The two climaxes of the third-line construction were carried out under the threat of attacks by the United States and the Soviet Union.
In August 1964, the Beibu Gulf Incident broke out, the United States brazenly invaded Vietnam, and the situation around the mainland became increasingly tense. In October 1964, the central government put forward a strategic decision on the construction of the third line, and in the summer of 1965, the construction of the third line entered the substantive implementation stage, and the first climax was formed from 1965 to 1966. In March 1969, the Zhenbao Island Incident broke out, the Contradictions between China and the Soviet Union worsened, and the construction of the third line, as the overriding central task, was once again put on the important agenda, and the second climax of the third line construction also came.
01
In the first half of 1962, the whole party concentrated its efforts on adjusting the national economy, and by the summer of 1963, various construction undertakings showed a clear momentum of healthy development. At the Central Work Conference in September 1963, the Party Central Committee decided to continue the adjustment for another three years from 1963 onwards, and as a transitional stage between the Second Five-Year Plan and the Third Five-Year Plan, the "Third Five-Year Plan" was postponed to the beginning of 1966.
The adjustment from 1963 to 1965 made important progress in both the industrial and agricultural sectors. Rural production relations have been adjusted to some extent, peasants' enthusiasm for production has been mobilized, agricultural output has increased considerably, and the living standards of urban and rural residents have been improved.
In the later period of the three-year continuous readjustment, the strategic focus of the mainland's economic construction underwent a major change in favor of combat readiness, and the construction of the three fronts began to be laid out. When formulating the "Third Five-Year Plan," Mao Zedong proposed: "Two fists -- agriculture, national defense industry, and one butt -- basic industry, should be laid out well." "The central task of this plan was originally to vigorously develop agriculture and basically solve the problem of eating and wearing; Appropriately strengthen national defense construction and strengthen the construction of basic industries. At that time, people vividly called this plan "Eating and Wearing Plan".
However, in the early 1960s, the international situation experienced new turbulence, the US war of aggression against North Vietnam gradually expanded, the situation around the mainland became increasingly tense, and the issue of war preparation was placed on the party's important agenda.
In May and June 1964, Mao Zedong, who was highly concerned about national security, divided the country into first, second, and third lines from the strategic layout of economic construction and national defense construction, and raised the issue of third-line construction. He said: As long as imperialism exists, there is a danger of war. We are not the chief of staff of imperialism, and we do not know when it will go to war. We have set up the steel, national defense, machinery, chemical, petroleum, and railway bases on the third line, and we will not be afraid to start a war at that time. With preparation, it is possible not to fight. When talking about whether the United States would expand its aggression against South Vietnam, Mao Zedong said: "We must pay attention to studying the guerrilla war in South Vietnam, they only have ten million people, not as big as our province, and the guerrilla war is as good as it is. Can't we? What if the enemy occupies our place? The coastal provinces have been talking about hand grenades, explosives factories, and military factories for several years, but they have not started a fight, and they cannot wait for the second and third lines to be transported. Every province must have one, two or three lines! ”
On August 5, 1964, the Beibu Gulf Incident broke out, and the United States provoked the Vietnam War in an all-round way, and US naval aircraft bombed the Nghe An, HongJi and Thanh Hoa areas of Vietnam continuously. It also mobilized a large number of ships in The Taiwan and Hong Kong areas to gather in the sea of Vietnam to expand the Indochina War. In the early hours of August 6, Mao Zedong reviewed a draft Statement of the Government of the People's Republic of China condemning U.S. aggression against Vietnam. The statement pointed out: "The US aggression against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam is an encroachment on China, and the people of Chinese will not sit idly by." After reviewing, he told the staff around him: There is going to be a war, and the original plan to ride a horse along the Yellow River and the Yangtze River to investigate must be reconsidered.
In October 1964, the Central Committee issued the "Outline of the 1965 Plan (Draft)", which put forward the overall goal of the construction of the third line: to adopt the method of how fast and good the province is, and to establish a relatively complete strategic rear base that combines industry and agriculture in the depth areas and serves national defense and agriculture. The vast third-tier area thus occupies a pivotal role in the national plan.
According to incomplete statistics, from the second half of 1964 to 1965, there were more than 300 new, expanded and continued large and medium-sized projects deployed in the southwest and northwest third lines. Later, Sichuan Panzhihua Iron and Steel Industrial Base, Gansu Jiuquan Iron and Steel Plant, Chengkun Railway and other railway trunk lines, Chongqing Ordnance Industry Base, Nuclear Industry Base, and Hubei Shiyan Second Automobile Manufacturing Plant, which later played a major role in national economic construction, are among the key projects.
In the summer of 1965, the construction of the third line entered the substantive implementation stage, and a small climax was formed from 1965 to 1966. At this time, the main battlefield of the construction of the third line was in the southwest third line. The state has not only greatly increased its investment in the construction of the third-tier line, but also adopted measures such as "stopping", "shrinking", "moving", "dividing" and "helping" the economic construction of the first and second tiers. That is, to stop the construction of all newly started projects, compress the projects under construction, relocate some enterprises and institutions to the third line, and move some enterprises and institutions to the third line in one or two pieces, and help the construction of the third-line enterprises from the technical strength and equipment.
02
In March 1969, the Sino-Soviet border troops engaged in a large-scale armed conflict on Zhenbao Island in Heilongjiang Province, China. The strings of war in China are tightened even tighter.
At this time, the construction of the third line was affected by the "Cultural Revolution" and was in a semi-stagnant state, and the tense state of combat readiness ushered in a turning point for the construction of the third line. The central authorities have adopted a series of measures to rectify and restore the planning and institutions of the third-line construction, and have further strengthened the army's involvement in the third-line construction. Many major projects that have been stalled for a while have resumed construction, especially the national defense and military industry has developed abnormally.
After the Treasure Island Incident, Soviet leaders attempted to use nuclear weapons against China. Defense Minister Grechko has strenuously advocated a nuclear offensive plan that "eliminates the Chinese threat once and for all." Chief of the General Staff Ogarkov opposed this, believing that it was too risky, because China was vast and populous, and one or two atomic bombs would not be able to eliminate its resistance, but would plunge the Soviet Union into endless war. Moscow abandoned this plan, and several factors prevented the Politburo of the CPSU from agreeing to attack China.
Soviet discussions about the use of nuclear weapons against China shook the top echelons of the Ccp. In April, the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing. The political report of the "Ninth National Congress" put war readiness in a prominent position and pointed out: "We must make full preparations for them to fight on a large scale and prepare them for an early fight." Prepare them for a conventional war, and also for a nuclear war. In early May, the central authorities held a symposium on combat readiness. From late June to early July, the "Three Norths" (Northeast, North China, and Northwest) Regional Operations Conference was held. On August 28, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued an emergency combat readiness order, requiring the military and civilians throughout the country to wait in a strict position and be ready to annihilate the invading enemy at any time.
In order to meet the needs of war preparedness, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have issued various circular orders to straighten out production order, restore and strengthen the leading bodies for third-line construction in various regions of the country, and vigorously rectify the third-line construction areas where unrest is incessant. On May 30, 1969, the State Construction Commission submitted a report to the Central Committee on the establishment of a regional third-line construction committee. According to the report, the main task of the Third Line Construction Committee is to assist the provinces in formulating development plans for the third line areas and to carry out comprehensive balance and coordination of regional capital construction; Unified command and scheduling of construction forces, equipment, materials and material transportation in the third-line areas; According to the policy of "backing, dispersing and concealing", the factory selection and designated points of key construction projects are examined and approved; Grasp the typical, tree model, with points and areas, to promote the capital construction work in the third-tier areas. This is actually the restoration of the third-line construction committee of the Southwest, Northwest, and Central South Bureaus of the Central Committee that came to a standstill during the Cultural Revolution. Since the party committees of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions have not yet been restored, the newly established third-line construction committees are led by the major military regions.
In early September, the All-Army Combat Readiness Work Conference was held, and at the end of the month, Mao Zedong received all the participants at the Great Hall of the People. Mao Zedong said: There is no need to leave comrades in Beijing for the National Day, and everyone should go back early to pay close attention to the work of preparing for war. Since then, Beijing and major cities have begun to evacuate the population urgently, and Mao Zedong and other central leaders have also evacuated to the south. On the 23rd and 29th, China conducted its first underground nuclear test and a new hydrogen bomb explosion test, expressing its determination to resolutely resist nuclear war.
On October 17, 1969, Lin Biao issued an "urgent instruction on strengthening combat readiness and preventing a surprise attack by the enemy" in Suzhou. On the 18th, Huang Yongsheng, then chief of the general staff, issued an order to the whole army to enter a state of emergency combat readiness. The fourth of these is "rapidly grasping the production of anti-tank weapons for deployment". In November, the Central Military Commission required the weapons industry to have the production capacity of 500 divisions per year; In addition to the completion of the original engineering construction projects, 95 new projects will be added, 93 projects will be renovated and expanded, with a new area of 13 million square meters, 90,000 new metal cutting equipment, and 900,000 new employees. This total investment of 12 billion yuan is equivalent to the plan of twice the investment of the ordnance industry in the past 20 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and it must be completed in three years.
As a result, the third-line construction set off a second climax.
03
On February 15, 1970, the National Planning Conference was held, attended by representatives of various provinces, autonomous regions, departments, and 11 major military regions. The meeting was held against the background of the second climax of the third-line construction. The "Third Five-Year Plan" with the construction of the third line as the core will be completed in 1970, and the preparation of the "Fourth Five-Year Plan" is an important topic of this meeting. The meeting drew up the "Outline of the 1970 Plan and the Fourth Five-Year National Economic Plan (Draft)", which has the overall indicators for the third-tier areas: In 1975, the third-tier areas will be built into a powerful strategic base with complete departments and coordinated development of industry and agriculture. The outline still highlights the requirement of combat readiness: "Railway bridges and transport hubs are the targets of bombing by enemy aircraft, modern warfare poses a great threat to rail transport, and it is difficult to blow up a natural river." In 1970 and the fourth five years, it is necessary to speed up the construction of the main line of the Yangtze River and do a good job in the rectification and construction of the Chongqing-Wutong bridge section of the Sichuan River, the Yuanjiang River in Hunan, and the Han River in Hubei." Industrial distribution points should be "backed, scattered, and hidden", and special and important factories should also be "in the hole".
Because of the estimation that the war was based on preparing for the "early fight" and "big fight", the third-line construction was too hasty in deployment and the stalls were too large; Pay attention to the requirements of combat readiness and ignore economic benefits. Although the construction costs have been increased and a lot of waste has been caused, on the whole, the implementation of the third-line construction is an important step in promoting the process of modernization of the mainland, and has played a decisive and historic role in improving the strategic layout of the mainland's national defense industry, the basic industries of the national economy, and the balanced development of the national region and the establishment of a consolidated strategic rear!
(This article is selected from "A Brief History of Sichuan's Third-Line Construction")