Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung
October 27, 1960
[SOURCE: Long Live Mao Zedong Thought, a Red Guard Publication.]
The Politburo of the Central Committee, party committees of the provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, party committees of the various central ministries, and party groups of the various central state organs:
Shansi Provincial Party Committees’ report on the rural labor force problem is very good and is now being distributed for your scrutiny.
The problem of the rural labor force is a great problem in the current development of agricultural production. It is a great problem which touches on the continuing leap forward of the entire national economy. It must receive the serious scrutiny of comrades in the entire party. The report of the Shansi Provincial Party Committee is stated very correctly. If we don’t immediately change the current situation on the agricultural production front of a labor force which is too small and too weak, then the so-called “national economy with agriculture as the foundation” and “grain as the foundation of that foundation” will become empty talk. Man must eat every day, whether engaged in industry, communication, education, capital construction, or any other enterprise; no one can do without grain. No member of the communist party ought to forget this very simple and absolutely true and correct principle. For three months the Shansi Provincial Committee conscientiously adopted measures, reduced the labor force by 1.1 million and returned them to the agricultural production front. The situation of the agricultural labor force has taken a great turn for the better. The Central Committee requires that all levels of party committees and leading organs of various departments seriously study Shansi’s report, use Shansi’s experience as a reference, analyze from many sides, and comply strictly with the various directives promulgated by the Central Committee on conservation of labor force. On the basis of your actual conditions, adopt all effective measures, squeeze out all of the labor force that can be squeezed out, strengthen the first line of agricultural production, and speedily change the grave situation of the present insufficiency of labor force.