Develop Socialist Commodity Production Enormously and in a Planned Way

From November 2 to 10, 1958, Mao Zedong convened some central leaders and some local leaders to hold a working meeting in Zhengzhou.

Mao made many speeches at the meeting, criticizing the wrong ideas of eager transition from collective ownership to public ownership, from socialism to communism, and attempting to abolish commodity production.

Mao Zedong believed that at present there is a strong tendency to do away with commodity production, people get upset the minute they see commodity production, taking it for capitalism itself, they do not distinguish between socialist commodity production and capitalist commodity production, and they do not know the importance of using the role of commodity production under socialist conditions.

This is a manifestation of not acknowledging the objective laws and a problem for the solidarity of several hundreds of millions of peasants. Commodity exchange is the only acceptable form for the peasants in exchanging products. Politically, this is a question of whether to maintain and consolidate the principles of the worker-peasant alliance. Developing commodity production and commodity exchange is conducive to promoting the development of productive forces and meeting the needs of the people.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, we used commodity production to unite hundreds of millions of farmers. In the period of socialist construction, we have people's communes, and commodity production and exchange need to be developed. Socialist commodity production, such as soybeans, jute, casings, fruit trees and fur, should be greatly developed in a planned way.