Source: China Financial Ideological and Political Work Research Association
In order to stifle the Red regime, the Kuomintang government, while carrying out military "suppression," formulated the "Law on the Promotion of blockade in Fujian Province" to impose an economic blockade on the Western Fujian Soviet Region in order to prevent the flow of materials and economic trade between the Soviet Union and the outside world. After May 1930, under the influence of Li Lisan's "Left" adventurism line, the revolutionary base areas in western Fujian suffered certain setbacks, but the work on the economic and financial front has been advancing in difficult and tortuous ways.
In June 1930, in order to adjust and invigorate the economy, get rid of the economic blockade, and solve the economic problems of the Soviet Union, such as the "scissor difference" between industry and agriculture, the Former Committee of the Red Fourth Army and the Special Committee of the Communist Party of China in Western Fujian held a joint meeting and proposed that "the Bank of Workers and Peasants of Western Fujian should be established and banknotes should be issued to maintain finance and develop handicraft and agricultural production, and to prepare for a protracted struggle against the enemy." Then, in September, the Second Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Congress of Western Fujian was held in Longyan, which summed up the experience of the revolutionary struggle in the Soviet Region of Western Fujian over the past three years and put forward the arrangements for finance and finance. On November 7 of the same year, with the support of the Former Committee of the Fourth Red Army and the Minxi Special Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank was proclaimed in Xiajing Lane, Longyan City, with Ruan Shan as the president, Cao Juru as the chief of the accounting section, and Lai Zulie as the chief and secretary of the sales section.
The main business of the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants Bank is the issuance of currency, deposits, loans, exchange, etc., and it is ready to issue silver dollar bills, a currency of exchange vouchers based on the value of silver dollars, and has set up branches in all counties under the jurisdiction of Longyan and set up business agencies in various districts and townships. The Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank is also the first joint-stock bank in the Soviet Union to be jointly invested in shares, and since the beginning of preparation, it has set up an offering committee from top to bottom to raise shares.
The former site of the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank, built in 1927, is now located at No. 96, Longchuan East Road, Dongcheng Street, Silla District, Longyan City, Fujian Province, sitting north and facing south, a single four-story arcade brick and wood structure building, covering an area of 132 square meters, is the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units
I. The Soviet Government of Western Fujian has promulgated a series of policies to ensure that the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian effectively plays its role in saving cash and adjusting finance
In order to ensure that the Western Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank quickly opened up the situation in the base areas of western Fujian, the Soviet government of western Fujian promulgated a series of resolutions, circulars and other policy documents supporting the raising of shares and the use of Soviet currency in a short period of time.
Long before the establishment of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian, in September 1930, the Second Congress of Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers in Western Fujian formulated the "Propaganda Outline for the Establishment of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian", which pointed out that the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian would relieve some of the suffering of the workers and peasants in western Fujian. It will become a powerful tool for the revolutionary masses in western Fujian to struggle against the enemy, and it will be more conducive to expanding the struggle and winning the future of socialist victory. The "Outline" emphasizes that "it is such an important organization at present", and the only way for the Workers' and Peasants' Bank to raise shares is to mobilize the entire masses and strongly appeal and call for "the workers and peasants in western Fujian!" Mobilize all to make the Workers' and Peasants' Bank come true! ”
The meeting elected Ruan Shan, Zhang Yongbin, Cao Juru, Deng Zihui, Lan Weiren, Lai Zulie, and Huang Weiren as members of the Banking Committee, and Ruan Shan as the chairman of the Committee. In addition to formulating the above-mentioned "Publicity Outline for the Establishment of the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants Bank", the congress also formulated the relevant management system: the "Articles of Association of the West Fujian Workers and Peasants Bank" (hereinafter referred to as the "Charter") and the "Rules for the Operation of the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants Bank" (hereinafter referred to as the "Rules"). The Articles of Association and the Rules stipulate in detail the requirements of various business and business indicators, first, banks issue paper money, deposits and loans, exchange, buy and sell gold and silver, act as agents for treasuries, issue public bonds on behalf of agents, and collect taxes as the scope of business. Second, the monthly interest rate of general loans is 0.6%, and the monthly interest rate of commercial loans is 1%, and the low-interest loans of 0.3% support farmers to buy seeds, fertilizers, and cattle cultivation, help them develop production, crack down on usury and speculation, and break the economic blockade of the Soviet area by the Kuomintang reactionaries. It is determined that the monthly interest rate of time deposits is 0.45% for those with more than half a year, and the monthly interest rate for those with demand deposits above half a year is 0.3%. The third is to standardize the specific operation and management of banks. The "Rules" clearly define a set of systems for the operation of accounting, liability management, credit for workers (farmers), remittance of funds, transfer and settlement, gold and silver exchange, currency issuance, treasury protection and other business operations.
In January 1931, the Soviet government of western Fujian issued a circular in response to the non-use of paper money of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank in some places, demanding: "In the future, we should unanimously support the banknotes of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank and safeguard the credit of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank." At the same time, the governments and cooperatives are effectively responsible for cashing in, and if there is any excuse, they should be punished considerably. In April of the same year, the Soviet government of western Fujian once again declared that the Workers' and Peasants' Bank was a weapon of struggle, a powerful offensive against the enemy, and a further consolidation of power. The Workers' and Peasants' Bank must play a great role in the present serious struggle, and if the Workers' and Peasants' Bank suffers any losses, it will not be the losses of the banks themselves, but the great losses of the Soviet power.
At the beginning of August of the same year, in order to enhance and consolidate the credit of the banks, the Soviet government issued a circular demanding that all the masses paying land taxes, mountain and forest taxes and payments should overcharge the banknotes of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank; only the banknotes of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank should be used at the same price as the Ocean, and the white banknotes of the Kuomintang capitalists should be reduced by four cents according to the price of the Ocean. In mid-August, the government of western Fujian again issued a circular on the "issue of paper money circulation", pointing out that "the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian is a bank set up by the masses of workers and peasants in western Fujian." The paper money issued by the Workers' and Peasants' Bank can always be cashed at any time", "the paper notes of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Fujian should be fully universal no matter what transaction, and the payment of the government's land tax can be paid as much as possible by the paper notes of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank."
The Soviet Government of Western Fujian vigorously carried out ideological and political work and actively publicized the revolutionary role of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian
In addition to the policy requirements of repeated orders, the government also actively organized various propaganda activities, went deep among the masses, went door to door to do ideological work to the masses, explained and publicized the class attributes and revolutionary role of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank, ensured that the bank won the wide recognition of the masses, and promoted the circulation and use of Soviet coins. On November 7, 1931, on the first anniversary of the establishment of the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank, the Western Fujian Soviet Government expanded the influence of the bank by holding celebration meetings, industrial and commercial forums, exhibitions and other activities. At the exhibition, the staff of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian ingeniously designed to use gold bars to form a golden pagoda and silver dollars to display the strength of the bank, and the masses who had never seen so many gold and silver treasures saw it and praised it, and they were even more confident in the Soviet bank that belonged to the workers and peasants themselves.
In this commemorative activity, Cao Juru, who served as the head of the accounting section, also wrote an article to commemorate the "First Anniversary of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian". The article mentions that it is necessary to make it clear to the masses from fact that the Workers' and Peasants' Bank is their own bank, and that every red masses should join their own bank! It wants to contact merchants in major cities to help them communicate trade in the red and white areas! Under the task of breaking through the enemy's economic blockade, it on the one hand helps the soviet area to increase and export, and on the other hand, it tries to transport a large number of daily necessities to meet the needs of the masses! It is necessary to help the development of various cooperative organizations with greater strength, and lend more funds and low interest to cooperatives to develop social economy! In this commemorative article, the revolutionary tasks of the establishment of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank are clearly expounded, and the important role played by it is clear at a glance.
Third, the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank has a variety of issuance reserves and unified currency issuance rights to maintain the stability of the currency value in the Soviet Union
(1) Raising shares. The Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank was the earliest bank in the Soviet Union to implement the joint-stock system. Since the beginning of the preparations, the bank has set up an offering committee, and governments at all levels, trade unions and troops have organized fundraising committees. The capital is set at 200,000 yuan, and 200,000 bearer shares will be issued, which will be divided into 1 share, 5 shares and 10 shares. The share gold is in silver dollars, cash is not collected paper money, and gold is calculated according to the current price. In addition to encouraging the masses of workers and peasants to enthusiastically join the shares, the Soviet government of western Fujian also demanded that cooperatives in all localities should buy at least 10 yuan of stocks for every 100 yuan of capital, grain adjustment bureaus should buy at least 20 yuan of stocks for each 100 yuan of capital, and the staff of governments at all levels, trade unions, and organs should buy at least 1 yuan of stocks per person.
West Fujian Workers' and Peasants Bank's prospectus
Receipt of shares of the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank
The Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank began to raise shares on August 25, 1930, and the first phase planned to raise 120,000 yuan, that is, 60,000 yuan from cooperatives and grain adjustment bureaus, and 60,000 yuan from the masses and businessmen, but only more than 20,000 yuan was raised by the end of the year of its establishment. At the beginning, when raising shares from the counties and districts, the shares were intercepted and misappropriated by the local Soviet governments with tight financial resources to alleviate local financial difficulties and restrict the process of raising shares of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank to a certain extent. Later, in April, May, and June 1931, the Soviet government of western Fujian issued successive circulars requesting that the task of raising shares be assigned to the counties and district governments and completed within a time limit, but due to the serious harm caused by the mistakes of "Left" adventurism, many people were unjustly convicted of the purging of the "Social Democratic Party" incident, the armed forces in the western Fujian base areas were weakened, large areas of base areas were dismembered, and the number of districts in western Fujian was reduced from 48 districts to 22 districts.
As for how to use funds, as early as September 1930, in the resolution of the "Joint Meeting of the Economic, Financial, and Land Committees", there were provisions on the proportion of funds used. The capital raised is distributed on the basis of cash on hand, 13% in market circulation, 7% in social insurance (for temporary use in case of unexpected disasters), 10% in the Western Fujian Soviet Government (focusing on controlling financial expenditure), 25% in various cooperatives, and 15% in Soviet shops and land production. In view of the operating profits, it is also specially stipulated that the distribution ratio of the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank shall be distributed according to 20% of the provident fund, 20% of the staff incentives, and 60% of the shareholders' dividends.
(2) Unified currency. On November 25, 1930, the Soviet government of western Fujian issued a notice entitled "Passing the Banknotes of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian", which required: "In order to facilitate the circulation of finance, 30,000 temporary banknotes, each one yuan, at the same price as Guangyang, shall begin to pass from the date of the proclamation." "After the establishment of the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank, it issued three denominations of currency, namely 1 yuan silver dollar coupon and 1 dime and 2 dime silver dollar auxiliary coins, and 1 yuan coupon issued 30,000 pieces. The currency circulated in a vast area centered on the three counties of Longyan, Yongding and Shanghang. In April 1931, the Government of the Western Fujian Soviet made provisions on the issuance and management of currency, requiring that "if the cooperative has issued paper notes, it shall be registered with the Commission immediately." In the future, cooperatives shall not issue paper notes, and if the paper notes issued in the past exceed the limit, they shall be withdrawn"; and the cooperatives "shall be responsible for the cashing and marketing of bank paper notes". Since then, the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian has centralized and unified the right to issue currency in the revolutionary base areas of western Fujian, and avoided the phenomenon that the credit cooperatives in various districts and counties in the western Fujian base areas have acted independently in their own way.
1 yuan coupon of Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank, 1930 edition
1 yuan coupon of Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank, 1931 edition
West Fujian Workers' and Peasants Bank Dayang 2-corner auxiliary coin coupon, 1931 edition
(3) Material reserves. "In order to achieve the stability of the value of the currency, it is necessary to have the means to ensure stability - sufficient materials", which is an important financial law summed up by our Party in the revolutionary struggle. In the Soviet areas under the blockade of the Kuomintang government, silver was severely scarce. In order to preserve cash and enhance the credit of paper money, the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank, while implementing the silver dollar standard, issued currency supplemented by reserves of important materials. The Articles of Association stipulate that the issuance of paper money must be subject to at least three-tenths of cash or precious metals or foreign currency as material reserves, and the rest shall be prepared as collateral for goods or short-term bills of exchange or other kinds of securities that are easy to be sold, so as to ensure that the currency has sufficient materials as collateral, thereby maintaining the stability of the value of the currency. According to the "Daily Table" retained by the bank, by November 1934, the financial assets of the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank including heavy paper, white salt, miscellaneous goods, cloth and other important material assets totaled 6986.4 yuan, accounting for 9.75% of the total financial assets.
Fourth, the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian insisted on handling low-interest loans, enlivening the economy, carrying out monetary struggles, supporting the economy of the Soviet Union, and supporting the revolutionary war in the midst of the war
The West Fujian Workers' and Peasants Bank mainly performs the functions of issuing paper money, borrowing at low interest, acting as an agent for finance, etc., and has laid a good foundation for the stability of finance and finance in the Soviet Union.
Handle low-interest loans to support the development of industry and agriculture in the Soviet Union. At that time, some production and consumption cooperatives had been established in all counties in western Fujian, such as the Changting Nanyang Cast Iron Production Cooperative, the PaperMaking Cooperative, the Camphor Company, etc. The low-interest loans of the Western Fujian Workers' and Peasants Bank focused on supporting various cooperatives such as agricultural production cooperatives, handicraft cooperatives, and consumer cooperatives, and some also gave the necessary investment to promote and prosper the economy of the Soviet Union. In Yongding, the Workers' and Peasants' Bank helped the localities to make use of their resource advantages to set up lime production cooperatives, set up "ploughing cooperatives" and "agricultural tool cooperatives" to solve practical problems in agricultural production tools, such as ploughing cattle, agricultural tools, fertilizers, and so on; in Changting, the Workers' and Peasants' Bank supported the establishment of trading companies to carry out foreign trade, and sponsored enterprises such as the Changting Salt Factory, the Weaving Factory, the Printing Factory, the Red Army Quilt Factory, and the Fujian-Guangdong-Gansu Military Region Arsenal, and vigorously supported the establishment and development of Changting industry. Changting later became the economic and cultural center of the Central Soviet District, known as the "Little Red Shanghai".
At the same time, the Workers' and Peasants' Bank also takes poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation as its own responsibility, and through the Mutual Masonic Association, it relies on the peasant workers who have been devastated by the warlords and who have survived the disaster, and helps them rebuild their homes.
In order to help the peasants solve the problem of exploiting the peasants in the valley and usury, the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank helped the counties to establish cooperatives, and the local credit cooperatives issued loans to the Grain Adjustment Bureau and the grain cooperatives, bought grain at a higher price during the harvest, and sold it to the peasants at a 95% discount at the original price when grain was scarce, stabilizing grain prices, stabilizing peasants' livelihoods, and supporting the agriculture and forestry economy. This ingenious "grain adjustment loan" business method has also been extended as a typical experience to the entire Central Soviet Region.
Act as an agent for the treasury and handle government revenue and expenditure. In addition to engaging in the traditional banking savings and loan business, the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank also represents the finance of the Western Fujian Soviet Government, which is equivalent to the modern bank agency treasury system, and the uncollected receipts and donations of the government, the army, organs, and organizations are handed over to the bank as financial deposits, and various funds are concentrated, and the financial revenue and expenditure are unified to ensure the normal revenue and expenditure of government funds.
Acquisition of gold and silver, smelting of gold and silver coins. The West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank has set up a special business department in Changting Shui East Street, listing deposits and lending, exchange mortgages, buying and selling gold and silver, and operating savings. At that time, gold and silver were only bought and not sold, and banks mainly bought gold and silver. In order to melt and cast the acquired gold and silver into silver dollars and gold bars in a timely manner, the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank set up a special molten silver factory in Changting, melting and refining the silverware purchased by the sales department into silver cakes, casting them into silver dollars and silver horns, and melting the gold into 5 or 10 gold bars. The soviet government used these silver dollars and gold bars to exchange them for important military and civilian materials needed to return to the base areas under enemy occupation. Later, after the establishment of the State Bank of the Chinese Soviet Republic, the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian handed over all the silver cakes in its inventory.
It is also engaged in import and export trade. The Changtingshui East Street Business Department of the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank also handles import and export trade, transports local specialties and timber, paper, tungsten ore, etc. to the Kuomintang-ruled areas, buys back salt, cloth, kerosene, medicine, and other items urgently needed in the base areas, and is also responsible for supplying military grain. In the Battle of Zhangzhou in March 1932 alone, all the red army food was organized and supplied by the sales department, and a total of more than 100,000 kilograms of rice were supplied.
Wage a monetary struggle. In order to stabilize and expand the scope of issuance and circulation of Soviet currency, concentrate cash, expel bad money, and avoid losses for the masses, the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian, in the face of the chaotic situation in which miscellaneous and inferior coins flooded the market in western Fujian, adopted a series of measures to occupy the currency market in the base areas of western Fujian and win victory on the currency battlefield. The first is to issue their own paper money and save cash centrally. At that time, one of the important goals of the establishment of financial institutions in the revolutionary base areas was to concentrate on raising and preserving cash, so as to facilitate trade with areas outside the Soviet zone and exchange for military supplies. At that time, trade cash with the white area mainly relied on silver dollars (now foreign) hard currency, so the Soviet government was very strict in the management of gold and silver, the Soviet union silver dollars were deposited in the bank, only paper money was provided when payment was needed, and gold and silver were prohibited from flowing out, and gold and silver speculation was banned, such as the Announcement of the Western Fujian Soviet Government issued the "Prohibition of Private Purchase of Gold and Silver Jewelry" announcing that gold and silver transactions were prohibited, and those who bought gold and silver were fined ten times, and those who sold privately in the red or white areas were punished with death; the second was to scientifically set paper money exchange ratios and expel inferior money. The Government of the Western Fujian Soviet issued an exchange announcement and implemented the exchange rate policy of the Paper Money of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank at the same price as the Ocean, and the exchange rate of the paper money in the White Area was reduced by 40% according to the Price of the Ocean, forcing the bad money of miscellaneous money to withdraw from the Soviet Zone. These measures were carried out smoothly, and on the first anniversary of the bank, the Soviet currency completely occupied the revolutionary base areas in western Fujian, which was quite popular with the masses, and at that time 102 silver dollars were needed to exchange 100 yuan for Soviet banknotes of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian.
In December 1930, due to the mistakes of "Left" adventurism, Longyan County fell, and the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian moved to Yongding Hugang with the Government of the Western Fujian Soviet, and by the turn of the spring and summer of 1931, more than half of the base area had been lost. In mid-September 1931, the Red Army regained Changting, and in October the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank returned to Changting, where it has been operating ever since, expanding its circulation to a vast area of 11 counties, including Longyan, Shanghang, Yongding, Liancheng, and Ninghua. In 1932, the Fujian branch of the State Bank of the Chinese Soviet was established in Changting, and the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank continued to operate because it was a joint venture with the masses, and in October 1934, after the main force of the Red Army was forced to leave Changting and go north, the staff left behind in the West Fujian Workers' and Peasants' Bank had been insisting on keeping accounts and operating, and the bank employees risked going to the village to settle deposits and recover banknotes, until November 10. The amount recorded in the account books kept by the Minxi Workers' and Peasants Bank is 666.615 yuan, mainly from the State Bureau of Stores and Grain, and there are also 5685.67 yuan of shareholders who have not paid dividends. In the spring of 1935, the revolutionary situation deteriorated, and the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian had to stop operating.
Western Fujian has cultivated a number of republican bankers, financiers, and red financial talents, who have tempered their growth and endured the baptism of blood and fire here; in addition to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the revolution, most of them later became experts in China's economic construction in New China, such as Deng Zihui, who grew from a member of the Committee of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian to the Minister of Finance of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, and became vice premier of the State Council after the founding of New China; Cao Juru, who grew from the chief of the accounting section of the Workers' and Peasants' Bank of Western Fujian to the vice president of the State Bank of the Chinese Soviet Republic. After the founding of New China, he served as the president of the Chinese Bank; Lai Zulie, after Ruan Shan, became the president of the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank in 1932, and the financial secretary of the State Council after the founding of New China; Cao Genquan, the treasury administrator, was transferred to the State Bank of the Chinese Soviet Republic in 1932, and served as the section chief of the Northwest Bank and the director of the printing plant in the bank in northern Shaanxi, the finance minister of the Shaanxi Gansu Work Committee, the president of the Nenjiang Provincial Bank of the Northeast Bank, the president of the Jilin Provincial Bank, and after the founding of New China, he successively served as the secretary of the party group and president of the Heilongjiang Branch of the Chinese Bank. President of Heilongjiang Branch of Agricultural Bank of China. Ruan Shan, the founder of the Taiping District and Toyota District Credit Cooperatives and responsible for the preparation of the Minxi Workers' and Peasants' Bank and served as the first president, was transferred to the Finance Minister of the Western Fujian Soviet Government in June 1930, and in October 1934, after the Long March of the Main Red Army of the Central Committee to the north, Ruan Shan remained in the Soviet Area according to the instructions of the Party to persist in the struggle. In the same year, Nguyen Shan was unfortunately killed by traitors at the age of 46.
The history of red finance in western Fujian is accompanied by the revolutionary struggle in the revolutionary base areas of western Fujian and the revolutionary base areas of the central government, and the unremitting exploration, attempts, and practices of a group of communists loyal to their ideals and beliefs have written on the glorious page of the land of western Fujian. It was the large-scale practice of Mao Zedong's cooperative theory, and with this as the starting point, Mao Zedong's cooperative economic thought was gradually implemented in the Central Soviet Region and later in the motherland.
(Author: Red Finance History Compilation Group, China Financial Ideological and Political Work Research Association)