Chapter 67 On the Problem of Socialist Commodity Production [1]

(November 9 and 10, 1958) one Many people avoid talking about commodities and business issues, as if it would not be communism otherwise.The people's communes must produce socialist commodities suitable for exchange in order to gradually raise everyone's wages.In terms of means of subsistence, socialist commerce must be developed; and the form of the law of value must be used as a tool of economic calculation during the transition period to facilitate the gradual transition to communism.Now our economists don’t like economics, and the same is true in the Soviet Union. They think that whoever talks about the law of value has a bad reputation, which is reflected in a letter written by Yaroshenko.These people disapproved of commodity production, thinking that the Soviet Union was already communism, when in fact it was far from it.We have only practiced socialism for a few years, and we are far behind.

Lenin once strongly advocated the development of commerce, because the circulation of goods between urban and rural areas in the Soviet Union was in danger of being cut off.We also had this danger in 1950.The transportation situation is not good now, and there is a state of semi-stop flow.In my opinion, we need to develop in two directions: one is to expand allocation, and the other is to expand commodity production.Otherwise, wages cannot be paid, and life cannot be improved. Advocate seeking truth from facts, don't lie, don't report other people's pigs as your own, and don't report three hundred catties of wheat as four hundred catties.This year's 900 billion catties of grain, the maximum is 740 billion catties, it is more appropriate to count 740 billion catties and the remaining 160 billion catties as a lie.The people cannot be fooled.In the past battle reports, lying about the battle results can only deceive the people, not the enemy, and the enemy is amused to read it.If there is true, there must be false, and it is hard to tell whether it is true or false.Yanshi County originally wanted to conceal production, reporting more for less, and some of them reported more for less. People's Daily had better calm down.It is necessary to solve the problem of working methods as the key point, the party's leadership, the mass line, and seek truth from facts.

Stalin's book "Economic Problems of Socialism in the Soviet Union" should be read again.Cadres who are members of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and the Standing Committee of the Prefectural Party Committee should study it, and they should study the first, second, and third chapters of this book.In the past, I was not interested, but now it is different.There are many things worth noting in these three chapters, some of which are not well written, and some of which he himself did not understand. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 discuss commodities and the law of value. What do you think? I quite agree with many of the viewpoints, and it is necessary to explain these issues clearly.Stalin believed that in the USSR the means of production were not commodities.It is different in our country. The means of production are commodities but not commodities. Some of the means of production are commodities. We sell agricultural machinery to cooperatives.

There are steps to enter communism.We have expanded in two directions: on the one hand, we have developed self-sufficient production, and on the other hand, we have developed commodity production.It is time to use commodity production, commodity exchange, and the law of value as useful tools in the service of socialism.In this regard, Stalin gave many reasons.Does commodity production have a negative aspect? If so, limit it! my country is a country with very underdeveloped commodity production, even more backward than India and Brazil.India's railways and textiles are more developed than China's.Last year, we produced 370 billion catties of grain, of which 30 billion catties were used as public grain and 50 billion catties were sold to the state as commodities. Commodity grain combined accounted for less than a quarter of the total grain output.Economic crops other than food are also underdeveloped, such as tea, silk, hemp, and tobacco, which have not recovered to the highest yields in history.There needs to be a stage of developing commodity production, otherwise the commune will not be able to pay wages.For example, Hebei Province is divided into three types of counties, one is only enough to eat, one needs relief, and one can get some wages in addition to food.There are several situations in which wages are paid, some of which can only be paid a few cents.Therefore, in addition to producing food, each commune must also develop things that can be sold for money, and develop socialist commodity production and commodity exchange.It must be affirmed that socialist commodity production and commodity exchange still have positive effects.The transferred products are only a part, and most of the products are exchanged through buying and selling.

Now there is a bias, as if the sooner communism, the better.There must be steps to realize communism.Fanxian County in Shandong proposed to realize communism in two years and sent people to investigate.Now some people always want to achieve communism within three to five years. two The Great Leap Forward confused some people, and there were poems everywhere.Some people say that "poetry has no intelligibility", which is wrong.Poetry has comprehension, comprehension means mastery, and comprehension means certainty. Can't sleep, want to say something.Tried to move Stalin, and continued to persuade some comrades.I think I am right, and if the comrades on the opposite side are right, then I obey.

It is still a peasant problem.Some comrades suddenly think highly of the peasants, thinking that the peasants are the first, the workers are second, and that the peasants are even higher than the working class and are the big brothers.The countryside is ahead in some aspects. This is a phenomenon, not an essence.Some people think that the Chinese proletariat is in the countryside, as if peasants are proletarians and workers are petty bourgeois.Looking at it this way, is it Marxism? Some comrades are Marxists when they read Marxism textbooks, and they discount it when they encounter practical problems.This wind has hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.As for the crowd, they were also a little groggy.Therefore, it is prudent to avoid using capitalist categories that still have positive meanings—commodity production, commodity circulation, the law of value, etc.—to serve socialism.The writing of Article 36 [2] is evidence. Try to use unobvious words and phrases to muddle through, so that it can appear that the peasants have entered communism.This is an incomplete and unserious attitude towards Marxism.This is something that concerns hundreds of millions of farmers.Stalin said that the peasants cannot be expropriated.The people's communes of our country not only have seeds, but also fertilizers and products, all of which are owned by farmers.The country does not give it things, does not conduct equivalent exchanges, and its products will not be given to you.Is it better to treat this issue rashly or cautiously? The secretary of the Xiuwu County Party Committee dared not declare that the commune was owned by the whole people.His first concern is that there will be a famine, the agricultural production will decrease, and wages will not be paid, and the state will not be able to subsidize it;This comrade is thinking about things, not rash.We have not declared land to be state-owned, but land, seeds, livestock, large and small farm implements to be owned by society.During this period, only through commodity production and commodity exchange can farmers be guided to develop production and enter ownership by the whole people.

Some of us are now on the verge of destroying commodity production.They yearn for communism, but worry about commodity production as soon as it is mentioned, thinking that it is a capitalist thing. They do not distinguish the difference between socialist commodity production and capitalist commodity production, and do not understand the importance of utilizing the role of commodity production under socialist conditions.This is a manifestation of not recognizing objective laws, and it is a problem of not knowing the 500 million peasants.In the period of socialism, commodity production should be used to unite hundreds of millions of peasants.I thought that after the establishment of the People's Commune, commodity production and commodity exchange should be further developed, and socialist commodity production should be greatly developed in a planned way, such as livestock products, soybeans, jute, casings, fruit trees, and furs.Now some people prefer not to do business, at least hundreds of thousands of people do not want to do business.This point of view is wrong, and it violates objective laws.What would the peasants in Shaanxi do if they didn’t pay any money for eating the walnuts from Shaanxi? If they took out the cotton from Qiliying[3] for free, their heads would be broken immediately.This means not knowing the 500 million peasants and not knowing what attitude the proletariat should adopt towards them.Engels once said, "Once society possesses the means of production, commodity production will be eliminated, and the domination of products over producers will also be eliminated." [4] Products had a controlling effect on people in the old society.Stalin's analysis of Engels' formula was correct. Stalin said: "What Engels refers to in his formula is not to nationalize part of the means of production, but to nationalize all means of production, that is, to nationalize not only the industrial Moreover, the means of production in agriculture should be owned by the whole people." "Engels believed that in such a country, while all the means of production are publicized, commodity production should also be eliminated." [5] Now our ownership by the whole people is a small part, only a small part of the means of production and social products.Commerce can only be abolished if all the means of production are in possession.Our economists do not seem to understand this.

Stalin said that there is a kind of "poor Marxist" who believes that the small and medium producers in the countryside should be expropriated. [6] There are also such people in our country.Some comrades are eager to declare that the people's communes are owned by the whole people, abolish commerce, and implement product allocation. This is depriving farmers and will only make Taiwan happy.We made some mistakes in 1954. We requisitioned too much grain, and all the peasants opposed us. Everyone talked about grain, and every household talked about unified purchase. This is also a "poor Marxist" because they don't know what the peasants have. How much grain.This is still expropriation, but it is too much, and the peasants object.We had this kind of experience and made this kind of mistake, so we cut it down and decided to requisition only 83 billion catties.Now the farmers' labor is their own, just like the land and other means of production (seeds, tools, water conservancy projects, trees, fertilizers, etc.), so they have product ownership.For some reason, our philosophers and economists have apparently forgotten these issues.Forgetting this, we risk becoming divorced from the peasantry.

Commodity production cannot be confused with capitalism.Why are you afraid of commodity production? It is nothing more than fear of capitalism.Now that the state is doing business with the people's communes, capitalism has long been ruled out, so why are you afraid of commodity production? Don't be afraid, I think it is necessary to greatly develop commodity production.Are there still capitalists exploiting workers in our country? No, why are you afraid? Commodity production cannot be viewed in isolation. Stalin’s words are absolutely correct. He said: “Commodity production must not be regarded as a kind of independent and independent Commodity production depends on what economic system it is associated with. It is capitalist commodity production when it is associated with the capitalist system, and socialist commodity production when it is associated with the socialist system.Commodity production has existed since ancient times. The word "Shang" in the Shang Dynasty means that there was already commodity production at that time.It is completely wrong to regard King Zhou, Qin Shihuang, and Cao Cao[8] as bad people.King Zhou was a man of great ability in both literature and military affairs.King Zhou defeated the barbarians in Xuzhou and won the battle, but the loss was too great and the prisoners were too many to digest, so the country perished.It is an exaggerated statement in the "Book of Books" to say that "blood is flowing and drifting"[9], King Zhou was extremely cruel.That's why Mencius said: "It is better to have no faith than to have nothing." [10] Commodity production in the slave era did not lead to capitalism.Commodity production, Stalin said, "served the feudal system, but, although it prepared certain conditions for capitalist production, it did not lead to capitalism". [11] This statement by Stalin is not very accurate. It should be said: The capitalist mode of production has been conceived in the womb of feudal society.

At the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee[12] in 1949, I mentioned in my report the issue of restricting the capitalist economic sector, and the capitalist economic sector should not be allowed to spread unchecked.Since 1950, we have allowed the capitalist economic sector to develop for six years, but at the same time we have implemented processing and ordering, unified purchase and underwriting, public-private joint ventures, and carried out socialist transformation of the capitalist economic sector.By 1956, they came practically empty-handed, and we already had what Stalin called "some decisive economic conditions"[13].Stalin said: "Let me ask, why can't commodity production serve our socialist society in the same way for a certain period of time and not lead to capitalism?" [14] This sentence is very important.Have already eaten ghosts, are you still afraid of ghosts? Don't be afraid, it will not lead to capitalism, because there is no economic basis for capitalism.Commodity production can obediently serve socialism and lead 500 million peasants to ownership by the whole people.Is commodity production a useful tool? It should be said with certainty: yes.For the sake of the 500 million peasants, we should make full use of this tool to develop socialist production.This issue should be raised among the cadres for discussion.

Labor, land and other means of production are all owned by the peasants and collectively owned by the people's communes, so the products are also owned by the communes.They are only willing to exchange the products they produce for the commodities they need, and they do not accept any means other than commodity exchange to take away the products of the commune.We should not think that Chinese farmers are particularly progressive.The idea of ​​the secretary of the Xiuwu County Party Committee is completely correct.The necessity of commodity circulation is something communists have to consider.It is only after the product has been fully developed that it is possible for the circulation of commodities to tend to disappear.Comrades, it is unrealistic for us to be in such a hurry to get rid of commodities only nine years after the founding of the People's Republic of China.Only when the state has the right to dispose of all products can the commodity economy become unnecessary and disappear.As long as there are two kinds of property, commodity production and commodity exchange are extremely necessary and extremely useful.Henan proposed a four-year transition to communism. There is "too much" Marxism, so don't rush to complete it in four years.Don't think that after four years the peasants in Henan will be the same as the workers in Zhengzhou, this is impossible.We have waged a revolutionary war for twenty-two years, and we have patiently waited for the victory of the democratic revolution.How can socialism be done without patience? Impatient is not enough. Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] From November 2 to 10, 1958, Mao Zedong convened some central leaders and some local leaders to hold a working conference in Zhengzhou.In his many speeches at the meeting, he criticized the erroneous propositions of rushing to make the people's communes transition from collective ownership to ownership by the whole people, from socialism to communism, and trying to abolish commodity production.This article is an excerpt of Mao Zedong's speech on the issue of socialist commodity production.One is from the speech on November 9; the other is from the speech on the afternoon of November 10. [2] Refers to Article 36 rewritten when the first revision of the "Forty-Article Outline of Socialist Construction in Fifteen Years (1958-1972)" was revised, the content is: "People's communes shall develop according to the necessary social division of labor. Production requires both self-sufficient products and products for exchange. In addition to continuing to adopt the contract system between communes, the exchange of products should gradually transition from the contract system between the state and the communes. to the allocation system.” This outline was not formally documented. [3] Refers to Qiliying People's Commune in Xinxiang, Henan. [4] See Engels' "On Anti-Dühring" (Volume 3 of Selected Works of Marx and Engels, People's Publishing House, 1995 edition, p. 633). [5] See Stalin's "Socialist Economic Problems in the Soviet Union" ("Stalin Selected Works" volume two, People's Publishing House, 1979 edition, p. 546). [6] See Stalin's "Economic Problems of Socialism in the Soviet Union".The original text reads: "Nor can one take as an answer the opinion of another poor Marxist, who thinks that perhaps power should be seized and the small and medium producers in the countryside should be expropriated and their means of production communalized." ("Selected Works of Stalin") "Volume 2, People's Publishing House, 1979 edition, p. 547) [7] See Stalin's "Socialist Economic Problems in the Soviet Union" ("Stalin Selected Works" volume two, People's Publishing House, 1979 edition, p. 549). [8] King Zhou, also known as Emperor Xin, was the last king of the Shang Dynasty.Qin Shihuang, that is, Yingzheng (259 BC-210 BC), the founder of the Qin Dynasty.Cao Cao (155-220), courtesy name Mengde, was born in Peiguoqiao (now Hao County, Anhui), a statesman and military strategist during the Three Kingdoms period. [9] See "Book of Books · Zhou Shu · Wu Cheng". [10] See "Mencius: Dedicated". [11] See Stalin's "Socialist Economic Problems in the Soviet Union" ("Stalin Selected Works" volume two, People's Publishing House, 1979 edition, p. 549). [12] The Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee, see note [8] on page 98 of this volume. [13] Refers to the establishment of public ownership of the means of production, the elimination of the wage labor system and the elimination of the exploitation system.See Stalin's "Economic Problems of Socialism in the Soviet Union" ("Selected Works of Stalin", Volume 2, People's Publishing House, 1979 edition, p. 549). [14] See Stalin's "Economic Problems of Socialism in the Soviet Union" ("Selected Works of Stalin", Volume 2, People's Publishing House, 1979 edition, p. 549).