This article expresses the personal views of Harsh Thakor
Today we dip our blood in memory of the 121st
birthday of Comrade Mao Tse Tung,the greatest revolutionary of our time and the
greatest Marxist after Marx and Lenin.
We have to cherish his immortal contribution
not only to China but mankind as a whole.
We have to combat with iron fists the slander of the bourgeois press or Western media which distorts the reality of events in the time of Comrade Mao.
We have to combat with iron fists the slander of the bourgeois press or Western media which distorts the reality of events in the time of Comrade Mao.
Whether during the Long,March,the Civil
War,the Great Leap Forward or the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution Mao
illuminated the invincible torch of Marxism Leninism and shimmered the light of
liberation.He traversed the most turbulent of waters and was often swimming
against the tide.
His life also revealed the inner spiritual
quality of a revolution and Mao’s concept of transformation of man had
spiritual overtones.
Today several trends even distort Mao’s line.
One trend claim that he deferred the Great
debate and allied with the national bourgeoise from 1952-56. like the Rahul
foundation, India.
The trend of Red Star of India rejects concept of Protracted peoples war and claims that Maoist China was Lin Biaoist.
The L.L.C.O.claims that Mao was a revisionist
after 1969 and upholds Lin Biao.
The Kasama Project and the R.C.P.U.S.A.
propagate a type of new synthesis which distorts Mao’s true teachings,undermining
Leninism..and are harsh critiques of Stalin.
Bernard d’Mellow upholds Mao as a
revolutionary democrat and fails to grasp the concept of dictatorship of the
Proletariat.
The ‘Stalinist’ or ‘Hoxaite’ trend fails to
even recognize Mao as a Marxist-Leninist or China Socialist from 1956-76.
There is a another trend that
over-exaggerates the aspect of Mao’s personality cult prevalent in the G.P.C.R. by failing
to assess the subjective conditions. like the Indian Intellectual Rangakayaama .
To this day and age we have to advocate
greater proletarian democracy,debate or dissent but refute existence of
factions and multiple parties tooth and nail.
The most correct or best evaluation of
Comrade Mao was by Bob Avakian of the R.C.P.in 1978 ,Chairman Gonzalo of the
Peruvian Communist Party, and by Jose Marie Sison ,chairman of the Communist Party
of Phillipines. and Harbhajan Sohi of India.
We have not give one sided emphasis on any
facet of Mao’s teachings and give importance to both PPW and concept of
continuous revolution under the dictatorship of the Proletariat.
I feel the concept of the G.P.C.R.was a more
universal contribution than that of PPW also discovered by Mao.
We need to project how he is still remembered
by the masses of China even today.
The major weakness was the lack of
proletarian power and sufficient revolutionary democratic development with the
dismantling of the revolutionary committees in 1973.
Greater democracy was needed
within the revolutionary committees as well as more independence from the party
in taking decisions.
This year it is exactly 50 years since Mao
gave his speech upholding the Tachai Brigade in November 1964.
All cadres should read Mao’s writings on
Tachai. which explain how it was the turning point in Socialist cultivation in
agriculture and how this practice was more productive than any other one.
Tachai was the stepping stone in China
proving the correctness of Socialist path in agriculture.
Today’s regime in
China has totally reverted the line advocated by Mao and pursued capitalist
policies.
This can be studied in writings by William
Hinton or Charles Bettleheim.
Since 1981 the C.C.P.advocated the ‘get rich’ policy and dismantled the communes.
Since 1981 the C.C.P.advocated the ‘get rich’ policy and dismantled the communes.
Private ownership was upheld.
It is also 50 years since China innovated it’s
first bomb in October 1964 and we have to project the perspective with which
China manufactured this bomb,which was to champion the cause of International
liberation,and Socialism.
50 years ago in 1964 Mao also produced some of his most significant writings against Khrushevite revisionism.
50 years ago in 1964 Mao also produced some of his most significant writings against Khrushevite revisionism.
It was also the mot active year
of the Socialist education Movement which was the prercusor of the Cultural
Revolution..
In memory I am reproducing below.
They prove that above all Mao was the most
creative of political thinkers particularly on education and production and not
dogmatic.
Truly he was Marxist Leninist genius.
Mao
developed Leninism in practice by developing greater revolutionary democracy
than the Soviets in Russia after Lenin in the Revolutionary Commitees and more
innovative forms of production than erstwhile U.S.S.R .in it’s
Socialist period from 1917-56.
Mao’s writings on protracted war,building the red
army and the party are also a treasure house in the study of Marxism Leninism.
Reproduced Writing from SACU blog.
Sheldon Weeks reviews the impact of the model
village for Chinese rural development.
The article first appeared in SACU’s magazine China Now in 1977. The apparent success of the agricultural commune at Dazhai (Tachai) played a pivotal part in driving agricultural reform in Communist China.
Since the writing the article in 1976 many of the achievements have been questioned - as over zealous exaggeration, but it does give some idea of the ebullient spirit of the time.
The article first appeared in SACU’s magazine China Now in 1977. The apparent success of the agricultural commune at Dazhai (Tachai) played a pivotal part in driving agricultural reform in Communist China.
Since the writing the article in 1976 many of the achievements have been questioned - as over zealous exaggeration, but it does give some idea of the ebullient spirit of the time.
‘Dazhai’. If any place name is universally known in China today it is Dazhai.
All over China, on walls, on posters, above
arches, on river banks, a set of five characters proclaim: ‘In Agriculture
learn from Dazhai.’ Chairman Mao coined this slogan in 1964.
In the thirteen
years since, Dazhai has held the spotlight and been the centre of Chinese
efforts to transform agriculture and rural life from the bottom up.
Over these dozen years perhaps 15 million Chinese have visited Dazhai, and thousands of foreign visitors including numerous heads of state.
In late 1975 a month-long top-level national Communist Party conference was held at Xiyang on mobilizing to develop agriculture and build Dazhai-type counties throughout the country.
The report of this conference was written by Hua Guofang, now Premier of the People’s Republic [This article was written in 1977].
Over these dozen years perhaps 15 million Chinese have visited Dazhai, and thousands of foreign visitors including numerous heads of state.
In late 1975 a month-long top-level national Communist Party conference was held at Xiyang on mobilizing to develop agriculture and build Dazhai-type counties throughout the country.
The report of this conference was written by Hua Guofang, now Premier of the People’s Republic [This article was written in 1977].
A second conference on ‘Learning from Dazhai
in Agriculture’ was held in Beijing late last year and the report released on
December 20, 1976.
It was written by Zhen Yunguai, former Secretary, Party
Branch, Dazhai Brigade, and now a top man in the Party.
It reaffirms the direction taken in 1975.
What is this Dazhai that the Chinese people have been told to learn from?
In a nation that outsiders see as gigantic and uniform Dazhai dramatizes the real complexity and diversity that exists in China.
It reaffirms the direction taken in 1975.
What is this Dazhai that the Chinese people have been told to learn from?
In a nation that outsiders see as gigantic and uniform Dazhai dramatizes the real complexity and diversity that exists in China.
Dazhai is a small, isolated (in Shanxi in the north west) agricultural
production brigade (of only team size, with 83 families and 450 people, 160
able-bodied, farming 143 acres). The Dazhai brigade is part of a commune of the
same name with 12,000 people, in Xiyang County 30 miles by road south of the
Yangchuan railroad station (six hours by rail from Beijing).
This area is part of the once barren, desolate loess plateau, heavily eroded, an area at 3250 feet above sea level, receiving on average 20 inches of erratic rainfall annually, and marked in the past by disasters droughts, floods, famines and poverty, dependence and low productivity.
This area is part of the once barren, desolate loess plateau, heavily eroded, an area at 3250 feet above sea level, receiving on average 20 inches of erratic rainfall annually, and marked in the past by disasters droughts, floods, famines and poverty, dependence and low productivity.
Dazhai refers only to the brigade,
but when the Chinese talk of ‘Dazhai-type counties’ they mean whole counties
where agriculture and industry are organized as in Xiyang County following the
example of Dazhai.
The six criteria for a Dazhai-type county are
as follows:
(1) The county Party committee should be a leading core which
firmly adheres to the Party’s line and policies and is united in struggle.
(2)
It should establish the dominance of the poor and lower-middle peasants as a
class so as to be able to wage resolute struggles against capitalist activities
and exercise effective supervision over the class enemies and remould them.
(3)
Cadres at the county, commune and brigade levels should, like those in Xiyang,
regularly participate in collective productive labour.
(4) Rapid progress and
substantial results should be achieved in farmland capital construction,
mechanization of agriculture, and scientific farming.
(5) The collective
economy should be steadily expanded and production and income should reach or
surpass the present level of the poor communes and brigades in the locality.
(6) All-round development should be made in agriculture, forestry, animal
husbandry, fishery and side-occupations with considerable increases in output,
big contributions to the state and steady improvement in the living standards
of the commune members. (Beijing Review, January 7, 1977, p. 17).
Dazhai village
View of Dazhai brigade
What does this small spot on the grand map of
China have to teach others, especially in agriculture, and already for thirteen
years? Dazhai is a microcosm of the forces at play in China.
The struggles of the peasants of Dazhai in coping with the human and natural contradictions in their situation has lead them through their own efforts to achieve solutions to the problems of social organization and production that now put them in the forefront in China.
Dazhai is also a window on the future as to where China is going and how she will get there.
The struggles of the peasants of Dazhai in coping with the human and natural contradictions in their situation has lead them through their own efforts to achieve solutions to the problems of social organization and production that now put them in the forefront in China.
Dazhai is also a window on the future as to where China is going and how she will get there.
The lessons of Dazhai are the lessons of
struggle, conflict, leadership, commitment, dedication, hard work, and that
change in rural China is taking place from below at the team, brigade and
commune level and not being imposed from above and outside.
The manifesto of
the 1975 conference on learning from Dazhai called for the peasants and cadres
of China to confront the contradictions in their own social situation and
production, to remake themselves and the face of nature as Dazhai has done by
making Dazhai-type counties throughout China.
Of approximately 2000 counties in all China
only 10% or 300 have followed the example of Dazhai. This means far more than
merely embarking on programmes of water control, irrigation, terracing of
fields, use of river beds, provision of fertilizers (compost, animal, nightsoil
and chemical), orchards and forests, mechanization and dramatic increases in
production.
It also requires the county-wide integration of industry and
agriculture, such as providing cement for agricultural construction (retaining
walls for terracing, irrigation canals, run-off wells, buildings etc) and
agricultural machinery for production (walking-on- two-legs tractors, tractors,
bulldozers, pumps, harvesters, etc.).
In practical terms Dazhai is an expression of
the proletarian revolution China is in the midst of today (in contrast to the
democratic revolution between 1949 and 1966).
To become like Dazhai is to confront the struggle between the two lines.
In Dazhai all things are held in common, as they have already given up private agricultural plots and private ownership of animals such as pigs, but of the 650 million agricultural workers and cadres in China involved in farming the majority of them still grow vegetables for sale, and still keep a pig (which when sold can supplement incomes up to 50%).
To become like Dazhai is to confront the struggle between the two lines.
In Dazhai all things are held in common, as they have already given up private agricultural plots and private ownership of animals such as pigs, but of the 650 million agricultural workers and cadres in China involved in farming the majority of them still grow vegetables for sale, and still keep a pig (which when sold can supplement incomes up to 50%).
These are examples of the contradictions that still exist in rural China
and why the proletarian revolution and class struggle continue, as private work
and benefits or the greater profits from ‘side-line’ activities have a
bourgeois influence and tend to support capitalist paths of development.
Dazhai, as the Red Flag commune, also symbolizes the banner of socialist
reconstruction.
Dazhai has not only given up the private
sector of production, but has also innovated in new ways of awarding work
points and distributing incomes. The old system that has operated since the
formation of the communes nearly twenty years ago out of the Agricultural
Production Co-operatives, has been one of daily work points awarded on the
basis of work done.
This approach, which is still prevalent in most of China, was seen by members of the Dazhai brigade as working against older, weaker members, and women, all of whom might be less productive, and therefore be rewarded less.
Today in annual meetings the peasants of Dazhai award themselves work points based on their self-assessment of their own contribution, and these are approved by discussion with the group. To them this has been seen as a step forward to the socialist principle of ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.’
A capsule history of how Dazhai has evolved since 1949 will help explain its significance to China. Before World War II the people at Dazhai had suffered heavily from drought, to the point that poor peasants were forced to sell their children in order to survive.
In the early 1940’s during the Japanese occupation the village was burnt and 42 young people killed.
Dazhai was liberated in 1945, but land reform did not take place until 1947.
Then Dazhai consisted of sixty families with 200 people, including four large landlords with 60% of the cultivable land, twelve middle peasants with 22% of land, and the remaining 18% belonged to 48 families of poor peasants.
In 1952 these poor peasants committed themselves to form a co-operative, and in the first year their grain production per acre exceeded that of individual production before.
There was considerable struggle and conflict at this stage between the mutual aid teams, with landlords and middle peasants exerting excessive influence and supporting private production, profits from sideline activities, and migration to towns.
By 1957 the co-operative had demonstrated its advantages and all had joined. In 1958 the local leadership of the Dazhai branch of the Communist Party began to criticise the procedure of awarding work points daily, and in 1960 the brigade moved towards a system of monthly self-assessment.
But it was not until 1963 after a devastating flood, the biggest in 100 years, which destroyed 78 houses and damaged 8% of the land, that the need to reconstruct homes and terraces caused them to vote (with only one dissent) for the abandonment of all private crops and animals.
This was a critical time when from Beijing leaders in the Party such as Liu Shaoqi were advocating what was seen later as the ‘capitalist road’ - the expansion of crops for private use and sale, free markets, small individual enterprises, expansion of employment in towns, use of hired labour, and the buying and selling of land.
Dazhai’s emphasis on the opposite, the building of socialism, caused it to be investigated and the Party branch was temporarily suspended - these conflicts between the different paths to development were and remain very real in China now.
This approach, which is still prevalent in most of China, was seen by members of the Dazhai brigade as working against older, weaker members, and women, all of whom might be less productive, and therefore be rewarded less.
Today in annual meetings the peasants of Dazhai award themselves work points based on their self-assessment of their own contribution, and these are approved by discussion with the group. To them this has been seen as a step forward to the socialist principle of ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.’
A capsule history of how Dazhai has evolved since 1949 will help explain its significance to China. Before World War II the people at Dazhai had suffered heavily from drought, to the point that poor peasants were forced to sell their children in order to survive.
In the early 1940’s during the Japanese occupation the village was burnt and 42 young people killed.
Dazhai was liberated in 1945, but land reform did not take place until 1947.
Then Dazhai consisted of sixty families with 200 people, including four large landlords with 60% of the cultivable land, twelve middle peasants with 22% of land, and the remaining 18% belonged to 48 families of poor peasants.
In 1952 these poor peasants committed themselves to form a co-operative, and in the first year their grain production per acre exceeded that of individual production before.
There was considerable struggle and conflict at this stage between the mutual aid teams, with landlords and middle peasants exerting excessive influence and supporting private production, profits from sideline activities, and migration to towns.
By 1957 the co-operative had demonstrated its advantages and all had joined. In 1958 the local leadership of the Dazhai branch of the Communist Party began to criticise the procedure of awarding work points daily, and in 1960 the brigade moved towards a system of monthly self-assessment.
But it was not until 1963 after a devastating flood, the biggest in 100 years, which destroyed 78 houses and damaged 8% of the land, that the need to reconstruct homes and terraces caused them to vote (with only one dissent) for the abandonment of all private crops and animals.
This was a critical time when from Beijing leaders in the Party such as Liu Shaoqi were advocating what was seen later as the ‘capitalist road’ - the expansion of crops for private use and sale, free markets, small individual enterprises, expansion of employment in towns, use of hired labour, and the buying and selling of land.
Dazhai’s emphasis on the opposite, the building of socialism, caused it to be investigated and the Party branch was temporarily suspended - these conflicts between the different paths to development were and remain very real in China now.
Over the years the people of Dazhai have
transformed nature. They have annually continued to work in the winter periods
to remake the seven gullies and eight ridges that marked their land into
terraced fields that could be cultivated, with drains to prevent waterlogging
and catch run-off in wells.
What was 2,900 small pieces of land in 1949 has today been made into 1,500 pieces, and the work continues to reorganize these even further so that the goal of complete agricultural mechanization by 1980 can be achieved. Dazhai’s crops are winter wheat, corn, sorghum and millet.
Revolutionary fervour in China
What was 2,900 small pieces of land in 1949 has today been made into 1,500 pieces, and the work continues to reorganize these even further so that the goal of complete agricultural mechanization by 1980 can be achieved. Dazhai’s crops are winter wheat, corn, sorghum and millet.
Revolutionary fervour in China
Production has gone up four fold over the
past twenty years, achieved mainly through planning and integration, the
terracing, irrigation, and local production of different sorts of fertilizers
for the different soils.
Through a system of inter-planting two crops are achieved on the same area during the one growing season. In 1975 the brigade had 6 tractors, 37 trucks, 60 implements, 190 horses and cows, and 237 pigs. They also made bricks and produced noodles for the commune.
In spite of the accomplishments at the Dazhai brigade other brigades and other communes, even those nearby, were slow to learn from Dazhai.
Economic consolidation and agricultural production remained low, more profitable non-agricultural sideline activities were emphasized, and people were encouraged to work in town and send back money to the communes.
Through a system of inter-planting two crops are achieved on the same area during the one growing season. In 1975 the brigade had 6 tractors, 37 trucks, 60 implements, 190 horses and cows, and 237 pigs. They also made bricks and produced noodles for the commune.
In spite of the accomplishments at the Dazhai brigade other brigades and other communes, even those nearby, were slow to learn from Dazhai.
Economic consolidation and agricultural production remained low, more profitable non-agricultural sideline activities were emphasized, and people were encouraged to work in town and send back money to the communes.
Traditional ideas of getting rich quickly and profiteering were still prevalent, even among people in the Party leadership. Chairman Mao’s directive ‘to take grain as the key link and achieve overall development’ was ignored, the wrong line was followed, and capitalist tendencies were pervasive.
The Cultural Revolution, the movement to learn from Dazhai, May 7th cadre schools and agricultural colleges, class struggle within the communes, all helped to speed up the process of change. Today Xiyang County is a ‘Dazhai-type county’ (the first in China).
Hsiyang County is a most striking place to
visit as the hills, valleys, and river beds have all been recently rebuilt to
serve the needs of man, with all the new stone walls supporting new terraces or
drainage channels, more dramatic even than such a Chinese wonder as the Great
Wall.
Dazhai suggests the China of the future,
where people have given up private production, where earnings and needs are met
by self-assessment, and distribution is to each according to his need while
work is from each according to his ability.
Whether or not this outcome of the current proletarian revolution in China will be achieved will depend on the successes of the struggles currently being fought within China.
Whether or not this outcome of the current proletarian revolution in China will be achieved will depend on the successes of the struggles currently being fought within China.
SPRING COMES EARLY TO THESE HILLS
Trees in the valley are white with hoarfrost,
And icicles hang from the cliffs above:
For while it is still mid-winter on
Tiger-head Hill,
Our brigade members have already come.
They’ve not come to pay a friendly visit,
Instead they’ve issued a declaration of war!
They’ve brought their picks and hammers with
them,
And presented Ephedra Gully with an ultimatum.
‘Cliff, it’s time you lowered your proud
head!
Valley, come now, heave yourself up!
For here we intend to level the land, make a
plain
That will stretch as smooth as the Yangtse Valley.’
At the word of command the hill lowers its
head,
As its cliffs are brought low, it says,
‘I’ll obey you,’ while the gully trembles,
Saying meekly, ‘I admit defeat.’
Hammers, like battle drums, sound the charge;
like fire-crackers welcoming spring is the dynamite’s
blast,
Bulldozers roll along with a rumble and roar;
Spring has come early to these hills.
Quoting Chairma Mao in 1966 “
TACHING Oilfield set a shining example and blazed a new trail for socialist industrialization and the revolutionization of China’s enterprises at a time when the country was in temporary economic difficulties and confronted by very hard conditions, materially and technically.
What the people of Taching relied on was Mao Tse-tung’s thought.
They said: “The rise of our enterprise has been made possible by relying on Chairman Mao’s two theses on philosophy: (On Practice and On Contradiction).”
The renowned men and women of Taching have armed themselves with Mao Tse-tung’s thought.
As the whole nation is emulating Taching, a large number of Taching-style enterprises has emerged, whose most salient characteristic is that they have placed Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront.
The workers express it in these words: “When men follow what Chairman Mao says, machines will do what men tell them.”
The Tachai Production Brigade set a magnificent example in China in the building of socialist agriculture; it has blazed a brilliant trail by creating high-yielding farmland and achieving one bumper harvest after another on barren mountains and poor land, without making any request for state help either in money or in material.
What they have relied on is Mao Tse-tung’s thought. The renowned men and women of Tachai have armed themselves with Mao Tse-tung’s thought.
As the whole nation emulates Tachai, a large number of advanced, Tachai-style agricultural units has emerged, whose most salient characteristic is that they have placed Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront.
The peasants express it in these words: “Mao Tse-tung’s thought is the best revolutionary weapon: Armed with this weapon you can fight the mountains and they will change; when you aim it at the land, you can gather bigger crops; when you use it to battle against the water, you can make the water irrigate the land; when you use it in afforestation, the forests will prosper, and when you use it to fight the devious trends and evil blasts of the wind, you can stand your ground and see clearly which way to go.”
TACHING Oilfield set a shining example and blazed a new trail for socialist industrialization and the revolutionization of China’s enterprises at a time when the country was in temporary economic difficulties and confronted by very hard conditions, materially and technically.
What the people of Taching relied on was Mao Tse-tung’s thought.
They said: “The rise of our enterprise has been made possible by relying on Chairman Mao’s two theses on philosophy: (On Practice and On Contradiction).”
The renowned men and women of Taching have armed themselves with Mao Tse-tung’s thought.
As the whole nation is emulating Taching, a large number of Taching-style enterprises has emerged, whose most salient characteristic is that they have placed Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront.
The workers express it in these words: “When men follow what Chairman Mao says, machines will do what men tell them.”
The Tachai Production Brigade set a magnificent example in China in the building of socialist agriculture; it has blazed a brilliant trail by creating high-yielding farmland and achieving one bumper harvest after another on barren mountains and poor land, without making any request for state help either in money or in material.
What they have relied on is Mao Tse-tung’s thought. The renowned men and women of Tachai have armed themselves with Mao Tse-tung’s thought.
As the whole nation emulates Tachai, a large number of advanced, Tachai-style agricultural units has emerged, whose most salient characteristic is that they have placed Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront.
The peasants express it in these words: “Mao Tse-tung’s thought is the best revolutionary weapon: Armed with this weapon you can fight the mountains and they will change; when you aim it at the land, you can gather bigger crops; when you use it to battle against the water, you can make the water irrigate the land; when you use it in afforestation, the forests will prosper, and when you use it to fight the devious trends and evil blasts of the wind, you can stand your ground and see clearly which way to go.”
Also read
China Will Take A Giant
Stride Forward
The Dazhai Production Team in Xiyang County,
Shanxi Province, was made a national model in 1964 when Mao Zedong issued the call
“In agriculture, learn from Dazhai” (农业学大寨).
The essay “The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains” , one of Mao’s”Three Constantly Read Articles” written
in 1939, was seen as the theoretical basis for this emulation movement. Dazhai’s
success story was based on its self-reliance in turning its infertile soil into
productive land by relying on manpower and hard work. Water was transported
over many miles for irrigation, land was cleared in the mountains, and terraced
fields were built that withstood drought and flood. Dazhai (大寨) became
an object of intense study.
New
Look of Dazhai, 1976
The main driving force behind these
achievements was Chen Yonggui, a true Party activist who
represented the poor and lower-middle peasants of the team. Chen, usually shown
with a towel around his head, organized the villagers into teams with names such
as “Oldsters and Youngsters”, and “Iron Girls”, to perform the backbreaking
work that was needed to convert barren Dazhai into a “Pacesetter in China’s
Agriculture”.
Great
Struggle against Crooked Valleys and Rivers, 1974
In the early 1970s, Dazhai had become the
benchmark for all agricultural production. The Dazhai example had to be
followed everywhere, regardless of what the local conditions might be.
Daily, some 20,000 visitors passed through Dazhai to study this model of self-reliance.
Following Dazhai turned out to have disastrous consequences, in particular in areas with abundant water resources.
Only by late 1980, the Dazhai model was officially discredited. It transpired then that Dazhai’s achievements were the result of the extensive assistance from the People’s Liberation Army.
Moreover, heavy machinery had been used, whereas Dazhai had been propagated as a model that relied on pure manpower and a clear understanding of proletarian politics.
Daily, some 20,000 visitors passed through Dazhai to study this model of self-reliance.
Following Dazhai turned out to have disastrous consequences, in particular in areas with abundant water resources.
Only by late 1980, the Dazhai model was officially discredited. It transpired then that Dazhai’s achievements were the result of the extensive assistance from the People’s Liberation Army.
Moreover, heavy machinery had been used, whereas Dazhai had been propagated as a model that relied on pure manpower and a clear understanding of proletarian politics.
The influence of the Dazhai campaign proved
tenacious. Even today, one can still see faded slogans proclaiming Nongye
xue Dazhai(In agriculture, learn from Dazhai) in rural parts of China.
By the late 1990s, Dazhai’s inhabitants no longer stress self-reliance and hard work, but strive to become as well off as the rest of the people.
Not a single household is solely engaged in agriculture anymore, and more than 80% of the villagers now work in industry and the service sector, in particular tourism.
Most of the arable land has been turned into orchards and dense woods.
By the late 1990s, Dazhai’s inhabitants no longer stress self-reliance and hard work, but strive to become as well off as the rest of the people.
Not a single household is solely engaged in agriculture anymore, and more than 80% of the villagers now work in industry and the service sector, in particular tourism.
Most of the arable land has been turned into orchards and dense woods.
[SOURCE: Peking Review, no. 52, December, 1977.]
(This was a passage Comrade Mao Tse tung added
when he went over Premier Chou En-lai’s Report on the Work of the Government to
the First Session of the Third National People’s Congress.)
We cannot just follow the beaten track
traversed by other countries in the development of technology and trail behind
them at a snail’s pace. We must break away from conventions and do our utmost
to adopt advanced techniques in order to make China a powerful modern socialist
country in not too long a historical period. This is what we mean by a giant
stride forward. Is this impossible of attainment? Is this boasting or bragging?
Certainly not. It can be done. It is neither boasting nor bragging.
We need only review our history to understand this. In our country haven’t we fundamentally overthrown imperialism, feudalism and capitalism, which were seemingly so strong?
Starting as we did from “poverty and blankness,” haven’t we scored considerable successes in all fields of socialist revolution and socialist construction after 15 years of endeavor?
Haven’t we too exploded an atom bomb? Haven’t we wiped out the stigma of “the sick man of the East” imposed on us by westerners?
Why can’t the proletariat of the East accomplish what the bourgeoisie of the west has been able to?
Early this century Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the great Chinese revolutionary and our precursor, said that China would take a giant stride forward. His prediction will certainly come true in the coming decades.
This is an inevitable trend no reactionary force can stop.
We need only review our history to understand this. In our country haven’t we fundamentally overthrown imperialism, feudalism and capitalism, which were seemingly so strong?
Starting as we did from “poverty and blankness,” haven’t we scored considerable successes in all fields of socialist revolution and socialist construction after 15 years of endeavor?
Haven’t we too exploded an atom bomb? Haven’t we wiped out the stigma of “the sick man of the East” imposed on us by westerners?
Why can’t the proletariat of the East accomplish what the bourgeoisie of the west has been able to?
Early this century Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the great Chinese revolutionary and our precursor, said that China would take a giant stride forward. His prediction will certainly come true in the coming decades.
This is an inevitable trend no reactionary force can stop.
On Education – Conversation With
The Nepalese Delegation Of
Educationists
1964
Our education is fraught with problems, the
most prominent of which is dogmatism. We are in the process of reforming our
educational system.
The school years are too long, courses too many, and various methods of teaching unsatisfactory. The children learn textbooks and concepts which remain [merely] textbooks and concepts; they know nothing else.
[They] do not use use their four limbs; nor do [they] recognize the five kinds of grain.[1] Many children do not even know what cows, horses, chickens, dogs, and pigs are; nor can they tell the differences between rice, canary seeds, maize, wheat, millet, and sorghum.[2]
When a student graduates from his university, he is already over twenty. The school years are too long, courses too many, and the method of teaching is by injection instead of through the imagination.
The method of examination is to treat candidates as enemies and ambush them. (laughter) Therefore I advice you not to entertain any blind faith in the Chinese educational system.
Do not regard it as a good system. Any drastic change is difficult, [as] many people would oppose it. At present a few may agree to the adoption of new methods, but many would disagree.
I may be pouring cold water on you. You expect to see something good, but I only tell you what is bad. (laughter)
The school years are too long, courses too many, and various methods of teaching unsatisfactory. The children learn textbooks and concepts which remain [merely] textbooks and concepts; they know nothing else.
[They] do not use use their four limbs; nor do [they] recognize the five kinds of grain.[1] Many children do not even know what cows, horses, chickens, dogs, and pigs are; nor can they tell the differences between rice, canary seeds, maize, wheat, millet, and sorghum.[2]
When a student graduates from his university, he is already over twenty. The school years are too long, courses too many, and the method of teaching is by injection instead of through the imagination.
The method of examination is to treat candidates as enemies and ambush them. (laughter) Therefore I advice you not to entertain any blind faith in the Chinese educational system.
Do not regard it as a good system. Any drastic change is difficult, [as] many people would oppose it. At present a few may agree to the adoption of new methods, but many would disagree.
I may be pouring cold water on you. You expect to see something good, but I only tell you what is bad. (laughter)
However, I am not saying that there is
nothing good at all. Take industry and geology for instance. The old society
left to us only 200 geologists and technicians; now we have more than 2,00,000.
Generally speaking, the intellectuals
specializing in engineering are better, because they are in touch with reality.
Scientists, pure scientists, are worse, but they are still better than those who specialize in art subjects. [Liberal] art subjects are completely detached from reality.
Students of history, philosophy, and economics have no concern with studying reality; they are the most ignorant of things of this world.
Scientists, pure scientists, are worse, but they are still better than those who specialize in art subjects. [Liberal] art subjects are completely detached from reality.
Students of history, philosophy, and economics have no concern with studying reality; they are the most ignorant of things of this world.
As I have said before, we have nothing
marvellous, only things we have learnt from ordinary people.
Of course, we have learnt a little Marxism-Leninism, but Marxism-Leninism alone won’t do. [We] must study Chinese problems, starting from the characteristics and facts of China.
We Chinese, myself included, did not know much about China. We knew that we ought to fight against imperialism and its lackeys, but we did not know how to do it.
So we had to study the conditions of China, just as you study the conditions of your country.
We spent a long time, fully twenty-eight years from the foundation of the CPC to the liberation of the whole country, in forging step by step a set of policies suitable to Chinese conditions.
Of course, we have learnt a little Marxism-Leninism, but Marxism-Leninism alone won’t do. [We] must study Chinese problems, starting from the characteristics and facts of China.
We Chinese, myself included, did not know much about China. We knew that we ought to fight against imperialism and its lackeys, but we did not know how to do it.
So we had to study the conditions of China, just as you study the conditions of your country.
We spent a long time, fully twenty-eight years from the foundation of the CPC to the liberation of the whole country, in forging step by step a set of policies suitable to Chinese conditions.
The source of [our] strength is the masses.
If a thing does not represent the people’s wish, it is no good. [We] must learn
from the masses, formulate our policies, and then educate the masses. Therefore
if we want to be teachers, we have to be pupils to begin with.
No teacher begins [his career] as a teacher. Having become a teacher, he should continue to learn from the masses in order to understand how he himself learns.
That is why there are courses on psychology and education in teachers’ training. What [one] learns becomes useless if [one] does not understand the reality.
No teacher begins [his career] as a teacher. Having become a teacher, he should continue to learn from the masses in order to understand how he himself learns.
That is why there are courses on psychology and education in teachers’ training. What [one] learns becomes useless if [one] does not understand the reality.
There is a factory attached to the science
and engineering faculties at Tshingua University[3] because students must learn
from [both] books and work.
But [we] cannot set up factories for arts faculties such as a literature factory, a history factory, an economics factory, or a novel factory; these faculties, should regard the whole of society as their factory.
Their teachers and students should make contact with the peasants and urban workers as well as with agriculture and industries.
How else can their graduates be of any use? Take students of law, for example.
If they do not understand crimes in a society, they cannot be good students of law.
It is out of the question to set up a law factory; so society is their factory.
But [we] cannot set up factories for arts faculties such as a literature factory, a history factory, an economics factory, or a novel factory; these faculties, should regard the whole of society as their factory.
Their teachers and students should make contact with the peasants and urban workers as well as with agriculture and industries.
How else can their graduates be of any use? Take students of law, for example.
If they do not understand crimes in a society, they cannot be good students of law.
It is out of the question to set up a law factory; so society is their factory.
Comparatively speaking, our arts faculties
are the most backward owing to a lack of contact with reality. Students and
teachers do only class work. Philosophy is book philosophy.
What is the use of philosophy if it is not learnt from society, from the masses, and from nature? It can be composed only of vague ideas. Logic is the same. [One] does not understand much of it if one merely reads through the textbook once.
But one understands it gradually through application. I did not understand much when I read logic. The understanding came to me when I used it.
What is the use of philosophy if it is not learnt from society, from the masses, and from nature? It can be composed only of vague ideas. Logic is the same. [One] does not understand much of it if one merely reads through the textbook once.
But one understands it gradually through application. I did not understand much when I read logic. The understanding came to me when I used it.
I have been talking about logic. There is
also grammar which one does not quite understand simply by reading it.
But one grasps the use of sentence structure when one is actually writing. We write and speak according to the customary usages and it is not really necessary to study grammar.
As to rhetoric, it is an optional subject. Great writers are not always rhetoricians. I studied rhetoric myself, but did not understand it at all. Do you study it before you write?
But one grasps the use of sentence structure when one is actually writing. We write and speak according to the customary usages and it is not really necessary to study grammar.
As to rhetoric, it is an optional subject. Great writers are not always rhetoricians. I studied rhetoric myself, but did not understand it at all. Do you study it before you write?
Instructions
1964
Courses And Examinations
There are too many courses offered at schools
[and universities] which place a heavy burden on students. They are not often
properly taught. The examination system treats students like enemies; it
pounces on them suddenly. These are detrimental to the development, in a lively
and spontaneous manner, of the moral, intellectual, and physical capabilities
of the young people.
10-3-1964
Literature And Art
In the last fifteen years these
associations,[1] most of their publications (it is said that a few are good,
and by and large the people in them (that is, not everybody) have not carried
out the policies of the party.
They have acted as high and mighty bureaucrats, have not gone to the workers, peasants, and soldiers, and have not reflected the socialist revolution and socialist construction.
In recent years, they skid right down to the brink of revisionism. Unless they remould themselves in real earnest, at some future date they are bound to become groups like the
They have acted as high and mighty bureaucrats, have not gone to the workers, peasants, and soldiers, and have not reflected the socialist revolution and socialist construction.
In recent years, they skid right down to the brink of revisionism. Unless they remould themselves in real earnest, at some future date they are bound to become groups like the
Hungarian Petofi Club.
27-6-1964
Comments On The Report Of The Public Showing
And Criticism Of The Films ‘South China In The North’ (Pei-Kuo Chiangnan) And ‘Early
Spring In The Second Month’ (Tsao-Ch’un Erth-Yueh) – I By The Department Of
Propaganda Of The Centre
There may not be only these two films [of
this kind]. Others should be criticized also, so that revisionist material is
made known to the public.
August 1964
Notes On The Directive Of Strengthening
Political Work By Learning From The PLA
Now the whole country is learning from the
PLA and the Tach’ing [oilfield] and schools too should learn from the PLA. What
the PLA excels in is the field of political ideology. It is also necessary to
learn from the advanced units in the cities, agriculture, industries, commerce,
and education, throughout the country.
1964
There are people who suggest that the
industrial departments at all levels (from the Departments to the factories and
communes) throughout the country should learn from the PLA by setting up
political departments and political bureaux and appointing political commissars
and by adopting the ‘four firsts’ and the ‘three-eight style’[2] It seems that
this is the only way to arouse the revolutionary spirit of millions of cadres
and workers in the industrial (as well as agricultural and commercial)
departments.
https://www.marxists.org/…/archi…/mao/works/1964/phnycom.htm
1964: On Khrushchov’s Phoney Communism and
Its Historical Lessons for the World
By the Editorial Departments of Renmin Ribao
(People’s Daily) and Hongqui (Red Flag), China, of 14 July 1964. The source is
a pamphlet published by Foreign Languages Press, Peking 1964.
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