(Nanchang August 1st Uprising Memorial Hall Chen Hongmo Chen Haiyang)

In the 1920s and 1930s, a vigorous Soviet movement emerged across China, with Jiangxi being the most intense province of the Soviet movement. In addition to the central Soviet area centered in Ruijin, there were also the northeastern Jiangxi (later renamed Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi), Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi, and Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet areas. Among them, the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area established in 1931 had 'basic Soviet areas stretching about a thousand miles, with a population of nearly 900,000.' As a barrier for the central Soviet area, this red region spanning the border of Hunan and Jiangxi played a significant role in the Soviet movement and the land revolution war at that time.

To support the revolutionary war, the people of the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area not only sacrificed their precious lives and blood but also made tremendous contributions in manpower, material resources, and financial support. Purchasing government bonds issued by the Soviet area was an important way to directly support the revolution financially. Today, as we review this history and examine how many times the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area issued government bonds and their total amount, it feels quite elusive. This article attempts to explore this issue in hopes of finding an answer. If there are any omissions or inaccuracies, we hope to receive guidance from colleagues in the financial and party history circles.

1. Several statements regarding the issuance of government bonds in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area in existing literature.

The author has consulted some literature and collected discussions regarding the issuance of government bonds in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area, and will introduce the relevant statements as follows.

Statement 1: As far as I have seen, the earliest record regarding the issuance of government bonds in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area appears in the 1987 publication 'History of the Jiangxi Soviet Area.' It mentions the financial and monetary affairs of the revolutionary base: 'In July 1932, the temporary central government issued 'Revolutionary War Short-term Government Bonds' (first phase) worth 600,000 yuan, which were quickly purchased by the masses; in November, another 'Revolutionary War Short-term Government Bonds' (second phase) worth 1.2 million yuan was issued, exceeding the target by 80,000 yuan; in September 1933, 'Economic Construction Bonds' worth 3 million yuan were issued, which were also exceeded in three months. In addition, some bases also issued government bonds separately, such as the Hunan-Jiangxi province issuing 200,000 yuan in October 1933 for foreign trade, grain adjustment, and cooperative economic construction expenses; ...' Here, the total amount of government bonds issued in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area is not specifically mentioned, only the quantity of bonds issued in October 1933 is noted. However, the article clearly records the times and amounts of government bonds issued by the central Soviet area, which will be of reference value for our subsequent discussion.

Statement 2: Starting in the 1980s, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China organized and published a series of 'Historical Materials of the Communist Party of China.' In 1990, a set titled 'Hunan-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base' was published (including two volumes). The overview at the beginning of the first volume comprehensively and concisely introduces the financial and economic work of the Hunan-Jiangxi revolutionary base: 'Tax revenue is the main source of finance for the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area. The provincial and county Soviet governments collected land and commercial progressive taxes according to the 'Interim Collection Regulations for Land and Progressive Taxes in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area' to increase financial revenue. From December 1932 to February 1933, the total financial revenue of the province was 170,000 yuan. 40,000 yuan was raised, and on January 15, 1932, the Hunan-Jiangxi Provincial Workers' and Peasants' Bank (with Hu Xiang as the president) was established in Yongxin, issuing currency and setting up a mint to produce silver dollars, and issuing a total of 600,000 yuan in two phases of revolutionary war and economic construction bonds.' This is the earliest article I have seen that records the total amount of government bonds issued in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area. Unfortunately, the last sentence 'a total of 600,000 yuan in two phases of revolutionary war and economic construction bonds' is not very clear; it can be understood as one phase each of revolutionary war bonds and economic construction bonds, totaling two phases; or it can be understood as two phases of revolutionary war bonds and one phase of economic construction bonds. From the writing, it seems that the latter interpretation aligns more with the author's original intent. However, while the total amount of the two phases of bonds is mentioned, the specific issuance amounts of each phase are not clearly stated, making it difficult for researchers to analyze in detail.

Statement 3: In 1992, the book 'Monetary History of the Hunan-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base' edited by Luo Kaihua and Luo Xianfu was published, which introduced the issuance of government bonds in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area, stating: 'With the approval of the central government, the Hunan-Jiangxi province issued two phases (including a supplementary phase) of government bonds to the masses, amounting to 430,000 yuan.' The book also mentions elsewhere: 'In November 1933, the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet government, in response to the demands of the masses for the development of the revolutionary war, decided to issue an additional 200,000 yuan for foreign trade, grain adjustment, and cooperative economic construction on the basis of issuing 150,000 yuan in the second phase of revolutionary bonds.' Thus, according to the previously mentioned total of 430,000 yuan, it can be inferred that the first phase of bonds issued 80,000 yuan.

Statement 4: The 'Jiangxi Provincial Chronicle • Jiangxi Financial Chronicle' published in 1999 is considered a relatively authoritative reference book. It provides a concise and comprehensive introduction to the issuance of government bonds in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area: 'In 1933, the provincial Soviet government of the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area issued government bonds three times: in January, 80,000 yuan of revolutionary war bonds were issued, with principal and interest repaid in half a year, at an annual interest rate of 1%. The Jiangxi branch of the National Bank, in addition to acting as an agent for issuing, collecting, and repaying principal and interest, also handled the work of offsetting taxes with unexpired bonds and refunding bonds to the masses. In July, the second phase of revolutionary war bonds worth 150,000 yuan was issued, with principal and interest repaid in one year, at an annual interest rate of 1%; in November, an additional 200,000 yuan of the second phase of revolutionary war bonds was issued for economic construction, with interest of 5 cents per yuan per year, bond interest paid over six years starting in 1934, and principal repaid over three years starting in 1937, with the funds collected from the bond issuance sent to the bank's agency treasury.' Although the total amount of bonds issued is not explicitly stated here, it is not difficult to calculate that the cumulative issuance of these three bonds amounts to 430,000 yuan.

Statement 5: In the first volume of 'Local History of the Communist Party of China in Jiangxi' published in 2002, the situation of government bond issuance in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area is specifically introduced while discussing the financial and monetary work of the Soviet area: 'During the fourth and fifth anti-'encirclement' campaigns, in order to raise funds for the revolutionary war and economic construction, and to overcome financial difficulties, while completing the temporary central government's two issuances of short-term revolutionary war bonds and one economic construction bond, various Soviet areas also issued some local government bonds. For example, the Hunan-Jiangxi provincial Soviet government issued a total of 470,000 yuan in four phases of provincial bonds...' Here, it is clearly stated that the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet area issued four phases of bonds, but it does not specifically discuss the issuance amount of each phase, only providing a general total.

Statement 6: The book "Complete History of the Xiang-Gan Revolutionary Base" published in 2007 is a monograph introducing the history of the Xiang-Gan Soviet area. It spends a considerable amount of space discussing the issuance of public bonds in the Xiang-Gan Soviet area: "In the second half of 1932, the Xiang-Gan Provincial Soviet government issued the first phase of public bonds worth 80,000 yuan across the province, with an annual interest rate of 1 percent, and the repayment time was set for July 1, 1933. On October 18, 1933, the Xiang-Gan Provincial Economic Construction Conference passed a resolution, deciding that 'the provincial economic construction conference unanimously agrees with the request of the nine counties for the provincial Soviet government to issue an additional 200,000 yuan in the second phase of revolutionary public bonds, and requests the provincial Soviet government to approve it quickly, so as to promote sales and smoothly carry out economic construction. Each county, district, and township should immediately organize public bond issuance committees at all levels according to the public bond issuance outline issued by the central government, mobilizing villages, households, organizations, and groups to compete enthusiastically, aiming to complete it before the All-Soviet Conference. The previously received public bonds should all be paid in cash to the sub-warehouse before the end of October.' (Original note: Compiled by the Jiangxi Provincial Archives: "Selected Materials on the History of the Xiang-Gan Revolutionary Base" Volume II, page 531, Jiangxi People's Publishing House, 1984) In November, the Xiang-Gan Provincial Soviet government announced the "Regulations on the Issuance of the Second Phase of Revolutionary Public Bonds," declaring the issuance of the second phase of public bonds worth 150,000 yuan, with an annual interest rate of 5 cents. Soon, an additional 200,000 yuan was added, of which 80,000 yuan was used for foreign trade, 80,000 yuan for grain adjustment, and 40,000 yuan to help cooperatives expand production." This passage contains many errors (which will be analyzed later), and it indirectly states the total amount of public bonds in the Xiang-Gan Soviet area to be 430,000 yuan.

2. Analysis and Discussion of the Above Statements

Among the above statements, except for Statement 1, which is just one example, the other statements directly or indirectly discuss the total amount of public bonds issued in the Xiang-Gan Soviet area. These statements can be summarized into three opinions: Statement 2 mentions 600,000 yuan; Statement 5 mentions 470,000 yuan; and the other three statements introduce 430,000 yuan.

Here, we will first discuss the statement with the most supporters—430,000 yuan. Before the discussion, it is necessary to clarify some ambiguous points in Statement 6.

The author of Statement 6 correctly introduced the situation of the first phase of public bond issuance in the Xiang-Gan Soviet area, and then quoted a long passage from the original text of the resolution of the Xiang-Gan Provincial Economic Construction Conference on October 18, 1933. However, the author did not carefully read the text of the resolution, nor did they consult other relevant literature, and concluded: "In November, the Xiang-Gan Provincial Soviet government announced the 'Regulations on the Issuance of the Second Phase of Revolutionary Public Bonds,' declaring the issuance of public bonds worth 150,000 yuan, with an annual interest rate of 5 cents. Soon, an additional 200,000 yuan was issued..." Here, the timing of the issuance of the second phase of public bonds is completely confused.

The "Jiangxi Provincial Chronicle: Financial Chronicle" explains the issuance times and dates of the second phase of public bonds quite clearly. As early as when the first phase of public bonds matured, in July 1933, the Xiang-Gan Soviet area began issuing the second phase of revolutionary public bonds worth 150,000 yuan. The reason for issuing in July was that the first phase of public bonds had reached the repayment time, and it was just at this time that the second phase of public bonds was issued, which had the meaning of 'issuing new bonds to offset old ones.' The resolution of the Xiang-Gan Provincial Economic Construction Conference on October 18 mentioned the 'additional issuance of 200,000 yuan in the second phase of revolutionary public bonds,' which refers to the additional issuance based on the 150,000 yuan already issued in July, hence the term 'additional issuance'; otherwise, it should be directly referred to as 'issuance.' It can be seen that while holding the view of a total issuance of 430,000 yuan in public bonds, the specific issuance times proposed by each should be carefully analyzed for correctness.

Excluding the errors in the issuance time in Statement 6, all statements that believe the total amount of public bonds issued in the Xiang-Gan Soviet area is 430,000 yuan at least share one common key error, which is that they all regard the total amount of the second phase of public bonds issued in July 1933 as 150,000 yuan, thus arriving at the total of 8 + 15 + 20 = 43 (ten thousand yuan). This statement appears to have some basis on the surface, as the regulations published at the time of the bond issuance and the existing physical bonds printed with the issuance regulations (each bond has the issuance regulations printed on the back) can support this statement. However, in fact, when preparing to issue the second phase of public bonds in June 1933, 200,000 yuan was printed, and they hoped to complete this goal, although it was not made public. By October 22, 1933, the Xiang-Gan Provincial Soviet Finance Department issued the "Outline for the Additional Issuance of 200,000 Yuan in the Second Phase of Revolutionary Public Bonds," which clearly announced: in addition to the formal approval for the additional issuance of 200,000 yuan in revolutionary public bonds, "it was also determined to quickly complete the original printed 200,000 yuan in public bonds." Subsequent public letters and internal notices repeatedly mentioned the slogan of "completing 400,000 yuan in the second phase of public bonds." Therefore, it can be seen that the total amount of the second phase of public bonds issued in the Xiang-Gan Soviet area should be 400,000 yuan, not 350,000 yuan. The author has previously written about this; interested readers can find related articles through citations and read them, and will not elaborate here.

Since the amount of the second phase of public bonds in the Xiang-Gan Soviet area can be confirmed as 400,000 yuan, then adding the first phase of public bonds of 80,000 yuan, the total for just these two phases of public bonds is 480,000 yuan. Therefore, the previous several statements about 430,000 yuan clearly underestimated the amount by 50,000 yuan.

Statement 5 believes that the Xiang-Gan Soviet area "issued 470,000 yuan in provincial public bonds in four phases." From the above discussion, it can be seen that the total amount of the first and second phases of public bonds issued in the Xiang-Gan Soviet area alone is 480,000 yuan, thus it can be confirmed that the total amount of public bonds mentioned in Statement 5 is incorrect. However, Statement 5 mentions that the Xiang-Gan Soviet area issued public bonds four times, which is a unique perspective worth noting, but unfortunately, the original text does not clearly explain the specific circumstances of the four issuances.

The real situation is that the Xiang-Gan Soviet area did indeed issue public bonds four times. In addition to the three issuances mentioned above, I have records of a fourth issuance of public bonds (which should be considered the first in chronological order), which I will introduce here.

Throughout the land revolution period, various Soviet areas faced pressure from financial difficulties. "In order to overcome financial hardships, the Soviet central government had to rely on issuing public bonds to make up for the shortfall in fiscal revenue. In June 1932, the Soviet central government issued the first phase of revolutionary war bonds worth 600,000 yuan to the masses in the central Soviet area." In fact, these 600,000 yuan in public bonds were not only issued to the masses in the central Soviet area but also a portion was issued in other Soviet areas. The Xiang-Gan Soviet area undertook part of the issuance task. A document issued by the central Soviet government to the Xiang-Gan Province clearly states: "In order to enrich the revolutionary war funds, the central government issued 600,000 yuan in public bonds, and this decision is to issue 100,000 yuan in the Xiang-Gan Province. Later, due to the sales in Jiangxi and Fujian exceeding the original amount, and due to inconvenient transportation, a portion was allocated to Jiangxi, and now only 74,000 yuan remains. This movement has mobilized the masses in Jiangxi to support the Soviet government, support the Red Army, and participate in the war enthusiastically. You must carry out extensive propaganda to encourage the masses to actively purchase public bonds based on their enthusiasm and support. This amount belongs to the central government and should be kept. When transportation is convenient, it will be sent to the central government." This document clearly states that the Xiang-Gan Soviet area undertook the sales task of 74,000 yuan of the first phase of public bonds in the central Soviet area in 1932, and all the cash received from the sales was handed over to the central government. As for when this public bond was sold out and when it was handed over, there are no documented records. However, based on the records of the successful sale of the first phase of 600,000 yuan in public bonds in the central Soviet area, it can be confirmed that the Xiang-Gan Soviet area completed the task in a timely manner and handed over the public bond funds to the central government within the stipulated period.

In historical research, there is a principle of 'isolated evidence cannot stand alone.' For this reason, the author has also found supporting evidence. In a report from the Hunan-Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China to the Central Committee on December 19, 1932, when specifically reporting on economic work, it mentioned: 'The movement to save and unify finances, and the struggle against corruption and waste is ongoing. Currently, all agencies are implementing two meals a day, not issuing clothing allowances, suspending the monthly allowance of fifty cents, saving all office expenses, and reducing staff. Under such a saving movement, some achievements have been made. Most of the tax revenue from various counties has been collected, and the mint can produce forty thousand current dollars. Rough calculations show that the tax revenue cannot sustain three months of expenses, and the repayment of public debt is also required. We hope you can provide good guidance on the thorough solution to this issue.' Please note that the mention of 'public debt also needs to be repaid' refers to the repayment of the first short-term public debt issued by the Central Soviet Area a few months ago, as the issuance date on the bond is July 1932, with a term of six months. By December, the repayment time for this bond would be due, which is why the document mentions the repayment of public debt. If it refers to the public debt issued by the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area itself, then the first public debt had not yet been officially issued at this time—the official issuance date was January 1, 1933, and there was no need to consider repayment six months later when writing this document.

From this, we can conclude: the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area issued a public debt of seventy-four thousand yuan from the Central Soviet Area before issuing its first public debt.

As for the claim that the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area 'issued two phases of revolutionary war and economic construction public debt totaling 600,000 yuan,' the author believes that it does not specify the exact number of issuances and amounts of these public debts, leading to a total of 600,000 yuan, which is hard to convince. Moreover, from the issuance regulations and related documents of the first and second phases (including the supplementary issuance of the second phase) of public debt, there is no supporting evidence for this claim.

3. Conclusion

In summary, we can briefly draw the following conclusion:

The Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area issued public debt four times. The first issuance was a short-term revolutionary war public debt (first phase) of seventy-four thousand yuan, which occurred after September 1932 and before November. The second issuance was a short-term revolutionary public debt of eighty thousand yuan, with the issuance date specified in the document as January 1, 1933, but the actual date was earlier. The third issuance was on July 1, 1933, for the second phase of revolutionary war public debt, with a publicly issued amount of 150,000 yuan, but actually printed 200,000 yuan; the fourth issuance was in November 1933, increasing the second phase of revolutionary public debt by 200,000 yuan, while also requiring the previous excess of 50,000 yuan to be issued together, making the total amount of the second phase public debt 400,000 yuan. Summing up the amounts from the four issuances, we can conclude that the total amount of public debt issued by the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area is 554,000 yuan.

To clearly reflect the various claims regarding the issuance of public debt in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area and the opinions in this article, the relevant information is listed below (see the appendix) for readers to refer to. It should be noted that when introducing my views in the table, the names of the public debts are a combination of the names printed on the bonds and the names announced in the public debt issuance regulations, while the earlier discussions in this article used only abbreviations for conciseness.

Aside from these four issuances of public debt, has the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area issued any other public debt? At least from the materials and archives I have encountered, there is no record of such. Therefore, in the absence of conclusive evidence, I believe that the conclusion that the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area issued a total of 554,000 yuan in public debt is a verifiable conclusion.

The remote and impoverished Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area is a region with a population of nearly 900,000. In less than two years (from September 1932 to June 1934), the people here actively purchased more than 550,000 yuan of Soviet Area public debt, averaging over 0.6 yuan per person. Considering the price and consumption levels at that time, this should be regarded as a remarkable achievement. The people of the Soviet Area supported the revolutionary war and the Red Army with their actions. Their significant contributions to the Chinese revolution should be remembered by future generations.

Completed on October 31, 2009

Revised on December 15, 2009

References:

[1] Compiled by the Hunan Provincial Finance Department: 'Selected Historical Materials on Financial Economics of the Hunan-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base • Major Events' Hunan People's Publishing House, July 1986, First Edition, Page 667

[2] Xia Daohan and Chen Liming, 'History of the Jiangxi Soviet Area' Jiangxi People's Publishing House, 1987, First Edition, Page 299

[3] Compiled by the Party History Data Collection Cooperation Group of the Hunan-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base: 'Historical Data Series of the Communist Party of China • Hunan-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base' (Volume 1) Central Party History Data Publishing House, 1990, First Edition, Page 11

[4] Edited by Luo Kaihua and Luo Xianfu: 'Monetary History of the Hunan-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base' China Financial Publishing House, June 1992, First Edition, Page 92

[5] Same as above, Pages 111-112.

[6] Editorial Committee of the Jiangxi Financial Chronicle: 'Jiangxi Provincial Chronicle • Jiangxi Financial Chronicle • Financial Situation in the Soviet Area' Huangshan Publishing House, November 1991, First Edition, Page 458

[7] Edited by the Party History Research Office of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China: 'Local History of the Communist Party of China in Jiangxi' Volume 1, Jiangxi People's Publishing House, October 2002, First Edition, Page 366

[8] Chen Gang, Huang Huiyun, and Ouyang Xiaohua, 'Complete History of the Hunan-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base' Jiangxi Publishing Group, Jiangxi People's Publishing House, 2007, First Edition, Page 207

[9] Chen Hongmo: 'On the Issuance Volume of the Second Phase Revolutionary Public Debt in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area' 'Southern Cultural Relics' 2005, Issue 4, Pages 109-110

[10] Yu Boliu and Ling Buji: 'History of the Central Soviet Area • Economic Construction of the Central Soviet Area' Jiangxi People's Publishing House, September 2001, First Edition, Page 719

[11] 'Central Instructions to the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Government' (September 13, 1932) originally published in 'Red China' Issue 33, Same as [3] Pages 380-381

[12] Work Report of the Hunan-Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (December 19, 1932) compiled by the Jiangxi Provincial Archives: 'Selected Historical Materials of the Hunan-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base' Volume 2, Jiangxi People's Publishing House, 1984, First Edition, Page 155

References:

Chen Hongmo: 'On the Issuance of the First Phase Revolutionary War Public Debt in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area and Related Situations' Jiangxi Provincial Numismatic Society, 'Numismatic Research' (Internal Publication) 2006, Issue 2

Chen Hongmo: 'On the Issuance of the Second Phase Revolutionary War Public Debt in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet Area and Related Situations' Jiangxi Provincial Numismatic Society, 'Numismatic Research' (Internal Publication) 2009, Issue 1

(Author's affiliation: Nanchang August 1st Uprising Memorial Hall, Postal Code: 330009)