Research On The Association Of Poor And Poor Peasants In Jiangsu Province

The Poor and Lower-middle Peasants Association of Jiangsu Province is a provincial association founded in the1960s during the Four Cleanups Movement, which was responsible for launching political campaigns. Choosing as the research object an association at provincial level instead of grass-roots or the centre, the thesis aims to reproduce the role played by the Poor and Lower-middle Peasants Association of Jiangsu Province during the historical process, to explore how it promoted the class struggle in the countryside of Jiangsu Province and to deepen our knowledge of its nature and historical influence. Through this, the thesis provides a historical reference for our present constructing rural grass-roots organizations, which helps in making them play a greater part in the historical course of the new socialist countryside construction.The thesis divides into six parts:first, the literature review and the research methods; second, the historical background of the foundation of the Poor and Lower-middle Peasants Association of Jiangsu Province; third, a general analysis of the organization structure and the evaluation of the Association; fourth, how the Association mobilized the peasants to participate in political campaigns and its role in the campaigns, which is analyzed from the respects of expanding the membership, studying the works of Mao Zedong, organizing exhibitions and reporting teams of poor and lower-middle peasants, as well as dealing with letters and visits from people; fifth, the function of the Association by introducing and analyzing the political campaigns it took part in during the1960s and1970s; sixth, conclusion of the Association by analyzing its role and function.The thesis shows that the poor and lower-middle peasants association is fundamentally a class organization which served as an assistant and an instrument of the party to develop class struggle. Its role in the countryside is to organize and mobilize the peasants to participate in political campaigns, to carry out the class line of the party and to strengthen the party’s leadership in the countryside. All these decide that the association could n’t represent or safeguard the interests of the peasant masses. Meanwhile, we can’t ignore that under the historical conditions of that time, the association played a certain part in promoting the economical constructions in the countryside by organizing the peasants to resist the natural disasters and to improve water conservancy and other infrastructure facilities.