THE DRAFT PROGRAMME FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 1956-1967

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00418R006200350015-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 43
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 15
• Content Type: REPORT

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THE DRAFT PROGRAMME
FOR
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
IN THE
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
1956-1967
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THE DRAFT PROGRAMME
FOR
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
IN THE
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
1956-1967
FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS
PEKING 1.956
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EDITOR'S NOTE
On January 25, 1956 Mao Tse-tung, Chairman of
the People's Republic of China, called a meeting of
the Supreme State Conference to discuss the Draft
National Programme for Agricultural Development
(1956-1967) which had been submitted by the Polit-
ical Bureau of the Central Committee of the Com-
munist Party of China.
In his address at the meeting Chairman Mao said
that the country was at that moment witnessing the
flood tide of the great socialist revolution. With the
founding of the People's Republic of China, the
Chinese revolution had passed from the stage of
bourgeois-democratic revolution to that of socialist
revolution. In other words, it had started the period
of transition from capitalism to socialism. The work
of the first three of the past six years had been con-
centrated mainly on restoring the national economy
and carrying out various social reforms - first and
foremost land reform - left incomplete in the first
stage of the revolution. Since last summer socialist
transformation, that is, socialist revolution, had devel-
oped on a vast scale with far-reaching results. This
socialist revolution, he said, could be completed in the
main and on a national scale in about three more years.
The object of socialist revolution, said Chairman
Mao, was to set free the productive forces of society.
It was quite certain that the change-over from indi-
vidual to socialist, collective ownership in agriculture
and handicrafts, and from capitalist to socialist owner-
ship in private industry and commerce would lead to
an ever greater release of productive forces; this laid
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the social basis for an enormous expansion of industrial
and agricultural output.
Our method of carrying out the socialist revolu-
tion, continued Chairman Mao, was a peaceful one.
In the past many people, both inside and outside the
Communist Party, doubted if that was possible. But
since the great upsurge of the co-operative movement
in the countryside last summer, and the swelling tide
of socialist transformation in the towns and cities in
the past few months, there was no longer much room
for doubt.
Conditions in China were such that it was not
only possible, by using peaceful methods, methods of
persuasion and education, to turn individual into so-
cialist, collective ownership, but also to change capi-
talist into socialist ownership. The speed of socialist
transformation in the past few months had been far
more rapid than anyone expected. There were people
who had worried that it would not be easy to get
through the "difficult pass" to socialism. It now
looked, said Chairman Mao, as if this "difficult pass"
would not be so difficult to get through after all.
A fundamental change had taken place in the
political situation in China, he went on. Up to last
summer there had been many difficulties in agricul-
ture, but things were quite different now. Many
things that had seemed impracticable were now quite
feasible. It was possible to fulfil ahead of time and
overfulfil the country's First Five-Year Plan. Now
this National Programme for Agricultural Develop-
ment for 1956-1967, based on the realities of the great
upsurge in socialist transformation and socialist con-
struction, was intended to outline the prospects for
agricultural production and rural work and set a clear-
cut goal before China's peasants and all who work in
agriculture. A spurt must be made in other kinds
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of work besides agriculture to keep in step with the
situation arising from this upsurge of socialist rev-
olution.
In conclusion, Chairman Mao said that the nation
must have a far-reaching, comprehensive plan of work
for the next few decades to wipe out its economic,
scientific and cultural backwardness and get abreast
of the most advanced nations in the world. To reach
this great goal the decisive thing was trained per-
sonnel-to have plenty of capable scientists and tech-
nicians. At the same time they had to go on
strengthening and extending the people's democratic
united front, by uniting all forces that could be united.
The Chinese people would ally themselves with people
anywhere in the world to work for the preservation
of world peace.
Chairman Mao Tse-tung was followed by Liao
Lu-yen, Deputy Head of the Department of Rural
Work of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Com-
mittee, who made a speech explaining the Draft Na-
tional Programme for Agricultural Development
(1956-1967).
Then representatives of science, education, indus-
try and commerce and of the various democratic parties
made speeches, all expressing their warm support of
the Draft National Programme for Agricultural Devel-
opment. Included in this pamphlet are the full text
of the Draft National Programme for Agricultural
Development (1956-1967) and the explanations on the
programme given by Liao Lu-yen.
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CONTENTS
THE DRAFT NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR AGRI-
CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (1956-1967) submitted
by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China on January 23, 1956 . . 9
SOME EXPLANATIONS ON THE DRAFT NATIONAL
PROGRAMME FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOP-
MENT (1956-1967) By LIAO LU-YEN . . . . . 27
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THE DRAFT NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
1956-1967
(Submitted by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee
of the Communist Party of China on January 23, 1956)
The great tide of agricultural co-operation that
has swept China is bringing forth an immense, nation-
wide growth of agricultural production, and this in
turn is stimulating the development of the whole
national economy and all branches of science, culture,
education and public health.
To give the leading Party and government bodies
at all levels and the people of China, particularly the
peasants, a long-term programme of agricultural
development, the Political Bureau of the Central
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, after
consulting comrades holding responsible positions on
Party committees in the provinces, municipalities and
autonomous regions, has drawn up a draft national
programme outlining the scale of agricultural develop-
ment during the period 1956-1967 (the last year of
the third Five-Year Plan). On a certain number of
related questions this draft programme also touches
upon work in the urban areas. It sets a number of
important targets for agricultural production. Others
will be specified in each of the five-year plans and in
the annual plans.
This draft is now distributed so that it can be
studied by the Party committees of all provinces
(municipalities or autonomous regions), administra-
tive regions (autonomous thou), counties (autonomous
counties), districts and hsiang (nationality hsiang),
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as well as by all departments concerned, all of whom
are asked to submit their views on it. At the same
time workers, peasants, scientists and people from all
walks of life who love their country should also be
widely consulted. These views should be collected
before April 1, 1956, so that the programme can be
submitted for discussion and adoption by the seventh
plenary session (enlarged) of the seventh Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China which
will be held some time after that date. It will then be
presented to the state bodies and the people of the
whole country, first and foremost the peasants, as a
recommendation.
Except in some remote areas where democratic so-
cial reforms have not yet been introduced, every lead-
ing Party and government body of provinces (munici-
palities, autonomous regions), administrative regions
(autonomous chou), counties (autonomous counties),
districts and hsiang (nationality hsiang) should draw
up specific plans, based on the present draft national
programme and taking into account conditions peculiar
to each locality. These plans should specify the suc-
cessive stages of development of every aspect of their
local work. At the same time all state departments
concerned with economic affairs, with science, culture,
education, public health, civic affairs or the judiciary
should also review and revise their plans of work in
accordance with the present national programme.
(1) Seeing that in 1955 more than 60 per cent
of all peasant households were in agricultural pro-
ducers' co-operatives, all provinces, municipalities and
autonomous regions should, in the main, complete
agricultural co-operation in its elementary form and
set themselves the goal of getting about 85 per cent
of all peasant households into agricultural producers'
co-operatives in 1956.
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(2) Areas where co-operation is on better
foundations and where a number of co-operatives of
advanced form are already functioning should, in the
main, complete the change-over to co-operation of
advanced form by 1957. Each district of the remain-
ing areas should, in 1956, set up and run one or more
large co-operatives of advanced form (each with a
hundred or more peasant households) to serve as ex-
amples; and by 1958 they too should practically com-
plete co-operation of advanced form.
In -going forward to the advanced form of co-
operation certain conditions must be observed: the
change must be of the free will and choice of the
members; the co-operative must have people ca-
pable of giving proper leadership ; and it must be
possible for over 90 per cent of the members to earn
more after the change. When all such conditions in
the elementary form of co-operatives are ripe, they
should at different times, group by group, go over to
the advanced form of co-operation, otherwise the
growth of their productive forces will be hampered.
(3) Every agricultural producers' co-operative
must make suitable arrangements to see that those of
its members who lack manpower, are widows or
widowers, who have no close relations to depend on,
or who are disabled ex-service men, are given pro-
ductive work and a livelihood, so that they have
enough food, clothing and fuel, can bring up their
children properly, and see that the dead are decently
buried, so that they are assured of help during their
lifetime and decent burial thereafter.
(4) During 1956 attempts should be made to
settle the question of admitting to the co-operatives
former landlords and rich peasants who have given
up exploitation and who have asked to join. This can
be done on the following lines: (a) Those who have
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behaved well and worked well may be allowed to join
co-operatives as members and change their status to
that of peasants. (b) Those who have conducted
themselves neither well nor badly, but have behaved
fairly well, may be allowed to join as candidate mem-
bers, with their status for the time being unchanged.
(c) Those who have behaved badly the Hsiang Peo-
ple's Council should allow them to work in the co-
operatives under supervision; those who have commit-
ted sabotage should be brought to trial as the law
directs. (d) Whether they acquire the status of co-
operative member or not, former landlords or rich
peasants shall not, for a specified time after joining
a co-operative, be allowed to hold any important post
in it. (e) Co-operatives must work on the principle
of equal pay for equal work, and pay former land-
lords or rich peasants in the co-operative the proper
rate for the work they put in. (f) Sons and daugh-
ters of landlords or rich peasants who were under
eighteen at the time of the land reform, or who were
still at school, or who had taken part in work before
the land reform and had been under the thumb of
other members of the family, should not be treated
as landlords or rich peasants, but should be allowed
to join the co-operatives as members, be reckoned as
of peasant status, and given work suited to their
abilities.
(5) Counter-revolutionaries in the rural areas
should be dealt with as follows : (a) Those who have
committed sabotage or had committed other serious
crimes in the past, and against whom there is great
public feeling, should be put under arrest and dealt
with in accordance with law. (b) Those who com-
mitted crimes which were commonplace in the past,
but have not committed sabotage since liberation, and
against whom public feeling is not great, should be
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allowed by the Hsiang People's Council to work in the
co-operative under supervision, to be reformed by
work. (c) Those who have committed minor crimes
and since made amends, those who have served their
sentence, been released and behaved well, and those
who committed crimes but did deserving work in the
campaign to suppress counter-revolutionaries, may be
allowed to join the co-operative-some as members, no
longer regarded as counter-revolutionaries but as
peasants, and others for the time being as candidate
members, not classified as peasants-depending on
what they have done to make amends and what merit
they have earned. In no case, however, whether they
are admitted as members or not, must they be allow-
ed to take on important posts in the co-operative for
a specified time after joining. (d) Such counter-
revolutionaries as have been allowed to work in the
co-operatives under supervision should be paid for their
work by the co-operative on the principle of equal pay
for equal work. (e) Other members of the families
of counter-revolutionaries should be allowed to join
co-operatives, and enjoy the same treatment as any-
one else without being discriminated against, provided
they took no part in crimes committed by the counter-
revolutionaries.
(6) In the twelve years starting with 1956, in
areas north of the Yellow River, the Tsinling Moun-
tains, the River Pailung, and the Yellow River in
Chinghai Province, the average annual yield of grain
should be raised from the 1955 figure of over 150
catties to the mou to 400 catties.l South of the Yel-
low River and north of the Huai the yield should be
raised from the 1955 figure of 208 catties to 500 cat-
ties. South of the Huai, the Tsinling Mountains and
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the River Pailung it should rise from the 1955 figure
of 400 catties to 800 catties per mou.
In the same twelve years the average annual
yield of ginned cotton should be raised from the 1955
figure of 35 catties to the mou (the average for the
whole of China) to 60, 80 or 100 catties depending on
local conditions.
Everywhere vigorous steps should be taken to see
that output targets set in state plans for grain, cot-
ton, soya, peanuts, rape, sesame, hemp, cured tobacco,
silk, tea, sugar-cane, sugar-beet, fruit, tea-oil and
tung-oil trees, are reached. Besides this, all areas
must take more energetic measures to develop all other
marketable industrial crops. In large mountainous
areas vigorous efforts should be made to grow all pos-
sible marketable industrial crops, provided that they
not only produce enough food to make themselves self-
sufficient, but also to build up a surplus against times
of natural calamities. In those parts of South China
where conditions permit, vigorous efforts should be
made to develop tropical crops.
Agricultural producers' co-operatives should en-
courage their members to grow vegetables on their
own private plots by way of improving their standard
of living. Peasants who live on the outskirts of cities
or near industrial or mining districts should go in for
market gardening in a planned way so that the supply
of vegetables to these places can be ensured.
More medicinal herbs should be grown. Those
which grow wild should be protected and, wherever
possible, gradually brought under cultivation.
(7) All agricultural producers' co-operatives, be-
sides producing enough food for their own consump-
tion and to meet the requirements of the state, should,
within 12 years starting from 1956, store enough
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grain for emergency use for a year, a year and a half
or two years, according to local conditions. All prov-
inces (municipalities or autonomous regions), adminis-
trative regions (autonomous chou), counties (autono-
mous counties), districts, hsiang (nationality hsiang)
and all agricultural producers' co-operatives, should
draw up detailed plans to meet this requirement.
During the same period, the state too should store
sufficient reserve grain for one to two years for use in
any emergency.
(8) Live-stock breeding should be encouraged.
Cattle, horses, donkeys, mules, camels, pigs, sheep and
all kinds of poultry should be protected and bred. Spe-
cial care should be taken to protect the females and
young and improve breeds. State live-stock farms
should be extended.
The prevention and cure of. animal diseases is an
important part of live-stock breeding. As far as pos-
sible, all areas should, within a period varying from
7 to 12 years, practically eliminate the most serious
animal diseases such as rinderpest, hog cholera, New-
castle disease, pork measles (cysticercosis), contagious
pleuro-pneumonia of cattle, foot and mouth disease,
lamb dysentery, sheep mange, and glanders. For this
purpose, within seven years starting from 1956,
veterinary stations should be set up in all counties in
agricultural areas and all districts in pasture areas.
Veterinary work should be improved and extended.
The co-operatives should have personnel with basic
training in the prevention and cure of animal diseases.
Care should be taken to protect pastures, improve
and grow grass for cattle fodder and encourage silage.
Agricultural producers' co-operatives and live-stock
breeding co-operatives should see that they have their
own supplies of fodder and grass.
(9) There are two main ways of increasing the
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yield of crops : taking steps to increase production, and
imparting better techniques.
(A) The chief steps to increase production are:
(a) water conservancy projects and water and soil
conservation; (b) use of improved farm tools, and
gradual introduction of mechanized farming; (c)
efforts to discover every possible source of manure and
improve methods of fertilizing; (d) extension of the
use of the best and most suitable strains; (e) soil
improvement ; (f) extension of multiple cropping areas ;
(g) planting more high-yielding crops; (h) improv-
ing farming methods; (i) wiping out insect pests
and plant diseases; and (j) opening up virgin and
idle land and extending cultivated areas.
(B) The chief steps to impart better techniques
include the following: (a) provinces, municipalities
and autonomous regions should collect data on the
experience of the best co-operatives in their own areas
in increasing yields, compile and publish at least one
book a year, so as to spread this knowledge as widely
and rapidly as possible; (b) agricultural exhibitions;
(c) conferences of model peasants called at regular
intervals by provinces (municipalities or autonomous
regions), administrative regions (autonomous thou),
counties (autonomous counties), districts, hsiang
(nationality hsiang), with awards and citations to
peasants who distinguish themselves in increasing
production; (d) visits and emulation campaigns, the
exchange of experience; and (e) imparting technical
knowledge and encouraging peasants and cadres to
take an active part in learning better techniques.
(10) Water conservancy projects and water
and soil conservation. All small-scale water conserv-
ancy projects (for example, the digging of wells and
ponds and the building of irrigation canals and dams),
the harnessing of small rivers and water and soil
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conservation work should be carried out by local
governments and agricultural producers' co-operatives
systematically and on a large scale. This work and
the large-scale water conservancy projects and the
harnessing of the larger rivers undertaken by the
state should virtually eliminate all ordinary floods and
droughts in 7 to 12 years, starting from 1956. The
engineering industry, commercial undertakings and
supply and marketing co-operatives should see that
pumps, water-wheels, steam engines and other de-
vices for raising water are made available.
Local governments and agricultural producers'
co-operatives, basing their work on the unified plan
for developing the economy of the mountainous areas,
should wherever possible carry out the water and soil
conservation work required by agricultural produc-
tion, live-stock breeding and forestry, so that within
12 years striking results are achieved and soil erosion
is, in the main, stopped.
Within twelve years starting from 1956 small
hydro-electric power stations should be built where
water power is available, each of them to serve one or
several hsiang. This, alongside the great water con-
servancy and power projects undertaken by the state,
will gradually bring electrification to the countryside.
(11) Promote new types of farm tools. Starting
from 1956, within three to five years 6 million more
ploughs with two wheels and two shares should be
in use, together with a considerable number of sowers,
cultivators, sprayers, dusters, harvesters, shellers and
silage cutters. Good repair services should be main-
tained. Agriculture will be gradually mechanized as
the industrial development of the country forges
ahead.
(12) Within twelve years, starting from 1956,
local governments and agricultural producers' co-
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operatives in most areas should have made them-
selves responsible for providing more than 90 per cent
of all manure and other fertilizers needed-and in
some places the whole of it. To work towards this
position, peasants everywhere should be encouraged
to do everything they possibly can to increase the
amount of fertilizer, paying special attention to pig-
breeding (and in some cases sheep-breeding), and
providing adequate green manure crops. Local gov-
ernments should take active steps to develop the
manufacture of phosphate and potassium fertilizers,
extend the use of bacterial fertilizer (including soya
bean and peanut root nodule bacteria), and collect and
utilize to the fullest extent urban waste and manure
from other miscellaneous sources. At the same time
the state will vigorously promote the chemical fertilizer
industry.
(13) Energetic steps must be taken to breed
and extend the use of improved strains suitable to
local conditions and encourage work to improve seed.
Within two or three years starting from 1956 picked
seed should be in pretty general use for cotton grow-
ing, and within seven to twelve years the same should
be true of such important crops as rice, wheat, maize,
soya, millet, kaoliang, potatoes, rape, sesame, sugar-
cane, tobacco and hemp. All agricultural producers'
co-operatives should set aside land specially for grow-
ing seed as such. State farms should make them-
selves centres for increasing the amount of picked
seed.
(14) Agricultural producers' co-operatives should
take energetic steps to improve the soil and do every-
thing they can to turn poor into fertile land.
(15) Extend the area of multiple crops. In
twelve years starting with 1956 the average multiple
crop index set for various areas will be raised to the
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following levels: (a) areas south of Wuling Moun-
tains, 230 per cent; (b) areas north of Wuling Moun-
tains and south of the Yangtse River, 200 per cent ;
(c) areas north of the Yangtse River and south of
the Yellow River, Tsinling Mountains and River Pai-
lung, 160 per cent; (d) areas north of the Yellovi
River, Tsinling Mountains and River Pailung and south
of the Great Wall, 120 per cent; and (e) in areas north
of the Great Wall, multiple crop areas should also be
expanded as much as possible.
(16) More high-yield crops should be grown.
First, the area under rice should be extended, and all
available water resources used to grow more. In the
twelve years starting 1956 the area under rice should
be increased by 310 million mou, maize by 150 million
mou and potatoes by 100 million mou.
(17) Methods of cultivation should be improved.
Deep ploughing, careful cultivation, proper rotation
of crops, intercropping and close planting, sowing in
good time, thinning out and protecting young plants
and improving field work-these things must be done
to bring about good yields and good harvests.
(18) In seven or twelve years starting 1956,
wherever possible, virtually wipe out insect pests and
plant diseases that do most harm to crops. These in-
clude locusts, armyworms, rice borers, maize borers,
aphides, red spiders, pink boll-worms, wheat smut,
wheat nematode and black rot on sweet potato. Local
plans should include any other serious insect pests
and plant diseases that can be wiped out. Greater
attention should be paid to plant protection and
quarantine measures to achieve this end.
(19) The state should reclaim waste land in a
planned way and extend the area under cultivation.
Wherever conditions permit, agricultural producers'
co-operatives should be encouraged to organize branch
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co-operatives to carry out such reclamation. The work
should be linked with the general plan of water and
soil conservation so as to prevent any danger of water
loss and soil erosion.
(20) Expansion of state farms. The area culti-
vated by state farms should be increased in the twelve
years starting 1956 from the 1955 figure of 13,360,000
mou to 140 million mou. Vigorous work must be put
in to improve the running of state farms, to raise
their output, practise the strictest economy and cut
down cost of production, so that state farms are the
models of farming technique and management which
they are expected to be.
(21) In the twelve years starting 1956 we must
clothe every possible bit of denuded waste land and
mountains with greenery. Wherever possible trees
should be planted in a systematic way near houses,
villages, along roads and rivers, as well as on waste
land and mountains. To achieve that end, agricul-
tural producers' co-operatives should set up decent-
sized nurseries of their own to grow saplings, in addi-
tion to the nurseries started by the state.
We should plant and tend not only forests (in-
cluding bamboo groves) for timber, but also other
trees of economic value such as mulberry and oak (for
feeding silkworms), and tea-trees, trees for varnish
and fruit, and oil-yielding groves.
Afforestation plans should include the creation
of wind-breaks, sand-breaks and shelter belts to pro-
tect farmland, the head-waters of rivers, sea coasts
and cities.
Local agricultural producers' co-operatives should
plant and look after trees along railways, roads and
rivers, and the income derived from this source should
accrue to the co-operatives. Afforestation work along
railways and roads should tally with specifications
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made by the government departments concerned with
railways and communications.
Firm steps should be taken to prevent insect
pests and plant diseases in forests, and to improve
measures to protect forests and combat forest fires.
(22) Energetic steps should be taken to raise
the output of marine products and develop fresh-water
fisheries. In the case of sea fishing, more safety
measures should be adopted and more deep-sea fishing
done. In the case of fresh-water fish farming more
should be done to breed good stock and prevent fish
diseases.
(23) If agriculture, forestry, live-stock breed-
ing, subsidiary rural production, and fisheries are to
develop to the full, if the national wealth and the in-
come of the peasants are to grow, co-operatives must
make fuller use of manpower and raise labour pro-
ductivity. In the seven years beginning with 1956,
every able-bodied man in the countryside ought to be
able to put in at least 250 working days a year.
Serious efforts should be made to draw women into
the work of agricultural and subsidiary production.
Within seven years, every able-bodied woman in the
countryside should, besides the time she spends on
household work, be able to give at least 120 working
days a year to productive work. In addition, all those
in the countryside who can contribute only "half man-
power" or who are fitted only for light work should
be encouraged to do well at whatever work they are
fit for and suited to. At the same time energetic
efforts should be made to improve technical skills, to
improve labour organization and management, and so
steadily raise the labour productivity of all members
of co-operatives.
(24) Agricultural producers' co-operatives should
work on the maxim "industry and thrift" in all they
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do. Industry means giving full encouragement to mem-
bers to work conscientiously, to branch out into new
fields of production, to develop a many-sided economy
and to exercise minute care over everything. Thrift
means being strictly economical, lowering the cost
of production and opposing extravagance and waste.
In all capital construction plans co-operatives should
make the fullest use of their own manpower and the
material and capital at their disposal.
(25) Improve housing conditions. As produc-
tion by the co-operatives grows and the income of
their members increases, agricultural producers' co-
operatives should encourage and assist members to
repair or build houses for their families and thus im-
prove their housing conditions. This should be done
in a prepared, planned way, at different times and
group by group, taking needs and possibilities into
account, and on a voluntary and economical basis, for
it will help them with their work, their political and
cultural activity, and improve their health conditions.
(26) In seven or twelve years from 1956 deter-
mined efforts should be made to virtually wipe out
wherever possible all diseases from which the peo-
ple suffer most seriously, such as schistosomiasis,
filariasis, hookworm, kala-azar, encephalitis, bubonic
plague, malaria, smallpox and venereal diseases.
Energetic steps should be taken to prevent and cure
other diseases such as measles, dysentery, typhoid
fever, diphtheria, trachoma, pulmonary tuberculosis,
leprosy, goitre and Kaschin-Beck's disease.
To this end every effort should be made to train
medical workers and gradually set up health and
medical services in counties and districts, and clinics
in villages.
(27) Wipe out the "four evils." In five, seven
or twelve years beginning 1956 we should practically
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wipe out the "four evils"-rats, sparrows, flies and
mosquitoes-wherever possible.
(28) We should improve our research in agri-
cultural science, provide better technical guidance for
agriculture and train in a planned way large numbers
of people to handle the technical side of agriculture.
A systematic effort is needed to start, improve and
extend bodies undertaking research in agricultural
science and those providing technical guidance. These
bodies include colleges of agricultural science, re-
gional and other specialized institutes of agricultural
science, provincial agricultural experimental stations,
model county breeding farms, and district agricul-
tural instruction centres. In this way agricultural
research and technical guidance will be of better ser-
vice to developing agriculture. In the twelve years
from 1956 agricultural departments at all levels
should, to meet the needs of co-operative economy,
between them be responsible for training five to six
million experts of primary and intermediate grades
for technical work in agriculture, forestry, water con-
servancy, live-stock breeding, veterinary work, farm
management and accounting for agricultural pro-
ducers' co-operatives.
(29) In five or seven years from 1956, depend-
ent on the situation locally, we must virtually wipe
out illiteracy. The minimum standard of literacy
must be 1,500 characters. In every hsiang we should
have spare-time schools to raise the educational
standard of our cadres and the peasants. In the
next seven or twelve years, again depending on the
local situation, we should extend to all rural areas
compulsory elementary education. Primary schools
in the countryside should mostly be run by agricul-
tural producers' co-operatives. In seven or twelve
years, too, we should establish in the rural areas a
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wide network of film projection teams, clubs, in-
stitutes, libraries, amateur dramatic groups and other
bodies for education and recreation. In the next seven
to twelve years, every hsiang should have a sports
field and sport should be a common sight in the
countryside.
(30) Starting from 1956 we shall, in the next
seven to twelve years, depending on local circumstances,
extend the radio diffusion network to all rural areas.
All hsiang and all large producers' co-operatives in
agriculture, forestry, fishery, live-stock breeding, salt
producing and handicrafts are called on to install ei-
ther rediffusion loudspeakers or wireless sets proper.
(31) In seven to twelve years from 1956, vary-
ing with local circumstances, all hsiang and large co-
operatives should have a telephone service. Radio tele-
phone-telegraph equipment should be installed wherever
it is needed. Inside seven years all villages are to be
provided with a decent post and telegraphic service
and a proper distribution of newspapers and periodicals.
(32) In a matter of five, seven or twelve years,
starting from 1956, depending on differing local condi-
tions, the whole countryside must be provided with
networks of roads. All roads between one province
(municipality or autonomous region) and another, be-
tween administrative regions (autonomous chou), coun-
ties (autonomous counties), districts and hsiang (na-
tionality hsiang), must be built to specifications laid
down by government departments concerned with
communications. All roads must be constantly and
carefully kept up.
In places served by water-ways, navigable chan-
nels should be dredged and kept in good order under
whatever conditions are possible to improve com-
munications.
(33) In seven to twelve years from 1956, de-
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pending on local circumstances, a network of hydro-
graphical and meteorological stations and posts should
be in the main completed so as to improve the work
of providing agriculture with reliable weather and
meteorological forecasts. All areas should pay atten-
tion to such forecasts so that they can ward off such
calamities as flood, drought, gale and frost.
(34) In the main, co-operation among handi-
craftsmen and salt producers, the fishing and water-
side population, should be complete in 1957. Plans
should be drawn up to extend co-operation in live-
stock farming in the light of local conditions.
(35) Commercial bodies and supply and market-
ing co-operatives in rural areas should complete the
reorganization of their buying and selling machinery
in 1957, improve planning for the circulation of goods
and ensure that all rural areas are given good service
in the supply of goods and the purchase of agricul-
tural produce.
(36) In 1957 there must be a rural credit co-
operative in practically every hsiang to provide credit
and encourage saving.
(37) Protection of women and children. The
principle of equal pay for equal work must be rigidly
adhered to wherever women do productive work. Dur-
ing busy times of the year on the farms agricultural
producers' co-operatives should run creches. When
work is given out the health and physique of women
members must be taken into consideration.
Organizations concerned with health should train
midwives for the rural areas, do all they can to see
that modern methods of delivering babies are used,
provide post-natal care and take steps to cut down
the incidence of maternal diseases and the infant
mortality rate.
As co-operation in agriculture goes from strength
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to strength and as production rises and the peasants
begin to live better, suitable regulations and restric-
tions should be made in regard to the employment of
children in auxiliary work, with consideration to their
age and strength.
(38) Young people in the country should be
given every encouragement to show initiative in their
work, to study and acquire scientific knowledge and
skill. The young people in the rural areas should be-
come the spearhead, the shock force in productive,
scientific and cultural work in the countryside.
(39) Starting from 1956, in the next five to
seven years steps should be taken in the light of local
conditions to wipe out unemployment in the cities and
provide work for all urban unemployed. The un-
employed can find work not only in the cities but also
on the outskirts of towns and cities, in the country-
side proper, in areas where land reclamation is going
on or in mountainous regions, in agriculture, forestry,
live-stock breeding, subsidiary occupations, fishing, or
in the fields of science, culture, education and health
in the rural areas.
(40) Workers in the cities and peasants in the
co-operatives must give each other every support.
The workers must turn out more and better indus-
trial goods which the peasants need, and the peasants
must grow more and better grain and industrial raw
materials which industry and town-dwellers need.
Besides this, workers in the cities and peasants in
the co-operatives should arrange get-togethers, visit
one another, and write to each other. They should
keep in constant touch, give each other encourage-
ment and swap experience so as to promote the
development of industry and agriculture and help
consolidate the alliance between the workers and the
peasantry led by the working class.
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SOME EXPLANATIONS ON THE DRAFT
NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR AGRI-
CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (1956-1967)
Chairman, Comrades and Friends:
The Draft National Programme for Agricultural
Development in 1956-1967 put forward by the Polit-
ical Bureau of the Central Committee of the Com-
munist Party of China elaborates and carries forward
the earlier "seventeen-point" programme. On various
occasions in November 1955, Chairman Mao Tse-tung
exchanged views on the development of our agricul-
ture with the secretaries of 14 provincial Party com-
mittees and the secretary of the Party Committee of
the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. The "seven-
teen points" were decided on as a result of these con-
sultations. In January 1956, after further consulta-
tions with responsible comrades from various provinces,
municipalities and autonomous regions, Chairman Mao
Tse-tung expanded these 17 points into 40 to make the
first draft of this programme. In the past few days,
the Central Committee of the Party has invited 1,375
people gathered in Peking, including scientists working
in industry, agriculture, medicine, public health and
the social sciences, leading members of the democratic
parties and people's organizations, and workers in the
fields of education and culture, to group discussions of
this draft. Some good points raised in these discus-
sions were adopted and the necessary revisions made in
the draft. Other useful points also emerged (luring the
discussions. They will not be ignored; they will be
taken up and dealt with later on in our practical work,
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but they were not considered suitable for inclusion in
the programme.
The revised version of this draft programme,
adopted by the Political Bureau of the Central Com-
mittee of the Communist Party of China on January
23, is now being submitted to the Supreme State
Conference for discussion. As I am working in the
Ministry of Agriculture and am also in the Depart-
ment of Rural Work of the Central Committee of the
Party, the Central Committee of the Party has dele-
gated me to explain some points in this draft.
The following are a few points that I would like
to make.
First, the Draft National Programme for Agri-
cultural Development in 1956-1967 is put forward at
a time when the agricultural co-operative movement is
on the upsurge throughout the country.
The situation in our country has changed radi-
cally as a result of Chairman Mao Tse-tung's report,
"The Question of Agricultural Co-operation," delivered
last July, and the decisions adopted on the basis of
this report in the following October by the sixth ple-
nary session (enlarged) of the seventh Central Com-
mittee of the Communist Party of China. Let us re-
call how things were in the first half of 1955. At
that time, as a result of the influence of rightist con-
servative ideas, particularly in agricultural co-opera-
tion, the socialist transformation of agriculture had
been brought to a standstill; in some cases the trend
was even reversed; the spirit of progress was being
suppressed in the countryside, the spirit of reaction
was in the ascendant; the socialist initiative shown
by the peasants was checked and capitalist ideas began
to gain ground; the planned purchase and supply of
grain, a socialist measure of paramount importance,
came up against opposition from the forces of capital-
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ism both in town and countryside. At that time, not
a few people were worried because the growth of agri-
culture lagged behind the needs of industry; some even
became sceptical of the policy of socialist industrializa-
tion of our country. At that time, although we never
lost faith, although we were quite convinced that the
disequilibrium between industrial and agricultural
development would certainly be corrected, we had not
yet mastered the most effective way to deal with this
problem; we were not able to rid these people of their
worries.
But now things are different. Since the Central
Committee of the Party and Chairman Mao Tse-tung
grasped the key to the situation, that is, agricul-
tural co-operation, and correctly tackled this prob-
lem, the second half of 1955 saw a radical change
in the situation. There was an unprecedented up-
surge of socialist initiative among the overwhelming
majority of the peasants; a few well-off peasants, rich
peasants and former landlords were the only excep-
tions. The tide of socialist revolution rose through-
out the countryside. In a few brief months in the
second half of 1955, the number of peasant house-
holds which joined agricultural producers' co-opera-
tives increased from 16,900,000 to 70 million-that is,
from 14 per cent to over 60 per cent of all peasant
households. In some provinces and rural areas under
municipal authorities, practically all peasant house-
holds have taken up co-operative farming in its ele-
mentary form. At the present time, more and more
peasant households are joining co-operatives, and the
percentage is still rising. It is estimated that before
the spring ploughing this year, except for certain
provinces and autonomous regions, all provinces and
municipalities will have completed ahead of time the
task set in Point One of the Draft National Pro-
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gramme for Agricultural Development. In other words,
the plan for agricultural co-operation in its elementary
form will be completed ahead of time.
In areas where agricultural co-operation has a
fairly sound foundation, the growth of co-operatives
from the elementary to the advanced form (collec-
tive farms-Ed.), the transition from a semi-socialist
to a socialist stage, has taken on the character of a
mass movement. In other areas, actual steps are
being taken to set up collective farms. Liaoning Prov-
ince now has 4,655 collective farms with more than
1,600,000 peasant households in them; this is 60 per
cent of all peasant households in that province. In
the Sinsiang Special Administrative Region in Honan
Province, the switch to collective farms has been vir-
tually completed. And there are a great number of
whole counties, districts and hsiang where co-operative
farming has reached this higher stage. It is estimated
that before the spring ploughing this year, one-third of
the total number of peasant households in the country
will be in collective farms. If all agricultural pro-
ducers' co-operatives raise their output this year, it is
very likely that the task set in Point Two of the Draft
National Programme for Agricultural Development will
be realized ahead of time, that is, the drive for advanced
co-operative farming will be completed in the main
by 1957 or 1958, depending on local conditions.
In the past six months, the number of agricultural
producers' co-operatives has been growing, and grow-
ing rapidly. Are they well founded? Judging from
the facts, most of them are. With this swift flowing
tide of socialist revolution, there is no longer any
question of cadres urging the masses to join co-ops;
quite the contrary: plans for promotion of co-opera-
tive farming made by leading bodies at every level
have been outstripped again and again by the eager-
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Mess of the masses to join co-ops. The bulk of co-op
members are in fact already turning their eyes to
socialism ; they are concentrating their efforts on in-
creasing both agricultural output and subsidiary pro-
duction. There is a great deal less thinking about
narrow personal gains and losses. At the same time,
now that the co-operatives have gained experience
and the Model Draft Regulations for the Agricultural
Producers' Co-operative have been published, all the
many concrete problems which crop up and concern
the economic interests of co-operative members are
being handled more carefully and in a more reason-
able way. Generally speaking, relations between poor
and middle peasants in the co-operatives are now
normal and healthy. The essential thing-and the
most important of all-is that all the agricultural
producers' co-operatives have made or are making
plans to increase production, while the peasants are
showing the greatest keenness in their work. In 1955,
there was a record harvest; grain output was more
than 20 per cent higher than in the peak pre-libera-
tion year ; cotton output was 70 per cent higher.
Ploughing and planting in the autumn and winter of
1955 have been done more satisfactorily than in any
previous year. In many places, autumn and winter
drought has been mastered and the plan for sowing
winter wheat fulfilled and overfulfilled. The peasants
are now busy with their winter tasks and preparing
for the spring ploughing. Many jobs which in the
past were left undone until the spring are now done
early in the winter.
I myself am a native of Nanking. I was down
there at the beginning of this month, and saw groups
of peasants on its outskirts busy at work: even in
cold weather like this, some were ploughing the land,
some were working on water conservancy projects,
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some were stocking up manure. This is something
that one rarely saw in the past. And now it is happen-
ing not only in the south but in the north as well,
according to what comrades from other places tell
me. This is something new, but it has become a com-
monplace throughout the country. During the past
few years, we kept on telling the peasants that the
saying: "The plan for the year must be made in
the spring" was not true. We said: "The plan for
the year must be made in the winter," that is, in the
winter of the previous year. Not very many listened
to us. But today this new slogan has actually been
put into practice by the agricultural producers' co-
operatives and the peasant masses. There is a drain
on supplies of bean-cake, chemical fertilizers, water-
wheels, double-wheeled and double-shared ploughs and
other new farm tools. This well illustrates how keen
the peasants are at work and what initiative they are
putting into increasing production.
True enough, in the past six months, agricultural
producers' co-operatives have been set up in great
numbers, very swiftly, and they are working well.
This nation-wide upsurge in agricultural co-operation
is resulting in an upsurge of agricultural production
throughout the country. This National Programme
for Agricultural Development is put forward precisely
because at this time agricultural co-operation and pro-
duction is rising to a new height. It is timely and fully
conforms with the needs of the present situation.
Secondly, the National Programme for Agri-
cultural Development (1956-1967) has been drawn up
mainly for the peasants and we must rely mainly on
the strength of the peasants for its realization. This
programme shows the peasants in detail how to carry
out the socialist transformation of agriculture and
what is the aim of this long-term struggle for the
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development of agriculture. It also gives a picture
of the prosperous and happy future of the Chinese
countryside.
The peasants who have gone in for co-operation-
the peasants who are working hard to build their own
happy socialist life-urgently need a well defined goal
for their long-term struggle. Without this it is dif-
ficult for the agricultural producers' co-operatives to
work out comprehensive plans.
The peasants not only need a goal for their long-
term struggle to develop production: they have also
put forward a list of demands concerning their ma-
terial and cultural life. After raising output, increas-
ing their incomes and being able to eat and dress well,
they want to repair their old houses and build new
ones, to improve their living conditions, learn to read
and write, to raise their general cultural level; wipe
out disease and improve sanitary conditions, so as to
"have healthy people and abundant wealth." Such a
list of things making for improvements in the ma-
terial and cultural life of the peasants in line with
the rising level of their production is just as it should
be. We should try to realize these hopes sooner.
As Stalin pointed out, the basic economic law of
socialist development is to continuously develop pro-
duction so as to satisfy the growing needs of the peo-
ple as the level of their material and cultural life rises.
The National Programme for Agricultural Develop-
ment put forward by the Central Committee of the
Chinese Communist Party, the core of which is the
development of agricultural co-operation and produc-
tion, outlines plans to satisfy the peasants' demands
for a better material and cultural life. For this rea-
son, publication of the draft will exert a powerful
influence on the peasants; it will call on and mobilize
them for action; it will give fresh impetus to the
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upsurge of agricultural co-operation and production.
When the "17 points" drawn up in November 1955 by
Chairman Mao together with the responsible com-
rades of various local Party committees were spread
through the countryside, they played an important
part in rallying the peasants for action. Many peas-
ants in many places exclaimed: "Now we can see
what socialism is !" Judging from this we may safely
predict that the 40 points of this draft will play an
even greater part in encouraging the 500 million peas-
ants of China to march bravely forward along the
road of socialism.
Realization of this programme depends mainly
upon the peasants themselves, upon their manpower
and their material and financial resources. The tasks
set in this programme include: the promotion of agri-
cultural co-operation, an increase in agricultural out-
put and a number of measures to increase production,
extend afforestation and clothe barren lands with
greenery, the developing of animal husbandry, fish-
ing and handicrafts, the wiping out of illiteracy, estab-
lishment of primary schools, increasing the number
of broadcasting and receiving sets, the promotion of
cultural, recreational and athletic activities and of
health work in the countryside, the improvement of
housing, and provision of work for the urban unem-
ployed. Apart from a few of these things which will
be done by the state or by the peasants with the
assistance of the state, all the rest will be done by
the peasants themselves.
Are the peasants capable of handling these tasks?
Of course they are. They have a huge amount of
manpower. And how about their material and finan-
cial resources? Suffice it to say that the value of the
grain and cotton they produced in 1955 over and above
their output in 1954 was double the amount the gov-
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ernment budgeted in 1955 as expenditure on agri-
culture, forestry and water conservancy. Further-
more, their output is expected to increase every year
from now on. That is, their material and financial
resources will also increase steadily year by year. So
we can be quite positive in stating that the peasants
are quite capable of carrying out this programme.
Of course the state should give the peasants all
possible financial, economic and technical assistance.
But it cannot spend too much on these things, espe-
cially in the next few years. Too much dependence on
the state, the habit of looking to it for all kinds of
investments would place too great a strain on its
financial resources and would delay or indefinitely post-
pone the doing of these things. Furthermore, if the
state spent too much money in this way, it would have
to reduce its investment in industry, and that would
mean retarding the progress of our socialist indus-
trialization. The postponement or abandonment of
things which can be done mainly by the peasants
themselves, or retardation of industrialization of our
country, would neither serve the interests of our so-
cialist construction, nor of our people as a whole, nor
of the peasants.
As this programme is mainly for the peasants and
will be carried out mainly by the peasants themselves,
it should be a convincing document for mobilizing them
for action. It should, therefore, be written in a clear
and concise style easily understood by the peasants.
During the many discussions some comrades suggested
additional points for inclusion. Some concerned work
which would be carried out entirely by the state, some
had only a slight bearing on the development of the
countryside and of agriculture, or no direct connec-
tion at all, while others concerned only methods of
work or execution. We did try to incorporate these
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suggestions in the programme, but we found that in-
cluding them would have made it too long, too com-
plex, too loaded with detail, and this would have
tended to weaken its power of getting the peasants on
the move. That is why they have not been included.
In these many discussions proposals were also made
to include the following items in the programme: out-
put targets for various agricultural crops; targets for
stock breeding, fishing, forestry and irrigation; tar-
gets for the number of tractors and the amount of
chemical fertilizers to be produced and so forth. Such
targets were actually incorporated in the programme.
But they were later deleted because it is better to
set these targets after thorough study as part of the
various five-year plans and annual plans of the state.
In this way it is possible to address the programme
to the broad mass of the peasants specifically, to give
them a clear idea of the aim of their long-term strug-
gle, and the various things they should do to realize
this aim. This makes it a more effective instrument
in mobilizing the broad mass of peasants for action.
This doesn't mean, of course, that realization of
this programme is an affair for the peasants alone.
On the contrary, many points in the programme must
be jointly carried out by town and country. Many
government bodies will have to work hard to com-
plete work set out in the programme and essential
to its realization. Every single department concerned
with agriculture must do its work well. But this is
not all. Machine-building departments, too, must ful-
fil the state plan, and produce and supply the peas-
ants with new-type farm implements such as double-
wheeled and double-shared ploughs, pumps and other
water raising equipment, and agricultural machinery
such as tractors. The chemical industry should fulfil,
and overfulfil, its task of producing chemical fertilizers.
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Commercial enterprises and supply and marketing co-
operatives should do a good job in purchasing agri-
cultural and subsidiary products and supplying the
peasants with the things they need, whether these are
capital or consumer goods. Communications and
transport departments should work hard to build up
local road networks throughout the country, and tele-
phone and postal services in the countryside. Scien-
tific, cultural, educational and health departments
should all work hard to fulfil the tasks set them in the
programme. In short, as the programme itself declares
in its very first sentence: "The great tide of agri-
cultural co-operation that has swept China is bring-
ing forth an immense, nation-wide growth of agri-
cultural production, and this in turn is stimulating
the development of the whole national economy and
all branches of science, culture, education and public
health."
Leading Party organs and government bodies at
all levels in the country "should draw up specific plans,
based on the present draft National Programme and
taking into account conditions peculiar to each locality.
These plans should specify the successive stages of
development of every aspect of their local work. At
the same time all state departments concerned with
economic affairs, with science, culture, education,
public health, civic affairs or the judiciary should also
review and revise their plans of work in accordance
with the present National Programme."
Workers and intellectuals must also be mobilized
to give the peasants whatever assistance is needed in
carrying out this National Programme for Agricultural
Development. Many things listed in the programme-
such as new farm implements, tractors, telephone sets,
broadcasting and receiving equipment, medicines and
medical apparatus-are made by the workers. The
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peasants have to depend on help from intellectuals
and scientists to carry out many of the tasks set out
in the programme-both measures connected with
increasing production and cultural, educational and
health work. Unless the workers and intellectuals
are mobilized to give this aid this programme can-
not be realized.
So, although this programme is mainly for the
peasants and depends for realization upon their man-
power, material and financial resources, it is also for
the whole nation. Its realization also depends on
whole-hearted co-operation by the people of the en-
tire nation, upon mobilization of all the workers, peas-
ants, intellectuals, and patriotic people in every walk
of life.
This draft programme with its 40 points will re-
main in the form of a draft for the next few months.
Workers, peasants, intellectuals and patriotic people
in every sphere of work throughout the land are asked
to discuss it and give their opinions.
Thirdly, the tasks put forward in the National
Programme for Agricultural Development (1956-1967)
are forward-looking and feasible. The prerequisites
and conditions for their fulfilment exist; they can be
completed ahead of time or overfulfilled.
The keynote of the programme is to raise agri-
cultural output swiftly, to produce things in large
quantities, to develop agriculture, forestry, cattle-
breeding, subsidiary occupations, fishing and other pro-
ductive activities on the basis of co-operation. Special
emphasis is put on raising within twelve years the
average yield of grain per mou in three different re-
gions from 150, 208 and 400 catties in 1955 to 400,
500, 800 catties respectively; on raising the average
yield of cotton per mou from the national average of
35 catties of ginned cotton in 1955 to 60, 80 and 100
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catties respectively depending on local conditions.
These new standards will give China over two and a
half times as much grain and three times as much
cotton in 1967 as in 1955. If these central targets
are reached, there is no doubt that, in keeping with
the development of production, we can bring about
the improvements in the peasants' material and cul-
tural life set forth in the National Programme for
Agricultural Development.
The responsible comrades in the localities are full
of confidence and working with great zeal to reach the
targets set for increased yields. Some provinces have
reported that they can reach these targets ahead of
time. When the original seventeen points were re-
layed to the countryside, the broad mass of peasants
were similarly filled with confidence and enthusiasm
in fulfilling the targets for increased production.
What are these prerequisites and conditions
which ensure these increased yields? The most im-
portant is the fact that China has a huge population,
a vast amount of labour power, a pretty good climate,
and that there are vast potentialities in using labour
power and land to increase production. By the time
co-operative farming, especially socialist co-operative
farming, is the rule everywhere, a system of collec-
tive ownership and the principle of "to each accord-
ing to his work" will replace the system of private
ownership of means of production. This will free the
productive forces. This will foster an astonishing de-
velopment of the initiative and creativeness of the
broad mass of peasants in their work ; it will permit
us to use the available labour force more rationally and
more effectively, to greatly improve the utilization of
labour power and labour productivity in general, and
enable us to make fuller and more reasonable use of
land, draught animals and farm tools.
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Co-operative farming by pooling the land wipes
out borders and unnecessary paths between fields and
so brings more land under cultivation. (Statistics show
that this can bring 5 per cent more land under cultiva-
tion, that is to say, add another 80 million mou to the
country's arable land.)
Co-operative farming makes it possible to carry
out water conservancy projects, water and soil con-
servation, and land and soil improvement on a large
scale. Co-operative farming makes it possible to
transform arid land into irrigated fields, and barren
and waste land into fertile soil.
Co-operative farming makes it possible to use to
the full the abilities of all men and women-those who
are able-bodied, those who are not fully able-bodied,
and those who can do light tasks-enabling them all
to engage in many fields of work to help develop pro-
duction in agriculture, forestry, cattle-breeding, sub-
sidiary occupations and fishing.
Co-operative farming makes it possible to have a
single management for the farm, to cultivate crops
best suited to the various types of soil, to put more
labour power into improving the land, to improve
methods of cultivation by deep ploughing and careful
weeding, better techniques of sowing and planting; to
improve the organization of field work and increase
yields per mou.
In short, co-operative farming will develop po-
tentialities for increasing production as never before,
make it possible to do things on a bigger scale, and
have more strings to our bows in doing jobs and to
get more careful cultivation, all of which will greatly
increase agricultural output, the wealth of society and
the income of co-operative members. The reality of
all this has been proved in practice by numerous co-
operatives in various parts of the country. Today
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there are already groups of co-operatives, some whole
hsiang, districts, and even a few counties where the
average grain and cotton yield per mou has reached
or even surpassed the targets which the National
Programme has set for the next twelve years. Since
these typically high-yield co-operatives, hsiang, dis-
tricts, and counties have reached, or even surpassed
these targets, we have every reason to believe that
other co-operatives and other hsiang, districts and
counties in the same areas under more or less similar
conditions can reach the targets too. Since these
typically high-yield co-operatives, hsiang, districts
and counties have reached or surpassed the targets
under the circumstances of today, we have still more
reason to believe that with development of indus-
trialization in the next twelve years, and the gradual
increase in the number of tractors, water pumps,
amount of chemical fertilizers, insecticide and farming
machinery in general, and with more large-scale water
conservancy projects, it is quite possible for the
various regions of the country to reach and even sur-
pass the targets set out in the National Programme.
The demands for communications, posts and tele-
communications services, cultural, educational and
health facilities set out in the National Programme
are things that have already been realized in many
agricultural producers' co-operatives and villages.
New solutions have also been found for the problem
of resettling over a million city unemployed-a prob-
lem many people felt would be difficult to solve in a
short time. The Chiahsing Region of Chekiang Prov-
ince has asked for 100,000 people from Shanghai.
Kiangsi Province has also asked for half a million
urban unemployed capable of doing farm work. Need-
less to say sparsely populated remote regions have an
even greater need of manpower. The more than one
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million unemployed left over from pre-liberation days
will all get jobs in a few years as a result of arrange-
ments made both in the cities and countryside.
That is why we say the tasks and demands set
forth in the National Programme for Agricultural
Development are both forward-looking and feasible.
They are not conservative, nor adventurist. It is
quite possible to meet these targets ahead of time
or overfulfil them. This way of doing things has
its advantages; it stimulates the local government
initiative.
Fourthly, by putting forward the National Pro-
gramme for Agricultural Development (1956-1967)
immediately after correctly solving the problem of
agricultural co-operation, the Central Committee of
the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman Mao
Tse-tung firmly grasped the key link-agriculture ;
this enables our socialist cause to forge ahead still
more swiftly.
The essential part of socialist construction is
socialist industrialization of the country and the core
of industrialization is development of heavy industry.
Industry leads agriculture, the city leads the country-
side and the workers lead the peasants-these are
unchangeable, fundamental principles of socialism that
are not to be doubted and cannot be brushed aside.
But ours is a big country. It has 600 million
people. There are more than 500 million peasants,
exceeding five-sixths of the population. Chairman Mao
Tse-tung in his article On Coalition Government
pointed out that "the peasants (are) the mainstay of
the market for China's industry. It is the peasants
who are, and alone can be, the largest suppliers of
foodstuffs and raw materials, and who consume the
largest amount of manufactured goods." No other
country in the world has as big a domestic market as
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ours. The purchasing power of this market is still
very low (though slightly higher than in pre-libera-
tion days). But its potential power is enormous.
Once the National Programme for Agricultural
Development is realized, we shall have a domestic
market with a fantastically great purchasing power.
Can there be any other way to develop China's in-
dustry, save by relying on our own domestic market?
Of course we can manage to export some of our indus-
trial products, but we must rely chiefly on our own
domestic market. At the present time there are about
80 million people living in cities and industrial and
mining areas, and each year they need huge quanti-
ties of grain and other foodstuffs. Is there any other
source to which we can turn to satisfy this demand,
besides our own, our rural areas? The purchas-
ing power of our 600 million people is bound to rise
steadily, and they will present a formidable demand
for light industrial products. Should we try to get
raw materials for our light industry mainly from
foreign countries, instead of relying on the domestic
supply of raw materials? Our agriculture also needs
a huge quantity of means of production. If we are
to use tractors on all our farmlands that can be tilled
by machines, we will need 1,200,000 to 1,500,000
standard 15 h.p. tractors. Between 120,000 and
150,000 worn-out tractors will have to be replaced by
new ones every year. If we make extensive use of
chemical fertilizers, we will need at least 20 million
tons of nitrate fertilizer, besides phosphate and po-
tassium fertilizer. This again means a huge domestic
market for heavy industry. Furthermore, the de-
velopment of agriculture means an important source
for the accumulation of funds for socialist construc-
tion. So we can see that unless we correctly solve
the agricultural problem, unless we bring about a
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tremendous development of agriculture, our socialist
industrialization will run into serious difficulties.
China is a big country with 600 million people
and over five-sixths of them are peasants-this is a
fundamental fact which in our work of building so-
cialism we ignore at our peril. Nevertheless, if any-
one thinks that socialist industrialization is not the
main thing, and refuses to recognize the leadership of
the working class, he is making a gross mistake. We
take serious note of the important role our five hun-
dred million peasants are playing in the socialist con-
struction of our country. We must take serious note
of the extremely important bearing agriculture has
on industrial development. By putting forward this
National Programme for Agricultural Development
(1956-1967) at this moment, during the great upsurge
in agricultural co-operation, the Political Bureau of
the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist
Party has systematically solved the most difficult and
complicated problem of our socialist revolution-the
problem of the peasantry and agriculture. As a result,
we shall be able to strengthen still further the worker-
peasant alliance on a new basis, accelerate the prog-
ress of socialist industrialization and fulfil the funda-
mental task of our country during the transition
period ahead of time.
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