How Our Party Leads Industrial Production in Yan'an Period

In October 1935, the Central Red Army successfully arrived in northern Shaanxi. In the following 13 years, the Party Central Committee led the people of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region to carry out arduous struggles, and earth-shaking changes have taken place in the Border Region. The natural conditions of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border region are poor, the level of production is backward, the army and the people often can not eat enough food, clothing can not keep out the cold, coupled with the Kuomintang's financial blockade policy of cutting off supply and mail in the Border region, coupled with the repeated attacks of the Japanese army on the Border region, the survival and development of the Border region is facing many difficulties. The CPC Central Committee timely put forward the general policy of financial and economic work of "developing the economy and ensuring supply", actively led industrial production, achieved great results, and accumulated valuable experience.
Focus on cultivating and developing modern industry. During the Yan'an period, especially after the Anti-Japanese War entered the stalemate stage, the Kuomintang imposed a military encirclement and economic blockade on the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. "A catty of cotton, a grain of grain, and a foot of cloth are not allowed to enter the border region, resulting in industrial products from weapons and ammunition. To clothing and bedding are in a state of serious shortage. To this end, our party advocates giving priority to the development of military industry to meet the needs of the War of Resistance against Japan, making full use of superior resources to develop industrial industries with comparative advantages, and actively developing light industry to meet the daily needs of the masses. First of all, priority should be given to the development of the military industry, ensuring military needs while meeting some civilian needs. In March 1938, the Military Industry Bureau was established in the Border Region to manage the military industry in a unified manner. The original Red Army arsenal was divided and integrated. Military factories such as the 1. 2. Factory of the Military Industry Bureau, Yan'an Communication Material Factory, and Zifanggou Chemical Factory were successively established. It grew to more than 10, and the number of workers grew from more than 100 to more than 1300. These arsenals produced a large amount of weapons and ammunition, medicines, and medical equipment, which provided material support for the Eighth Route Army to persist in the war of resistance. Secondly, we should make full use of the advantageous resources of the border areas to develop industries and ensure self-sufficiency. The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border region is rich in oil, salt, coal, iron, livestock, fur, medicinal materials and other resources. with the encouragement and investment of the party committee and government of the Border region, some industrial industries have achieved rapid development. In 1938, with the investment of more than 10,000 yuan from the border region government and the efforts of technical personnel, Yanchang Oil Plant resumed production. After years of operation, it not only met the demand for fuel oil in the border region, but also greatly increased the supply of by-products kerosene, paraffin and graphite. Salt, fur and licorice are called "three sides and three treasures". The people in the border area actively participate in the production of these three specialty products, making them one of the important financial sources in the border area. Finally, the development of light industry that can meet the daily needs of the masses. From the establishment of Xinhua Soap Factory in 1939 to an annual output of 20000 bars of soap, the annual output increased to 620000 bars in 1944, which not only fully met the daily needs of the people in the border region, but also could be partially sold to the surrounding areas. After years of construction and development, the border area has developed from a paper workshop to 12 public construction paper mills. By 1944, the total output reached 15000 million, which can fully meet the paper demand of the border area.
Emphasis on the development and promotion of new technologies. The science and technology in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region is mainly handicraft technology that has been handed down from generation to generation and is inefficient. Modern scientific knowledge and technology are still new things in the border areas, and the development of new industrial industries must rely on modern science and technology to provide support. To this end, the Party and the border government have taken many effective measures. First, develop incentives to encourage innovation. With the encouragement of the party and the border region government, the border region has a strong atmosphere of innovation, and new inventions based on actual needs continue to emerge. For example, Hua Shoujun and Wang Shizhen used black bean skin, black blue root, yellow and white thorn root and other plants to extract dyes. Xinhua Chemical Factory successfully produced alcohol. Refugee Textile Factory improved textile machines and bleaching and dyeing technology to improve production efficiency. Second, open exhibitions to promote new technologies. In January 1938, the border region government held an exhibition of Yan'an workers' manufacturing products competition, which displayed cloth, towels, shoes and socks, paper plates, lead plates, gasoline and various by-products, as well as grenades and repaired rifles, machine guns, mortars and other military supplies. The exhibition not only shows new industrial products, but also promotes the exchange and promotion of new technologies. In view of the good results of this exhibition, the border area government has held many border industrial exhibitions since May 1939, which greatly stimulated the production enthusiasm of the people in the border area. Third, set up columns in newspapers to popularize knowledge. In October 1938, "New China Daily" opened the "Economic Construction" column, in May 1941, "Liberation Daily" was founded, and in October of the same year, the "Science Garden" column was opened. These two columns invited experts from various fields to write articles, and successively published many popular science articles related to industry, such as "the process of making Anti Japanese soap" and "how oil is refined", which contributed to the popularization of new technology.
We will do everything possible to cultivate and use scientific and technological talents. At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the industrial talents in the border area mainly came from the old military industry who arrived in northern Shaanxi after the Long March and the industrial people who came to Yan'an after the outbreak of the all-out Anti-Japanese War. The number of both was very small. By 1939, the total number of workers was about 700. With the intensification of the Kuomintang government's blockade of the border region, it is increasingly difficult for outsiders to enter the border region. In the face of the huge talent gap for the development of industry, the party and the border region government have actively taken measures to cultivate and use scientific and technological talents from within the border region and encourage the masses to invent and create new technologies. One is to improve the treatment of technical personnel. In 1939, the Party Committee of the Border Region issued the "Instructions on the Absorption of Intellectuals" to strengthen the leadership and absorption of intellectuals. In order to implement the spirit of the instructions, various localities and departments have formulated specific measures to give preferential treatment to talents with special expertise. Second, the establishment of specialized schools or training courses, training personnel. In September 1937, Lin Boqu, Wu Yuzhang and others initiated the establishment of the Northern Shaanxi Public School, with the policy of "implementing national defense education and cultivating talents for the War of Resistance. In 1939, the Central Committee established the Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences, and in 1940 it was changed to the Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences, becoming the first science and engineering university in the history of our party. In addition, the Border Region government has successively established the Northern Shaanxi Communication School, Yan'an Motorcycle School, Yan'an Pharmacy School and other secondary and higher education institutions. These schools have trained a large number of talents in various fields for the border region over the years. Factories are also actively running short-term training courses in order to rapidly expand the workforce, such as setting up artist training courses to train talents through part-time work and part-time study. The third is to set up scientific associations to integrate human resources. In order to further organize and unite people in the natural science community, the Border Region launched a natural science movement and established the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Natural Science Research Association in 1940. The association has more than 10 branches including the Mechanical and Electrical Society, the Military Industry Society, the Smelting Society, the Biological Society, and the Geology and Mineral Society, which effectively integrates the human resources of the border area and contributes to the natural science movement and industrial construction of the border area. The fourth is to shape new workers through "labor heroes. Each session of the border exposition on the advanced figures as "labor heroes" for recognition. In the industrial field, the most famous "labor hero" is Zhao Zhankui. In September 1942, the Federation of Trade Unions of the Border Region issued a notice calling on workers in the border region to learn from Zhao Zhankui, and set off a movement to learn from Zhao Zhankui extensively. People combined their own production practices and made many achievements in technological innovation and improved production efficiency.

Source: Learning Times