Two Talks on Mutual Aid and Cooperation in Agriculture

Mao Zedong held two talks with Chen Boda and Liao Luyan, vice ministers of the Rural Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, before the Third Agricultural Mutual Assistance and Cooperation Conference (October 15, 1953) and on the eve of the Conference (November 4, 1953).

Two talks to the responsible members of the Rural Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China before and during the Third Conference on Mutual Aid and Co-operation in Agriculture, which was convened by the Central Committee and held from October 26 to November 5, 1953. It was included in the Volume 6 of Collected Works of Mao Zedong.

After the completion of the agrarian reform, in order to overcome the dispersion of individual agriculture and the weak economic strength, improve the production conditions and enhance the ability to resist disasters, the majority of farmers have spontaneously organized to implement mutual production in agricultural production.

On February 15, 1953, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated the “Resolution on Mutual Aid and Cooperation in Agricultural Production”, affirming the various agricultural production mutual assistance and cooperation organizations that have emerged as a transitional form towards agricultural socialization, and promoting the development of the mutual assistance and cooperation movement.

The two talks clarified the necessity of developing agricultural mutual aid cooperatives. They believed that it could promote the great development of mutual aid groups, promote the increase of farmers' production and the development of productive forces, solve the contradiction between supply and demand of grain and cotton, and require the rural work departments at all levels to regard mutual aid and cooperation as an extremely important matter from the height of socialist and capitalist struggle for rural positions.

The two talks clarified the step of developing agricultural production cooperatives, that is, from mutual aid groups with the budding of socialism to semi socialist cooperatives, and then to fully socialist cooperatives.

At the same time, it points out that the general rule is to go through mutual aid groups and then to cooperatives, but we can also try to run cooperatives directly.

The two talks clarified the policy of developing agricultural production cooperatives, that is, "a large number, high quality, low cost", "both to do more, but also to do well, active leadership, steady development".

After these two talks, agricultural production cooperatives entered the stage of development and the pilot stage was left behind.