The growing intensity of the revolutionary war makes it
imperative for us to mobilize the masses in order to launch an immediate campaign on the
economic front and undertake all possible and necessary tasks of economic construction.
Why? Because all our present efforts should be directed towards gaining victory in the
revolutionary war and, first and foremost, towards gaining complete victory in the fight
to smash the enemy's fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign [1]
they should be directed towards securing the material conditions which will guarantee food
and other supplies for the Red Army, towards bettering the life of the people and so
stimulating their more active participation in the revolutionary war, towards organizing
the masses on the economic front and educating them so as to provide fresh mass strength
for the war, and towards consolidating the worker-peasant alliance and the democratic
dictatorship of workers and peasants and strengthening proletarian leadership by building
up the economy. Such economic construction is essential for the attainment of all these
objectives. This must be clearly understood by everyone engaged in revolutionary work.
Some comrades have thought it impossible to spare time for economic construction because
the revolutionary war keeps people busy enough, and they have condemned anyone arguing for
it as a "Right deviationist". In their opinion economic construction is
impossible in the midst of a revolutionary war and is possible only in the peaceful,
tranquil conditions prevailing after final victory. Comrades, such views are wrong.
Whoever holds them fails to realize that without building up the economy it is impossible
to secure the material prerequisites for the revolutionary war, and the people will become
exhausted in the course of a long war. Just consider! The enemy is enforcing an economic
blockade, unscrupulous merchants and reactionaries are disrupting our finance and
commerce, and the trade of our Red areas with the outside is seriously hampered. Will not
the revolutionary war be seriously affected unless these difficulties are overcome? Salt
is very dear, and sometimes even unobtainable. Rice is cheap in the autumn and winter, but
it becomes terribly dear in spring and summer. All this directly affects the life of the
workers and peasants and prevents any improvement. And does it not affect our basic line
-- the alliance of workers and peasants? If the workers and peasants become dissatisfied
with their living conditions, will it not affect the expansion of our Red Army and the
mobilization of the masses for the revolutionary war? Therefore it is utterly wrong to
think that no economic construction should be undertaken in the midst of the revolutionary
war. Those who think this way often say that everything should be subordinated to the war
effort, but they fail to understand that to dispense with economic construction would
weaken the war effort rather than subordinate everything to it. Only by extending the work
on the economic front and building the economy of the Red areas can we provide an adequate
material basis for the revolutionary war, proceed smoothly with our military offensives
and strike effective blows at the enemy's "encirclement and suppression"
campaigns; only thus can we acquire the resources to enlarge the Red Army and push our
front outwards to points thousands of li away, so that when the circumstances prove
favourable, the Red Army will be able to attack Nanchang and Kiukiang free from all
anxiety and, thus relieved of much of the task of provisioning itself, give its undivided
attention to fighting; and only thus can we to a certain extent satisfy the material needs
of the people so that they will join the Red Army or undertake other revolutionary tasks
with even greater enthusiasm. Subordinating everything to the war effort means just this.
Among those engaged in revolutionary work in various places, many do not yet understand
the importance of economic construction in the revolutionary war, and there are many local
governments which give little attention to discussing the problems of economic
construction. The economic departments of the local governments are not yet well
organized, and some are still without a director; in others some incompetent has been
assigned simply to kill the post. The formation of co-operatives is still in the initial
stage, and only in a few places has the work of regulating food supplies been started.
There has been no propaganda among the people for the work of economic construction
(though such propaganda is very important), and mass enthusiasm for it has not been
aroused. All this is due to the failure to recognize the importance of economic
construction. Through the discussions at this conference and through the reports you will
make when you return to your posts, we must create mass enthusiasm for economic
construction among all government personnel and among all workers and peasants. The
importance of economic construction for the revolutionary war should be made clear to
everyone, so that they will do their best to promote the sale of economic construction
bonds, develop the co-operative movement, and set up public granaries and storehouses for
famine relief everywhere. Each county must establish a sub-department for the regulation
of food supplies, with branch offices in important districts and market centres. On the
one hand, within our Red areas we should send grain from places with a surplus to those
with a deficit, so that it will not pile up in one place and become unobtainable in
another and its price will not be too low in one place and too high in another; on the
other hand, we should send our grain surplus out of the Red areas in a planned way (i.e.,
not in unlimited quantities) and bring in necessities from the White areas, thus avoiding
exploitation by unscrupulous merchants. We must all do our best to develop agriculture and
handicrafts and increase the output of farm implements and lime in order to ensure a
bigger crop next year, and we must restore the output of such local products as wolfram,
timber, camphor, paper, tobacco, linen, dried mushrooms and peppermint oil to former
levels, and market them in the White areas in quantity. Judged by volume, grain ranks
first among the principal outgoing commodities in our trade with the outside areas. About
three million piculs of unhusked rice are sent out yearly in exchange for necessary
consumer goods, or an average of one picul a head of the three million population; it
cannot, surely, be less than this. But who is handling this trade? It is handled entirely
by the merchants who exploit us ruthlessly in the process. Last year they bought unhusked
rice from the peasants in Wanan and Taiho Counties at fifty cents a picul and sold it in
Kanchow for four yuan, making a sevenfold profit. Take another instance. Every year our
three million people need about nine million yuan worth of salt and six million yuan worth
of cotton cloth. Needless to say, this fifteen million yuan trade in salt and cloth has
been entirely in the hands of the merchants; we have done nothing about it. The
exploitation by the merchants is really enormous. For instance, they go to Meihsien and
buy salt at one yuan for seven catties, and then sell it in our areas at one yuan for
twelve ounces. Is this not shocking profiteering? We can no longer ignore such a state of
affairs, and from now on we must handle this trade ourselves. Our department of trade with
outside areas must make a great effort in this connection.
How shall we use the three million yuan from economic construction bonds? We plan to
use it in the following way. One million will be allotted for the Red Army's war expenses,
and two million will be loaned as capital to the co-operatives, the Bureau for the
Regulation of Food Supplies and the Bureau of External Trade. Of the latter amount, the
greater part will be used for expanding our external trade and the rest for expanding
production. Our objective is not only to expand production but also to sell our products
at fair prices to the White areas and then purchase salt and cloth cheaply for
distribution among our people, so as to break the enemy's blockade and check the
merchants' exploitation. We must bring about the continued growth of the people's economy,
greatly improve the livelihood of the masses and substantially increase our public
revenue, thus laying firm material foundations for the revolutionary war and for economic
construction.
This is a great task, a great class struggle. But we should ask ourselves, can it be
accomplished in the midst of fierce fighting? I think it can. We are not talking about
building a railway to Lungyen or, for the time being, even about building a motor road to
Kanchow. We are not saying that there should be a complete monopoly of the sale of gram,
or that the government should handle all the salt and cloth trade, valued at fifteen
million yuan, to the total exclusion of the merchants. This is not the point we are making
or what we are trying to do. What we are talking about and trying to do is to develop
agriculture and the handicrafts, and send out grain and wolfram in exchange for salt and
cloth, starting temporarily with a fund of two million yuan plus the money invested by the
people. Is there anything here that we should not undertake, or that we cannot undertake
and achieve? We have already started this work and achieved some results. Thus years
autumn harvest is between 20 and 25 per cent larger than last year's, or more than our
original estimate of a 20 per cent increase. In the handicraft industries the production
of farm implements and lime is being restored, and we are beginning to restore wolfram
production. The output of tobacco, paper and timber is recovering. Much has been
accomplished this year in the regulation of food supplies. A start has been made on
importing salt. It is on these achievements that we base our firm belief in the
possibility of further progress. Is it not clearly wrong to say that economic construction
is impossible now and has to wait until the war is over?
It is thus clear that, at the present stage, economic construction must revolve around
our central task, the revolutionary war. Today the revolutionary war is our central task,
which economic construction should serve, centre on and be subordinated to. It would
likewise be wrong to regard economic construction as the centre of all our present work to
the neglect of the revolutionary war, or to conduct it apart from the revolutionary war.
Not until the civil war is over will it be possible and necessary to regard economic
construction as the centre of all our work. In the midst of a civil war, it is sheer
delusion to try to carry out such peace-time economic construction as can and should be
done in the future but not at present. The tasks for the present are those urgently
demanded by the war. Every one of them should serve the war; none is a peace-time
undertaking separate from the war. If any comrade entertains the idea of carrying out
economic construction apart from the war, he should correct this mistake at once.
It will be impossible to get a rapid campaign going on the economic front without a
correct style of leadership and correct methods of work. This, too, presents an important
problem which this conference must solve. For the comrades here will have a great deal to
do as soon as they return, and will have to give guidance to the many people who will be
working with them. In particular, the comrades who are working at the township and city
levels and in the co-operatives, the food departments, the trade departments and the
purchasing offices, are personally engaged in the practical work of mobilizing the people
to organize co-operatives, regulating and transporting food supplies, and managing our
trade with the outside areas. If their style of leadership is wrong and if they do not
employ correct and efficient methods, the work will be immediately affected, we shall fail
to win mass support for the various tasks, and during the coming autumn and winter and
next spring and summer we shall be unable to carry out the whole of the Central
Government's plan for economic construction. For these reasons I want to direct our
comrades' attention to the following.
Firstly, mobilize the masses by various organizational means. In the first place,
comrades on the presidiums and in the economic and finance departments of the government
bodies at all levels must regularly put on their agenda and discuss, supervise and check
up on such items of work as the sale of bonds, the formation of co-operatives, the
regulation of food supplies and the promotion of production and trade. Next, the mass
organizations, chiefly the trade unions and poor peasant leagues, must be moved into
action. The trade unions should mobilize all their members to join these economic
struggles. The poor peasant leagues are powerful bases for mobilizing the masses to build
up co-operatives and subscribe to bonds, and they should be given vigorous leadership by
district and township governments. Furthermore, we must conduct propaganda for economic
construction at village or household meetings, explaining clearly how it is related to the
revolutionary war and discussing in the most practical terms how to improve the livelihood
of the masses and increase our strength for the struggle. We should appeal to the people
to subscribe to bonds, develop co-operatives, regulate food supplies, consolidate finances
and promote trade; we should call upon them to fight for these slogans and should heighten
their enthusiasm. Our objectives cannot be attained unless we use various organizational
means to mobilize the masses and conduct propaganda among them in the manner described,
that is to say, unless the presidiums and the economic and finance departments of the
government bodies at all levels actively attend to discussing and checking up on the work
of economic construction, unless they spur the mass organizations into action and hold
mass propaganda meetings.
Secondly, we must not be bureaucratic in our methods of mobilizing the masses.
Bureaucratic leadership cannot be tolerated in economic construction any more than in any
other branch of our revolutionary work. The ugly evil of bureaucracy, which no comrade
likes, must be thrown into the cesspit. The methods which all comrades should prefer are
those that appeal to the masses, i.e., those which are welcomed by all workers and
peasants. One manifestation of bureaucracy is slacking at work due to indifference or
perfunctoriness. We must wage a stern struggle against this phenomenon. Commandism is
another manifestation. To all appearances, persons given to commandism are not slackers;
they give the impression of being hard workers. But in fact co-operatives set up by
commandist methods will not succeed, and even if they appear to grow for a time, they
cannot be consolidated. In the end the masses will lose faith in them, which will hamper
their development. To push the sales of bonds in a commandist way and impose arbitrary
quotas, regardless of whether people understand what the bonds are for and of how much
they can afford, will ultimately arouse the people's displeasure and make it impossible to
achieve good sales. We must reject commandism; what we need is energetic propaganda to
convince the masses, and we should develop the co-operatives, promote the sales of bonds
and do all the work of economic mobilization in accordance with the actual conditions and
the real feelings of the masses.
Thirdly, large numbers of cadres are needed to extend the campaign of economic
construction. This is not a matter of scores or hundreds of people, but of thousands and
tens of thousands whom we must organize, train and send to the economic construction
front. They will be the commanders and the broad masses the soldiers on the economic
front. People often sigh over the shortage of cadres. Comrades, is there really a
shortage? Innumerable cadres have come to the fore from among the masses who have been
steeled in the agrarian struggles, the economic struggles and the revolutionary war. How
can we say there is a shortage of cadres? Discard this mistaken view and you will see
cadres all around you.
Fourthly, economic construction today is inseparable not only from the general task of
the war but from other tasks as well. Only if there is a thorough check-up on land
distribution [2] will it be possible to abolish feudal and semi-feudal
ownership of land completely, enhance the peasants' enthusiasm for production and swiftly
draw the peasant masses into economic construction. Only if the labour laws are resolutely
enforced will it be possible to better the life of the workers, bring them speedily into
active participation in economic construction and strengthen their leadership of the
peasants. Only if there is correct leadership in the elections and in the exposure
campaigns [3] which accompany the check-up on land distribution will it
be possible to strengthen our government bodies so that they can give more vigorous
leadership in the revolutionary war and in all our work, including economic work. The
raising of the political and cultural level of the people through cultural and educational
work is also a most important task in the development of the economy. That the expansion
of the Red Army must not be neglected for a single day goes without saying. Everybody
understands that without Red Army victories the economic blockade would be still tighter.
On the other hand, economic growth and a better life for the masses will undoubtedly be of
great help to the work of expanding the Red Army and inspiring the masses to march eagerly
to the front. To sum up, if we achieve all the above tasks, including the very important
new one of economic construction, and if we make them all serve the revolutionary war,
then victory in the revolutionary war will undoubtedly be ours.
NOTES
[1] Between 1930 and 1934 Chiang Kai-shek launched five large-scale
onslaughts against the Red area centred on Juichin, Kiangsi; they were called
"encirclement and suppression" campaigns. The fifth of such campaigns began in
October 1 though Chiang Kai-shek had been making active preparations for it since the
summer
[2] A campaign to check up land distribution was carried out in the
Red area after the agrarian reform to ascertain whether the land had been properly
redistributed.
[3] Exposure campaigns were democratic campaigns in which the
people were encouraged to expose misdeeds by the functionaries of the democratic
government.
