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The planned supply of grain was originally intended to ensure the basic grain needs of urban residents. So, how did townspeople react to this policy?
1. Speculation about the reasons for the planned supply of food
Before Beijing implemented the planned supply of flour throughout the city, it organized all party members to study the documents of the CPC Central Committee on the planned supply of grain on 25 and 26 July.
On October 26, the General Office of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China compiled the "Comprehensive Briefing on the Discussion of the Unified Purchase and Marketing of Grain by Party Members in Beijing", which said:
"The overwhelming majority of party members believe that the party's decision is correct, necessary, and should be resolutely implemented, and some say that it should have been done a long time ago."
But at the same time, "Party members generally report that the problem came very suddenly, especially among the masses, and that this measure has greatly changed the lives of the people."
The briefing goes on to say:
(1) Party members generally feel that it is too sudden. Many people think: This year's bumper harvest, surplus grain exports, the victory to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and the start of the five-year plan, why should we implement unified grain purchase and sales? The main reasons for this are that the people's needs to increase the supply exceeds demand, the peasants are reluctant to sell, the disaster is serious, and there are mistakes in our work, or the bourgeoisie is making trouble.
(2) Some workers, cadres and student party members think that they can be sold a little less. The working class should "endure hardships first and enjoy pleasures last", not to mention that construction workers are allocated 18 catties, which southern workers can't eat, and strong workers can't afford to eat. Cadres believe that they should "carry forward the fine tradition of hard work and simplicity," and some organs eat more than in the past according to the supply standards. The students said that they were young and that "it doesn't matter if you eat less, so it's okay to order."
(3) Many Party members suggested that the names "rationing" and "mixed noodles" should not be used in propaganda to the masses, because they could easily arouse the masses' memories of the miserable life of the Japanese puppet period. … Some party members suspected that the party's food policy was "aggressive". Comrades from Beijing Ribao and the National People's Congress said: "The pace of advancing toward socialism is 'too fast,' 'too urgent,' and 'too big.' ”
Various speculations on the reasons for the implementation of unified purchase and marketing of grain:
Many comrades in the private factories believed that "grain was exported", especially "shipped to the Soviet Union". And some people asked: "I don't have enough food to eat, why do I still export?" One of the party members of the municipal party committee organ system said: "We are in need of food, why didn't the USSR help?" ”
Some party members among the peasants, private factories and construction workers in the suburbs thought: "This is socialism, eating from a big pot." "It's good now, the lives of the workers and peasants are on par, there is neither poverty nor rich, and life is flattened."
2. Voices in favor
According to the regulations of Beijing Municipality, employees of state-owned industrial and mining, transportation, construction and other enterprises (excluding banks and trade systems) and employees of private industrial and mining enterprises with more than 100 employees are provided with 18 catties of flour per month, which is the highest supply of flour among all strata.
"So, even though their flour supply is lower than in the past, they still enthusiastically support it."
An old worker at the North China Agricultural Machinery General Factory said:
"We are first-class, we really take care of our working class, and if we don't complete the production plan, we are sorry for the government."
Some workers at the Beijing No. 1 Machine Tool Factory said:
"Don't look at the capitalists who wear eighteen-diamond watches and gold rings, but they can only eat eight catties."
One stevedore said:
"The treatment of our stevedores is higher than that of ordinary citizens, higher than that of staff, higher than that of truck workers, and even higher than that of Mayor Peng, which is the highest treatment, how could there be such a thing in the past."
The construction workers at the construction site of Tongren Hospital applauded when they heard that enterprises with more than 100 people were supplying 18 catties per person per month.
Workers at some state-owned factories in Beijing said:
"The government really manages things for the people, and when it sees that there is not enough food, it comes up with a good way to do it for a long time." "Our government led by the working class cannot allow the rich to eat white noodles freely, and the working people cannot eat it."
Some said:
"Only the people's government can come up with such a good method, the Kuomintang does not engage in construction, but buys flour in United States, and we would rather not eat flour, but also buy machinery and engage in industrialization."
Although the flour ration for workers in private factories and shops was set at 12 catties per person per month at a lower rate than that of industrial workers, they were "generally one or even two years higher than those of the capitalists."
When the workers and clerks in the Qianmen District held a meeting to discuss, when it came to the capitalists 8 catties and the workers and clerks 12 catties, "everyone was elated, and some of those who had always held meetings without speaking also expressed their opinions, discussing the glory of the working people and the worthlessness of the capitalists, and some proposed what to do if they had dinner with the capitalists?" Some people say that the working class is great, and that it is important not to bother with them about this little thing, and to unite them to do a good job in production."
A worker at the Science Press said:
"We are 12 catties like cadres and university professors, four catties more than the capitalists, and the government still consults with us, so we are really in charge."
Wu Yingquan, a worker at the Jixing Iron Factory, said:
"When I heard that I had an abacus of 12 catties, I felt that it was not enough, but when I thought that I only ate two meals of noodles a month before liberation, it is much better now, and if I want to eat more white noodles in the future, I have to work hard and reach socialism as soon as possible."
Some private factory workers and shop clerks said excitedly when they heard that they were 12 pounds and the capitalists were 8 pounds because they were eating in the same stove as the capitalists: "The capitalists and our food groups did not ask him for more noodles, so they said to him: 'You are eating our noodles.'" ’”
Although the monthly supply of cart workers and tricycle workers is only 12 catties, because the supply is the same as that of government cadres, they are "most satisfied with the same treatment as cadres".
They said:
"We tricycle workers are treated the same as cadres and professors, and our status has really improved. In the past, it was also eaten with coarse and fine grains, but in fact, eight catties of noodles were enough. ”
A tricycle worker named Han Chunlin said:
"This method is good, the price can't go up, and you can eat white noodles, twelve catties is just right, and you can't afford more."
3. The sound of complaining
But not everyone among workers accepts this policy. For example, some of the truck workers in the state-run transport company complained that they were treated differently from stevedores, saying: "Why do you get two treatments in one company? ”
On the evening of October 30, a private factory meeting attended by more than 2,000 people in Chongwen District was held to publicize the flour supply policy.
At the meeting, a worker in the crowd said:
"I have to give advice to Chairman Mao, he should take the lead in eating six catties."
After the meeting, a worker at the Jinghua Press complained:
"Anyway, the power is in your hands, so we can eat whatever we want."
Ordinary citizens and hawkers in Beijing also expressed their support for the flour supply plan. Some citizens said with satisfaction: "It's good to cure profiteers in this way and eat noodles for a long time!" ”
Many citizens are most in favor of the ban on grain traders. Because grain merchants always raise grain prices when there is a shortage of grain, especially during the period of the old regime, prices soared, and ordinary people think that the rise in grain prices is the grain merchant's trouble, so a considerable number of citizens have no good impression of the grain merchant, and even call the grain merchant "rice borer".
After the unified purchase and sales began, "profiteers" often became synonymous with grain merchants. Therefore, some citizens said: "The Manchu Qing, Japan, and the Kuomintang have not solved the problem, and Chairman Mao has done it well." ”
Others said, "They should starve to death." "Just get rid of them like landlords."
Because at the beginning of the implementation of the flour supply plan in Beijing, there was no restriction on the supply of coarse grains, and in the past, citizens with low incomes and low living standards did not have any restrictions on the amount of flour they could buy, but because the price of flour was higher than that of coarse grains, the grain was also coarse and fine or coarse grains as the main food.
Therefore, after hearing that they can buy as much coarse grain as they want, they said: "There is no fear of anything, and if there is a Communist Party, there will be food." ”
Of course, there are also citizens who do not understand or are dissatisfied with this policy.
A housewife said:
"I always said that Japan and the Kuomintang are engaged in rationing, but now they are also engaged in this? This time, I plugged my mouth with steamed buns. ”
According to the General Office of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, "the professor generally responded very well to the flour supply plan and supported the government's measures", believing that "Mayor Peng's policy is good and convincing", and "we should ask for more machines and eat less flour".
Some said:
"Workers work hard, and they can't afford to eat coarse grains alone, so they should eat more fine grains."
Chen Zhenhan, a professor of economics at Peking University, said:
"The Kuomintang engaged in placing, only published it in the newspaper, and disclosed it to private businessmen in advance, and the people's government did a different approach."
Some professors at Beijing Normal University said:
"It's not a big problem to eat more coarse grains, there is no need to have so many meetings to discuss, and the leaders have underestimated us."
On November 5, the Beijing Municipal Party Committee also said in a report to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the North China Bureau on the implementation of the flour supply plan: "University professors have expressed their support, saying: 'This is a step forward in socialism,' 'the method of grading is very practical, and it is very reasonable to take care of the working people.'" ”
However, "there are also a few professors who express coldness or dissatisfaction." A professor in the Department of Chemistry at Peking University said: "Don't ask me for a meeting, just have less sand in the rice." A professor at the radio department of Tsinghua University said: "The grain was shipped to the Soviet Union. Now it's the hunger output. ”
Employees of higher education institutions are also "satisfied" with the supply of flour schemes, mainly because their flour standards are the same as those of professors, whereas in the past, there was a considerable difference in treatment between university professors and staff.
Some of them said: "John Ma (a famous professor of physical education at Tsinghua University) is also 12 pounds, and I am also 12 pounds." Some said: "In the past few years, I have forgotten everything before the liberation, but now that I think about it, my life is much higher than before the liberation." ”
4. The attitude of the capitalists
As for the planned supply of flour, the capitalists had the most mixed feelings and the strongest reactions.
In the words of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee:
"The flour plan supply policy is a surprise attack and a fatal blow to grain merchants and grain dealers. There was a lot of shock in the business community. ”
Prior to this, the industrial and commercial circles carried out the "five anti" campaign, namely, anti-bribery, anti-tax evasion, anti-theft of state property, anti-cutting corners, and anti-theft of national economic intelligence.
During the "Five Antis" movement, many capitalists were reported and exposed for suffering from the "five poisons" and were dealt with to varying degrees. After the "five antis" movement, the capitalists generally felt that life was not as good as before, and they also knew that the socialist hurdle would have to be passed sooner or later, but they did not know when it would pass, and they were even more worried that it would be passed immediately, so they were very sensitive to the policy of unified purchasing and marketing.
The capitalist of the Central Typewriter Company in Beijing said:
"This is the first year of the first five-year plan, and after the five-year plan is over, we won't be able to live!"
The manager of Sanlian Chemical Plant said: "It became like this overnight, and it was really scary."
However, because "the target of this crackdown is grain merchants and grain dealers, it is beneficial to ordinary businessmen." Therefore, although the ordinary industrialists and businessmen feel sad about the death of the rabbit and the fox at the blow to the grain speculators, after the explanation, the mood has stabilized, and most of them have expressed their support."
After learning that flour would be supplied in a planned manner, especially after its own supply standard was lower than that of workers and shop assistants, the Beijing capitalists felt most deeply that they were now "worthless." Most of the larger capitalists expressed dissatisfaction with the equal supply of flour, which they regarded as a sign of the low political treatment of the capitalists.
Some people say that the mention of placing eight catties makes them feel a little "stimulating". Some capitalists who eat in the same stove as the shop assistants and workers say that the supply standard is lower than that of the workers, and that the government is deliberately doing this to make the capitalists admit that they eat the workers.
The manager of the Jianzhong Railway Plant said:
"After the allotment standard was announced at the meeting, I thought about it for a long time, I compared it with different workers, and I considered that the labor intensity of the staff was not large, and they still had time to commute to and from work, why they ate differently from ours."
The manager of Yiju Chengshan Goods Village said:
"I went back and told my wife about the placement standards, and my wife said, 'You capitalists are not worth anything.'" The manager of Tianjinglong Paper Store said: "Separate from the workers and distribute eight catties of flour, no matter how you say it, it is also irritating. ”
The director of a factory said:
"I think it's good to be socialist with this, it's the same for everyone, and the government is doing it to make you admit that you eat workers."
There is also a capitalist who said:
"Even if the worker eats four catties, I eat four catties, and I do it. This time, the workers eat white noodles, and the shopkeepers eat wowotou, what's going on? ”
There are also capitalists who complain and tell strange things.
The manager of the car dealership in the East Fourth District said:
"Whatever the government says is reasonable, anyway, the government has a big mouth, a big mouth is reasonable, and a small mouth is unreasonable."
At a propaganda meeting attended by capitalists on the policy of unified purchase and marketing, one capitalist wanted to go to the toilet, and another capitalist said to him: "Why don't you go to the toilet?" I was not free to eat white noodles, and I tied my mouth. ”
The manager of the Wynn said:
"The power is in the hands of the government, and the government wants to be lenient to the people, and it will pass by raising its arms, and it will not be able to pass by pulling its arms."
The manager of the Jixing said:
"Eleven people on the counter, sixteen people in the family, all rely on the counter, nothing else can be done, only processing and consignment, if the processing fee is not enough, it is not easy to do! Everyone knows that socialism is good, but it is difficult to run during the transitional period. ”
It is not surprising that capitalists have such sentiments. Since the establishment of the new regime, the workers who had been managed by the capitalists have become the leading class of the new society, and the capitalists have become the objects of transformation.
However, the mentality of the capitalists towards unified purchase and sales is also different. Some small and medium-sized industrial and commercial households that supply food to shop assistants think that after the "five antis", the workers' living standards have been raised too high, and they can't even eat rice and white noodles, and they still want to eat good vegetables, but they can't lower it if they want to.
The manager of Zhenxing Long Coal Plant said:
"The government's vision is really bright, although who eats what can't be seen, but there is always a number of things consumed, after the 'five anti', the workers have raised quite high, the food standard can only be increased but not decreased, it is not good to eat rice and white noodles, this time it is good, unless the government can do this."
Yicheng Iron Plant Manager Says:
"The workers in our factory eat white noodles twice a day, and they are picky all day long, either the alkali is too big, or the alkali is small.
The manager of Tongxingshun hemp shop said:
"The government has long launched an increase in savings, but it will not work (referring to the workers eating coarse grains), and now the workers eat all the fine grains and do not work much, when I was an apprentice, I ate all the coarse grains, working 15 hours a day, which is more than them, this time this method is really good, and the non-government really can't do it."
The manager of Lisheng Changbu store said:
"Many industrial and commercial households have said that the current workers don't want to eat rice and white noodles, and this time it's time to change to some coarse grains."
The capitalists in Tianjin generally expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that they were only given 8 catties of flour per month according to the treatment of citizens.
They didn't say it to their faces, but they complained behind their backs:
"What we are doing now is living a new democratic life." Some people said: "My head is just eating eight catties." ”
Some deliberately said to the workers:
"Aren't we engaged in a united front? Why isn't it unified this time? ”
Some "sow discord between the workers and the government" and say to the workers:
"This time it's a government regulation, and you didn't eat cornmeal when you were told to eat it in the past, but this time I didn't say anything."
Some of them "even openly spread rumors and sabotage," saying that "all our white noodles have been given to the big brother of the Soviet Union" and that "China is now besieged on all sides, and there are too many difficulties."
4. The attitude of grain merchants
The strongest reaction was felt by grain merchants and some pasta owners, who "began in panic and then resisted in various ways." The main thing is to resist with passive sabotage. Many grain processing industries refuse to process coarse grains when our coarse grain processing capacity is insufficient."
There are 38 grain stores in Beijing that have been commissioned to process flour every day, which could have ground 90,000 catties of flour, but on October 31, the day before the flour was planned to be supplied, only more than 7,000 catties were produced.
Some grain merchants refused to sell on behalf of the grain on the grounds that "you are also selling, and we are also selling, both serving the people, and whoever sells is different." ”
Many pasta businesses that used to underreport the amount of flour used for tax evasion are now passively resisting the lack of flour to "open late and stop early". There are also a small number of noodle operators who raise the market price and give less portions. When registering and storing the grain merchants, "most of them were extremely dishonest", and 40 of the 60 grain merchants inspected in the Qianmen District concealed and lied about their reports.
On December 1, Beijing announced that it would implement the unified sales of rice and coarse grains from the 3rd. After hearing the news, the grain merchants were generally panicked, thinking that "it is over, there is no hope for this business", and they held shareholders' meetings and family meetings one after another to study the way out. Generally, due to the difficulty of changing jobs, most of them apply for processing or consignment sales. Most of the larger grain merchants demanded public-private partnerships, believing that "the trend of the times" was "the trend of the times", "leaving early is also leaving, and leaving late is also walking", and "just like going to a restaurant, there will be no seats if you go late".
Some said at the meeting of the Federation of Industry and Commerce: "Do a good job for the government, become a manager now, and may be a factory director in the future, we have a future." Small grain traders believe that there are no conditions for joint ventures, and that processing or consignment sales are too profitable, but they also know that "only by relying on the government can there be a way out in the future." After they were approved for consignment, they said happily: "Now the job bowl is gone." ”
But there are also many grain merchants who complain and make trouble. When registering and storing grain, some people threw rice signs far away, and deliberately poured soil grain into good grain.
Some said: "When cadres can't even take care of their own food and drink, public-private partnerships can't stop suffering." Some people feel distressed that "the twenty or thirty years of trading are all over at once", thinking that "the consignment sales are not enough to eat, there is no technology to find other things, there is no house and no land, how can it be worried". Some said, "Mix for a day, count for a day." ”
Grain vendors were also very dissatisfied with the planned supply, and some said: "I pay taxes and abide by the law, why don't you ask me to do business?" Ordinary street vendors feel that "this is the end, hurry up and change jobs".
After the announcement of the planned grain supply in Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, the private Tiancheng Yongliang Store divided the large grain hoards into seven or eight small hoards and dispersed them from one place to several places. The Yu Kee Coal Factory put more than 1,000 catties of wheat that had been spoiled in the warehouse, and buried 8,000 catties of good wheat in the ground. The manager of an oil mill in Fuping County had more than 12,000 catties of wheat, and he sealed more than 6,000 catties of wheat in mud in a very remote small cave, and buried more than 3,000 catties in cattle grass.
In the process of registering grain in Shijiazhuang City, some grain merchants openly resisted. When registering the grain of Liu, a small mill household on Tai'an Street in Yuanjiaying, the first district, he found that the account grain did not match, and Liu refused to confess after three inspections, and shouted loudly: "You force me to ask for food, I just don't have it, I will kill if you want to!" ”
He then knocked over the boxes, cabinets, and tables in the house, shouting that "something is missing" in an attempt to falsely accuse the cadres of taking his property, and after being severely criticized by the public security cadres, more than 1,000 catties of grain were found in his house.
After registering, the grain merchant said to the cadres: "I promise that there is no more." The next day, 306 catties of wheat and 94 catties of green beans were found in his family's cellar and kang cave.
The phenomena listed above, although only representative examples, reflect to a certain extent the attitudes of various social strata after the implementation of the urban food program.
After all, the planned supply of grain is different from the free purchase in the past, and even though the supply is roughly equal to the actual demand, the amount of grain purchased after the implementation of the planned supply has been limited, and there is undoubtedly a process for the vast number of urban residents to truly accept this policy from the bottom of their hearts. Even those who express their support for the food program may not have the same starting point.
Some people do support from the heart, but there are also some people who may verbally support for various reasons, but they still have some doubts in their hearts.
(End of text)
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