Research On Rural Public Canteens In Wuzhi County, Henan Province During The "Great Leap Forward" Period

Rural public canteen is the companion and important component of the great leap forward and the people's commune movement in 1958.It is a "new thing" that has dramatically changed the traditional way of life of Chinese farmers.From its rapid rise in the summer of 1958 to its quiet dissolution at the beginning of 1961,it has gone through a tortuous course of nearly four years.In this paper,one of the typical area of the movement to establish people's communes,henan xinxiang zone wuzhi county as a specific area,create the wuzhi county of henan province rural public dining room to the establishment of the "great leap forward" period,consolidate,development and dying process,examine the background of wuzhi county public dining room to rise from 1958 to 1961,the policy adjustment,to restore,and difficult to maintain,and ultimately dissolution process,strive for the three years hard times wuzhi county public dining room to make an objective evaluation of history.Henan province was the earliest province to carry out the public canteen,wuzhi county is one of the earliest county in henan to set up public dining room.According to the raw data of the wuzhi county archives,including the preserved the meeting record,report,work report,summary information,summarizes the county the county dominated the rise and fall of the rural public dining room general process.Through a large number of details in these archives,we can reveal the different positions of the county party committee,commune cadres,large and small group cadres and ordinary members on public canteens as well as their interactions with each other,and explore the role of attitudes of various strata on the rise,adjustment and dissolution of rural public canteens.These archives prove the authority and continuity of the macro policies carried out by the central committee,provincial party committee and local party committee at the local level,as well as the diversity and complexity of the practice of the public canteen at the grassroots level.Rural public canteen is a new thing,to change the county people for thousands of years to the family as a unit of life and eating habits,cancel the private kitchen,concentrated in the large canteen group dining,is not an easy thing,it touches every aspect of the members' life.In July 1958,the county party committee of the communist party of China(CPC)started to prepare public canteen at the request of the local party committee of xinxiang.Then,the communist party of China wuzhi county committee set up zhan dian commune,chengguan commune two typical,promotion experience.On August 23,with the establishment of the people's commune,the public canteen in the county.In early November,the county partycommittee took some measures to consolidate and improve the county's public canteen.With the establishment of the public canteen,the county also popularized the system of supply and collective welfare.In early 1959,wuzhi county rural public dining room to the ills of constantly exposed.The county party committee in wuzhi made a preliminary rectification of the public canteen,such as the implementation of "planned grain consumption and rationing by people";"Allow members to eat at home" and participate in the canteen voluntarily;Reduce the size of the canteen.Because the family sideline is the logical extension of the public canteen,in the initial reorganization of the canteen at the same time,the county party committee also requires to carry out a variety of business and non-staple food production measures to increase the rations of the members.These measures,so that the mess in the canteen at the beginning of the situation has improved.However,the reorganization of the public canteen was forced to stop because of the anti-rightist struggle at the lushan conference.After the lushan meeting,wuzhi county public dining room to the climax of the bulk sample again.The forced restoration of the public canteen,the prevalence of "five winds" and the anti-concealment campaign caused great damage to the countryside.At the beginning of 1960,wuzhi county party committee reorganized the public canteen.But these measures are not enough to improve the difficult situation of the public canteen,the whole county has generally appeared edema disease,population outflow,poisoning events,abnormal death and other serious difficulties.The county party committee has to carry out the food increment law,the substitute food movement and so on the measure maintains the public canteen's movement.In early 1961,the communist party of China(Wu Zhi the county in the spirit of higher,in the countryside has carried on the thorough investigation,discovered many disadvantages existing in the public canteens,found out the real attitude of grassroots public canteen,realize the benefits of a close canteen find measures for the aftermath of the dining room to stop groups on the basis of the dissolution of the county's public dining room.Wuzhi county rural public canteen is on the basis of investigation and study,seeking truth from facts have leadership,partial staging off gradually,and the dissolution in the canteen before and even after the dissolution dissolution process there are still many problems to be solved,there are a lot of work to do,is not "dispersed in a hubbub.Wuzhi county rural public dining room to waste a lot of food,bulk sample dampened members work enthusiasm,deprived of membership of the plot and household sideline production,worsening the relationship between the masses,and the members in the diet of the very bad environment.Public dining room is the "great leap forward" movement and themovement to establish people's communes "left" the product of it to wuzhi county social economy and people's life has brought severe disaster,carefully summarize the experiences and lessons,to our construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics still has the extremely important practical significance.