Great Production Campaign

The mass production movement led by the Communist Party of China during the Anti-Japanese War, which was carried out by the military and civilians in the Liberated Areas. In 1941, the financial and economic difficulties of the anti-Japanese democratic base areas led by the Communist Party of China were extremely serious due to the frenzied attacks and “sweeps” of the Japanese invasion forces and the military encirclement and economic blockade of the die-hards faction of the KMT.

In order to overcome difficulties and persist in the War Against Japan, at the end of 1942, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward the policy of “developing the economy and securing supplies” and called on the military and civilians in the Liberated Areas to be self-reliant, overcome difficulties thus launched a large-scale production campaign. Under the personal leadership of Mao Zedong with the participation Party Central Committee members, the military personnel and the people in the Liberated Areas carried out a large-scale mass movement of production in Nanniwan, Dafengchuan in Huachi County, Huaishuzhuang and other regions. Wang Zhen led the 359th Brigade to Nanniwan to convert wasteland into productive land, creating rice paddies, cave houses and workshops. After three years of struggle, in the extremely difficult situation of lacking production funds and production tools, carrying forward the spirit of self-reliance and striving for improvement, Nanniwan was turned into a “good Jiangnan” in northern Shaanxi and became a model region of the Great Production Movement.

By 1944, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region had achieved the goal of having enough food and clothing. At the same time, the anti-Japanese bases behind the enemy's lines also carried out mass campaigns to settle the army and encourage production, mainly in agriculture, but also in industry, handicrafts, transportation, animal husbandry, and commerce. Party and government organs, armies, and schools generally participate in production campaigns, gradually reaching self-sufficiency, semi-sufficiency, or partial self-sufficiency in food and funding. At the same time, a balance was struck between the public and private sectors, the military, and the people, and mutual labor assistance was organized to develop the economy to improve life and secure supplies. Through this large-scale production and self-help campaign aimed at self-sufficiency, the anti-Japanese base areas basically achieved economic self-sufficiency.

The Great Production Movement achieved the goal of overcoming difficulties, tiding over difficulties, and promoted the long-term resistance against Japan. It eased the major contradiction between the supply and demand of the goods needed by the military and the people and repulsed the attempts of the KMT die-hards to blockade and stifle the revolutionary power of the Communist Party of China. At the same time, by participating in the production, people could improve the concept of labor, enhance the relationship between officers and soldiers, the relationship between top and bottom, reduce the burden of the peasants, and close the relationship between the military and the people and between the military and the government to ensure that Red Army will always be invincible.

Mao Zedong pointed out: “This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history, and it contributes to the material basis of our invincibility.” It not only supported the hard resistance war but also accumulated experience in economic construction and trained a group of cadres so that they would not only conduct the revolutionary war but also learn to develop production, carry out economic construction and achieve self-development.