Comments on Briefing No. 1 Concerning Problems Raised at the Conference of United Front Work Department Ministers
(June 8, 1952)
Premier Zhou:
Please take a look at item (2) of this document, which deals with the situation in Nanjing. In cities like Nanjing, the figures, timing, and proportions involved in refunds and supplements all warrant careful consideration.
Mao Zedong
June 8
[I]
Refers to the second item of Briefing No. 1, dated June 7, 1952, prepared by the Office of the CPC Central Committee’s United Front Work Department, which describes the industrial and commercial conditions in Nanjing. According to the briefing, Nanjing exhibits particularly pronounced distortions in its industrial and commercial sectors. The city has a total of 25,000 industrial and commercial establishments, yet their overall strength is very weak. Among the more than 10,100 industrial enterprises, approximately 9,000 have three or fewer workers, while only 38 employ 50 or more. Of the 23 major commercial sectors, just seven firms possess capital exceeding 500 million yuan. The total private capital in Nanjing’s industries and commerce amounts to 320 billion yuan; after several rounds of review and reduction during the Five-Anti Campaign, it is now proposed to refund and supplement between 80 and 90 billion yuan. Since the start of the Five-Anti Campaign, over 2,100 businesses have been approved to cease operations or have voluntarily shut down. If refunds and supplements are granted as currently calculated, an additional 1,300 or so enterprises will likely be forced to close, leaving more than 13,000 people unemployed. Unemployment has long been a serious problem in Nanjing: over 11,000 individuals are entirely dependent on government support, and more than 40,000 regularly require relief assistance.