The Great Production Campaign

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

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

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

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

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

大生產運動

大生產運動，是指抗戰時期中國共產黨領導抗日根據地軍民開展的大規模生產自救運動。

1941年，由于日軍的瘋狂進攻和國民黨頑固派的包圍封鎖，以及自然災害的侵襲，中國共產黨領導的抗日根據地的財政、經濟遭遇了極為嚴重的困難。為克服經濟上的嚴重困難，中共中央再次強調走生產自救的道路。各抗日根據地的黨政軍學人員和人民群眾響應號召，掀起了大規模的生產運動。1942年12月，毛澤東在陜甘寧邊區高級干部會議上作《經濟問題和財政問題》的報告，闡明了經濟工作和財政工作的總方針是“發展經濟、保障供給”，號召解放區軍民切實開展大生產運動，自力更生，克服困難。

軍隊、政府機關和學校發展自給經濟，是大生產運動中的一個創造。抗日民主政府辦了許多自給工業，軍隊發展了以自給為目標的農業和部分工商業，農民廣泛組織起來發展農業生產。各級黨政干部也都積極投入大生產運動，和群眾同甘共苦。

大生產運動的蓬勃開展，使中國共產黨領導的解放區克服了嚴重的物質困難，為爭取抗戰勝利奠定了物質基礎，同時密切了黨政軍民關系，樹立了自力更生、艱苦奮斗的延安精神，積累了一些經濟建設的經驗，培養了一批經濟工作干部。