and large towns, to prohibit the confiscation and distribution of any industry or
commerce, and to send people to Cangzhou, Dezhou, Yangjiaogou, and other
cities to investigate and study remedies in order to reassure the people there and
to develop production.” We estimate that there must be many such incidents in
North and Northeast China. The serious destruction of industry and commerce in
Shanxi and Suiyuan was caused by the leadership and it is now being corrected.
When such incidents are found in various places, they must be reviewed from the
two aspects of guiding policies and methods of leadership.2

Two, regarding leadership policies. No precautions were taken3 against the
mistake of applying in the cities the measures used in the rural areas for struggling
against landlords and rich peasants and for destroying the feudal forces. No sharp
distinction has been made4 between the feudal exploitation practiced by landlords
and rich peasants, which must be abolished, and the industrial and commercial
enterprises run by landlords and rich peasants, which must be protected. No sharp
distinction has been made5 between the correct policy of developing production,
promoting economic prosperity, considering both public and private interests, and
benefiting both labor and capital, and the one-sided, narrow-minded, so-called
policy of relief, which purports to uphold the workers’ welfare but in fact damages industry and commerce and impairs the cause of the workers and the people’s revolution. Still less have we made this differentiation the accepted ethos
of the Party, nor have we led the workers6 to organize production management
committees in conjunction with the government and private capitalists,7 make
every effort to save costs, increase production, and enhance the conveniences of
marketing to achieve the goal of attending to both the public and the private, seeing both labor and capital as beneficial and supporting the war effort to our best
[ability]. Instead, workers are being guided to pursue one-sided immediate interests, blindly leading themselves to a dead end. There are also destructive industrial and commercial taxation policies. All these8 lie in the failure of all, a large
majority, or a portion of the people to grasp the policies9 and to make mistakes.
close contact with their subordinate institutions. These tasks are not done enough,
that is,16 a sharp line between what should and what should not be done, and constantly remind their subordinate organizations of this so that they may make few
mistakes. These are all issues related to leadership methods.
Four, the leftist and risky policy toward industry and commerce has become
extremely dangerous and intolerable. We17 shall fail if we make, and do not correct, mistakes of principle regarding any of the five policies on the war, Party consolidation, land reform, industry and commerce, and the killing of people.18 We
must have a comprehensive grasp of the correct policies and correct the mistakes
of our subordinates at any time. Do not wait for settling everything until the situation gets worse. The meeting of comrades in charge of the Handan, Wutai, and
East China bureaus convened by the work committee of the Central Committee
will not only discuss organizational issues but also policy issues, especially industrial and commercial policies.
Five, policy is the starting point for all concrete actions within a revolutionary
party, and, furthermore, it is manifested in the processes and end-results of these
actions. A revolutionary party carries out policy whenever it takes any action. If
it is not implementing correct policies, then it is implementing erroneous policies;
if it is not consciously implementing a certain policy, then it is blindly implementing a certain policy. The experience that we speak of is only the processes and
the end-results of implementing policies. Policies must be put into practice by the
people, that is, it is only through experience that we can prove whether the policy
is right or wrong, and to what extent it is right or wrong. But the people’s practice, especially the practice of a revolutionary party and the revolutionary masses, cannot but be related to one policy or another. Therefore, before any actions, we must
clearly explain to the Party members and the masses the policies that we have
formulated according to the given circumstances. Otherwise, the Party members
and the masses will break away from the guidance of our policies, act blindly, and
implement erroneous policies.

---

Notes

Our source for this text is Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, ed.,
1948 nian yilai de zhengce huibian (Central China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, October 1949), pp. 158–61. A revised version was published in Xuanji (1960), pp.
1283–84. Text in italics reflects the original text, which was removed in the revised 1960
version. For more details, see “Note on Sources and Conventions.”
1.  Instructions of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party about the
Problem of Protecting Industry and Commerce → On Policy Concerning Industry and
Commerce
5.  No sharp distinction has been made → A sharp distinction should be made
10.  The bureau of the Central Committee should discuss in meetings and → The
bureaus and sub-bureaus of the Central Committee should

--- Notes

# Instructions of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party about the Problem of Protecting Industry and Commerce
# Date: 1948-02-27
# Source: en:MRP
Instructions of the Central Committee of the
Chinese Communist Party about the Problem
of Protecting Industry and Commerce1
(February 27, 1948)
One, about the policy mistakes in local industry and commerce, in addition to
the letters from Comrade Zhu De and the February telegram from the Work
Committee of the Central Committee, Comrade Kang Sheng also wrote from
Bohai words such as: “Here, there was a policy of destruction toward urban
work and industry and commerce. In June and July of last year, due to the use
of the rural struggle method of complete confiscation and distribution, industry
and commerce in Yangjiaogou has collapsed almost entirely, and the production
of salt has been greatly reduced. The city has become a dead city and it is difficult to recover. Orders have now been given to prohibit land reform in all cities

2.  they must be reviewed from the two aspects of guiding policies and methods of
leadership. → Party organizations in certain places have violated the policy of the Central
Committee of the Party concerning industry and commerce and seriously damaged both.
These mistakes must be speedily corrected. In correcting them the Party committees in
these places must make a careful check-up from the two aspects of guiding policies and
methods of leadership.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-94

3.  No precautions were taken → Precautions should be taken

4.  No sharp distinction has been made → A sharp distinction should be made

6.  nor have we led the workers → We should conduct education for comrades in labor
unions and the working masses to make them understand that they must under no circumstances simply focus on the one-sided material benefits in front of their eyes and forget the
long-term interests of the working class. We should guide the workers

7.  with the government and private capitalists, → with the capitalists, under the local
government’s leadership,

8.  All these → The reason that mistakes arise in many areas

9.  grasp the policies → grasp the policies described above

The bureau of the Central Committee should discuss in meetings and10 raise this
question clearly, increase analysis and examination, then send out11 the correct
policies, internal Party directives, and government ordinances.12
Three, with respect to leadership methods. When policies have been determined and a directive has been issued, the central bureaus and branch bureaus
must communicate closely with their district Party committees, local Party committees, or the work teams that they have dispatched, by telegram, telephone, couriers in vehicles or on horseback, verbal communications, or other methods.
Furthermore, make use of the newspapers as a tool of extreme importance to their
organization and leadership work in order to13 grasp the progress of the movement14 at any time, exchange experiences, and correct mistakes. They must not
wait a few months, or even half a year or a full year, to hold summary meetings,
to settle general accounts, and to correct overall mistakes. If they were to do
so, the losses would be too great. However, if they can correct their mistakes
as soon as they occur, the losses will be relatively few. At that time, the Bohai
District Party Committee under the leadership of Jing Xiaocun was responsible
for the Yangjiaogou Incident (the war in eastern China was tense, and the East
China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was doing its best to deal with it).
However, under ordinary circumstances, the central bureaus seem not to be15 in

11.  then send out → determine

12.  internal Party directives, and government ordinances. → and then separately
release internal Party directives and government ordinances.

13.  in order to → they must

14.  movement → work

15.  seem not to be → should strive to keep

16.  These tasks are not done enough, that is, → Always take care to draw

17.  We → All comrades in the Party should understand that the enemy is now completely isolated. But his isolation is not tantamount to our victory. If we make mistakes in
policy, we shall still be unable to achieve a victory. To put it concretely, we

18.  killing of people. → the suppression of counterrevolution.