Opinions on the Slogan “For Every Inch of Increased Production, There Shall Be One Cent More in Welfare” [1] (August 21, 1953)

However, when pointing out that the statement “For Every Inch of Increased Production, There Shall Be One Cent More in Welfare” is not entirely accurate, we should not give workers the impression that henceforth production alone is sufficient and welfare can be neglected. Rather, we ought to explain that the phrase “On the Basis of Increased Production, Workers’ Living Standards Should Be Gradually Improved” is a more precise and appropriate way of expressing this idea.

Printed from Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft. Notes [ ] This is a passage added by Mao Zedong while reviewing the “Regulations of the CPC Central Committee Concerning Matters Requiring Attention When Citing Remarks Made by Chairman Mao or Other Leading Comrades of the Central Committee.” On July 22, 1953, An Lifu, Chairman of the All-China Highway Transport Union and an Executive Committee Member of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, wrote a letter to the Party Leadership Group of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and to the Central Committee, arguing that the widely attributed slogan “For Every Inch of Increased Production, There Shall Be One Cent More in Welfare,” which was said to have been uttered by Mao Zedong, inadequately and imprecisely captured the relationship between production and welfare, between individual interests and the overall interest, and between immediate and long-term interests. He proposed replacing this formulation with “Workers’ living standards should be gradually improved on the basis of increased production.” On July 30, the Party Leadership Group of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions submitted this matter for instruction to Mao Zedong and the CPC Central Committee. In response, the Central Committee issued the aforementioned regulations. The regulations stated: “The phrase ‘For Every Inch of Increased Production’ was indeed spoken by Chairman Mao; however, the addition of ‘There Shall Be One Cent More in Welfare’ was made by others. To link these two statements into a slogan and then present it as if it had all been said by Chairman Mao and to cite it in that manner constitutes a politically unserious act.” The text added by Mao Zedong follows immediately after this passage.