Chapter 6 2. Stabilize agriculture and focus on industry and transportation

"Based on agriculture" has been Zhou Enlai's consistent guiding ideology for developing the entire national economy since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In the spring of 1966, as a strategic main direction of rural economic work, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council decided to establish an agricultural leading group for eight northern provinces (municipalities, autonomous regions), with Zhou Enlai "in command" as the group leader, and concurrently as the group leader of Hebei and Beijing. Later, Zhou Enlai delivered a speech at a meeting in Tianjin and said: "From the perspective of the whole country, we have not shaken off our poor and backward state, and our industry and agriculture are relatively backward. We even have to admit that our socialist country is even more backward than capitalist countries." "Just study Chairman Mao's works without contacting this (reality)." "North China is a glorious place. I have feelings for North China. I used to receive bourgeois education in North China, and now I am still here. Here We have to live and work day by day. Therefore, we must continue to learn and renovate, use the main force in the main aspects, and continue to grasp the current drought and disaster relief.”

In early April, Zhou Enlai came to Cixian County, Handan Prefecture, to inspect issues such as drilling wells to combat drought and rationally arranging labor.He firmly stated to the local cadres: "He has been arrested for ten or eight years in the disaster-resisting production in the north, and he must be caught to make a name for himself!" On April 10, Zhou Enlai announced with confidence when answering a question from a reporter from Pakistan's "Dawn Newspaper": "China is stronger than before, but not very strong. The Chinese people are following the teachings of Chairman Mao Zedong, working hard and relying on themselves Socialist construction. No matter what storms we encounter, the industrious and brave Chinese people will surely be able to build China into a powerful socialist country with modern agriculture, modern industry, modern national defense and modern science and technology after 20 to 30 years of hard work.”

To build a powerful country with four modernizations, including agricultural modernization, has been Zhou Enlai's long-standing wish.Although the outbreak of the "Cultural Revolution" interrupted Zhou Enlai's plan to start with agriculture and promote the sustainable development of the entire national economy, Zhou Enlai still did not forget to pay close attention to and give specific guidance to agricultural production.The experience and lessons of more than ten years of economic work have taught him that if agriculture is stabilized, the mainstay of the national economy will be stabilized, and the overall situation of the country's political and economic life will be stabilized.

In early June 1966, in view of the approaching season of summer harvest, summer planting, and summer management, Zhou Enlai, after discussing with vice premiers Tan Zhenlin and Li Xiannian, decided to transfer a deputy minister and 30 cadres from the ministries and commissions of the State Council’s agriculture, finance, and trade. The "Three Summers" work team was formed, and they went to the counties in the suburbs of Beijing to grasp the "Three Summers" work and support the wheat harvest. On the 15th, Zhou Enlai was invited to visit Romania and Albania.Before leaving Beijing, Zhou Enlai learned that the relevant ministries and committees of the State Council had difficulties in recruiting people to support the "three summers" in the suburbs of Beijing because of the campaign. Test.” He also pointed out on many occasions: We must grasp the seasons, or miss the farming season, talk about “concerning national affairs”, and doing a good job in autumn harvest and autumn planting is also one of the “big things”. From the perspective of seasons, it is the biggest thing at present.

During the "Red Guards Movement", Zhou Enlai promptly discovered and stopped the slogans put forward by some student organizations that were not conducive to stabilizing rural economic policies and hindering the enthusiasm of farmers in production. The purchase price of by-products will remain unchanged for quite a period of time, and individual farmers can still maintain private plots and raise poultry and livestock. In September 1966, in response to an agricultural middle school in Hebei Province’s proposal to “hand over all private plots, private gardens, and private trees to the people’s communes,” Zhou Enlai immediately sent people to investigate the matter, warning that these issues that affect the overall situation must not "Crowd up", otherwise "it will be detrimental to agricultural production".

In March 1967, in order to reduce the damage to agricultural production caused by the "comprehensive seizure of power", Zhou Enlai proposed that "a county-level first-line headquarters of 'grasping revolution and promoting production' should be quickly established" in order to "mobilize all forces to pay close attention to agricultural production". And measures to increase production, pay close attention to the work in industry, transportation, finance and trade, health, education, etc. and support work for spring plowing production.”In September of the same year, the State Council established a cotton group of "grasping revolution and promoting production" to guide the national cotton production and purchase. After 1968, Zhou Enlai also personally participated in the work of drilling wells for drought resistance, flood control and drainage, and major agricultural and sideline products, and directly grasped the construction of agricultural supporting industries such as chemical fertilizers and agricultural machinery.

During this period, although the relevant institutions and personnel of the State Council have undergone tremendous changes, and there have been unprecedented resistance and difficulties, due to the unremitting efforts of Zhou Enlai and the relevant departments of the State Council, the entire agricultural situation has not experienced major turmoil and reversal. In July 1968, Li Xiannian and Li Fuchun, Vice Premiers, reported to the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong's State Council Operations Group "A Briefing on the Grain Situation in 1967," stating that in 1967, the grain output increased by 38.3 billion catties compared with the previous year, and the rural grain situation further improved.For several consecutive years since then, the national agricultural situation has been stabilizing.

Compared with the situation in agriculture, the situation in industry is much more serious.In particular, the railway transportation department has always been in the "big trouble" position, which has become a heart disease for Zhou Enlai. In fact, as early as the "Cultural Revolution" was launched, the contradiction between the "revolution" of the industrial transportation system and production already existed. In June 1966, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping submitted the draft of the "Notice of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on How to Carry Out the Cultural Revolution Movement for Industrial Transportation Enterprises and Capital Construction Units" to Mao Zedong, which was approved.Later, the "Supplementary Notice" to the above "Notice" was formulated, requiring party committees at all levels to take various measures to do a good job in work and production while carrying out the Cultural Revolution.The purpose of these two documents is to impose necessary restrictions on the "cultural revolution" of industrial and transportation enterprises.Nevertheless, the impact of the "revolution" on production has already begun to emerge. In mid-to-late July, industrial production in Shanghai began to experience problems such as an increase in accidents, a decline in product quality, and cadres' relaxation of production and business work.

The subsequent nationwide "big series" activities brought a severe test to the railway department.At the peak of the Red Guards' "big series", Zhou Enlai had to carefully review the production reports compiled by the industry and transportation departments every day, which railway bureau's freight volume had decreased, which coal mine's output had decreased, and which products had insufficient raw material supply. When he went to the office, he personally asked questions, made inquiries, and found relevant leaders to study and solve problems.He repeatedly told the relevant comrades in the State Council: "No matter how difficult it is, we must properly handle the relationship between the student connection and production and construction. First, we must arrange the freight force necessary to maintain production and construction, and then arrange the passenger transportation plan. There is some leeway in the plan to meet the needs of students in series. In short, production must not be affected in any way.” Lv Zhengcao, who was Minister of Railways at the time (because he was criticized by the masses and could no longer work normally), sighed: He is acting as the Minister of Railways for me!

Just when the railway traffic order was barely maintained, an incident of industrial workers lying on the rails and blocking trains occurred in Shanghai, the largest industrial city, which shocked the whole country. .In the process of handling the incident, Zhang Chunqiao, deputy head of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, blatantly ignored the correct opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the East China Bureau, and the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China. ", "connected", industrial and mining enterprises, like schools, can be the first to "stop production and start a revolution".

Zhou Enlai did not approve of the "Anting Incident".This approach obviously violated his series of speeches and practical efforts on "grasping revolution and promoting production" before the incident.After the incident, Zhou Enlai repeatedly criticized similar actions and tried his best to maintain the normal order of railway transportation. On November 16, Zhou Enlai had a phone call with the person in charge of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, asking the Provincial Party Committee to do a good job of blocking the people and release the blocked vehicles."It's about the credibility of the country, it's about transportation, it's about the working people," he said. On the 28th, Zhou Enlai personally revised the telegram sent in the name of the State Council to the "Chengdu Workers' Rebel Group" stranded in Guanghan, Sichuan (the name of the station on the Baocheng Line): "Please consider carefully: thousands of comrades workers come to Beijing to petition, it is not convenient to receive The talks will also affect the production of your factory. On the other hand, if comrade workers also come to Beijing as usual, it will affect production even more.” One month after the "Anting Incident", Zhou Enlai proposed to the members participating in the industrial and transportation symposium and some provincial and municipal leaders: The central government will issue several necessary "articles" and must ensure that they are effective, such as ensuring transportation. Transportation, urban water and electricity supply.Because this is the interests of the broad masses of the people, and it is related to the national economy and the people's livelihood.You stopped the train, this cannot be called "revolutionary action".When something like this happens, we first criticize ourselves, and then point out that this approach is wrong.Otherwise, there is no principle. On December 13, Zhou Enlai sent a letter to Chen Boda and Jiang Qing regarding the Circular of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Guaranteeing the Normal Order of Railway Transportation (revised by Zhou): “The Circular was drafted at the meeting based on the situation of blocking trains in various places in the past month. Send it to the Central Cultural Revolution Group for discussion, and put forward the group's opinions, so that it can be submitted to the Chairman and Comrade Lin Biao for approval. Attached is the situation of workers blocking cars for one month, please refer to it." Zhou Enlai used the "Anting Incident" as the starting point for statistics on the chaos of railway traffic across the country, which is just showing his attitude towards it.At the same time, he adopted the method of presenting the facts before issuing the announcement, also in order to make the Central Cultural Revolution Group helpless in the face of the facts. On New Year's Day in 1967, Zhou Enlai personally asked about the work of the Shanghai Railway Bureau.Chen Pixian, who was the first secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee at the time, recalled: (1966) On the afternoon of December 31, news came from Beijing that the central government decided to ask me to come out to work, first to rectify the order of the railway, and the prime minister would call me directly.I immediately got sick and rushed to Shanghai North Railway Station to solve the traffic problem. At 3 a.m. on January 1, I heard Premier Zhou’s voice at the North Railway Station Railway Public Security Bureau: “Comrade Pi Xian, how are you? ..." I greeted the Prime Minister, and told me that I am now in the Railway Bureau, doing work, and strive to open to traffic tomorrow.Under the care of Premier Zhou, the Shanghai Railway finally opened to traffic the next day. Zhou Enlai's hard work day and night, coupled with his earnest criticism and persuasion of mass organizations, has indeed improved the production and business conditions of the railway transportation departments in some areas.However, since the erroneous theories guiding the "Cultural Revolution" have not and cannot be fundamentally changed, its "Left" practice will inevitably develop viciously, and even become more and more violent, and it is impossible to stop.This situation, of course, cannot be changed by Zhou Enlai's subjective wish.What he can do is to continue to play a role in controlling the situation and reducing losses in some aspects and in some important links.It can be said that without Zhou Enlai's efforts, the entire Gongjiao production situation would have been much worse.