COMRADE MAO TSE-TUNG APPEALS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY TO DEFEAT THE
JAPANESE BANDITS

22 May 1944

[Text] A banquet was held on 22 May at Yang-chia-ling by the CCP Central
Committee in honor of the workers delegates. Following the banquet, a
reception was held at the auditorium of the Central Party School. The
reception was also held to welcome Mr and Mrs (Lin Mai-k'o) from England;
the deputy director of the Shansi-Chahar-Hopeh Border Region Administrative
Committee, Mr Hu Jen-k'uei [5170 0088 1145], and members of the Northwest
War Zone Service Corps who have just returned to Yenan from a certain area
behind the enemy line. At the reception a delegate of the workers presented a banner and paid tribute to Chairman Mao Tse-tung and Commander
in Chief Chu Te. Amidst thunderous applause, Chairman Mao appeared at
the rostrum and spoke to the delegates.

After briefly explaining the meaning of the reception, Chairman Mao said:

"Now both foreign countries and China are struggling for a common goal:
that is, to defeat fascism. The purpose of industrial construction in our
Border Region, like that of other work, is to defeat Japanese imperialism.
There is no other purpose. It was only 5 years ago that the Border Region
began to have a little industry. At that time there were only 700 industrial workers. In 1942 there were 4,000. Today there are 12,000.
Therefore, the development of industry in the Border Region has been very
rapid. Although the number is small, its significance is great. Those who
fail to recognize this force, which has a bright prospect for development,
which is full of vitality, and which can touch off other changes, are
ignorant. The goal of this meeting is to achieve, within 2 years, self-sufficiency in industrial products--first of all, cloth and iron. If we
achieve complete self-sufficiency, the number of our workers will be
greatly increased. All engineers, heads of factories and workers should
exert efforts in that direction. Communist Party members and nonparty
members should also exert efforts in that direction. People like
Comrade Shen Hung [3088 7703] and Comrade Ch'en Cheng-hsia [7115 2182 1115]
are not Communist Party members, but their heart is the same as that of
party members, struggling hard to defeat Japanese imperialism. To defeat

Japanese imperialism we must have industry. To enable China's national
independence to have a solid safeguard we must be industrialized. We of
the Chinese Communist Party must exert efforts for the industrialization
of China."

At this point Chairman Mao pointed out once again that the reason for China's
backwardness is mainly the lack of modern industry. He said:

"The reason the Japanese imperialists dare to bully China to such an extent
is that China does not have large-scale industry. They bully us because
of our backwardness. Therefore, to eliminate this kind of backwardness
is the mission of our entire nation. The common people support the
Communist Party because we represent the demand of the nation and the
people. However, if we cannot resolve economic problems, if we cannot
build modern industry, and if we cannot develop productive power, then
the common people will not necessarily support us. The Communist Party
has been resisting and attacking 58 percent of the enemy troops and 90 percent of the puppet troops. In this respect we have experience and achievements. But as to economic work, especially industry, we don't understand
it too well. Nevertheless, this field decides everything--military,
political, cultural, thinking, moral and religious. It also decides social
changes. Thus, all Communist Party members should learn economic work.
Many of us should learn industrial technology. Our Border Region is a big
school. Among the courses it offers is one called industry. This conference of workers delegates is in fact a short industrial training course.
If we Communist Party members are not concerned about industry, not concerned about economics, ignorant about productive work, skilled in nothing,
and know only how to perform a kind of abstract "revolutionary work," then
this kind of revolutionaries has no value at all. We should oppose this
kind of emptyheaded revolutionaries. They should acquire different kinds
of technological knowledge to industrialize China."

After Chairman Mao's talk, the Northwest China Field Service Corps put on a
show called "Focus Your Vision Farther Ahead," depicting the hard struggle
behind enemy lines. The gathering ended late in the night.

O CHIEH-FANG JIH-PAO, 26 May 1944