General Order on Economizing Funds[1]

(August 22, 1931)

1. The Third War[2] has already yielded a first-step victory for our Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, but at present we must still prepare for one to two months of arduous struggle, employing a protracted strategy to annihilate the enemy and win complete victory in the Third War, thereby fulfilling the tasks of establishing Soviet base areas and founding the Soviet Central Government. In this spirit, the Logistics Department of this Front Army has convened the Fifth Logistics Conference, which has concretely stipulated current measures for economizing funds. These have been approved by the Commander-in-Chief and the General Political Commissar and are to be implemented accordingly.

2. Current various expenses are stipulated as follows:

(1) Mess expenses shall be issued as originally at one jiao; the same applies to rear hospitals.

(2) Fodder expenses shall be issued as originally at one jiao, but payment must be based on the newly stipulated number of horses.

(3) Office expenses

Company: four yuan per month.

Logistics Department, Medical Team, Communications Team, Radio Team, Non-Commissioned Officer Company, Training Unit, Army Medical Office, Special Task Team, Quartermaster Office, Security Team, etc., same as company. Regiment and battalion, same as company.

Division: six yuan (office expenses included).

Division Political Department: six yuan.

[1] This is a general order issued jointly by Mao Zedong and Zhu De for the First Front Army of the Red Army.

[2] The Third War refers to the Third Counter-Encirclement and Suppression Campaign launched by the First Front Army of the Red Army beginning in July 1931.

Army Corps: ten yuan (office expenses included).

Army Corps Political Department: ten yuan.

General Headquarters: fifteen yuan (office expenses included).

General Political Department: fifteen yuan.

General Command: twenty yuan (office expenses included).

General Political Department: twenty yuan.

(4) Porter expenses

1. When working: one jiao and five fen in silver dollars per day.

2. When resting: one jiao in silver dollars per day.

3. When returning home: calculated according to distance, mess money shall be issued at one jiao per day, and wages shall be issued at one jiao per day.

(5) Convalescence expenses for sick soldiers

1. All sick soldiers shall be sent by the Army Corps and Division Medical Offices, which shall be responsible for issuing mess and convalescence expenses.

2. Those convalescing with the army units shall not be issued convalescence expenses.

3. Those sent to the government for convalescence shall be issued one silver dollar plus one silver dollar for mess expenses.

4. Those sent to rear hospitals shall not be issued any convalescence or mess expenses.

(6) Expenses for wounded soldiers

Minor: four yuan

Severe: eight yuan

(7) Expenses for prisoners

Three yuan per person

(8) Meal expenses for official guests

Three fen per meal; those without official business shall not receive payment.

(9) Wages for guides shall be the same as for temporary porters; special circumstances are not covered by this rule.

3. Economizing funds is one of the crucial issues in winning complete victory in the Third War. To ensure that the various stipulated expenses above are implemented accordingly, responsible commanding officers at all levels must exercise effective supervision, and it is especially necessary to preserve the independent system of the logistics organs. It has been observed recently that in various armies, there have been cases where funds were disbursed directly by division headquarters without approval from the Quartermaster Office; cases where lower-level political commissars created disturbances at the Quartermaster Office; cases where the Quartermaster Office was only under the command of the division commander and political commissar and could not operate within the logistics system (35th Division); cases where quartermaster personnel were transferred without notifying the Logistics Department (3rd Army Corps); cases where logistics personnel clashed with army commanders and political commissars over disbursement procedures (35th Army Corps); cases where guard soldiers and permanent porters were forcibly transferred without the consent of the logistics organs... All these facts demonstrate a failure to recognize the significance of logistics independence, indirectly hindering the task of winning complete victory in the Third War. These must be strictly corrected, and the two previous general orders of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Committee[1] and the Revolutionary Military Committee[2] must be fully respected and strictly implemented. This general order is hereby issued.

[1] The Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Committee refers to the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Committee, established concurrently with the First Front Army of the Red Army in August 1930, responsible for unified leadership of the Red Army and local political power, with Mao Zedong as its chairman. In January 1931, the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of the Communist Party of China announced the establishment of the Central Revolutionary Military Committee and simultaneously abolished the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Committee.

[2] The Revolutionary Military Committee refers to the Central Revolutionary Military Committee of the Chinese Soviets, established in January 1931 under the leadership of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of the Communist Party of China, responsible for commanding the national Red Army, with Xiang Ying as its chairman. After the establishment of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic in November 1931, the Central Revolutionary Military Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic was formally established.