Selection Of Farmer Activists In Village Power Reconstruction Of En'shi County (1949-1953)

Farmer activists are considered as an important perspective to observe Chinese rural society and also the effective approach to know about the grass-roots work logics of the CPC in early years of New China.In November 1949,all areas in En'shi were liberated,waiting to do many things in this new liberated area: due to long-standing business dealings of Kuo Min Tang(KMT)and wars,En'shi has had the abnormally serious class differentiation,extremely low social economic development level,and rampant bandit power,making people live in privation.As an external regime,it was extremely hard to rebuild social order and implement social construction in En'shi.Under the difficult situation,more prominent conflict was the realistic dilemma between numerous tasks of social transformation and governmental construction and extremely scanty CPC cadres.In order to solve it,based on historical experience in revolutionary era,the CPC selected lots of farmer activists in villages,fully depended on activities of poor peasants and farm labors and mobilized the masses to successfully develop mass movements in En'shi County and achieve the reconstructive goal of rural social power structure in En'shi County.As an experimental area of various tasks in En'shi area,En'shi County in early years of New China created lots of rural working experience.The selection of farmer activists has the typical significance.The selective standard of farmer activists in En'shi County,in theory,always emphasizes on five conditions of “family background,historical experience,working performance,ideological awareness,and mass linkage”,but it is flexible implemented in practice with the change of working concentration.In addition,the selective mode had different emphases before and after land reform,creating the typical experience of “focusing on villages,inspecting in movements,and combining with mass enlightenment and individual connection,and leadership and mass opinions”.Owing to the selection of farmer activists,the CPC depended on the basic route of poor peasants and farm labors to complete the preliminary “political screening” in rural society.En'shi County not only integrates the class education into daily life of farmer activists,applies the activist conferences,party training class and criticism on “Li Lianzhong thought” and improves integrated quality of farmer activist through multiple channels and levels as educating farmer activists.Moreover,multiple strategies are applied in different periods,including “complaint,itemized accounts,abandon painfully bad habits or ideology,‘hats' and ‘artistic revolutionization',to maximize revolutionary education effects.The educational cultivation of farmer activists constantly intensifies class sense of belonging to lots of farmer activists.The selection of farmer activists in En'shi County is present in the dynamically complicated process.The CPC and the masses have constantly adjusted their coping strategies in practice: on the one hand,selective subjects have constantly adjusted their own selective measures,hoping to expand and purify farmer activists.On the other hand,farmer activists have had the relative initiative,showing the multiple mental considerations behind “positivity”.Through the development of mass movements,it has been disciplined in the normal orbit required by the CPC.In the end,lots of farmer activists have been promoted as grass-roots cadres and developed as CPC members.What's more,people appreciate great achievements of liberating people by the CPC and expect to realize national industrialization and socialism,the entire En'shi County is filled with the new vitality.As a whole,the selection of farmer activists in En'shi County in early years of New China has been successful,reflecting in two aspects: in terms of farmer activists,it has abided by the spirit of superior indication,always insisted in the theoretical logics of depending on poor peasants and farm labors,practically combined with working practice of En'shi County and always persisted to practical logics of serving for practice,thus theory and practice could be organically integrated.In addition,owing to educate farmer activists,the masses could be filled with the beautiful imagination for romanticism,which has been the great spiritual weapon for the CPC to unify with people and overcome difficulties.Furthermore,based on the effect that the CPC relied on farmer activists to solve a power problem,the goal of reconstructing the rural social power structure in En'shi County has been achieved.In other words,lots of poor peasants and farm labors mastered the rural political power.“To liberate” has been the theme of rural social relation.Farmers have gained the substances and spiritual liberation.Also,rural productivity has been dramatically liberated.The revolutionary culture enabled the masses to be passionate.Rural society has realized the earthshaking changes.In a short,the successful selection of farmer activists in early years of New China was the result that the CPC insisted in the mass route,practically leaded rural center work and paid attention to working effects and innovation of working methods,providing the beneficial reflection on today's rural China,especially for rural grass-roots governance and grass-roots party construction in Midwest backward areas.