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From the Central Intelligence Agency, this is a declassified intelligence report titled "The Commune: Conception and Experimentation, Spring nineteen fifty-eight". Dating from July nineteen fifty-nine, it details the early development of China's commune system, an unprecedented social and economic experiment. This document is available on The Black Vault at documents2.theblackvault.com. This document was approved for release in May two thousand seven. It was declassified under the authority of the National Archives and Records Administration, specifically under exemption B one of the Freedom of Information Act. This is a current intelligence staff study, intended for internal use. The document begins: "The Commune: Conception and Experimentation, Spring nineteen fifty-eight. This study is a working paper, reflecting information received through July nineteen fifty-nine. Like the first two E-S-A-U papers, it will later be refined to serve as a chapter in a comprehensive account of the 'commune' program. This paper has not been coordinated outside O-C-I." "An earlier chapter has traced the emergence of the commune as the byproduct of a tortuous process of devising a program of economic development adapted to China's specific conditions, in particular a huge population supported by a weak agricultural base. The party decided in autumn nineteen fifty-seven that the key to rapid growth of agricultural production was the massive and intensive application of China's abundant labor supply." "Because increases in production were to be reinvested, it was necessary to formulate new nonmaterial incentives, chief among which was the promise of a happy future in a Communist society. The objective of the party's Chengtu conference, held in March nineteen fifty-eight, was to devise ways and means of realizing the advanced goals called for at the Nanning conference two months earlier." "The party at Chengtu decided on the construction of thousands of small-scale industrial installations in rural areas. This was to be a mass campaign — the feasibility of which was doubted by some of the party's economic specialists — to exploit the underemployed labor force of the collectives. Following the September nineteen fifty-seven decision to organize a huge peasant labor army for agricultural production and construction, the Chengtu decision to initiate a mass movement in rural industrial construction appears to have been the second decisive development leading to the establishment of communes." "The commune itself apparently was conceived at the Chengtu conference. A campaign to merge small collectives began immediately thereafter in two pilot provinces. Some of these 'large cooperatives' amalgamated twenty to thirty existing collectives, and many other features of the later communes appeared in these early prototypes. There have been elaborate efforts by the Chinese Communist party to present the commune movement as having been from its inception the product of a…

Why was this case declassified?

This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

CIA The Commune: Conception And Experimentation, Spring Nineteen Fifty Eight

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From the Central Intelligence Agency, this is a declassified intelligence report titled "The Commune: Conception and Experimentation, Spring nineteen fifty-eight". Dating from July nineteen fifty-nine, it details the early development of China's commune system, an unprecedented social and economic experiment.

Date: SEP 19 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source document

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What was CIA The Commune: Conception And Experimentation, Spring Nineteen Fifty Eight about?: From the Central Intelligence Agency, this is a declassified intelligence report titled "The Commune: Conception and Experimentation, Spring nineteen fifty-eight". Dating from July nineteen fifty-nine, it details the early development of China's commune system, an unprecedented social and economic experiment.
Why was this case declassified?: This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. Storyflo narrates it directly from the public release.

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CIA The Commune: Conception And Experimentation, Spring Nineteen Fifty Eight

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