Chapter 43 Letter to Damba[1]

(May 20, 1957) Dear Comrade De Damba, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party: I have received your letter dated April 26, 1957. On the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in my country, the government of the Mongolian People's Republic sent a government delegation to participate in the celebration ceremony. We are very happy and would like to express our gratitude. We have studied the issue of China's supply of labor to the Mongolian People's Republic mentioned in your letter.We think this is what should be done.However, as you imagined, it is difficult to migrate a large number of Mongolian residents from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of my country to settle in the Mongolian People's Republic.Because there are 8.7 million residents in my country's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, of which more than 7 million are Han, while Mongolian compatriots only have more than one million.Secondly, we consider that if we mobilize labor from China to go to the Mongolian People's Republic for production and construction, we can only mobilize labor for industry and agriculture, and it is difficult to mobilize labor for animal husbandry.Therefore, we assume that only Han people can be mobilized to work in the Mongolian People's Republic to work in sectors that require labor in industry and agriculture.Even so, the number of people we can send each year cannot be very large.Because there are too many people, there will be difficulties in terms of language, living habits, and administrative management.We assume that among the labor force sent to the Mongolian People's Republic to participate in industrial construction, they should mainly be skilled workers in order to help Mongolian residents learn certain production operation skills.In our opinion, when these Chinese skilled workers engaged in industrial and agricultural production have taught Mongolian residents the skills of production and operation within the time limit stipulated by both parties, they can return to China.According to our calculations, it has been possible to feed thousands of people per year within the last few years.In order to make it easier for the Han people who go to work in the Mongolian People's Republic to work in unity and cooperation with the Mongolian people, we plan to deploy dozens of Mongolian people who can speak Mongolian and Chinese in the labor force sent every year, so that they can work with the Mongolian People's Republic. management agencies, thereby reducing difficulties in management work.We suggest that the issue of labor supply can be handled by the governments of our two countries through diplomatic channels.If you think that the Han people are not familiar with the Mongolian language and living habits and thus have difficulties, we can send less, or not send.In short, everything should be decided according to your needs and convenient for you.

At present, we have dispatched more than 8,000 people to work in various fields in the Mongolian People's Republic.According to what we know, many of them have violated the laws of the Mongolian People's Republic.We have dealt with these people with the assistance of relevant agencies of the Mongolian People's Republic. Some of them have been transferred back to China, and others have been dealt with in accordance with the laws of the Mongolian People's Republic according to the circumstances of their violation of the law.We assume that such things will still happen in the future.We will also follow this principle in the future, and all Chinese employees who violate the laws of the People's Republic of Mongolia should be dealt with according to the laws of Mongolia.If you think that there are people who are not suitable to stay and work, you can inform us, we are ready to transfer them back at any time, so as not to increase the difficulties in your management.

Sincerely, my brother's salute! Mao Zedong May 20, 1957 Printed from originals kept at the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Damba, that is, De Damba (1908-1989), today's translation of Daxi Damba.At that time, he was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.