Speech at the Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China[1]

(August 13, 1941)

At present, there are two principal contradictions in the financial and economic problems of the Border Region. One is the contradiction between the people who produce and the personnel who consume. The 1.4 million people must supply the livelihood of 80,000 persons. The self-production by the army, government organs, and others can only supply one-fifth, while the remaining four-fifths must be borne by the people. The second is the imbalance between exports and imports, with a very large discrepancy (8 million yuan). The principles for resolving these contradictions are: (1) develop the economy; (2) balance exports and imports. In developing the economy, investment this year has been mostly in public enterprises; in the future, several million yuan must be invested in private industry, agriculture, and commerce. The principle for economic development is primarily private, with a portion public. Expanding state-owned enterprises is not a matter for the early stage of New Democracy, but for the later stage of New Democracy; it can only be accomplished when there is large-scale industry. To balance exports and imports, salt must be exported in large quantities. The method now being adopted of organizing the people to transport salt under official supervision and private operation is a good way to balance exports and imports. Salt transport must not violate the farming season; political mobilization must be carried out, and labor power must be organized. If these two problems—developing the economy and balancing exports and imports—can be resolved, the Border Region currency can be stabilized. As for the issue of labor service, because there is a revolutionary populace in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, labor service is possible; because of the war, labor service is necessary.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong’s speech on the financial and economic problems of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.