Chinese Industrial Cooperatives () (CICs) were organisations established in China during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

(1937- 1945) to support China's war effort by organizing small-scale grassroots industrial and economic development. The movement was led through the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Association (CICA or Indusco) founded in 1938 by foreign and Chinese activists. Its international arm the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (ICCIC, also known by the nickname Gung Ho International Committee) was founded in 1939 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

to promote

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

s in China. The movement was especially active in the 1930s and 1940s with support from both left and right wings of Chinese politics. The movement disappeared after the 1950s after the establishment of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

government, but CICA and ICCIC were revived in the 1980s and are still active in the twenty-first century. In the English-speaking world, the industrial cooperatives’ best known legacy is the term "

gung-ho ''Gung ho'' () is an English term, with the current meaning of "overly enthusiastic or energetic". It originated during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) from a Chinese term, ( zh, hp=gōnghé, l=to work together), short for Chinese ...

", which came to mean "overly enthusiastic," but had no relation to its meaning in Chinese, stemming from their shortened name ( zh, t=工合, hp=gōnghé, l=to work together).

History

The Gung Ho ( zh, c=工合, hp=gōnghé, l=to work together) movement was first initiated in Shanghai in 1937. Some of the principal organizers were

Rewi Alley Rewi Alley (known in China as 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Àilí, 2 December 1897 – 27 December 1987) was a New Zealand-born writer and political activist. A member of the Chinese Communist Party, he dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause a ...

of New Zealand,

Edgar Snow Edgar Parks Snow (19 July 1905 – 15 February 1972) was an American journalist known for his books and articles on Communism in China and the Chinese Communist revolution. He was the first Western journalist to give an account of the history of ...

, Nym Wales (

Helen Foster Snow Helen Foster Snow (September 21, 1907 – January 11, 1997) was an American journalist who reported from China in the 1930s under the name Nym Wales on the developing Chinese Civil War, the Korean independence movement and the Second Sino-Japan ...

), and

Ida Pruitt Ida C. Pruitt (1888–1985) was a China-born American social worker, author, speaker, interpreter and activist in Sino-American understanding. Her biographer called her "China's American Daughter." In the 1920s and 1930s she supervised social wor ...

of the USA, as well as a group of Chinese including

Hu Yuzhi Hu Yuzhi (; September 9, 1896 – January 16, 1986) was a Chinese male politician, who served as the vice chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. References 1896 births 1986 deaths Vice Chairpersons of t ...

( 胡愈之) and Sha Qianli ( 沙千里). In August 1938, the CICA was established. It was founded in the wartime capital

Hankow Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers whe ...

when China was engaged in the

War of Resistance Against Japan The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Thea ...

. Through the sponsorship of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Finance Minister Dr.

H. H. Kung Kung Hsiang-hsi (; 11 September 1881 – 16 August 1967), often known as Dr. H. H. Kung, was a Chinese banker and politician in the early 20th century. He married Soong Ai-ling, the eldest of the three Soong sisters; the other two married Pres ...

supplied government financial support. The movement aimed to organize unemployed workers and refugees, increasing production to support the war effort. The goal was to replace industrial capacity lost to bombing by dispersing and giving workers voting shares in their CICs. The CICA organized small scale self-supporting

s, mainly in rural areas, to create employment for workers and refugees and produce goods for the war effort. In January 1939, the international arm ICCIC was established in

. Ms.

Soong Ching-ling Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling (27 January 189329 May 1981) was a Chinese political figure. As the third wife of Sun Yat-sen, then Premier of the Kuomintang and President of the Republic of China, she was often referred to as Madame Sun Yat-sen. ...

was elected honorary chair and the Anglican Bishop of Hong Kong, the Right Rev. Ronald O. Hall to be chair, and Dr. Chen Hansheng was appointed as secretary general. Rev. Dr. Walter Brooks Foley, pastor of Union Church of Manila, Philippines, serve on the international committee, along with leading Chinese businessmen in Manila Dee C. Chuan, Alfonso Sycip, and Yu Khe thai. Foley became president of the Philippine Association of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives. In 1941, the Gung Ho movement reached its peak: around 3,000 cooperatives with a combined membership of nearly 300,000 people were functioning. Their factories produced more than 500 products for the local people, and a large number of blankets, uniforms and other army supplies for the battlefront. Ida Pruitt toured the United States to raise substantial financial support. The unique role of Gung Ho cooperatives in the war also won such international acclaim that the term "

" became a famous slogan of the U.S. Marine Corps. Adopting the literal meanings of the two characters separately as "work" and "together", the slogan entered the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

as a term denoting whole-hearted dedication to a meaningful cause. Both the Nationalist government of

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

and the Communist movement of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

supported the movement and tried to control it. Alley placated the

Nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

but his sympathies and eventual loyalties were to the emerging

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

government. In 1942, Alley was dismissed from Gung Ho by the government of

. After Mao’s victory in 1949 Alley stayed in China, but there was no need for the CICA and ICCIC. Both CICA and ICCIC suspended their works in 1952. An excellent discussion of the CICs appears in Graham Peck's book ''Two Kinds of Time'' (1950). Peck traveled with Alley to a number of CICs early in 1941 and was able to see them at their height, but as his experience grew he came to understand their limitations and the fact that their course was ultimately downwards, not upwards, for a variety of reasons.

Revival

The CICA was revived in 1983, and the ICCIC was revived in 1987 in Beijing by Alley and other former Gung Ho leaders. The reorganized ICCIC registered with the

Ministry of Civil Affairs The Ministry of Civil Affairs is a ministry in the State Council of the People's Republic of China, responsible for social and administrative affairs. It was founded in May 1978, and the current Minister is Tang Dengjie. Its precedent was the Mini ...

of People's Republic of China as an international non-profit organization. Zhu Xuefan ( 朱學範) was elected as honorary chair and Alley as chair. The main task of the revived ICCIC is the promotion of cooperatives in China. Membership is open to all individuals and organizations who support the cooperative movement. The committee has approximately 100 members from China,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, and

. The ICCIC’s General Assembly of all members meets every five years. The Executive Board elected by the Assembly is responsible for decision-making on major issues according to its articles of association during the adjournment of the Assembly. A secretariat is set up to handle day-to-day work.

Notes

References

* * *
"New Industries"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''. 22 April 1940.

External links

*
Inventory of Rewi Alley’s PapersAlbert F. Moe (1967) "Gung Ho", ''American Speech''. The American Dialect Society."China Through Western Eyes"

Indusco Inc. records
at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, NY {{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Cooperatives in China 1930s in China 1940s in China Business organisations based in Hong Kong Organizations established in 1938 Organizations disestablished in 1952 Second Sino-Japanese War

History

Revival

See also

Notes

References

External links