CHINESE WORKERS MARCH TOWARDS SOCIALISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00418R006200350006-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 106
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 6
• Content Type: MISC

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CHINESE WORKERS MARCH
TOWARDS SOCIALISM
FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS
PEKING 1956
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CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions .
9
Building Socialism . . . . . . . . .
15
Higher Wages and Better Living Cor.diiions . .
34
Development of Communal Labour Insurance
Establishments . . . . . . . . .
39
Gradual Emancipation from Heavy Manual
Labour . . . . . . . . . . .
46
Improvements in Housing . . . . . . .
53
Women Workers Enjoy Equal Rights . . . .
58
Cultural and Technical Advancement . . . .
65
Flourishing Cultural and Recreational Activities
73
Unemployment Is Being Eliminated . . . .
79
We Are Determined to Liberate Taiwan . . .
81
Strengthening International Friendship and Unity
89
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PREFACE
Under the leadership of the Chinese Communist
Party and Chairman Mao Tse-tung, the Chinese work-
ing class, which has gone? through years of heroic
struggle, has proved that it was not only the van-
guard of the Chinese people in overthrowing the reac-
tionary rule of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-
capitalism, but is also the leading force in the
construction of New China.
Over the past six years since the founding of the
People's Republic of China, the Chinese working class,
united with the people of the entire country, has step-
ped onto the path of socialist construction, and begun
to transform the face of the country, gradually im-
proving the material and cultural life of the working
people. The Chinese trade unions have done tremen-
dous work in organizing and educating the workers.
However, we know that our industry has a very
weak foundation, and our experience in building up
modern industry is inadequate. The same can be said of
our experience in trade union work in the period of con-
struction. In order to reconstruct our country, we
have gone through and overcome innumerable diflicul-
ties and have achieved the good results we have ob-
tained today. We have only just begun our socialist
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construction, and difficulties still lie in our way. Many
shortcomings still exist in our trade union work,
which we will continuously endeavour to overcome.
But we have full confidence that we will be able to
accomplish our work efficiently.
The Chinese working class and the people of the
whole country are more confident of success today
than at any time in the past. We are striving to turn
our country into a great socialist land, and at the
same time, in co-ordination with the workers and
peace-loving people of other countries, we will play our
part in the struggle for the solidarity and unity of the
workers all over the world and in the defence of world
peace.
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THE ALL-CHINA FEDERATION OF
TRADE UNIONS
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is the
only central body of the Chinese trade union move-
ment. It has more than 12,400,000 members, and has
become a strong force in the peaceful construction
of the People's Republic of China as well as an impor-
tant part of the Asian and world trade union movement.
Before liberation, the Chinese workers were not
allowed to form their own trade unions. But now,
they are not only completely free to do so but also
have this freedom confirmed in law. In 1950, the
Central People's Government promulgated the Trade
Union Law, defining in explicit terms the legal status
of trade unions-the mass organizations of the work-
ing class. The Trade Union Law stipulates: All
manual and non-manual workers whose wages con-
stitute their sole or main means of livelihood, irre-
spective of nationality, sex, or religious belief, shall
have the right to organize trade unions; trade union
committees at all levels shall be set up by election at
general membership meetings or representative con-
ferences; the administration of the enterprise or the
owner should inform the trade union organization
in advance, if they want to dismiss workers or staff
members. In the state-owned enterprises, trade
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unions shall have the right to represent the workers
and staff members in administering production and
in concluding collective agreements with the manage-
ments. In private enterprises, trade unions shall have
the right to represent the workers and staff mem-
bers in conducting negotiations and talks and con-
cluding collective agreements with the owners, and
in participating in the work of the labour-capital
consultative councils. Trade unions have the duty to
protect the interests of workers and staff members, to
ensure that the managements or owners effectively
carry out all labour protection regulations, labour in-
surance, wage standards, factory sanitation and safety
measures as stipulated in the laws and decrees of
the Government and other relevant regulations and
directives, and to take measures for improving the
material and cultural life of the workers and staff
members.
As the Chinese working class is the leading class
in the state, the interest of the country and of the
whole people is also the vital interest of the Chinese
working class. The workers enjoy broad democratic
rights; participating in the administration of state
affairs, quite a number of workers have been elected
deputies to the National People's Congress and
the various local People's Congresses, while many
others have been elected to the People's Councils of
all levels. The Chinese trade unions represent the
workers in drafting the laws and decrees concerning
production and labour, as well as the material and
cultural life of the workers; and they resolutely sup-
port and carry out all the policies, laws and decrees
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which they have helped the People's Government to
frame, functioning as a strong backbone of the people's
democracy.
The present All-China Federation of Trade
Unions-the highest leading body of the Chinese trade
unions-was elected at the Seventh All-China Con-
gress of Trade Unions.
Held in 1953, the Seventh Congress elected
an Executive Committee of 99 full members and
42 candidate members, and an Auditing Com-
mission of 17 members. Liu Shao-chi was elected
Honorary President, Lai Jo-yu was elected Pres-
ident, and Liu Ning-I, Liu Chang-sheng and Chu
Hsueh-fan Vice-Presidents. The 10 members of
the Secretariat are: Lai Jo-yu, Liu Ning-I, Hsu
Chih-chen, Chen Shao-min, Li Chieh-po, Liu Tse-
chiu, Li Tsai-wen, Tung Hsin, Chang Wei-chen
and Chang Hsiu-chu. The following departments
have been set up within the All-China Federa-
tion of Trade Unions: General Office, Organiza-
tion Department, Propaganda Department, Pro-
duction Department, Wages Department, Labour
Insurance Department, Department Concerned
with Workers' Housing and General Living Stand-
ards, Labour Protection Department, Women
Workers Department, International Liaison De-
partment, Administration of Communal Labour
Insurance Establishments, Finance Department,
General Affairs Department, Physical Culture
and Sports Department, Workers' Press, Workers'
Daily, and Trade Union Functionaries Training
School of ACFTU.
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The Chinese trade unions are set up on the prin-
ciple of industrial unionism. Members working in the
same enterprise are organized in the same primary
industrial trade union. For instance, in the Harbin
Flax Mill, all the spinners, weavers, maintenance work-
ers, printing and dyeing workers, technicians and staff
members are organized in one primary trade union
organization-the Working Committee of the Chinese
Textile Workers' Trade Union in the Harbin Flax Mill.
On a national level all trade union members work-
ing in the same industrial branch of the national
economy are organized in the same national industrial
union. This makes it easier for the unions to func-
tion within the industrial framework of the country
and so play their full part in solving the various prob-
lems connected with production as well as those in
relation to working conditions, living and welfare and
education. The national committee of each industrial
union is elected by the national congress of the indus-
trial union concerned. Local trade union organizations
are also organized along industrial lines where there
are enough workers to make this possible. The trade
union councils at provincial, city, county or town level
are formed from the various industrial unions and
other local trade union organizations in the given prov-
ince, city, county or town.
At the present time, under the leadership of
the All-China Federation of Trade Unions there
are 3 trade union councils of municipalities
directly subordinate to the central authority, 22
provincial trade union councils, 2 trade union
councils of an autonomous region, 163 city trade
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union councils and various county or town trade
union councils, in addition to 18 industrial unions.
Among the industrial unions there are 13 which
have national committees, viz, Railway Workers'
Trade Union, Electrical Workers' Trade Union,
Posts and Telecommunications Workers' Trade
Union, Textile Workers' Trade Union, Coal
Miners' Trade Union, Educational Workers' Trade
Union, Commercial Workers' Trade Union, the
Trade Union of Workers of the First Machinery
Industry, the Trade Union of Workers of the
Second Machinery Industry, Road Transport
Workers' Trade Union, Heavy Industry Work-
ers' Trade Union, Seamen's Trade Union and
Petroleum Workers' Trade Union. Three have
preparatory committees, viz, the Building Work-
ers' Trade Union, the Agricultural and Water
Conservancy Workers' Trade Union and the
Forestry Workers' Trade Union. Two have work-
ing committees, viz, the Light Industry Workers'
Trade Union and the Salt Industry Workers' Trade
Union.
The trade union organization of China is built
on the basis of democratic centralism in accordance
with the Constitution of the Trade Unions of the Peo-
ple's Republic of China. The leading bodies of the
trade unions at all levels are elected from the bottom
up at the general membership meetings or at repre-
sentative conferences, each committee electing the
members of that directly above it. They should
report their work at regular intervals to the
membership through general membership meetings,
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representative conferences and through their own
papers, developing criticism and self-criticism, es-
pecially criticism from the bottom up, so that the
work of the trade union organization is placed under
the supervision of all the members. All trade union
organizations must carry out their work in accordance
with the Constitution of the Trade Unions and the de-
cisions of their organizations, all such decisions are
adopted by a majority vote of the members present
at meetings of the union organization concerned. The
lower organizations must carry out the decisions made
by those above them. All sections are bound by the
Constitution to report at regular intervals to the
membership on their financial accounts. The leading
bodies of the trade unions are strongly based on their
local organizations and the broad mass of the members.
Over the past few years, membership of the
Federation has increased rapidly. In 1949 the
total membership was more than 2,373,000; in
1950, 5,170,000; in 1951, 7,297,000; in 1952,
10,200,000; in 1953, 12,229,000; in 1954, 12,454,-
000; in 1954 the trade unions of China had
200,000 primary organizations, with 2,730,000
members taking an exceptionally active part in
the work.
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BUILDING SOCIALISM
Since the founding of the People's Republic of
China, the country has entered upon the road of tran-
sition to socialism. The Preamble of the Constitution
of the People's Republic of China says: "From the
founding of the People's Republic of China to the
attainment of a socialist society is a period of transi-
tion. During the transition the fundamental task of
the state is, step by step, to bring about the socialist
industrialization of the country and, step by step,
to accomplish the socialist transformation of agricul-
ture, handicrafts and capitalist industry and com-
merce."
The First Five-Year Plan for Development of the
National Economy of the People's Republic of China
began from 1953. The implementation of the Plan
is an important part of the general task of the state
in the transition period-to lay, in five years, the pre-
liminary groundwork for the socialist industrializa-
tion and socialist transformation of agriculture, handi-
crafts, as well as the groundwork for the socialist
transformation of private industry and commerce.
With this as the basis, we can guarantee the building
of a socialist society in our country after fulfilling
another two five-year plans.
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The tasks of the trade unions of China are to
unite and help all the workers, technical personnel
and staff to fulfil the First Five-Year Plan ahead of
schedule, to gradually improve the material and cul-
tural life of the working class and all the labouring
people and to struggle for the gradual realization of
socialist industrialization of the country and transi-
tion to a socialist society.
The Chinese workers, in order to achieve a hap-
pier and better life as quickly as possible, are showing
an unconquerable fighting spirit, tackling all difficul-
ties and working heroically to build up their country.
Many examples could be given of the great efforts
they are making: In constructing the railway line
to Urumchi in Sinkiang Uighur Autonomous Region,
on the plains of Northwest China, the workers had to
overcome great difficulties. They had to build bridges
across the rushing waters of the Yellow River, cut
long tunnels in the rarefied atmosphere of Wushiao-
ling Mountain, move roads and change rivers from
their ancient courses. But they were inspired and
encouraged by the call of Chairman Mao and by the
warm support given them by the people of various
nationalities in Northwest China. They also felt the
necessity to exploit the resources of the frontiers of
their motherland, to bring the rich products of the
Northwest such as petroleum, non-ferrous metals and
coal to other parts of the country, and to transport
to Northwest China the large machines needed for
industrial construction. The workers proudly said:
"We trample all the difficulties under our feet and
leave time behind us in making new records. Bridges
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will appear on the rivers like the growing of bamboo
shoots in spring and railways will stretch forward
rapidly along the valley." The workers constructing
the Sikang-Tibet Highway on the plateau of South-
west China had to climb the Chueherh Mountain which
is 5,300 metres above sea level, enduring extreme cold
reaching 30 degrees below zero. They struggled
against mountain floods and frozen rivers. They con-
quered rocks and shifting sand, overcoming the
problems of building in an earthquake region, and
countless other obstacles. They finally reached Lhasa,
and completed the construction of this highway which
created conditions favourable to the political, economic
and cultural development of our brother nationalities
on the Sikang and Tibet plateau.
The workers constructing the Han River Bridge
never stopped their work even during fierce storms.
The divers worked in a torrent running at a rate of
more than one metre per second, assemblers and crane
operators worked on the pillars at a height of 30 to
40 metres above the ground. The construction work
of this modern steel bridge was completed in January
1955, having taken a little over a year.
The Chinese workers have already brought about
a high tide of socialist construction. In the factories
and mines all over the country, socialist- emulation
drives have been initiated by the workers under the
leadership of the trade unions. In formulating the
production plan the experience and enthusiasm of all
the workers is drawn upon. In the different enter-
prises the production targets are not something which
has been arbitrarily set by the management, but deci-
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sions have been reached after full discussions by the
management, workers and all those concerned. These
discussions, which involve all the workers in the enter-
prise and are initiated by the trade union committee,
decide the amount of production that can be achieved.
In this way every worker regards the fulfilment of
the state production plan as his own affair, and is
particularly concerned that his workmates and him-
self do their part well. Men and women workers con-
stantly put forward rationalization proposals, popu-
larize advanced experiences, improve their skill, and
study and master new Soviet technique, with a view
to complete the First Five-Year Plan ahead of time.
Wang Chung-lun, a planer in the tool workshop
at the Anshan General Machine-Building Plant, made
a new "universal fixture" which enabled him to com-
plete the work of four years and forty-seven days in
1953. The other workers in the workshop also com-
pleted the work of two years and seventeen days in
that year.
Although in 1954 the task assigned to Wang
Chung-lun was much heavier than in the previous year,
at the end of the year he overfulfilled his quota by
90 per cent. The other workers in the workshop, on
their part, also finished their assignments one month
ahead of schedule. Wang Chung-lun explains: "We
are exerting all our efforts to fulfil the tasks assigned
to us by the Government, so that we may quickly turn
our country into a happy, prosperous and powerful
socialist state." Many other examples from every
branch of industry in every part of the country could
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be cited to show how the Chinese workers are over-
coming difficulties to build a better life.
While the workers of the Anshan Iron and Steel
Company were discussing their production plan for
1956, the steel makers of No. 8 open-hearth furnace
worked carefully over the time needed for a heat of
steel and found that they could shorten it by 30 min-
utes. By further cutting down the time for over-
hauling the furnace and the time for loading the fur-
nace bottom, they were able to produce 16,700 tons
more steel for the state. Workers of other furnaces,
following the lead, set new targets for overfulfilling
their production plan. It is estimated that the whole
plant will be able to complete its five-year plan in
four years and produce much more steel for the
country.
In the Dairen Industrial Vehicle Plant, members
of the Sun Yung-tsai Team of the forging shop have
already started their 1958 plan in early February
1956. By putting into practice 37 major rationaliza-
tion proposals in three years, they have increased
productivity one and a half times. Chuang Ming-
keng, a turner of the Chishuyen Railway Repair Works,
has completed his five-year quota in two years and
eight months. Recently, he pledged himself to finish
seven years' quotas in four years. Motor-car driver
Ho Chang-hsien of the Hupeh Provincial Transport
Bureau has embarked on his September 1957 plan in
January 1956. He said to his fellow-workers with
full confidence that after three more months he would
be able to start his second five-year plan. Young
lathe-turner Wang Hsin-nien of the state-owned
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Shihchiachuang Freight Car Repair Works completed
his production quota of the First Five-Year Plan on
December 16, 1955, which meant two years and fifteen
days ahead of schedule. Thus he had machined
20,032 extra steel wheels enough to equip 2,500 freight
cars for the state with standard quality and no rejects.
Tsao Yung-kang, a planer in the machine shop of
the Shanghai No. 2 Textile Machinery Works, started
his production quota of August 1958 on November 15,
1955. In less than three years starting from 1953, he
has already done the work equivalent to six years
eight months and fifteen days without making any
waste or hitches in production. The outstanding
young fitter, Sun Chuan-fu, of the rotating electric
machine shop of the state-owned Shanghai Electric
Machinery Works has completed the work of fifty-six
months and three days in thirty-four and one-half
months. By November 18, 1955, he started to do the
work planned for September 1957. In less than three
years, from January 1953 to November 1955, he pro-
duced over 40,000 spare parts which met all the re-
quirements; since liberation, he has improved both his
tools and method of operation twenty times. Now
he has pledged himself to fulfil his first five-year plan
in three years and two months without any rejects.
Sheng Li, a well-known lathe-turner and model
worker of Shanghai, completed his five-year quota
in the Shanghai Machine Tool Works in three years'
time. He is now proceeding with his second five-year
plan. In the past two years, he improved thirty-nine
kinds of tools as well as methods of work, thus raising
his labour productivity by one to five times. Chang
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Ah-hsi, a young foundry worker of the Shanghai 1-Isin-
chung Generators Plant (a joint state-private enter-
prise), completed his five-year plan in two years and
ten months, and has pledged himself to finish eight
years' work during the First Five-Year Plan period.
These advanced workers have, with their heroic
labour, set excellent examples for the workers of the
whole country to follow. To learn from the advanced
ones has now become an urgent and common wish
among the broad sections of workers and employees.
The socialist emulation campaign is spreading far and
wide throughout the country as never before. All
the evidence shows that we have full confidence in
fulfilling our First Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule.
In 1950 there were 683,000 workers in China
taking part in socialist emulation drives, in 1951
the number went up to 2,380,000, and now socialist
emulation is developing in every enterprise.
From 1950 to 1953 the workers put forward
1,643,708 rationalization proposals, of which
781,956 have been put into practice. In 1954,
848,000 were made, of which 463,000 were put into
practice.
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China
provides: "Work is a matter of honour for every citi-
zen of the People's Republic of China who is able to
work. The state encourages citizens to take an active
and creative part in their work." Over the past few
years, the socialist emulation drives launched in all
industrial departments have brought a great number
of advanced workers to the fore. Large numbers of
ordinary men and women workers, because of their
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remarkable contributions in the development of our
industry, have been elected model workers and are
highly respected by all the working people.
In August 1954, the Central People's Govern-
ment promulgated a provisional regulation regard-
ing rewards for inventions, innovations and
rationalization proposals on production. This
regulation has greatly encouraged the creative
enthusiasm of the broad mass of workers and
employees, helping them to use fully their work-
ing experiences and knowledge for making inven-
tions, innovations and rationalization proposals.
During that year 135,600 workers were rewarded
for their proposals. This measure has been of
great help in overcoming the difficulties in the
socialist industrialization of the country, in suc-
cessfully fulfilling the national plans and in speed-
ing up the development of the national economy.
In 1954, there were 153,900 workers in the
whole country who were elected model workers,
and 220,400 who were elected advanced workers.
We are building a socialist economy in our coun-
try because, in the last analysis, we want to secure
the maximum satisfaction of the constantly rising
material and cultural requirements of the whole
society. To achieve that end, it is necessary to devel-
op constantly the social productive forces, raise labour
productivity and secure the continuous expansion and
perfection of socialist production on the basis of higher
techniques. In order to expand our socialist con-
struction on a large scale, quickly, effectively and eco-
nomically, it is essential that we rely on the close
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co-operation between manual and mental workers, on
the fraternal alliance of workers, peasants and intel-
lectuals.
Since liberation, the social and political status of
intellectuals has undergone a fundamental change, and
the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Gov-
ernment have shown great respect for them. Large
numbers of new-type intellectuals who are akin to the
workers have grown up. Old technicians have made
progress and are gradually developing a new outlook.
Many old engineers have become intimate friends and
helpful teachers of the workers. Working closely
together with workers, many technicians have put
forth hundreds of thousands of valuable proposals.
Experts, professors, engineers and many other
scientific and technical personnel throughout the coun-
try regularly give workers systematic lectures on basic
scientific and technical knowledge, such as lectures
on physics, chemistry, machine-building and electrical
engineering.
Professor Chao Hsueh-tien has worked out the
"quick method of blueprint reading for mechanics."
Trained with this method, a skilled worker of a lower
grade, after attending ten hours' lectures and going
through ten hours' practice, will be able to read ordi-
nary blueprints of parts of a machinery, to read simple
blueprints for assembling and to put together blue-
prints of a work object and work accordingly. Many
workers have recently requested Professor Chao to
prepare another book on "Quick Method of Engineer-
ing Drawing." In response to this, Professor Chao
has made a plan to complete this new book by June
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1956. His new book will help workers to learn en-
gineering drawing quickly and to enable them to mani-
fest in concrete forms their enthusiasm in creation
and inventions and in making rationalization pro-
posals.
In the last six years, scientists and technicians
carried out tremendous work and achieved successes
in the fields of geological survey and prospecting, de-
signing and engineering of capital construction and
trial manufacture of new products.
As a result of learning industriously from Soviet
experience, Chinese engineers and technicians are now
able to design and construct many kinds of modern
factories, mine pits, bridges, water conservancy proj-
ects; and their ability to design big machines, loco-
motives and ships has also greatly improved. From
1952 to 1955, about 3,500 new products were manu-
factured, some of them are as good as those made in
the most industrialized countries of the world.
China is a people's democratic state led by the
working class and based on the worker-peasant alli-
ance which is the basic force of building socialism.
The rapid development of industrial construction has
hastened the upsurge of the socialist transformation
of agriculture; and the emergence of the high tide
of agricultural co-operation in return created condi-
tions for industrial expansion, thus speeding up the
tempo of socialist industrial construction.
-To support the movement for agricultural co-
operation, workers and staff members of farm imple-
ment factories throughout the country have launched
an inter-factory emulation. Through this emulation
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to help increase agricultural production, they are striv-
ing to improve the quality of products, to reduce pro-
duction costs, to increase the types of new products
and to turn out, in good time and in greater num-
bers, cheaper and better new farm implements. Work-
ers and staff members of all enterprises engaged in
producing or supplying means of production and
consumer goods are making great efforts to bring
the potentialities of their enterprises into full play,
so as to satisfy the constantly rising material and
cultural needs of the peasants.
The trade unions of China consistently educate
the workers and staff with the importance of worker-
peasant alliance. The broad mass of workers and
staff have strengthened their ties with the peasants
through various means and ways. These include joint
friendly gatherings, exchange of visits, presentation
of books and pictorials to peasants, help rendered to set
up libraries and clubs, teaching peasants to use and
repair new farm implements, teaching members of
agricultural producers' co-operatives to keep accounts,
sending film projection teams and amateur artiste
groups to help peasants develop their cultural and
recreational activities, encouraging relatives and
friends in the villages to take the lead in joining agri-
cultural producers' co-operatives, to offer quality seeds
to the co-operatives and to invest their savings
in the co-operatives as production funds. All these
activities have not only promoted mutual understand-
ing between workers and peasants, but, of more impor-
tance, have enabled the workers to render assistance
to peasants in technical and cultural matters. It is
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through these activities that the workers educate the
peasants in communism. The broad mass of workers
and staff are setting an example for the peasants, in-
spiring them to raise their labour enthusiasm and
rallying them to work together in building socialism
in our country.
At the beginning of 1954, trade union or-
ganizations at provincial and municipal levels
organized workers' delegations from mines and
big factories to visit the peasants, invited the
peasants to visit the factories and hold worker-
peasant social gatherings and discussions. Accord-
ing to statistics made in 3 municipalities directly
under the central authority, 10 municipalities
under the provincial authority, 4 provinces and the
Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, 436 workers'
delegations with 38,549 delegates have been or-
ganized; and there have been about 1,440,000 oc-
casions on which groups of workers and peasants
visited one another and held parties and discus-
sions. Through this, the unity between the work-
ing class and the peasantry is further strengthen-
ed.
The rapid development of China's peaceful con-
struction is inseparable from the disinterested assist-
ance of the Soviet Union and the People's Democracies,
which have not only sent us the best technical equip-
ment and many experts to offer us practical help,
but have also trained a considerable number of Chinese
engineering technicians, workers and cadres in the
process of construction. This kind of economic and
technical assistance, which is comprehensive, disin-
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terested and systematic, has no comparison in the
history of mankind. Chou Chuan-tien, deputy-director
of the iron works of the Anshan Iron and Steel
Company, puts it this way: "The experience of
the Soviet Union in the building of socialism has
enriched our knowledge and improved our ability in
iron-smelting, something which those engaged in this
field in old China could not possess even in a matter
of several decades." The three major projects of the
Anshan Iron and Steel Company, the new-type heavy
rolling mill, seamless tubing mill and No. 7 blast fur-
nace which were launched in 1953, were built with
Soviet help; from designing, building, and installing
the machinery to the trial runs and then finally pro-
duction, everything was done with their assistance.
With the completion of these projects, the Anshan
Iron and Steel Company will gradually develop and
expand; heavy structural steel, heavy rails and seam-
less tubing which we could not produce before can
now be produced in great quantities to supply the
country's need. From now on, we will have steel rails
for our railways, seamless tubing for geological drill-
ings, steam pipes for power plants and structural steel
for huge factory buildings. The disinterested ass-st-
ance of the Soviet Union and the People's Democra-
cies has made this possible by adding new strength
to our industry, giving impetus to the development
of our national economy and bringing immeasurable
benefits to the people.
In the field of the iron and steel industry, steel
workers, having learned the advanced experience of
the Soviet Union in the control of material, in regular
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change of charging frequency, in steam blowing and
high temperature air blasting, have increased the rate
of utility of the blast furnace. For the first eight
months of 1955, the average rate of space required
in blast furnaces throughout the country for each
ton of iron smelted was reduced by 4.7 per cent in
comparison with 1954. In 1955, steel makers popu-
larized extensively such advanced experience of the
Soviet Union as loading the furnace bottom with thick
layers of agglomerate, quick repairing of cold furnaces
and high-speed smelting. After having applied the
Soviet experience of loading the furnace bottom with
thick agglomerate, all the open-hearth furnaces under
the administration of the Iron and Steel Industrial
Bureau have increased output and shortened the time
for repairing hot furnaces; in the first five months
of 1955 alone, more than 4,900 extra tons of steel were
made in these furnaces.
During October 1955, steel workers of Anshan,
Chungking, Shanghai, Taiyuan and other cities em-
barked on an enthusiastic drive of learning the
advanced method of steel making of the outstanding
Soviet steel worker G. V. Kolesnikov. The steel
makers of the open-hearth furnaces of the Anshan
Iron and Steel Company were especially keen in this
campaign. The steel workers of No. 1 open-hearth
furnace tried out the new method right after the
day of Kolesnikov's demonstration. The result was
two hours and ten minutes less than the standard
time required for the ordinary quick method of steel
making.
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In iron-ore mining, the workers have also learned
the new Soviet method of drilling with hard alloy
tubes, the wet drilling method and the straight-line
explosion method which have resulted in higher exca-
vation rates.
The engineering workers, in 1955, continued to
apply the high-speed cutting method of the Soviet
Union, the Vasili-Kolesov and Ulanov lathe-operating
methods, the multi-cutter and multi-edge cutting
method, the Shirov high-speed boring method, the
omni-planing method, as well as cutting with pro-
cessed electric spark, etc. Workers of the Shanghai
Machine Tool Works, having mastered the high-speed
cutting method, have increased their work efficiency
by 100 per cent.
In 1955, over 90 per cent of the state-owned col-
lieries adopted the advanced Soviet method of excava-
tion. By using such method of cutting coal, the rate
of yielding in the state collieries reached above 80
per cent while the old method used to yield only
30-40 per cent of coal.
The electrical workers, learning from the Soviet
method of using inferior quality coal and adjusting
the load of generators, saved a considerable amount
of electricity. In 1955, as a result of load adjust-
ments, about 300 million kilowatt-hours were saved
for the state which were enough to supply an indus-
trial city with two million population.
In carrying out the great task of building social-
ism, the Chinese people have received the magnani-
mous and disinterested help of the Soviet Union. The
Chinese people fully realize that assistance from the
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Soviet Union is an important factor in developing their
national economy and in turning China from a back-
ward agricultural country into an advanced industrial
one. The all-round and large-scale assistance rendered
by the Soviet Union has enabled us, within a few years
after liberation, to rapidly rehabilitate our economy
and, on this basis, to launch the construction of our
national economy in a planned way. The 156 major
projects which the Soviet Union is helping us to con-
struct form the important groundwork for realizing
our First Five-Year Plan in building socialism. By the
end of 1955, twenty-nine of these projects were com-
pleted and started operation. They are now working
day and night for the socialist construction of our
country and accumulating wealth for the Chinese
people.
Over the last few years, the Soviet Union has
sent a large number of outstanding experts to China
to help us solve various technical problems in the
socialist construction. They have been working
arduously, setting an example to their Chinese work-
mates and have helped train large groups of cadres
for China. The Chinese people fully realize that the
rapid development of their national economy and the
gigantic achievements of their socialist construction
are inseparable from the assistance of the Soviet
Union. The Chinese people will never forget the great,
selfless and fraternal friendship of the Soviet Union
which is based on the spirit of internationalism. The
Chinese people, in building socialism, have to learn
more industriously from the Soviet Union, to integrate
the advanced Soviet experience with the practice of
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China's socialist construction, this to further the cause
of socialism in China.
Special mention should be made here of the
sincere and disinterested assistance given to China by
the Soviet Union in the field of utilizing atomic energy
for peaceful purposes. The Soviet Union has made
a plan to build for China an experimental atomic pile
with a capacity of 6,500 kilowatts and to help in the
training of scientists and technical staff on the peace-
ful utilization of atomic energy.
At the end of 1955, the Soviet Union specially
sent a delegation of prominent scientists to China to
give further help in the development of atomic energy
for peaceful purposes. While here, the delegation
made a report on the Geneva Conference for the peace-
ful development of atomic energy to Chinese scien-
tists. With the help of the Soviet Union, China will
soon be able to master the most advanced technique
of exploiting atomic energy. Undoubtedly, this is
extremely important to the cause of socialist construc-
tion in China.
While marching towards socialism, the Chinese
trade unions are confidently leading the working class
to build a happy life for themselves. The trade
unions rally millions of men and women workers in
their ranks, and mobilize the great strength of the
working class to realize the national construction
plans. Our, efforts are fully manifested in the mag-
nificent achievements obtained in the development of
our national economy.
The scale of our socialist industrialization can
be seen from the increase in the investments on
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capital construction. In 1953 total investments on
capital construction exceeded those in 1952 by
96 per cent, while in 1954 budgetary investments
for this purpose again exceeded those in 1953 by
28 per cent. Up to 1955, 271 above-norm indus-
trial construction projects had been put into opera-
tion. The total value of modern industrial pro-
duction in 1954 was 4.2 times that of 1949. The
following important industrial products can be
taken as an example: Taking the output in 1949
as 100, 1954 output of electricity was 250, coal
260, pig iron 1,240, steel 1,370, metal-cutting
lathes 850, cement 720, cotton yarn 260, and ma-
chine-manufactured paper 450.
The percentage of production by modern
industry in the combined total value of commodi-
ties increased from 17 per cent in 1949 to 33.7
per cent in 1955. The proportion of capital pro-
duction in the total value of industrial produc-
tion rose from 28.8 per cent in 1949 to 45 per cent
in 1955. There was also an increase in the pro-
portion of industrial output by state-owned, co-
operative and joint state-private enterprises in
the total value of industrial production, from 37
per cent in 1949 to about 81 per cent in 1955.
These figures indicate the rate at which China is
advancing towards industrialization and socialism.
Provisions in the Constitution of the People's Re-
public of China concerning the gradual realization of
socialist industrialization are not just empty talk, but
living facts which we are bringing about by our ac-
tivities. Under the leadership of the Chinese Com-
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munist Party and the People's Government, the work-
ing people of the whole country are striving heroically
to change the face of our country. After the com-
pletion of several five-year plans, China will become
a powerful, socialist and industrially advanced country.
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HIGHER WAGES AND BETTER
LIVING CONDITIONS
In our country where the working class holds the
state power, the fundamental aim of developing the
national economy and expanding socialist production
is to gradually improve the material and cultural life
of the people. Over the past six years, along with the
development of the national economy, a series of meas-
ures have been adopted for improving the living con-
ditions and welfare of the workers and staff. The
material and cultural life of the Chinese working class
has been greatly improved.
In the spring of 1950, the People's Government
balanced the financial budget and stabilized the prices
of commodities, so ending the inflation which had
existed for more than ten years under the reactionary
rule of the Kuomintang, and guaranteeing real earn-
ings. On March 1, 1955 on the basis of balanced
budget and the stabilization of finance and commodity
prices, the Government issued a new currency which
has further strengthened the currency system. It is
also a very important measure in helping forward the
socialist construction of our country and the gradual
raising of the living standards of our people.
As the economic conditions of the country im-
proved so the wage system was gradually reformed
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in a planned and systematic way, thereby raising the
level of real wages. The trade unions take part in all
decisions on wages. Representatives of the All-China
Federation of Trade Unions take part in discussions
with Government representatives in the formulation
of the national wage plan, and the Government always
consult with the trade unions in the promulgation of
wage decrees. It is the duty of the trade unions to see
that all these decrees are carried out in the different
enterprises, and also to obtain the opinions of the
workers for improving the wage system. The actual
wages to be received by the individual workers, within
the framework of the national wages policy, and the
wages plan for the industry, are only fixed after full
discussions between the trade unions and the manage-
ment of the enterprises. In very many cases wages
are paid on a graded system, with up to eight grades,
each with different levels of wages, according to the
skill or value of work performed. In these cases the
trade union representatives not only take part in the
discussions to decide the amount of wages to be paid
to each grade, and the differentials between them, but
also the various categories of workers who will occupy
the different grades. They also make recommenda-
tions and take part in discussions for promoting work-
ers to a higher grade; In the case of jobs which are
paid under the piece-work system, the wages to be
paid are also decided through discussions between the
trade unions and management.
The payment of wages in the state-owned enter-
prises is in accordance with the socialist principle "to
each according to his work." Workers doing the same
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work receive the same pay, irrespective of nationality,
sex or age, thus the principle of equal pay for equal
work has been fulfilled. It is this principle of pay-
ment according to work which links the interests of
the individual worker with the interests of the coun-
try. The enthusiasm and creative ability of the
workers and staff have thus helped to further de-
velop production and raise the living standard of
the people.
In the past six years, due to the continual rise of
wages, the broad mass of workers have done away
with poverty and misery from which they suffered
before liberation, and are now living a happy life. Let
us take the case of twelve families whose men mem-
bers have worked in the iron-smelting section of the
Shihchingshan Iron and Steel Factory for many years.
After liberation, from 1952 to 1954, they bought 12
bicycles, 12 wrist-watches, 5 radios, 1 sewing-machine,
58 cotton quilts and mattresses, 3 blankets, 44 leather,
fur or woollen suits, 395 articles of cotton clothing,
159 articles of padded clothing, 24 pairs of leather
shoes, and they have deposited 1,022 yuan in the bank.
Before liberation only one family had an old bicycle
which was used by three brothers, and none of them
had ever had a wrist-watch or radio.
In 1952, the average wage of the workers and
staff in the state-owned enterprises increased by
60 per cent to 120 per cent as compared with 1949,
and general wages had reached or surpassed the
level existing before the anti-Japanese war
period. In 1955, the annual average real wage of
the workers and staff of the state-owned enter-
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prises increased by 20.5 per cent as compared with
that of 1952.
In our country, the real earnings of the workers
and staff not only take the form of money wages, but
also include various kinds of welfare benefits which
are provided for by the state for the promotion of
the material and cultural life of the working people,
such as labour insurance, the building of houses with
low rents for workers and staff, the provision of cul-
tural and educational facilities. Appropriations by the
state for this purpose are also increasing every year.
It is a main factor in the improvement of the material
and cultural conditions of the working people.
The continual increase in the incomes of the broad
mass of the workers and staff is directly reflected by
the continual increase in their purchasing power.
The social purchasing power in 1951 increas-
ed by 22 per cent as compared with 1950; in 1952,
it increased about another 25 per cent and in 1953
by a further 20 per cent. In 1954, it showed an
increase of 13.8 per cent over 1953.
Many workers deposit money every month in the
bank. This was something unheard of in the old China,
and is a concrete proof of the improvement in the
lives of the Chinese workers.
In the following five factories: the Wuhan
State No. 1 Textile Factory, Hankow No. 1 Tex-
tile Company, Yu Hua Textile Company, Chen
Huan Textile Company and Shen Hsin Textile
Factory, one out of every three workers on an
average has money deposited in the batik. At the
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end of 1953, in the Wuhan branch bank of the
People's Bank of China there was an increase of
70,000 current and deposit accounts over the first
quarter of 1953, and of these 50,000 were from the
working people.
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DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNAL
LABOUR INSURANCE
ESTABLISHMENTS
Article 93 of the Constitution of the People's
Republic of China provides: "Working people in the
People's Republic of China have the right to material
assistance in old age, and in case of illness or disabil-
ity." The rapid development of labour insurance is
an important measure taken by the state to ensure
the enjoyment of this right by the workers.
Northeast China was the first to be liberated.
There the wartime provisional labour insurance regu-
lations in the state-owned. enterprises were promul-
gated in December 1948. After the liberation of the
whole country, the Labour Insurance Regulations of
the People's Republic of China were promulgated in
February 1951. The labour insurance benefits were
applied according to the Regulations to the railways,
water transport, posts and telecommunications and
factories and mines employing more than 100 workers
and staff members. While in the enterprises employ-
ing less than 100, collective contracts were made to
solve problems connected with labour insurance. In
January 1953, the Government Administration Coun-
cil adopted Amendments to the Labour Insurance
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Regulations which extended the scope of application
and increased the benefits in some provisions.
The salient feature of China's labour insurance is
that the managements or owners of enterprises pay
to the labour insurance fund a sum equal to 3 per cent
of the total pay-roll of all workers and staff members
in the enterprises concerned, but the workers do not
pay anything to this fund. The fund is managed by
the trade union.
The number of persons covered by labour
insurance in 1949 was 600,000; in 1950, 1,400,000;
in 1951, 2,600,000; in 1952, 3,300,000; in 1953,
4,830,000; in 1954, 5,380,000; and by the end of
June 1955, 5,500,000; these figures do not include
those who were covered by the labour insurance
collective contracts in the small and medium-size
enterprises.
The labour insurance fund, which is 3 per
cent of the total pay-roll, and the cost of medical
treatment and other expenses directly paid by the
enterprises, are altogether equal to more than 10
per cent of the total pay-roll of the enterprises
concerned.
Before liberation, the workers led a miserable life,
hardly able to afford any medical treatment in time
of need. Now the trade unions work through the
labour insurance organizations for prevention of sick-
ness and injury, and provide treatment to help the
sick workers recover their health. Sanatoria and rest
homes established in many parts of the country accom-
modated more than 1,130,000 workers between 1951
and 1954.
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These sanatoria situate in some of China's
most famous beauty spots, such as the West Lake,
Taihu Lake, the Summer Palace in Peking, Lushan,
Peitaiho, Chinwangtao and Tsingtao. Workers en-
joy a happy time during treatment. For example,
on the western outskirt of Peking, there is a sana-
torium belonging to the Posts and Telecommunica-
tions Trade Union. There are usually 70 to 80 postal
workers there, coming from various places in North
China for treatment. The patients themselves form
a "Patients' Committee." In the morning, some of
them play games, some take a walk along the stream
or in the woods, and others just rest in cane-chairs in
the garden. A time for study is arranged in the
morning. There is a library with pictorials, novels,
journals and newspapers. A pair of earphones is
placed beside each bed so that the patients can listen
to music, operas and songs on the radio. Afternoon
is the time for treatment. The most happy time is
in the evening when there are often film shows or other
recreational activities.
The workers' branch of the Tangkangtse Sanato-
rium in Northeast China has workers and staff mem-
bers coming from Shenyang, Anshan, Dairen and other
places. Among them was a worker from the seri-
culture factory in Haicheng who wrote his impres-
sions: "When I was thirteen, I began to work in a
privately-owned factory. Once I was sick and the
employer told me, 'This is neither a hotel nor a hos-
pital, if you cannot work, you can go.' I was then
dismissed. Now under the leadership of the Commu-
nist Party, we have become the masters of the country,
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not only is there no unemployment, but when we are
sick, the Government sends us to a sanatorium. Stay-
ing in this magnificent establishment, and comparing
it with my previous experience, I really feel that I am
in heaven."
There were only 4 workers' sanatoria (includ-
ing hydropathic sanatoria, tuberculosis sanatoria
and rest homes) in 1949 with 655 beds; in 1950,
this had gone up to 11 with 2,036 beds; in 1951,
27 with 3,649 beds; in 1952, 67 with 7,899 beds;
in 1953, 108 with 11,707 beds; in 1954, 126 with
more than 13,490 beds, and in the first half of
1955, there were 129 with more than 15,930
beds. In 1954 there were more than 70 overnight
sanatoria with more than 5,000 beds.
There was only one overnight sanatorium at-
tached to factories and mines in 1949; the number
rose to 17 in 1950, and to 136 in 1951, 383 in
1952, 1,267 in 1953 and 1,488 in 1954; and at the
end of September of 1955, there were 1,562 with
38,998 beds.
The workers are no longer afraid of being with-
out any subsistence in their old age. The retired
workers, if they have their own homes, can of course
live with their families; if they have no homes, they
may go to a home for old people. For example, in
Fushun Mining Administration, from July to October
1954, there were 140 old workers who went to these
homes. On the day they retired, the various units
in the Administration held farewell meetings for them
and congratulated them, and wished them happiness
in their old age. These retired workers get insurance
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benefits equal to 50 to 70 per cent of their original
wages. Those who go to the old people's homes can
enjoy a tranquil and comfortable life in, the company
of'other old people. They spend their time in taking
walks, fishing, strolling in the garden, playing chess,
or in other amusements just as they please. There
are people to attend to their food, clothes and rooms.
Hsia Mao-lin, an old transport worker, said: "I have
never dreamt of being so happy in my old age, living
in such a lovely home !" Some of the old workers
want to pass the rest of their lives in their native place,
such as Li Tang of the Victory Mine who had worked
in the mine for 39 years, and suffered very much
in the old society. After liberation, he worked with
great enthusiasm and was given the honourable title
of model worker. After he retired, he went back
to Haokechuang Village, Laiyang County, Shantung
Province to spend his old age. He said with hap-
piness: "Now I am going back to live happily with
my whole family."
If those who are qualified to retire want to con-
tinue working in the factory or mine, they receive,
in addition to their normal wages, a portion of their
old-age pensions every month from the labour insur-
ance fund.
Many old workers, enjoying the happiness the
new society brings to them, have raised their class
consciousness and have shown their initiative in pro-
duction. Chang Chia-fa, an old worker in the locomo-
tive section of Chungking No. 101 Iron and Steel
Works, recalled his miserable life in the old days with
emotion: "In the past, it was unemployment and
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hunger that I most worried about. But now, the Com-
munist Party and Government look after us with such
care, carry out the labour insurance and give me old-
age pension whilst staying on work. I must repay
the concern bestowed on me by action." He has suc-
ceeded, within the short period of over two months'
strenuous tutorship, in teaching Li En-kuei and six
other apprentices to drive locomotives by themselves.
During the Campaign of Resistance to American Ag-
gression and Aid to Korea, he responded to the call of
the state to increase production and practise economy
by organizing the workers to repair a locomotive with
waste materials.
The number of homes for the old and the dis-
abled and orphanages in 1950 was 7, with 615
beds; in 1951, 14, with 1,298 beds; in 1952, 18,
with 1,673 beds; in 1953, 20, with 1,839 beds;
and in 1954, 21, with 1,656 beds.
The number of workers who enjoyed retire-
ment pensions was 69 in 1949; 156 in 1950; 6,300
in 1951; 12,049 in 1952; and 21,237 in 1953.
The number of workers who are qualified to
retire but continue to work and receive old-age
pensions was 762 in 1949; 1,715 in 1950; 4,603 in
1951; 6,503 in 1952 and 11,698 in 1953.
In 1954, the number of workers receiving
retirement pensions and those who are qualified to
retire but continue to work and receive old-age
pensions totalled 34,900.
Various kinds of collective welfare are rapidly
developing. In old China, workers were beset with dif-
ficult problems during periods of birth, old age, sick-
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ness, death, injuries, etc., but now many of these prob-
lems are solved for them. Those model workers who
have made special contributions in their work can
enjoy good benefits according to the labour insurance
regulations. In carrying out work of labour insurance,
attention is constantly being paid to the prevention of
sickness and accidents, so that it plays a great role
in improving the workers' health and living conditions.
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GRADUAL EMANCIPATION FROM
HEAVY MANUAL LABOUR
Chairman Mao has constantly taught us that
while we should increase our labour productivity, we
should also improve the working conditions and the
material and cultural standards of the workers and
staff members. The protection of the health and safe-
ty of the working people is one of the overriding prin-
ciples in conducting our socialist enterprises.
General inspections of factory hygiene and safety
measures have been carried out throughout the coun-
try on several occasions since liberation. The trade
union organizations have encouraged the workers to
put forward suggestions on what improvements should
be made and how to, bring about such improvements.
Such mass campaigns have played an important role.
The workers have increased their understanding and
knowledge of safety and hygiene through these cam-
paigns and laid down various rules.
Over the past few years, efforts have not only
been made to raise productivity, but also to lighten
the labour intensity of workers as well as to improve
working conditions and to wipe out sickness and in-
juries sustained at work.
The trade union organizations are responsible for
supervising the way in which the administration of
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state-owned enterprises and joint state-private enter-
prises has carried out the existing labour regulations.
As far as working hours are concerned, the state-owned
enterprises and joint state-private enterprises put
into practice the eight-hour day. In those depart-
ments of the chemical industry in which the work is
detrimental to health, the workers only work six hours
a day. Workers who are engaged in work detri-
mental to health are paid an extra allowance and
supplied with nutritious food. The administration
of factories and mines should see to it that dietetic
canteens and clinics are set up, and that the workers
are regularly supplied with fresh nutritious food to
preserve their health or combat poisons. It is stip-
ulated by law that women and juvenile workers should
be given special treatment and that they should receive
equal pay for equal work. Women workers have
special treatment and benefits before and after con-
finement and during the period of nursing. The
state-owned factories and mines no longer employ
child labour and they have adopted special measures
for the benefit of the young workers previously em-
ployed, such as lightening their work or reducing their
working day in order to enable them to have enough
time to study and to take part in various cultural ac-
tivities. Some of them now have been sent to schools
to study.
In 1954, the Ministry of Labour issued a regula-
tion stipulating that all industrial enterprises of the
country must work out a plan for labour protection and
the provision of safety devices, when they decide on
their financial plan for the year. The trade union or-
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ganization in the enterprise will supervise and ensure
the carrying out of decisions of the plan and the labour
protection agreement which it has concluded with the
management of the enterprise, so improving the work-
ing conditions.
For the purpose of improving working condi-
tions, the state has paid out large sums for labour
protection. If we take the expenditure on labour
protection by the Ministry of Railways as 100
in 1950, then it was 409.2 in 1951, 628 in 1952,
1,291.1 in 1953 and 1,211.3 in 1954.
In the coal-mining industry, the national in-
vestment on health equipment in 1954 was 48.3
per cent greater than in 1953.
In water conservancy departments, if we take
the expenditure on labour protection in 1953 as
100, then it was 267 in 1954 and 3,988 in 1955.
It was impossible to do this during the time of
the Kuomintang reactionary rule, since the employers
were concerned not about a better life for the people,
but about how to squeeze more profits out of them.
The workers had to work 10 hours or even 14 to 15
hours a day, all the year round without any holidays,
under appalling conditions. The lot of the women and
juvenile workers was still more miserable, and the
rate of injuries, deaths, disability and occupational
diseases was appallingly high. For instance, there was
a common saying among the coal-miners in the past
that "every third stone is covered with blood," as
no attempts were made to provide for their safety
at all. Many accidents occurred, such as the explo-
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Comrade Lai Jo-yu presenting the Work Report at the 7th All-China
Congress of Trade Unions held in 1953
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 ini
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The newly expanded sub-station
of the Fushin Power Plant
The Dairen Shipbuilding Com-
pany, which was founded jointly
by China and the Soviet Union
in January 1952, was trans-
ferred to sole Chinese ownership
on January 1, 1955. In these
last few years it has laid a firm
foundation for the development
of our shipbuilding industry.
Picture shows a corner of the
dockyard
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 "''
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One of the main machine shops of China's No. 1 Motor Works in
Changchun
The highway bridge over the Han
River has just been completed
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Oil tanks of the Sinkiang Oil Company. The oil industry is develop-
ing swiftly in China
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Sheng Li, a model worker in Shanghai, who has
completed his quota of work for the First Five-
Year Plan, is working on 1958 tasks
Wang Shu-wen uses the Soviet universal cutting method; she
fulfilled her 1955 plan 2 months 14 days ahead of schedule
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 Approved For Release 2007/10/19: CIA-RDP83-00418R006200350006-8
^ (I o11rug-110 1,11gu LJs
a lathe turner of the
Dairen Industrial and
Mining Wagon Fac-
tory who accomplish-
ed his whole quota in
the First Five-Year
Plan on November 20,
1955, is helping an-
other worker, Sung
Lien-feng, improve
the quality of her
work
Ai Chao-chang discusses driving technique with other motor drivers
during a break. Ai covered 100,000 kilometres of safe driving
between January 1954 and October 1955 and has been elected a
model worker
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 Approved For Release 2007/10/19: CIA-RDP83-00418ROO6200350006-8
Youth Team No. 601 of the Laohutai pit in the Fushun Coal-mines.
The team finished its task for the year at the end of October 1955.
The leader of the team, Fu Lien-chi (centre), outlines the following
day's task
A Soviet specialist is showing Chinese technicians how to
operate the first generator at the Kuanting Hydroelectric
Power Station
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Workers in the Farming Implements Repair Shop
of Kiangsu Province repairing tractors for a
machine-tractor station
Ready for delivery to the countryside - double-share ploughs made
by the Peking Farming Implements Plant
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A section of the housing estate for workers of the Peking Sta
owned Cotton Mill No. 2
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 Approved For Release 2007/10/19: CIA-RDP83-00418R006200350006-8
The home of a worker
employed at the Pe-
king State-owned Cot-
ton Mill No. 1
Chaoyang New Village,
one of the workers'
districts in Shanghai
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 Approved For Release 2007/10/19: CIA-RDP83-00418R006200350006-8
Workers of the Peking Farming Implements Plant studying the
principles of the internal combustion engine in the laboratory
of the factory's spare-time school
Spare-time students doing their home work - they are workers
of the Peking State-owned Cotton Mill No. 1
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A group of amateur artists of the Chungking Steel Plant in the
room set aside for them as studio
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 -t.;''
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Lai Jo-yu, President of
the All-China Federation
of Trade Unions, present-
ing the cup to the leader
of the railway workers'
team who have won the
most points in the track
and field events
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 Approved For Release 2007/10/19: CIA-RDP83-00418R006200350006-8
sion in the Penki Mine in 1945 which caused 1,100
deaths. No attention was ever paid to the health
of the miners, there was not only no boiled water
in the pit for them to drink, but also no clean water,
and the workers had to drink dirty water, which
caused many of the workers to suffer from diarrhoea.
There was not only no one to take care of the sufferers,
but the feudal gangsters would drive them with clubs
to work in the mine, so long as they were able to
breathe. Another example is provided by the light
rolling mill of the Anshan Iron and Steel Company.
Under the reactionary regime workers had to do heavy
manual work in high temperature. After working for
a year or two, a strong healthy worker would become
very weak, so there was a common saying among the
workers that "to work in the light rolling mill is to
work in hell, where one has to stake his life for his
bread."
Now the conditions are entirely different. Ma-
chines have taken the place of heavy physical labour
in many industries. For instance, in the coal-mining
industry throughout the country, more than 45 per
cent of the coal mined are excavated with combines
and pneumatic picks and more than 50 per cent using
pneumatic or electric drills.
Outmoded instruments such as pick-axes have
already been replaced. On the average, 80 per cent
of traction on the underground working face and the
haulage roadways are mechanized. With the rise of
the extent of mechanization, the labour productivity
of workers has increased markedly. In 1955, the
labour productivity of coal-miners was more than two
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 Approved For Release 2007/10/19: CIA-RDP83-00418R006200350006-8
times that of 1950. In 1954, state-owned coal-mines
had generally installed modern ventilation devices,
thus assuring more than 3 cubic metres' fresh air per
minute to miners working underground.
Chang Ming-shan, a worker of the Anshan Iron
and Steel Company, successfully developed, with the
assistance of Soviet experts, the Reverse Repeater,
which has greatly improved the working conditions of
the workers, eliminated occupational diseases and
scalding accidents and raised the efficiency of the roll-
ers by 22.5 per cent. A worker named Lu Nai-tao
co-operating with a technician called Wu Liang-ya, in-
vented the Automatic Continuous Steel Conveyer at-
tached to the furnace, which has not only raised the
efficiency by 21 per cent, but has also freed the furnace
workers from working in high temperature and re-
duced the possibility of injuries from scalding. The
workers and staff members of the Anshan Iron and
Steel Company enthusiastically put forward proposals
for improving technique and for safety methods in
production. Many of these proposals have been put
into practice and the workers have been released from
heavy manual labour and from working in high tem-
perature. The workers of that Company have said,
"In the past, we operated machines either knee-deep
in water or in extreme heat, but at present we can
sit beside the machine and watch it work." All ad-
vanced workers in the various factories and mines
throughout the country are continually thinking of
ways to further improve working conditions and meas-
ures for ensuring safety in the operational processes
as well as'seeking new methods to wipe out accidents.
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In order to lower the temperature in the workshops in
summer, the textile industry proceeded in the year
1953 to improve and install ventilation and air condi-
tioning equipment on a large scale. Approximately
95 per cent of the spinning workshops in the state-
owned mills all over the country have installed air-
conditioning plants, so the temperature in the work-
shops is reduced, and the workers happily say, "While
it is extremely hot outside in summer, the tempera-
ture in the workshops is as cool as in spring."
Work has been carried on over the last few years
on the training of cadres specialized in labour protec-
tion. Since 1953, the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions has invited experts from the Soviet Union to
train cadres and teachers in this field. Teachers so
trained have in turn helped the managements of enter-
prises to train other labour protection cadres. In-
dustrial, provincial and municipal trade union organ-
izations have also trained a number of such cadres.
In 1955, according to the statistics of five trade
union organizations including Railway Workers' Trade
Union, Trade Union of Workers of the Second Ma-
chinery Industry, Electrical Workers' Trade Union
and the Shanghai Trade Union Council, 18,147 cadres
and activists have received preliminary training in
labour protection, and more than 1,000 cadres have
received systematic training on Soviet practices in
labour protection.
During the period of our First Five-Year Plan,
the Soviet Union is helping us to construct socialist
enterprises which are highly mechanized and have
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up-to-date machines, such as the Harbin Flax Mill,
the heavy rolling mill, seamless tubing mill and modern
electric power station at Anshan. The establishment
of these modern enterprises will further free the work-
ers from heavy manual labour.
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IMPROVEMENTS IN HOUSING
The People's Government and the trade union or-
ganizations of China give a lot of attention to improv-
ing the housing conditions of the workers and staff
members. Many workers' houses are being built in the
industrial cities accommodating large numbers of
workers. Between 1952 and 1954 forty workers' hous-
ing estates were built in twelve areas in Shanghai with
accommodation for 160,000 persons. During the same
period, more than ninety public buildings, including
schools, creches, clinics, co-operatives, vegetable mar-
kets, parks and cinemas, have been built; and of
these, five middle schools and twelve primary schools
alone can accommodate more than 20,000 workers'
children. Roads and bridges have been built and
sewerage laid; in these areas there are also post of-
fices and telephones. The Public Bus and Tram Com-
pany of Shanghai also opened new bus lines to make
it easier for the workers to go to work and return
home. In Shenyang houses with more than 509,000
square metres of floor space were built in 1954, and
many of these housing estates have grown trees and
flowers, with beautiful lawns. One of the regular jobs
of the trade union organizations is to help the manage-
ment of the enterprises to allocate new houses to the
workers.
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In addition to building new houses the state has
taken measures to improve the sanitary conditions of
working-class areas. For instance, there are about ten
thousand people living in Yaoshui Lane in the Puto
District of Shanghai. Before liberation, sanitary
conditions were very bad, with rubbish all over the
place. There was no sewerage, and epidemics were
quite common, giving this lane a very high mortality
rate. After liberation the sanitary conditions in the
houses were improved. Sewerage was built, taps fixed,
street-lamps installed, the worst parts of the road re-
built and water-tanks and dust-bins were put on the
streets.
On moving to the new houses with their families,
many workers could not help recall the terrible hous-
ing conditions they had suffered before the liberation.
At that time, most of them had no real houses and
lived in reeking thatched sheds or even in leaky boats.
In the dormitories of some factories dozens of work-
ers crowded in one room, sometimes three shifts of
workers sleeping in the same room by turn. Under
these conditions, fresh air and sunlight were out of
the question. Wei Tung-sheng, a stevedore of the
Harbour Affairs Bureau of Shanghai who had lived
in a thatched shed for more than ten years, said on
moving into a new flat, "In the past, whenever it rained
outside, it always drizzled inside my shed. I used to
think I would live in that shed all my life. How could
I dream of living in such a fine house!" Teng Sheng-
lou, a mason, said on moving to the workers' flats
which he helped to build: "How could a mason live in
such a fine building if it had not been for the leader-
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ship of Chairman Mao! We built many houses before
liberation, but we could not even call a piece of brick
or tile our own !"
Before liberation, house rents used to take up 30-
50 per cent of a worker's wage; this naturally aggra-
vated the problem of maintaining a living. Soon after
liberation, the People's Government promulgated a
decree to abolish ill practices in house renting and
partially settled the housing problem of workers. New
houses built for workers by the People's Government
are rented at very low rates; those charged on family
houses occupy only 5-8 per cent of the worker's wage,
while houses for single persons are charged even less.
Today, together with the rapid development of
the peaceful economic construction of our country,
many new industrial cities have arisen. The ranks
of the working class have been growing continually
and the urban population has increased considerably.
The state and the trade union organizations are mak-
ing every effort to improve the workers' housing condi-
tions with a view to meeting the growing needs of the
broad mass of workers.
In 1952, the state built many flats capable of
accommodating one million workers and staff
members. In 1953, workers' flats with a floor space
of 12 million square metres were built, and in
1954, 13 million square metres. In 1955, accord-
ing to the state plan, workers' flats with a floor
space of 11 million square metres were expected
to be built. To take the various industries as
examples. From 1949 to 1952, flats occupying a
floor space of 2.5 million square metres were built
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for the coal-mining industry-well above the total
of miners' dwellings built before liberation. An-
other 666,208 square metres of floor space were
allotted to the same industry in 1953, and a fur-
ther 604,893 square metres of floor space added in
1954.
From liberation up to 1953, flats occupying
1,410,000 square metres of floor space were allotted
to railwaymen's families, and hostels occupying
another 250,000 square metres of floor space were
built. In the post and telegraph section, flats
occupying 3,780 square metres of floor space were
built in 1950, 32,675 square metres in 1951,
83,914 square metres in 1952, 160,998 square
metres in 1953, 52,533 square metres in 1954 and
53,256 square metres in 1955, making a total of
387,156 square metres for the past six years.
From the time of liberation up to 1953, the
state-owned textile mills built flats with more than
800,000 square metres of floor space, in addition
to the joint state-private textile mills which also
built many new flats for their workers and em-
ployees.
In addition to the great number of houses built
by the People's Government for the workers, more and
more workers are building their own houses as a result
of the constant increase in wages. In this respect,
the workers have received assistance both from the
Government and the administration of their enter-
prise. Land is provided by the Government or the
administration concerned, while sewerage, street light,
public toilet and other public facilities are installed
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free of charge. In case of financial difficulty, work-
ers can get loans from the administration to be re-
imbursed in installments. Workers may put forward
their favourite designs and ask the administration to
give help on it. They can also get help on the supply
and transporting of building material, as well as on
construction matters. Houses so built are owned by
the workers for their free disposal without having to
pay any rent. Even the installments on loans to be
repaid monthly are generally lower than the rent
which the workers used to pay.
Houses built by railway workers on their own
cover a total floor space of 7,500 square metres in
1954 and 417,948 square metres in 1955. The
coal-miners built 381,552 square metres in 1955.
The number of workers' families who built their
own houses in 1955 were: 2,095 in Chungking,
1,817 in Penki and 1,092 in Wusih.
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 Approved For Release 2007/10/19: CIA-RDP83-00418R006200350006-8
WOMEN WORKERS ENJOY
EQUAL RIGHTS
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China
stipulates: "Women in the People's Republic of China
enjoy equal rights with men in all spheres of political,
economic, cultural, social and domestic life." These
rights of the Chinese women workers have already
become a reality.
Before liberation Chinese workers led a very hard
life ; but harder still was the life of the women work-
ers. Not only was there no place for them socially
and politically, but they were paid only half or two-
thirds of the wages of men even when they did the
same work. At that time the imperialists and bureau-
crat-capitalists exploited them as one of the main
sources of cheap labour. Even so, it was very difficult
for a woman to get a job. For instance, a young
textile woman worker Ho Chien-hsiu, now a nation-
ally-famous model worker, was unable to find a job
in any textile mill in Tsingtao. Tien Kuei-ying, the
first woman railway driver in New China, had to make
her living before liberation by fishing on the beach.
The vast number of Chinese women, with their great
potential knowledge and capacity for work, were
obscured in the old China and had to wait for the new
society to show their talents.
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Since the founding of the People's Republic of
China the rapid restoration and development of our
national economy has opened a broad road for women
to participate in social work. Over the past six years
the number of women who have participated in indus-
trial construction for socialism have greatly increased
and the women workers and employees of the whole
country in 1955 totalled 1,970,000, four times more
than that in 1949.
In the peaceful construction of their country the
women workers of New China have learned to handle
the complex technique of modern industry. The num-
ber of skilled women workers is increasing daily among
the growing and powerful ranks of the working class.
There were no women workers in the Shang-
hai machine industry in the past, but now wom-
en workers amount to 6.9 per cent of the total
employed; there were only 11 skilled women
workers in Tientsin in 1950, while this increased
to 1,307 by 1953; there were very few women
workers in the Anshan Iron and Steel Company in
the past, while now we have nearly 7,000. Even
in the newly-built seamless tubing mill, an up-to-
date socialist industry, quite a number of young
women workers are operating the complicated
automatic machines.
A great many women workers in New China have
become enthusiastic workers, showing great initiative
in learning new jobs and becoming skilled workers.
They have evolved many new methods to increase pro-
duction. For instance, Wu Yu-Ian, a woman worker
in the electrical apparatus repairing works of the
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Anshan Iron and Steel Company, designed two special
relays, and improved the method of work on seven
operations, whilst leading the recording machine repair
group. Kuo Hsiu-yun, a young operator in the long-
distance telephone exchange of the Tientsin Telecom-
munication Administration raised the efficiency of the
telephone lines 22.62 per cent by using a new method.
Mastering the principles of the spinning machines, Ho
Chien-hsiu of Tsingtao No. 6 Cotton Mill worked out
a scientific method of spinning. As a result of po-
pularizing this method, the average amount of yarn
produced by state-owned cotton mills all over the coun-
try has been increased 12.32 per cent.
Yang Ling-ying, a woman worker in the spooling
room of the state-owned Shanghai No. 16 Textile Mill,
has achieved full production records ever since the
beginning of the First Five-Year Plan without a single
day passed not having overfulfilled her production
targets. During her three years in the spooling room,
she was faultless in her work. Since 1953, she has
been twice awarded as a model textile worker of
Shanghai and was elected in 1955 to attend the Na-
tional Conference of Young Builders of Socialism.
Many women workers have made great contri-
butions to production and are awarded the title of
model workers.
In 1954 there were 11,600 women model work-
ers at workshop level in the factories and mines.
For example, in Tientsin the women model work-
ers on a municipal level in 1954 made up 10.24
per cent of the total number of model workers.
The women model workers in Peking accounted
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for more than 7.2 per cent of the total in 1954,
and that was one and half times more than the
previous year. In the textile industry more than
half of the model workers are women.
New China's women workers not only receive
equal pay for equal work, they also play the same part
as men in factory administration. Many women work-
ers have become directors of enterprises. Chao Kao-
shih, head of a magnesite brick shop in the refractory
material factory of the Anshan Iron and Steel Com-
pany, was promoted from leader of a team and chief
of a section to her present position.
Li Chih-ying of the state-owned Peking No. 1
Cotton Mill was only a sixteen-year-old village girl in
1953, coming from the Laikuangying Agricultural Co-
operative in the eastern suburb of Peking. Then she
passed her examination to the cotton mill and was
sent for training in the trade at the Tsingtao Textile
Mill, where she made outstanding records and man-
aged to help others in their studies. After joining
the Peking No. 1. Cotton Mill, she was made a group
leader of doffers in the spinning room and later on
promoted to a team leader in charge of more than
twenty workers. She united her team-mates and
studied together good working methods to improve
their skill. In 1954, she was sent to receive training
as an assistant foreman. The only schooling she had
in the village was one year in a primary school and
literacy class, yet she managed to learn the principles
and theories of cotton spinning as well as machine
repairing and oiling. As she was assiduous in her
studies, she became an assistant foreman in 1955 at
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the end of four months' training. Another example
is Shih Hsiao-mei, the deputy director of the Shanghai
No. 1 Cotton Mill, who was only an ordinary woman
worker some time ago.
In 1953 more than 1,680 women workers were
promoted to leading positions, and in 1954, an
additional 2,390 women workers were promoted.
It is stipulated in the Constitution of the People's
Republic of China that marriage, the family, the
mothers and children are protected by the state. In
addition, women workers enjoy equal rights with men
workers in labour insurance, and they are entitled to
a total of 56 days' leave of absence from work before
and after confinement. In cases of difficult delivery
or the birth of twins, women workers are entitled to
70 days' leave. Full wages are paid during leave. Ex-
penses for delivery and pre-natal examination are paid
by the enterprise. In the case of child-birth, a woman
worker or staff member, or the wife of a male worker
or staff member, receives a maternity benefit of 4
yuan with which they can buy about a hundred eggs.
Before liberation, it was entirely different. Pregnant
women workers would be thrown out of employment.
Han Ya-chin, a woman worker in Shenyang No. 7
Rubber Factory, for instance, had been dismissed four
times because of pregnancy during 5 years. Such
things have been done away with once for all.
In order to lessen the family burdens of women
workers and to protect their health, the state sets as
a rule that any enterprise covered by the labour in-
surance shall provide creches independently or jointly
wherever there are over twenty children of less than
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four years old belonging to the women workers
and staff of that enterprise. Where conditions do not
permit such a creche, nursing rooms for babies shall
be set up wherever there are more than five babies.
All expenses incurred for child welfare are to be borne
by the state, and complete or partial subsidies are
granted to working mothers who have difficulties to
provide their babies with proper food. Factories and
enterprises are doing what they can to lighten the
work of expectant mothers, to provide extra nutrition
and dietetic canteens, special rest rooms and even
maternity rooms. There are special living quarters
for working mothers, special buses for pregnant work-
ers to and from the places of work and women's
sanitation rooms attached to each workshop where
there are women workers. Such facilities were un-
known or rarely provided in the factories before libera-
tion. For instance, among all the food processing and
tobacco factories in Shanghai, only one tobacco factory
had a small creche before liberation.
Since the promulgation of Labour Insurance
Regulations, 2.2 million women workers and the
wives of male workers received maternity bene-
fits up to 1954. In order to help women workers
to solve the difficulty of taking care of their child-
ren, an increasing number of nurseries and nurs-
ing rooms have been set up in the state enter-
prises. There were 1,380 nurseries in the country
in 1952, 1,680 in 1953, some 4,000 in 1954, and
5,861 by the end of September, 1955, with accom-
modation for 173,090 children, in addition to
small nurseries in other factories and enterprises.
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In looking after the health of mothers and chil-
dren, the trade unions always see to it that pregnant
women are relieved from heavy work, and are given
nutritious food. Dietetic canteens, rest rooms, pre-
delivery waiting rooms, nursing rooms and dormi-
tories for mothers are set up, and special buses are
provided for pregnant women workers. In many en-
terprises special rest rooms are provided for women
workers. In New China, not only do the women work-
ers have the right of full equality with male workers
in social and political life, but the wives of the work-
ers also have these rights. The trade union organiza-
tions help them to raise their cultural level and polit-
ical understanding. Dependents of the workers, who
live near the factories or mines, have been organized
to study in classes and discussion groups.
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CULTURAL AND TECHNICAL
ADVANCEMENT
Marching towards socialism, the Chinese workers
have become workers with culture. In old China, the
labouring people were deprived by- the reactionaries
of any right to education. Teng Yu-kai, a boiler house
worker in Li Hua Rubber Factory in Changsha, Hunan
Province, remarked that three generations of his
family had never had any education. This was very
common among workers in the past when 60 per cent
to 80 per cent of the workers were illiterate or semi-
illiterate. Since the establishment of the People's Re-
public of China, the state and trade unions have taken
widespread measures to help the workers raise their
cultural and technical level. Many illiterate workers
have begun to learn to read and write. One result
of studying at spare-time schools was that many work-
ers are now able to read blueprints, make designs and
calculations and able to learn improved methods of
work and obtain scientific and technical knowledge
from newspapers and booklets. They have played an
important part in making new discoveries, utilizing
the full potential of machinery, making rationaliza-
tion proposals, and improvement of working methods,
testing the quality of the products and increasing
productivity. Wang Li-hsing, a miner in Chaoke-
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chuang Colliery in Kailan, who was illiterate before
liberation is now a student in junior middle class.
After visiting the Anshan Technical Exhibition, he im-
proved his tool and so increased productivity 7 times.
Yang Hsien-chang, a worker in Shenyang Chemical
Works, designed a petroleum pump by applying
theories he learned in the physics class, and mechan-
ized production. Ma Hsiao-fa, a fitter in the Tientsin
Rubber Factory, put forward 35 rationalization pro-
posals, one of them replaced imported carbon with
home produced carbon, saving 800,000 yuan for the
state and bringing down the cost of production by 20
per cent.
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has
decided to wipe out illiteracy among workers and staff
in China within three years beginning from 1956. All
the industrial unions have already mapped out their
plans in this respect. The Electrical Workers' Trade
Union and the Posts and Telecommunications Work-
ers' Trade Union have decided to eliminate illiteracy
among their workers and staff by the end of 1956,
while the Railway Workers' Trade Union, the Trade
Union of Workers of the First Machinery Industry
and the Textile Workers' Trade Union have planned to
eliminate illiteracy among their workers within two
years.
In Shanghai and Hangchow, it is planned to a-
chieve literacy among the workers and staff within two
years. The Shihchingshan Steel Works in Peking
plans to wipe out illiteracy among its workers in two
years. Workers and staff of the Peking Agricultural
Machinery Factory and the Chengtse Mine also plan
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to wipe out illiteracy and semi-illiteracy in one and
half years. They have decided to help the workers
to reach the standard of a junior primary school
graduate in the Chinese language and arithmetic, and
to have about 90 per cent of the new literates enter
senior primary schools.
Throughout the country there are 13 differ-
ent trade union newspapers, the most important
being the "Workers' Daily," organ of the All-
China Federation of Trade Unions, which now has
a daily circulation of over 150,000 copies. The
periodical "Workers of China," published by the
All-China Federation of Trade Unions, now has
a circulation of 290,000 copies. In 1954 the
Workers' Press printed 219 kinds of books in-
troducing the work and theory of the trade
unions, the experience and lives of advanced
workers, and other reading material for the
workers. In 1955, 20 million copies of 271 kinds
of books were printed.
In order to help the workers wipe out
illiteracy, 1,100 spare-time schools had been set
up throughout the country by 1954. The workers
and staff members attending such classes totalled
276,432 in 1949; 764,199 in 1950; 2,026,381
in 1951; 2,344,272 in 1952; 2,587,967 in 1953;
3,050,000 in 1954.
In order to develop systematically the intellectual
capacity of the workers and peasants who form the
mainstay in our national construction, the Government
has continued from 1950 to increase the number of
short-term middle schools. A first batch of 1,680
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students was graduated in 1953, out of whom 1,622
entered college or university, and in 1954 out of 4,187
graduates 3,297 entered college or university. It was
impossible in the past for thousands of workers to
go to high schools, or even to middle schools. Wang
Yen-kai, a graduate from a miners' short-term middle
school and afterwards student of the Peking Mining
Institute, said: "In the old society, we were called
`black-boys,' but today we have become university
students, and that is a thing we had not dared
to dream of before!" But today, in a people's de-
mocracy led by the working class, it has become a
reality that workers go to middle schools and univer-
sities. And all members of this army of reservists
for socialist construction clearly realize that they have
the duty to study and understand why they study, so
that they can transform their ideals into a force for
progress.
Short-term middle schools have increased in
number-from 24 schools with 4,447 students in
1950 to 58 schools with 27,924 students at the
end of 1953 and to 87 schools with more than
51,000 students in 1954. The proportion of indus-
trial workers studying in schools is increasing
yearly: in 1952 it was 14 per cent, in 1953, 23 per
cent, in 1954, 40 per cent and in some places even
higher. For example, more than 2,100 industrial
workers were among the new students who reg-
istered in the 1954 summer vacation classes of
eight short-term middle schools for workers and
peasants in Shanghai, forming 70 per cent of
the total. Out of the 184 graduates from the
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short-term middle school attached to the
Engineering College of Dairen in the 1954 summer
vacation more than 96 per cent were industrial
workers.
With the development of national economic con-
struction, the Chinese workers have shown an increas-
ing desire to raise their technical level. In this field,
we must first of all be grateful to the disinterested
assistance of the Soviet Union and the helpful advice
of Soviet experts. We must also gratefully thank the
People's Democracies for their technical assistance.
From 1950 to 1954, at the Anshan Iron and Steel Com-
pany Soviet experts made more than 30,000 impor-
tant proposals for rationalizing production, more than
10,000 proposals concerning capital construction and
more than 8,000 proposals in design, making a great
contribution to increasing the production potential of
the Company. The Chinese workers have conscien-
tiously learned new Soviet technique and methods to
further raise their ability in national construction,
as, for example, the Soviet method of blast furritce
repair which shortens the time taken for general re-
pairs from six months to one. We have also learned
the Soviet method of iron ore mining which has in-
creased the extraction rate from 60 per cent to 90 per
cent. We have learned the Soviet method of mechaniza-
tion of assembly in building which on an average has
increased by about 30 per cent the speed of operations:
today, it only takes 14 months to build a 12,000-kw
power station. Many workers with the aid of Soviet
experts have succeeded in mastering new technique
and can, after a short time, operate new and compli-
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cated machines. Hu Chao-sen, an apprentice techni-
cian working on blast turbines in the blast furnace
works of the Anshan Iron and Steel Company, was
able, thanks to the assistance and directives of Soviet
experts, after two years to become familiar with the
theory and operating methods, including the assem-
bling, adjusting and working of the turbines, and has
even independently assembled complete turbines. Liu
Sze-chieh of the Peking airport, who was formerly a
watchman, has become a skilled mechanic. Chen Teh-
hsiang, formerly a car driver at the Harbin airport,
has become a radio technician. Wang Ping-cheng, an
unskilled worker in the former Joint Sino-Soviet
Petroleum Company, has become a well-drilling en-
gineer.
From 1953 to 1955, the Soviet Union trained
for the Anshan Iron and Steel Company more than
360 technical personnel. With the warm and
sincere assistance of the Soviet experts, the
former Joint Sino-Soviet Non-Ferrous and Rare
Metals Company has trained more than 5,000
skilled workers and technicians. Owing to the
patient teachings of Soviet experts, 2,000 former
cattle breeders or peasants from China's national
minorities have been trained as skilled workers
and competent technical personnel in the former
Joint Sino-Soviet Petroleum Company.
The Chinese trade unions co-operate with man-
agements to organize various technical courses, spare-
time technical schools, technical research groups,
technical lectures, and demonstrations of advanced
methods. With a view to raising the technical abilities
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of the workers, they have also arranged for old skilled
workers to take young workers as apprentices, with
contracts guaranteeing teaching and learning.
At present, there are more than 220,000 workers
and staff studying in spare-time schools of higher
education and secondary vocational training. Among
the higher institutions of spare-time education, there
are eleven technological night colleges. Night colleges
and correspondence schools are established by such
famous universities as the China People's University.
Tsing Hua University, Harbin Polytcchnical Institute,
Peking Institute of Iron and Steel Technology, Peking
Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Peking Mining
Institute, Changchun Motor-cars and Tractors In-
stitute.
The spare-time secondary vocational schools are
set up by the different branches of industries con-
cerned. Special courses are provided there for work-
ers and staff of relevant factories and mines. The
goal set for these students is to complete all the
courses within four to five years, by the end of which
they should become technicians of an intermediate
grade.
From 1953 to 1955, there were 7,200 students
graduated from the spare-time schools of higher and
secondary education throughout the country. Of the
first 35 graduates of the Fushun Coal Mining Night
College, one has been promoted to the position of as-
sistant director, 14 to the position of shop managers
and the rest to other leading posts.
In 1954, more than 950,000 workers all over
the country participated in spare-time technical
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courses, and 109,000 workers took part in full-
time study in technical schools. For example,
during these last few years, the Anshan Iron and
Steel Company has trained more than 24,200
skilled workers, and more than 45,000 skilled
workers have been promoted to higher positions,
out of which 740 skilled workers have been pro-
moted to be technicians or engineers, and 593
workers promoted to leading positions in the
management. From 1949 to 1953, the mining
industry trained 21,541 administrative cadres,
trade union and other cadres, 3,552 of whom have
become engineers and technicians.
In old China, the workers had no right to educa-
tion, neither did their children have any right to go
to school. In New China not only are the workers
themselves obtaining education, but also the number
of workers' and peasants' children who benefit from
education has increased rapidly. In 1954, the number
of students from workers' and peasants' families con-
stituted more than 80 per cent of primary school stu-
dents, 58 per cent of middle school students and 20
per cent of university students.
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FLOURISHING CULTURAL AND
RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Rich and colourful cultural activities, and sports
and physical training, have become an inalienable part
of the spare-time activities of the Chinese workers.
Before liberation, the Chinese workers found
great difficulty in even getting enough to eat and did
not have the time or opportunity to take part in cul-
tural and recreational activities, and it was useless to
talk about how to develop their artistic genius. In
New China, the workers, freed from worrying about
their living conditions, have time and energy to take
part in any kind of cultural and recreational activity
they like.
The People's Government and trade union organ-
izations make every effort to encourage the develop-
ment of workers' spare-time cultural and recreational
activities.
In these last few years, many good worker-writ-
ers have appeared. Tang Ke-hsin, a worker in the
No. 6 Textile Mill in Shanghai, has written a book
called "Spring in the Workshop" which was well
received by a large working-class public, and has been
translated into many foreign languages. Another
worker, Sun Chen-hua of the Chinghua Press, Peking,
has composed a song entitled "For a Happy Tomorrow"
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which obtained a third prize in the National Songs
Competition. Important works have been produced
by workers in the fields of writing, painting, wood-
carving.... Such works as "Gate Number Six," "Not
a Cicada," or "The Hearts of Hundreds of Instructors
Beat Together" are all lively literary creations by
workers.
In 1954, 11,900 groups with 162,000 workers
have been organized in spare-time activities, in-
cluding dramatic, choral and dance groups.
In Peking there were 345 workers' literary
and artistic organizations with 8,570 members in
1952, these increased to 496 with 17,183 members
in 1953, and reached 1,117 with 24,404 members
in 1954.
The rapid development of trade union clubs is
one of the important factors guaranteeing the develop-
ment of cultural and recreational activities of the
workers on a large scale. After work, these clubs be-
come the most lively and animated places in the
factory. There are quiet rooms where the workers can
read newspapers or books, or play chess. They can
also participate in sports activities, or engage in choral
or dancing rehearsals. The clubs regularly organize
all kinds of exhibitions, introducing advanced methods,
and models of inventions and innovations, arrange
scientific talks, organize lectures on the international
situation and internal affairs, film shows and per-
formances by workers' dramatic groups.
Before August 1950, there were only 16
municipal clubs. But by the end of 1954 the
number had increased to 1,260. Regarding the
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smaller clubs such as primary trade union clubs,
before 1950 there were only 773 but by the end
of 1954, there were 9,200 basic trade union clubs,
2,700 workshop clubs and 255 hostel clubs.
The number of libraries has greatly increased:
there are now 17,486 all over the country with a total
of 24,532,082 volumes of books. In addition, mobile
libraries visit workshops, construction sites and work-
ers' flats, bringing to the workers the books and news-
papers they like. There are in the whole country
25,986 mobile libraries.
The' trade union film projection teams covering
the whole country have over 1,200 16-mm. projectors
and 400 35-mm. projectors, ten times more than in
1951. In 1954, 827 16-mm. film projection teams gave
more than 114,000 film shows with a total audience of
110,000,000.
In order to successfully carry out the glorious
task of fulfilling the First Five-Year Plan, the working
class of China must have not only high political con-
sciousness, education and technique, but also sound
physique. Thus the trade unions of China pay great
attention to the development of physical culture and
sports among workers.
In 1954, the First National Trade Union Physical
Culture Conference was convened under the joint spon-
sorship of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions
and the Physical Culture and Sports Commission of
the People's Republic of China. The Conference
decided that a policy of active leadership and system-
atic development should be adopted for physical cul-
ture and sports among workers. It decided to give
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priority to work in primary trade unions, the central
task there being the further consolidation and ex-
tension of radio-broadcast physical exercises, system-
atic development of diverse forms of physical cul-
ture and sports activities and the establishment of
sports societies. The Conference decided to strength-
en political-ideological work, to recruit sports cadres
in trade union organizations at all levels, to put the
organizations on a sound basis, and to set aside for
sports activities 10 to 15 per cent of funds for recrea-
tional and educational activities. It was also decided
that suggestions should be made to the management
of enterprises that an appropriate amount of money
be set aside out of the director's fund for sports
activities.
In October 1955, the Workers' First National
Sports Meeting was held in Peking. Taking part in
the Meeting were over 2,000 men and women competi-
tors of seventeen industries, selected from competitions
at all levels, right from the workshops and primary
trade unions up to the industrial unions. Altogether
more than one million workers took part in competi-
tions of diverse forms at all levels, thus bringing about
an unprecedented nationwide upsurge of sports activi-
ties among the workers.
Some of the workers and staff have broken na-
tional records in sports activities. For instance, Liang
Shu-mei, a woman building worker, broke three na-
tional records in the 1954 National Swimming Contest.
Liu Cheng-pang, a weigher at Yucheng railway station
of the Tsinan Railway Administration, broke the na-
tional grenade-throw record in the 1953 National
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Athletic, Gymnastic and Cycling Meeting. Sun Hung-
hsia, a woman worker of the Harbin Electromotor
Works, broke the women's national record for 800
metres; Liu Cheng, a woman worker of the Suiyuan
Posts and Telecommunications Administration, set up
a national record in the women's 80-metre low hurdles.
At the Workers' First National Sports Meeting,
ten athletes established new national records in eight
track and field events, in cycling and weight-lifting.
National records for the men's 5,000 metres and 800
metres were broken respectively by Fu Sheng-hai and
Li Chung-lin of the railway workers' team. Li Ping-
cheng of the educational workers' team broke the
men's national shot-put record which stood for
nineteen years; Wang Yi of the same team broke the
women's national javelin-throw record. Wu Shu-hua
of the light industry workers' team set up a new record
in the women's 1,500-metre cycling event. Li Feng-
chin of the first machinery industry workers' team,
Li Kuei-chih of the heavy industry workers' team and
Wu Shu-hua of the light industry workers' team all
set up new national records in cycling. Li Cheng-thing,
Tsai Chang-hua and Hsu Kuo-ching of the light indus-
try workers' team all set up new national records in
weight-lifting.
Some workers were selected to become members
of various national teams. For example, railway work-
ers Yao Shih-chung, Cheng Shih-chun and Ma Jen-hua
were selected for the national basket-ball and volley-
ball teams and represented China in international con-
tests. Wang Chuan-yao of the posts and telecom-
munications workers' team represented China and
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scored successes in the table-tennis contest at the
World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and
Friendship held in 1953 in Bucharest.
By the end of 1954, 57,400 basket-ball teams
had been organized in the factories and mines
throughout the country, with 566,000 workers
taking part in this game; there were also 21,100
volley-ball teams embracing 200,000 workers and
4,100 football teams with 72,300 workers in them.
Athletic meetings were held in all parts of the
country in which 541,000 workers participated.
According to the statistics of Peking, Harbin,
Shenyang, Fushun and the Locomotive Sports
Association, there were 116 sports associations
for workers and staff in factories and mines in
1951, and 125 in 1952; in 1953 there were 1,151
sports associations and 162 athletic committees;
in 1954, 1,470 sports associations and 220 athletic
committees; and in August 1955, 1,437 and 304
respectively.
According to the available figures of eight
cities (i.e. Peking, Shanghai, Tientsin, Canton,
Wuhan, Shenyang, Harbin and Fushun), 2,958
sports activists among workers and staff received
training in 1952, 1,490 in 1953 and 13,937 in 1954.
According to the statistics of five municipali-
ties (i.e. Peking, Shanghai, Harbin, Fushun and
Shenyang) and the Locomotive Sports Associa-
tion, workers and staff taking part in radio-broad-
cast physical exercises numbered 194,961 in 1952.
378,593 in 1953, 604,118 in 1954 and 967,228 in
1955.
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UNEMPLOYMENT IS BEING
ELIMINATED
Before the liberation, as a result of the long years
of aggression waged against China by the imperialists
and the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, serious
unemployment existed in China. After the founding
of the People's Republic of China, the People's Govern-
ment began to solve the problem of unemployment in-
herited from the old regime. The People's Govern-
ment not only carried out a policy towards the work-
ers and staff of the bureaucrat-capitalist enterprises
described as "keeping the same job and drawing the
same wages" but also adopted a policy of "taking over"
all the personnel in the former Kuomintang govern-
ment offices and the educational institutions who were
left over when the rule of the Kuomintang collapsed.
Moreover, in the last six years more than
32,650,000 unemployed have been given jobs by
the government.
In New China, the state protects the jobs of the
workers. Kuo Shou-jen, an old skilled worker of the
Tientsin Motor Works, wrote a letter to his two broth-
ers, which illustrates the feelings of the workers
towards this new security: "I cannot remember in how
many factories I had worked in Peking and Tientsin
before the liberation, just trying to earn a living. No
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matter where I worked, it was only a few months later
that I became an unemployed again. At that time I
was no better off than a beggar. Even though I was
a skilled worker, it did not help me. Now it is more
than five years since Tientsin was liberated, did you
ever find me looking around for jobs in these five
years? In our factory, you can have an `iron bowl' or
a `golden bowl' (a Chinese saying meaning a good,
secure job. In the old society a job in the Customs was
an `iron bowl' job, and a job in a bank a `golden
bowl' job), if you will only take the job seriously.
Not only do the skilled workers no longer remain un-
employed, the state also trains the unskilled to become
factory workers. In the years since liberation, the
number of workers and staff in our factory has in-
creased four or five times. Recently I took part in
the discussion on the draft Constitution, and now I
know that we have the right to work, and that the
state guarantees our jobs. Thus our livelihood is, of
course, ensured."
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China
provides that "Citizens of the People's Republic of
China have the right to work. To guarantee enjoy-
ment of this right, the state, by planned development
of the national economy, gradually creates more em-
ployment, and better working conditions and wages."
The state has over the last few years taken a series
of measures to make this right a reality.
With the development of the national economy,
for those unemployed who possess the necessary quali-
fications to take jobs, the People's Government has
tried its best to help them to find employment. For
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those unemployed who temporarily cannot find jobs
and have difficulty in maintaining a living, the Peo-
ple's Government has given them help in the form of
relief grants, or by providing relief work, organizing
them to make a living through temporary productive
work, giving them training for new jobs, or sending
them back to the villages to engage in agricultural
production. At present, unemployment in the cities
is being reduced daily and the number of workers
who have qualifications but have not yet found jobs
is now very small. Having taken a responsible at-
titude towards the unemployed, the People's Govern-
ment will continue to adhere by this policy of helping
the unemployed to find jobs, encouraging them to find
jobs by themselves, or to make a living through tem-
porary productive work and providing vocational
training to young people who need it. As to those
unemployed who temporarily cannot find jobs and
have difficulties in maintaining a living, regular relief
will be granted to them.
Since the latter part of 1955, because of the rapid
development of agricultural co-operation in China's
countryside, there arose the need of large numbers
of primary and secondary technical cadres in such
fields as agriculture, forestry, water conservancy,
animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, production
management, accounting, thus opening new perspec-
tive for employment.
In view of the rising tide of agricultural co-opera-
tion throughout the country, the Political Bureau
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
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of China put forward a draft National Programme
for Agricultural Development, 1956-1967. The Pro-
gramme points out that, as far as possible, all areas
should, within a period varying from seven to twelve
years, practically eliminate the most serious animal
diseases. For this purpose, within seven years start-
ing from 1956, veterinary stations should be set up
in all the counties in agricultural areas and all dis-
tricts in pastoral areas. The co-operatives should
have personnel with basic training in the prevention
and cure of animal diseases. Within twelve years
starting from 1956 small hydroelectric power stations
should be built where water power is available, each
of them to serve one or several townships. In seven
to twelve years from 1956, determined efforts should
be made to wipe out wherever possible all diseases
from which the people suffer most seriously. To this
end every effort should be made to gradually promote
health and medical services in counties and districts,
and set up clinics in villages. In seven to twelve
years, all townships and large co-operatives should
have telephone service. Telecommunication equipment
should be installed wherever it is needed.
In view of the need of personnel in all fields aris-
ing from the expansion of agricultural co-operation,
the Programme further instructed that in the next
five to seven years starting from 1956 steps should be
taken in the light of local conditions to wipe out un-
employment in the cities and provide work for all
urban unemployed. This is quite possible. For in-
stance, the Kashing region of Chekiang Province has
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asked for the immigration of 100,000 people. Kiangsi
Province has also asked for half a million people. In
this way, the unemployed left over from pre-liberation
(lays will all get jobs in a few years as a result of
arrangements made in the cities and countryside.
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WE ARE DETERMINED TO
LIBERATE TAIWAN
Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and this
is a world-wide recognized historical fact. The Cairo
Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration, both of them
solemn international agreements, affirmed this fact.
China's territorial integrity will never be complete as
long as Taiwan remains to be liberated. Therefore,
to liberate Taiwan, to protect the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of our country is the firm policy
of the Chinese Government and the entire Chinese
people. This is our sacred task, and it is not only
necessary for our security and territorial integrity,
but also necessary for peace in Asia and the world.
On August 22, 1954, the All-China Federation of
Trade Unions, on behalf of workers throughout the
country, endorsed the joint declaration issued by all
Chinese democratic parties and people's organizations
concerning the liberation of Taiwan, which is the ex-
pression of the resolute determination of the six hun-
dred million Chinese people.
While the people of our great fatherland are
advancing in great strides towards socialism, our
8,000,000 fellow-countrymen in Taiwan are still suffer-
ing under the armed rule of a foreign power, leading
a miserable life stricken by poverty, hunger and terror
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and are unable to march forward together with the
people of the country. The liberated Chinese people
have a constant concern over the suffering of their
compatriots in Taiwan. And the people in Taiwan,
inspired by the growing prosperity on the mainland,
are certainly looking forward to the day of returning
to the bosom of their fatherland.
The Chinese working class and the Chinese people
fully realize that only when we have liberated Taiwan
and eliminated the traitorous Chiang Kai-shek clique
will we have completed the historic task of liberating
the whole of China. The liberation of Taiwan is in-
separable to the cause of building socialism which is
now under way in our country. Our brother workers
and fellow-countrymen in Taiwan will certainly one
day be brought back into the great family of peoples
of our fatherland. The liberation of Taiwan is also
important for safeguarding the security and terri-
torial integrity of China and for defending peace in
Asia and the whole world.
Workers throughout China are now working en-
thusiastically to raise production and practise econ-
omy, to ensure the fulfilment and overfulfilment of
the state plan, in order to meet the demand of the
front and the rear and support the cause of liberating
Taiwan. Workers and staff members in many factories
have started emulation campaigns on a wide scale
with the slogan of supporting the liberation of Taiwan.
For example, on December 31, 1954, workers of No.
8 open-hearth furnace of the Anshan Iron and Steel
Company set up a new record in high speed steel
making of big furnaces in the entire works for the
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year 1954 after they had held a meeting against the so-
called "Mutual Security Treaty" signed by the U.S.A.
and Chiang Kai-shek. In the first nine days of 1955,
workers of the No. 7 open-hearth furnace created
a new record. The entire workers and staff in
the steel department of the Taiyuan Iron and Steel
Works pledged they would produce 8,000 extra tons
of steel in addition to the fulfilment of the state
plan for 1954 in order to support the liberation of
Taiwan. Workers of the Shanghai No. 3 Iron and
Steel Works put forward the slogan of "turning out
one more ton of steel and rolling one more ton of steel
means giving practical support to the cause of liberat-
ing Taiwan." Transport workers also pledge to fulfil
the tasks for economic construction and for national
defence and are ready to respond to the call of their
fatherland to go to the forefront in the fight of liberat-
ing Taiwan whenever it is required. Road transport
workers in Amoy, Fukien Province, have pledged to
provide a plentiful supply of drivers and lorries when-
ever it is required and transport goods wherever they
are ordered. The seamen have also pledged to do the
same. Workers and staff in the Shanghai Power Plant
have put forward a slogan promising an everlasting
supply of electric current without a single second's
stoppage.
In Wuyi Mountain Range, which separates Fukien
from Kiangsi, lies the bottle-neck of the Yingtan-
Amoy Railway, now under construction. In order
to enable the railway to pass through, a young
army of tunnel workers has launched the fight against
this big mountain. They have never made a tunnel
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in the past, yet difficulties failed to stop them. The
following song they sang depicts their confidence and
ambition :
High may the mountain be,
But our will is higher ;
Great may the ridge be,
But our determination is greater.
The rocks may be as iron hard,
But our heroes spurn them as bean-curd.
The pioneers of this army of tunnel workers and
the pneumatic drillers worked day and night, attack-
ing the hard rocks. The highest record of drilling
a 19-metre hole in one hour was reached. As soon as
the drillers came out, the shotfirers at once rushed
into the tunnel with explosives. Hsu Teh-chun, an out-
standing shotfirer, challenged the drillers by saying
that "we will explode as deep as you drill." This gave
impetus to the rapid progress of work.
All these actions fully demonstrate the determina-
tion of the workers throughout the country to liberate
Taiwan; and these actions no doubt will play an im-
portant part in its liberation.
The 600 million Chinese people are determined to
liberate Taiwan. No force or obstacle in the world
can make them waver. The Chinese people have two
ways to liberate their own territory Taiwan; apart
from liberating it by means of war, there also exists
the possibility of liberating it by peaceful means.
Taiwan is the inviolable territory of China. The
people in Taiwan are an integral part of the Chinese
population. The liberation of Taiwan through what-
ever means is China's domestic affair, and the Chinese
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people will never allow any interference by foreign
powers. No foreign power has a right in any case to
interfere in this affair of the Chinese People's Re-
public. The Chinese people are determined to liberate
Taiwan which will surely be restored to China.
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STRENGTHENING INTERNATIONAL
FRIENDSHIP AND UNITY
Unity and friendship is growing rapidly between
Chinese trade unions and the working class in all parts
of the world, and this is in the interest of the Chinese
people and lasting world peace. Our foreign trade
union friends who visited New China have praised the
achievements of our economic construction and the
rapid improvement in the material and cultural life
of the working people in the short space of five years.
They have also been much impressed by our deter-
mination to defend peace. We are fully aware of the
numerous difficulties ahead and the many defects in
our work. We consider the visits to our country by
our foreign friends as inspections of our work which
will not only inspire us and increase our confidence
but will also help us to discover and overcome short-
comings and stimulate us to improve our work.
The Preamble of the Constitution of the People's
Republic of China stipulates that "China has already
built an indestructible friendship with the great Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics and the People's Democ-
racies; and the friendship between our people and
peace-loving people in all other countries is growing
day by day. Such friendship will be constantly
strengthened and broadened. China's policy of estab-
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lishing and extending diplomatic relations with all
countries on the principle of equality, mutual benefit
and mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and
territorial integrity, which has already yielded suc-
cess, will continue to be carried out. In international
affairs our firm and consistent policy is to strive for
the noble cause of world peace and the progress of
humanity."
The Chinese working class and trade union or-
ganizations are consistently advocating and firmly ad-
hering in practice to the principle of establishing and
developing friendly relations with the working class
of all other countries on a voluntary basis, and to the
principle of equality and mutual respect. During the
past years, Chinese trade unions have taken part in
various international meetings of workers, exchanged
correspondence, publications and delegations with
trade unions of other countries, and this has promoted
mutual understanding, confidence, friendship and soli-
darity between us and also helped the inter-union unity
within other countries.
During the period between 1949 and 1955,
Chinese trade unions made contacts with work-
ing class and trade union organizations of 50
countries, sent 137 delegations totalling 769 mem-
bers abroad to attend various international meet-
ings of workers and to pay visits to other coun-
tries, whilst 1,021 delegates sent by working class
and trade union organizations of other countries
visited China on our invitation.
In 1954, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions
invited over 200 trade union delegates from over 20
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countries, including the Soviet Union, the People's De-
mocracies, India, Japan, Indonesia, Burma, Ceylon,
Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Israel
and other countries to attend the May Day and Na-
tional Day (October 1) celebrations and visit our
country. They were of different political and religious
beliefs, yet, after direct contacts, conversations and
touring together, they found that they shared the
same aspiration and demands for safeguarding world
peace, for national independence, for trade union
rights, for betterment of the workers' life and develop-
ing trade on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
All these have greatly helped to promote mutual
understanding and friendship. We are of the opinion
that possibilities do exist for the co-operation and
unity of the working class of all countries, provided
they have goodwill and respect for each other.
In May 1954, the Friendly Discussion Meeting
of Asian Trade Unions was held in Peking, the capital
of People's China, under the collective sponsorship of
trade unions of Asian countries and their leaders,
based on the principle of equality, self-determination,
mutual respect and friendly discussion. The delegates
of 17 trade unions from 9 countries in Asia with dif-
ferent political and religious beliefs who participated
in this Meeting expressed their common aspirations
and demands in a declaration which was passed
unanimously. They all felt that this kind of discus-
sion helped to promote mutual understanding, friend-
ship and unity among trade unions of Asian countries
and hoped that similar meetings would be held in
future to promote working-class unity in Asia.
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On May 18 and 19, 1955, a Discussion Meeting
of Asian and African Trade Unions was held in Peking,
in which 213 delegates of 71 trade union organizations
from 15 countries participated. The Meeting was
convened under the joint sponsorship of the Japanese
Workers' Delegation, the Delegation of Indian Trade
Unions and the Delegation of Indonesian Trade
Unions to the May Day celebrations in China, with the
unanimous approval of the heads of delegations of
Asian and African trade unions. The delegates
pointed out in their statements that the Meeting was
an unprecedented grand gathering of Asian and Afri-
can trade unionists. They emphasized in particular
the need of safeguarding peace and opposing wars of
aggression. While upholding peaceful utilization of
atomic energy for the welfare of mankind, the dele-
gates unanimously called on prohibition of the manu-
facturing, stockpiling and use of atomic and hydrogen
bombs. They unanimously supported the Asian-
African Conference and the resolutions and final com-
munique it adopted, believing that the Conference
reflected the profound historic changes in Asia and
Africa, that it was a symbol of the desire for peace and
unity shared by countries in these two continents.
The delegates supported the principle of peaceful co-
existence among all nations and pointed out that unity
of the international working class is the guarantee to
the maintenance of peace. They all expressed the
desire to strengthen the friendship and unity of the
people and working class of Asia and Africa in the
struggle in defence of peace.
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In November 1955, the All-China Federation of
Trade Unions and the Japanese Trade Union Delega-
tion to China, in an atmosphere of friendliness, held
talks on various questions concerning the workers'
movement. In these talks, the two parties came to
a basic consensus of opinion and reached agreement
on the question of friendship and unity between the
trade unions of China and Japan, and, to a wider scope,
on the question of friendship and unity among all
trade unions of Asia and Africa.
On January 6, 1956, the First Machinery Indus-
try Workers' Trade Union of China and the Delega-
tion of the All-Japan Federation of Electrical Machine
Building Workers' Union, in an atmosphere of amity,
freely exchanged opinions on various questions con-
cerning the workers' movement. In the talks, the two
parties reached agreement on the strengthening and
promotion of friendship and contact between electrical
engineering workers of China and Japan.
The Third World Trade Union Congress pointed
out correctly: "The restoration of international trade
union unity is of important significance. This unity
would further ease international tension and stop the
competition in armaments. It would help to develop
friendly contacts in cultural and economic affairs
among the nations of different social systems. This
unity would also help to increase peaceful production,
lessen unemployment and improve the welfare of the
people."
More and more workers and trade unionists have
come to understand this truth and support it. The
Chinese trade unions will continue to observe this
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principle of unity, to strive for strengthening friendly
co-operation with the workers and trade unions of all
countries of the world to fight against wars of aggres-
sion and for the preservation of peace in Asia and the
whole world.
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