Production is currently the central task in the Border Region, and agricultural production is the core of all production efforts. To accomplish this task, we must first rely on the more than 300,000 full laborers and over 300,000 semi-laborers in the rural areas of the Border Region. Once organized, these 600,000 to 700,000 people will form a robust production army capable of generating immense and unparalleled strength.

However, to better organize the hundreds of thousands of laborers in the Border Region’s countryside, many effective measures must be adopted, one of which is implementing labor mutual aid.

In the rural areas of the Border Region, various methods of labor allocation have long existed, such as "labor exchange" and "collective labor groups," which are relatively widespread practices. Spontaneous "labor exchange" and "collective labor groups," though limited in scope—restricted to relationships among relatives, friends, and neighbors—are well-suited to the actual conditions of the Border Region’s rural areas. If guided appropriately and organized with planning and leadership, they can become structures that fully utilize labor and boost production. To prove this point, the valuable experience of Yan’an County is worth recounting. Last year, Yan’an County organized 487 "collective labor groups," additionally incorporating 4,939 able-bodied laborers into collective work, accounting for nearly one-third of the total labor force—meaning one out of every three people participated in collective labor. During land reclamation, collective labor demonstrated great strength. Last year, Yan’an County aimed to reclaim 80,000 mu of land within 100 days, requiring 800 mu per day. From March 10 to April 19, only 15,000 mu had been reclaimed, representing just 18.7% of the total target, leaving 65,000 mu still to be done, yet two-thirds of the time had already passed. Thus, after the rain on the 19th, a 20-day reclamation push was launched. In those 20 days, 46,442 mu were completed, accounting for 58% of the total target. If Yan’an County had not organized its labor force in a timely manner, it would have been impossible to seize the excellent post-rain opportunity for the push, and the plan to reclaim 80,000 mu would have failed.

We know that the most critical aspect of farming is "not missing the farming season." Sowing early or late yields different results, and harvesting early or late brings different returns. To "not miss the farming season," relying solely on individual and scattered labor is exceedingly difficult. If labor mutual aid is adopted, the situation changes dramatically. By grouping the human and animal labor of three to five or seven to eight households together, today everyone helps you plow, and tomorrow everyone helps me sow; whichever field has more weeds gets weeded first for that household; whichever household’s crops ripen early gets help with harvesting first. In "labor exchange," not only is human labor swapped for human labor, but three human labor days can also be exchanged for one ox labor day, ensuring that those with human labor contribute human labor, those with animal labor contribute animal labor—those with more contribute more, those with less contribute less—so that human and animal labor are balanced. Only in this way can we avoid missing the farming season, ensuring timely plowing, timely sowing, timely weeding, and timely harvesting.

Experience has shown that mutual aid collective production organizations can save labor, as collective labor surpasses individual labor. For example, one laborer can cultivate 15 shang of land in a year, but if three laborers work together, they can cultivate 70 shang in a year, and four laborers can cultivate 100 shang. Work that takes two human laborers and one ox laborer three days to complete can be finished in two days with three human laborers and one ox laborer. Moreover, mutual aid collective production organizations can greatly enhance labor enthusiasm and increase production efficiency, because when everyone works together, life is lively, spirits are high, and people encourage and compete with each other, with no one willing to fall behind. The intensity of the work, as the masses say, is such that "labor exchange makes you work till your muscles snap!" Finally, mutual aid collective labor organizations are truly mass organizations, making it easier for our Party and mass organization comrades to educate the masses and foster a spirit of unity and mutual aid among them.

It is precisely because such mutual aid collective labor organizations can ensure farming does not miss the season, balance and save human and animal labor, boost production enthusiasm, enhance labor efficiency, and promote the masses’ spirit of unity and mutual aid that they gain the support of the masses.

The labor mutual aid organizations popular among the people are mainly "labor exchange" and "collective labor groups," but they are not limited to these two. For instance, labor hero Wu Manyou neither participates in "collective labor groups" nor engages much in "labor exchange." He usually helps relocated refugees in his village, and when the busy farming season arrives, those relocated refugees voluntarily help him with his work. Similarly, practices like "shared cattle" and "shared land cultivation" have a mutual aid nature. These popular labor mutual aid organizations among the people are highly vivid, specific, and practical in content, and they should all be promptly advocated and promoted.

We must learn from the model of Yan’an County. Regarding the important issue of organizing labor, we should abandon passive laissez-faire attitudes and adopt active leadership and advocacy. We should not only encourage the organization of "collective labor groups" but also organize "labor exchange" more extensively and universally, transitioning from old, relatively narrow-scope organizations to organized new "labor exchange teams." First, during this year’s spring plowing, we must greatly promote such labor mutual aid organizations, organizing all those with labor capacity—the strong, the old and weak, children, and women—to implement labor mutual aid.

However, here we must pay attention: labor mutual aid organizations must be built on the basis of voluntary participation by the masses, preventing any form of coercion, commandism, or the formalism of "copying name lists." If we forcibly organize people who do not yet understand the benefits of mutual aid into a "labor exchange" or "collective labor group," or compile a list and think "everything is fine," then production efficiency and labor morale will not only fail to improve but will actually decline.

Furthermore, organizing labor mutual aid is a highly vivid and specific matter, and we must never treat it in a one-size-fits-all manner regardless of local actual conditions. For example, today we must strive to expand those folk labor mutual aid organizations. The "labor exchange" teams organized should not be too large, nor should they take the township or administrative village as the production unit, because overly broad organization wastes labor and time. It is best to take the natural village as the unit, starting with villages that have larger populations and greater need for mutual aid. Not only should one team be organized, but several or even dozens can be formed, and it should not be limited to the scope of a single village but can extend beyond the natural village to implement mutual aid between villages.

For the leadership of labor mutual aid, it must go through careful selection by the masses, publicly electing individuals who have prestige among the masses, are proactive in production, and have practical skills to take the lead. Our rural cadres and Party members should take the lead in participating, or use Party cells as the backbone to form "collective labor groups," playing a model and driving role, and using this opportunity to educate the masses and unite them. Our rural Party branches, township governments, and comrades in mass organizations must regard organizing mass production as their own work, as the most important part of their work. Some comrades think, "The masses can handle these things themselves; we don’t need to worry about it." Such incorrect views must be strictly corrected.

Today, the "fourth nine-day period" is nearly over. As people often say, "Spring begins at the start of the six nine-day periods, and plow oxen roam everywhere." Let us quickly organize this production army, seize the spring plowing season, avoid missing the farming season, and accomplish the major task of agricultural production!