The Enterprise Management Committee
Should Include the Participation of
Engineers, Technicians, and Other Staff
Members1
(April 26, 1948)
To the East China Bureau, and for the information of Comrade Tan Zhenlin:
Comrade Zhenlin’s April 1 telegram on urban policy in Zi[chuan], Bo[shan],
Zhang[dian], and Zhou[cun]2 is very good. Please forward it to the Party committees of all districts under the East China Bureau, all municipal committees, the
Central China Work Committee, Chen [Yi] and Su [Yu], and Wei [Guoqing] and
Chen [Pixian]3 for reference. There is, however, one issue to which I would like to
draw your attention: When the telegram talks about the formal management committees of enterprises, it only speaks of the management committees organized by
managers and union representatives, and it does not mention engineers, technicians, and other experienced staff. You must know that managers and union representatives alone are not sufficient; engineers, technicians, and other staff must
participate in the management committees. This committee should be a management committee under a system in which the factory director holds responsibility. In any enterprise, apart from attaching importance to the factory director or
the management, we must also value the engineers, technicians, and other staff who have knowledge and experience. Do not hesitate to pay high salaries when
necessary. Even if they are Guomindang people, we should make use of them as
much as possible. Please transmit this point simultaneously to all localities. This
is a point we failed to clarify in the past, so we have provided a supplementary
explanation here.
The Central Committee

---

Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 88–89, where it is reproduced
from Mao’s handwritten manuscript.
1.  Mao Zedong drafted this note on behalf of the Central Committee on a report by Tan
Zhenlin, deputy political commissar of the East China Field Army and political commissar
of the Shandong Corps, dated April 1, 1948.
2.  Tan Zhenlin’s April 1 report covered the situation and the policies taken in Zichuan,
Boshan, Zhangdian, and Zhoucun. Tan said that following the wrongful purging of some
businessmen the previous year, Zhoucun convened a forum of local businessmen to hear
suggestions and solve problems. Measures taken included returning wrongfully confiscated property and assets, allowing the operation of joint-stock companies, and assisting
companies in promoting production and a prosperous market. In coal mines, management
committees of workers, staff, and cadres had been established.
3.  Chen Yi was commander and political commissar, and Su Yu deputy commander, of
the East China Field Army. Wei Guoqing was commander, and Chen Pixian was political
commissar of the Northern Jiangsu Corps of the East China Field Army.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-113