From “New Democracy” to “Socialist Transformation”: Bankers and Commercial Associations in 1950s Chongqing

This chapter examines the socialist transformation by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), focusing on the case of the reorganization of intermediate associations in Chongqing. The socialist transformation of the Trade Associations promoted in the 1950s brought together the various organizations, practices, and social relations that had colored China's social economy into a consolidation centered on the CCP. In this sense, the socialist transformation by the CCP was an attempt to ensure stability by restricting the free operation of the social economy and keeping economic activity within each region through centralization of power and profit in the regime and the containment of critical forces. In contrast, the socialist transformation promoted by the CCP was also an attempt to introduce other-oriented and broad-based rules backed by state power. This seemingly contradictory situation glimpsed in the socialist transformation led to the formation of another principle of decentralization and the development of the so-called “Economies of Feudal Princes (zhuhou jingji)” after the Reform and Opening-up policy, which coexisted with the orientation toward the integration of development dictatorship. In this sense, the 1950s can be said to be the starting point for the formation of “regions” in modern China.