Chapter 13 Intra-Party Correspondence

(April 29, 1959) Comrades at the provincial, prefectural, county, communal, team, and team levels: I would like to discuss a few issues with comrades, all about agriculture. The first question is the production contract issue.The south is transplanting rice seedlings, and the north is also plowing in spring.Production contract must be implemented.Don't care about the set of indicators set by the superiors at all.Regardless of these, only realistic possibilities.For example, last year the yield per mu was actually only 300 catties, but this year it would be very good to increase the yield by 100 catties or 200 catties.What's the benefit of bragging about eight hundred catties, one thousand catties, one thousand two hundred catties, or even more? Another example is that last year's yield of five hundred catties per mu increased by two hundred catties, three hundred catties, or three hundred catties. One hundred catties is considered a great achievement.If it goes up further, generally speaking, it is impossible.

The second question is the problem of close planting.Not too thin, not too dense.Many young cadres and some higher-level organs lack experience and keep trying to be secretive.Some people even say that the more secret the better.wrong.The old farmers were skeptical, and the middle-aged people were also skeptical.These three kinds of people hold a meeting and come up with an appropriate density, that's fine.Since production is to be contracted, the issue of dense planting must be discussed and decided by the production team and production team.The rigid dense planting orders from above are not only useless, but also harmful.Therefore, don't give such rigid orders at all.The provincial party committee can set a range of close planting, which is not an order, but only for the reference of the following.In addition, the above should carefully study what is the best degree of close planting, and accumulate experience. According to different climates, different locations, different conditions of soil, fertilizer, water, and species, different conditions of various crops, and different field management levels. The heights are different, and it would be good to make a more scientific regulation on the degree of close planting and reach a practical and feasible standard within a few years.

The third question is to save food.We must pay close attention to it, and measure it according to the person. Eat more when you are busy, eat less when you are free, eat dry when you are busy, and eat half dry and half thin when you are free.This matter must be taken very seriously.Every year, we must pay close attention to the three things of harvesting, storage, and eating (harvesting, managing, and eating), and we must do so in a timely manner.Now or never.There must be a reserve of grain, and a little bit of it is stored every year, and it increases year by year.After ten or eight years of struggle, the food problem may be solved.Within ten years, all big words and high-profile speeches must not be made, because talking is very dangerous.It should be noted that our country is a large country with a population of 650 million, and eating is the first important thing.

The fourth problem is the problem of more acreage to be planted.The plan of less planting, higher yield and more harvest is a long-term plan and it is possible, but it cannot be fully implemented within ten years, nor can most of it be implemented.Within ten years, it can only be gradually implemented depending on the situation.Within three years, most of them are not feasible.Within three years, strive to diversify.At present, the policy for several years is: wide planting and low harvesting and low planting and high harvesting (high-yield fields) should be implemented at the same time. The fifth question is about mechanization.The fundamental way out for agriculture lies in mechanization, which will take ten years.Small solutions within four years, moderate solutions within seven years, and major solutions within ten years.In the four years of this year, next year, the year after, and the year after that, we will mainly rely on improved farm tools and semi-mechanized farm tools.Every province, every region, and every county should set up an agricultural tool research institute, gather a group of scientific and technical personnel and experienced blacksmiths and carpenters in the countryside, collect all kinds of relatively advanced agricultural tools from the whole province, the whole region, and the whole county, compare them, and test them. To be improved, trial production of new farm tools.The trial production is successful, and it is really effective after being tested in the field, and then it can be produced in batches and promoted.When mechanization is mentioned, the manufacture of chemical fertilizers by machinery must be included.It is very important to increase chemical fertilizers year by year.

The sixth question is the question of telling the truth.As much as the production capacity can be packaged, just tell how much you can package, and don't tell lies that you can't do it after hard work, but you can barely do it.You can tell as much as you have gained, and you can't tell lies that are not in line with the actual situation.Regarding various production increase measures and the implementation of the eight-character constitution [1], you must not tell lies about each item.An honest person, a person who dares to tell the truth, in the final analysis, is beneficial to the cause of the people and not disadvantaged to himself.People who love to tell lies, first harm the people, second harm themselves, always suffer.It should be said that many falsehoods were suppressed from above.The "one blow, two pressure, three wishes" at the top made it difficult for the bottom to handle.Therefore, you must have motivation, and you must not tell lies.

Comrades, please study the above six matters, and you may put forward different opinions, with the aim of seeking the truth.Our experience in running agriculture and industry is still very insufficient.After accumulating experience year by year, in another ten years, objective inevitability may be gradually recognized by us, and to a certain extent, we will be free.What is freedom? Freedom is an inevitable understanding. Compared with some high-pitched ones that are popular now, what I sing here is a low-pitched one, which aims to really mobilize enthusiasm and achieve the goal of increasing production.If the fact is not as low as I say, but reaches a higher purpose, I become a conservative, thank God, it is very honorable.

Mao Zedong April 29, 1959 Based on the second volume of "Selected Readings of Mao Zedong's Works" published by People's Publishing House in 1986. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] The eight-character constitution refers to the eight measures proposed by Mao Zedong in 1958 to increase crop production, namely, soil, fertilizer, water, seed (promotion of improved seeds), dense (reasonable close planting), protection (plant protection, prevention and control of diseases and insect pests), Guan (field management), work (tool reform).