Research On The Great Leap Forward Of Agriculture In Shangcheng County,Henan Province

The “Great Leap Forward” movement is a test of the transition to communism in the history of China.Its scope includes all aspects of social economy and provides valuable experience and lessons for the exploration of the road of socialist modernization.As a major industry in China at that time,agriculture provided resources for the realization of industrialization goals and played an important role in the “Great Leap Forward”movement.Shangcheng County was affiliated to Xinyang,Henan Province during the‘Great Leap Forward’ era.It belonged to Huainan rice-producing area and was responsible for grains transferring.With the continuous development of “left-leaning thoughts,the “Great Leap Forward” in agriculture in Shangcheng County appeared in three stages.The second half of 1957 and the first half of 1958 were the early stages of the“Great Leap Forward” in agriculture in Shangcheng County.The indicators of this period were still within a reasonable range.Under the propaganda of the social education movement,farmers had a high enthusiasm for production,and agricultural production also culminated.In July 1958,the people’s commune movement began and lasted in the spring of 1959.This period was also the climax of the “Great Leap Forward” in agriculture in Shangcheng County where the criticism of the “Pan,Yang and Wang”movement swept under the instructions of the provincial and local committees.The late stage of the “Great Leap Forward” in agriculture in Shangcheng County was from the spring of 1959 to the spring of 1960.During this period,Shangcheng County took drought resisting an harvest assuring as the major task of the development of its agriculture.However,the beginning of the anti-rightist struggle forced cadres to shout the slogan of the overproduction movement which could not be fully carried out due to the severe famine.In the “Great Leap Forward” in agriculture,Shangcheng County implemented agricultural “eight-character constitution” proposed by the central committee,introduced dense planting and deep tillage technology,improved the seeds and agricultural tools,and established agricultural technology stations.The aforementioned measures have contributed in boosting production to a certain extent.Through the introduction of many new agricultural technologies and tools,the reallocation of agricultural production factors has been realized,which was helpful to the transformation of traditional agriculture.However,due to the strong arbitrariness of county party committees and grassroots cadres in implementing agricultural production-increasing measures and the lack of scientific and reasonable technical guidance,there are problems such as excessive deep plowing of land,excessive number of plants per unit area,uneven quality of improved agricultural tools,and substandard quality of water conservancy projects,resulting in a huge waste of resources.In the process of criticizing “Pan,Yang and Wang” in 1958,the extreme “left:leaning thought” led by Shangcheng County Committee came into being.What’s worse,the development of anti-rightist struggle after Lushan Conference made the “left-leaning thought” in Shangcheng County reached its peak.The committee thsu lost its reason in the wave of criticizing Niu Baoyin and Jiang Zhichao,and brought a catastrophe to the county in the end.However,it cannot be ignored that the leading cadres at the county level were not completely caught in the craze of the “Great Leap Forward.” Some cadres still maintained rationality,but they could not stop the pace of the “ Great Leap Forward” because of the pressure at all levels.