During the Yan'an period, where did the Communist Party of China's anti-Japanese war funds come from?
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In the arduous and extraordinary War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression where the whole nation rose up, the competition between China and Japan was not only in the military field but also in comprehensive strength including the economy. Facing the powerful Japanese aggressors with long-planned aggression and the extremely difficult environment of the war of resistance, how did the Communist Party of China persevere and achieve the final victory? In terms of anti-Japanese war funds, from relying on foreign aid to self-reliance in production, the Communist Party of China also went through a road from development to growth in leading the whole nation's war of resistance.
In September 1935, the Central Red Army led by Mao Zedong arrived at Hada铺 Town in the northwest of Dangchang County, Longnan City, Gansu Province. By accident, an expired "Shanxi Daily" of the Kuomintang found here found a destination and future political direction for the Red Army during the Long March. Nie Rongzhen recalled: "On September 22, Comrade Mao Zedong convened a meeting for cadres above the regiment level in a Guandi Temple in Hada铺." At the meeting, it was announced that "currently, Japanese imperialism is invading China, and we are going to fight Japan to the north. First, we should go to northern Shaanxi, where there are the Red Army of Liu Zhidan..."
When first arriving in northern Shaanxi, Mao Zedong borrowed money everywhere for the Central Red Army
Although the goal of the Red Army at that time was to fight Japan to the north, it was even difficult to survive when first arriving in northern Shaanxi. More than 70 years later, according to the descendants of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi: The Red Army who came through the Long March had three things they couldn't tell apart: men and women couldn't be told apart, everyone had long hair; guns and sticks couldn't be told apart, all were used as crutches to walk; the clothing of each person couldn't be told apart, there were no military uniforms, all were tattered, and some people simply wrapped themselves in animal skins... How to raise food, clothes and bedding became the top priority for the Central Red Army to consider.
Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai asked Yang Zhicheng, the director of the Red Army procurement office at that time, to take inventory of the family assets of the Central Red Army. The Central Red Army with more than 7,000 people only had more than 1,000 silver dollars. Zhou Enlai was very anxious: so many people have to eat, and there will be battles in the future. Where to find money?
At this time, Mao Zedong suddenly thought of Xu Haidong, the commander of the Red 15th Army Corps (originally a Red Army unit in northern Shaanxi) whom he had met a few days ago. He said to Yang Zhicheng: "I will write you a IOU. Can you go and find Xu Haidong? I believe that as long as possible, Haidong will definitely help us with this."
Mao Zedong wrote in the letter: "Comrade Haidong: Please lend 2,500 yuan to the Central Committee to solve the problem of food and clothing for the Central Red Army.此致, 敬礼! Mao Zedong. December 1935."
The Central Party Committee borrowed money from the Red Army in northern Shaanxi, and it was the first time they came here. They would not do this unless it was absolutely necessary.
After seeing the IOU, Xu Haidong immediately called the head of the supply department, Cha Guozhen, and asked him: "How much money do we still have in total now?" "There are still 7,000 silver dollars left." Cha Guozhen replied. "Well, leave 2,000, and give 5,000 to the Central Committee." Xu Haidong said.
The next day, the supply department of the Red 15th Army Corps sent people to deliver 5,000 silver dollars to the logistics department of the Central Red Army, and sent a lot of important materials and a large number of Mauser pistols. Moreover, it ordered each class to pick the best machine gun to give to the Central Red Army. Even the most elite cavalry regiment was directly handed over to the Central Committee for command.
Later, Mao Zedong, Zhang Wentian, Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai and others all regarded these 5,000 silver dollars as a lifesaver.
How important was this money? After many years, Mao Zedong still remembered this matter and often mentioned Xu Haidong's contribution to the Chinese revolution. He said that Xu Haidong was "a banner of the Chinese working class" and "a person who made great contributions to the Chinese revolution!" Although Xu Haidong had been in a long-term idleness due to overwork and illness after 1940, he still ranked second among the generals when授衔 in 1955.
When first arriving in northern Shaanxi, although the financial expenditure was extremely difficult, the Communist Party of China never forgot the responsibility of leading the whole nation's war of resistance. In December 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held the Wa窑堡 Conference in northern Shaanxi to discuss and formulate the strategic policy of the anti-Japanese national united front. This also meant that the practice of "beating local tyrants and distributing land" by the Red Army in the Soviet area was no longer appropriate.
In order to get through the difficulties, in March 1936, Mao Zedong thought of Soong Ching-ling again and hoped to borrow a sum of money from T. V. Soong, who was then the chairman of the Bank of China, through her. However, by this time, Soong Ching-ling and T. V. Soong had already parted ways. Soong Ching-ling had to take out all the funeral抚恤金 of Sun Yat-sen and mortgage her only residence - the Moli Road residence, and then raised 50,000 US dollars and sent it to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
"Local tyrants" and landlords could not be beaten, only traitors and traitors could be beaten. Finally, the Central Committee proposed that "in the initial stage, for the local gentry and landlords, we should raise anti-Japanese war funds and food under the slogan of 'those who have money contribute money'". However, in 1936, the amount of money confiscated in the Shaan-Gan-Ning base area was only 653,000 yuan, but it accounted for 55% of the annual income. The amount of money confiscated in 1937 was not even as much as 87,000 yuan in one month in December 1935. By the beginning of February 1937, Mao Zedong had sent several telegrams to Zhou Enlai successively, "The Red Army has no food expenses" and "It is impossible to live without beating local tyrants and not giving money".
How much anti-Japanese war funds did the Soviet Union and the Communist International actually provide?
As we all know, the Soviet Union and the Communist International provided great help to the Chinese revolution led by the Communist Party of China, and one of the very important things was financial assistance. In the summer and autumn of 1934, after losing contact between Moscow and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the armed forces of the Communist Party of China in various places, the assistance from the Soviet Union and the Communist International to the Communist Party of China basically stopped. It was not until 1936 that the assistance to the Communist Party of China was restored.
After the "September 18th Incident", the military actions of Japan threatened the strategic security of the Soviet Union. For this reason, the Soviet Union increased the assistance to the Communist Party of China. According to materials, from 1931 to 1937 during the period of local war of resistance, the total financial assistance provided by the Soviet Union to the Communist Party of China through the Communist International was 1,613,900 US dollars, 2,105,000 rubles, 102,452 Mexican pesos, 307,500 French francs, 5,000 Swiss francs, 1,864 Dutch guilders and 1,000 taels of silver.
During the full-scale war of resistance, the most striking record of the Communist International's financial assistance to the Communist Party of China is from Wang Jiaxiang's recollection. The recollection said that when Wang Jiaxiang returned from Moscow to China in 1938, he brought back 300,000 US dollars.
According to the currently disclosed and revealed archives, there are actually many such records.
In September 1937, Pan Han年, the director of the Eighth Route Army's office in Shanghai, wrote a letter to Wang Ming, the representative of the Communist Party of China in the Communist International, to convey the request of Mao Zedong and Zhang Wentian for the Communist International to provide funds on a monthly basis again. In November, the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International promised to give 1.5 million US dollars to the Communist Party of China, and also said that the International Relief Committee of Revolutionary Fighters would provide 30,000 US dollars for treating comrades released from prison. But later, according to Kang Sheng, the Communist Party of China did not receive 1.5 million US dollars. Currently, only 30,000 US dollars provided by the International Relief Committee of Revolutionary Fighters when Wang Ming returned to China in November 1937 can be verified.
In early February 1938, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China again telephoned the Communist International through Ren Bishi and Wang Jiaxiang, pointing out that the Party was in extremely serious financial difficulties. Because there was no money, lack of weapons, it was difficult to expand the army, and it was very common for the troops to starve and freeze. They hoped that Moscow would quickly provide financial assistance. At this time, Wang Ming, Zhou Enlai and others in Wuhan also called Yan'an to Moscow through Yan'an, requiring to get financial assistance as soon as possible to buy various urgently needed guns and ammunition for the troops. In response, Dimitrov, the head of the Communist International, urgently consulted with the leaders of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In his diary on February 17, he noted the result after talking with Stalin and Molotov: "Provide 500,000 US dollars to the Communist Party of China."
According to materials, a receipt signed by Mao Zedong on April 28: "Received 300,000 US dollars from Mikhailov", so currently only 300,000 US dollars can be confirmed that the Communist Party of China received. In February 1939, Lin Biao, who was treating his arm injury in Moscow, said to Dimitrov that the Communist Party of China needed money now. Later, the Communist International organized a special working group to study the situation of the Communist Party of China. Then the Communist International and the Soviet Union provided two small amounts of funds.
In February 1940, Stalin met with Zhou Enlai, who was treating his arm injury in Moscow. Zhou Enlai again expounded the urgent need for financial assistance from the Communist Party of China. Dimitrov wrote to Stalin, attached the budget form submitted by Zhou Enlai, emphasized that Zhou Enlai's budget was credible, "believed that 350,000 US dollars of assistance could be provided to the Chinese Party (Communist Party of China) in 1940". Accordingly, he requested Stalin "to issue instructions for appropriations to the relevant departments", and Stalin's reply was very simple: "I am very busy, I haven't read many things, please decide for yourselves. We will provide 300,000 US dollars of assistance." Later, this money was provided to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China through remittance and delivery by special person.
After the皖南 Incident in January 1941, there was a dispute between Moscow and Mao Zedong on how to treat Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang. Moscow accordingly did not want to provide financial assistance anymore. However, due to the sudden outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, at the request of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Stalin still approved to provide a larger amount of assistance to the Communist Party of China - 1 million US dollars. Later, due to the tense situation of the Great Patriotic War and the relocation of the headquarters of the Communist International, currently it can be confirmed that the Communist Party of China only received 600,000 US dollars, and the remaining amount is unknown.
It should be said that the financial assistance and various material assistance from Moscow continued from 1937 to the end of the war of resistance. In 1937, the Soviet financial assistance was 5.2 times the total annual income of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region, and it was still 1.5 times in 1940. Even after the Communist International was declared dissolved in May 1943, Dimitrov was still discussing with Molotov and Malenkov, the leaders of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, about providing financial assistance to the Communist Party of China and proposed to help the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China solve 50,000 US dollars. However, currently there is no definite information to prove that the Communist Party of China received this sum of money. Except for this, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China did not receive financial assistance from the Soviet Union and the Communist International until the victory of the war of resistance.
In conclusion, in the early stage of the full-scale war of resistance, excluding weapons and other war materials, the total financial assistance provided by the Soviet Union and the Communist International to the Communist Party of China was more than 2.21 million US dollars. After deducting the losses caused by the decline in the pound exchange rate and the 400,000 US dollars that were not cashed, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China received a total of more than 1.8 million US dollars.
It should be noted that the financial assistance provided by the Soviet Union to the Communist Party of China through the Communist International was free of charge. Of course, this was also closely related to the national interests of the Soviet Union, especially strategic security. In any case, as the most important foreign aid to the Communist Party of China during the war of resistance, it strongly supported the anti-Japanese war cause led by the Communist Party of China and helped the Communist Party of China get through that most difficult period.
How much anti-Japanese war funds did the Communist Party of China actually receive from the National Government?
Before the end of 1940, one of the main sources of financial income for the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region, various anti-Japanese base areas and the army was the salary paid by the National Government according to the agreement between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Take the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region as an example. From July 1937 to the end of 1940, more than half of its financial income came from foreign aid, and the largest proportion of foreign aid was the anti-Japanese war funds provided by the National Government.
In early 1936, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China had secret contacts in Moscow on the issue of joint resistance against Japan, and Chiang Kai-shek was also interested in providing funds for the Red Army to fight Japan. Zhou Xiaozhou and Pan Han年, the representatives of the Communist Party of China, had all gone to Nanjing for negotiations. However, later the Kuomintang went back on its word on the treatment issue, and the negotiations fell into a deadlock. Just at this time, the Xi'an Incident broke out. Chiang Kai-shek, who was under detention, agreed "to secretly provide relief to the Red Army through Zhang Xueliang, and when the war of resistance starts, it will be linked and the code name will be changed". After the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, at the request of the Communist Party of China, in January 1937, Chiang Kai-shek instructed Gu Zhutong: "From the government's perspective, we will temporarily pay 200,000 to 300,000 yuan of military expenses per month, which will be sent indirectly by Yang Hucheng, and the code name of the Communist army will remain the same for the time being." Later, Gu Zhutong sent someone to deliver 500,000 yuan of relief funds to Xi'an, which was handed over to Zhou Enlai by Yang Hucheng. After this, until August 1937, the National Government allocated 300,000 yuan to the Red Army every month. In June, at Zhou Enlai's request, there was a food shortage in northern Shaanxi and it was necessary to transport food from other places. The National Government additionally issued 50,000 yuan of transportation fees.
In August 1937, the main force of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army (later renamed the Eighteenth Army Group), with 3 divisions and a total of 45,000 people. The Red Army guerrillas in the south were reorganized into the New Fourth Army, with 4 guerrilla detachments and more than 10,000 people. The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army after reorganization also began to receive anti-Japanese military salaries from the National Government on a monthly basis.
Let's talk about the Eighth Route Army first. According to the establishment of 45,000 people, in 1937, the monthly funding was 300,000 yuan (legal tender, at that time 1 yuan of legal tender was equivalent to one silver dollar before the war of resistance), the war service fee was 200,000 yuan, the subsidy was 50,000 yuan, the medical subsidy was 10,000 yuan, the rice allowance and military station subsidy was 70,000 yuan, and the total monthly distribution was 630,000 yuan. Starting from August 1939, an additional monthly temporary military station subsidy of 25,000 yuan was added. Starting from January 1940, an additional monthly rice allowance of 45,000 yuan was issued, and then it increased slightly, but the total did not exceed 750,000 yuan.
Let's talk about the New Fourth Army. According to the request when Ye Ting took up the post of the commander of the New Fourth Army, 180,000 yuan should be issued to the New Fourth Army every month. Actually, only 80,000 yuan was given to the New Fourth Army every month. Later, after Ye Ting and Xiang Ying repeatedly requested, from June 1938 onwards, it increased to 110,000 yuan per month. Starting from 1939, an additional monthly combat readiness fee of 22,000 yuan was issued.
It is worth mentioning that after the realization of the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Red Army guerrillas who had been adhering to Hainan Island for a long time were also reorganized into the "Independent Team of the People's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Regiment of the Fourteenth District of Guangdong", that is, the "Qiongya Column". At the beginning of the reorganization, the Kuomintang authorities in Hainan Island issued 8,000 yuan of funds to the Qiongya Column every month, but after June 1939, the original 8,000 yuan per month began to be reduced to 1,000 yuan per month.
In addition, when the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army went to the anti-Japanese battlefield, the National Government also allocated 200,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan of mobilization fees respectively. According to the regulations at that time, the monthly military expense of a first-class field division of the Central Army of the Kuomintang was about 200,000 yuan. Therefore, if the treatment of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army was calculated according to the establishment number of people, it was equivalent to that of the Central Army of the Kuomintang.
In addition, Chiang Kai-shek also gave some temporary subsidies and rewards according to the request of the Communist Party of China and the needs of the war. For example, in April 1939, Ye Ting requested Chiang Kai-shek to issue various subsidies: "1. Difficult transportation, please grant 20,000 yuan of travel expenses; 2. Please approve to issue 5,600 yuan of funds to the military headquarters every month; 3. Please approve to set up a hospital with 13,000 yuan of funds per month." Chiang Kai-shek wrote "Approved". In July 1939, Xiao Jinguang requested the National Government to issue an additional 105,000 yuan of river defense funds by telegram, which was also approved. In addition, in October 1937, the Eighth Route Army attacked the Yangmingbao Airport of the Japanese army, destroying and damaging 24 Japanese combat aircraft. Chiang Kai-shek rewarded the Eighth Route Army with 20,000 silver dollars in the name of the Military Commission.
Putting aside strategic materials such as weapons, ammunition, military uniforms, military food, and medicines, it is difficult to verify the accurate amount of funds that the Communist Party of China's troops actually received from the National Government during the full-scale war of resistance due to different records between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. According to relevant materials, from July 1937 to 1940, the National Government issued a total of about 31.751 million yuan of funds to the Communist Party of China's troops, of which about 27.295 million yuan was for the Eighth Route Army and about 4.456 million yuan was for the New Fourth Army (the above figures are for reference only).
How these funds were allocated is unknown. It is certain that with the rapid expansion of the ranks of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and with the rapid rise in prices, these funds were becoming more and more insufficient. Take the Eighth Route Army as an example. In 1940, the Eighth Route Army had developed to more than 400,000 people. During this period, the Communist Party of China repeatedly requested the National Government to expand the establishment and increase the military salary, but the National Government always refused to approve. Due to the serious shortage of funds, there was a big difference in the treatment between the Kuomintang army and the Communist Party of China's army. At that time, the monthly salary of a division commander of the Kuomintang army was generally 800 yuan, and the monthly salary of a company commander was more than 100 yuan, while the monthly salary of a division commander of the Eighth Route Army was only 5 yuan, and the monthly salary of a company commander was 3 yuan. Even such a low salary standard often could not be paid on time.
In 1939, at the memorial meeting for "May 30" in southeastern Shanxi, Peng Dehuai delivered a speech: "We Communists are not afraid of difficulties... The Eighth Route Army only issued 1 yuan of monthly allowance this month, and our commander-in-chief (Zhu De) is over 50 years old, and he only gets 1 yuan." In response, Mao Zedong angrily said: "The hundreds of thousands of people in the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army blocked two-fifths of the enemy and fought against 17 of the 40 Japanese divisions, but only received 730,000 yuan of salary" and "The banknotes depreciated, at a discount of 25%, and each person got less than 1 yuan per month."
"The banknotes depreciated" refers to the rapid acceleration of inflation starting from the end of 1938. The military expenses issued by the National Government to the Communist Party of China were mainly in legal tender, so their value also depreciated seriously. In 1939, Mao Zedong pointed out in the foreword to the journal "Military and Political of the Eighth Route Army": "One of the most difficult problems in the long-term war of resistance will be the financial and economic problem. This is a difficult problem for the whole nation's war of resistance and also a difficulty for the Eighth Route Army. It should be raised to the height of understanding."
Even so, since the Kuomintang launched the first anti-Communist climax in December 1939, the friction between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China has been increasing. In December 1940, He Yingqin, the Minister of National Defense of the Kuomintang government, announced to stop issuing military salaries and materials to the Yan'an area. The military expenses of the New Fourth Army were stopped after January 1941, because after the New Fourth Army received the last batch of military salaries and materials in this month, the Southern Anhui Incident broke out. After that, the funds and supplies of the troops belonging to the Communist Party of China relied on their own solutions.
Various donations: hundreds of thousands of taels of gold sent to Yan'an
Donations were also an important source of funds for the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army in the early stage of the full-scale war of resistance. In October 1937, Liu Shaoqi pointed out in "Various Basic Policy Issues in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression": "Solicit national salvation donations from rich households" and "Initiate the masses to voluntarily donate anti-Japanese war funds and war supplies", and believed that the supplies of the anti-Japanese guerrillas "are mainly maintained by confiscating the property of the enemy and the property of traitors and soliciting donations from rich households. Only when necessary will we solicit donations from the general masses".
Therefore, this kind of voluntary and somewhat compulsory allocation also raised a certain amount of funds and materials for the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines. In the autumn and winter of 1937, when the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army opened up the anti-Japanese base area in northwest Shanxi, only in Xing County, Shanxi Province, Yang Duren, a landlord in Yangjiapo, donated all 15,000 silver dollars from selling the land and the goods in the city商号. Wang Zexiang from Wangjiacun in Heiyukou donated 2,000 silver dollars and a boat. The famous enlightened person Niu Youlan not only donated the goods in his "Fuqingyong"商号 but also donated 23,000 silver dollars at one time. By December of that year, the people in Xing County donated 60,000 silver dollars and more than 700担 of grain to the Eighth Route Army. Various anti-Japanese base areas carried out donation activities in an organized manner, such as the anti-Japanese national salvation donations raised in Shandong and Jizhong anti-Japanese base areas in the early 1938, and the "Four Donations" campaign of donating gold, grain, shoes and expanding the army carried out in the Jin-Sui anti-Japanese base area in 1940.
After the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army achieved a series of victories such as the Battle of Pingxingguan, which won a good reputation for the anti-Japanese troops led by the Communist Party of China. People from all walks of life at home and some overseas Chinese and Chinese people abroad all opened their purses to donate. From 1938 to 1939, the unoccupied concession areas in Shanghai carried out a mass support campaign for the New Fourth Army, organized benefit performances and charity sales, and raised hundreds of thousands of yuan in total, which bought a batch of medicines and the cloth needed for 50,000 sets of military uniforms for the New Fourth Army. After the start of the war of resistance, Soong Ching-ling promptly established two major organizations in Shanghai and Hong Kong: the China Defense League (referred to as "CDL") and the China Industrial Cooperation International Committee (referred to as "ICC"), appealing for donations from justice people in the world, anti-war organizations and overseas Chinese to publicize China's war of resistance. According to the latest information, Soong Ching-ling raised about 5 million US dollars through the two international organizations of "CDL" and "ICC", most of which were transported to the anti-Japanese base areas led by the Communist Party of China.
According to the statistics of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region, in just 5 months from October 1938 to February 1939, the donations from overseas and the rear reached more than 1.3 million yuan in legal tender.
Sheng Shicai, the warlord in Xinjiang, also provided some materials and money. On July 8, 1939, Mao Zemin said in the speech of the Communist International's China Problem Research Group: "In Xinjiang Province, a donation campaign was carried out to buy gas masks for the Eighth Route Army, and 60,000 yuan was raised. Sheng Shicai gave 50,000 fur coats to the Eighth Route Army, gave 100,000 yuan, and transported the coats from Lanzhou to the front line."
According to the statistics of the supply department of the Eighth Route Army, from 1937 to 1941, the donations handed in by each unit with accounts were 8.924 million yuan in total. The funds of each unit (including some anti-Japanese guerrilla work teams, county detachments, district detachments behind the enemy lines) not only had to be solved by themselves, but also had conditions to hand in to support the central government.
Speaking of the financial support from local areas to the Central Party Committee, the Jiaodong Special Committee in Shandong made great contributions. Zhaoyuan is rich in gold and is the first county in China to produce 10,000 taels of gold per year. Unfortunately, it fell into the hands of the Japanese army after the July 7 Incident. In order to seize gold from the tiger's mouth, the Jiaodong Special Committee of the Communist Party of China established a special permanent organization - the Jiaodong Gold Work Committee. Under the leadership of this organization, miners sometimes replaced high-grade gold ore with rotten stones, and sometimes simply smashed the gold ore underground and brought it out. Even the situation of "the Japanese were tunneling in the south of the same mine and the Communist Party was digging holes in the north" appeared.
The Jiaodong Special Committee of the Communist Party of China also established secret gold mines, organized local armed forces to ambush the Japanese army's ore transport vehicles and gold transport vehicles, and at the same time, secretly transported the ore to the smelting factories controlled by the Communist Party, and then transported the finished gold to Yan'an through underground communication stations.
Since it was necessary to cross the enemy's blockade line along the way, the selected Eighth Route Army soldiers generally wore specially made clothes and put the gold in their pockets, basically carrying about 10 taels each. According to incomplete statistics, during the war of resistance, the people of Zhaoyuan contributed as much as hundreds of thousands of taels of gold to the war of resistance led by the Communist Party of China. Only in 1940, Su Jiguang, the secretary of the trade union, and Chen Wenqi and others secretly sent more than 20,000 taels of gold to Yan'an.
Self-reliance: Carry out self-reliance in production and support the front line
Generally speaking, the sources of anti-Japanese war funds for the Communist Party of China during the Yan'an period were divided into two stages and two different sources. From 1937 to 1940, foreign aid was an important source of anti-Japanese war funds and financial income of the border region. After 1940, the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression entered the most difficult period. Especially after the Southern Anhui Incident in 1941, the political, economic and military blockades by the Kuomintang made the financial economy of the areas led by the Communist Party of China and the combat troops under its jurisdiction face extremely serious difficulties. Take the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army as an example. In 1940, "because there was very little food, they could only eat 2 to 3 meals of thin porridge a day, and sometimes they couldn't even eat enough porridge. They just drank black bean soup and ate vegetables. As for oil and salt, because there was no money, each person could only maintain at most one or two taels. They ate very little vegetables, and most of them dug wild vegetables to eat". "In the cold October days and even in November, the soldiers fought against the enemy only wearing a set of single clothes close to the body, and often marched and fought barefoot. Not only ordinary personnel were like this, but also the division commander, political commissar and wounded comrades lived such a life".
Mao Zedong also had a deep memory of this period of life: "The biggest difficulty was in 1940 and 1941, and the two anti-Communist frictions by the Kuomintang were all in this period. We once got to the point where there was almost no clothes to wear, no oil to eat, no paper, no vegetables, the soldiers had no shoes and socks, and the staff members had no bedding in winter. The Kuomintang treated us by stopping the issuance of funds and economic blockade, trying to starve us to death. Our difficulties were really great."
What to do? It is better to rely on oneself than to rely on others. Zhu De first proposed: Establish our own "household". For this reason, Ren Bishi also conducted an investigation and put forward a plan to the Politburo: First, the army implement the屯田 system, produce for self-sufficiency; second, reclaim wasteland; third, transport the salt in the Sanbian area out for sale to the outside of the border region to activate the economy. In May 1940, after Zhu De returned to Yan'an from the front line of the anti-Japanese war in southeastern Shanxi, he personally went to Nanniwan and Jinpenwan in the southeast of Yan'an for on-site inspection. In March 1941, Wang Zhen led the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army to station in Nanniwan, "One hoe and one gun, produce for self-sufficiency to protect the Central Committee", and Wang Weizhou led the 358th Brigade to go to eastern Gansu to reclaim wasteland and grow rice. The great production movement in Yan'an started vigorously like this. Mao Zedong called it: "This is an unprecedented miracle in Chinese history, this is our invincible material basis."
At that time, all organs and schools in Yan'an started to work together, reclaim wasteland to grow grain and vegetables and spin threads. To take the lead by example and encourage everyone, the central leaders such as Mao Zedong also arranged production tasks. In response, Mao Zedong insisted on participating in labor in person. He said: "I will definitely participate in reclaiming wasteland. The place is chosen at my door, only one mu of land, not more or less. I can also do it by myself, and I坚决 don't want someone to cultivate on my behalf." Zhu De, who was over 50 years old, organized a production team with the staff around him and reclaimed 3 mu of vegetable land in Wangjiaping, planting more than a dozen kinds of vegetables. Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi insisted on taking the lead in learning spinning, shaking the spinning wheels sent from Nanniwan by the 359th Brigade, while working, they actively learned spinning techniques from comrades who were good at spinning and continuously studied spinning techniques. Chen Yun, the head of the Organization Department, took the lead in collecting fertilizers everywhere. Zhang Wentian, the president of the Yan'an Marxism-Leninism Institute, bought two hoes at his own expense and insisted on participating in production. Xiao Jinguang, the director of the Garrison Corps, engaged in the production, transportation and sales of salt in the border region. The border region government provided funds, and it was "officially supervised and privately transported"... At the same time, the Central Committee also allocated some funds and manpower to engage in production and business operations, go to the Kuomintang-ruled area or even Hong Kong to do business, open stores and run enterprises, sell the local specialties of the border region, and exchange for legal tender and US dollars. Yang Shangkun recalled: "This matter was mainly in charge of Ren Bishi, Comrade Zhu (De) Lao and Comrade (Li) Fuchun at that time. The person sent by the Central Committee to do business in Hong Kong was Lu Xuzhang. Later, he served as the vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade in New China and established the China Resources Company in Hong Kong. The East China Region also sent Zeng Shan to set up the Wufeng Commercial Firm. The Beiping branch was operated by Lai Zulei..."
When it comes to raising anti-Japanese war funds for the Party, we should also mention the "Guangda Hu行" established by Yang Yanxiu, Lu Xuzhang, Zhang Ping and others in Shanghai in 1933. One of the three secret tasks clearly defined by Zhou Enlai for "Guangda Hu行" was to provide and adjust funds for the Yangtze River Bureau, the Wuhan Office of the Eighth Route Army and other institutions. According to Yang Yanxiu's recollection and the research of party history experts, from 1942 to the victory of the war of resistance, the Southern Bureau of the Communist Party of China in Chongqing's Red Rock Village and the Eighth Route Army office often withdrew funds from the "Guangda Hu行" in Chongqing. Sometimes they exchanged currencies or gold and silver, and sometimes "a bag of money weighed dozens of catties". Not only that, during the period in Chongqing, the "Guangda Hu行" also provided a large number of medicines, cigarettes, pens, watches, milk powder, and even Liu Bocheng's fake eyes. After the victory of the war of resistance, the houses of the Xinhua Daily offices in Shanghai and Nanjing, the purchase funds of the Meiyuan New Village in Nanjing, and the funds of the Nanjing Bureau were all provided by the "Guangda Hu行", which is a later story.
Three years after the great production movement was carried out, 64% of the financial expenditure of the border region was self-sufficient, the funds of the 359th Brigade were completely self-sufficient, and the self-sufficiency rate of funds of other troops also increased year by year. By 1943, for the troops in the border region who had land, each soldier was required to plant an average of 18 mu of land. The vegetables, meat, oil, cotton-padded clothes, wool sweaters, shoes and socks, caves, houses, large and small auditoriums for meetings, tables, chairs, benches, paper, ink and pens, firewood, charcoal, stone coal for daily use, and almost everything could be made or handled by themselves.
In order to solve the difficulties in anti-Japanese war funds and the financial difficulties of the border region, the Central Committee and the border region government also took a series of measures. For example, allocate some production funds to each organ and unit to operate by themselves to solve the financial difficulties; the northwest salt lakes, Dingbian and Suide are famous salt-producing areas. The border region government mobilized the masses to transport salt for export. For example, it planned to export 600,000 loads, of which 60,000 loads were public salt, allocated to each county, and transported by the masses on a voluntary basis; unify the production and sales prices of salt, and the income belongs to the Military Commission as military expenses and the guarantee for the Military Commission's production; issue 6.18 million yuan of construction and national salvation bonds; collect 200,000 shi of national salvation grain and 26 million catties of public grass to solve the food and grass for personnel and horses; prohibit legal tender and issue 10.54 million yuan of border region currency. Taxation was also the main financial income of the border region government after 1941. In January 1942, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed: "For anti-Japanese war funds, except for the extremely poor, all people of all classes must pay to the government according to the progressive principle, and it must not be too light or too heavy, and must not refuse to pay." These emergency financial measures played a great role in solving the difficulties in anti-Japanese war funds since 1941.
The self-reliance in production during the Yan'an period not only solved the funds problem of the anti-Japanese troops under the Communist Party of China when there was no foreign aid, but also cultivated a self-healing function and the fine tradition of self-reliance and hard work for the base areas led by the Communist Party of China. Especially the latter was particularly obvious in the War of Liberation. For example, in 1946, Chiang Kai-shek compressed the 60,000 people of the Central Plains Army of the People's Liberation Army in a small area centered on Xuanhuadian in eastern Hubei with 300,000 troops. Li Xiannian of the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army repeatedly reported to the Central Committee in emergency: "There is a risk of financial and material supplies being in jeopardy at any time" and "The New Year is approaching, there is no rice to cook, and the situation is extremely dangerous for life." In order to provide emergency relief, Ren Bishi repeatedly sent telegrams to various liberated areas to raise funds from various sources to help, and Mao Zedong also designated the 4 regions of Central China, Shandong, Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu and Jin-Cha-Ji to "bear the monthly expenses of the Fifth Division". The Fifth Division was able to get through the difficulties. It should be said that without the economic foundation laid during the war of resistance, the various liberated areas would not have the ability to complete the tasks entrusted by the Central Committee.
The one who has the support of the majority. More than 80 years ago, the Communist Party of China took the lead in shouldering the banner of the whole nation's war of resistance. No matter how difficult the environment was, in order to drive the Japanese aggressors out of the country, countless Communists fought with their lives and shed blood on the battlefield, and won the support and拥护 of the people across the country and overseas Chinese.
Especially after 1941, the Communist Party of China gradually explored a road of self-reliance and independent development without foreign aid. In a sense, the war of resistance against Japan was also a turning point in the economic management history of the Communist Party of China.
For this reason, the various anti-Japanese base areas led by the Communist Party of China not only persisted, but also by the spring of 1945, the armed forces such as the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army and other armed forces led by the Communist Party of China reached 910,000 people, the non-full-time militia reached 2 million people, the total area of the anti-Japanese base areas reached 950,000 square kilometers, and the total population reached more than 95.5 million. These were the foundation for the Communist Party of China to dare to confront the Kuomintang head-on after the victory of the war of resistance against Japan and finally win the victory of the War of Liberation.
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In the arduous and extraordinary War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression where the whole nation rose up, the competition between China and Japan was not only in the military field but also in comprehensive strength including the economy. Facing the powerful Japanese aggressors with long-planned aggression and the extremely difficult environment of the war of resistance, how did the Communist Party of China persevere and achieve the final victory? In terms of anti-Japanese war funds, from relying on foreign aid to self-reliance in production, the Communist Party of China also went through a road from development to growth in leading the whole nation's war of resistance.
In September 1935, the Central Red Army led by Mao Zedong arrived at Hada铺 Town in the northwest of Dangchang County, Longnan City, Gansu Province. By accident, an expired "Shanxi Daily" of the Kuomintang found here found a destination and future political direction for the Red Army during the Long March. Nie Rongzhen recalled: "On September 22, Comrade Mao Zedong convened a meeting for cadres above the regiment level in a Guandi Temple in Hada铺." At the meeting, it was announced that "currently, Japanese imperialism is invading China, and we are going to fight Japan to the north. First, we should go to northern Shaanxi, where there are the Red Army of Liu Zhidan..."
When first arriving in northern Shaanxi, Mao Zedong borrowed money everywhere for the Central Red Army
Although the goal of the Red Army at that time was to fight Japan to the north, it was even difficult to survive when first arriving in northern Shaanxi. More than 70 years later, according to the descendants of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi: The Red Army who came through the Long March had three things they couldn't tell apart: men and women couldn't be told apart, everyone had long hair; guns and sticks couldn't be told apart, all were used as crutches to walk; the clothing of each person couldn't be told apart, there were no military uniforms, all were tattered, and some people simply wrapped themselves in animal skins... How to raise food, clothes and bedding became the top priority for the Central Red Army to consider.
Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai asked Yang Zhicheng, the director of the Red Army procurement office at that time, to take inventory of the family assets of the Central Red Army. The Central Red Army with more than 7,000 people only had more than 1,000 silver dollars. Zhou Enlai was very anxious: so many people have to eat, and there will be battles in the future. Where to find money?
At this time, Mao Zedong suddenly thought of Xu Haidong, the commander of the Red 15th Army Corps (originally a Red Army unit in northern Shaanxi) whom he had met a few days ago. He said to Yang Zhicheng: "I will write you a IOU. Can you go and find Xu Haidong? I believe that as long as possible, Haidong will definitely help us with this."
Mao Zedong wrote in the letter: "Comrade Haidong: Please lend 2,500 yuan to the Central Committee to solve the problem of food and clothing for the Central Red Army.此致, 敬礼! Mao Zedong. December 1935."
The Central Party Committee borrowed money from the Red Army in northern Shaanxi, and it was the first time they came here. They would not do this unless it was absolutely necessary.
After seeing the IOU, Xu Haidong immediately called the head of the supply department, Cha Guozhen, and asked him: "How much money do we still have in total now?" "There are still 7,000 silver dollars left." Cha Guozhen replied. "Well, leave 2,000, and give 5,000 to the Central Committee." Xu Haidong said.
The next day, the supply department of the Red 15th Army Corps sent people to deliver 5,000 silver dollars to the logistics department of the Central Red Army, and sent a lot of important materials and a large number of Mauser pistols. Moreover, it ordered each class to pick the best machine gun to give to the Central Red Army. Even the most elite cavalry regiment was directly handed over to the Central Committee for command.
Later, Mao Zedong, Zhang Wentian, Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai and others all regarded these 5,000 silver dollars as a lifesaver.
How important was this money? After many years, Mao Zedong still remembered this matter and often mentioned Xu Haidong's contribution to the Chinese revolution. He said that Xu Haidong was "a banner of the Chinese working class" and "a person who made great contributions to the Chinese revolution!" Although Xu Haidong had been in a long-term idleness due to overwork and illness after 1940, he still ranked second among the generals when授衔 in 1955.
When first arriving in northern Shaanxi, although the financial expenditure was extremely difficult, the Communist Party of China never forgot the responsibility of leading the whole nation's war of resistance. In December 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held the Wa窑堡 Conference in northern Shaanxi to discuss and formulate the strategic policy of the anti-Japanese national united front. This also meant that the practice of "beating local tyrants and distributing land" by the Red Army in the Soviet area was no longer appropriate.
In order to get through the difficulties, in March 1936, Mao Zedong thought of Soong Ching-ling again and hoped to borrow a sum of money from T. V. Soong, who was then the chairman of the Bank of China, through her. However, by this time, Soong Ching-ling and T. V. Soong had already parted ways. Soong Ching-ling had to take out all the funeral抚恤金 of Sun Yat-sen and mortgage her only residence - the Moli Road residence, and then raised 50,000 US dollars and sent it to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
"Local tyrants" and landlords could not be beaten, only traitors and traitors could be beaten. Finally, the Central Committee proposed that "in the initial stage, for the local gentry and landlords, we should raise anti-Japanese war funds and food under the slogan of 'those who have money contribute money'". However, in 1936, the amount of money confiscated in the Shaan-Gan-Ning base area was only 653,000 yuan, but it accounted for 55% of the annual income. The amount of money confiscated in 1937 was not even as much as 87,000 yuan in one month in December 1935. By the beginning of February 1937, Mao Zedong had sent several telegrams to Zhou Enlai successively, "The Red Army has no food expenses" and "It is impossible to live without beating local tyrants and not giving money".
How much anti-Japanese war funds did the Soviet Union and the Communist International actually provide?
As we all know, the Soviet Union and the Communist International provided great help to the Chinese revolution led by the Communist Party of China, and one of the very important things was financial assistance. In the summer and autumn of 1934, after losing contact between Moscow and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the armed forces of the Communist Party of China in various places, the assistance from the Soviet Union and the Communist International to the Communist Party of China basically stopped. It was not until 1936 that the assistance to the Communist Party of China was restored.
After the "September 18th Incident", the military actions of Japan threatened the strategic security of the Soviet Union. For this reason, the Soviet Union increased the assistance to the Communist Party of China. According to materials, from 1931 to 1937 during the period of local war of resistance, the total financial assistance provided by the Soviet Union to the Communist Party of China through the Communist International was 1,613,900 US dollars, 2,105,000 rubles, 102,452 Mexican pesos, 307,500 French francs, 5,000 Swiss francs, 1,864 Dutch guilders and 1,000 taels of silver.
During the full-scale war of resistance, the most striking record of the Communist International's financial assistance to the Communist Party of China is from Wang Jiaxiang's recollection. The recollection said that when Wang Jiaxiang returned from Moscow to China in 1938, he brought back 300,000 US dollars.
According to the currently disclosed and revealed archives, there are actually many such records.
In September 1937, Pan Han年, the director of the Eighth Route Army's office in Shanghai, wrote a letter to Wang Ming, the representative of the Communist Party of China in the Communist International, to convey the request of Mao Zedong and Zhang Wentian for the Communist International to provide funds on a monthly basis again. In November, the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International promised to give 1.5 million US dollars to the Communist Party of China, and also said that the International Relief Committee of Revolutionary Fighters would provide 30,000 US dollars for treating comrades released from prison. But later, according to Kang Sheng, the Communist Party of China did not receive 1.5 million US dollars. Currently, only 30,000 US dollars provided by the International Relief Committee of Revolutionary Fighters when Wang Ming returned to China in November 1937 can be verified.
In early February 1938, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China again telephoned the Communist International through Ren Bishi and Wang Jiaxiang, pointing out that the Party was in extremely serious financial difficulties. Because there was no money, lack of weapons, it was difficult to expand the army, and it was very common for the troops to starve and freeze. They hoped that Moscow would quickly provide financial assistance. At this time, Wang Ming, Zhou Enlai and others in Wuhan also called Yan'an to Moscow through Yan'an, requiring to get financial assistance as soon as possible to buy various urgently needed guns and ammunition for the troops. In response, Dimitrov, the head of the Communist International, urgently consulted with the leaders of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In his diary on February 17, he noted the result after talking with Stalin and Molotov: "Provide 500,000 US dollars to the Communist Party of China."
According to materials, a receipt signed by Mao Zedong on April 28: "Received 300,000 US dollars from Mikhailov", so currently only 300,000 US dollars can be confirmed that the Communist Party of China received. In February 1939, Lin Biao, who was treating his arm injury in Moscow, said to Dimitrov that the Communist Party of China needed money now. Later, the Communist International organized a special working group to study the situation of the Communist Party of China. Then the Communist International and the Soviet Union provided two small amounts of funds.
In February 1940, Stalin met with Zhou Enlai, who was treating his arm injury in Moscow. Zhou Enlai again expounded the urgent need for financial assistance from the Communist Party of China. Dimitrov wrote to Stalin, attached the budget form submitted by Zhou Enlai, emphasized that Zhou Enlai's budget was credible, "believed that 350,000 US dollars of assistance could be provided to the Chinese Party (Communist Party of China) in 1940". Accordingly, he requested Stalin "to issue instructions for appropriations to the relevant departments", and Stalin's reply was very simple: "I am very busy, I haven't read many things, please decide for yourselves. We will provide 300,000 US dollars of assistance." Later, this money was provided to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China through remittance and delivery by special person.
After the皖南 Incident in January 1941, there was a dispute between Moscow and Mao Zedong on how to treat Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang. Moscow accordingly did not want to provide financial assistance anymore. However, due to the sudden outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, at the request of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Stalin still approved to provide a larger amount of assistance to the Communist Party of China - 1 million US dollars. Later, due to the tense situation of the Great Patriotic War and the relocation of the headquarters of the Communist International, currently it can be confirmed that the Communist Party of China only received 600,000 US dollars, and the remaining amount is unknown.
It should be said that the financial assistance and various material assistance from Moscow continued from 1937 to the end of the war of resistance. In 1937, the Soviet financial assistance was 5.2 times the total annual income of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region, and it was still 1.5 times in 1940. Even after the Communist International was declared dissolved in May 1943, Dimitrov was still discussing with Molotov and Malenkov, the leaders of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, about providing financial assistance to the Communist Party of China and proposed to help the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China solve 50,000 US dollars. However, currently there is no definite information to prove that the Communist Party of China received this sum of money. Except for this, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China did not receive financial assistance from the Soviet Union and the Communist International until the victory of the war of resistance.
In conclusion, in the early stage of the full-scale war of resistance, excluding weapons and other war materials, the total financial assistance provided by the Soviet Union and the Communist International to the Communist Party of China was more than 2.21 million US dollars. After deducting the losses caused by the decline in the pound exchange rate and the 400,000 US dollars that were not cashed, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China received a total of more than 1.8 million US dollars.
It should be noted that the financial assistance provided by the Soviet Union to the Communist Party of China through the Communist International was free of charge. Of course, this was also closely related to the national interests of the Soviet Union, especially strategic security. In any case, as the most important foreign aid to the Communist Party of China during the war of resistance, it strongly supported the anti-Japanese war cause led by the Communist Party of China and helped the Communist Party of China get through that most difficult period.
How much anti-Japanese war funds did the Communist Party of China actually receive from the National Government?
Before the end of 1940, one of the main sources of financial income for the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region, various anti-Japanese base areas and the army was the salary paid by the National Government according to the agreement between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Take the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region as an example. From July 1937 to the end of 1940, more than half of its financial income came from foreign aid, and the largest proportion of foreign aid was the anti-Japanese war funds provided by the National Government.
In early 1936, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China had secret contacts in Moscow on the issue of joint resistance against Japan, and Chiang Kai-shek was also interested in providing funds for the Red Army to fight Japan. Zhou Xiaozhou and Pan Han年, the representatives of the Communist Party of China, had all gone to Nanjing for negotiations. However, later the Kuomintang went back on its word on the treatment issue, and the negotiations fell into a deadlock. Just at this time, the Xi'an Incident broke out. Chiang Kai-shek, who was under detention, agreed "to secretly provide relief to the Red Army through Zhang Xueliang, and when the war of resistance starts, it will be linked and the code name will be changed". After the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, at the request of the Communist Party of China, in January 1937, Chiang Kai-shek instructed Gu Zhutong: "From the government's perspective, we will temporarily pay 200,000 to 300,000 yuan of military expenses per month, which will be sent indirectly by Yang Hucheng, and the code name of the Communist army will remain the same for the time being." Later, Gu Zhutong sent someone to deliver 500,000 yuan of relief funds to Xi'an, which was handed over to Zhou Enlai by Yang Hucheng. After this, until August 1937, the National Government allocated 300,000 yuan to the Red Army every month. In June, at Zhou Enlai's request, there was a food shortage in northern Shaanxi and it was necessary to transport food from other places. The National Government additionally issued 50,000 yuan of transportation fees.
In August 1937, the main force of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army (later renamed the Eighteenth Army Group), with 3 divisions and a total of 45,000 people. The Red Army guerrillas in the south were reorganized into the New Fourth Army, with 4 guerrilla detachments and more than 10,000 people. The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army after reorganization also began to receive anti-Japanese military salaries from the National Government on a monthly basis.
Let's talk about the Eighth Route Army first. According to the establishment of 45,000 people, in 1937, the monthly funding was 300,000 yuan (legal tender, at that time 1 yuan of legal tender was equivalent to one silver dollar before the war of resistance), the war service fee was 200,000 yuan, the subsidy was 50,000 yuan, the medical subsidy was 10,000 yuan, the rice allowance and military station subsidy was 70,000 yuan, and the total monthly distribution was 630,000 yuan. Starting from August 1939, an additional monthly temporary military station subsidy of 25,000 yuan was added. Starting from January 1940, an additional monthly rice allowance of 45,000 yuan was issued, and then it increased slightly, but the total did not exceed 750,000 yuan.
Let's talk about the New Fourth Army. According to the request when Ye Ting took up the post of the commander of the New Fourth Army, 180,000 yuan should be issued to the New Fourth Army every month. Actually, only 80,000 yuan was given to the New Fourth Army every month. Later, after Ye Ting and Xiang Ying repeatedly requested, from June 1938 onwards, it increased to 110,000 yuan per month. Starting from 1939, an additional monthly combat readiness fee of 22,000 yuan was issued.
It is worth mentioning that after the realization of the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Red Army guerrillas who had been adhering to Hainan Island for a long time were also reorganized into the "Independent Team of the People's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Regiment of the Fourteenth District of Guangdong", that is, the "Qiongya Column". At the beginning of the reorganization, the Kuomintang authorities in Hainan Island issued 8,000 yuan of funds to the Qiongya Column every month, but after June 1939, the original 8,000 yuan per month began to be reduced to 1,000 yuan per month.
In addition, when the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army went to the anti-Japanese battlefield, the National Government also allocated 200,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan of mobilization fees respectively. According to the regulations at that time, the monthly military expense of a first-class field division of the Central Army of the Kuomintang was about 200,000 yuan. Therefore, if the treatment of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army was calculated according to the establishment number of people, it was equivalent to that of the Central Army of the Kuomintang.
In addition, Chiang Kai-shek also gave some temporary subsidies and rewards according to the request of the Communist Party of China and the needs of the war. For example, in April 1939, Ye Ting requested Chiang Kai-shek to issue various subsidies: "1. Difficult transportation, please grant 20,000 yuan of travel expenses; 2. Please approve to issue 5,600 yuan of funds to the military headquarters every month; 3. Please approve to set up a hospital with 13,000 yuan of funds per month." Chiang Kai-shek wrote "Approved". In July 1939, Xiao Jinguang requested the National Government to issue an additional 105,000 yuan of river defense funds by telegram, which was also approved. In addition, in October 1937, the Eighth Route Army attacked the Yangmingbao Airport of the Japanese army, destroying and damaging 24 Japanese combat aircraft. Chiang Kai-shek rewarded the Eighth Route Army with 20,000 silver dollars in the name of the Military Commission.
Putting aside strategic materials such as weapons, ammunition, military uniforms, military food, and medicines, it is difficult to verify the accurate amount of funds that the Communist Party of China's troops actually received from the National Government during the full-scale war of resistance due to different records between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. According to relevant materials, from July 1937 to 1940, the National Government issued a total of about 31.751 million yuan of funds to the Communist Party of China's troops, of which about 27.295 million yuan was for the Eighth Route Army and about 4.456 million yuan was for the New Fourth Army (the above figures are for reference only).
How these funds were allocated is unknown. It is certain that with the rapid expansion of the ranks of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and with the rapid rise in prices, these funds were becoming more and more insufficient. Take the Eighth Route Army as an example. In 1940, the Eighth Route Army had developed to more than 400,000 people. During this period, the Communist Party of China repeatedly requested the National Government to expand the establishment and increase the military salary, but the National Government always refused to approve. Due to the serious shortage of funds, there was a big difference in the treatment between the Kuomintang army and the Communist Party of China's army. At that time, the monthly salary of a division commander of the Kuomintang army was generally 800 yuan, and the monthly salary of a company commander was more than 100 yuan, while the monthly salary of a division commander of the Eighth Route Army was only 5 yuan, and the monthly salary of a company commander was 3 yuan. Even such a low salary standard often could not be paid on time.
In 1939, at the memorial meeting for "May 30" in southeastern Shanxi, Peng Dehuai delivered a speech: "We Communists are not afraid of difficulties... The Eighth Route Army only issued 1 yuan of monthly allowance this month, and our commander-in-chief (Zhu De) is over 50 years old, and he only gets 1 yuan." In response, Mao Zedong angrily said: "The hundreds of thousands of people in the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army blocked two-fifths of the enemy and fought against 17 of the 40 Japanese divisions, but only received 730,000 yuan of salary" and "The banknotes depreciated, at a discount of 25%, and each person got less than 1 yuan per month."
"The banknotes depreciated" refers to the rapid acceleration of inflation starting from the end of 1938. The military expenses issued by the National Government to the Communist Party of China were mainly in legal tender, so their value also depreciated seriously. In 1939, Mao Zedong pointed out in the foreword to the journal "Military and Political of the Eighth Route Army": "One of the most difficult problems in the long-term war of resistance will be the financial and economic problem. This is a difficult problem for the whole nation's war of resistance and also a difficulty for the Eighth Route Army. It should be raised to the height of understanding."
Even so, since the Kuomintang launched the first anti-Communist climax in December 1939, the friction between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China has been increasing. In December 1940, He Yingqin, the Minister of National Defense of the Kuomintang government, announced to stop issuing military salaries and materials to the Yan'an area. The military expenses of the New Fourth Army were stopped after January 1941, because after the New Fourth Army received the last batch of military salaries and materials in this month, the Southern Anhui Incident broke out. After that, the funds and supplies of the troops belonging to the Communist Party of China relied on their own solutions.
Various donations: hundreds of thousands of taels of gold sent to Yan'an
Donations were also an important source of funds for the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army in the early stage of the full-scale war of resistance. In October 1937, Liu Shaoqi pointed out in "Various Basic Policy Issues in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression": "Solicit national salvation donations from rich households" and "Initiate the masses to voluntarily donate anti-Japanese war funds and war supplies", and believed that the supplies of the anti-Japanese guerrillas "are mainly maintained by confiscating the property of the enemy and the property of traitors and soliciting donations from rich households. Only when necessary will we solicit donations from the general masses".
Therefore, this kind of voluntary and somewhat compulsory allocation also raised a certain amount of funds and materials for the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines. In the autumn and winter of 1937, when the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army opened up the anti-Japanese base area in northwest Shanxi, only in Xing County, Shanxi Province, Yang Duren, a landlord in Yangjiapo, donated all 15,000 silver dollars from selling the land and the goods in the city商号. Wang Zexiang from Wangjiacun in Heiyukou donated 2,000 silver dollars and a boat. The famous enlightened person Niu Youlan not only donated the goods in his "Fuqingyong"商号 but also donated 23,000 silver dollars at one time. By December of that year, the people in Xing County donated 60,000 silver dollars and more than 700担 of grain to the Eighth Route Army. Various anti-Japanese base areas carried out donation activities in an organized manner, such as the anti-Japanese national salvation donations raised in Shandong and Jizhong anti-Japanese base areas in the early 1938, and the "Four Donations" campaign of donating gold, grain, shoes and expanding the army carried out in the Jin-Sui anti-Japanese base area in 1940.
After the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army achieved a series of victories such as the Battle of Pingxingguan, which won a good reputation for the anti-Japanese troops led by the Communist Party of China. People from all walks of life at home and some overseas Chinese and Chinese people abroad all opened their purses to donate. From 1938 to 1939, the unoccupied concession areas in Shanghai carried out a mass support campaign for the New Fourth Army, organized benefit performances and charity sales, and raised hundreds of thousands of yuan in total, which bought a batch of medicines and the cloth needed for 50,000 sets of military uniforms for the New Fourth Army. After the start of the war of resistance, Soong Ching-ling promptly established two major organizations in Shanghai and Hong Kong: the China Defense League (referred to as "CDL") and the China Industrial Cooperation International Committee (referred to as "ICC"), appealing for donations from justice people in the world, anti-war organizations and overseas Chinese to publicize China's war of resistance. According to the latest information, Soong Ching-ling raised about 5 million US dollars through the two international organizations of "CDL" and "ICC", most of which were transported to the anti-Japanese base areas led by the Communist Party of China.
According to the statistics of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region, in just 5 months from October 1938 to February 1939, the donations from overseas and the rear reached more than 1.3 million yuan in legal tender.
Sheng Shicai, the warlord in Xinjiang, also provided some materials and money. On July 8, 1939, Mao Zemin said in the speech of the Communist International's China Problem Research Group: "In Xinjiang Province, a donation campaign was carried out to buy gas masks for the Eighth Route Army, and 60,000 yuan was raised. Sheng Shicai gave 50,000 fur coats to the Eighth Route Army, gave 100,000 yuan, and transported the coats from Lanzhou to the front line."
According to the statistics of the supply department of the Eighth Route Army, from 1937 to 1941, the donations handed in by each unit with accounts were 8.924 million yuan in total. The funds of each unit (including some anti-Japanese guerrilla work teams, county detachments, district detachments behind the enemy lines) not only had to be solved by themselves, but also had conditions to hand in to support the central government.
Speaking of the financial support from local areas to the Central Party Committee, the Jiaodong Special Committee in Shandong made great contributions. Zhaoyuan is rich in gold and is the first county in China to produce 10,000 taels of gold per year. Unfortunately, it fell into the hands of the Japanese army after the July 7 Incident. In order to seize gold from the tiger's mouth, the Jiaodong Special Committee of the Communist Party of China established a special permanent organization - the Jiaodong Gold Work Committee. Under the leadership of this organization, miners sometimes replaced high-grade gold ore with rotten stones, and sometimes simply smashed the gold ore underground and brought it out. Even the situation of "the Japanese were tunneling in the south of the same mine and the Communist Party was digging holes in the north" appeared.
The Jiaodong Special Committee of the Communist Party of China also established secret gold mines, organized local armed forces to ambush the Japanese army's ore transport vehicles and gold transport vehicles, and at the same time, secretly transported the ore to the smelting factories controlled by the Communist Party, and then transported the finished gold to Yan'an through underground communication stations.
Since it was necessary to cross the enemy's blockade line along the way, the selected Eighth Route Army soldiers generally wore specially made clothes and put the gold in their pockets, basically carrying about 10 taels each. According to incomplete statistics, during the war of resistance, the people of Zhaoyuan contributed as much as hundreds of thousands of taels of gold to the war of resistance led by the Communist Party of China. Only in 1940, Su Jiguang, the secretary of the trade union, and Chen Wenqi and others secretly sent more than 20,000 taels of gold to Yan'an.
Self-reliance: Carry out self-reliance in production and support the front line
Generally speaking, the sources of anti-Japanese war funds for the Communist Party of China during the Yan'an period were divided into two stages and two different sources. From 1937 to 1940, foreign aid was an important source of anti-Japanese war funds and financial income of the border region. After 1940, the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression entered the most difficult period. Especially after the Southern Anhui Incident in 1941, the political, economic and military blockades by the Kuomintang made the financial economy of the areas led by the Communist Party of China and the combat troops under its jurisdiction face extremely serious difficulties. Take the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army as an example. In 1940, "because there was very little food, they could only eat 2 to 3 meals of thin porridge a day, and sometimes they couldn't even eat enough porridge. They just drank black bean soup and ate vegetables. As for oil and salt, because there was no money, each person could only maintain at most one or two taels. They ate very little vegetables, and most of them dug wild vegetables to eat". "In the cold October days and even in November, the soldiers fought against the enemy only wearing a set of single clothes close to the body, and often marched and fought barefoot. Not only ordinary personnel were like this, but also the division commander, political commissar and wounded comrades lived such a life".
Mao Zedong also had a deep memory of this period of life: "The biggest difficulty was in 1940 and 1941, and the two anti-Communist frictions by the Kuomintang were all in this period. We once got to the point where there was almost no clothes to wear, no oil to eat, no paper, no vegetables, the soldiers had no shoes and socks, and the staff members had no bedding in winter. The Kuomintang treated us by stopping the issuance of funds and economic blockade, trying to starve us to death. Our difficulties were really great."
What to do? It is better to rely on oneself than to rely on others. Zhu De first proposed: Establish our own "household". For this reason, Ren Bishi also conducted an investigation and put forward a plan to the Politburo: First, the army implement the屯田 system, produce for self-sufficiency; second, reclaim wasteland; third, transport the salt in the Sanbian area out for sale to the outside of the border region to activate the economy. In May 1940, after Zhu De returned to Yan'an from the front line of the anti-Japanese war in southeastern Shanxi, he personally went to Nanniwan and Jinpenwan in the southeast of Yan'an for on-site inspection. In March 1941, Wang Zhen led the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army to station in Nanniwan, "One hoe and one gun, produce for self-sufficiency to protect the Central Committee", and Wang Weizhou led the 358th Brigade to go to eastern Gansu to reclaim wasteland and grow rice. The great production movement in Yan'an started vigorously like this. Mao Zedong called it: "This is an unprecedented miracle in Chinese history, this is our invincible material basis."
At that time, all organs and schools in Yan'an started to work together, reclaim wasteland to grow grain and vegetables and spin threads. To take the lead by example and encourage everyone, the central leaders such as Mao Zedong also arranged production tasks. In response, Mao Zedong insisted on participating in labor in person. He said: "I will definitely participate in reclaiming wasteland. The place is chosen at my door, only one mu of land, not more or less. I can also do it by myself, and I坚决 don't want someone to cultivate on my behalf." Zhu De, who was over 50 years old, organized a production team with the staff around him and reclaimed 3 mu of vegetable land in Wangjiaping, planting more than a dozen kinds of vegetables. Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi insisted on taking the lead in learning spinning, shaking the spinning wheels sent from Nanniwan by the 359th Brigade, while working, they actively learned spinning techniques from comrades who were good at spinning and continuously studied spinning techniques. Chen Yun, the head of the Organization Department, took the lead in collecting fertilizers everywhere. Zhang Wentian, the president of the Yan'an Marxism-Leninism Institute, bought two hoes at his own expense and insisted on participating in production. Xiao Jinguang, the director of the Garrison Corps, engaged in the production, transportation and sales of salt in the border region. The border region government provided funds, and it was "officially supervised and privately transported"... At the same time, the Central Committee also allocated some funds and manpower to engage in production and business operations, go to the Kuomintang-ruled area or even Hong Kong to do business, open stores and run enterprises, sell the local specialties of the border region, and exchange for legal tender and US dollars. Yang Shangkun recalled: "This matter was mainly in charge of Ren Bishi, Comrade Zhu (De) Lao and Comrade (Li) Fuchun at that time. The person sent by the Central Committee to do business in Hong Kong was Lu Xuzhang. Later, he served as the vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade in New China and established the China Resources Company in Hong Kong. The East China Region also sent Zeng Shan to set up the Wufeng Commercial Firm. The Beiping branch was operated by Lai Zulei..."
When it comes to raising anti-Japanese war funds for the Party, we should also mention the "Guangda Hu行" established by Yang Yanxiu, Lu Xuzhang, Zhang Ping and others in Shanghai in 1933. One of the three secret tasks clearly defined by Zhou Enlai for "Guangda Hu行" was to provide and adjust funds for the Yangtze River Bureau, the Wuhan Office of the Eighth Route Army and other institutions. According to Yang Yanxiu's recollection and the research of party history experts, from 1942 to the victory of the war of resistance, the Southern Bureau of the Communist Party of China in Chongqing's Red Rock Village and the Eighth Route Army office often withdrew funds from the "Guangda Hu行" in Chongqing. Sometimes they exchanged currencies or gold and silver, and sometimes "a bag of money weighed dozens of catties". Not only that, during the period in Chongqing, the "Guangda Hu行" also provided a large number of medicines, cigarettes, pens, watches, milk powder, and even Liu Bocheng's fake eyes. After the victory of the war of resistance, the houses of the Xinhua Daily offices in Shanghai and Nanjing, the purchase funds of the Meiyuan New Village in Nanjing, and the funds of the Nanjing Bureau were all provided by the "Guangda Hu行", which is a later story.
Three years after the great production movement was carried out, 64% of the financial expenditure of the border region was self-sufficient, the funds of the 359th Brigade were completely self-sufficient, and the self-sufficiency rate of funds of other troops also increased year by year. By 1943, for the troops in the border region who had land, each soldier was required to plant an average of 18 mu of land. The vegetables, meat, oil, cotton-padded clothes, wool sweaters, shoes and socks, caves, houses, large and small auditoriums for meetings, tables, chairs, benches, paper, ink and pens, firewood, charcoal, stone coal for daily use, and almost everything could be made or handled by themselves.
In order to solve the difficulties in anti-Japanese war funds and the financial difficulties of the border region, the Central Committee and the border region government also took a series of measures. For example, allocate some production funds to each organ and unit to operate by themselves to solve the financial difficulties; the northwest salt lakes, Dingbian and Suide are famous salt-producing areas. The border region government mobilized the masses to transport salt for export. For example, it planned to export 600,000 loads, of which 60,000 loads were public salt, allocated to each county, and transported by the masses on a voluntary basis; unify the production and sales prices of salt, and the income belongs to the Military Commission as military expenses and the guarantee for the Military Commission's production; issue 6.18 million yuan of construction and national salvation bonds; collect 200,000 shi of national salvation grain and 26 million catties of public grass to solve the food and grass for personnel and horses; prohibit legal tender and issue 10.54 million yuan of border region currency. Taxation was also the main financial income of the border region government after 1941. In January 1942, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed: "For anti-Japanese war funds, except for the extremely poor, all people of all classes must pay to the government according to the progressive principle, and it must not be too light or too heavy, and must not refuse to pay." These emergency financial measures played a great role in solving the difficulties in anti-Japanese war funds since 1941.
The self-reliance in production during the Yan'an period not only solved the funds problem of the anti-Japanese troops under the Communist Party of China when there was no foreign aid, but also cultivated a self-healing function and the fine tradition of self-reliance and hard work for the base areas led by the Communist Party of China. Especially the latter was particularly obvious in the War of Liberation. For example, in 1946, Chiang Kai-shek compressed the 60,000 people of the Central Plains Army of the People's Liberation Army in a small area centered on Xuanhuadian in eastern Hubei with 300,000 troops. Li Xiannian of the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army repeatedly reported to the Central Committee in emergency: "There is a risk of financial and material supplies being in jeopardy at any time" and "The New Year is approaching, there is no rice to cook, and the situation is extremely dangerous for life." In order to provide emergency relief, Ren Bishi repeatedly sent telegrams to various liberated areas to raise funds from various sources to help, and Mao Zedong also designated the 4 regions of Central China, Shandong, Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu and Jin-Cha-Ji to "bear the monthly expenses of the Fifth Division". The Fifth Division was able to get through the difficulties. It should be said that without the economic foundation laid during the war of resistance, the various liberated areas would not have the ability to complete the tasks entrusted by the Central Committee.
The one who has the support of the majority. More than 80 years ago, the Communist Party of China took the lead in shouldering the banner of the whole nation's war of resistance. No matter how difficult the environment was, in order to drive the Japanese aggressors out of the country, countless Communists fought with their lives and shed blood on the battlefield, and won the support and拥护 of the people across the country and overseas Chinese.
Especially after 1941, the Communist Party of China gradually explored a road of self-reliance and independent development without foreign aid. In a sense, the war of resistance against Japan was also a turning point in the economic management history of the Communist Party of China.
For this reason, the various anti-Japanese base areas led by the Communist Party of China not only persisted, but also by the spring of 1945, the armed forces such as the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army and other armed forces led by the Communist Party of China reached 910,000 people, the non-full-time militia reached 2 million people, the total area of the anti-Japanese base areas reached 950,000 square kilometers, and the total population reached more than 95.5 million. These were the foundation for the Communist Party of China to dare to confront the Kuomintang head-on after the victory of the war of resistance against Japan and finally win the victory of the War of Liberation.