Introducing a Cooperative

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of Introducing a Cooperative has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following edition: Introducing a Co-operative, in the Selected Readings From the Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1971.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is an article written by Comrade Mao Zedong on the 15th of April, 1958. It was first published in the Selected Readings From the Works of Mao Zedong in 1964.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#INTRODUCING A COOPERATIVE

#Mao Zedong

#Before the 15th of April, 1958

#★

The article A Cooperative That Transformed Itself in Two Years of Bitter Struggle¹ is worth reading. The Communist spirit is growing apace throughout the country. The political consciousness of the broad masses is rising rapidly. The backward sections among them are exerting themselves to catch up with the advanced, which demonstrates that the socialist revolution in our country is forging ahead in the economic field (in those places where the relations of production have not yet been completely transformed) and in the political, ideological, technical, and cultural fields. Judging from this, it will probably take less time than previously estimated for our industry and agriculture to catch up with that of the capitalist powers. In addition to the Party's leadership, a decisive factor is our population of 600'000'000. More people mean a greater ferment of ideas, more enthusiasm, and more energy. Never before have the masses of the people been so inspired, so militant, and so daring as at present. The former exploiting classes have been completely swamped in the boundless ocean of the working people and must change, even if unwillingly. Undoubtedly, there are people who will never change, who would prefer to keep their thinking ossified down to the Day of Judgement, but that does not matter very much. All decadent ideology and other incongruous parts of the superstructure are crumbling as the days go by. To clear away the rubbish completely will still take some time, but there is no doubt of their inevitable and total collapse. Apart from their other characteristics, the most outstanding thing about China's 600'000'000 people is that they are «poor and blank». This may seem a bad thing, but in reality, it is a good thing. Poverty gives rise to the desire for change, the desire for action, and the desire for revolution. On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful characters can be written, the freshest and most beautiful pictures can be painted. The big-character poster² is a very useful new weapon, which can be used in the cities and the countryside, in factories, cooperatives, shops, government institutions, schools, army units, and streets — in short, wherever the masses are to be found. It has already been widely used and should always be used. A poem written by Gong Zizhen³ of the Qing Dynasty reads:

Only in wind and thunder can the country show its vitality;

Alas, the ten thousand horses are all muted!

O Heaven! Bestir yourself, I beseech you;

And send down people of all the talents.

Big-character posters have dispelled the dullness in which «ten thousand horses are all muted». Now, I wish to recommend one cooperative to the comrades in the more than 700'000 cooperatives in the countryside and to the comrades in the cities. Situated in Fengqiu County, Henan Province, and called the Yingchu Cooperative, it provides us with much food for deep thought. Do the Chinese working people still retain any of their past slavish features? None at all; they have become the masters. The working people on the 9'600'000 square kilometres of the People's Republic of China have really begun to be the rulers of our country.