A Study On Hunan Supply And Marketing Cooperatives In Early Period Of People’s Republic Of China(1950—1957)

The Supply and Marketing Cooperatives(Gong Xiao He Zuo She)of Hunan Province originated from Hunan Administration Bureau of Cooperative Affairs(HABCA) that was founded on 1st February1951. Supply and marketing service is one sub-field of cooperative affairs, however, it, comparing to other business,was the HABCA’s main responsibility.Before the founding of HABCA, the Provincial Assembly of Practitioners of Cooperative Affairs was held. In the Assembly,the Preparatory Committee collected relevant information about various regions in Hunan, delivered instructions on cooperative principles from higher authorities, and assigned tasks to various cities and counties. Meanwhile, HABCA’s self organization-construction was being developed, first the Hunan Provincial Preparatory Committee for Cooperative Affairs was established, then the HABCA recruited administrative officers,established special departments to deal with different business of cooperative affairs, it also established working systems and standards in order to set an example for lower level cooperatives. The primarily established working systems include financial management system, the institutional workregulations, standards of operation, and other practices and procedures.While the ‘ superstructure organization ’ was under construction, the ‘base organization’ was expanding slowly as well. Since the cooperative affairs were still in the preliminary experimenting stage, relations between the HABCA and practices of grass-root cooperatives are mutual influencing and mutual remedying. After a primary trial of over one year, the province-wide cooperative system was establish from the top down, and the supply and marketing cooperative service was of great importance. Afterwards, through two years of consolidation and slow improvement, the HABCA eliminated its other business apart from supply and marketing service since1954, thus the Hunan Supply and Marketing Cooperatives(HSMC)was established. The power of HSMC further permeated into the business sector, and with the undergoing of the Three Major Transformations(San Da Gai Zao), the HSMC undertook main work of the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce. After understanding the situation in the early period,proposing preliminary corrective action plan, launching a pilot project, and popularization, the socialist transformation reached its peak in 1955 and mostly finished in1956. Later the main tasks were to consolidate the outcome of transformation and to educate business owners. Supply and Marketing Cooperatives were in the leading position in rural business.We should learn from history wisdom — based on the organization evolution of Hunan supply and marketing cooperatives, their working system, and successes and failures of their work— to fertilize thoughts on current.