Deng Zihui was an important exploration of the path of economic development in the early stage of our party's cooperative economy
□ Dong Zhiming
Deng Zihui is a staunch Marxist, a faithful inheritor and an outstanding practitioner of Marxist cooperative economic thought. As early as the period of creating the revolutionary base areas in western Fujian and building the Chinese Soviet Republic, Deng Zihui creatively applied the basic stand, viewpoints, and methods of Marxist cooperative economic thinking to the reality of the development of China's rural economy, and initially explored a path of cooperative economic development suited to the conditions at that time, mainly by establishing grain adjustment bureaus and various rural cooperative economic organizations, setting up workers' and peasants' banks to practice low-interest lending, and establishing grain cooperatives and various consumer cooperatives, production cooperatives, and credit cooperative economic organizations. These main explorations are not only the correct policies of the revolutionary government to overcome difficulties, support and develop production, invigorate the economy, and support the war, but also accumulate valuable experience for vigorously carrying out the movement of mutual assistance and cooperation after the founding of New China and actively guiding the broad masses of peasants to embark on the broad road of agricultural co-operation. In the new stage of historical development, reviewing and summarizing Deng Zihui's important exploration of the path of our party's early cooperative economic development is of practical guiding significance for building the historical foundation of cooperative economy with Chinese characteristics and opening up a new situation in the development of China's supply and marketing cooperation in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Theories, principles and methods of the Marxist-Leninist cooperative economy
The creation of Marxist cooperative economic theory is based on the scientific analysis and summarization of the contradictory movements and laws of production in capitalist society, and the rejection of the unscientific elements of the utopian socialist cooperative ideology. Marxist cooperative economic theory holds that the cooperative economy is the intermediate link in the transition of individual peasants to socialism, and the cooperative movement is one of the forces that transform capitalist society, but only when the proletariat seizes power can the cooperatives realize the transformation of the whole society. After Marx's death, Engels put forward in "The Franco-German Peasant Question" the principle that must be adhered to in cooperation with individual small farmers. The main thing is that it cannot be deprived, voluntarily, by the state, by the state, by the state, by the state, and so on. Lenin further proposed in On Co-operatives the need to "transition to the new system by means which, as far as possible, make the peasants feel simple and acceptable", with the intention of starting with the co-operatives in the field of circulation and guiding the peasants towards co-operation in the field of production.
The Beginning of the Communist Party of China's Leadership of a Cooperative Economy
The Communist Party of China's application of Marxist cooperative economic thinking to guide the practical struggle of the revolution began with the Second National Congress of the Party. It is marked by the adoption of a resolution on the "trade union movement and the Communist Party" passed by the Second National Congress of the Party, followed by an "additional resolution", which shows how our Party treats the principles of workers' consumption cooperatives, guilds and other groups. Article 1 clearly stipulates: "Workers' consumer cooperatives are self-defence organizations of workers' interests, and the Communist Party must pay attention to and operate such organizations." "At the end of 1925, our Party began to attach importance to the peasant movement and to advocate farmers' cooperatives. Mao Zedong, Li Lisan, Tan Pingshan, Peng Pan, and others made important contributions to the development of the cooperative economy in the early days of our party's founding. On the whole, the cooperative economy led by the Party during the period of creation and the Great Revolution presented two characteristics: first, it advocated workers' co-operatives in the workers' movement, and with the deepening of the revolution, it turned to the peasant movement and advocated peasant cooperation; second, because there was no establishment of a relatively stable revolutionary base area and Soviet power, the co-operative movement was mostly limited to the field of circulation, and mutual assistance and cooperation in the field of agricultural production were mostly carried out spontaneously by the peasants in the old form of mutual assistance.
Former site of the Soviet Government in Western Fujian
Deng Zihui's cooperative economic thought and practice during the period of the agrarian revolutionary war
Deng Zihui was a proletarian revolutionary who was good at combining theory with practice to think about China's problems and had an innovative spirit. In 1927, Deng Zihui set up peasant associations, shop staff unions, and merchants' associations in Jieba District, Chongyi County, Jiangxi Province; led the Chongyi workers to hold armed uprisings, set up the Chongyi County Provisional Administrative Committee and the Peasants' Self-Defense Army, abolished harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and implemented the "Second Five-Year Plan" rent reduction; secretly returned to Longyan's hometown of Dongxiao Dengcuo Village, organized peasant associations in the Baitu and Houtian areas, and carried out peasant movements. In 1928, he led the Longyan Houtian Rebellion, organized the first peasant guerrilla group in western Fujian, and opened the prelude to the armed struggle in western Fujian; carried out the agrarian revolution in the southern district of Yongding, implemented land distribution, established Soviet power, and established the earliest Red Army in western Fujian. In 1929, he wrote a report on the work of the Party in western Fujian, the situation of mass mobilization, and the enemy's military strength and sent it to Mao Zedong, requesting that the Red Fourth Army come to western Fujian again; actively mobilize and organize the masses of workers and peasants in the counties of western Fujian to hold armed insurrection; convene the first congress of the COMMUNIST Party of China in western Fujian to sum up and put forward a relatively complete set of agrarian revolutionary program; and guide the counties and district committees in western Fujian to build democratic government and develop the armed forces of workers and peasants. In 1930, he presided over the second enlarged meeting of the Special Committee of the Communist Party of China in Western Fujian, revised and supplemented the land policy, and added "drawing more to make up for the small" in the principle of "drawing more to make up for the less"; presided over the first workers' and peasants' and soldiers' congress in western Fujian, established the Western Fujian Soviet Government, and was elected as the chairman of the government. In 1931, the All-China Congress of Soviets was held in Ruijin, and Deng Zihui was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic and a member of the People's Commissar of Finance. During the several years of leading the peasant revolt and building the revolutionary political power, Deng Zihui adhered to the principle of seeking truth from facts and the mass line of "coming from the masses and going among the masses." He first conducted a full investigation and study of the important political, military, economic, and cultural issues in western Fujian, formulated the land law, labor law, marriage regulations, and cultural, educational, and financial and economic policies, and put the building of revolutionary power on the right track; and then in Jiangxi, he painstakingly and painstakingly unified the finances of the Central Soviet Region and overcame financial difficulties, and wrote the "" The Political Resolution of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China in Western Fujian, the Regulations on Cooperatives, the Outline of the Work Report of the Government of the Soviet Government in Western Fujian, the Development of Grain Cooperatives and the Consolidation of the Economy in the Soviet Region, and the Central Work of the Financial Departments at All Levels at present are full of theoretical color and policy. In addition, he attended the joint meeting of the Former Committee of the Red Fourth Army and the Special Committee of the Fujian West Held in Nanyang, Shanghang in June 1930, and drafted resolutions "The Question of The Kulaks" and "The Problem of Hooligans" for the meeting. He pointed out that since the insurrection last year, many county, district, and township Soviet governments have been established in western Fujian, and the masses under the Soviet regime have relieved the Kuomintang warlords of their political oppression and exploitation of heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes, but because of the economic blockade imposed by the warlords, the merchants' purchases have been sluggish, resulting in high prices, financial stagnation, and the suffering of the masses cannot be completely lifted. What should be noted here is that cooperatives are an economic organization of class struggle, so it is necessary to form a movement, and there must be absolutely no command or coercive behavior, mainly from the propaganda and agitation work to mobilize the masses to automatically join the shares, so that every mass must thoroughly understand the loss of the falling price of rice grain, the reasons for the price drop, the role and necessity of grain cooperatives, only if the masses of the revolutionary class are thoroughly understood and the enthusiasm and interest of the masses are mobilized, then it is not difficult to concentrate even the greatest capital.
At Longtian Academy, the former site of the Nanyang Conference, the meeting adopted resolutions on the "Kulak Problem" and "Hooligan Problem."
The establishment of the Grain Adjustment Bureau and various rural cooperative economic organizations has set a precedent for agricultural cooperative organizations in China
In the process of leading longyan county to carry out the agrarian revolution, Deng Zihui found that the peasants were not happy because of the land and grain harvest, but were worried about the low grain prices. It turned out that when the early rice harvest appeared in the summer of 1929, speculators lowered grain prices and bought and hoarded grain in large quantities, so that ordinary peasants could not even recover their labor costs, which seriously affected the agricultural economy and the development of the agricultural and sideline products market in the Soviet Union. To this end, Deng Zihui went to the countryside with longyan county cadres to investigate and study and solve the serious problem of "hurting the peasants in the valley." Initially, he proposed to stabilize the food market by limiting food prices, but the results were completely ineffective and food prices continued to fall. Later, in further investigation, he found that the main reason for this phenomenon was the erroneous launching of the so-called "anti-kulak line" and the blind increase in wages by the peasant workers' unions. In addition, because the Workers' and Peasants' Banks and Credit Cooperatives had not yet been organized at that time, the peasants had nowhere to ask for loans, and in order not to miss the peasants during the busy summer harvest season, they had to sell grain in large quantities at low prices, and sometimes even sold one bucket and two buckets to pay for expensive wages. After this investigation and discussion, Deng Zihui agreed with the county party committee to set up a grain adjustment bureau, and the adjustment bureaus in each district would borrow money from the local rich peasants and buy grain from the poor peasants at a limited price. This policy was well received by farmers at the time, and food prices have since stabilized. This policy was also extended to the counties of western Fujian. On June 14, 1930, the Western Fujian Soviet Government issued Circular No. 15 signed by Deng Zihui, requiring all counties to immediately set up grain dispensing bureaus in each district and township, striving to adjust the purchase price of grain when the summer harvest of millet appeared, improve the purchasing power of peasants, prosper the market, and develop the economy of the Soviet region. The proclamation also demanded that the Soviet governments at all levels resolutely seek the interests of the working and poor peasant class, vigorously raise funds so that the peasants in the communes would receive universal relief, and at the same time strictly stipulated that the funds raised by the Grain Adjustment Bureau "shall not be transferred for other purposes, and if anyone embezzles more than ten yuan of this money, he shall be shot to set an example." ”
In June 1930, the Soviet government of western Fujian issued a proclamation on the issue of organizing a grain transfer (agent) bureau
After further in-depth understanding, Deng Zihui also found that after the distribution of land, due to the different busy seasons of agriculture in various places, the kind of labor exchange habits formed in history still existed. Originally, Longyan agricultural production was dongxiao, Huangfang, Hubang, Xishan, Chenpo and the suburbs of the city with fewer people and more people, a variety of two manufacturing, while the big and small ponds, mountain horses and other districts are a variety of one manufacturing, individual two manufacturing, harvest season is also the former harvest early, the latter harvest late, so there is a habit of labor exchange in history. In June and July, Dongxiao and other areas are harvesting summer seeds, and labor is too busy to come, while areas such as Big and Small Ponds have not yet arrived in the summer harvest, and many poor peasants have gone to Dongxiao and other places to do short-term work and participate in the summer harvest and summer planting; in August and September, on the contrary, the hired poor peasants in Dongxiao and other areas have gone to the area of big and small ponds to work. Yamada and Yokota also have this kind of labor exchange in each district. Deng Zihui believes that this kind of labor habit of going back and forth is not only unfavorable to agricultural production, but also an important reason for the soaring wages in the summer harvest. In order to solve this problem, Deng Zihui further proposed the organization of labor cooperatives after studying with the farmers. The specific method is: the members and members of the mutual exchange of workers, the society and the society of collective exchange of workers, the two sides register the number of workers, settle after the harvest, the society with more workers by the other party to pay the wages, so that both sides can avoid the difficulty of paying wages, but also can avoid the phenomenon of selling grain because of the payment of wages, resulting in a decline in grain prices. At that time, this kind of mutual-aid labor cooperative had some initial organization in the area of the big and small ponds, and achieved some results, but later because of the enemy's attack and the fall of the base area, this kind of organization did not develop. At that time, Deng Zihui also organized a kind of consumer cooperative similar to the nature of a supply and marketing cooperative in several districts and townships, but it was also stopped because of the enemy's attack. Nevertheless, such cooperatives have played a positive role in organizing the peasants to use the power of Soviet power, breaking the enemy's economic blockade and promoting economic development, and can be regarded as the germ of the agricultural cooperative organizations cultivated and built in the early days of our Party.
Adopt economic means to mobilize the enthusiasm of businessmen and narrow the "scissors gap" of industrial and agricultural products
While striving to prevent the price of summer grain from plummeting, Deng Zihui was also actively considering solving the problem of the excessively low prices of paper, wood, tobacco, tea, and other indigenous products as a whole, that is, at that time, due to the economic blockade of the Kuomintang in the Western Fujian Soviet Region, paper, wood, tobacco, tea, and other native products could not be sold, prices continued to fall, it was difficult for industrial products to come in, and prices rose steadily. The prices of such import and export products (industrial and agricultural products) caused by the economic blockade were unusually high and low, and Deng Zihui raised it as a "scissors difference" problem at the first enlarged meeting of the Fujian Special Committee of the CPC, and has been exploring ways to solve it. To this end, he personally held discussions with Longyan merchants and encouraged them to communicate with the merchants in the white area. At first, the Longyan merchants had concerns and were not active, so he allowed them to give "benefits" to the vigilante checkpoints along the way, to carry out "smuggling", and the Soviet government gave tax exemptions and preferential treatment, and gave convenience in inspection. This supporting special policy also applies to merchants in Shanghang, Yongding, Xinquan and other places. In this way, the trade channels of the Chibai District were communicated, the economic blockade of the Soviet Area was broken, and the export of native products and the import of industrial products were increased to a certain extent.
Former site of the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank
It is proposed to set up the Western Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank to stabilize the finance of the base areas and implement low-interest lending
Deng Zihui was also one of the founders of the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank. He first saw a large number of inferior silver coins and white area banknotes circulating in Longyan. After investigation, he learned that most of this inferior currency came from Guangdong merchants, who smuggled these inferior currencies into the country cheaply, bought gold, silver, and local products, and made a windfall, while the masses in the Soviet area used these inferior currencies to purchase goods in the white area, but they had to be discounted a lot. In view of its serious harmful effect on the development of the economy of the Soviet Union, Deng Zihui took the lead in proposing the establishment of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank, which issued paper money himself, and used silver dollars as an issuance reserve fund, which could be exchanged for paper money. In this way, the circulation of paper money and bad money in the white area in the market was prohibited, the flow of gold and silver to the white area was stopped, and the financial stability of the base areas was relatively stable. The Workers' and Peasants' Bank also issued low-interest loans to poor peasants and craftsmen, including loans to the Grain Adjustment Bureau as funds for grain procurement, which played a positive role in promoting the economic development of the Soviet union and stabilizing grain prices.
Practice has proved that Deng Zihui's thinking and practice of cooperative economy during the period of the revolutionary war on the agrarian revolution was not only the correct policy of the revolutionary government to overcome difficulties, support and develop production, invigorate the economy, and support the war, but also accumulated valuable experience for vigorously carrying out the movement of mutual assistance and cooperation after the founding of New China and actively guiding the broad masses of peasants to embark on the broad road of agricultural co-operation. In the new stage of historical development, reviewing and summarizing Deng Zihui's important exploration of the path of our party's early cooperative economic development is of practical guiding significance for building the historical foundation of cooperative economy with Chinese characteristics and opening up a new situation in the development of China's supply and marketing cooperation in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
(The author is affiliated with the former Department of Army Building and Military Political Work of the National Defense University.) Some of the image sources in this article network)