The Great Production Campaign

The Great Production Campaign

The Great Production Campaign was a large-scale drive for self-reliance conducted by the troops and civilians under the CPC's leadership in the anti-Japanese base areas.

The anti-Japanese base areas ran into serious financial difficulties in 1941 due to savage attacks by the Japanese invaders, the encirclement and blockade by the KMT reactionaries, and natural disasters. To overcome the difficulties, the CPC Central Committee implemented policies to strengthen the economy and ensure the supply of goods, and called on the people to engage in self-sustaining work. Individuals from the Party, government, the army, schools, and other circles in these areas all responded to the call and joined the extensive production campaign.

In December 1942, Mao Zedong made a speech entitled "Economic and Financial Problems" to a meeting of senior officials of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. He set out the Party's general policy of "developing the economy and ensuring supplies," and called on the people and the troops to engage in the production campaign and overcome their difficulties through their own efforts.

The CPC government ran many self-support businesses, the army engaged in agriculture, industry and commerce for the purpose of supplying their own needs, and the peasants were organized in developing agricultural production. Party and government staff also joined the effort and shared hardships with the people.

The production campaign was highly successful. It enabled the CPC-led liberated areas to overcome serious material shortages and laid material foundations for ultimate victory. At the same time, it helped cement the relationships between the people and the Party, the government and the armed forces. It also nurtured the Yan'an spirit of self-reliance and hard work, trained a number of officials in economic development, and gave the CPC some experience in running an economy.

大生产运动

大生产运动，是指抗战时期中国共产党领导抗日根据地军民开展的大规模生产自救运动。

1941年，由于日军的疯狂进攻和国民党顽固派的包围封锁，以及自然灾害的侵袭，中国共产党领导的抗日根据地的财政、经济遭遇了极为严重的困难。为克服经济上的严重困难，中共中央再次强调走生产自救的道路。各抗日根据地的党政军学人员和人民群众响应号召，掀起了大规模的生产运动。1942年12月，毛泽东在陕甘宁边区高级干部会议上作《经济问题和财政问题》的报告，阐明了经济工作和财政工作的总方针是“发展经济、保障供给”，号召解放区军民切实开展大生产运动，自力更生，克服困难。

军队、政府机关和学校发展自给经济，是大生产运动中的一个创造。抗日民主政府办了许多自给工业，军队发展了以自给为目标的农业和部分工商业，农民广泛组织起来发展农业生产。各级党政干部也都积极投入大生产运动，和群众同甘共苦。

大生产运动的蓬勃开展，使中国共产党领导的解放区克服了严重的物质困难，为争取抗战胜利奠定了物质基础，同时密切了党政军民关系，树立了自力更生、艰苦奋斗的延安精神，积累了一些经济建设的经验，培养了一批经济工作干部。