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Past Anniversaries in Beijing Review
Special> 60th Anniversary of The People's Republic of China> Past Anniversaries in Beijing Review
UPDATED: September-23-2009
Closely Following Chairman Mao Means Victory

TWENTY years have elapsed since our great socialist motherland - the People's Republic of China - was founded.

In celebrating the 20th anniversary, we are filled with the joy of victory and we heartily wish our great leader Chairman Mao a long, long life!

Under Chairman Mao's wise leadership, we have won great victories in the past 20 years in the socialist revolution and socialist construction and in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and we have brought about profound revolutionary changes in all spheres. China has been transformed from a "poor and blank" country into a socialist country which has attained initial prosperity. We have come to understand deeply the incomparable wisdom and greatness of Chairman Mao and the infinite brilliance and correctness of the revolutionary road he designated.

 

Acting on Chairman Mao's teachings, the poor and lower-middle peasants of the Nankunlungkou Brigade of Pingshan County in Hopei Province, displaying the spirit of self-reliance, build dams and terrace fields on the mountain sides in order to reap a still better bumper harvest 

Our Nankunlungkou Brigade was widely known as a poor gully before liberation. The sandy and stony land was divided into small plots which gave a low yield. When rain came, flood followed, wreaking havoc like wild beasts; while a long dry spell parched the land and caused the cattle to die of thirst. In nine years out of ten, the area was hit either by flood or by drought. Over 70 per cent of the land was held by four rich-peasant households while the poor and lower-middle peasants, subjected to exploitation and oppression, had to do backbreaking work all the year round. Forty-four poor and lower-middle peasant households were so hard pressed that their families were broken up. They became homeless and finally fled from this poor gully. Chairman Mao rescued us from this pit of fire. Emancipated, we became masters of the country. In the past 20 years, especially since the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, we have fought the elements, transformed the barren mountains and subdued the floods with the result that we have rapidly changed Nankunlungkou into a socialist new countryside. We have achieved all this by following Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line, relying on invincible Mao Tsetung Thought and taking Tachai Brigade as our example.

Acting on Chairman Mao's teachings, the poor and lower-middle peasants of the Nankunlungkou Brigade of Pingshan County in Hopei Province, displaying the spirit of self-reliance, build dams and terrace fields on the mountain sides in order to reap a still better bumper harvest.

Nankunlungkou is now a place where Mao Tsetung Thought is widely disseminated, where people diligently study and apply Mao Tsetung Thought in a living way. Their mental outlook has undergone profound changes, and revolution has stimulated the great development of various undertakings. We have cut through the mountains to build channels. Over 80 per cent of the brigade's cultivated land has been converted into terraced fields which can be drained and irrigated. Grain output has shot up for years running; the per-mu yield has risen from 100-odd jin before liberation to more than 1,200 jin now. The per-mu yield of wheat this year exceeds 800 jin. A big advance has also been made in animal husbandry. Cattle has increased from 40 head before liberation to over 90, and sheep from some 30 to over 800. With the steady consolidation of the collective economy, our socialist cultural and educational undertakings have likewise developed. Universal primary school education has been introduced, middle school classes and health centres have been set up. A new atmosphere of thriving socialism prevails everywhere in Nankunlungkou.

As we think of the past and look at the present, we realize why our country and our Nankunlungkou have achieved so much today. It is entirely because we have the wise leadership of Chairman Mao and are guided by the brilliance of Mao Tsetung Thought. We deeply understand that closely following Chairman Mao enables us to make a big leap, and that ideological revolutionization leads to a great advance in production.

Ever since liberation, the masses of poor and lower-middle peasants in Nankunlungkou have always progressed triumphantly along the road of agricultural cooperation pointed out by Chairman Mao. In the course of our advance, we have experienced an acute struggle between the two classes, the two roads and the two lines.

After the land reform, which direction was China to follow and which road would it take in developing its agriculture? This was an important question that concerned whether the dictatorship of the proletariat and the socialist system could be consolidated.

Our great leader Chairman Mao worked out for us a revolutionary line in carrying out socialist transformation of agriculture. This line was "to carry out co-operation and eliminate the rich-peasant economy and the individual economy in the countryside so that all the rural people will become increasingly well off together." On the eve of the nationwide liberation, Chairman Mao called and personally presided over the Second Plenary Session of the Party's Seventh Central Committee at our county's Hsipaipo at which he made a report of great historic significance. Chairman Mao pointed out: "Scattered, individual agriculture and handicrafts, which make up 90 per cent of the total value of output of the national economy, can and must be led prudently, step by step and yet actively to develop towards modernization and collectivization; the view that they may be left to take their own course is wrong." If the small peasant economy based on individual households had not been organized but left to take its own course, then it was inevitable that a polarization of classes would have once again emerged in the countryside, capitalism would have spread unchecked, the dictatorship of the proletariat and socialist system could not have been consolidated and the fruits of the people's revolution would have been forfeited. Only by transforming the individual economy into a socialist collective economy through the road of co-operation was it possible to eliminate capitalism in the countryside and consolidate the proletarian dictatorship led by the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance; only thus could there be "complete, consolidated socialism." The practice of the past 20 years has enabled us to come to a deep understanding of this great truth which Chairman Mao taught us. "We will advance along the road which Chairman Mao indicates and never turn back in the teeth of wind and waves!" This is the conclusion the poor and lower-middle peasants of Nankunlungkou have drawn from their personal experience.

In 1953, the mutual-aid team formed by our eight poor peasant households developed into an elementary agricultural producers' co-operative. Aware that we lacked livestock and were short of farm tools, the handful of class enemies asserted: "The co-operative won't last long." We retorted: "Though we are poor, we have high aspirations. We have set our minds upon taking the socialist road pointed out by Chairman Mao!" In 1955 when we wanted to turn our elementary cooperative into an advanced co-operative, certain leading members in the old county Party committee refused to give their approval. Our answer to this was: "We're taking the socialist road as Chairman Mao teaches us. They disapprove, but Chairman Mao approves!" So, in spite of their disapproval, we insisted on turning the elementary co-operatives into an advanced co-operative. In 1958, in response to Chairman Mao's great call, we set up a people's commune. The handful of class enemies again hurled wild attacks against us, clamouring that 'the people's communes are inferior to the co-operatives, the co-operatives are inferior to mutual-aid teams and mutual-aid teams are not as good as individual farming." Our Party branch led the commune members in recalling the bitterness of the past and contrasting it with the happiness of the present. With numerous living facts we praised the advantages of co-operation and scathingly repudiated the evil wind of individual farming. This heightened the socialist consciousness of the commune members, crushed the reactionary arrogance of the class enemies and helped us to consolidate and develop the people's communes.

Chairman Mao has taught us: "The masses have boundless creative power. They can organize themselves and concentrate on places and branches of work where they can give full play to their energy; they can concentrate on production in breadth and depth." Agricultural co-operation has brought into full play the tremendous strength latent among the masses. In our continuous advance along the road of agricultural cooperation charted by Chairman Mao, we have followed Chairman Mao's great teachings, relied on our collective strength, fought heaven and earth, transformed barren mountains and subdued the floods. As a result, grain output has steadily increased.

Before the establishment of the people's commune, to meet our consumption needs, our brigade had to buy part of its grain from the state. How to transform this state of backwardness thoroughly? The only way was to take the road Chairman Mao had pointed out - to make the barren hills produce grain.

Following the establishment of the advanced agricultural producers' co-operative in our village, we began battling against nature. The whole village concerted efforts in taming the mountain flood. Immediately afterwards we started digging channels along the slopes to lead the water up the hills. In 1958, under the brilliance of the general line for building socialism, the poor and lower-middle peasants, high in spirits and firm in determination, worked with soaring enthusiasm in cutting the hills into extensive terraced fields. It was in that year we reaped an extraordinarily good harvest, the first such crop in our brigade. The per-mu yield of grain exceeded 800 jin. For the first time, our brigade, which had always lacked grain, delivered and sold more than 70.000 jin surplus grain to the state.

Our great leader Chairman Mao teaches us: "The class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the class struggle between the different political forces, and the class struggle in the ideological field between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie will continue to be long and tortuous and at times will even become very acute." The renegade, hidden traitor and scab Liu Shao-chi is the chief representative of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes. He formulated and pushed forward a counter-revolutionary revisionist line which ran counter to Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line. He did his utmost in advocating the development of the rich-peasant economy, slashing the agricultural producers' co-operatives and frenziedly thrusting forward son zi yi bao (extension of plots for private use and of free markets, the increase of small enterprises with sole responsibility for their own profits or losses, the fixing of output quotas based on the household) and the "four freedoms" (freedom of usury, of hiring labour, land sale and private enterprise), vainly attempting to undermine the socialist collective economy and restore capitalism. For these last 20 years and especially since the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, we have deeply felt that to steadfastly march along the road of agricultural co-operation charted by Chairman Mao, it is necessary to resolutely fight against Liu Shao-chi's counter-revolutionary revisionist line.

In 1962, in line with the sinister intent of the renegade Liu Shao-chi, the capitalist roaders in the old county Party committee decided on measures to restore capitalism. They instructed us to divide the hills, trees, sheep and land among the commune members and assign each household its quota of the total farm work. The members were deeply enraged by this. All of us said that this decision was aimed at undermining socialism. Some remarked that this order was issued by a "big shot" above. I retorted: Chairman Mao leads us in taking the socialist road. Yet this "big shot" pulls the wheels back in urging us to divide the land for individual farming. He is opposing Chairman Mao. He must be a big traitor. Now we know this big traitor is the renegade Liu Shao-chi.

To enable the masses to discern the reactionary nature of this sinister decision, we submitted it to mass discussion. The meeting became one of recalling the past suffering, of criticism and of denunciation. The poor and lower-middle peasants said: For the past 10 years and more, we fared better and better as we followed Chairman Mao in taking the socialist road. To divide the land and go it alone is capitalism which will lead us backward and make us suffer a second time. We certainly will not agree. We rejected this decision resolutely. Furious, the handful of capitalist roaders within the Party charged us with the crime of "failing to carry out the policy" and "being disobedient to the Party." They arbitrarily decided to remove me from my post. The class enemies in the village also took this opportunity to spread rumours, hoping the decision to oust me would be carried out. At that time some people cautiously advised me: "Chuan-shou, better act as you are told. An arm is not so strong as a leg!" I replied, I will unswervingly follow the road pointed out by Chairman Mao even if a dagger threatens my throat, let alone removing me from my post. As a result of the resolute struggle waged by the poor and lower-middle peasants in accordance with Chairman Mao's teachings, the collective economy of our brigade was further consolidated and output raised during those years when Liu Shao-chi spared no efforts to spread the evil wind of individual farming.

These facts make us deeply understand that in order to follow Chairman Mao in making revolution, we should be boundlessly loyal to him and dare to pit ourselves against all the evil doings which oppose Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line. Every time we fight, we expose the enemy, educate the masses and win victory.

Before the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, I often pondered over why was it possible that certain persons could make a sinister decision in the name of the Party and issue a directive to hinder us from taking the socialist road. We were greatly enlightened after we had studied Chairman Mao's big-character pester "Bombard the Headquarters" and the "16-Point Decision" worked out under Chairman Mao's personal guidance. It became clear that a handful of renegades, enemy agents and absolutely unrepentant capitalist roaders represented by Liu Shao-chi had wormed their way into our Party. So our Party branch led the revolutionary masses in rebelling against Liu Shao-chi and his agents. To stave off their imminent doom, the handful of class enemies turned facts upside down in order to divert the general orientation of struggle and they instigated the masses in an attempt to launch a frenzied counter-attack against us. Their action served as a teacher by negative example that educated the masses and tempered the cadres. During the struggle, a great many good cadres have emerged who are loyal to Chairman Mao, Mao Tsetung Thought and Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line. They have reinforced the leading groups of the production brigades and teams, and this has further strengthened the dictatorship of the proletariat. The poor and lower-middle peasants stated: "Like bronze reinforced with iron, our socialist state power is now more consolidated than ever before."

Sailing the seas depends on the helmsman and making revolution depends on Mao Tsetung Thought. Tempered through the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the poor and lower-middle peasants in Nankun-lungkou are even more eagerly engaged in the living study and application of Mao Tsetung Thought. The Mao Tsetung Thought study classes we run on an extensive scale are varied in content and highly relevant to the current situation. After we set up the brigade's revolutionary committee, some cadres and commune members thought that we had won victory and the class enemies had mended their ways, so there would be no problem in pursuing the socialist road. With this problem in mind we repeatedly studied Chairman Mao's great theory on continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat in the light of our current ideas and reality. We relentlessly criticized the renegade Liu Shao-chi's counter-revolutionary revisionist fallacies such as the theory of "the dying out of class struggle," thereby enhancing our consciousness of class struggle and the struggle between the two lines. All of us said that we must foster a far-sighted and great revolutionary ideal, that is, always keeping in mind the lofty ideal of communism and the world revolution.

Once Mao Tsetung Thought is grasped by the masses, it immediately turns into a great material force. We unfolded an even bigger battle to transform the mountains and tame the rivers. In severe winter, whether during winds or snow, a vigorous scene prevailed at the work-sites where red flags fluttered. During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, we have depended on our iron fists and steel shoulders to terrace more than 30 mu of land out of the rocky crevices, and the average annual amount of work in the capital construction of farmland has doubled that prior to the great cultural revolution. Output of grain, too, has reached the highest level in the history of the brigade.

The great leader Chairman Mao teaches us: "We have won great victory. But the defeated class will still struggle. These people are still around and this class still exists. Therefore, we cannot speak of final victory. Not even for decades. We must not lose our vigilance." We are determined to hold still higher the great red banner of Mao Tsetung Thought and, under the wise leadership of the Party Central Committee with Chairman Mao as its leader and Vice-Chairman Lin as its deputy leader, display the dauntless revolutionary heroism of fearing neither hardship nor death, implement the fighting tasks set forth by the Ninth Party Congress, carry out the tasks of struggle-criticism-transformation conscientiously, heighten our vigilance, defend the motherland, be ready at all times to wipe out enemy intruders, further consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and win still greater victories.

(Beijing Review NO. 42, 1969)

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Pan Duo
Yuan Longping
Chen Guangbiao
Chen Zhangliang
Zheng Xiaoying
Song Dafang
Jiang Qingliang
Liu Jinyan
Hu Fei
NO. 40, 1959
NO. 40, 1969
NO. 40, 1979
NO. 40, 1989
NO. 42, 1999
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