[Preface] Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, President of the State, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission recently issued important instructions on the work of supply and marketing cooperatives, highly appraised the contribution of supply and marketing cooperatives, and put forward requirements for continuing to run supply and marketing cooperatives well.
Xinhua News Agency’s "Learning in Progress" takes you back to the long history of this "time-honored brand".
"Supply and Marketing Cooperatives" sounds like a name with a sense of age, but as a cooperative economic organization that serves farmers, supply and marketing cooperatives have always been an important carrier for the party and the government to do well in the work of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers".
Recently, General Secretary Xi Jinping gave important instructions on the work of supply and marketing cooperatives, highly appraised the contribution of supply and marketing cooperatives, and put forward requirements for continuing to run supply and marketing cooperatives well.
Create a new situation in my country's supply and marketing cooperation
General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions and pointed out that supply and marketing cooperatives are comprehensive cooperative economic organizations serving agriculture under the leadership of the party. They have a long history and glorious tradition and are an important force in promoting the development of agriculture and rural areas in my country.
In recent years, the comprehensive reform of the national supply and marketing cooperative system has been deepened, and a lot of work has been done to promote the construction of modern agriculture, increase farmers' incomes and become rich, and integrate the development of urban and rural areas.
Xi Jinping emphasized that party committees and governments at all levels will continue to run supply and marketing cooperatives, focusing on accelerating the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, consolidating the party's ruling foundation in rural areas.
He emphasized that the supply and marketing cooperatives should stick to the overall situation of the "three rural" work, keep in mind the fundamental purpose of serving farmers, continue to deepen comprehensive reforms, improve systems and mechanisms, expand service areas, and speed up becoming a comprehensive platform for serving farmers' production and life, and becoming the party and government. Keep close contact with the peasant masses as a bridge and link, and strive to contribute to the promotion of rural revitalization, and create a new situation in my country's supply and marketing cooperation.
The general secretary has always attached importance to deepening the reform of supply and marketing cooperatives
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to running supply and marketing cooperatives. In some important meetings, he highlighted this issue.
On December 23, 2013, at the Central Rural Work Conference, he emphasized that the small-scale agricultural production of millions of households in our country cannot be seen just by looking at it. It is necessary to organize farmers through supply and marketing cooperatives, professional farmer cooperatives, Leading enterprises and other new forms of business organization and agricultural socialized services, coupled with policy guidance, put the production of one household into a standardized track.
On April 25, 2016, at the rural reform symposium, he emphasized that the comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives should be promoted, and the supply and marketing cooperatives should be built to be more closely connected with farmers’ interests in accordance with the purpose of serving agriculture and the separation of government affairs and the separation of social enterprises. A cooperative management organization system with more complete agricultural service functions and more effective market operations.
2014 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives. Xi Jinping made important instructions, emphasizing that under the new historical conditions, we must continue to run the supply and marketing cooperatives and give play to their unique advantages and important roles.
Party committees and governments at all levels should care about and support the reform and development of supply and marketing cooperatives. Supply and marketing cooperatives should comprehensively deepen reforms and accelerate the establishment of an organizational system and service mechanism that meets the needs of the socialist market economy, the needs of urban-rural development integration, and the needs of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics. Strive to become a new force and comprehensive platform to serve farmers' production and life, write a new chapter in the development of agriculture, wealthy farmers, and prosperity of urban and rural areas, and make new and greater contributions to the Chinese dream of building a well-off society in an all-round way and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
What does the supply and marketing cooperative do?
Supply and marketing cooperatives are well-known, but many young people, especially "post-90s" and "post-00s" do not know what it does. Some people even think that supply and marketing cooperatives are state-owned stores before the reform and opening up.
In fact, the supply and marketing cooperatives are socialist cooperative economic organizations in which Chinese farmers voluntarily raise equity funds and are supported by the state.
In November 1949, the Central Cooperative Undertakings Administration was established to take charge of national cooperative undertakings.
In July 1950, the All-China Federation of Cooperatives was established to unify the leadership and management of supply and marketing, consumption, credit, production, fishery and handicraft cooperatives across the country.
In July 1954, the All-China Federation of Cooperatives was renamed the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, and a unified national supply and marketing cooperative system was established.
From the founding of New China to 1957, the supply and marketing cooperatives developed rapidly throughout the country and formed a nationwide distribution network that was connected up and down and crisscrossed. It not only became the main channel to meet the production and living needs of farmers and organize the circulation of rural commodities, but also became a connection between urban and rural areas. The bridge and link between workers and farmers, and between the government and farmers.
After 1958, the development of supply and marketing cooperatives experienced a tortuous period of development. They merged with state-owned commerce twice and then separated twice.
In 1982, the National Supply and Marketing Cooperatives merged with the Ministry of Commerce for the third time, but the brand of the National Supply and Marketing Cooperatives was retained.
In the macro-environment of reform and opening up, the supply and marketing cooperatives have developed significantly.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has made solving the “three rural issues” the top priority of the party’s work, and the comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives has been intensified.
After long-term development, the coverage of the modern circulation network of supply and marketing cooperatives has expanded rapidly, and the field of agricultural services has been further expanded, and its functions have become increasingly prominent. It has become a new type of rural cooperative economic organization with full operational service functions and continuous expression of public welfare services. It is to promote the development of rural economy. And an important force for social progress.