As we all know, a country needs a lot of financial support to feed an army. Nowadays, the military expenditure of the US military is very high, and China has invested a lot of money in army building. As early as 1937, during the all-out War of Resistance, the Eighth Route Army was reorganized from the Red Army, and the Communist Party at that time was not the ruling party, where did the military expenditure come from?
Seeing this, some people will say that the Red Army did not fight the local tycoons and landlords before, and used those ill-gotten gains to help the poor as military expenses? Is this actually wrong? During the period of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, according to the relevant regulations on cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, the Red Army in northern Shaanxi was organized into three divisions, totaling about 45,000 people, plus a small number of the New Fourth Army.
The scale of development of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army is very rapid, and the number of people has increased by more than ten times in just a few years. Obviously impossible. At that time, how did the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army feed themselves? Where did the funding come from? It is mainly derived from the following five aspects.
Three types of passive income?
Appropriations from the Nationalist Government: At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japan, most of the funds of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army were allocated by the Nationalist Government. According to the relevant provisions of the Second Kuomintang-Communist Cooperation, the Nationalist Government allocated a total of about 630,000 yuan to the Eighth Route Army every month, which included the sum of all the accumulated war expenses, medical care, military stations, and recurrent expenses. Due to the small number of the New Fourth Army, it can get even less money from the National Government, and it can only have 100,000 yuan a month.
630,000 yuan is not the ocean, nor is it our current renminbi, but the legal tender issued and circulated by the National Government at that time. In 1937, the legal tender was still relatively valuable, 100 yuan could buy a cow, but with the expansion of the scale of the war, the legal tender gradually became worthless, and after a few years, a hundred yuan of legal tender could only buy a bag of flour.
A monthly fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if the number of troops is not increased, this money can ensure the basic livelihood of the army. However, the size of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army has increased more than tenfold, and the funds of hundreds of thousands of dollars have obviously not been enough; Chiang Kai-shek is worried about the expansion of the number of the Eighth Route Army, and does not pay military expenses according to the actual number of the Eighth Route Army, or pays military expenses according to the 45,000 people at the beginning of the all-out War of Resistance, which makes the Eighth Route Army face a serious problem -- military expenditure is seriously insufficient and very short of money.
The Nationalist government has always been wary of the Eighth Route Army, and it is obviously passive to rely on them alone to distribute military funds, and the top brass of the Eighth Route Army realized that they must find a way to increase their income and cannot be led by the nose. After the Anhui Incident, the Nationalist government stopped disbursing military expenses to the Eighth Route Army on the grounds of the country's economic difficulties. Therefore, with the continuous expansion of the number of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, four other ways to increase military expenditure have also come.
Fundraising: Everyone has the responsibility to resist Japan and defend the land, and those who have money and strong contributions are not rough. During the period of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the whole country was engaged in fundraising activities, and many patriots were willing to contribute a sum of money to support the anti-Japanese resistance, after all, if the country did not have it, what was the use of asking for money? Through fundraising, the Eighth Route Army raised a relatively lucrative income.
For example, a landlord in Shanxi at that time was named Yang Duren, who was a very enlightened person, who donated more than 10,000 silver dollars to the Eighth Route Army at one time, and also gave away a large boat. Among them, an enlightened squire named Niu Youlan donated more than 20,000 silver dollars. Coupled with the generosity of the people in the anti-Japanese base areas, donating money and grain, the Red Army spent a difficult period of resistance with their help.
During the period of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, some warlords also funded the Eighth Route Army, such as Sheng Shicai in Xinjiang, who donated tens of thousands of sets of clothes, various gas masks, etc., and more than 100,000 silver dollars to the Eighth Route Army. It is worth mentioning that Sheng Shicai later defected to Chiang Kai-shek, killed the chairman's relatives, and broke down relations with our army.
Assistance from the Communist International: In the early years, the Communist Party of China was a branch of the Communist International, and for the sake of development needs, International Communism has always given our Party some help within its capacity. After the Anhui Incident, when Chiang Kai-shek stopped allocating military funds to the Eighth Route Army, we asked the Communist International for help and asked them to allocate us $1 million a year.
After discussion at the Congress, the Communist International agreed to assist the Chinese Communist Party with $1 million. At that time, the US dollar was very valuable and had strong purchasing power, and this money provided a strong guarantee for the development and construction of the Eighth Route Army. Unfortunately, the communist international organization that had aided us every year was dissolved in 1943, and our army lost a large source of income.
Whether it is the national government appropriations, or various fundraising, or the enthusiastic help of the communist international organizations, these three methods are passive acceptance, and the Eighth Route Army must have its own effective channels to obtain economic income, so as not to be passive all the time. Therefore, the fourth and fifth sources of income are the active sources of income of the Eighth Route Army.
Two types of active income?
Taxation: Taxation is very familiar to everyone, paying taxes is the responsibility and obligation of every citizen, and during the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Eighth Route Army also carried out taxation work after establishing a base area. At first, due to the imperfection of the system, there were some unfair and somewhat coercive phenomena in the process of taxation, and the taxes of landlords and merchants were relatively heavy. With the improvement of the system, the taxes of the Eighth Route Army have gradually become reasonable, and the common people are very willing to help the army resist Japan, and this money is one of the important incomes of the Eighth Route Army during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Large-scale production movement: We all know that during the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Japanese army not only fought against the Nationalist army, but also carried out "sweeping" of the major anti-Japanese war base areas throughout the country. Under the "sweeping" of the Japanese army, the area of the base area was greatly reduced, and natural disasters were encountered, and the excessive number of young people serving as soldiers led to a decrease in the field labor force, and the survival of the Eighth Route Army was facing a severe test.
In order to survive, the Eighth Route Army, led from the headquarters to the grass-roots soldiers, launched a large-scale production campaign, farming, raising pigs, and doing business, as long as it is reasonable and legal, it can increase production. Under the large-scale production movement, the living standards of the Eighth Route Army were greatly improved, not only had basic grain to eat, but also could eat pork once or twice a month, and their lives were a little richer than before.
epilogue
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, in addition to the above five sources of income, the Eighth Route Army had many other ways to increase its income, such as issuing public bonds, but it did not play a very big role. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army persisted in the War of Resistance Behind Enemy Lines under difficult circumstances and made great contributions to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
It was precisely with the support of the people that the Eighth Route Army was able to develop rapidly and increase the number of troops. The Eighth Route Army under the leadership of the Communist Party also understood the principle of "taking from the people and using it for the people" and tried to reduce the peasants' taxes as much as possible.