The Establishment and Improvement of the Labour Insurance System in the Early Years of the People’s Republic of China

In the early years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party of China, in accordance with the economic and social development situation, drew on the experience of work in the Northeast, gradually established and improved the labour insurance system, and strove to safeguard the interests of the workers. Relying on the strong executive capacity of Party organisations at all levels and the dedication and enthusiasm of grassroots Party members, our Party sought truth from facts [seeking truth from facts], adapted measures to local conditions, gradually raised the level of protection, and within a relatively short period resolved the issue of labour rights and interests that had long plagued modern Chinese society. The establishment and improvement of the labour insurance system played an important historical role in mobilising the enthusiasm of the broad masses of workers and promoting economic and social development.

新中国成立之初，中国共产党根据经济社会发展形势，吸收借鉴东北工作经验，逐步建立完善劳动保险制度，努力维护工人利益。依靠各级党组织强大的执行能力和基层党员的奉献与热情，我们党实事求是、因地制宜，逐步提高保障水平，在较短时间内解决了曾长期困扰中国近代社会的劳动权益问题。劳动保险制度的建立与完善对于调动广大工人积极性，推动经济社会发展发挥了重要的历史作用。

I

一

As early as before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, our Party had accumulated useful experience in building a labour insurance system in the Northeast region. After the victory of the Liaoshen Campaign in February 1949, the Communist Party of China and the People’s Army took over 70% of the heavy industry in the Northeast. How to mobilise the enthusiasm of the 1.79 million workers in the Northeast to support the liberation of the whole country became an urgent political task. One of the most painful and unsolvable problems for workers at that time was the issue of relief for birth, old age, sickness, death, injury, and disability. Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the rate of work-related injuries and disabilities among labourers was extremely high, and compensation was extremely low. Some data show that in Fushun in 1916, the mortality rate from production accidents was 58.5‰, and the injury rate was 272.3‰; by 1931, the mortality rate had risen to 118‰ (Fushun Labour Chronicle (1901–1985), Liaoning People’s Publishing House, 1989, p. 3). However, during the war, the rights and interests of these injured and deceased persons could not be protected at all. According to Li Lisan’s description: a railway coolie was crushed to death by a train, and not half a cent of compensation was given; finally, after much pleading, he was given a thin coffin. (Historical Materials on Workers’ Insurance and Welfare in Our Country, China Food Publishing House, 1987, p. 143)

早在新中国成立之前，我们党就在东北地区积累了劳动保险制度建设的有益经验。1949年2月辽沈战役胜利后，中国共产党和人民军队接管了东北70%的重工业，如何调动东北179万工人的积极性以支援全国解放，成为一项迫在眉睫的政治任务。当时工人最感痛苦而无法解决的难题之一是生、老、病、死、伤、残等的救济问题。新中国成立前劳工的因工伤残比例极高，且补偿极低。有资料显示，抚顺1916年生产事故死亡率为58.5‰，受伤率为272.3‰，到1931年死亡率上升到118‰（《抚顺市劳动志（1901—1985）》，辽宁人民出版社1989年版，第3页）然而，在战争期间，这些受伤和罹难者权益根本无法得到保护。据李立三描述：一个铁路小工，被火车轧死了，半个钱的抚恤也没有，最后几经哀求才给一口薄棺。（《我国职工保险福利史料》，中国食品出版社1987年版，第143页）

The principle of social insurance is to construct an “insurance pool” and disperse individual risks through socialised means. At that time, public and private enterprises in the Northeast were mixed, each enterprise had different economic capacities, and the demand for labour insurance was high. It was necessary to provide both temporary relief for work-related injury, disability, sickness, and death, and to meet workers’ long-term welfare requirements such as maternity, housing, and old-age pensions. Under the conditions at that time, it was not possible to achieve society-wide pooling. Therefore, it was decided to first trial it in public enterprises. The “Northeast Public Enterprise Wartime Provisional Labour Insurance Regulations” issued in December 1948 established two “insurance pools” of different sizes according to different needs. The first was the “relief pool”, implemented at the enterprise level. Enterprises were to allocate 3% of their total monthly wage bill (with a special stipulation that it could not be deducted from workers’ wages), of which 70% was retained in the enterprise’s own insurance special fund to pay for workers’ injury, sickness wages, and medical expenses. The other was the “welfare pool”, implemented at the regional level. Enterprises deposited the remaining 30% in a government-designated bank as the general labour insurance fund to pay for workers’ old-age pensions, sanatorium care, housing, and other welfare items. (Hubei Provincial Archives Collection: “Northeast Public Enterprise Wartime Provisional Labour Insurance Regulations”)

社会保险的原理是构建“保险池”，通过社会化方式分散个体风险。而当时东北公私企业混杂，各企业经济能力不同，劳动保险需求较多，既要提供因工伤残病亡的临时救助，又要满足工人生育、住房、养老等长期福利要求。在当时的情况下，不具备全社会统筹的条件，于是决定先在公营企业试行，1948年12月出台的《东北公营企业战时暂行劳动保险条例》按不同需求建立了大小两个“保险池”，其一是“救助池”，实行企业统筹，企业每月按工资总数支出3%（并特别规定不能从职工工资中扣除），其中70%留存本单位保险专项基金，支付工人伤亡、疾病工资和医药费；另一个是“福利池”，实行地区统筹，企业将另外30%存于政府指定银行作为劳动保险总基金，支付工人养老、疗养、住房等福利款项。（湖北省档案馆馆藏：《东北公营企业战时暂行劳动保险条例》）

This design was intended to ensure that the insurance fund, using 3% of the total wage bill, could achieve comprehensive protection for workers. Zhu Xuefan, then Vice-Chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, once stated: “Our labour insurance benefits are divided into two parts. Whatever is short-term… such as various types of leave wages, medical treatment and medicine costs for illness, are paid directly by the enterprise administration or the employer”; “What is disbursed from the labour insurance fund consists of various long-term expenditures, such as pensions, subsidies, and old-age allowances. In this way, 3% of the total wage bill is sufficient to meet all insurance benefits.” (People’s Daily, 27 February 1951) In fact, by the end of 1950, a total of 796,182 people in the Northeast region were insured, with insurance funds amounting to 58,460,418 points. Apart from expenditures, the regionally pooled general fund had a surplus of 3,593,318 points, accounting for 18% of its income; the funds managed by individual enterprises had a surplus of 14,633,534 points, accounting for about 39% of their income. The total combined surplus of labour insurance funds reached 18,226,852 points, accounting for about 31% of total insurance income. (Historical Materials on Workers’ Insurance and Welfare in Our Country, p. 199)

这种设计是为了保证使用工资总额3%的保险基金能够实现工人的全面保障。时任中华全国总工会副主席朱学范曾谈道：“我们的劳保待遇共分两部分，凡是短期的……如各种假期工资、疾病治疗医药费等都是由企业行政或资方直接支付”，“由劳动保险基金开支的，是各种长期性的支出，如抚恤金、补助金、养老金等。这样，3%的工资总额就足以应付各项保险待遇。”（《人民日报》1951年2月27日）实际上，截至1950年底，东北地区共参保796182人，保险金58460418分。除支出外，地区统筹的总基金结余3593318分，占其收入的18%；各企业自行管理的基金结余14633534分，约占其收入的39%。合计劳动保险金总结余达到18226852分，约占保险总收入的31%。（《我国职工保险福利史料》，第199页）

In view of the successful experience of the Northeast insurance fund operation, when the Party Central Committee formulated the nationwide “Labour Insurance Regulations of the People’s Republic of China” in 1951, it comprehensively raised a number of protection benefits: first, it increased the compensation ratios for workers’ birth, old age, sickness, and death; second, it expanded the scope of reimbursement for work-related injury and illness from medical expenses to include meals, travel expenses, etc.; third, it raised the maximum payment standard for pensions for work-related disability by 15%; fourth, it extended the payment period for survivors’ pensions for work-related death from 10 years to the point when the dependents lost their conditions for support. Both the level and duration of protection were enhanced. It was estimated that the number of beneficiaries of labour insurance nationwide was about 15 to 20 million workers. If each worker had 3 to 4 family members (including the worker themselves, that is a household of 4 to 5 people), then this ratio actually concerned the material and cultural life of 60 to 100 million people—that is, one-sixth to one-fifth of the national population enjoyed this welfare. (Compilation of East China Labour Health Reference Materials (First Series), Health Department of the East China Military and Political Committee, 1951, p. 279)

鉴于东北保险基金运行的成功经验，党中央在制定1951年全国性的《中华人民共和国劳动保险条例》时，全面提升了多项保障待遇：一是将工人生老病亡的补偿比例提高；二是将因工伤病的报销范围由医药费扩展到膳食、路费等；三是将因工残废的抚恤金最高支付标准提高了15%；四是将因工死亡的遗属抚恤金支付期限，由10年延长至受供养者失去供养条件为止。保障力度和时长都得以提升。据估计，劳动保险的受惠人数，在全国范围约有1500万到2000万工人，每一个工人如有3~4个家属（连职工本人就是4口到5口之家），则这个比例实际关系着6000万到1亿人民的物质生活与文化生活，即是说全国人口的1/6到1/5享受这个福利。（《华东劳工卫生参考资料汇编（第一辑）》，华东军政委员会卫生部保健处1951年编印，第279页）

II

二

In the operational model of Western social insurance, labour insurance is managed by specialised agencies. The application, calculation, disbursement, and supervision of insurance are carried out by different departments, and the resulting administrative expenses often reach 15% to 20% of the total insurance fund. Li Lisan believed: “This is actually an exploitation of the insured.” (People’s Daily, 27 February 1951) In the early years of the People’s Republic of China, according to the conditions of economic and social development, labour insurance was managed by trade unions. Its advantages were: first, the political benefit was prominent, that is, “our Chinese labour insurance was from the very beginning in the hands of the working class itself”; second, the economic benefit was obvious, that is, “by having the trade union organisations handle it, this expense can be greatly saved.” (People’s Daily, 27 February 1951)

在西方社会保险运作模式中，劳动保险由专门机构来经营，保险的申请、计算、发放和监督由不同部门来进行，产生的管理费经常达到保险金总额的15%至20%。李立三认为：“这实际是对被保险者的剥削。”（《人民日报》1951年2月27日）而新中国成立初期根据经济社会发展条件，由工会管理劳动保险，其优势在于：一是政治效益突出，即“我们中国劳动保险一开始就掌握在工人阶级自己的手里”；二是经济效益明显，即“由工会组织办理，便可大大节省这笔费用”。（《人民日报》1951年2月27日）

In practice, the part-time status of grassroots trade union chairpersons and ordinary labour insurance officers indeed ensured the low-cost operation of the entire system. At the same time, these labour insurance officers from the grassroots could dynamically serve every workshop and individual they were familiar with. The “General Rules for the Organisation of Labour Insurance Committees” issued on 1 March 1951 specifically stipulated their three functions: publicity and feedback, that is, to publicise various issues related to labour insurance and report opinions to the labour insurance committee; emotional communication, that is, to visit the insured and, when necessary, provide various kinds of help to the sick; and business handling, that is, to conduct preliminary review and verification of labour insurance applications and their attachments, and if there were any doubts, to investigate and clarify them. (Organisational Regulations for Trade Union Work, Northeast Workers’ Publishing House, 1950, p. 54) Approximately 200,000 labour insurance officers nationwide undertook the growing volume of business at zero cost: (number of people served) 600,000 in 1949, 1.4 million in 1950, 2.62 million in 1951, 3.2 million in 1952, and 4.5 million in 1953. In terms of the amount of payments completed, it was approximately 300 billion yuan in 1951, 630 billion yuan in 1952, and 850 billion yuan in 1953; the total for the three years was approximately 1.78 trillion yuan. In addition, the portion paid directly by enterprises is not included in this calculation. (Selected Documents of the CPC Central Committee (October 1949 – May 1966), People’s Publishing House, 2013, Vol. 17, p. 386)

实践中，基层工会主席和普通劳动保险员的兼职身份，确实保证了整个体系的低成本运作。同时，这些来自基层的劳动保险员可以动态地服务于自己熟悉的每一个车间和个人。1951年3月1日发布的《劳动保险委员会组织通则》具体规定了其三项职能：宣传反馈，即宣传劳动保险相关各项问题，并向劳动保险委员会反馈意见；情感沟通，即慰问被保险人，必要时给病患者各种帮助；业务办理，即对劳动保险申请书及其附件进行初步审查、核签，如有怀疑问题应设法调查清楚。（《工会工作组织条例》，东北工人出版社1950年版，第54页）全国大约20万名劳动保险员，零成本承担了日益庞大的业务量：（服务人数）1949年为60万人，1950年为140万人，1951年为262万人，1952年为320万人，1953年为450万人。完成支付金额上，1951年约为3000亿元，1952年约为6300亿元，1953年为8500亿元；三年总计约为17800亿元。此外，企业直接支付的部分尚未计算在内。（《中共中央文件选集（1949年10月—1966年5月）》，人民出版社2013年版，第17册，第386页）

At the same time, in addition to the task of making payments, labour insurance officers also bore the responsibilities of emotional communication and assistance, that is, proactively identifying, visiting, comforting and helping workers in difficulty. According to the regulations: for workers on long-term convalescence, a visiting group composed of Party, administrative, trade union and Youth League leading cadres, professional staff, insurance committee members and relevant labour insurance officers would use holidays and festivals to visit them at their convalescent locations; for workers ill or injured on short-term convalescence, on the very evening of the day they fell ill or were injured, the illness-and-injury care committee or a labour insurance officer would visit them, visit again the next day, and thereafter visit every two days, with the frequency increased or decreased at any time according to changes in the specific circumstances. (Du Shuben oral account, compiled by Luo Yi: *How I Do Labour Insurance Work*, Workers’ Publishing House, 1957 edition, pp. 12–13)

同时，除支付任务外，劳动保险员还承担着情感交流与帮扶职责，即主动发现并慰问、帮助困难职工。按照章程规定：对长期疗养职工，由工段的党、行政、工会、青年团领导干部、业务人员、保险委员和相关劳动保险干事组成慰问组，利用假日节日分头到他们疗养的地方进行慰问；对短期疗养的病伤职工，当他们患病从负伤的当天晚上，就由病伤照顾委员会或劳动保险干事去慰问，第二天再去看一次，以后每隔两天去看一次，根据具体情况的变化随时可增加或减少次数。（杜树本口述，罗懿整理：《我怎样做劳动保险工作》，工人出版社1957年版，第12~13页）

Such visits were not mere formalities; their purpose was to consciously understand and solve the practical problems of the worker masses. For example, labour insurance officer Gao Jinbu once discovered that a carpenter suffered from frequent headaches and constantly ran to the clinic, but his illness was never cured. Later, when Gao visited him at home, he found that after seeing the doctor the carpenter did not take his medicine; the medicine given to him was brought back and stuffed under his bedding. Gao Jinbu advised him to break this habit, to trust science, and patiently explained the benefits of taking medicine. (*How I Do Labour Insurance Work*, p. 13) This kind of proactive service markedly improved the health of the workers. According to statistics, in the factories under the Tianjin Textile Administration Bureau, the rate of sick leave due to illness among workers in 1954 was 27.2% lower than in 1953; at the Southwest Iron and Steel Company, the incidence of common diseases such as malaria, dysentery and acute gastroenteritis among workers in 1954 was about 50% lower than in 1953. (All-China Federation of Trade Unions Labour Insurance Department, ed.: *Experience in Disease and Injury Prevention in Factories and Mines*, Workers’ Publishing House, 1956 edition, p. 2) There were of course various reasons for this, but the guarantee and service functions of the labour insurance system were undoubtedly very important.

这类慰问并非流于形式，其目的在于有意识地了解并解决工人群众的实际问题。如劳动保险干事高进步曾发现：有个木工经常头痛，不断地跑诊所，但病总看不好，后来到他家里去慰问，发现他看完病不吃药，给他的药拿回来，都塞在铺盖底下，高进步就劝他改掉这个习惯，相信科学并耐心向他解释吃药的好处。（《我怎样做劳动保险工作》，第13页）这种主动服务明显改善了工人们的健康状况。据统计，天津纺织管理局所属各厂，1954年职工疾病缺勤率比1953年降低了27.2%；西南钢铁公司1954年职工患疟疾、痢疾、急性胃肠炎等多发病的发病率比1953年降低了50%左右。（中华全国总工会劳动保险部编：《厂矿中防病防伤工作经验》，工人出版社1956年版，第2页）这当然有各方面的原因，而劳动保险制度的保障和服务作用无疑十分重要。

III

三

Generally speaking, the Labour Insurance Regulations of the People’s Republic of China promulgated in 1951 did not adopt an “all-capable” government approach of unified comprehensive coverage, but rather adopted the principle of enterprise primary responsibility. The relevant authorities once explained the deeper meaning of this: “In order to impel the administrative side of enterprises or the capitalists to attach importance to labour protection work… in order to reduce this expenditure, enterprises must care about the health of workers and actively strengthen safety and hygiene facilities.” (*People’s Daily*, 27 February 1951) During the period of the Nationalist government, from mines to railways to factories, enterprises often sacrificed worker safety to earn excess profits. After the founding of the People’s Republic, changing the long-established old habits of neglecting production safety and the like was not markedly effective in the initial period through economic means alone; this was one of the reasons the labour insurance regulations established the principle of enterprise primary responsibility.

总体来说，1951年颁布的《中华人民共和国劳动保险条例》没有采取统一包揽的“全能型”政府做法，而是采取企业主责的原则。有关方面曾解释此举的深意：“为了促使企业行政方面或资方重视劳动保护工作……企业为了减少这笔支出，就必须关心工人的健康，积极加强安全卫生设备。”（《人民日报》1951年2月27日）在国民政府时期，从矿山到铁路再到工厂，企业往往以牺牲工人安全为代价来赚取超额利润。新中国成立后，改变长期形成的忽视生产安全等旧有习惯，仅靠经济手段初期效果并不明显，这是劳动保险条例确立企业主责原则的原因之一。

During this period, factories and workers lacked hygiene habits and labour protection awareness, which often led to persistently high rates of illness and injury. For example, at Sujiatun Station, in the first quarter and early second quarter of each year, colds and lower back and leg pain were common, while in the second quarter dysentery and gastrointestinal diseases were common. Investigators found that the main cause of gastrointestinal diseases was drinking cold water and eating cold food during work, combined with irregular meal times; lower back and leg pain was mainly caused by workers’ habit of lying on the ground to sleep. (All-China Federation of Trade Unions Labour Insurance Department, ed.: *Raise Labour Insurance Work to a Higher Level*, Workers’ Publishing House, 1954 edition, p. 64) In a physical examination of workers at the Huainan Coal Mine, of 523 people examined, 97% had trachoma, 62.9% had hookworm disease, and 22.1% had hemorrhagic tuberculosis. (Labour Publishing House Editorial Department, ed.: *Labour Protection Work*, Labour Publishing House, 1951 edition, p. 10)

这一时期，工厂和工人卫生习惯和劳动保护意识比较缺乏，往往导致病伤率居高不下。如苏家屯车站历年来在第一季度与第二季度初多发感冒和腰痛腿痛，第二季度中多发痢疾和胃肠病，调查者发现胃肠病的主要原因是由于工作中喝凉水吃冷饭，再加上吃饭没有固定的时间；腰痛腿痛主要由工人好躺在地上睡觉的原因造成。（中华全国总工会劳动保险部编：《把劳动保险工作提高一步》，工人出版社1954年版，第64页）淮南煤矿工人体检中，共检查了523人，发现沙眼占97%，钩虫病占62.9%，出血结核占22.1%。（劳动出版社编审部编：《劳动保护工作》，劳动出版社1951年版，第10页）

The more important purpose of implementing labour insurance was to protect the physical and mental health of workers. Mao Zedong once pointed out: “While implementing increased production and economy, attention must be paid to the safety, health and indispensable welfare of workers and staff; if only the former aspect is attended to, and the latter aspect is forgotten or even slightly neglected, that is wrong.” (*Selected Documents of the CPC Central Committee (October 1949 – May 1966)*, Vol. 9, p. 186) The *Workers’ Daily* once wrote in an article: “The purpose of the state’s implementation of labour insurance is first of all to protect the health of workers and staff; to protect their health, of course, it is not enough to be satisfied with doing some remedial work after workers fall ill or are injured; rather, we must think of ways to prevent the occurrence of illness and injury in advance.” (*How Labour Insurance Officers Do Their Work Well*, Workers’ Publishing House, 1956 edition, p. 5) At the end of 1951, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions determined the guiding principle for labour insurance work as: “Serve production, serve the masses.” (*Raise Labour Insurance Work to a Higher Level*, p. 8) At the beginning of 1952, a nationwide factory safety and hygiene inspection with the theme of “preventing illness and injury” was carried out, the purpose of which was to transform post-disaster assistance for workers into advance prevention. Mao Qihua, then Vice Minister of Labour, pointed out: “In the entire Northeast spring inspection, such problems numbered over 16,000, of which 80% had already been resolved. According to statistics from 19 private factories in Beijing, Chengdu, Qingdao and other places, the problems already resolved also averaged over 80% of those discovered.” (Mao Qihua: “Labour Protection Issues in Industrial Transformation”, in *Labour Protection Work*, Labour Publishing House, 1951 edition, p. 12)

推行劳动保险更重要的目的在于保障工人的身心健康。毛泽东曾指出：“在实施增产节约的同时，必须注意职工的安全、健康和必不可少的福利事业；如果只注意前一方面，忘记或稍加忽视后一方面，那是错误的。”（《中共中央文件选集（1949年10月—1966年5月）》第9册，第186页）《工人日报》曾撰文指出：“国家实行劳动保险的目的，首先是为了保护职工的健康，要保护职工的健康，当然就不能满足于在职工生病和受伤之后做些帮助工作，而是要在事先想办法预防病伤的发生。”（《劳动保险干事怎样做好工作》，工人出版社1956年版，第5页）1951年底，中华全国总工会确定劳动保险工作方针为：“为生产服务，为群众服务。”（《把劳动保险工作提高一步》，第8页）1952年初在全国范围内开展了以“预防病伤”为主题的工厂安全卫生检查，其目的旨在把对工人的灾后救助转变为提前预防。时任劳动部副部长毛齐华指出：在整个东北春季大检查中此类问题是16000多件，其中80%已经获得解决。北京、成都、青岛等19个私营工厂的统计，已解决问题平均也占发现问题的80%以上。（毛齐华：《工业改造中的劳动保护问题》，载《劳动保护工作》，劳动出版社1951年版，第12页）

After the founding of the People’s Republic, the government invested huge sums to improve workers’ labour conditions. In 1951, the Northeast spent over 90 billion yuan [old currency] on safety and hygiene facilities. In the two years 1952 and 1953, investment in labour protection in just 66 industries in the Northeast reached 293.9 billion yuan, more than doubling; the safety devices in the Northeast railway system reached 90.3% of the required amount, while inside the Shanhai Pass [i.e., in the rest of China] it reached 58.6%. (*People’s Daily*, 1 February 1953) Nationwide, according to incomplete statistics, related investment in 1951 alone reached 396.6 billion yuan, not including expenditures directly counted in production costs. (*Labour Protection Work*, p. 29) At the micro level, labour insurance officers transformed from passive payment compensators into active cost-reducers, from “clerks” into “scouts,” shifting their work focus to the battlefield of disease and injury prevention. They fully leveraged their familiarity with the production site and workers’ conditions to discover and eliminate some safety hazards that even routine inspections could hardly detect. For example: Du Shuben, from the bed statistics in the clinic, discovered that there were many foot injuries from stepping on nails, with 3–4 people every day. He therefore coordinated with doctors to go to the site for investigation and found that wooden formwork removed from engineering projects was not sorted, was not well managed, and was left lying around randomly; workers walking carelessly stepped on it and injured their feet. (*Raise Labour Insurance Work to a Higher Level*, p. 57) These efforts achieved notable results. According to statistics, worker casualty accidents in factories and mines nationwide decreased year by year. Looking at monthly averages, in 1951 fatal accidents decreased by 10.7% compared to 1950, and serious injury accidents decreased by 9.6%; in 1952, fatal accidents decreased by 39.1% compared to 1951, and serious injury accidents decreased by 38.3%. (*People’s Daily*, 1 February 1953) This policy orientation of “emphasizing prevention, strengthening protection” achieved the dual goals of promoting production improvement and worker health.

新中国成立后，政府为改善工人劳动条件投入了巨大资金。1951年东北用于安全卫生设备的款项达900多亿元。而1952和1953两年仅东北66个产业劳动保护的资金就达到2939亿元，翻了2倍多，东北铁路系统安全装置达到需要量的90.3%，而关内也达到了58.6%。（《人民日报》1953年2月1日）在全国范围，据不完全统计，仅1951年相关投入就达3966亿元，直接计入生产成本的开支还不计算在内。（《劳动保护工作》，第29页）而在微观层面，劳动保险员变被动支付补偿为主动减支，由“业务员”变成了“侦察员”，工作中心转向防病防伤战场。他们充分发挥熟悉生产现场与工人情况的优势，发现并消除了一些连常规检查都难以察觉的安全隐患。如：杜树本从卫生所的病床统计中发现，钉子扎脚的外伤很多，每天都有3~4个人，于是协同医生深入现场进行了解，发现从工程上拆除下来的木模板，不归类，没有人很好管理，随地乱放，工人走路不小心踏上去，就把脚扎伤了。（《把劳动保险工作提高一步》，第57页）这些努力取得显著成果。据统计，全国厂矿职工伤亡事故逐年减少。按每月平均数字看，1951年比1950年死亡事故减少了10.7%，重伤事故减少了9.6%；1952年比1951年死亡事故减少了39.1%，重伤事故减少了38.3%。（《人民日报》1953年2月1日）这种“重预防、强保护”的政策导向，实现了促进生产提升和工人健康的双重目的。

In summary, the enterprise-centred labour insurance system in the early years of the People’s Republic gave full play to the Party’s leading force, organisational capacity and innovative power, took comprehensive protection as its goal but fully considered specific circumstances. It focused on mobilising the initiative of enterprises and workers, transforming post-hoc assistance and compensation into advance prevention and care, provided relatively good protection for the birth, ageing, illness, death and injury of the broad masses of workers, achieved considerable success, and contributed to economic and social development.

总之，新中国成立初期的以企业为中心的劳动保险体系，充分发挥党的主导力、组织力和创新力，以全面保障为目标但又充分考虑具体情况。注重发挥企业、工人积极性，变事后的帮扶补偿为事先的预防关心，为广大工人群众的生老病伤亡提供了较好的保障，取得比较大的成就，为经济社会发展作出了贡献。

(Author: Jiang Yingchun, Specially Appointed Researcher of the Hubei Provincial Research Centre for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Professor at the School of Marxism, Wuhan University of Technology)

（作者：姜迎春，系湖北省中国特色社会主义理论体系研究中心特约研究员、武汉理工大学马克思主义学院教授）