Why did Mao Criticize Deng Zihui as a "Woman with Small Feet"?

In 1956, Deng Zihui (second from right) accompanied Mao Zedong to receive Zhang Longdi, an old revolutionary man in Longyan, Fujian Province

History is always a mixture of elements.

On May 17, 1955, Mao Zedong held a meeting of secretaries of the fifteen provinces, and clearly criticized the Central Ministry of Agriculture and Industry for implementing the contraction policy of "stopping development and consolidating all-out" for agricultural production cooperatives. On June 14, Liu Shaoqi presided over a meeting of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee while Mao Zedong had not returned from an inspection trip. The meeting heard a report from the Central Rural Work Department and approved a plan to grow from the existing 670,000 agricultural production cooperatives to 1 million in 1956. Liu Shaoqi said at the meeting that the key to ensuring that the middle peasants will be willing to knock on the door will be done after closing the door and letting the middle peasants voluntarily knock on the door. At present, there are some works on agricultural co-operation and Deng Zihui, and adding Liu Shaoqi's words to Mao Zedong's head is not serious and confuses the historical truth of the time.

Wang Qian, former first secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Changzhi Prefectural Committee, was transferred to the North China Bureau at the end of 1951 to specifically carry out research and guidance on agricultural cooperatives. After the abolition of the North China Bureau and other regions in 1954, Wang Qian was sent by Deng Zihuan to the Central Rural Work Department as deputy secretary-general. Wang Qian was one of those in the 1955 debate between Mao Zedong and Deng Zihui over the speed of development of agricultural cooperatives. After the reform and opening up, he once dictated the basic context of this matter, and every word was quite intriguing. Wang Qian said:

It should be said that Comrade Deng Zihui looked up to me very much and asked me to go, to give me some deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry, and to ask me to assist Chen Boda in his work. Chen Boda is the deputy director of the Rural Work Department designated by the Central Committee and Chairman Mao, and he is in charge of mutual assistance and cooperation. To tell the truth, I have given advice to the leading comrades on the really important links in our work. One of the times I made a very important suggestion, but it was not taken into account. At that time, I thought that if Elder Deng had listened to my opinion, or Comrade Liao Luyan's opinion, he would not have had that problem -- the so-called "cutting" cooperative or something.

At that time, the Central Ministry of Agriculture and Industry also did not hold a ministerial meeting, nominally confirmed that Comrade Liao Luyan was the executive vice minister, and announced to us at the bottom: We used to be in the localities, we were not familiar with the working methods of the central authorities, we should listen to Comrade Liao Luyan more, how many years he was in the Central Committee, Chairman Mao, Comrade Shaoqi and the premier, he was very familiar with what to do, what to do, what to do, what not to do, and listen to his words. It's not exactly that way!

When I put forward my opinion, I sincerely helped the leading comrades. At that time, I had already heard that the chairman was very dissatisfied with the "cutting" cooperative, and I also shouted that Elder Deng had proposed to let "cut" 300,000. It was at this time that he held a ministerial meeting of more than the director of the department, which Comrade Liao Luyan attended. Why did it give rise to this "slash" problem? Because there was a problem with the co-operation of Hebei, Zhejiang, and Shaanxi, the peasants killed pigs, sold livestock, and so on.

In such a situation, Elder Deng proposed to "cut" the agricultural cooperative. But Chairman Mao did not think this way, so he held this meeting to discuss what to do. I didn't say anything about this, I didn't say anything about that, I couldn't stand it, so I told my opinion. I said: Elder Deng, let's talk like this, do you think it is good? It's April, and the spring ploughing is very tense, and it's time to plant in the spring. In the past, we engaged in mass movements, rent reductions and interest rate reductions, and land reform, which has always been a measure adopted, and the empirical thing is that production is tense, farmland is about to be planted, crops are going to be harvested, and the movement is stopped. Is this also the case this time, let it slow down, consolidate, we do more work, how much can be consolidated, do not mention this "cut" word, I think this "cut" word, the stimulus is too great. Let's do our best work. If the man really wants to go out, let him go out. In some places, there are two or three cooperatives in a village, and some are unwilling, and it is dissolved, so that it is naturally dispersed, and we do not say that it is "cut down". You see, isn't this better and safer? In fact, on the issue of agricultural co-operation, Deng Lao's guiding ideology was correct, and his later criticism was wrong. So why did I give him advice at the time? The main thing is that I think that the word "cut" he said is inappropriate and too harsh.

After I spoke, I felt that my own people were slightly indifferent, so I gave Comrade Liao Luyan a look. Comrade Liao Luyan looked at me for a moment, and he understood what I meant. I mean you Minister Liao also talk about it, help me a little, let Elder Deng not say this "cut" word. Comrade Liao Luyan said so. He said, Elder Deng, I think this method that Comrade Wang Qian said is better, so let's just follow this method and stop saying the word "cut." Elder Deng said, Good! Let's not say "cut".

However, in April and May, the Central Rural Work Department held the Third National Rural Work Conference. At that time, I was in the brigade to bid farewell to the Red Army to be evacuated. When I was done there, I hurried back to the meeting. The ministers of rural work and the secretaries in charge of agriculture from all the provinces of the country attended the meeting. Originally, Elder Deng didn't say that he didn't talk about "cutting". But at this meeting, he talked, talked, and said to "cut" it 300,000, which was not bad. He spoke the word "cut" again. ouch! My God, I was very nervous when I heard it, and during the break, I pulled Comrade Du Runsheng, secretary general of the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry, out of the meeting, and I said, Old Du, Deng Laoke said "cut" again. He said, look, well said, how come he talked again!

After doing so, it is Chairman Mao's report on the "Question of Agricultural Co-operativeization" delivered on July 31. That is when the Chairman heard the news again. At one point, a meeting of Hebei Province on co-operation was held at the Beijing Hotel. In the middle of this, on a Sunday, several comrades from the Central Ministry of Agriculture and Industry followed them to the Beijing Hotel. The first secretaries of the counties in Hebei were all there, and when they went there, they said to the people, how many cooperatives you have, how many to disband, and let the families disband 100,000. Comrade Lin Tie, who was the first secretary of the Hebei Provincial CPC Committee, told Comrade Liu Lantao (then deputy secretary general of the CPC Central Committee) that the chairman would know about it. This is one.

As for Elder Deng, after the completion of the rural work conference, he made another report to Comrade Liu Shaoqi, saying that we believe that the figure of 1.3 million proposed by the chairman is still high, and our opinion is still to "cut" how much to cut and how much to leave. As soon as Comrade Liu Shaoqi heard this, he felt that Elder Deng's thinking did not make sense, so he went to tell Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao, without saying a word, sat there and continued to write his report on the question of agricultural co-operation.

The next day, or the third day, after the chairman had written the report, there was a copy of something that Comrade Liao Luyan took back one day, as if it were a Sunday, and I remember that it was July 8th. At that time, Elder Deng thought that the rural work conference had been held and that he had also talked with the comrades in Hebei, so he went to Yuquan Mountain. Comrade Liao Luyan learned of this matter at night at the Central Committee, and he got up the next morning to hold a ministerial meeting. At the meeting, his first sentence was like this: The chairman blamed it and asked our Rural Work Department to review it!

At the meeting, no one was silent. The first to speak was the head of the five divisions, a native of northern Shaanxi, who worked in northwestern Jin and later served as governor of Ningxia. This comrade is in charge of water conservancy construction in the Central Rural Work Department, and he is also in charge of investing in these things. He doesn't care about co-operatives. He said: Comrade Lu Yan, you know, the reason why I asked to go back to the Rural Work Department to work was not in Sichuan. As for the current ministry review, I have not been involved in the cooperative work since I came. Meaning that he has nothing to review.

After this comrade has spoken, there is no one to speak below. No one can talk about it, but I have to talk about it, because I am assisting Chen Boda in managing the work of agricultural cooperatives. I said, I am a really lucky person, my luck is really bad, I have only been here in the Central Rural Work Department for just one year, and I have to make a review. But Minister Deng does not come back, so how can we review it? Comrade Liao Luyan said that I had already given this thing to Elder Deng, and Elder Deng called me, and he said that he would come back immediately. I said, well, when Elder Deng comes back, he will review it as he says, and I will review it.

After Elder Deng returned, he did not hold a meeting, so he took five or six people from the ministry and went to report to Chairman Mao. At that time, I think that after Elder Deng had finished reporting to Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao said to his face that he was finished, but he never expected to criticize him without naming names at the meetings of party committee secretaries of various provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, and mistakenly accused him of being a "woman with small feet."; then, at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the enlarged Party, he openly criticized him by name and also characterized him as "right opportunism." At that time, the Central Committee also approved three people who were not on the meeting list to participate in the Sixth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee, that is, I, Comrade Li Youjiu, and Comrade Tao Huanfu of the Rural Work Department, who were Comrade Liao Luyan's lover and deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry, two deputy secretaries-general, and one director of the second division. Who requested permission for us to participate in the meeting? Is it Chen Boda, or Comrade Liao Luyan? I don't know. When we attended the Sixth Plenary Session and listened to the criticism of Elder Deng's so-called mistakes, our hearts were very heavy. The good thing is that history is history. (Paraphrased by Zhang Guoxiang on November 23, 2011)

Wang Qian's dictation at that time expressed the following information:

1. In the spring of 1955, Mao Zedong had explicitly opposed the "cutting" of agricultural production cooperatives.

2. Wang Qian and Liao Luyan raised their opinions against the idea of "cutting", and Deng Zihui accepted it.

3. At the Third National Rural Work Conference, Deng Zihui's report still talked about "cutting" and "cutting 300,000, and consolidating it is not bad." Wang Qian was surprised. (But the original documents on agricultural co-operatives are now excerpts from the last section of Deng Zihui's report.) The full report cannot be found)

4. Several things happened before and after Mao Zedong wrote "On the Question of Agricultural Co-operatives.". First, Hebei Province held a meeting on agricultural co-operation at the Beijing Hotel, and people from the Central Ministry of Agriculture and Industry went to ask people to shrink 100,000 agricultural cooperatives, which were reflected to Liu Lantao by Lin Tie, the first secretary of the provincial party committee, and finally to Chairman Mao. Second, a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee initially agreed to develop 1 million agricultural cooperatives by 1956 (no resolution was made), but Mao Zedong disagreed and demanded that they be developed to 1.3 million. Deng Zihui thought it was too high, and reflected to Liu Shaoqi that it still had to maintain 1 million, and Liu Shaoqi reflected to Mao Zedong that Deng Lao's thinking was not understood. Apparently, Liu Shaoqi's thoughts were clear, and he agreed to 1.3 million.

5. After Mao Zedong's "On the Question of Agricultural Co-operation" was written, Liao Luyan once took a copy of the copy to the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry and said: Chairman Mao blamed it and asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry to write a review. Wang Qian prepared for review. Deng Zihui called back at Yuquan Mountain and said that he would wait for him to come back.

6. Deng Zihui rushed back to meet the chairman overnight, that is, before the July 31 report meeting (after Mao Zedong had written this report), he insisted that it was more appropriate to plan to develop 1 million primary cooperatives, and that the development of 1.3 million primary cooperatives was higher.

Regarding the scene of Deng Zihui meeting Mao Zedong that night, Deng Zihui had told his wife before his death, and then passed it on to Deng Zihui's children. Deng Huaisheng was interviewed by the author and specifically talked about this matter:

My father went to the chairman that day and it was almost dark, and he didn't come back until dawn the next day. Because my mother had not slept that night, the time was remembered more accurately. Father said that that night he told Chairman Mao why the plan for the development of agricultural cooperatives could only be set at most 1 million, and he and Chairman Mao calculated a detailed account, which was very detailed. He said that Chairman Mao had written it down in particular, and at that time, it was also calculated, and the numerical formula was still on the back of the report paper. After the reform and opening up, I went to the Central Archives to look up some materials from my father's year, and on the reverse side of a handwritten manuscript of Chairman Mao, I saw some figures about agricultural cooperatives, which were probably written by Chairman Mao that night. These two old comrades-in-arms felt that they were adhering to the truth and asking for the people's lives, and they did not give in at all. The mother asked the father, it will be 10 hours, and you will talk about this problem? Father said to talk about this issue. You think about it, how detailed the conversation is. Fine and deep. My father felt that his investigation was very deep and comprehensive, and Chairman Mao's relationship with him was also very deep and very good, and he felt that he would accept his own opinions, and who knew that it was not that thing at all when the meeting was held. My mother complained to my father, and everyone later accepted Chairman Mao's plan of 1.3 million agricultural cooperatives, and you just accepted it. Hard top, what are the benefits? Father's old secretary also felt that his father was too serious, and he did not disagree with cooperatives, and there was no essential difference between 1 million and 1.3 million. But my father felt that the two were different, that if they exceeded the actual conditions and set the plan, he would commit "Left" opportunism. haste makes waste. He will not do that unless he does not realize this himself, and if he realizes it, he will insist on the truth. (Dictated by Deng Huaisheng on September 23, 2011)

From Deng Zihui's point of view, returning to the controversy with Mao Zedong in the spring and summer of 1955 may have various reasons for perseverance, and Deng Zihui's high wind and bright festival are enough to make everyone admire. Therefore, ordinary people blame Mao Zedong and think that Deng Zihui's judgment on the development of agricultural cooperatives is correct; but from Mao Zedong's point of view, from the perspective of New China's strategic thinking in the cracks, from the perspective of the complicated geopolitical environment at that time, it is also possible that the strategic reasons for Mao Zedong's independent and accelerated development of a big country are larger than other reasons. The rapid and continuous evolution of the surrounding situation forced Mao Zedong to constantly revise and accelerate the development of agricultural cooperatives, which can be 1.3 million, not 1 million, so as to accelerate the socialist transformation of the countryside to drive the cities, quickly establish a socialist system, and win the strategic space for the relative safety of the surrounding geopolitical environment with the unity of all people. This contains the difference between the national strategy and the battle on the one hand. In the treacherous and rapidly changing surrounding environment of 1955, it may also have to be done. Moreover, Mao Zedong demanded that the Central Ministry of Agriculture and Industry plan for 1.3 million primary societies that year, rather than requiring the development of senior societies that year, which is confused by many public opinions today.

The ancients said: "The opportunity must not be lost, the time will not come again", Mao Zedong has the foresight to grasp reality with insight into history, and he is well versed in its rhyme. Its great talent and grandeur, in a sense, condense the essence of China's five-thousand-year civilization history. But its profundity and forward-looking were not correctly understood and executed by more people at that time, even the old comrades who shared blood and blood regretted this, let alone others?! This is one dimension of historical truth. On the other hand, the great power strategy adhered to by Mao Zedong was taken one or a half steps forward by specific implementers, and it is often easy to simply evolve into the "origin point" of some kind of "Left" inclination, and many people have so far attributed the late stage of the agricultural mutual assistance and cooperation movement too quickly, mostly attributed to Mao Zedong's erroneous criticism of Deng Zihui's "little-footed woman", and the reason for this cannot be excluded. The complexity and dimension of historical truth makes people think twice.

Source: People's Daily - Communist Party of China News >> Party History Channel, published in "Party History Wenhui" (Hubei) Ma Shexiang