The central government has made a new decision | Looking back at Shanghai's research, the overall situation has come to life! After Chen Yun's research, Shanghai made a decision. For this | nationwide | global
Editor's note: Correct decision-making cannot be achieved without investigation and research. Our party has always attached great importance to investigation and research, insisting on making decisions based on grasping the truth. On the occasion of the nationwide investigation and research, the Liberation Daily's Shangguan News collaborated with the Party History Research Office of the Municipal Party Committee to open a "Looking Back at Shanghai Research" column, introducing important research related to Shanghai's economic and social development since 1949, to entertain readers.
Generate the idea of implementing "austerity" in Shanghai
In 1949, when the CPC continued to win military and political victories, it faced a series of challenges in the field of finance and economics: hyperinflation, which lasted for many years, seriously affected market stability and people's lives; The Liberation War is advancing on a large scale, and military expenses and other expenses continue to increase, causing a serious imbalance in fiscal revenue and expenditure.
As the economic center of our country, Shanghai's situation is particularly severe. From an external perspective, the Nationalist Party's blockade and bombing of Shanghai resulted in a severe shortage of production and living materials inventory. When the situation was most urgent, Shanghai had less than 100 million kilograms of grain stored, which was only enough for half a month of consumption, cotton stored only enough for one month of operation of the yarn factory, and coal stored only enough for one week of consumption. The necessary materials for production cannot enter Shanghai, and the industrial products produced in Shanghai cannot be shipped out. A large number of factories have been forced to shut down and close due to the interruption of export and domestic sales, resulting in a sharp increase in unemployment.
From an internal perspective, the rampant speculative forces have seriously affected the market stability and people's stability in Shanghai. Speculatory merchants took advantage of the blockade and tight supply of goods at the Shanghai port to hoard on a large scale, sparking a "July surge" dominated by grain, gauze, and coal balls. From June 23rd to July 30th, prices in the city doubled. On June 23rd, the price of rice per stone was 11700 yuan, which rose to 59000 yuan on July 16th and further to 65000 yuan on July 18th.
In order to alleviate the impact of the blockade bombing on Shanghai, some comrades of the Central Committee and Shanghai Municipal Committee have developed the idea of implementing "austerity" in Shanghai, and have decided to plan and systematically evacuate some personnel and relocate some factories and schools, in order to reduce the burden on Shanghai. Chairman Mao Zedong also pointed out in a telegram drafted on behalf of the Central Committee to the East China Bureau on July 21 that "the Shanghai issue needs to be solved from three aspects: rural areas, streamlining, and evacuation.".
Shanghai cannot stand, the national economy cannot stabilize
Faced with an urgent situation and with the approval of the central government, the Central Financial and Economic Commission has decided to hold a financial and economic work conference in Shanghai from July 27th to August 15th, with the participation of financial and economic leaders from the five liberated areas of East China, North China, Central China, Northeast China, and Northwest China. This conference is also known as the Shanghai Financial and Economic Conference.
At the invitation of the East China Bureau, Chen Yun, Director of the Central Finance Commission, decided to conduct an investigation and research in Shanghai in advance in order to hold the Shanghai Finance and Economics Conference well. Chen Yun pointed out that Shanghai is the largest city in China and the financial center of the East. Shanghai cannot stand, and the national economy cannot be stable; Investigate the national financial and economic situation and propose solutions. Without Shanghai, we cannot see a comprehensive picture, nor can we see the difficulties in the national financial and economic situation. On the afternoon of July 19th, Chen Yun and his delegation took a train from Beiping to Shanghai.
On July 22nd, when the train passed by Zhenru, it was attacked by Nationalist planes. The train stopped, and Chen Yun and others ran under the train and hid on the track. Due to the locomotive being damaged by a plane, the Shanghai Railway Bureau allocated another locomotive, allowing Chen Yun and his team to arrive in Shanghai and move into the Broadway Building.
After arriving in Shanghai, Chen Yun immediately began to investigate the financial situation in Shanghai. For four consecutive days, he listened to reports, conducted research, and prepared for the meeting. He exchanged views with the financial leaders of Shanghai and several liberated regions, and preliminarily understood the financial revenue and expenditure, grain and cotton accumulation, gold and silver dollar foreign currency inventory, currency issuance and circulation, as well as the trend of price increases in Shanghai and various regions.
The difficulties faced by Shanghai are temporary and solvable
Chen Yun initially agreed with the evacuation plan in Shanghai and had planned to relocate some factories and schools from Shanghai to the northeast. But after conducting research, he changed his original plan and believed that the difficulties faced by Shanghai were temporary and could be solved. Therefore, the restoration and development of production should be the key to transforming Shanghai - the Shanghai factory will not relocate, and efforts will be made to maintain production, striving to maintain the operating rate of the main industries to two-thirds.
Chen Yun pointed out that first of all, we must unify our thinking and resolutely resist the enemy's blockade and bombing. He emphasized that "we must prepare for the long-term blockade of imperialism, not only the current blockade of warships, planes, and mines, but also economically prepare for them not to buy goods exported from our country or sell us what we need. Of course, they cannot completely blockade us.".
At that time, the most crucial issue facing Shanghai was to solve the shortage of materials. To this end, Chen Yun proposed the slogan "National support for Shanghai, Shanghai supports the whole country". We need to solve the problem of the source of raw materials, organize various regions to transport grain, cotton, coal, etc. to Shanghai in full and on time, and use the power of the whole country to help Shanghai overcome the difficulties of material supply shortage; We also need to solve the transportation problem of raw materials, and carefully organize transportation as an important issue. By shortening the distance between trains and trains, increasing communication equipment, and accelerating loading and unloading, we can increase the number of trains passing through and improve railway transportation capacity.
For some comrades who proposed the idea of relocating factories and schools, Chen Yun carefully considered and believed that solving the current difficulties should be separated from long-term national construction, and many factories should not be relocated just because of the current difficulties. The relocation of factories not only requires the production of raw materials and appropriate factories, but also requires the cooperation of auxiliary enterprises such as electricity and machinery. If large-scale factory relocation is carried out hastily without solving supporting problems such as factory buildings, electricity, and auxiliary industries, workers in Shanghai will lose their jobs and cannot start work there for six months, which will actually affect China's industrial production.
Shanghai must be maintained and not lightly discussed for relocation or layoffs
After the conclusion of the Shanghai Finance and Economics Conference, Chen Yun stayed in Shanghai to continue his investigation and research, in accordance with the instructions of the central government to allocate two to three days before departure, specifically inviting representative figures from the Shanghai business industry to discuss major financial issues in batches and listen to their opinions. He discussed how to implement the decisions of the conference.
From August 19th to 23rd, Chen Yun attended a symposium convened by the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, attended by the leaders of the Democratic National Construction Association, representatives of the Shanghai industry, as well as representatives from various industries such as the machinery industry, silver industry, textile industry, cigarettes, Western medicine, and chemical industry. During the symposium, Chen Yun reported the financial and economic difficulties to representatives from all walks of life and solicited their opinions on relevant policies. Humbly consider their good and relatively good suggestions and criticisms, encourage them to speak up, do their best, and achieve the expected results, encourage frequent exchange of opinions between public and private labor and capital, and work together to overcome the difficulties in temporary victories.
On August 25th, Chen Yun also went upstairs to the Bank of Communications and called on five to six hundred representatives from various factories and industries attending the expanded meeting of the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions Preparatory Committee, mobilizing Shanghai workers and the government to work together to find ways to maintain and increase production under current conditions, and rise up to overcome difficulties.
The conclusions drawn by Chen Yun from his research have also received support from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Chairman Mao Zedong stated in a telegram to the Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee on September 3, "The Central Committee agrees to the general policy and many specific measures decided at this Shanghai Conference. We must maintain Shanghai and coordinate the overall situation. We will not discuss relocation lightly or layoffs lightly."
Shanghai has come to life, and the overall situation has also come to life
Although this survey and research was not long, it not only played a role in overcoming serious financial difficulties and stabilizing the national economic order, but also became a key decision to promote Shanghai's transition from "tightening" to "maintaining", laying the foundation for further development in the future.
In the research, Chen Yun started from the objective reality of continuous development and change, comprehensively understood and correctly analyzed the difficult situation at that time, identified the two key issues of material supply and factory relocation from the complex contradictions, and proposed solutions. This not only ensured the supply of necessary food, cotton, coal, etc. for Shanghai's industrial production and people's daily life, but also preserved important industrial enterprises and main production capacity for Shanghai. By the end of 1949, the economic situation in Shanghai was gradually improving, with industrial production increasing month by month. The operating rate of light industries such as dyeing and weaving and woolen spinning reached about 95%, and the operating rate of heavy industries such as steel and machinery was also above 86%.
More importantly, Chen Yun used a long-term perspective to conduct investigations and research, creating conditions for fully leveraging Shanghai's comprehensive advantages to support national development. Chen Yun pointed out that solving financial problems should not mechanically and rigidly solve temporary or local needs, but should be considered from the perspective of promoting long-term national construction. Shanghai is the economic center and industrial base of China. According to calculations at that time, the industrial and commercial tax revenue of one city in Shanghai was equivalent to the tax revenue of five Tianjin cities. Shanghai has come to life, and the overall situation has also come to life. It is precisely because of the policy of maintaining Shanghai that its main production capacity has been basically preserved, providing more human, material, and financial support for China's large-scale socialist industrialization construction.
