Rewi Alley and the 'Gung Ho' Industrial Cooperative Movement

Key Insight

Rewi Alley, a New Zealander who lived in China for sixty years, became a pivotal figure in wartime industrial development. Impelled by social work and improving the lot of ordinary Chinese, Alley, along with others, conceptualized a revolutionary 'guerrilla industry' in 1937, after Japanese forces controlled or destroyed most of China's major manufacturing capabilities. The idea was to establish numerous small, flexible, and potentially mobile factories in inland China to provide low-paid work and essential low-cost goods for the national war effort.

This initiative led to the formal establishment of Indusco, or the Chinese Industrial Cooperative (CIC), with financial support from the Chinese government and international appeals. The first two characters of the organization's Chinese name, 'gung ho', were later adopted as a battle cry by a U.S. Marine unit, subsequently entering the American English lexicon to signify unquenchable enthusiasm. By April 1940, the movement had successfully brought into existence approximately 2000 CIC factories, employing 50000 workers and producing goods valued at $6 million each month, operating beyond the reach of Japanese bombers.

These decentralized factories produced a wide array of goods vital for war-torn China, including candles, lightbulbs, printed pamphlets, bauxite, tanned leather, spun cloth, boilers, tin roofs, small boats, and railway engine spare parts. Alley, often compared to Lawrence of Arabia for his constructive approach, tirelessly traveled thousands of miles across China to establish these plants. Despite his significant contributions, he faced considerable controversy and was eventually demoted in 1942 due to allegations that some factories were producing arms and blankets for Chinese Communist armies, infuriating the Nationalists who had provided significant funding.