Mao Zedong’s Preliminary Blueprint for Socialist Agricultural and Rural Modernization and Its Historical Lessons

Mao Zedong was the great founder of China’s socialist modernization enterprise. Agricultural and rural modernization is an important component of China’s socialist modernization. Mao’s blueprint and guidance for advancing the socialist modernization of China’s agriculture and rural areas had a profound impact. One important text in this regard is *The Socialist High Tide in China’s Countryside* (hereinafter *The High Tide*). *The High Tide* is a compilation of reports and correspondence reflecting the situation of the rural socialist cooperative movement, completed at the end of 1955 and published in early 1956. On the basis of careful selection and in-depth revision, Mao wrote targeted editorial notes for the majority of the articles. In the editorial notes for *The High Tide*, Mao pointed out the fundamental direction of taking the socialist cooperative path to realize China’s agricultural and rural modernization, provided a preliminary blueprint for the grand vision of agricultural and rural modernization, refined and explained from a philosophical height the laws of contradictory movement in this process, and made forward-looking plans and predictions regarding the broad prospects of socialist agricultural and rural modernization. On the 70th anniversary of the compilation and publication of *The High Tide*, it is necessary to seriously reread and reconsider this substantial work, especially Mao’s editorial notes, and to contrast them with the historical trajectory and great achievements of China’s agricultural and rural modernization over the past 70 years, so as to deeply explore Mao’s thought on agricultural and rural modernization in the New Era.

毛泽东是中国社会主义现代化建设事业的伟大奠基者。农业农村现代化是中国社会主义现代化的一个重要组成部分。毛泽东为推进中国农业农村的社会主义现代化作出的擘画和指导，产生了深远影响。其中一个重要文献是《中国农村的社会主义高潮》（以下简称《高潮》）。《高潮》是一部反映农村社会主义合作化运动情况的报告和通讯汇编，1955年底编辑完成，1956年初出版。毛泽东在精心挑选、深入修改的基础上，在大部分文章篇头撰写了有针对性的按语。在《高潮》按语中，毛泽东指明了走社会主义合作化道路来实现中国农业农村现代化的根本方向，对农业农村现代化的宏伟蓝图进行了初步擘画，从哲学高度提炼阐释这一进程中的矛盾运动规律，对社会主义农业农村现代化的广阔前景作出了富有前瞻性的规划和预言。在《高潮》编写出版70周年之际，有必要认真重读、重思这部厚重的著作特别是毛泽东所撰写的按语，对照70年来中国农业农村现代化的历史轨迹与伟大成就，在新时代深入发掘毛泽东的农业农村现代化建设思想。

I. The Socialist Cooperative Path and the Fundamental Direction of China’s Agricultural and Rural Modernization

一、社会主义合作化道路与中国农业农村现代化的根本方向

The思考和探索 of the path for agricultural and rural modernization was an important part of Mao Zedong Thought. In a populous agricultural country, one basic task of modernization is to realize agricultural and rural modernization. Mao, with a high degree of theoretical self-awareness and strategic foresight, clearly identified agricultural and rural modernization as an important component of China’s modernization. On the eve of the founding of New China, at the Seventh Plenary Session of the Party Central Committee[n], Mao not only clarified the task of modernization but also divided the Chinese Revolution into two specific steps. The first step was to establish a peasant landownership system of “land to the tiller” through the New Democratic Revolution. The second step was to further carry out the socialist revolution, to implement socialist transformation of agriculture, and to realize modernization through socialist collectivization. “The scattered, individual agricultural and handicraft economies, which account for 90 percent of the gross output value of the national economy, can and must be cautiously, gradually, yet actively guided toward the direction of modernization and collectivization; the view of letting them drift is mistaken.”

对农业农村现代化建设道路的思考和探索是毛泽东思想的重要内容。在一个人口众多的农业国，现代化的一个基本任务是实现农业农村现代化。毛泽东以高度的理论自觉和战略远见，明确将农业农村现代化作为中国现代化的重要内容。在新中国成立前夕召开的党的七届二中全会上，毛泽东不仅明确了现代化的任务，而且就中国革命的进程划分了具体的两个步骤。第一步是通过新民主主义革命，建立“耕者有其田”的农民土地所有制。第二步则是进一步通过社会主义革命，对农业进行社会主义改造，通过社会主义的集体化实现现代化。“占国民经济总产值百分之九十的分散的个体的农业经济和手工业经济，是可能和必须谨慎地、逐步地而又积极地引导它们向着现代化和集体化的方向发展的，任其自流的观点是错误的。”

Taking the socialist path of agricultural and rural modernization is a basic viewpoint of Marxist theory and a clear choice made by the Chinese Communists through long revolutionary exploration. The socialist transformation of agriculture was an objective result and internal requirement of the socioeconomic development of the New Democracy, reflecting historical inevitability. After the victory of the New Democratic Revolution, the peasant landownership system established by distributing land according to the principle of “land to the tiller” had its historical rationality and played a certain role in increasing production. However, under the conditions of the state launching the First Five-Year Plan[n] and implementing large-scale socialist industrialization, its constraining effect on production had become increasingly evident.

走社会主义的农业农村现代化建设道路，是马克思主义理论的基本观点，也是中国共产党人经过长期革命探索作出的明确选择。对农业进行社会主义改造，是新民主主义社会经济发展的客观结果和内在要求，反映了历史的必然性。新民主主义革命胜利后，按照“耕者有其田”原则分田建立的农民土地所有制，有其历史的合理性并发挥了一定的增产作用。但在国家开始进行“一五”建设、大规模推行社会主义工业化的条件下，其对生产的束缚作用已经越来越明显地暴露出来。

Specifically, on the one hand, the individual private property economy of the New Democracy could not be maintained for long. Due to the fragility and instability of small-scale production, not long after the land reform in New China, some individual peasants (especially poor peasants and lower-middle peasants) who had received land in the land reform but lacked other means of production had already begun to pawn and sell their land, leading to new polarization. On the other hand, New China’s economic construction objectively required breaking free from the constraints of small-scale production. In agriculture, peasants hoped to take the path of mutual aid and cooperation to better build water conservancy projects, resist natural disasters, and adopt agricultural machinery and other new technologies. In industry, the development of industrialization both created greater demand for agricultural products and developed the capacity to support agricultural technological transformation, which could promote large-scale mechanized agricultural production. These factors objectively pushed individual agriculture toward the cooperative path.

具体而言，一方面，新民主主义社会中的个体私有制经济不可能长久保持。由于小生产的脆弱性和不稳定性，新中国土改后不久，一些在土改中分到了土地但是缺少其他生产资料的个体农民（特别是贫农和下中农），就已经出现了典让和出卖土地的情形，产生了新的两极分化。另一方面，新中国的经济建设从客观上要求突破小生产的束缚。就农业而言，农民希望通过走互助合作道路来更好地兴修水利，抗御自然灾害，采用农业机械和其他新技术。就工业而言，工业化的发展既产生了对农产品更大的需求，也发展了支援农业技术改造的能力，可以促进农业的规模化机械化生产。这些因素都在客观上促进个体农业向合作化方向发展。

After the founding of New China, the Chinese Communist Party, responding to the objective requirements of socioeconomic development, seized the opportune moment to lead the socialist transformation of agriculture and actively promoted the cooperative movement in agriculture. Following Mao’s suggestion, the Chinese Communist Party proposed the general line for the transition period[n]. The socialist transformation of agriculture within this framework was to realize the cooperativization of individual peasants. Mao pointed out that the issue of agricultural cooperativization concerned the entire socialist modernization, and above all, it was related to the success or failure of socialist industrialization: “Socialist industrialization cannot be carried out in isolation from agricultural cooperativization.” If agricultural cooperativization could not be smoothly realized, “our socialist industrialization enterprise would encounter immense difficulties, and we would be unable to complete socialist industrialization.” The Chinese Communist Party had already accumulated considerable experience in leading peasants along the path of mutual aid and cooperation to develop production and promote modernization during its long revolutionary practice. From the period of the New Democratic Revolution to the early years of New China, there had already been many successful cases of leading peasants in mutual aid and cooperation. For example, the labor mutual aid societies and plowing teams in Jiangxi, the work-exchange teams in northern Shaanxi, and the mutual aid groups in North China, East China, and the Northeast, among others. The cooperative path had already preliminarily shown significant advantages over the individual small-peasant economy in terms of increasing production, further stimulating and attracting the enthusiasm of the broad masses of peasants to take the cooperative path and develop production.

中国共产党在新中国成立后，顺应经济社会发展客观要求，不失时机地领导了对农业的社会主义改造，积极推进农业的合作化运动。按照毛泽东的建议，中国共产党提出了过渡时期的总路线。其中对农业的社会主义改造，就是要实现个体农民的合作化。毛泽东指出：农业合作化问题关乎整个社会主义现代化，首先是关系社会主义工业化的成败，“社会主义工业化是不能离开农业合作化而孤立地去进行的”。如果不能顺利实现农业合作化，“我们的社会主义工业化事业就会遇到绝大的困难，我们就不可能完成社会主义工业化”。中国共产党在长期的革命实践中，已经积累了相当丰富的领导农民走互助合作道路来发展生产、推行现代化的经验。从新民主主义革命时期到新中国初期，已经有许多领导农民走互助合作的成功案例。例如，江西的劳动互助社和耕田队，陕北的变工队，华北、华东和东北等地的互助组，等等。合作化道路已经初步显现了相对于个体小农经济在增产方面的显著优势，进一步激发和吸引了广大农民走合作化道路、发展生产的积极性。

After the general line for the socialist transition period was proposed, the socialist cooperative movement in agriculture achieved initial results but also generated certain differences and debates. On the one hand, the broad masses of peasants, organized under the Party’s leadership, established cooperatives to develop production, preliminarily demonstrating the superiority of the socialist economy in developing production and promoting common prosperity. A large number of advanced peasants firmly committed to the socialist path had already emerged in the socialist cooperative movement, and much advanced experience in running socialist cooperatives well had been accumulated. By 1955, in all provinces of the country (except Xinjiang and Tibet), a large number of cases had been accumulated that advanced the socialist cooperative movement and built modern agriculture and rural areas with significant results. On the other hand, there were certain differences and debates within the Party regarding the cooperative issue, and for a time, there was even a situation where the Party’s leadership lagged behind the enthusiasm of the masses, which was incompatible with the imminent upsurge of the agricultural cooperative movement. Some leaders at the departmental and local levels lacked confidence in advancing the cooperative movement, or became pessimistic when encountering setbacks, and therefore dared not actively lead the cooperative movement, or lacked appropriate methods to effectively push forward the cooperative work. Especially when some cooperatives encountered difficulties due to incorrect methods, some leaders crudely dissolved them, cutting down cooperatives on a large scale, rather than actively seeking ways to rectify, improve, and raise their standards. This not only affected the development of the cooperative movement and violated the objective requirements of the development of productive forces, but also damaged and weakened the Party’s leadership over agricultural and rural work. An important task before Mao was to lead the Chinese Communist Party to face the agricultural cooperative movement with a more positive attitude, to discover, exchange, and promote the advanced experience within the agricultural cooperative movement, and to drive a large number of cooperatives nationwide to steadily embark on a path of healthy development. This can be seen from the fact that Mao initially titled the compilation of *The High Tide* as *How to Run Agricultural Producers’ Cooperatives*.

在社会主义过渡时期总路线提出后，农业的社会主义合作化运动既取得了初步的成效，也产生了一定的分歧和争论。一方面，广大农民在党的领导下组织起来，创建合作社发展生产，初步显示了社会主义经济在发展生产、促进共同富裕方面的优越性。在社会主义合作化运动中已经涌现出一大批坚定走社会主义道路的先进农民，也积累了许多办好社会主义合作社的先进经验。到1955年，在全国各个省份（除新疆、西藏外）已经积累了一大批推进社会主义合作化运动、建设现代化农业农村并取得显著效果的案例。另一方面，党内围绕合作社问题存在着一定的分歧和争论，一定时期内甚至出现了党的领导落后于群众积极性的局面，与农业合作化运动即将出现高潮的局面不相适应。一些部门和地方的领导对推进合作化运动信心不足，或者在遇到挫折后趋于悲观，因此不敢积极领导合作化运动，或没有恰当的方法有力推进合作化工作。尤其是当部分合作社因为方法不对遇到困难时，有些领导粗暴地解散了之，大规模砍掉合作社，而不是积极想办法整顿改进提高。这不仅影响了合作化运动的发展，违背了生产力发展的客观要求，也损害和弱化了党对农业农村工作的领导。摆在毛泽东面前的一项重要任务是：领导中国共产党以更积极的姿态面对农业合作化运动，发掘、交流、推广农业合作化运动中的先进经验，在全国范围内带动一大批合作社稳步走上良性发展的轨道。这从毛泽东初次编辑《高潮》时将书取名为《怎样办农业生产合作社》即可知。

*High Tide* is an important guiding document produced during the socialist agricultural cooperation movement. In order to fully summarize, introduce, and disseminate the advanced experience that emerged in the course of socialist cooperation, Mao Zedong consciously required all provinces across the country to write reports introducing their local practical achievements and methods in agricultural cooperation, and he also collected many reports and news dispatches from local Party journals and newspapers. From the more than 200 reports and dispatches gathered, Mao, after careful reading, meticulously selected 176 to compile into a book. The title evolved from the initial *How to Run Agricultural Production Cooperatives* to the final *High Tide of Socialism in China’s Countryside*. To criticize erroneous ideas and offer targeted suggestions, Mao wrote editorial notes for 104 of the pieces under the byline “the book’s editor,” and he wrote a preface for the book twice. The completed work, bearing the imprint of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC, was published in February 1956.

《高潮》是在社会主义农业合作化运动中产生的重要指导文献。为了充分总结、介绍、推广社会主义合作化进程中涌现出来的先进经验，毛泽东开始有意识地要求全国各省撰写报告，介绍本地进行农业合作化的实践成绩与办法，并从各地方党刊和报纸上搜集了许多报告与通讯。对先后收集上来的200多份报告与通讯，毛泽东在认真阅读的基础上，精心挑选了176份汇编成书。书名从最初的《怎样办农业生产合作社》到最终定为《中国农村的社会主义高潮》。为了批判错误思想、提出针对性建议，毛泽东以“本书编者”的名义为其中的104篇撰写了按语，并先后两次为该书撰写序言。成书署名中共中央办公厅编，于1956年2月出版。

II. Mao Zedong’s Preliminary Blueprint for China’s Socialist Agricultural and Rural Modernization

二、毛泽东对中国社会主义农业农村现代化的初步擘画

The carefully crafted editorial notes in *High Tide* embody Mao’s thinking on how to advance agricultural and rural modernization in a large agricultural country with a low starting point and a large population. The *High Tide* notes clarify the goals of socialist agricultural and rural modernization and depict a vision of struggle that is infinitely inspiring and kindles boundless enthusiasm for construction. China’s socialist modernization, in essence, means achieving modernization under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, relying on the working people, and on the basis of socialist public ownership. This kind of modernization is not only feasible but also enjoys significant advantages over capitalist modernization. In the first note of *High Tide*, Mao pointed out the bright prospects of this path: “The wealth of society is created by the workers, peasants, and working intellectuals themselves. As long as these people take their destiny into their own hands and follow a line of Marxism-Leninism, not evading problems but tackling them with a positive attitude, any difficulty in the human world can be overcome.”

《高潮》一书精心撰写的按语，体现了毛泽东在一个起点低、人口多的农业大国推动农业农村现代化建设的思路。《高潮》按语明确了社会主义农业农村现代化建设的目标，描绘了令人无限憧憬、激发起无穷建设热情的奋斗愿景。中国的社会主义现代化从本质上来说，就是在中国共产党的领导下，依靠劳动人民，以社会主义公有制为基础实现现代化。这种现代化不仅是可行的，而且相对资本主义现代化具有显著的优势。毛泽东在《高潮》第一篇的按语中就指出了这条道路的光明前景：“社会的财富是工人、农民和劳动知识分子自己创造的。只要这些人掌握了自己的命运，又有一条马克思列宁主义的路线，不是回避问题，而是用积极的态度去解决问题，任何人间的困难总是可以解决的。”

*High Tide* is hailed as an encyclopedia of the socialist agricultural cooperation movement. A distinctive feature running through *High Tide* is its “comprehensiveness.” The editorial notes in *High Tide* fully reflect Mao’s blueprint for agricultural and rural modernization and embody the “overall planning and coordination” [n] guiding principle Mao emphasized in directing socialist modernization. This can be summarized as “twelve unities.”

《高潮》被誉为社会主义农业合作化运动的百科全书。贯穿《高潮》的一个鲜明特点，是“全面”。《高潮》按语充分体现了毛泽东对农业农村现代化的擘画，体现了毛泽东指导社会主义现代化所强调的“统筹兼顾”指导方针。这可以概括为“12个相统一”。

First, unity of strengthening Party leadership and maintaining close ties with the masses.

第一，加强党的领导与密切联系群众相统一。

The core problem to be solved in the socialist transformation of China’s countryside was: how to effectively combine Party leadership with the masses’ enthusiasm for taking the socialist road, and to run the cooperatives that were warmly welcomed by the broad masses of poor and lower-middle peasants. Party leadership must possess strong historical initiative and a sense of responsibility, directly confronting the urgent needs of the masses in socialist construction, and actively studying and solving problems. It cannot use excuses like “not knowing how” or “not understanding” to evade new problems arising in the socialist process. Mao pointed out: “We have put forward slogans such as ‘active leadership, steady advance’ and ‘comprehensive planning, strengthen leadership,’ and we endorse the completely correct slogan put forward by the comrades in Zunxian County: ‘Secretaries take the lead, the whole Party runs the cooperatives.’” [n] This is how to achieve the transition “‘from not knowing to knowing,’ ‘from a few people knowing to the majority knowing,’ ‘from cadres at the district level running cooperatives to the masses running cooperatives.’” Only by not suppressing, attacking, or dampening the masses’ enthusiasm, but instead respecting and guiding it, can the Party’s leadership in the process of socialist construction be exerted. Mao admonished the entire Party: “Do not divorce yourselves from the masses; be good at discovering the masses’ enthusiasm in its essence,” and do not turn a blind eye to the immense enthusiasm for taking the socialist cooperative road that is latent among the masses. “Spend some time going among the masses, see what the masses are thinking and doing, find advanced experience from among them, and popularize it.”

中国农村的社会主义改造，需要解决的核心问题是：如何将党的领导与群众走社会主义道路的积极性有效结合起来，办好广大贫农和下中农热烈欢迎的合作社。党的领导应该有强烈的历史主动性和担当精神，直面群众在社会主义建设中的迫切需要，积极研究和解决问题。不能以“不会”“不懂”为理由回避社会主义进程中出现的新问题。毛泽东指出：“我们提出了‘积极领导，稳步前进’，‘全面规划，加强领导’这样一些口号，并且赞成遵化县同志们所提出来的‘书记动手，全党办社’这个完全正确的口号。”以此实现“‘从不懂到懂”，‘从少数人会到多数人会’，‘从区干部办社到群众办社’”。不回避、打击、挫败群众的积极性，而是给予尊重和引导，才能发挥党在社会主义建设进程中的领导力。毛泽东告诫全党“不要脱离群众，要善于从本质上发现群众的积极性”，不要对群众中蕴藏着的巨大的走社会主义合作化道路的积极性视而不见。“拿出一些时间到群众中去走一走，看看群众在想些什么，做些什么，从其中找出先进经验，加以推广。”

Second, unity of developing productive forces and transforming relations of production.

第二，发展生产力与变革生产关系相统一。

On the one hand, Mao attached great importance to developing productive forces, explicitly making the development of productive forces a criterion for measuring the quality of cooperative development. He pointed out: “All cooperatives must take whether and to what extent they increase production as the main standard for testing whether they are sound.” Only through the development of productive forces, fully demonstrating the superiority of the new relations of production, could the masses be fully mobilized. “When people see that large-scale and advanced cooperatives are more advantageous than small-scale and elementary ones, when they see that long-term planning will bring them a much higher material and cultural standard of living than they have now, they will agree to merge cooperatives and upgrade them.” On the other hand, seizing the opportune moment to guide the masses in transforming relations of production would further promote the development of productive forces. Mao pointed out: “The present small-scale and elementary cooperatives still act as a fetter on the full utilization of labor power and various means of production. When we run large-scale and advanced cooperatives, we can break through this fetter and take a big step forward in the development of the entire productive forces and production.”

一方面，毛泽东高度重视发展生产力，明确将发展生产力作为衡量合作社发展质量的标准。他指出：“一切合作社，都要以是否增产和增产的程度，作为检验自己是否健全的主要的标准。”只有通过生产力的发展，充分展现新型生产关系的优越性，才能充分动员群众。“当着人们看见了大型社和高级社比较小型社和初级社更为有利的时候，当着人们看见长期规划将给他们带来比较现在高得多的物质和文化的生活水平的时候，他们就会同意并社和升级的。”另一方面，不失时机地引导群众变革生产关系，将会进一步促进生产力的发展。毛泽东指出：“现在的小社和初级社，对于充分地利用劳动力和诸种生产资料，还是一种束缚。到了办大社和高级社的时候，就可以冲破这种束缚，而使整个生产力和生产向前发展一大步。”

Third, unity of bold construction and strict diligence and thrift.

第三，大刀阔斧建设与厉行勤俭节约相统一。

The starting point of China’s socialist modernization was poverty and backwardness. How to view the basic fact of “poverty”? Mao displayed extraordinary strategic vision. First, one must not, because of poverty, belittle oneself, tie one’s own hands, and dare not use one’s brains to carry out construction on a grand scale and with bold strokes, or dare not envision a grand socialist blueprint. New China actively planned the cause of rural modernization, putting forward many far-sighted construction plans and goals, aiming to change the impoverished and backward face of the countryside in a short time. The government also actively provided financial support to peasants within the limits possible. “In the process of agricultural cooperation, the state should give peasants necessary assistance in terms of funds, such as the already established poor peasant fund and other loans.” Second, one must be good at living through hard times, being frugal and economizing. In his note to the article “Running Cooperatives with Diligence and Thrift,” Mao highly praised the “Poor Stick Cooperative” [n] of Wang Guofan in Zunxian County, Hebei, explaining the relationship between “poverty” and “thrift” from the height of the basic principles of socialist construction. “China is a big country, but it is still very poor. It will take several decades to make China rich. Even several decades later, the principle of diligence and thrift will still need to be followed, but it is especially necessary to advocate diligence and thrift, and to pay particular attention to economy, in the current few decades, in the current period of the several Five-Year Plans.” The great significance of the socialist cooperation movement lay in finding a bright path for hundreds of millions of peasants to change their bitter fate. In this process, the “poor sticks” organizing themselves to carry out construction was precisely an embodiment of the socialist spirit.

中国社会主义现代化建设的起点是一穷二白。怎么看待“穷”这一基本事实？毛泽东表现出非凡的战略眼光。首先，不能因为穷，就妄自菲薄，自缚手脚，不敢开动脑筋大张旗鼓、大刀阔斧搞建设，不敢畅想社会主义宏伟蓝图。新中国积极规划农村现代化建设事业，提出了许多卓有远见的建设方案与目标，力图在不长时间内改变农村穷困落后的面貌。政府也在尽可能的限度内，积极为农民提供资金支持。“在农业合作化的过程中，在资金方面，国家应当给予农民以必要的援助，例如现在已经设立的贫农基金和其他贷款。”其次，要善于过穷日子，精打细算、厉行节约。毛泽东在《勤俭办社》一文按语中，高度赞扬了河北遵化王国藩的“穷棒子社”，从社会主义建设基本原则的高度来阐释“穷”与“节俭”的关系问题。“中国是一个大国，但是现在还很穷，要使中国富起来，需要几十年时间。几十年以后也需要执行勤俭的原则，但是特别要提倡勤俭，特别要注意节约的，是在目前这几十年内，是在目前这几个五年计划的时期内。”社会主义合作化运动的伟大意义正在于为亿万农民改变穷苦命运找到了一条光明大道。在这个进程中，“穷棒子”们组织起来搞建设正是社会主义精神的体现。

Fourth, unity of economic work and ideological-political work.

第四，经济工作与思想政治工作相统一。

The socialist agricultural cooperation movement profoundly changed the relations of production in the countryside, representing a major adjustment of people’s material interests, which inevitably gave rise to many ideological contradictions, divergences, and conflicts. Mao explicitly emphasized the principle that “political work is the lifeline of all economic work,” pointing out that “the agricultural cooperation movement, from its very beginning, was a serious ideological and political struggle.” In the process of socialist cooperation, it was required to attach great importance to ideological-political work, and to use effective ideological-political work to promote economic work. On the one hand, “oppose the spontaneous tendency of selfish, profit-seeking capitalism, and advocate the socialist spirit that takes the principle of combining collective and individual interests as the standard for all words and actions.” On the other hand, ideological-political work must be carried out concretely and in a targeted manner in conjunction with economic work. “It must be done very concretely and meticulously, based on the peasants’ life experience, and cannot adopt a rough attitude or simplistic methods. It must be done in conjunction with economic work, not in isolation.” Mao introduced the method used by the Xianfeng Agricultural Producers’ Cooperative in Longfeng Village, Hua’an County, Fujian Province, which used “four comparisons and five calculations” [n] to explain to the peasants which system was better and which was worse, in a way that made people understand at once. Good propaganda work cannot “try to overwhelm the audience with big labels,” but should “use the local peasants’ own experience to make a detailed analysis for the peasants.”

社会主义农业合作化运动深刻改变农村的生产关系，是对人们物质利益的重大调整，必然会引起许多思想上的矛盾、分歧与冲突。毛泽东明确强调“政治工作是一切经济工作的生命线”的原则，指出“农业合作化运动，从一开始，就是一种严重的思想的和政治的斗争”。社会主义合作化进程中，要求高度重视思想政治工作，通过有效的思想政治工作来促进经济工作。一方面，“反对自私自利的资本主义的自发倾向，提倡以集体利益和个人利益相结合的原则为一切言论行动的标准的社会主义精神”。另一方面，思想政治工作必须结合经济工作来具体地、有针对性地做。“必须根据农民的生活经验，很具体地很细致地去做，不能采用粗暴的态度和简单的方法。它是要结合着经济工作一道去做的，不能孤立地去做。”毛泽东介绍了福建省华安县龙峰乡先锋农业生产合作社通过“四对比、五算账”，向农民说明两种制度谁好谁坏、使人一听就懂的方法。好的宣传工作不能“企图拿大帽子压服听众”，而是“拿当地农民的经验向农民作细致的分析”。

Fifth, unity of developing and utilizing nature and protecting the ecological environment.

第五，开发利用自然与保护生态环境相统一。

The socialist agricultural cooperative movement developed the productive forces, manifesting as a greatly enhanced capacity to exploit and utilize nature. “Socialism not only liberated the laborers and the means of production from the old society, but also liberated the vast natural world that the old society was unable to utilize.” People’s power to resist natural disasters also increased; in their struggle with nature they increasingly took the initiative, continuously realizing the leap from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom. The socialist cooperative movement brought a new atmosphere to the exploitation of nature, unifying the exploitation and utilization of nature with the protection of the environment. In the socialist agricultural cooperative movement, on the one hand, organized peasants gained greater strength to transform nature more profoundly, accomplishing things that scattered individual peasants could not, such as large-scale water conservancy projects, land reclamation, and mountain development. On the other hand, peasants organized under Party leadership overcame the selfish narrow-mindedness and anarchic production of individual smallholders, and were able to exploit and utilize nature with a long-term perspective, developing and protecting simultaneously. In his commentary on the article “Look, Mount Daquan Has Changed!”, Mao Zedong, citing the example of Yanggao County in Shanxi Province, pointed out: “With such a typical example, the whole of North China, the Northwest, and all places with soil erosion problems can solve their own problems in the same way.” Regarding land reclamation for production, Mao pointed out: “We must pay attention to soil and water conservation work, and must never cause downstream flooding because of land reclamation.”

社会主义农业合作化运动发展了生产力，表现为开发利用自然的能力大大增强。“社会主义不仅从旧社会解放了劳动者和生产资料，也解放了旧社会所无法利用的广大的自然界。”人们抵御自然灾害的力量也在增强，在同自然的斗争中日益取得主动，不断实现从必然王国向自由王国的飞跃。社会主义合作化运动在开发自然方面出现了崭新的气象，将开发利用自然与保护环境统一起来。在社会主义农业合作化运动中，一方面，组织起来的农民有了更大的力量对自然进行更深刻的改造，办成了分散的个体农民无法办到的事情，如大规模兴修水利、开垦荒地、开发山林，等等。另一方面，在党的领导下组织起来的农民克服了个体小农的自私狭隘性与生产的无政府状态，能够立足长远地开发利用自然，边开发边保护。毛泽东在《看，大泉山变了样子！》一文按语中，结合山西省阳高县的例子指出：“有了这样一个典型例子，整个华北、西北以及一切有水土流失问题的地方，都可以照样去解决自己的问题了。”毛泽东针对开荒生产指出：“必须注意水土保持工作，决不可以因为开荒造成下游地区的水灾。”

Sixth, the unity of bold planning and meticulous refinement.

第六，大胆规划与细心完善相统一。

The socialist agricultural cooperative movement was a great practice of the Party leading the masses to organize and build agriculture and rural areas, greatly overcoming the narrow-mindedness, selfishness, and short-sightedness of the smallholder economy. Compared with individual peasants, cooperatives had both a longer-term vision for planning agricultural and rural development and greater capacity to implement those development plans. In his commentary on “The High Tide”, Mao Zedong particularly advocated strengthening planning. “All localities, all cooperatives, must draw up their own long-term plans.” Planning included both comprehensive plans and plans for specific undertakings. The essence of strengthening planning was to replace the anarchy of unplanned production with planned production, and to demonstrate a more powerful role in promoting the development of productive forces. In his commentary on the article “The Long-Term Plan of the Red Star Collective Farm”, Mao Zedong pointed out: “In this place called China, it is only now that conditions have been obtained for developing one’s economy and culture according to plan. Since obtaining these conditions, the face of our country will change year by year.” Of course, a plan is only a form of cognition; it still needs to be further tested and developed in practice. Therefore, drawing up a plan does not mean the end of planning work; one must also observe carefully in practice, and then further refine and adjust according to the actual situation, ensuring the plan can be smoothly implemented. Mao also pointed out: “Such a plan is only a general direction; it must be made concrete through every Five-Year Plan and every annual plan. Through the implementation of several annual plans, the long-term plan will need to be revised again and again.” However, one should not fear making plans because they are imperfect, nor abandon planning altogether because plans might be criticized or need revision in practice. “Even if it is done a bit roughly, that is fine; it can be revised in 1957 to make it concrete and perfected, and revised again in 1958 to make it further concrete and perfected.” This is a vivid manifestation in the process of socialist construction of the law of contradictory development of cognition revealed by Marxist social epistemology.

社会主义农业合作化运动是党领导人民群众组织起来建设农业农村的伟大实践，大大克服了小农经济的狭隘性、自私性、短视性。合作社相对个体农民而言，既有更长远的眼光来规划农业农村发展，也有更强大能力将发展规划落实。毛泽东在《高潮》按语中特别提倡加强规划。“一切地方，一切合作社，都要做出自己的长期计划来。”规划既包括全面的规划，也包括某项具体事业的规划。加强规划的实质，是以有计划的生产取代无政府状态的盲目性，并显现出对生产力发展更强大的促进作用。毛泽东在《红星集体农庄的远景规划》一文按语中指出：“在中国这个地方，直到现在方才取得了按照计划发展自己的经济和文化的条件。自从取得了这个条件，我国的面目就将一年一年地起变化。”当然，规划只是一种认识，还需要在实践中进一步检验、发展。因此，制订计划并不意味着规划工作的终结，还需要在实践中留心观察，再根据实际情况进一步细化、调整，确保计划能够顺利落地。毛泽东也指出：“这种计划只是一个大的方向，还要用每一个五年计划和每一年的年度计划去加以具体化。由于几个年度计划的实行，远景计划会要一再加以修改的。”但是，不能因为不完善就害怕作规划，以计划在实践中可能被批评、要修改就撒手不作规划。“做得粗糙一点，也不要紧，可以在一九五七年加以修正，使之具体化和完善化，一九五八年再加以修正，使之进一步具体化和完善化。”这是马克思主义社会认识论所揭示的认识的矛盾发展规律在社会主义建设进程中的生动体现。

Seventh, the unity of patient educational guidance and serious struggle.

第七，耐心引导教育与严肃斗争相统一。

The socialist agricultural cooperative movement was a profound social transformation, containing contradictions in all aspects, and these contradictions required concrete analysis. On the one hand, it was necessary to carry out patient and meticulous explanation and persuasion work among the broad masses, continuously guiding and awakening their consciousness. Mao Zedong pointed out: “Causing our 500 million peasants to carry out socialist transformation—such an earth-shattering undertaking—cannot possibly emerge in a calm and tranquil situation. It requires us Communists to carry out patient, vivid, and easily understood propaganda and educational work among the broad peasant masses who carry the old system on their backs.” Nevertheless, “we must firmly believe that the shortcomings or mistakes of the working people can be overcome or corrected through appropriate political work.” On the other hand, the cooperative movement encountered many forces engaged in sabotage and damage, and against them there must be a clear consciousness of struggle and resolute means of struggle. Mao Zedong pointed out: “Cooperatives should establish supervisory committees responsible for inspecting the cooperatives’ accounts and carrying out a serious struggle against embezzlement and corruption among cadres.” “It is completely necessary to examine, purge, and deal with counter-revolutionaries and other bad elements who have infiltrated the leading organs of cooperatives.” This method of distinguishing the nature of problems and clarifying the means of handling them actually contained the seeds of the later distinction between two different types of contradictions in socialist society.

社会主义农业合作化运动是一场深刻的社会变革，包含着方方面面的矛盾，需要对这些矛盾作具体的分析。一方面，对广大人民群众要作耐心细致的解释说服工作，不断引导启发群众的觉悟。毛泽东指出：“使我国五亿多农民实行社会主义改造这样一种惊天动地的事业，不可能是在一种风平浪静的情况下出现的，它要求我们共产党人向着背上背着旧制度包袱的广大的农民群众，进行耐心的生动的容易被他们理解的宣传教育工作。”尽管如此，“我们一定要相信这样一点，即劳动人民中的缺点或者错误，是能够经过适当的政治工作使他们加以克服或者改正的”。另一方面，合作化运动中会遇到许多进行破坏、损害的势力，对他们必须有明确的斗争意识和坚决的斗争手段。毛泽东指出：“合作社应当设立监察委员会，负责检查合作社的账目，对于干部的贪污盗窃行为进行严肃的斗争。”“对于混入合作社领导机关里的反革命分子和其他坏分子，加以审查、清洗和处理，是完全必要的。”这种区分问题性质、明确处理手段的办法，实际上蕴含着后来区分社会主义社会两类不同性质矛盾的萌芽。

Eighth, the unity of economic construction and social construction.

第八，经济建设与社会建设相统一。

On the basis of developing the economy and raising the level of productive forces, the socialist agricultural cooperative movement also greatly changed the state of social organization, the level of social governance, and the face of social life. Mao Zedong keenly perceived this trend and consciously coordinated the development of both. For example, cooperation further promoted women’s liberation, encouraging women to participate in work and enter the social stage, and promoting equality between men and women. In his commentary on the article “Women Have Stepped onto the Labor Front”, Mao Zedong pointed out: “To build a great socialist society, mobilizing the broad masses of women to participate in production activities is of great significance. In production, equal pay for equal work for men and women must be implemented. True equality between men and women can only be realized in the process of the socialist transformation of the whole society.” The socialist agricultural cooperative movement began to solve the problem of illiteracy in the countryside and promoted the development of rural education and culture. Cooperation strengthened rural social security undertakings, using the cooperative to coordinate the provision of relief and security for the poor, reducing the risk of impoverishment for peasants within the cooperative’s scope. Mao Zedong pointed out: “All cooperatives have the responsibility to help widowers, widows, orphans, the childless, and members lacking labor power (they should be accepted into the cooperative) and also those members who have labor power but face great difficulties in their livelihood, solving their difficulties.”

在发展经济、提高生产力水平的基础上，社会主义农业合作化运动也极大地改变了社会组织状况、社会治理水平、社会生活面貌。毛泽东敏锐地察觉到这一趋势，并自觉将二者统筹发展。例如，合作化进一步促进了妇女解放，推动妇女参加工作、走向社会舞台，促进了男女平等。毛泽东在《妇女走上了劳动战线》一文按语中指出：“为了建设伟大的社会主义社会，发动广大的妇女群众参加生产活动，具有极大的意义。在生产中，必须实现男女同工同酬。真正的男女平等，只有在整个社会的社会主义改造过程中才能实现。”社会主义农业合作化运动开始解决农村中的文盲问题，促进了农村教育文化事业的发展。合作化加强了农村的社会保障事业，以合作社统筹对贫困人口的保障救济，在合作社范围内降低了农民的贫困化风险。毛泽东指出：“一切合作社有责任帮助鳏寡孤独缺乏劳动力的社员（应当吸收他们入社）和虽然有劳动力但是生活上十分困难的社员，解决他们的困难。”

Ninth, the unity of refined division of labor and expanded cooperation.

第九，细化分工与扩大合作相统一。

The “cooperation” (合) of the cooperative movement was based on the “division” (分) in the sphere of the social division of labor. On the one hand, with the development of cooperation, the scope of the division of labor expanded from the household under the smallholder economy to the cooperative, greatly increasing the degree of socialization of the division of labor. This caused labor operations and technical trades to differentiate in an increasingly fine direction. Mao Zedong pointed out: “The scale of production has grown, the number of business lines has increased, the scope of labor has expanded in breadth and depth into nature, and work has become more refined; then there will be a shortage of labor power.” On the other hand, with the refinement of the social division of labor, the mutual dependence between different trades would further strengthen, making it all the more necessary to coordinate cooperation at the societal level and strengthen the effects of collaboration. In this process, under Party leadership, cooperatives had to establish a system of cooperative assistance for mutual-aid teams and individual peasants, using the advanced to drive the backward, using the center to drive the periphery, helping lower-level cooperatives and individual peasants develop production, gradually demonstrating the systemic superiority of socialism. “The method of a ‘mutual-aid and cooperation network’ is good; it requires that cooperatives and teams give consideration to both, and that cooperatives truly help mutual-aid teams and independent peasant households solve their current production difficulties.” The more thorough and deep the “division”, the more necessary the broad and extensive “cooperation”. In the interplay of division and cooperation, the level of socialization of production was raised.

合作化的“合”，是以社会分工领域的“分”为基础的。一方面，随着合作化的发展，生产分工的范围从以往小农经济的家庭扩大到合作社，大大提高了分工的社会化程度。这使得劳动操作与技术工种朝着越来越细的方向分化。毛泽东指出：“生产的规模大了，经营的部门多了，劳动的范围向自然界的广度和深度扩张了，工作做得精致了，劳动力就会感到不足。”另一方面，随着社会分工的细化，不同工种之间的相互依赖会进一步加强，就更加需要在社会层面统筹合作，强化协作效果。在这个过程中，合作社要在党的领导下建立起对互助组和个体农民的合作帮助制度，以先进带动后进，以中心带动周边，帮助低级社和个体农民发展生产，逐步彰显社会主义的制度优越性。“‘互助合作网’的办法是好的，就是要社、组兼顾，合作社要真正帮助互助组和单干户解决他们的当前生产的困难问题。”越是彻底深入的“分”，越是需要大范围广泛的“合”。在有分有合中提升生产的社会化水平。

Tenth, the unity of main production and sideline production.

第十，主业生产与副业生产相统一。

Agriculture is a vast industrial system containing a rich variety of product categories, including both staple-grain production and sideline production. The main line and the sideline must be coordinated, balanced, and developed in tandem. On the one hand, a basic goal of China’s agricultural and rural modernization is to provide grain support for solving the problem of food and clothing; the grain issue becomes the primary issue in agricultural production. Mao Zedong showed great concern for grain production, treating grain output as an important indicator for measuring the achievements of cooperative development. On the other hand, Mao also attached great importance to sideline development, stating explicitly: “Rural sideline production, nationwide, serves the countryside to a very large extent, but it must also serve the cities and serve exports to no small extent, and in the future this part may expand.” Mao gave special instructions on pig-raising: “All cooperatives must include pig-raising in their own plans; of course the province, the region, the county, and the district should each have its own plan.” Vigorously developing sideline production and raising the level of diversified agricultural management will further promote the development of productive forces. “With diversified management, the surplus labor force will find an outlet.”

农业是一个庞大的产业系统，包含着丰富的产品门类，既有主粮生产，也有副业生产。主业与副业之间要协调兼顾、平衡发展。一方面，中国农业农村现代化的一个基本目标是要为解决温饱问题提供口粮支持，粮食问题成为农业生产的首要问题。毛泽东对粮食生产表示极大的关注，把粮食生产作为衡量合作社发展成就的重要指标。另一方面，毛泽东也高度重视副业发展，明确指出：“农村副业，就全国说来，一个很大的部分是为农村服务的，但是必须有一个不小的部分为城市服务和为出口服务，将来这部分可能扩大起来。”毛泽东对发展养猪特别作出指示：“一切合作社都要将养猪一事放在自己的计划内，当然省、专、县、区都应有自己的计划。”大力发展副业，提高农业的多种经营水平，会进一步促进生产力发展。“发展多种经营，剩余劳动力就有出路了。”

Eleventh, unifying the constructive enthusiasm of all age groups – old, middle-aged, and young – and of all classes of workers and peasants.

第十一，老中青各年龄段、工农各阶级的建设积极性相统一。

The socialist agricultural cooperative movement needs to harness the strength of builders of all ages. Mao Zedong placed special emphasis on the strength of young people, pointing out: “Young people are the most active and vital force in the whole of society. They are the most eager to learn and the least burdened by conservative ideas, especially in the socialist era. It is hoped that Party organizations everywhere, in coordination with the Communist Youth League organizations, will study how to give special play to the strength of young people,” thus highly affirming the creativity of young people in socialist modernization construction. At the same time, Mao also stressed: “Of course young people must learn from the elderly and adults, and must try as far as possible to carry out various useful activities with the consent of the elderly and adults.” In his editorial note to the article “Planning for Cooperation in a Township,” he pointed out: “All intellectuals who can go to work in the countryside should go there gladly. The countryside is a vast world where much can be accomplished.” The article “The Enthusiasm of Workers’ Family Members in the Cooperative Movement Is Very High,” included in *The High Tide*[n], also described how, in Taihing Township, Wusong District, Shanghai, near the Shanghai Steel Plant and the No. 8 Cotton Textile Mill, workers’ family members were mobilized to carry out the socialist agricultural cooperative movement, thereby consolidating the worker-peasant alliance in the process of advancing socialist agricultural cooperation.

社会主义农业合作化运动，需要发挥各年龄段建设者的力量。毛泽东尤其重视青年人的力量，他指出：“青年是整个社会力量中的一部分最积极最有生气的力量。他们最肯学习，最少保守思想，在社会主义时代尤其是这样。希望各地的党组织，协同青年团组织，注意研究如何特别发挥青年人的力量”，对青年人在社会主义现代化建设中的创造性予以高度肯定。同时，毛泽东也强调：“当然青年人必须向老年人和成年人学习，要尽量争取在老年人和成年人同意之下去做各种有益的活动。”他在《在一个乡里进行合作化规划的经验》一文按语中指出：“一切可以到农村中去工作的这样的知识分子，应当高兴地到那里去。农村是一个广阔的天地，在那里是可以大有作为的。”收录于《高潮》中的《在合作化运动中，工人家属的积极性非常高》一文，还介绍了靠近上海钢铁厂、国棉八厂的上海市吴淞区泰兴乡发动工人家属，开展社会主义农业合作化运动的情形，在推进社会主义农业合作化的进程中巩固了工农联盟。

Twelfth, unifying the interior with the border and ethnic-minority regions.

第十二，内地与边疆民族地区相统一。

Socialist cooperation is the direction and inevitable developmental trend of profound social transformation in China. Localities may have different levels of development and may implement it at different times, but the fundamental direction of ultimately taking the great road of socialism is consistent. Ethnic-minority areas can and should carry out socialist cooperation; the minority peoples are capable, by relying on their own intelligence and ability, of running cooperatives well. This is both a manifestation of the equality of all nationalities and respect for and trust in the minority peoples, and a powerful measure for promoting the common development of all nationalities. Mao Zedong highly praised the efforts of the Seman District Party Committee in Shufu County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in vigorously establishing agricultural cooperatives, pointing out: “Some people say that cooperation cannot be carried out among minority nationalities. This is wrong. We have already seen that the Mongol, Hui, Uygur, Miao, Zhuang, and other nationalities have already established many cooperatives, or cooperatives jointly run by people of several nationalities, and the results are very good.” On the question of cooperation, there must be no mistaken view that looks down on minority nationalities. Socialist cooperation is the broad road to common development and prosperity for all nationalities.

社会主义合作化是中国社会进行深刻变革的方向和必然发展趋势。各地方可能发展水平各异，推行的时间不同，但最终走向社会主义大道的根本方向是一致的。民族地区也是可以并应该进行社会主义合作化的，少数民族人民是可以凭借自己的聪明才智办好合作社的。这既是各民族一律平等、尊重并相信少数民族人民的体现，也是推动各民族共同发展的有力举措。毛泽东对中共新疆维吾尔自治区疏附县色满区委大力创办农业合作社的事迹，给予了高度赞扬，指出：“有人说，在少数民族中不能实行合作化。这是不对的。我们已经看到蒙族，回族，维吾尔族，苗族，壮族和其他一些民族都已经办了不少的合作社，或者是几个族的人民联合办的合作社，并且成绩很好。”在合作化的问题上决不能有轻视少数民族的错误观点。社会主义合作化是各民族共同发展繁荣的康庄大道。

III. *The High Tide* and the Initial Manifestation of the Advantages of the Socialist System in Agricultural and Rural Modernization

三、《高潮》与社会主义制度优势在农业农村现代化建设中的初步显现

The enormous theoretical significance and ideological value of the book *The High Tide* lies in its use of detailed materials, vivid writing, and cases from all over the country to illustrate the fundamental advantages of the socialist system in agricultural and rural modernization. *The High Tide* is a vivid record of the Party’s leadership in agricultural and rural modernization construction. By bringing together living cases of the agricultural cooperative movement from various localities, it records the moving deeds of the hundreds of millions of liberated working people building a new life under the Party’s leadership. The time of *The High Tide*’s compilation was precisely the high tide of socialist transformation in China’s countryside, when the socialist system was gradually being established in rural areas, further activating and promoting the development of productive forces through advanced relations of production. The third section of *The High Tide* is titled “The Direction of Five Hundred Million Peasants.” Mao Zedong had considered using this section as the book’s title and first section, precisely because it pointed out the fundamental direction of China’s socialist agricultural and rural modernization construction. In his editorial notes, Mao also paid great attention to clearly revealing, from the height of principle, the developmental trends implicit in the concrete materials.

《高潮》一书的巨大理论意义与思想价值是，以翔实的材料、生动的笔触、五湖四海的案例说明了社会主义制度在农业农村现代化建设中的根本优势。《高潮》是党领导农业农村现代化建设的生动记录，通过汇集各地农业合作化运动的鲜活案例，记述了翻身解放的亿万劳动人民在党的领导下建设新生活的感人事迹。《高潮》的编写时间，正处于中国农村进行社会主义改造的高潮，社会主义制度在农村逐步建立起来，通过先进的生产关系进一步激活和促进了生产力发展。《高潮》的第三篇题为《五亿农民的方向》，毛泽东曾考虑将该篇作为书名和首篇，正是因为该书指明了中国社会主义农业农村现代化建设的根本方向。在按语中，毛泽东也非常注重将蕴含在具体材料中的发展趋势，从原则高度上明确地揭示出来。

In his editorial notes to *The High Tide*, Mao Zedong clarified the advantages of socialist public ownership: it meant carrying out the socialist transformation of agriculture, changing the individual private ownership of the peasants into socialist public ownership. Only on the basis of public ownership could the narrowness, selfishness, and fragility of the small-peasant economy be overcome, could the peasants’ ability to resist natural disasters and transform nature be strengthened, and could the peasants be organized to form a greater force for economic construction, fundamentally changing the backward, dilapidated, and scattered face of China’s countryside. Mao pointed out: “All working peasants, no matter which stratum, unless they organize for collective production, are unable to resist natural calamities.” A clear shortcoming of the traditional Chinese small-peasant economy was the small size of the production unit; given the characteristics of China’s monsoon climate with its unpredictable floods and droughts, its ability to resist natural disasters was weak. This caused the small-peasant economy to be easily ruined, leading in turn to a cycle of selling land, land concentration, polarization, uprisings, and revolutions. The cooperative economy effectively organized the peasants, setting them on the glorious road of developing production, eliminating poverty, and achieving common prosperity, providing an effective path toward modernization.

毛泽东在《高潮》按语中明确了社会主义公有制的优势，就是要对农业实行社会主义改造，变农民的个体私有制为社会主义的公有制。只有在公有制的基础上才能克服小农经济的狭隘性、自私性、脆弱性，才能增强农民抵御自然灾害、改造自然的能力，才能把农民组织起来形成更大的经济建设力量，彻底改变中国农村残破落后涣散的面貌。毛泽东指出：“一切劳动农民，不论是哪个阶层，除了组织起来集体生产，是无法抵抗灾荒的。”中国传统小农经济的一个明显缺点是生产单位小，面对中国季风气候水旱无常的特点，抵御自然灾害的能力弱。由此造成小农经济容易破产，进而出现出卖田地、土地兼并、两极分化、起义革命的循环。合作经济将农民有效组织起来，走上发展生产、消除贫困、共同富裕的光辉大道，为迈向现代化提供了有效的途径。

To fully realize the systemic advantages of socialism, it is necessary to uphold and strengthen Party leadership. Mao Zedong demanded: “We hope that the leading organs of the two thousand-odd counties in the country will closely follow the development of the cooperative movement in their counties, discover problems, study methods for solving them, promptly convene countywide meetings of cooperative directors, or meetings of the directors of key cooperatives in the county, make decisions, and rapidly implement them.” In his editorial note to the article “Who Says Chicken Feathers Can’t Fly Up to Heaven?” Mao demanded that the Party should, “on a nationwide scale and with great fanfare, publicize the benefits of cooperation.” The Party must, in the ideological sphere, “deal a fatal blow to opportunist thinking” and “make comprehensive plans for cooperation and strengthen its leadership over this movement nationwide.”

充分发挥社会主义的制度优势，需要坚持和加强党的领导。毛泽东要求：“我们希望全国二千几百个县的县级领导机关，密切地注意全县合作化运动的发展情况，发现问题，研究解决问题的办法，及时地召开全县的合作社主任的会议，或者全县的重点合作社主任的会议，作出决定，迅速推行。”毛泽东在《谁说鸡毛不能上天》一文按语中要求，党应当“在全国范围内，大张旗鼓地宣传合作化的好处”。党要在思想上“给机会主义思想以致命的打击”，“给合作化做出全面的规划，并且在全国范围内加强对于这个运动的领导”。

Mao Zedong’s great effort in organizing the compilation of *The High Tide* fully embodies the fine work style of the Chinese Communist Party. The fine work style formed by the Chinese Communist Party during the years of revolutionary war continued to radiate powerful vitality and combat effectiveness in the process of socialist revolution and construction.

毛泽东花大气力组织编写《高潮》一书，充分体现了中国共产党的优良作风。中国共产党在革命战争年代形成的优良作风，在社会主义革命和建设进程中继续焕发强大的生命力和战斗力。

First, *The High Tide* embodies the tremendous role of the mass line as a magic weapon in socialist modernization. The mass line is the fundamental working method of the Communist Party of China. On the one hand, the Party must be adept at promptly discovering the enthusiasm for building socialism latent among the masses. It must not cling to old ways and underestimate the masses’ enthusiasm. Mao Zedong pointed out: “The broad masses of peasants are demanding the formation of cooperatives; a great many intelligent, capable, fair-minded and energetic leaders have emerged from the masses — this situation is most exhilarating.” Communists must “not repeat the story of Lord Ye and his love of dragons [n21]; having talked about socialism for years, when socialism comes knocking at their door, they take fright.” On the other hand, the wisdom emerging from the masses must be gathered, studied and elevated, and under the Party’s organizational leadership, spread more widely so as to exert influence over a broader scope. “We demand that every county Party secretary learn from the Yanggao county Party secretary, earnestly seeking out advanced experience among the local masses, summing it up and promoting it.” Compiling *The High Tide* was a typical case of following the mass line and pooling the wisdom of the masses to guide work. After being widely distributed and disseminated, *The High Tide* provided a powerful ideological impetus for the agricultural cooperative movement.

第一，《高潮》体现了群众路线这一法宝在社会主义现代化建设中的巨大作用。群众路线是中国共产党的根本工作路线。一方面，党要善于及时发现群众中蕴藏的建设社会主义的积极性。不能因循守旧、低估人民群众的积极性。毛泽东指出：“广大农民群众要求组织合作社，群众中涌出了大批的聪明、能干、公道、积极的领袖人物，这种情况十分令人兴奋。”共产党人“不要重复叶公好龙那个故事，讲了多少年的社会主义，临到社会主义跑来找他，他又害怕起来了”。另一方面，要善于把群众中出现的智慧汇集、研究、提高，在党的组织领导下，更普遍地推广开来，在更广泛的范围内产生影响力。“我们要求每个县委书记都学阳高县委书记那样，用心寻找当地群众中的先进经验，加以总结，使之推广。”编写《高潮》是走群众路线、汇聚群众智慧来指导工作的典型。《高潮》在广泛发行传播后为农业合作化运动提供了强大的思想推动力。

Second, *The High Tide* embodies the fine academic style of seeking truth from facts and emphasizing investigation and research. Seeking truth from facts is the CPC’s basic method of thinking, working and leading; it stresses studying objective laws from reality. Mao Zedong was a typical representative who applied the method of investigation and research to analyzing Chinese society and solving revolutionary tasks. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, Mao’s investigative research focused on the countryside, producing a large number of reports analyzing China’s rural problems. A considerable portion of the articles collected in *The High Tide* were investigative reports by Party cadres at various levels, or work reports and experience summaries written on the basis of investigation. These reports in *The High Tide* were the result of Mao Zedong’s vigorous advocacy and promotion of investigation and research as an important method of thinking and working for Communists throughout the Party. This shows that, across the Party, a contingent of cadres proficient in applying the method of investigation and research had gradually been cultivated. Mao Zedong pointed out: “We hope that every one of the more than 200 prefectural Party secretaries will go down to the countryside to study one or several cooperatives, and each write one or two articles.” *The High Tide* demonstrates that investigation and research, which Mao Zedong himself had practiced with great benefit as a method of thinking and working, was being transformed into the ideological self-awareness and core competence of Party cadres across the board.

第二，《高潮》体现了实事求是、注重调查研究的优良学风。实事求是是中国共产党的基本思想方法、工作方法、领导方法，强调从实际出发研究客观规律。毛泽东是将调查研究方法运用于分析中国社会、解决革命任务的典型代表。新民主主义革命时期，毛泽东调查研究工作的重点是农村，写出了一大批分析中国农村问题的报告。《高潮》所收入的文章，相当一部分都是各级党委干部的调查报告，或者是基于调查基础上写出来的工作汇报与经验总结。《高潮》中的这些报告是毛泽东将调查研究作为共产党人的重要思想方法和工作方法，面向全党大力提倡、努力推广的结果。这表明，在全党范围内已经逐步培养起一批熟练掌握运用调查研究方法的干部。毛泽东指出：“我们希望全国二百几十个地委的书记，每人都下乡去研究一个至几个合作社，每人写出一两篇文章来。”《高潮》说明，调查研究从毛泽东本人身体力行、受益无穷的思想方法和工作方法，正在转变为全党干部的思想自觉与看家本领。

Third, *The High Tide* embodies a vivid, concrete and plain literary style of Marxism, as well as Mao Zedong’s sustained efforts to rectify the Party’s literary style. To compile *The High Tide*, Mao Zedong organized personnel to carefully revise the collected drafts, both their titles and their wording. At the same time, he reluctantly acknowledged that “many of the more than 170 articles collected in this book are heavily tinged with Party stereotyped writing [n22].” In his editorial notes, Mao also commented on the literary quality of many articles. For example, one report was “well written, easy to understand at a glance, without any Party stereotyped writing,” but another report “also had shortcomings in its wording.” Opposing Party stereotyped writing was Mao Zedong’s clear-cut slogan for rectifying the Party’s literary style. In the editorial notes for *The High Tide*, Mao continued his fierce criticism of Party stereotyped writing, lamenting: “In which year will we be able to read fewer of these headache-inducing Party stereotyped writings? This requires our newspaper and journal editors to pay attention to this matter, to demand that authors write vivid and fluent articles, and to take the initiative in helping authors revise their articles.” Compared with the original drafts, the articles in *The High Tide*, after Mao Zedong’s careful revisions, were completely transformed in both title and content, possessing both solid substance and strong readability. In particular, the editorial notes Mao himself wrote contain many expressions that are profound, original, vivid and prescient, and have long since become widely quoted sayings.

第三，《高潮》体现了生动形象、通俗朴实的马克思主义文风，以及毛泽东持续整顿党的文风的努力。为了编好《高潮》一书，毛泽东组织人员对收集上来的初稿进行了精心的修改，既包括标题，也包括文字。同时，他也无奈地承认“本书中所收的一百七十多篇文章，有不少篇是带有浓厚的党八股气的”。毛泽东在按语中也对许多文章的文字水平进行了点评。例如，有的报告“文字也好，使人一看就懂，没有党八股气”，但有的报告“文字上也有缺点”。反对党八股，是毛泽东整顿党的文风的鲜明口号。在《高潮》按语中，毛泽东继续痛批党八股，感慨：“哪一年能使我们少看一点令人头痛的党八股呢？这就要求我们的报纸和刊物的编辑同志注意这件事，向作者提出写生动和通顺的文章的要求，并且自己动手帮作者修改文章。”《高潮》一书中的文章，相对于原始稿件，经过毛泽东的精心修改后，从标题到内容都焕然一新，既有实在的内容，也有很强的可读性。特别是毛泽东本人撰写的按语，许多表达深刻、新颖、生动、富有预见性，早已成为广为传诵的名言。

*The High Tide* comparatively fully and comprehensively demonstrates the historical progressiveness of the socialist system in the agricultural and rural sphere. Under the leadership of the CPC, the working people of New China accomplished great things that history had never seen done. Even in the hometown of Confucius, Qufu, the working people set up cooperatives. Mao Zedong pointed out: “People who had remained impoverished for over two thousand years, after running cooperatives for three years, saw their economic and cultural life begin to change. This proves that the present-day socialism is indeed unprecedented. Socialism is immeasurably superior to Confucius’ ‘classics.’”

《高潮》比较全面充分地展示了社会主义制度在农业农村领域的历史进步性。新中国劳动人民在中国共产党的领导下，办成了历史上无法办成的大事。在孔夫子的家乡曲阜，劳动人民也办起了合作社。毛泽东指出：“经过了两千多年仍然是那样贫困的人民，办了三年合作社，经济生活和文化生活都开始改变了面貌。这就证明，现在的社会主义确实是前无古人的。社会主义比起孔夫子的‘经书’来，不知道要好过多少倍。”

The 1981 Resolution on Certain Historical Questions Concerning the Party Since the Founding of the State [n23] (hereinafter “the Resolution”) adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC fully affirmed the socialist cooperative movement in agriculture reflected in *The High Tide*. The general line for the transition period proposed that the socialist transformation of agriculture “reflected historical inevitability.” The process of socialist transformation was successful. “On the whole, in a large country with a population of several hundred million, such a complex, difficult and profound social transformation was carried out relatively smoothly, promoting the development of industry, agriculture and the entire national economy — this was indeed a great historic victory.” Socialist transformation promoted the development of productive forces and drove modernization. After the basic completion of socialist transformation, “large-scale agricultural capital construction and technological transformation began and gradually yielded results. Nationwide, the use of tractors and chemical fertilizers in agriculture increased more than sixfold, and rural electricity consumption increased 70-fold.” This greatly promoted the development of agricultural production. “Compared with 1952, in 1980 national grain output increased by nearly half, and cotton output more than doubled. Although population growth was rapid, now approaching one billion, we still relied on our own strength to basically guarantee the people’s needs for food and clothing.” This is an objective evaluation, based on decades of practical testing, of the achievements of the path of socialist agricultural and rural modernization blueprinted in *The High Tide*, and a full affirmation of the historical merits of the CPC led by Mao Zedong.

1981年党的十一届六中全会通过的《关于建国以来党的若干历史问题的决议》（以下简称“《决议》”）充分肯定了《高潮》一书所反映的农业的社会主义合作化运动。过渡时期总路线提出对农业的社会主义改造“反映了历史的必然性”。社会主义改造过程是成功的。“整个来说，在一个几亿人口的大国中比较顺利地实现了如此复杂、困难和深刻的社会变革，促进了工农业和整个国民经济的发展，这的确是伟大的历史性胜利。”社会主义改造促进了生产力发展，推动了现代化建设。社会主义改造基本完成以后，“农业的基本建设和技术改造开始大规模地展开，并逐渐收到成效。全国农业用拖拉机和化肥施用量都增长6倍以上，农村用电量增长70倍”。由此极大地促进了农业生产的发展。“1980年同1952年相比，全国粮食增长近一倍，棉花增长一倍多。尽管人口增长过快，现在已近十亿，我们仍然依靠自己的力量基本上保证了人民吃饭穿衣的需要。”这是基于数十年实践检验结果，对《高潮》一书所擘画的社会主义农业农村现代化道路成就的客观评价，对毛泽东领导的中国共产党的历史功绩的充分肯定。

IV. Historical Lessons from Mao Zedong’s Blueprint for Socialist Agricultural and Rural Modernization

四、毛泽东对社会主义农业农村现代化擘画的历史启示

The Marxist Party style, academic style and literary style embodied in *The High Tide* represent a successful case of strengthening Party leadership to promote agricultural and rural work. This not only effectively guided the modernization of New China’s agriculture and rural areas, but also provides valuable lessons for building an agricultural powerhouse in the New Era.

《高潮》所体现的马克思主义党风、学风、文风，是以加强党的领导促进农业农村工作的成功案例。这不仅有效指导了新中国农业农村现代化建设事业，也为新时代建设农业强国提供了宝贵启示。

First, Mao Zedong’s historical achievements and great contributions in leading China’s agricultural and rural modernization must be fully recognized within a broad historical perspective. *The High Tide* reflects the glorious course of socialist transformation in China’s agricultural and rural sphere. The establishment of the socialist system was the most profound social transformation in Chinese history, laying the institutional foundation for all contemporary China’s development and progress. This was inseparable from the far-sighted vision, meticulous planning and steady advancement of the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The fruits of victory of the New Democratic Revolution must never be lost; the achievements of socialist revolution and construction must never be denied; the direction of reform and opening up and socialist modernization must never be shaken. This is the qualification of the Party and the people to stand firm and forge ahead through wind and rain in today’s world.” At a time when the CPC has led the people to achieve the first centenary goal and historically eliminate absolute poverty, comparing the great achievements of poverty governance in New China (whose main battlefield was precisely in the agricultural and rural sphere) allows a clearer and fuller recognition of the correctness of carrying out socialist transformation and taking the path of common prosperity. This confirms, in the long-term development of history, the far-sighted insight of the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative.

第一，要在大历史视野中充分认识毛泽东领导中国农业农村现代化的历史成就与伟大功绩。《高潮》反映了中国农业农村领域进行社会主义改造的光辉历程。社会主义制度的建立是中国历史上最深刻的社会变革，为当代中国的一切发展和进步奠定了制度基础。这与以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人高瞻远瞩、精心筹划、稳步推进是分不开的。习近平总书记指出：“新民主主义革命的胜利成果决不能丢失，社会主义革命和建设的成就决不能否定，改革开放和社会主义现代化建设的方向决不能动摇。这是党和人民在当今世界安身立命、风雨前行的资格。”在中国共产党领导人民实现第一个百年奋斗目标、历史性地消除绝对贫困之际，对照新中国贫困治理的伟大成就（其主战场正是在农业农村领域），能更清晰充分地认识到进行社会主义改造、走共同富裕道路的正确性。这在历史的长时段发展中印证了以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人的远见卓识。

In writing Party history and national history, the theme and main line, the mainstream and essence must be firmly grasped. From the perspective of the inevitability and historical progressiveness of the transformation of the social formation, the great significance of this transformation must be fully affirmed, and the practice of some historical nihilists who exaggerate mistakes, twists and turns, and costs must be resolutely opposed. The keynote of “a great historic victory” set in the Resolution must be made clear. From this perspective, the theoretical value and contemporary significance of *The High Tide* (especially its editorial notes) are further highlighted.

在书写党史、国史时，应当牢牢把握主题和主线、主流和本质，从社会形态变革必然性与历史进步性的角度，充分肯定这一变革的伟大意义，旗帜鲜明地反对一些历史虚无主义论者过分夸大失误、曲折、代价的做法。应当明确《决议》中“伟大的历史性胜利”这一基调。从这一视角出发，《高潮》一书（尤其是按语）的理论价值与现实意义也进一步凸显。

Second, from the perspective of comparing social systems, we must fully recognize the enormous superiority of the socialist system in realizing agricultural and rural modernization. Viewed through the lens of differences in social systems, the path of agricultural and rural modernization in New China possesses a fourfold progressive character. First, from the standpoint of the “change from ancient to modern,” the socialist agricultural cooperative movement was a great and profound transformation of China’s countryside, laying the fundamental institutional foundation for the sustained development and prosperity of agriculture and rural areas. Compared with the small-scale peasant mode of production that had long dominated in ancient China, socialist cooperation greatly overcame the narrowness of small-scale production and unleashed the productive potential latent in hundreds of millions of peasants, conforming to the needs of large-scale socialized production. Organized peasants built water-conservancy projects, prevented and controlled disasters, reclaimed wasteland, improved technology, cultivated improved crop strains, and launched various public undertakings. This not only developed agriculture and revitalized the countryside but also provided strong support for socialist industrialization, achieving a positive interaction between agriculture and industry, and between the countryside and the city. Second, from the perspective of surpassing capitalist modernization, it explored a successful path for resolving the “three rural crises”[n] of capitalist modernization. The Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, designed a blueprint for China’s agricultural and rural sector that both met the demands of national industrialization and modernization and gave due consideration to the sustained development requirements of agriculture and rural areas. This avoided the series of harmful consequences that arise in the process of capitalist modernization when the countryside is subordinated to the city. While serving national industrialization, it opened up space for the continuous, autonomous, and comprehensive development of agriculture and rural areas. The comprehensive development of agriculture and rural areas laid the economic and organizational foundation for the subsequent elimination of absolute poverty. Third, from the perspective of the history of socialist development, it surpassed the shortcomings of the Soviet Union’s socialist construction process, where agriculture long lagged behind and lacked dynamism, and thus represented a development and advancement of socialist construction experience. Agricultural development in the Soviet Union was persistently backward, and Mao Zedong explicitly took this as an important element of “learning from the Soviet Union as a mirror.”[n] This constituted a key principle of New China’s industrialization path and was also a major achievement and outstanding contribution of China’s socialist agricultural and rural modernization. Fourth, from the perspective of world historical processes and civilizational evolution, it provided a successful case of an agricultural country developing into an industrial country and advancing modernization, offering valuable lessons and a new choice for other regions of the world. While rapidly advancing industrialization and transforming from an agricultural country into an industrial one, New China also gave full consideration to the interests of the peasantry, achieving stability and development in agriculture and rural areas, enabling the deep and ancient agricultural civilization to undergo a modern transformation, and opening up a new path for coordinated urban-rural development. This is undoubtedly of world-historical significance.

第二，要在社会制度比较视野中，充分认识社会主义制度在实现农业农村现代化方面的巨大优越性。基于社会制度差别来审视，新中国的农业农村现代化道路具有四重进步性。一是从“古今之变”的角度看，社会主义农业合作化运动是中国农村一场伟大而深彻的变革，为农业农村的持久发展繁荣奠定了根本制度基础。相对于中国古代长期占统治地位的小农生产方式，社会主义合作化大大克服了小生产的狭隘性，激发了亿万农民中蕴藏的生产潜力，符合社会化大生产的需要。组织起来的农民，兴修水利、防治灾害、开垦荒地、改进技术、培育良种，兴办各种公共事业，既发展了农业、振兴了农村，也为社会主义工业化提供了强有力的支持，实现了农业与工业、乡村与城市的良性互动。二是从超越资本主义现代化的角度，为破解资本主义现代化中的“三农”危机探索了一条成功路径。以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人对中国农业农村领域的擘画，既满足了国家工业化、现代化的要求，又较好地照顾了农业农村领域的持久发展要求。这避免了资本主义现代化进程中农村片面从属于城市引发的一系列恶果。在服务国家工业化的同时，为农业农村领域的持续、自主、全面发展开辟了空间。农业农村的全面发展为后续进一步消除绝对贫困奠定了经济和组织基础。三是从社会主义发展史的角度看，超越了苏联社会主义建设进程中农业长期滞后、发展乏力的缺点，是对社会主义建设经验的发展和推进。苏联农业发展长期滞后，毛泽东明确将其作为“以苏为鉴”的重要内容。这构成了新中国工业化道路的要义，也是中国社会主义农业农村现代化的重要成就和突出贡献。四是从世界历史进程与文明演进的角度看，提供了农业国发展为工业国、推进现代化建设的成功案例，为世界其他地区发展提供了宝贵借鉴和全新选择。新中国在快速推进工业化、从农业国变成工业国的同时，也充分照顾了农民的利益，实现了农业农村的稳定与发展，让悠久深厚的农业文明实现了现代转型，开辟了一条统筹城乡发展的新路。这无疑是具有世界历史意义的。

Third, we must fully absorb the valuable nutrients from the “Afterword” to *High Tide*,[n] do a good job of work on the “three rural issues” in the New Era, deeply advance the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside, and better and more quickly build a modernized socialist agricultural power. The “Afterword” to *High Tide* pointed out the fundamental direction for realizing agricultural and rural modernization in China: to advance agricultural and rural modernization along the socialist direction under the leadership of the Party, with the fundamental leadership method being overall planning and balanced consideration. Applied to the present, this means both steadfastly upholding the collective ownership foundation of agriculture and resolutely resisting erroneous trends such as the privatization of rural land, and also using one’s ingenuity to invigorate the rural management and administration system, striving to promote the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside. The main thread running through this is unwaveringly upholding the Party’s leadership over agricultural and rural work, consolidating the Party’s governing and organizational base in the countryside, and preventing the risk of the Party’s grassroots organizations in rural areas becoming lax, paralyzed, or numb. Since the beginning of the New Era, the Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has attached great importance to agricultural and rural modernization, insisted on making the solution of the “three rural issues” a top priority, insisted on having Party secretaries at five levels[n] take charge of rural revitalization, and has comprehensively planned for the realization of agricultural and rural modernization, striving to build agriculture into a modern large-scale industry, to basically equip the countryside with modern living conditions, and to make the lives of peasants more prosperous and happy. This represents the persistence and development of the path of socialist agricultural and rural modernization initially blueprinted by Mao Zedong. We must follow this guidance, further advance the construction of agricultural and rural modernization, and build a modernized socialist agricultural power as soon as possible.

第三，充分汲取《高潮》按语的宝贵养分，在新时代做好“三农”工作，深入推进乡村全面振兴，更好更快建成社会主义现代化农业强国。《高潮》按语指明了在中国实现农业农村现代化的根本方向，就是在党的领导下沿着社会主义方向推进农业农村现代化，根本的领导方法就是统筹兼顾。落实到当下，表现为既要坚持农业的集体所有制基础不动摇，坚决抵制农村土地私有化等错误浪潮，也要开动脑筋，放活农村经营管理体制，努力促进乡村全面振兴。贯穿其中的一条主线是，毫不动摇地坚持党对农业农村工作的领导，巩固党在农村的执政基础和组织基础，防止党的基层组织在农村出现涣散、瘫痪、麻木风险。新时代以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央高度重视农业农村现代化，坚持把解决好“三农”问题作为重中之重，坚持五级书记抓乡村振兴，对实现农业农村现代化进行了全面擘画，致力于把农业建成现代化大产业、使农村基本具备现代生活条件、让农民生活更加富裕美好。这是对毛泽东初步擘画的社会主义农业农村现代化道路的坚持和发展。我们要以此为遵循，进一步推进农业农村现代化建设，早日建成社会主义现代化农业强国。