Commentary on the East China Bureau’s Circular Report Concerning the Shanghai State Cotton Mill No. 2’s Experience in Uniting Technical Personnel to Resolve Key Production Problems (December 2, 1952)

Chen and Bo [1]: This document [2] is useful; it would seem appropriate for you to circulate it to all factories for emulation.

Mao Zedong December 2 Based on the manuscript copy.

Notes [ ]  Chen refers to Chen Yun, who at the time served as Vice Premier of the Government Administration Council and Director of the Financial and Economic Commission. Bo refers to Bo Yibo, who at the time was Deputy Director of the Financial and Economic Commission of the Government Administration Council.

[ ] Refers to the material on the experience of Shanghai State Cotton Mill No. 2 in uniting technical personnel to solve key production problems, which was circulated by the East China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on November 24, 1952.  The basic content is as follows: The factory’s leading cadres entrusted critical production problems to the technical staff and relied on them to resolve these issues through scientific experimentation. They explicitly stipulated that “with regard to all technical matters, the Engineers’ Office shall bear full responsibility,” and announced to workshop cadres that any technical questions arising in production were to be handled under the guidance of the engineers; decisions concerning technical measures were first to be submitted to the Engineers’ Office for review, thereby endowing the engineers with both responsibility and authority. As a result, the previous situation in production management—where no one assumed clear accountability—began to change, and technical problems in production were addressed promptly.