Letter to Jia Tuofu[1]

(May 4, 1943)

Is the article written by Comrade Peng Dehuai feasible in the Border Region? Should the current orientation and nature of public-run shops be changed, and how? Please study this matter, and discuss it with Comrades Gao, He[2], and Chen Yun, then write down their opinions and submit them to me. The trading companies are public-run shops, and at this Senior Cadres’ Conference, the orientation pointed to in Peng’s article has been realized. The shops of other organs and army units are in fact privately run shops, merely operating under the name of public-run shops. It seems impossible to make such shops implement the orientation of Peng’s article, because they aim to make profits for their own organs and units, whereas genuine public-run shops do not aim to make profits for themselves.

[1] This is the main content of Mao Zedong’s letter to Jia Tuofu concerning the study of Peng Dehuai’s article “On Public-Run Shops.” On May 1, 1943, Peng Dehuai wrote to Mao Zedong regarding his article “On Public-Run Shops”: “Recently, in discussions with certain cadres who came to Yan’an from North China, I learned that the issue of public-run shops remains unresolved, especially in Hebei-Shandong-Henan, Shandong, and Taiyue, where there are more problems. Even though the recent conference in Yan’an resolved many issues, the financial policy and public-run shops still seem to lack a clear orientation. I have written an ‘On Public-Run Shops.’ Please review it. If there are no major flaws, please revise it and preferably publish it in the name of an editorial.”

[2] Gao and He refer to Gao Gang and He Long.