Chapter 11 Agricultural Production Cooperatives Should Pay Attention to Diversification

(June 14, 1956) Provincial Party Committees, Municipal Party Committees, and Autonomous Region Party Committees: Two investigation materials are hereby sent to you for your reference.One is Comrade Tan Zhenlin's report on the rural situation in You County, Hunan, and the other is the Hebei Provincial Party Committee's report on the proportion of various products in the output value of Hebei's agricultural and sideline industries.Both materials show that it is necessary to call on all agricultural production cooperatives to immediately pay attention to diversification, so that more than 90% of the members of the cooperatives can increase their personal income every year. Otherwise, it will be a big deviation, and even serious mistakes will be made.The grain output value of Hebei Province only accounts for a little over 28 percent of the province's total agricultural output value, while agricultural products other than grain account for a little over 71 percent. This is a very noteworthy figure.Hebei Province produces more cotton and less grain. The situation in other provinces is somewhat different, but the value of grain output does not seem to exceed 50%, while the output value of non-grain crops and sideline industries accounts for at least 50%, or over fifty percent.If we don't pay attention to this problem immediately, it will inevitably have a great impact on the income of the members, the accumulation of the co-operatives and the accumulation of the state.Therefore, please yourself, and inform the specialists, counties, districts, townships, and even the cooperatives to investigate and analyze this issue, and calculate the ratio of grain to non-grain output, so as to educate the cadres and the masses.

central June 14, 1956 Published according to Mao Zedong's manuscript. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Tan Zhenlin (1902-1983), a native of Youxian County, Hunan Province.At that time, he was Deputy Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Director of the Second Office of the Central Secretariat.