The Rationality Of Subaltern And People’s Commune In Growing Up And Continuance

Based on the archival materials from1957to1964of Chengui town, Daye County, Hubei Province, the thesis, taking a perspective of the historical sociology, has investigated the establishment and operation of people’s communes of Mine in Daye County of Hubei province against the backdrop of the rectification movement. The research finds that rectification, as a form and a means, has played a crucial role in this highly planned agricultural socialist transformation movement. Rectification is the reason why people’s commune movement could expand, and also provides the commune system with continuous external pressure. Around the interpretation of the relationship between the two, the thesis also, from the underlying perspective, examines the strategies of the grassroots people in coping with mandatory transformation against the backdrop of the rectification movement. And on this basis, the thesis proposes that the essence of the passion, recklessness and bustle manifested by the grassroots people of people’s communes of mine is, in fact, more of a reflection of survival rationality under the strong political pressure.This thesis, using materials of "arising of views" in the rectification movement, has revealed the true views of the grassroots cadres and the masses in each case toward the agricultural cooperation-collectivization movement during the transitional period from the "advanced cooperation" to people’s communes. The research finds that during this period the grassroots people have won temporary and open space for freedom of speech. Therefore, through the presentation and analysis of these archives materials, people find that the underlying rural populace have raised their suspicion and even criticism on the issues such as the superiority of the agricultural cooperation-collectivization system, the unified purchase and sale system, the differences in urban and rural residents’life, the hierarchy of cadres, the relationship between the cadres and the masses and etc, which allow people to see the complexity of history obscured by the general textbooks.The thesis further examines that when the rectification movement enters the anti-rightist stage, the upper leaders use strong political pressure and disciplinary mechanisms to eliminate the grassroots noise, and carry out the ideological discipline. The research finds that the anti-rightist movement makes the grassroots cadres and masses no longer dare to voice, and out of the consideration of avoiding risks, they have abandoned or hidden their thoughts, in turn, showed an attitude of obedience and welcome toward the abrupt commune movement. It is just driven by this underlying rationality can people’s communes be established rapidly.Through the analysis of the typical "mine incident" during the process of establishing people’s communes, the thesis further demonstrates the political pressure mechanism in the commune movement. By pointing out that under the strong political pressure, the social relevance ties of the traditional rural society further break, the grassroots cadres and masses have lost the resource to compete with the upper leaders, and the rural society has gradually become the atomized field, the thesis tends to reveal the reasons why the people’s commune system is rigid and inefficient from another perspective.The research finds that after the communization, the rectification movement, changing gradually from the original ideological discipline to the power of mode maintenance and the rigid discipline of the fierce class struggle and ideology, has gradually become a normal grassroots governance means, not only maintained the basic system of the commune but also greatly reduced the "anti-act" that strikes the collective economy, making the entire rural society coerced in the commune system.On the other hand, under the high pressure of the rectification the grassroots cadres and masses, apart from being tame and silent, have also learnt to respond perfunctorily, which has made the original inefficient operation mechanism of the commune more formalized. Vigorous and uniform does it look externally, the operation mechanism of the commune is increasingly becoming loose and weak internally, which is doomed to result in the final disintegration of the commune.Based on the above analysis, the thesis finally discusses the relationship between ideology, ideological discipline and social transformation, and points out that the concept and practice of the institutional design of people’s communes, as the carrier to realize the ideal society, is in serious conflict with the realistic economic and social pattern. Although a series of ideological discipline with the rectification as the center have made great efforts in educating and demanding the grassroots people to accept the new value specification, the ideological choice deviates from the common sense of economic society is constantly inconsistent with the basic economic and social laws as well as the traditional heritage of the rural fields, which has resulted in an inefficient and thankless task. Therefore, when the political pressure is weakened even released, it is difficult to maintain the commune system and the grassroots society also naturally returns to normal. This phenomenon occurs not only in the cases studied in this thesis, but also is a large historical phenomenon, thus, this study will achieve the value beyond that of individual cases.