction to make a detailed study of the following questions:

• Whether all or only some of the articles can be carried out and whether the conditions are sufficient for carrying out each article.
• Whether any additions to the 17 articles are needed (additions which are practicable can be made).
• Whether you are ready to incorporate the 17 articles in your 1956 plan and carry them out right away.

Please complete your study of these questions and have your opinions ready by the 3rd of January, 1956.

The 17 articles are as follows:

#1

Regarding the pace of the cooperative transformation of agriculture, the work of establishing cooperatives of the elementary type should in the main be accomplished by the latter half of 1956, and it is advisable for the provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions (Xinjiang excepted) to set a target for cooperative membership of 75% of the peasant households and let the lower levels exceed this somewhat and reach about 80 to 85%.

As for cooperation of the higher stage, you should strive to accomplish it fundamentally by 1960, or if possible, a year sooner, by 1959. To this end, it is necessary for the counties, and preferably the districts, to take direct charge of setting up one or more large cooperatives of the advanced type (each with over 100 households) in every county or district in 1956 and then another batch in 1957 — these two batches should account for about 25% of the peasant households and serve as models. Is this possible or not? What should be the size of a cooperative when small cooperatives merge into big ones? Several cooperatives forming one township, one cooperative forming one township, or one cooperative embracing several townships — are all three forms practicable? Which is the more suitable figure for the total number of cooperatives in the country — 300'000, 400'000, or 500'000? The figure is 100'000 in the Council Union; would over 300'000, or 400'000, be more suitable for us? Further, which way is better — to merge the cooperatives first and then raise them to the higher stage, or to merge and raise them at the same time, or to raise them first and then merge them? Please consider these questions as well.

#2

As for the admission of landlords and rich peasants into cooperatives, perhaps during 1956, you could act upon the suggestion made by Anhui, Shanxi, and Heilongjiang Provinces, that is, allowing those who behave well to join and those who behave neither well nor badly to take part in cooperative production, but without cooperative membership, while compelling those who behave badly to engage in production under the cooperatives' supervision. This method can be adopted by all the old cooperatives which have strong cadres. There are many advantages to this, though there is one disadvantage, namely, those upper-middle peasants who are as yet unwilling to join the cooperatives will inevitably feel obliged to do so, and moreover, they will have to be admitted before the landlords and rich peasants, so as to save their face. Is this good or not? Or shall we postpone the adoption of the above method for a year, that is, until 1957? Please consider which alternative is better.

#3

As for the composition of the leadership in a cooperative, 2/3 should come from among the present-day poor peasants plus all the new lower-middle peasants who were formerly poor peasants, while 1/3 should come from among the old lower-middle peasants and the old and new upper-middle peasants.

#4

Conditions for increasing production:

• First, carry out a few fundamental measures (the details still have to be discussed, and some differences may be allowed for different places).
• Second, spread advanced experience (materials on models are to be collected every year and published in a volume by each province).

#5

In 1956, every province, prefecture, county, district, and township should draw up a long-term comprehensive plan embracing all the necessary items, with stress on county and township plans. A draft should be prepared in the first half of the year and finalized in the second, subject to further revision. The plan should cover a period of at least three years, preferably seven, possibly as many as 12. This must be done without delay. Have you made any arrangements for it? While many plans are likely to be rough-and-ready for lack of experience, you should strive to have a few counties and townships draw up more realistic plans, so that they can be recommended as models.

#6

Make an overall plan for the protection and breeding of cattle, horses, mules, donkeys, pigs, sheep, chickens, and ducks, and especially for the protection of young animals. The breeding plans will be discussed, so please have your opinions ready.

#7

In coordination with the plans for river basins, there should be widespread construction of small water-conservancy projects to ensure basic control over ordinary floods and droughts within seven years.

#8

Within seven years, fundamentally eliminate a dozen or so insect pests and plant diseases harmful to crops.

#9

Within 12 years, make most of the wasteland and barren hills productive and achieve afforestation by planting trees according to specified requirements in every possible place, that is, around every house and every village, by roadsides and watersides, as well as on wasteland and barren hills.

#10

Within 12 years, in most regions 90%, and in some regions 100%, of the needed fertilizer is to be supplied by the localities and cooperatives themselves.

#11

Within 12 years, the average yield of grain per mu should reach 400 catties [200 kilograms] in the areas north of the Yellow River, the Qinling Mountains, the Bailong River, and the section of the Yellow River inside Qinghai Province, 500 catties [250 kilograms] in the areas south of the Yellow River and north of the Huai River, and 800 catties [400 kilograms] in the areas south of the Huai River, the Qinling Mountains, and the Bailong River. As for cotton, oil-bearing crops, soy beans, silk, tea, jute, sugarcane, fruit, and other items, please suggest a quota for each item for discussion.

#12

Within seven years, fundamentally eliminate a number of those diseases most harmful to human beings and livestock, such as schistosomiasis, filariasis, bubonic plague, encephalitis, cattle plague, and hog cholera. Please study which of the endemic diseases in your province or region can be fundamentally wiped out within seven years, which will take longer, and which cannot be wiped out under present conditions.

#13

Get rid of the «Four Pests», that is, within seven years, fundamentally exterminate rats (and other harmful animals), sparrows (and other birds which damage crops, but whether it is advisable to exterminate crows remains to be investigated), flies, and mosquitoes.¹

#14

Within seven years, fundamentally wipe out illiteracy, setting a literacy target of 1'500 to 2'000 characters.

#15

Within seven years, build according to specified requirements the different kinds of roads (highways, roads, and paths) needed in the provinces, prefectures, counties, districts, and townships.

#16

Within seven years, install wired broadcasting networks, so that broadcasts can reach every township and every cooperative.

#17

Within seven years, complete the installation of telephone networks connecting townships and large cooperatives.

#★ ★ ★

Please consider the above points with other comrades concerned and complete preparations by the 3rd of January. The Central Committee may first summon the secretaries of some provincial Party committees to a meeting around the 4th of January to study these matters for several days and to have suggestions ready for the coming conference on the 10th of January.

#Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

#21st of December, 1955