On the Policy Concerning Industry and Commerce

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of On the Policy Concerning Industry and Commerce 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 editions:

• On the Policy Concerning Industry and Commerce, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 4, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
• Instructions of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party of China About the Problem of Protecting Industry and Commerce, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 10, Routledge, New York and London, 2023.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is an inner-Party directive drafted by Comrade Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yangjiakou, Mizhi, Shaanxi, China on the 27th of February, 1948. It was first published by the Central China Bureau of the Party's Central Committee in October 1949.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#ON THE POLICY CONCERNING INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

#DIRECTIVE OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA

#Mao Zedong

#27th of February, 1948

#★

#1. POLITICAL MISTAKES IN LOCAL INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL WORK

In addition to the letters from Comrade Zhu De and the February telegram from the Working Commission of the Central Committee, Comrade Kang Sheng also wrote from Bohai such words as the following:

Here, there was a policy of destruction toward urban work and industry and commerce. In June and July of last year, due to the use of the rural method of struggle of complete confiscation and distribution, industry and commerce in Yangjiakou has collapsed almost entirely, and the production of salt has been greatly reduced. The city has become a ghost town, and it is difficult to recover. Directives have not been given to prohibit land reform in all big cities, to prohibit the confiscation and distribution of industry and commerce, and to send people to Cangzhou, Dezhou, Yangjiakou, and other cities to research remedies, in order to reassure the people there and develop production.

We estimate that there must be many such incidents in North and North-East China. Party organizations in Shanxi and Suiyuan have violated the policy of the Party's Central Committee concerning industry and commerce and seriously damaged both. These mistakes must be speedily corrected. In correcting them, the Party committees in these places must make a careful checkup from the two aspects of guiding policies and methods of leadership.

#2. GUIDING POLICIES

Precautions should be taken against the mistake of applying in the cities the measures used in rural areas for struggling against landlords and rich peasants and for destroying the feudal forces. A sharp distinction should be made between the feudal exploitation practised by landlords and rich peasants, which must be abolished, and the industrial and commercial enterprises run by landlords and rich peasants, which must be protected. A sharp distinction should also be made between the correct policy of developing production, promoting economic prosperity, giving consideration to both public and private interests, and benefiting both labour and capital, and the one-sided and narrow-minded policy of «relief», which purports to uphold the workers' welfare, but in fact damages industry and commerce and impairs the cause of the workers and of the people's revolution. Education should be conducted among comrades in the trade unions and among the masses of workers to enable them to understand that they should not see merely the immediate and partial interests of the working class while forgetting its broad, long-range interests. Under the local government's leadership, workers and capitalists should be led to organize joint committees for the management of production and to do everything possible to reduce costs, increase output, and stimulate sales, so as to attain the objectives of giving consideration to both public and private interests, benefiting both labour and capital, and supporting the war. Instead, workers are being guided to pursue one-sided, immediate interests, blindly leading themselves into a dead end. There are also destructive taxation policies toward industry and commerce. The mistakes committed in many places are due to the failure to grasp all, most, or some of the above policies. The bureaus and sub-bureaus of the Central Committee should raise this question clearly, analyse, check up, formulate correct policies, and issue inner-Party directives and government decrees.

#3. METHODS OF LEADERSHIP

After policies have been fixed and directives issued, a bureau or sub-bureau of the Central Committee should keep in close contact with its area and prefectural Party committees¹ or with its own working teams by telegraph or telephone, by couriers on vehicles or on horseback, or by personal interviews; it should use the newspaper as an important instrument of organization and leadership. It should constantly have a grip on the progress of the work, exchange experience, and correct mistakes; it should not wait several months, half a year, or a year before holding evaluation meetings for a general checkup and a general correction of mistakes. Waiting leads to great loss, while correcting mistakes as soon as they occur reduces loss. At that time, the Bohai Prefectural Party Committee under the leadership of Jing Xiaocun was responsible for the Yangjiakou Incident (the war in East China was tense, and the East China Bureau of the Party's Central Committee was doing its best to deal with it). However, in ordinary circumstances, a bureau of the Central Committee should strive to keep in close contact with its subordinate organizations, always take care to draw a sharp line between what should and what should not be done, and constantly remind its subordinate organizations of this, so that they may make as few mistakes as possible. All these are questions of methods of leadership.

#4. CORRECT THE «LEFT-WING» DEVIATION IN INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

The hazardous «Left-wing» policy concerning industry and commerce has become extremely dangerous and intolerable. All comrades in the Party should understand that the enemy is now completely isolated. But their isolation is not tantamount to our victory. If we make mistakes in policy, we shall still be unable to win victory. To put it concretely, we shall fail if we make, and do not correct, mistakes of principle with regard to any of the five policies — on the war, Party consolidation, land reform, industry and commerce, and the suppression of counter-revolution. We must have a comprehensive grasp of the correct policies and correct the mistakes of our subordinates constantly. Do not wait to settle everything until the situation gets worse. The meeting of comrades responsible for the Handan, Wutai, and East China Bureaus convened by the Working Commission of the Central Committee will not only discuss organizational questions, but also political questions, especially the policy concerning industry and commerce.

#5. THE IMPORTANCE OF POLICY

Policy is the starting point of all the practical actions of a revolutionary political party and manifests itself in the process and the end-result of that party's actions. A revolutionary political party is carrying out a policy whenever it takes any action. If it is not carrying out a correct policy, it is carrying out a wrong policy; if it is not carrying out a given policy consciously, it is doing so blindly. What we call experience is the process and the end-result of carrying out a policy. Only through the practice of the people, that is, through experience, can we verify whether a policy is correct or wrong and determine to what extent it is correct or wrong. But people's practice, especially the practice of a revolutionary political party and the revolutionary masses, cannot but be related to one policy or an other. Therefore, before any action is taken, we must explain the policy, which we have formulated in the light of the given circumstances, to Party members and to the masses. Otherwise, Party members and the masses will depart from the guidance of our policy, act blindly, and carry out a wrong policy.