On September 29, 1954, coinciding with the National Day ceremony marking the 5th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a delegation of the Soviet Government headed by Comrade Khrushchev came to the mainland for a visit. Khrushchev was the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the COMMUNIST Party of the Soviet Union and the successor of Comrade Stalin. Together in the big socialist family and in the "honeymoon period" of Sino-Soviet relations, the mainland leaders also attach great importance to Comrade Khrushchev's current visit. However, during the talks, Khrushchev made a request that the mainland leaders did not expect.
"There is a shortage of labor in the Siberian region of the Soviet Union, and it is hoped that China will send 1 million workers to the Soviet Union to participate in the development of the Siberian region."
Khrushchev
If this sentence is put to this day, many people will laugh it, after all, being "sent to Siberia to dig potatoes" has become a stem. But in reality, going to Siberia to work is a chore. During the Soviet period, Siberia was sparsely populated and the environment was harsh, and the average temperature in January could reach minus 25 °C, so it was once used as a place of exile. Siberia, on the other hand, is extremely rich in natural resources, and the region was once the world's most important mineral resource extraction base, the largest energy base and wood processing base. During World War II, Siberia continuously provided industrial and military supplies for the Soviet army, and it can be said that Siberia once carried the glory of the entire Soviet Union. So why would Khrushchev propose to let Chinese workers pass by such an important location?
Cold Siberia was once a natural Prisoner of War camp in the Soviet Union
The first is the issue of population. At that time, the Soviet Union was the country with the largest neckline in the world, with an area of 22402200 square kilometers, equivalent to a North America. The population is just over 200 million, and most of them are in Europe. Coupled with the fact that the number of casualties in World War II exceeded 25 million, and they were all young adults, the population density of the Soviet Union at that time was pitifully low. Therefore, there are very few workers who can go to such a harsh area as Siberia for development.
Due to the small population, Soviet women also had to enter factories to work
Again, at that time, the Korean War had just ended, and Sino-Soviet relations were still relatively close. Unlike the Stalin period, which focused more on the development of bilateral fraternal relations, Khrushchev showed a more sincere attitude and encouraged the Soviet Union to carry out extensive exchanges and cooperation with China from official to non-governmental. He even personally led a delegation to visit China, knowing that during the Stalin period, the mainland took the initiative to visit the Soviet Union, and the great man once said: "The first time I met Comrade Khrushchev, I was very talkative." ”
"Comrade Khrushchev, you know, for many years, many Westerners have considered China to be an underdeveloped country, a synonym for poverty and backwardness. Chinese surplus, unemployment is widespread, and hunger is widespread, making it a good source of cheap labour. But you know, we Chinese think that view is insulting. ”
Cold Siberia
After listening to this, Khrushchev, who had just been triumphant, was very unhappy for a while, and did not expect to make such an unpleasant scene at the first meeting with the Chinese leader. In fact, the great man also had his own considerations when he said this, on the one hand, China at that time also needed labor to organize production and construction. On the other hand, the Pacific Railway in the United States and the Trans-Siberian Railway are soaked with the painstaking efforts of Chinese workers, especially the Trans-Siberian Railway, where hard-working Chinese workers work day and night without enough food and salaries, and have to fight against bad weather. Now that New China has been founded, great men will never let such a thing happen again.
The rejected Khrushchev did not expect this, but he knew that a proposal that seemed to serve the interests of both countries had been rejected. The meeting ended hastily, and the things that made him even more depressed are still to come. Mikoyan, the first vice chairman of the Soviet Union, who also attended the meeting, did not agree with Khrushchev's ideas. Mikoyan believes that the first: Siberia, even if it is not developed now, can be used as a sufficient energy reserve in the future, which is the advantage of the Soviet Union, and it is not in a hurry. Second: Chinese are yellow people, and Mikoyan still holds a sense of Slavic supremacy, believing that more than 1 million yellow people have suddenly emerged in Siberia, and the local White race may not be able to bear it. Third: after Experiencing World War II, the ratio of men and women in the Soviet Union is seriously imbalanced, there will be many single young and strong male laborers who marry Soviet girls and have mixed-race descendants, in the long run, the traces of the Soviet Union will disappear, Siberia will slowly "Sinicize", and the whole of Siberia will turn yellow.
Mikoyan
Listening to Mikoyan's statement, Khrushchev began to regret the idea he had impulsively put forward. Mikoyan added while the iron was hot: "Since [the other party] did not agree to our request, don't think about it anymore, push the boat along the water, and we will fully agree with the other party's idea at the next meeting." Mikoyan's words were deeply imprinted in Khrushchev's mind. In Khrushchev's later memoirs, there was this:
"They want to infiltrate and take over the economy of Siberia. They wanted to make sure that more Chinese settled in Siberia than there were Russians and other Soviets living there. In short, they want to make Siberia Chinese, not Russian. ”
Over the next few days, Khrushchev visited many parts of China, including major cities in eastern and southern China, and traveled by train to Shanghai, the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party. Along the way, Khrushchev was in a good mood, but he never mentioned the matter of "1 million laborers transporting Siberia", and he was also very happy with great people. But to his surprise, just after returning to his residence, the great man brought a message to Khrushchev, solemnly stating: China has decided to proceed from the overall situation, accept the suggestions of the Soviet side, help carry out construction, and send 1 million laborers to Siberia.
Siberian pioneers
Khrushchev was dumbfounded at this time, wasn't this just lifting a stone and dropping it on his own feet? But this idea was first put forward by himself, and it was mentioned more than once, and the Chinese side had repeatedly declined it earlier, and now that it had agreed to this request, it must have been carefully considered, and Khrushchev did not want to publicly renege on his word without integrity, so he instructed his officials to think of a way. Eventually, the hesitant Khrushchev told the great man:
"All of a sudden, 1 million Chinese laborers can't come in handy, and the logistics can't keep up, so we'll accept 200,000 people first."
Eventually, the leaders of the continent agreed to Khrushchev's proposal and signed an agreement with Bulganin, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The agreement stipulates that the salaries and treatment of Chinese workers and Soviet workers should be the same. After working in the Soviet Union for 3 years, when returning home, each person can remit up to 1,000 rubles of salary back to China, etc. But after all, this is Khrushchev's expedient measure, and 200,000 is also a rather large number. In April 1955, Khrushchev took the opportunity to euphemistically propose that he wanted to delay the transfer of Chinese workers to Siberia. At this point, it was inevitable that there would be some embarrassment, the Chinese side did not quite understand the real intentions of the Soviet Union, and Khrushchev was not good at saying anything, and in the end, the mainland leaders suggested: First send 1,000 to the Soviet Union to learn from the experience and prepare for the later workers to enter the Soviet Union. This time Khrushchev agreed.
Soviet workers are being trained
In the summer of 1955, 1,000 workers and three managers set out from Baoding, Hebei Province, China, on a journey to the Soviet Union. The workers were sent to Jeddah Joint Venture, the Eastern Heavy Industry Building Trust in Irkutsk and the Molotov Construction Authority. Although the workers had an uneasy mood at first, when they arrived at their destination, the lively welcome party and enthusiastic Soviets relaxed the workers.
In addition, the Soviet Union also attached great importance to the food, clothing, shelter and transportation of these workers, providing clean and tidy quadruple rooms and six-person rooms, each of whom was also equipped with a radio, and could read newspapers and periodicals such as "Workers' Daily" and "Sino-Soviet Friendship Daily" during work hours.
Workers in Siberia
After a few days of rest, the workers began to work on painting and digging soil, and after a period of contact, the spirit of the Chinese workers to bear hardships and stand hard work was also recognized by the Soviets. Chinese's diligence also attracted Soviet women workers, and even some Soviet women workers quietly wrote down the numbers of Chinese workers they liked, which became a beautiful talk. Only later, Sino-Soviet relations changed, the work of both sides stopped, and the matter of sending workers was also stopped.
Soviet women workers
In fact, Khrushchev's original intention in proposing this proposal was good, and the honeymoon period (1954-1958) between China and the Soviet Union in the 1950s also began with Khrushchev's large-scale assistance to the mainland. After being initially rejected by the great man, Khrushchev said:
"We certainly don't want to make it difficult for you, and we certainly don't stick to our advice. If you feel that this suggestion will damage the national pride of Chinese, then when we have not mentioned it, please do not take it to heart. We can use our own workers. ”
After listening to Mikoyan's advice, Khrushchev could not insist on his own advice on this issue, so he turned "sending 1 million laborers to Siberia" into a complicated matter.