Chapter 5 1.4 Be a shopkeeper, not a cashier

Summing up the ups and downs of the past year, Chen Yun warned everyone: Be a shopkeeper, not a cashier.Excellent financial and financial ability, won the approval of Mao Zedong. Due to the effectiveness of the solution to financial difficulties by developing production, the increase in the production of agricultural and industrial products, and the improvement of trade and financial management, after a year of hard work, the border area's finances and prices have basically stabilized.In the face of this improved situation, some cadres will inevitably relax.All units reached out to the border region government for supplies, and they got a lot of them and got them quickly.

Chen Yun was very vigilant. On November 25, 1944, Chen Yun said at the symposium of the Northwest Bureau: We must avoid financial fluctuations in January and February next year.Regarding the relationship between the grand duke and the junior duke, the principle of the junior duke's absolute obedience to the grand duke must be adhered to.The finance and economics office must have the spirit of not being a "good guy" or a "wicked guy", but we can't let everyone take it casually. Between October and November of this year, due to the production and operation of "Xiao Gong" by some agencies and troops in the border area, the finance of the border area advanced 40 million yuan in French currency, equivalent to 340 million yuan in border currency.Chen Yun immediately ordered to stop their funds and instruct the salt industry company to stop storing salt, so as to shrink the border currency and stabilize finance.If you stop funding, you have to be prepared to be scolded. Chen Yun said: Don't be afraid.A chaotic world is not as good as a small chaotic world, so that finance can be stabilized.

Financial work is a very transactional job, and Chen Yun didn't indulge in it.He is a person who focuses on learning by doing and improving by doing.In order to further do a good job in financial and economic work, Chen Yun carefully summed up the work experience of the past year. On February 1, 1945, he made a report on this at the work review meeting of the Finance Department of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. Chen Yun first pointed out realistically, "Comrades in the Department of Finance and various bureaus are working hard and doing a good job." But on the other hand, he pointed out that there are still problems in financial work, that is, the work is relatively passive.There are three reasons for this: first, there is blindness; second, there are practical difficulties; and third, there is not enough initiative.The first one is the main one.

Chen Yun believes that in order to truly overcome these shortcomings in the work and get rid of the passive state, there must be an attitude towards work and a sense of responsibility.He said: "Are we a 'treasurer' attitude, or a cashier attitude? Every comrade, bureau chief, section chief, and section member must have a 'treasurer' attitude, the attitude of being the head of the family, and the sense of responsibility should be raised to this level. This is not a small problem. , but a question of active or passive." Due to the correct arrangement of finance, finance, and trade in the border area, financial prices in the border area have continued to maintain stability, production has continued to maintain a great momentum of development, and has accumulated a relatively solid family background.This situation is in sharp contrast to the continuous fluctuations in financial prices in the border areas in the past few years, and it is also in sharp contrast to the soaring prices and economic depression in the Kuomintang-controlled areas.Chen Yun's financial ability has been widely praised.

In April 1945, on the eve of the final victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Yan'an.The Chinese revolution took the road of encircling the cities from the countryside. By the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the central government had already considered shifting the focus of its work to the cities. On April 24, Mao Zedong pointed out in his oral political report at the Seventh National Congress: "To finally defeat Japanese imperialism now, we need to use a lot of force to transfer to the cities, prepare to seize the big cities, prepare to go to the cities to do work, and master the big cities. Railways, factories, banks. There are millions of people there, for example, Beiping has a population of 1 to 2 million, and Baoding, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang also have a large population. To shift the focus to cities, we must make good preparations.”

On May 9, Chen Yun made a speech at the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and made a suggestion: Now we are about to transfer from the countryside to the city.When some troops in the Shensi-Kansu-Ningxia Border Region set off, they spoiled and wasted some things.These things are created by our labor.When going to the city in the future, we must keep the housework in the countryside and the urban machinery in good condition.The city at that time was a city that had undergone eight years of war of resistance, a major counter-offensive, and severely damaged cities.Comrades, when you are in the city, don't break the machine. Without the machine, it will be very difficult to restore the economy.

Chen Yun's opinion left a deep impression on Mao Zedong, thinking that Chen Yun understood economics. On May 24, when he reported the election policy of the Central Committee of the Seventh National Congress to the General Assembly, he said that it is not necessary for everyone to be proficient in all aspects of knowledge. It is enough to be proficient in one aspect or a few more aspects. It becomes a central committee that is well versed in all aspects of knowledge. "For example, economic construction has just started now, and large-scale industry will be developed in the future. Comrade Chen Yun said not to destroy machines, but we are quite unfamiliar with large-scale industries. Why did this conference propose such a thing as not to destroy machines? Because we have not yet done so. Knowledge, because we didn’t have knowledge, we smashed it in the past. When we entered the city, we broke the glass and smashed the machine, so we raised the question of not smashing the machine.” On May 31, he made seven conclusions During the report, he said again: "I have been a member of the Communist Party for decades. I have not learned how to engage in economics in the past. If I have not learned it, I have to admit it. I have to learn it now. Comrade Chen Yun said that when you enter the city, don't smash the machine. There is a problem of learning, if you don’t learn it, you will still break it. What will you do after you get the machine and the industry? This is not an easy task, but it is an important issue.”

Judging from the fact that Chen Yun, who Mao Zedong sent to do organizational work more than a year ago, turned to work in economics, Mao Zedong's view of Chen Yun's understanding of economics is not only his appreciation for his prophetic suggestion, but also his appreciation of Chen Yun's one-year plan. It is an affirmation that he has successfully led the financial work in the border area for many years.