Opinion on the Issue of Profit Distribution
(January 1952)

For review by Commander-in-Chief Zhu, Comrades Bo Yibo and Su Yu. The army’s production has already become a mess, as can be seen from this telegram.

Mao

[1]
Bo Yibo, then Director of the Central People’s Government Austerity Inspection Committee. Su Yu, then Deputy Commander of the East China Military Region of the People’s Liberation Army.
[2]
Refers to the telegram dated January 5, 1952, from the East China Military Region Committee of the Communist Party of China to the Shandong Military Region, copied to Mao Zedong, regarding the handling of the proposal by the Party Committee of the Central-South Shandong Military Sub-district on distributing profits from army production. The telegram stated that the Shandong Military Region was correct in not approving the proposal by the Central-South Shandong Military Sub-district to distribute profits from army production. In order to plug such loopholes, the East China Military Region decided: to freeze all army production funds and their profits; all unit commanders and Party committees at all levels shall only have the duty to properly keep and manage operations, and shall not privately use them without authorization; regarding the principles for handling army production funds and profits in 1952, all units may sum up experience and put forward opinions, so that new handling methods can be re-determined and promulgated. Mao Zedong annotated beside this passage: “This is the policy of ‘manage without moving, await orders.’”