K. This is the 1st working draft of vol. VI. It still ... - From Marx to Mao

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE ANTI-JAPANESE WAR
reduction in the loss through disease of fully-grown sheep, and
cows, donkeys, horses and so forth. Excluding sheep, the livestock
of Jingbian requires 30 million jin of fodder per year. We
can get at least 10 million jin with the above five methods.”
Fodder is a life-and-death question for livestock. We hope that
the comrades in the various counties will make a plan for fodder in
1943.
Ban the slaughter and export of female animals. The slaughter
of all cattle is forbidden and old cattle can only be killed after inspection.
Improve animal breeds. We should investigate experience in
FROM MARX
TO MAO
cross-breeding, select good breeds of donkeys and sheep, and popu-
⋆
larize them among the people. This should be done first of all in
Ganquan and Yanan and then spread to other counties. Besides this
the government should purchase tanyang sheep from Yanchi. These
should be issued for breeding to peasant families with many sheep.
Each tanyang ram can be mated with twenty ewes. The wool of this
sheep is extremely fine and soft, and each sheep yields 2 jin per
year.
If we can conscientiously implement the above methods, there
can be even greater expansion of livestock in the Border Region. I
hope the Reconstruction Department and the comrades in the various
counties will pay attention to this.
NOT FOR
COMMERCIAL
4. ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF HANDICRAFTS
DISTRIBUTION
Handicrafts in the Border Region exist in two forms. The majority
are subsidiary family undertakings and a proportion are independent
handicrafts. The largest is the spinning and weaving undertaken
by women. However, for many years past a large proportion
of local yarn and local cloth has been displaced by foreign yarn
and foreign cloth. Only recently, because of our encouragement,
has there been some resurgence. Even so, the peasants of the Border
Region still want to take their surplus products, skins, and salttransport
trade to outside regions in exchange for large amounts of
foreign yarn and foreign cloth. Their own spinning and weaving
industry is still far from sufficient to supply their own needs. I shall
therefore take textiles as the key popular handicraft for discussion
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