TRADE UNIONS IN PEOPLE S CHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00418R006200350005-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 57
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: REPORT

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TRADE UNIONS
IN
PEOPLE'S CHINA
FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS
PEKING 1956
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CONTENTS
1. BRIEF SURVEY OF THE TRADE UNION
MOVEMENT IN CHINA . . . . . 7
II. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TRADE
UNIONS . . . . . . . . . . 16
1. The Organizational Principle of the Trade
Unions . . . . . . . 16
2. The Organizational System of the Trade
Unions . . . . . . . . . . 17
(1) The Supreme Leading Body of the
Trade Unions in the Country . . 17
(2) Local Trade Union Organizations . 21
(3) Primary Trade Union Organizations 21
3. Membership . . . . . . . . . 22
4. Leading Personnel of the All-China
Federation of Trade Unions . . . . 23
III. WORK OF THE TRADE UNIONS . . . 25
1. Organizational Work . . . . . . 25
2. Propaganda and Educational Work . . 28
3. Physical Culture . . . . . . . 31
4. Production Work . . . . . . . 34
5. Wages . . . . . . . . . . 37
6. Labour Protection . . . . . . . 42
7. Labour Insurance . . . . . . . 45
8. Women Workers . . . . . . . 50
9. Workers' Family Dependents . . 53
10. Finance Work . . . . . . . . 55
11. Living Conditions . . . . . . . 57
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1. BRIEF SURVEY OF THE TRADE UNION
MOVEMENT IN CHINA
China's trade union movement began after the
First World War. Ever since its first days, it has
developed under the leadership of the Chinese Com-
munist Party.
The Communist Party of China, after it was
founded on July 1, 1921, established the Chinese Trade
Union Secretariat, openly to lead the working-class
movement of the country.
Under the auspices of the Secretariat, the First
All-China Labour Congress was held in May 1922 in
Canton, attended by 162 delegates, representing
200,000 workers organized in more than a hundred
trade unions in twelve cities. The Congress discussed
ways of eliminating the craft outlook among union
members and the differences between local groupings
in trade unions, educating the workers in socialism,
drawing them into the democratic revolution ; and
other questions. The Congress adopted such slogans
as "Down with imperialism" and "Down with the war-
lords," and passed resolutions to strive for the 8-hour
working day and to give support to strikes. It was
also resolved that until a national federation of trade
unions was established, the Chinese Trade Union
Secretariat was to be recognized as the liaison centre
for the trade unions of the whole country.
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From 1922 to February 1923, the tide of the
workers' struggle rose all over the country. More
than a hundred strikes were called involving 300,000
railway workers, dockers and seamen, factory work-
ers and miners. The majority of these strikes were
successful, and during the strikes new trade unions
were organized. Fearing the growing strength of the
trade unions, the warlords embarked on a policy of
suppression. On February 7, 1923, workers on the
Peking-Hankow Railway came out to fight for their
right to form a union, but were crushed by a mas-
sacre in Hankow and Changhsintien. Trade unions
in all areas controlled by the warlords were closed
down and driven underground, resulting in a tem-
porary decline in the movement.
In Kwangtung Province in South China, however,
trade unions still kept their legal status and the move-
ment continued to surge ahead.
In May 1925, sponsored by the trade unions of
railway workers and seamen and workers of other
branches of industry, the Second All-China Labour
Congress was held in Canton, attended by 277 dele-
gates, representing 165 trade unions with a total of
540,000 members. The Congress resolved that an
All-China Federation of Trade Unions be set up, that
the working class of the country take an active
part and lead the revolutionary struggle against im-
perialism and feudalism, and that the workers unite
with the peasants and revolutionary forces within the
country. In order to link up the struggle of the Chi-
nese workers with that of the workers of the whole
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world, the Congress voted to affiliate with the Red
International of Labour Unions.
Shortly after the Congress textile workers in
Japanese-owned mills in Shanghai came out on strike
in defence of their union, and during the strike one
of their leaders was killed. On May 30 a demon-
stration of the Shanghai workers in support of the
textile workers was fired on by the British police of
the international "settlement." This led to the na-
tion-wide demonstrations against imperialism known
as the "May 30th Movement." In Canton and Hong-
kong, the general strikes which aimed at imperialism
had the sustained support of the workers and people
throughout the country and lasted sixteen months.
This movement laid the foundation for the Northern
Expedition carried out later by the revolutionary gov-
ernment in Canton.
The Third All-China Labour Congress was con-
vened in Canton in May 1926, attended by 502 dele-
gates, representing 699 trade unions with a member-
ship of 1,241,000. The Congress pointed out that the
immediate task of the Chinese working class was to
support the National Revolutionary Army to carry out
the Northern Expedition, and to unite with the peas-
ants, who constituted 80 per cent of China's popula-
tion, in the common struggle.
After the Northern Expedition was launched in
July 1926, workers all over the country organized
transport teams to support the expeditionary army.
Workers in Shanghai, in co-ordination with the north-
ward drive of the army, staged three armed uprisings
and occupied Shanghai. The trade union movement
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developed rapidly with the victorious advance of the
expeditionary army. Never before had the All-China
Federation of Trade Unions enjoyed such high pres-
tige among the nation's workers and office employees.
In June 1927, the Fourth All-China Labour Congress
was convened in Hankow. It was attended by 420
delegates, representing 2,800,000 members, an increase
of nearly 1,600,000 over the previous year. The Con-
gress condemned Chiang Kai-shek's betrayal of the
revolution, and called upon the workers of the whole
country to carry on the struggle. Following the failure
of the First Revolutionary Civil War (1924-1927), the
trade union movement fell to a low ebb under the reign
of terror of the reactionary Chiang Kai-shek clique.
After the betrayal of the revolution by the Kuo-
mintang, the Chinese Communist Party set up revolu-
tionary bases in the countryside. Here the workers
were accorded broad democratic rights, and they or-
ganized their own trade unions and actively supported
the revolutionary war. In areas controlled by the
Kuomintang, the broad masses of workers waged un-
remitting struggles against the reactionary rule for
democratic rights and better living conditions.
In November 1929, the Fifth All-China Labour
Congress was held secretly in Shanghai, attended by
a hundred delegates. The Congress called upon the
workers to oppose the reactionary rule of the Chiang
Kai-shek clique.
In July 1937, the War of Resistance to Japanese
Aggression broke out. Leaders of the All-China Fed-
eration of Trade Unions went to the liberated areas
in the enemy's rear, and to areas occupied by the
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Japanese and the Kuomintang, to wage the struggle
against the Japanese invaders.
In the fight against the enemy, the workers of
the liberated areas demonstrated their courage and
determination, vigorously carrying on production in
order to support the war. At the same time they
formed many trade unions. In 1945, the Preparatory
Committee of the Workers' Federation of China's
Liberated Areas was set up which comprised organ-
izations covering 920,000 members.
In September 1945, the World Federation of Trade
Unions held its constituent congress in Paris. Teng
Fa, representing the workers in the liberated areas,
and Chu Hsueh-fan, President of the Chinese Associa-
tion of Labour in Kuomintang-controlled areas, to-
gether formed a delegation to attend the congress on
behalf of all the workers of China. The Chinese trade
unions formally joined the World Federation of Trade
Unions.
In the nineteen years after the Fifth All-China
Labour Congress, workers in Kuomintang-controlled
areas were no better than slaves. They had practical-
ly no freedom or rights whatsoever, and suffered from
the ruthless exploitation of bureaucrat-capitalists and
groaned under the joint rule of terror of the imperial-
ists and Chiang Kai-shek clique. But, undaunted, the
workers persisted in their heroic struggles. During
the years of the War of Liberation, the workers in
Kuomintang-controlled areas waged struggles against
foreign aggression, against starvation, persecution and
civil war. In co-ordination with the People's Libera-
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tion Army, they dealt telling blows to the reactionary
rule of Chiang Kai-shek.
In August 1948, a year before the nation-wide
victory in the Chinese People's War of Liberation,
the Sixth All-China Labour Congress was held at Har-
bin, then a liberated city. The Congress was attended
by 518 delegates from trade unions in the liberated
areas, from the Chinese Association of Labour and
other democratic trade unions in the Kuomintang-
controlled areas, representing altogether a total of
2,830,000 organized workers. The Congress adopted
resolutions on the current tasks of the Chinese trade
union movement.
The supreme task of the Chinese working class,
the resolutions pointed out, was to strengthen work-
ing-class solidarity and unite with all sections of the
people to overthrow the rule of American imperialism
and its tool-the Kuomintang reactionary clique, and
establish the Chinese People's Republic. The resolu-
tions also defined the tasks of the labour movement
in the liberated areas and in the Kuomintang-controlled
areas.
The Sixth Congress decided to restore the All-
China Federation of Trade Unions, amended its Con-
stitution and elected the Sixth Executive Committee.
Thus it enabled the Chinese working class to regain
its unity under the banner of the people's revolution.
Following the Sixth Congress, the Chinese
working class waged bitter struggles in line with the
resolutions of the Congress. In spite of extremely
difficult conditions, workers in the liberated areas,
together with peasants, succeeded in increasing pro-
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duction to support the War of Liberation. On the
other hand, workers in the Kuomintang-controlled
areas, uniting with various sections of the people,
fought against aggression, persecution and hunger.
In the liberation of various cities the workers fought
to protect factories, helped the people's government
to take over the enterprises owned by bureaucrat-
capital and rapidly restored production. At the same
time the trade unions carried out political education
among the workers which strengthened their under-
standing of their new position as masters of the coun-
try and gave them a new attitude towards labour.
During 1949 all major cities in the country were
liberated and in February the All-China Federation
of Trade Unions moved from Harbin to Peking. It
convened, in July of the same year, a national con-
ference on trade union work, at which the question
of organizing the workers on a nation-wide scale was
discussed. In November 1949, the Chinese Associa-
tion of Labour, which was affiliated as a separate or-
ganization to the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions, voluntarily announced its dissolution. This
further strengthened the unity of China's trade union
organizations. In June 1950, the Trade Union Law
of the People's Republic of China was promulgated by
the Central People's Government which granted ex-
tensive rights to trade union organizations. Since
then the trade union movement has spread rapidly all
over the country.
On May 2, 1953, the Seventh All-China Congress
of Trade Unions opened in Peking. Delegates to the
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Congress numbered 830, representing 10,200,000 trade
union members. The Congress elected the Seventh
Executive Committee, adopted a report on amendments
to the Constitution and amended the Constitution. The
Congress also adopted important resolutions concern-
ing reports on the trade union work in China. These
reports and resolutions summed up the experiences
gained in trade union work in the four years after
liberation, and defined the policies and tasks of trade
union work in the period of planned national economic
construction.
The fundamental tasks of the Chinese trade union
organizations during the period of national construc-
tion, the resolutions pointed out, were to unite and
educate the workers to steadily raise their political
consciousness and strengthen their sense of organiza-
tion; to consolidate the worker-peasant alliance; to
unite with all sections of the people to work actively
for the fulfilment of the national construction plan;
to gradually improve, on the basis of developing pro-
duction, the material and cultural life of the working
class and all other working people; and to strive, step
by step, for China's socialist industrialization and
transition to socialism.
The resolutions of the Congress also made it clear
that internationally the task of the Chinese trade
unions was to fight, continuously, for lasting peace and
for greater solidarity and unity among the workers
in the labour movement of the Far East and all over
the world.
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At the present moment, the Chinese trade unions,
which by December 1954 had a membership of 12,-
454,000, are leading the working class throughout the
country to strive for fulfilling ahead of schedule the
First Five-Year Plan (1953-57) for Development of
the National Economy.
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II. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE
TRADE UNIONS
1. The Organizational Principle of the Trade Unions
The trade unions of the People's Republic of China
are organized along industrial lines, based on demo-
cratic centralism. They are under one national unified
centre.
(1) Under the principle of organization along
industrial lines, all trade union members in the same
enterprise or office are grouped together in one single
basic organization ; and all trade union members in
the same industrial branch of the national economy
are organized in the same national industrial union.
Local trade unions, whenever possible, are also to be
organized along industrial lines. Thus, all the work-
ers of an integrated iron and steel works-steel smelt-
ers, machinists, building workers, electrical workers,
transport workers, engineers and technicians, and
other workers and staff members-are organized in
the same primary trade union body which is part of
the national heavy industry workers' trade union. And
the trade union members in the works coming under
the Ministry of Heavy Industry are organized in the
Heavy Industry Workers' Trade Union. Organization-
ally, this principle guarantees close unity of the work-
ers throughout the country as an integral body.
(2) Under the principle of democratic central-
ism, the leading bodies of the trade unions of all levels
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are elected democratically from below by the member-
ship or its representatives. They submit reports on
their work at regular intervals to the membership ;
the lower trade union organizations carry out the de-
cisions of the higher trade union organizations ; the
trade unions of all levels carry on their work in ac-
cordance with their Constitution and the decisions
made. All decisions are made by a majority vote of
the members present at the meetings. The Constitu-
tion of the Trade Unions of the People's Republic
of China also stipulates that the All-China Congress
of Trade Unions shall be convened every four years;
the national congresses of industrial unions, every
three years; congresses of the provincial trade union
councils, the trade union councils of those cities direct-
ly under the central authority, and provincial con-
gresses of industrial unions, every two years;
congresses of trade union councils of those cities direct-
ly under the provincial authority and congresses of
industrial unions in cities and mining areas, annually;
the general membership meeting or the meeting of
representatives in an enterprise or institution, every
year or six months. This principle guarantees dem-
ocratic life in the trade unions.
2. The Organizational System of the Trade Unions
(1)
The Supreme Leading Body of the
Trade Unions in the Country
The supreme leading body of the trade unions in
the People's Republic of China is the All-China Fed-
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eration of Trade Unions; while the supreme authority
is the All-China Congress of Trade Unions. The lat-
ter elects the Executive Committee and the Auditing
Commission of the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions. The Executive Committee at its plenary
session elects the Presidium and the Secretariat. In
the intervals between Congresses, the Executive Com-
mittee is responsible for the thorough implementation
of the decisions of the Congress and for guiding trade
union work throughout the country.
The Presidium is the supreme leading body when
the Executive Committee is not in session, and is re-
sponsible for carrying out the decisions of the Con-
gress and of the Executive Committee, and directing
trade union work on the national scale. The Secre-
tariat attends to the routine work under the guidance
of the Presidium. (Table showing the organizational
system of the trade unions attached.)
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has
set up the following department to carry out its work :
(1) General Executive Office, (2) Organization De-
partment, (3) Propaganda Department,.(4) Produc-
tion Department, (5) Wages Department, (6) Labour
Protection Department;4 (7) Labour Insurance Depart-
ment, (8) Finance Department, (9) Department con-
cerned witli workers' housing and general living
standards, '( 10) International Liaison Department,
(11) Women Workers' Department, (12) General
Affairs Department, (13) Department of Sports and
Physical Culture, (14) Collective Labour Insurance
Administration Bureau, (15) The Cadres' Training
School attached to the All-China Federation of Trade
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Unions, (16) The Workers' Daily, (17) The Workers'
Publishing House.
The highest leading bodies of eighteen industrial
unions have been set up. They are the national com-
mittees of thirteen industrial unions-railway work-
ers, seamen, heavy industry workers, postal and tele-
communications workers, first machinery industry
workers, second machinery industry workers, electri-
cal workers, coal miners, textile workers, highway
transport workers, shop assistants, educational work-
ers and petroleum workers ; the preparatory com-
mittees of three industrial unions for building workers,
agricultural and water conservancy workers and the
forestry workers; and the working committees of two
industrial unions for light industry workers and salt
industry workers. Between sessions of the national
congresses of the industrial unions, the respective
national committees are responsible for the carrying
out of the decisions of these congresses and of the All-
China Federation of Trade Unions, and for directing
the work of their respective organizations.
The Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventh Ex-
ecutive Committee of the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions, held in January 1956, decided to improve the
work of all industrial unions to meet the needs of the
socialist construction of our country. The session de-
cided to strengthen their leading bodies and the lead-
ing bodies at intermediate levels, and to give more
active leadership to the basic organizations. The
session also decided to restore the national leading
bodies of the industrial unions of civil aviation work-
ers, geological workers, bank workers and medical
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V r1V:'11v 1C:111V1VnV .I0I#JYI Vr IIl.AIJE UIVIV1Y0
7
All-China Congress
of Trade Unions
Executive Committee of
All-China Federation of
Trade Unions
National Congresses
of Industrial Unions
Auditing
Commissions
Provincial. Municipal
(Mining Area) Congresses
of Industrial Unions
Auditing
Commissions
National Committees of
Industrial Unions
Presidium or
Standing Committees
Provincial, Municipal
(Mining Area) Committees
of Industrial Unions
Auditing
Commission
Congresses of Provincial,
Municipal (Autonomous
Region) Trade Union
Councils
Provincial.
Municipal
(Autonomous
Region) Trade
Union Councils
Standing
Committees
Auditing
Commissions
County of
y (Town)
Trade Union
Councils
County (Town) I I Auditing
de Union Commis
T ra
Councils sions
Standing Committees
General Meetings of
Trade Union Members
of Primary Organizations
or Meetings of Their
Representatives
Auditing
Cm
omissions
Primary Committees
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workers, and set up industrial unions of foreign trade
workers, cultural workers, grain and agricultural prod-
uce purchasers, supply and marketing co-operative
workers and government workers.
(2) Local Trade Union Organizations
Local trade union organizations include the trade
union councils of the provinces, municipalities, auton-
omous regions, counties and towns. Elected by the
trade union congresses of their own levels, these coun-
cils are the joint leading bodies of the local trade union
organizations and industrial unions in their respective
provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, counties
and towns. There are at present twenty-two provin-
cial trade union councils, three trade union councils
of municipalities directly under the central authority
and two trade union councils of autonomous regions,
all of which are under the direct leadership of the
All-China Federation of Trade Unions.
Local trade union organizations also include the
provincial, municipal and mining area committees of
the various industrial unions, elected by the provincial,
municipal and mining area congresses of their respec-
tive industries and are responsible for leading the
trade union work of all organizations up to their level
in their respective industries.
(3) Primary Trade Union Organizations
The primary organizations are the foundation of
the trade unions. They are formed by the trade union
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members in the same enterprise or establishment. In
an enterprise or establishment with twenty-five union
members or more, a committee may be set up. Short
of this number, a trade union group may be set up,
and an organizer elected. In the workshops generally
workshop committees may be set up and trade union
groups formed according to production units or office
units. The primary committees and workshop com-
mittees can, if necessary, set up under their own lead-
ership working committees from among their trade
union members to deal with the following matters :
production, wages, rationalization proposals, culture
and education, labour insurance, labour protection,
housing and general living standards, finance, and a
committee for women workers. They may also set
up savings and mutual-assistance fund.
By 1954 the number of primary trade union or-
ganizations amounted to two hundred thousand.
3. Membership
The trade unions in China are mass organizations
of the working class formed on a voluntary basis. The
Constitution of the Trade Unions of the People's Re-
public of China provides: "Membership in the trade
unions shall be open to all manual workers and brain
workers, whose wages constitute their sole or main
means of living and who accept the Constitution of
the Trade Unions." Any person with such qualifica-
tions may be admitted to trade union membership
without distinction of nationality, sex or religious be-
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lief provided his personal application is approved by
a trade union group and confirmed by the primary
committee or the workshop committee of the trade
union concerned.
Since liberation the membership of the All-China
Federation of Trade Unions has increased as follows :
Year Membership
1948 . . . . . . . . 1,448,200
1949 . . . . . . . . 2,373,900
1950 . . . . . . . . 5,170,000
1951 . . . . . . . . 7,297,800
1952 . . . . . . . . 10,200,500
1953 . . . . . . . . 12,229,200
1954 . . . . . . . . 12,454,091
4. Leading Personnel of the All-China Federation of
Trade Unions
(Elected in May 1953 at the Seventh
All-China Congress of Trade Unions)
Honorary Chairman: Liu Shao-chi
Chairman: Lai Jo-yu
Vice-Chairmen: Liu Ning-I, Liu Chang-sheng, Chu
Hsueh-fan
Members of the Secretariat: Lai Jo-yu, Liu Ning-I,
Hsu Chih-chen, Chen Shao-min,* Li Chi-po, Liu
Tse-chiu, Li Tsai-wen, Tung Hsin, Chang Wei-
chen, Chang Hsiu-chu
Members of the Presidium (25) : Lai Jo-yu, Liu
Ning-I, Liu Chang-sheng, Chu Hsueh-fan, Hsu
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Chih-chen, Chen Shao-min,* Li Chi-po, Liu Tse-
chiu, Li Tsai-wen, Tung Hsin, Chang Wei-chen,
Chang Hsiu-chu, Kang Yung-ho, Kung Hsiang-
chen, Tsai Shu-fan, Chang Tsan-ming, Tu Yen-
ching, Wang Wei-kang, Yang Chih-hua,* Chao
Kuo-chiang, Chin Chih-fu, Chiu Chin, Hsi Chan-
yuan, Chang Chi, Yang Chueh
Chairman of the Auditing Commission: Wang Wen-
hsing
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111. WORK OF THE TRADE UNIONS
1. Organizational Work
The trade unions of China are the mass organiza-
tions of the leading class of the state. The interests
of the state and the working class have become com-
pletely identical since the liberation. With the sup-
port of the state and under the leadership of the
Communist Party, the trade unions of China have be-
come a school of communism for the workers, and are
a strong social pillar of the people's democratic power.
The organizational work of the trade unions is to
mobilize and organize all trade union cadres and work-
ers throughout the country to carry out the unions'
fundamental tasks.
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is the
highest leading body of the trade unions of China.
When its Executive Committee is not in session, the
Presidium is responsible for carrying out the decisions
of the All-China Congress of Trade Unions and of
the Executive Committee, and for directing trade union
work all over the country. The routine trade union
work is dealt with by the Secretariat under the
guidance of the Presidium.
The primary trade union organizations are the
foundation of the trade unions, and are formed by
the trade union members of the same enterprise or
establishment. They are the foundation of trade union
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work because they have direct contact with the masses.
The trade unions of China, therefore, have paid con-
sistent and special attention to the primary trade
union work. Since the National Conference on the
Organizational Work of the Trade Unions was held
in 1950, there has been a great increase in the num-
ber of primary trade union organizations, which by
1954 had reached 200,000. At the meeting to discuss
organizational work held in 1954, it was stressed that
the trade unions must make fresh efforts to unite and
educate the mass of the workers, give further impetus
to the spirit of democracy, form more solid links with
the workers, bring the enthusiasm of the trade union
activists into full play and improve the work of trade
union groups.
The tasks of the primary trade union organizations
are as follows : (1) To organize the workers and staff
members to launch labour emulation drives, strengthen
labour discipline and ensure the fulfilment or over-
fulfilment of the state's production plans; (2) To
constantly work to improve the material and cultural
life of the workers and the betterment of their work-
ing conditions, to help and supervise the managements
or owners of enterprises in thoroughly carrying out
the policies of the people's government and the labour
laws and decrees; (3) To organize cultural, political
and technical studies as well as cultural and sports
activities; and (4) To admit new members, collect dues
and report regularly both to the higher trade union
organizations and the membership on their activities
and financial position.
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Mindful of the fact that democracy is the soul
of the trade unions and of the importance of bringing
trade union democracy into full play, the primary trade
union organizations regularly call general membership
meetings or meetings of all the workers and staff mem-
bers at which they report on their work, obtain the
opinions of the workers and conduct criticism and self-
criticism.
The trade unions of China have always considered
it important to train activists and bring their en-
thusiasm into full play. The trade union organizations
have adopted various ways and means to attain this
purpose. They help them to prepare plans for trade
union work, advise them on the best ways of doing
their jobs and help them to solve any difficulties they
may encounter. Meetings are called to summarize and
exchange experience of work, and spare-time short-
term training courses are regularly conducted. In the
past few years a large number of activists have been
brought forward from among the rank and file, who
put their whole heart into trade union work. The
number of trade union activists totalled 2,730,000 in
1954 as against 1,990,000 in 1953.
In order to systematically raise the theoretical and
occupational levels of the cadres and activists, trade
unions at all levels have set up schools for training
cadres. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions
has set up a school for senior trade union cadres, with
three branches, which together can take in more than
2,800 students. A total of 44 schools for trade union
cadres have been set up by the industrial unions and
the provincial and municipal trade union organizations.
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In 1954 more than 616,000 cadres and activists were
trained in full-time or spare-time courses at such
schools. The Presidium of the Seventh Executive
Committee of the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions, at its ninth meeting held in January 1956,
decided to improve the work of training trade union
cadres for the purpose of raising their theoretical,
occupational and cultural levels. This will help to
strengthen the leadership of the trade unions and meet
the situation brought about by the new upsurge of
the working-class movement.
2. Propaganda and Educational Work
The propaganda and educational work conducted
by the trade unions among the workers may be de-
scribed as follows: to educate the workers in the
spirit of patriotism and internationalism in co-ordina-
tion with the production tasks and the important
political events at the time; to raise their cultural and
technical levels by organizing study courses; and to
satisfy their needs of rest and recreation in co-
ordination with their political, technical and educa-
tional needs.
In 1952 trade union organizations in a relatively
systematic way carried out communist education
among the workers. In the autumn of 1953 they car-
ried out propaganda and education among the workers
and staff and their families concerning the general
tasks of the state during the period of transition to
socialism. During the 1954 Spring Festival they or-
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ganized workers' delegations to visit peasant families,
invited the peasants to visit factories, held various
kinds of get-together and informal discussion meet-
ings, sb educating the workers throughout the country
on the worker-peasant alliance. When the Constitu-
tion of the People's Republic of China was published
in June 1954 trade union organizations publicized it
among the workers and staff and initiated extensive
discussions. Following the publication of the First
Five-Year Plan for Development of the National
Economy of the People's Republic of China in July
1955, trade union organizations carried out wide-
spread propaganda among the workers and staff
through the medium of exhibitions, broadcasting, re-
port meetings, lectures, entertainments, lantern slides,
etc. This helped a great deal to raise the socialist
enthusiasm of the workers and staff.
Along with the development of production, the
workers feel the increasing need to learn to read and
write and so improve their technical level. The trade
unions have done a great deal to organize cultural and
technical studies for the workers. They have helped
the managements to set up training courses and tech-
nical research societies. Trade union organizations in
factories and mines have helped the skilled workers
and young workers to make master-apprentice agree-
ments as well as "teach-well-and-learn-well" agree-
ments. Statistics for 1954 show that 933,100 workers
throughout the country participated in the various
technical courses sponsored by the primary trade union
organizations. Of this number, over 109,500 studied
in the technical schools. Many workers who have
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improved their technical skill through this training
were promoted to leading posts.
In the old China 60 to 80 per cent of the workers
were illiterate or semi-illiterate. But as a result of
the attention paid by both government and trade
unions to the work of improving the technical level
of the workers and staff since liberation, by the end
of 1953, approximately one million previously illiterate
workers had learnt to read and write. In many places
there are now factories and mines where illiteracy
among their workers is a thing of the past. In January
1956 the Presidium of the Seventh Executive Com-
mittee of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions
adopted at its ninth session a decision to the effect
that efforts should be made to ensure that workers and
staff who are now illiterate should be able to read and
write within three years, that is, by the end of 1958.
By the end of 1954 there were more than 11,000 spare-
time cultural schools, attended by more than 2,900,000
workers, ten times as many as in the period imme-
diately after the liberation.
With the support of the people's government, trade
union organizations have set up a number of clubs
and palaces of culture which have greatly helped the
workers in their cultural and sport activities. By the
end of 1954, 1,261 palaces of culture (clubs) had been
set up by higher trade union organizations ; 9,206 clubs
and 2,723 "Red Corners" (in workshops) set up by
primary trade union organizations-altogether about
16 times as many as in 1950. At present there are over
1,600 trade union film projection teams as against 150
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in 1951; 17,000 libraries, with more than 24,530,000
volumes, and 8,670 broadcasting stations.
In the past few years rapid advances have been
made in the sphere of spare-time cultural and artistic
activities. It is estimated that in 1954 there were
11,900 workers' music and dance units and groups
engaged in other recreational activities, with 162,000
taking part. In February 1955, the workers and staff
in Peking, Shanghai, Tientsin, Chungking and four
other big cities, and the workers and staff under the
Ministry of Railways participated in the National
Amateur Music and Dance Festival. In May 1955,
the National Workers' Art Exhibition was held in
Peking, which attracted three hundred items. These
events fully bear out the creative ability of the work-
ing people.
There are 13 trade union newspapers throughout
the country. The Workers' Daily is the official pub-
lication of the Executive Committee of the All-China
Federation of Trade Unions, with a circulation of
150,000 copies. The journal Chinese Workers, also
published by the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions, has a circulation of 290,000 copies. In 1955
alone the Workers Press under the All-China Fed-
eration of Trade Unions published 8,405,000 books of
271 different titles, covering trade union work and the
trade union movement.
3. Physical Culture
In accordance with Chairman Mao Tse-tung's
directive "Develop Physical Culture, Improve the Peo-
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pie's Physique" the trade union organizations at
various levels have, since liberation, done a lot to
popularize physical culture among the workers and
staff members. Remarkable results have been achieved
in improving the health of workers, which has led
to a decrease in sickness, ensured a regular attendance
at work and raised labour productivity. During 1954,
more than 838,000 workers in China regularly took
part in basket-ball, volley-ball and football matches and
more than 82,700 teams were organized. The majority
of workers and staff in various industrial and mining
enterprises are enthusiasts for morning exercises
directed by music from the radio and many sports
teams and training groups have been formed to carry
on regular physical training.
The basic organization to lead sports activities is
the sports association, which is a voluntary body of
amateur athletes. In 1951, the China Locomotive
Athletic Association, the first trade union national
sports association, was organized by the railway work-
ers. In 1954, after the convening of the First Na-
tional Workers' Sports Conference, there was a further
increase in the number of sports associations. At the
end of 1955, there were 11 national, 61 provincial and
municipal and 181 local athletic associations in addi-
tion to many athletic committees and groups.
A great number of workers have been trained by
the trade union organizations during the last six years
to take on coaching, training and other sports work in
their spare time. According to partial figures for the
eight municipalities of Peking, Shanghai, Tientsin,
Canton, Wuhan, Shenyang, Harbin and Fushun, 53
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classes were formed in the period between 1951 and
1954 which gave training to 18,847 workers for various
sports activities.
As sports activities spread, more facilities and
grounds have been provided for the workers in fac-
tories and mines. The number of basket-ball and
volley-ball courts, football pitches, tracks and grounds
for athletic activities run by the primary trade union
organizations in the three municipalities (Shenyang,
Fushun, and Harbin) increased from 1,237 in 1954 to
2,054 in 1955, and the equipment provided, such as
horizontal bars, parallel bars, box horses and weights
for weight-lifting, increased from 2,571 pieces to 3,101.
It was decided at the First National Workers' Sports
Conference held in November 1954 that 10 to 15 per
cent of trade union funds should be appropriated for
the use of athletic activities.
In order to encourage the workers to go in for
sports and to improve athletic standards, many track
and field meetings and ball games have been held.
Partial data of five municipalities-Peking, Shanghai,
Harbin, Fushun and Taiyuan-and of the China
Locomotive Sports Association showed that 6,881
athletic meetings were held from 1951 to August 1955,
attended by more than 940,000 athletes. The First
National Workers' Sports Meeting which took place
in Peking in October 1955 enabled a review to be made
of the achievements of the workers in the field of
physical culture. Over 1,700 men and women athletes
took part. In the forty-seven track and field events,
cycle races and weight-lifting contest, eight national
records were broken by ten men and women workers,
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including the men's shot-putting which had stood for
nineteen years.
4. Production Work
In a people's democratic state led by the working
class and based on the worker-peasant alliance, the
ultimate aim of developing production is to satisfy the
ever-increasing material and cultural needs of the
people. Therefore, to develop production is in the
greatest interest of the liberated Chinese people. The
most important task of the trade union organizations
is to unite and lead all the workers to struggle con-
scientiously and enthusiastically for greater and great-
er output.
One of the main methods used by the trade union
organizations to improve production is to lead and
encourage the mass of the workers to take part in
socialist emulation campaigns. In 1950, 683,000
workers took part in these emulation campaigns; the
figure went up to 2,380,000 in 1951; from 1952 on-
wards, over 80 per cent of all workers and staff in the
country's factories and mines were taking part.
In the socialist emulation drive, we put into prac-
tice the principle of constantly improving technique
and learning and mastering new techniques; we give
full play to the collective wisdom of the workers, and
we rely on their enthusiasm to put forward rational-
ization proposals. The proposers are given material
reward. The workers are encouraged to learn seriously
Soviet advanced experiences as well as to popularize
their own successes.
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From 1950 to 1953, 1,643,708 rationalization pro-
posals were put forward by workers and staff mem-
bers. In 1954, when the All-China Federation of
Trade Unions put forward the call to "Further De-
velop the Labour Emulation Drive" not only did the
number of proposals increase, but they were generally
much more valuable. In 1954, over 848,000 rational-
ization proposals were made and it was estimated that
the realization of 102,966 alone increased the wealth
of the country by 174,310,000 yuan.
In August 1954 on the proposal of the All-China
Federation of Trade Unions, the Government Ad-
ministration Council promulgated the "Provisional
Regulations on Awards for Inventions, Technical Im-
provements and Rationalization Proposals Concerning
Production." This policy has greatly enhanced the
workers' enthusiasm.
The Soviet advanced experiences and the ad-
vanced experiences of our own workers have been
widely popularized in the industrial and mining en-
terprises throughout the country. According to
available data for 1952-1954, 102 important advanced
methods were adopted in heavy industry, and as a
result the output of steel was increased by 60 per cent
and the total value of output of iron was increased
by one third.
As the socialist emulation drive has extended and
deepened, a great number of model workers and dis-
tinguished workers have been brought forward on the
production front. From 1949 to 1953, more than 230,-
600 model workers were elected from the primary
trade union organizations throughout China. In 1954,
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153,900 model workers and distinguished workers and
220,400 advanced workers were elected from the pri-
mary trade union organizations in the factories and
mines. In the first half of 1955, among the highway
transport workers in 33 provinces and municipalities,
there was, on the average, one model worker or ad-
vanced worker out of every fifteen workers. Many of
the model workers and advanced workers were en-
gineering technicians. Among the eighty-seven model
workers elected from the power industry in 1955, en-
gineering technicians constituted more than 19 per
cent.
Because of the enthusiasm and creative ability
displayed by the workers in production, labour pro-
ductivity has been rising continuously. For instance,
the labour productivity of the workers in large in-
dustrial enterprises, both state and joint state-private,
showed a 13 per cent rise in 1953 as compared with
1952; and in 1954 registered a further 15 per cent
increase. The First Five-Year Plan for Development
of the National Economy has set the target of raising
labour productivity in the state industries by 64 per
cent from 1953 to 1957.
The Chinese working class has full confidence for
the future, and is striving selflessly for building their
country into a great socialist state. The workers in
the factories and mines throughout the country have
pledged themselves to fulfil the First Five-Year Plan
ahead of schedule. The workers of the Anshan Iron
and Steel Company have undertaken to fulfil in 1956
the targets set them for 1957 under the First Five-
Year Plan. In the Shenyang Pneumatic Tool Plant,
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the workers are going about their jobs with great en-
thusiasm for the realization of their pledge to fulfil
the Five-Year Plan one year ahead of schedule. In
the Tientsin Bicycle Factory, after the workers had
taken a pledge to fulfil the Five-Year Plan ahead of
schedule they put forward over eighty technical pro-
posals. The workers and staff in the Harbin Flax
Mill, where the 1955 production targets were fulfilled
more than one month ahead, set themselves the task
of reaching the production levels of 1957 one year
and twenty-three work-days ahead of time.
5. Wages
As mentioned above, the aim of developing pro-
duction of our country is to satisfy the ever-increasing
material and cultural needs of the people. It is the
highest aim of the people's government and the Com-
munist Party of China to bring about a happy life
for the people. The wages system of our country also
serves this general aim.
Wages are the main income of workers and staff.
They have a direct bearing on their personal interests.
As the conditions of the wages system will also in-
fluence directly the development of production, trade
union organizations have always paid close attention
to the question of wages, treating it as an important
part of their work.
Socialist state-owned enterprises handle their
wages problems according to the following two prin-
ciples :
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First, to raise the material and cultural standards
of workers and staff on the basis of developing pro-
duction, and at the same time the rate of increase in
labour productivity must exceed the rate of increase
in wages.
Second, the state pays wages in a planned way
according to the principle of "to each according to his
work." Hence, higher wages are paid to those en-
gaged in skilled or heavy work. Wages are higher
in the important departments and enterprises in the
national economy. Workers who turn out the same
amount of products of the same quality in the same
length of time receive same wages irrespective of na-
tionality, race or sex.
The wages of workers in the old China were a
mere pittance. Equal work did not receive equal pay.
And usually the wages received did not bear relation
to their contributions. And, what's more, there was
ruthless feudal exploitation. Workers lived like pau-
pers without enough food and clothing and were
always threatened by unemployment. For instance,
miners of the Kailan Mining Administration earned
only 20 cents (pre-liberation currency) a day with
1.6 hours' work. And if they should die at work the
owner of the mine gave only 20 dollars to their families.
If a horse died, it was 60 dollars' loss. So, before
liberation, the life of a worker was worse than that
of beasts.
Since the establishment of the People's Republic
of China, from 1950 onwards, trade union organiza-
tions have helped the government and the manage-
ments of enterprises in readjusting and reforming the
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wages system. Trade union organizations at all levels
took part in drawing up schemes for adjusting the
wages of workers and staff, carried out propaganda
and explanation work among them, and organized them
to discuss and decide the wages scale, thus drawing
the broad masses of workers and staff into the work of
reforming the wages system. Owing to the correct
wages policy of the people's government and the Com-
munist Party of China and the active help of trade
union organizations, the wages reform gained the sup-
port of all workers and staff. The corrupt, chaotic,
irrational and multi-grade wages system left over from
the reactionary Kuomintang regime was completely
changed. A new wages system was introduced and
the principle of "to each according to his work" was
gradually put into practice. At present there are
eight grades of wages for workers of state-owned en-
terprises. A different standard of wages is provided
for each grade. There are also extra pay and allow-
ances.
In the last few years the trade union organiza-
tions have helped the managements of enterprises to
replace the old piece-work wage system with a new
one and enforce the merit system. The old piece-work
wage system was used by the capitalists before libera-
tion to raise the intensity of labour, to lengthen work-
ing time and to exploit the workers more. They made
use of this system to undermine the unity of the work-
ing class and force the workers to work like slaves
for wages which were hardly enough to keep them
alive.
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Our piece-work wage system has been set up by
taking into account the introduction of new technique
and the replacement of manual labour with machinery.
Besides, piece-work wages are fixed for various kinds
of products. Every piece of extra work is counted.
Therefore more work means more pay. Trade union
organizations also do what they can to help the man-
agements of enterprises to take measures to raise the
cultural and technical level of the workers and to help
the workers to fulfil or overfulfil their quotas.
According to the statistics of the seven industrial
ministries for September 1955, wages paid on piece-
work rate already exceeded 40 per cent of the total
wages paid out in all enterprises under these minis-
tries.
Besides, all enterprises have set up various merit
systems : there is the system of rewards for saving
coal on the railways and there is the system of re-
wards for safety in operation in departments of power
industries. On the basis of the suggestions of the
trade unions, the Government Administration Council
promulgated the "Provisional Regulations on Awards
for Inventions, Technical Improvements and Ration-
alization Proposals Concerning Production" which
enabled some 135,600 workers and staff to receive
material rewards in 1954.
With the participation of the trade unions, the
government and managements of enterprises made pro-
visions of wages, allowances and subsidies for those
working under exceptional conditions : women work-
ers who have to take time off breast-feeding their
babies during working hours receive full pay; workers
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who work in conditions harmful to the health get
health allowances; workers who work in remote places
also receive special allowances; when the production
of enterprises is suspended either because of natural
conditions or because of management problems, work-
ers also get allowances. When a worker is transferred
he gets travelling expenses and allowances for moving
or making arrangements for the family.
With the development of production the real wages
of workers and staff have been steadily rising over
the years. According to the statistics of five industrial
ministries, the average money wages of workers and
staff in 1952 was 66.20 per cent higher than in 1950.
During the period of the First Five-Year Plan the
average money wages of workers and staff in the whole
country will increase by 33 per cent. According to
the plan, the average wages of the workers and staff
in 1955 would be 20.5 per cent higher as compared
with 1952.
With the development of the national economy,
4,220,000 more workers and staff are needed in the
period of the First Five-Year Plan. So more people
will be employed.
In addition to gradually raising the wages and
the number of employed persons, the state has made
vigorous efforts to stabilize commodity prices, or-
ganize various welfare facilities, extend the scope of
labour insurance, expand the health and medical ser-
vices, increase funds for cultural and educational
work, in order to constantly better the cultural and
material life of the workers and staff. Consequently
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the life of our workers and staff has improved a great
deal since liberation.
In China, labour protection is a fundamental
policy of the state manifesting its concern to see that
the workers and staff members work under healthy
conditions and are provided with safety measures. As
mass organizations of the working class, China's trade
unions also pay full attention to this work. The Trade
Union Law of the People's Republic of China provides
that it is the duty of trade unions to ensure that the
managements or employers effectively carry out the
regulations and directives concerning labour protec-
tion and the standards and regulations concerning
safety devices and factory sanitation.
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has
set up a Labour Protection Department which gives
directions to the trade union organizations at different
levels on how to improve labour protection ; it also
investigates and studies the safety and health condi-
tions in various enterprises, submits proposals for
labour laws and helps to popularize knowledge of
safety devices and industrial health. The principal in-
dustrial unions and the principal provincial and munic-
ipal trade union organizations have also set up sec-
tions concerned with labour protection work. Primary
trade union organizations have committees to look
after labour protection, and groups of workers elect
one of their number to act as labour protection in-
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spector. By 1955, 1,630 primary trade union organ-
izations had set up labour protection committees and
50,303 groups had labour protection inspectors.
During the period of the rehabilitation of the
national economy immediately after the liberation, the
trade unions led the workers to make an extensive in-
vestigation of safety and sanitary conditions. A great
many defects and shortcomings were corrected in,the
various establishments throughout the country, and
the extremely dangerous and bad working conditions
began to disappear.
Since 1953 the key problems concerned with im-
proving safety devices and health facilities, such as
ventilation, cooling, control of dust and poisonous
fumes, electricity safeguards, etc. are being tackled
in the various industrial enterprises. In many textile
mills, iron and steel works and machine-tool factories,
the previous high temperatures have been gradually
reduced and machinery has been installed to lighten
labour. In the state-owned collieries, over forty-five
per cent of coal is cut by combines, mechanical coal-
cutters or pneumatic picks and the rest by electric or
pneumatic drills or blasting with explosives; more
than 80 per cent of traction on the working face and
the underground haulage roadways is mechanized.
In 1954 the Ministry of Labour laid it down that
industrial enterprises, in drawing up their annual
financial plans, should work out industrial safety mea-
sures for labour protection and allocate a specific sum
for the improvement of working conditions in the
enterprises. The trade unions signed agreements with
the managements to enable them to supervise and en-
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sure the enforcement of these measures and to see that
the working conditions were systematically improved.
The trade unions co-operate with the manage-
ments in educating the workers on safety questions
and instructing them on the working of safety devices
and safe methods of work. In many industrial cities,
the government and the trade unions have jointly ar-
ranged lectures on industrial safety and health and
held exhibitions of labour protection. With a view to
studying and popularizing advanced experience in
labour protection, the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions has opened permanent exhibitions.
In connection with the plans for improving work-
ing conditions, the trade unions pay particular atten-
tion to the training of specialized personnel in labour
protection. The All-China Federation of Trade
Unions, as well as the industrial ministries, industrial
unions and the provincial and city governments, has
set up training classes on this subject. Up to the end
of 1954 about a thousand persons had received train-
ing. In 1955, 4,726 persons were trained in 26 classes
established by the provincial and city authorities and
industrial unions.
Thanks to the effort made by the trade unions,
managements, governmental bodies and the workers
themselves, working conditions in the enterprises
throughout the country have steadily improved.
Casualty figures in industry for 1953 were 5.8 per
cent lower than 1952 and for the period between
January and September 1:;54, there was a further de-
crease of 17 per cent over the corresponding period of
1953.
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Before liberation the Chinese workers generally
worked twelve hours a day and some as long as 16-18
hours, seven days a week. Since liberation the law
protects the working people's right to rest. Now vir-
tually all enterprises are operating an eight-hour day,
and in branches particularly injurious to the workers'
health, a six-hour day is enforced. Women workers
are given special consideration. "Equal pay for equal
work" is provided by law. Expectant mothers are
given light work. They are entitled to 56 days'
maternity leave with full pay. Larger enterprises
have set up creches, and in workshops where there are
many women workers, special hygiene rooms are set
aside for women. There is no longer any child labour
in state-owned factories and mines.
Labour insurance forms part of the government's
labour policy that expresses the state's concern for
the welfare of the working people. It is one of the
measures the state has adopted to improve the mate-
rial and cultural life of the workers and to develop
the productive forces.
In the old China, there was no such thing as labour
insurance for the workers, and they had to manage
as best they could in times of childbirth, old age,
sickness, death, injury and disability. Many women
workers dared not marry for fear they might have a
child and be dismissed.
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Since liberation the government has paid great
attention to labour insurance work. But as early as
December 27, 1948, Northeast China, which already
had been liberated, had its Provisional War-time
Labour Insurance Regulations for State-owned Enter-
prises. After the nation-wide liberation, the people's
government promulgated in February 1951 the Labour
Insurance Regulations of the People's Republic of
China. Since then the labour insurance programme
has been put into effect on a national scale and en-
forced in such enterprises as railways, water transport,
posts and telecommunications and factories and mines
employing 100 or more workers. In enterprises with
less than 100 workers, labour insurance may be nego-
tiated between the management and the trade union
representing the workers. Amendments to the Labour
Insurance Regulations were made on January 2, 1953,
which extended its scope and increased the benefits.
September 20, 1954 witnessed the birth of the
Constitution of the People's Republic of China. This
Constitution reinforces the Labour Insurance Regula-
tions. Article 93 of the Constitution 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 disability. To guarantee enjoy-
ment of this right, the state provides social insurance,
social assistance and public health services and
gradually expands these facilities."
The rise in the living standard of our workers is
not only shown by increases in their actual money
wages. For one thing, 12 per cent of the total pay-
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roll of the enterprise is appropriated for labour in-
surance benefits.
Every year more and more people become eligible
for labour insurance benefits. From 600,000 in 1949
the number increased to 5,550,000 by the first half of
1955, an increase of 9 times in the space of 6 years.
Our Labour Insurance Regulations apply to all
workers and staff members without exception who are
employed in enterprises covered by these Regulations,
regardless of their race, nationality, age or sex. The
Regulations provide that all the labour insurance ex-
penses should be borne by the managements or own-
ers of the enterprises. The workers and staff mem-
bers do not pay any contributions whatsoever.
The whole administration of the labour insurance
programme is handled by the trade unions, which have
established organizations at all levels in which the
workers themselves are drawn into the administration.
The Labour Insurance Department and the Collective
Labour Insurance Administration Bureau of the All-
China Federation of Trade Unions direct labour in-
surance work nationally and give guidance for the
operation of such communal labour insurance establish-
ments as sanatoria and rest homes throughout the
country. In the municipal and provincial trade union
organizations and industrial union organizations there
are special departments and personnel to take charge
of labour insurance work. Trade union committees in
factories and mines, as a rule, have set up committees
or appointed representatives to do the actual labour
insurance work-they pay out the labour insurance
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benefits and also organize mass campaigns for pre-
venting and reducing sickness and injury. .
Our labour insurance benefits cover illness, injury,
death, maternity benefits and old-age pensions.
A worker who falls sick or is injured outside his
work can be treated free at the medical institutions
of the enterprise where he is employed. During treat-
ment, for a period of up to six months he receives a
sick benefit of between 60 to 100 per cent of his wages,
depending on the length of time he has been employed
in the enterprise. In the case of medical treatment
exceeding six months the allowance paid is equivalent
to 40-60 per cent of his wages. Priority in sanatoria
or rest homes is accorded to convalescents or those
who are constitutionally weak.
In the case of injury sustained at work, the total
cost of treatment, medicines, hospitalization, meals at
the hospital and travelling expenses involved is borne
by the management or owner of the enterprise. Wages
must be paid as usual throughout the period of treat-
ment. If the worker becomes disabled, he is paid
according to the degree of disablement, an invalid bene-
fit equivalent to 60-75 per cent of his wages until such
time as he regains his ability to work or until his
death. If he is partially disabled but is still able to
work, he gets, apart from his wages, a monthly invalid
allowance equivalent to 10-30 per cent of his previous
wages.
Women workers are entitled to a total of 56 days'
maternity leave with full wages. In the case of a
difficult delivery or the birth of twins, the mother is
entitled to an extra 14 days also with full wages. Ex-
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penses for pre-natal examinations and child delivery
are borne by the enterprise. In the case of childbirth,
a woman worker or the wife of a male worker receives
a small maternity benefit which is increased in the
event of twins, triplets, etc.
Male workers upon attaining the age of 60 who
have worked for 25 years, including 5 years in their
present post, and women workers on reaching the age
of 50 who have worked for 20 years, with 5 years in
their present post, may retire with a monthly old-age
pension of 50-70 per cent of their wages. Retired
workers are still entitled to medical treatment at the
clinic or hospital of the enterprise where they used to
work. Workers who are eligible to retire but continue
to work receive, in addition to their normal wages,
an allowance equal to 10-20 per cent of their wages
according to the length of time they have worked in
the enterprise. By the end of June 1955, there were
37,000 workers enjoying old-age pensions. The state
has also established homes for the aged workers who
have no family of their own. All the expenses for
such establishments are borne by the state. There
are at present 15 such homes in the country for the
aged and permanently disabled.
In the case of the death of a worker, his family
dependents receive considerable material assistance
from the state. When a worker or retired worker
dies from sickness or injury not sustained at work,
his immediate dependents receive a funeral benefit
equivalent to two months' average wages. In addi-
tion, they receive a relief benefit equivalent to 6-12
months' wages according to the number of his depen-
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dents. Greater material assistance is given to the
family dependents of a worker who dies while at work
or after retirement in consequence of disablement re-
sulting from injury sustained at work. To begin with,
the family dependents receive a funeral benefit equiv-
alent to 3 months' average wages. In addition, they
are allowed a monthly pension ranging from 25 to 50
per cent of the deceased's previous wages according to
the number of the dependents. The pension is paid
until such time as the dependents no longer have the
status of dependents. A funeral allowance of one-
third to one half of the average monthly wage is also
paid in the case of the death of a family dependent of
a worker.
The number of sanatoria and rest homes establish-
ed by trade unions with labour insurance funds has
been increasing from year to year. By the end of
June 1955, there were 126 such establishments in the
country with 15,930 beds. In addition, primary trade
unions in factories and mines have set up 1,500 sana-
toria (including sanatoria where the workers go in
their spare time) with 38,000 beds. A total of 335,-
000 workers had used these sanatoria and rest homes
by the end of June 1955.
8. Women Workers
The trade unions of China have always paid great
attention to the problems of women workers. In the
All-China Federation of Trade Unions as well as local
trade unions of all levels and the industrial unions,
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women's departments have been set up. Where there
are women members, the primary trade union organi-
zations have formed committees or made a com-
mittee member responsible for dealing with the
special problems of women workers. The duties
of the committee or committee member are : to
carry through, in co-ordination with the various de-
partments of the trade union concerned, the policies
and decrees of the Party and the government concern-
ing the protection of women and children; to show
women that their emancipation can only be gained
through their own efforts ; and to keep in close contact
with the women workers in order to know and reflect
their needs and to help them solve their personal dif-
ficulties.
Before liberation, Chinese women workers had no
rights whatsoever, politically, socially or in any other
respect. In many cases they did the same kind and
amount of work as men but were paid only half or
two-thirds as much. They also found it very difficult
to find a job, and were liable to be dismissed due to
pregnancy or childbirth.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of
China, the rapid rehabilitation and development of
the national economy has afforded tremendous oppor-
tunities to women to obtain employment. In the first
half of 1955 there were already two million women
workers in the country. "Equal pay for equal work"
is guaranteed by law. Many women workers have
been promoted to managerial positions. In 1953,
1,569 women workers were promoted to responsible
posts in various enterprises; and in 1954, 2,397 were
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promoted to administrative or technical positions. By
the end of 1954, more than 32,400 women workers
had been promoted to leading or responsible jobs dur-
ing the five years since liberation.
Women workers of the new China are displaying
great enthusiasm for work and a new creative spirit
in the country's socialist construction. Many ad-
vanced workers have been developed. According to
a national survey in 1954, more than 11,600 women
workers were elected by primary trade union organiza-
tions as model workers and distinguished work-
ers, and over 20,200 as advanced workers.
Women workers have made an outstanding con-
tribution in the construction of our country, and have
brought about a change in the old scornful attitude
to women's work. Many women workers have been
elected as people's deputies, including eighteen as rep-
resentatives to the First National People's Congress.
Under the Labour Insurance Regulations, women
workers not only enjoy the same privileges as men,
they are also entitled to certain special welfare bene-
fits. Up to 1954, more than 2,200,000 women work-
ers and wives of workers throughout the country had
received maternity benefits.
To protect the health of mothers and their babies,
special canteens, rest rooms for expectant mothers
and baby-feeding rooms have been set up in factories
and enterprises and special buses provided to take
expectant mothers and mothers with young babies
to and from work. By the first half of 1955, 901
hygiene rooms had been set up in factories, mines
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and enterprises throughout the country for women
workers.
Before liberation, illiteracy among women work-
ers was very widespread, in some areas even reaching
a hundred per cent. Since liberation, women workers
have been taking an active part in spare-time literacy
classes in the factories. In the first quarter of 1955,
over 470,200 women workers were studying in spare-
time literacy classes throughout the country. In addi-
tion, a large number of women workers entered work-
er-peasant short-term secondary schools and colleges.
9. Workers' Family Dependents
Work among the workers' families is an important
branch of our trade union work. The organizing of
the wives and families and uniting them around the
trade union, and so helping to raise their political
consciousness, goes a long way towards helping the
workers in their work.
Before liberation, the Chinese workers were re-
garded as having no rights and the women members
of their families particularly had to put up with all
kinds of indignities. As the workers only received
very small wages while commodity prices rose several
times a day, the workers' families were continually in
great difficulties.
With the liberation, the working class became the
masters of the country, and with the growth in pro-
duction, the workers' life improved considerably.
Their real wages increased, and, in addition, the Labour
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Insurance Regulations promulgated in 1951 provided
material assistance to them in the case of birth, old
age, sickness, death, injury and disability. The Reg-
ulations also provide that members of workers'
families also enjoy free medical treatment, and have
to pay only a half of the cost of medicine.
While the living standards of the workers' families
improved, so their political status was raised and their
cultural life improved. The Constitution of the Peo-
ple's Republic of China provides that women enjoy
equal rights as men politically, economically, and in
cultural and family life. Three hundred and ninety
members of coal miners' families in various parts of
the country were elected as county, municipal and
provincial people's deputies. The wife of a lathe
turner in Shenyang was elected as deputy to the Na-
tional People's Congress. A large number of work-
ers' wives attended spare-time schools organized in
the areas in which they lived or in the enterprises
where their husbands were employed. The trade
unions also helped them organize self-study groups.
Up to the first half of 1955, 100,813 working-class
housewives had taken part in literacy classes.
The trade union clubs use various ways to at-
tract the workers' families to take part in cultural
activities. For example, they organize lectures on
political and current affairs and talks on the essentials
of maternity hygiene, hold exhibitions and discussion
meetings, form reading and literacy groups and put
on film-shows, etc. After completing their studies,
many housewives took up jobs. For example, 2,960
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working-class housewives were found jobs in Tientsin
in 1951.
To enable housewives to study and take up work,
the trade union organizations have helped them to set
up creches and nurseries of their own where their
children can be looked after. According to a survey
made in 1954, there were 1,228 creches in various
parts of the country run by workers' families, where
more than 28,900 children were cared for.
The housewives are not concerned only with im-
proving their own lives, they also take part in work
for the benefit of society. Many have formed or-
ganizations for improving sanitary conditions. As
these improved, so the amount of sickness decreased
considerably. They also organize mutual-aid groups,
which look after workers' wives or other relatives who
are ill, so that the workers can go to work with an
easy mind. In the first half of 1955 there were 23,464
such mutual-aid groups in the country with over 231,-
400 members.
10. Finance Work
According to the Constitution of the Trade
Unions of the People's Republic of China trade union
funds are derived from the following sources: (1)
Admission fees of new members. A new member pays
an admission fee equal to one per cent of his total
wage of the month previous to his admission; (2)
Membership dues. Each member pays regularly one
per cent of his monthly wage as membership dues;
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(3) Proceeds from cultural and sports activities spon-
sored by the trade unions; (4) Allocations by the
managements or owners of enterprises in accordance
with the Trade Union Law, under which the manage-
ment or the owner of an enterprise must allocate to
the trade union two per cent of the total payroll every
month.
In the last few years, as a result of the develop-
ment of national construction, there has been a con-
tinuous expansion of the trade union membership and
a rise in the level of wages, which means that the
trade union funds have also increased.
The income of the trade unions is used to serve
the members and to improve production. It is mainly
used for the following purposes: (1) To pay for mass
cultural work. This includes expenses incurred in
running spare-time schools for the workers, training
trade union activists, sponsoring recreational and
spare-time artistic activities, buying books, showing
films and general propaganda work. (2) To pay for
sports activities. This includes expenses incurred in
the purchase of equipment and articles necessary for
the workers and their children to carry on sports
activities, in the holding of sports competitions, train-
ing of sportsmen and propaganda work. (3) As
material assistance given to the members. This in-
cludes allowances to members who are in difficulty,
subsidies allocated to the mutual-aid savings organiza-
tions, nurseries and young pioneers' summer camps.
(4) For trade union's administration, including wages
for trade union officials, administrative expenses and
expenses incurred in the organizational work of the
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trade union (e.g. the holding of membership meet-
ing, etc.)
The administration costs take only a minimum of
the trade union funds, the major part of which is
used to enhance the cultural life of the members. In
1955 the administrative expenses of all trade unions
in the country amounted to 30.2 per cent of the com-
bined income and a continuous drive will be made to
reduce this proportion in the future.
11. Living Conditions
The Chinese workers' living conditions were ex-
tremely poor before liberation. Most of them lived in
squalid sheds. In working-class districts there was
no sanitation to speak of : the air was foul and there
was neither piped water nor a sewerage system.
Epidemics were frequent and the mortality rate was
high.
Since liberation the people's government has built
large numbers of workers' houses. In 1952 they built
houses enough to accommodate one million families.
In 1953 and 1954, houses with floor spaces of 12
million and 13 million square metres were constructed
respectively for the workers. According to the First
Five-Year Plan for Development of the National
Economy, in the five-year period (1953-57), the govern-
ment will build workers' houses with a total floor space
of 46 million square metres. Apart from the housing
construction financed by the government, a lot has
been done by trade union organizations to help im-
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prove the workers' living conditions. For instance,
they arranged for the workers to build their own
houses with government loans. In this way in 1955,
houses were built for 15,954 railway workers' families,
covering 417,984 square metres of floor space.
Rents are now much lower than they were before.
In pre-liberation days workers used to pay 30-50 per
cent of their income in rent. In addition, they had to
pay 3-12 months' rent on deposit. Nowadays rents for
government-financed houses take up only about 5 per
cent of their wages.
The people's government pays considerable atten-
tion to the workers' ever-increasing demand for con-
sumer goods. After liberation it applied itself first
of all to the stabilization of commodity prices. Since
1955, the government has carried out a planned supply
of grain, edible oil and cotton cloth, with the result
that speculation was rooted out, the stability of prices
fully established and the livelihood of the whole body
of working people safeguarded.
Meanwhile the government has expanded the pro-
duction of light industry and agriculture in due pro-
portion to the development of heavy industry, so as
to satisfy the workers' material needs which are
growing with the steady increase in their wages. In
addition, the government has extended the network of
department stores, retail shops or consumers' co-
operatives in factories and mines and the workers'
residential areas.
Before liberation there were hardly any canteens
in the factories. The workers had to take their meals
in the open air or by the side of the machines. Things
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are quite different today. Every factory and mine
has its own canteen or dining hall built and equipped
at the expense of the management, who also subsidizes
them.
The wages of most workers before liberation were
so low that they were hardly sufficient to provide the
bare necessities of life. Since liberation, however,
their life has been improved enormously. With a
steady increase in production has come a steady rise
in the workers' wages. They not only live much bet-
ter than before but are able to save out of their earn-
ings. The savings of the workers and staff members
of the Shenhsin Textile Mill in Wusih, for example,
amounted to 193,900 yuan in 1952, increasing to 514,-
600 yuan in 1955.
A small number of workers with little skill, with
too many mouths to feed, or who have run into un-
expected troubles, however, still have financial diffi-
culties. Allowances are made to these workers
according to their actual circumstances, from relief
funds financed by 20 per cent of trade union member-
ship dues, part of the labour insurance funds and 5
per cent of the enterprise's premium funds.
There are mutual-aid savings associations under
the control of trade union organizations, from which
workers can get interest-free loans. By the end of
1954, 28,000 primary trade union organizations had
established their own savings associations.
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