Chinese Industrial Cooperatives

Chinese Industrial Cooperative Association "gōngyè hézuòshè (工業合作社), that is, the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, known as INDUSCO, was formally established in August,1938 in Hankow, then the wartime capital of China. The movement was organized by Rewi Alley of New Zealand; Edgar Snow, Nym Wales (Helen Foster Snow), and Ida Pruitt of the USA; and a group of Chinese including Hu Yuzhi and Sha Qianqi. Through the sponsorship of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Finance Minister Dr. H. H. Kung supplied government financial support. The slogan "gonghe" (Gung Ho) was created, which also became popular in English. The CIC organized small scale self-supporting cooperatives, mainly in rural areas, to create employment for workers and refugees and goods to support the War of Resistance against the Japanese.

In January, 1939 The International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (the Gung Ho International Committee, or, ICCIC) was established in Hongkong. Ida Pruitt toured the United States to raise substantial financial support. The number of cooperatives reached its peak in 1941 at approximately 3,000 cooperatives with a membership of nearly 30,000. Their factories produced blankets, uniforms and other army supplies. Both the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist movement of Mao Zedong supported the movement and tried to control it. Alley placated the Nationalists but his sympathies and eventual loyalties were to the emerging Communist government. After Mao’s victory in 1949 Alley stayed in China, but there was no need for the CIC and ICCIC. Work was suspended in 1952, but 1983 a new CIC was formed, and a new ICCIC was formed in 1987.