Revolution and the Countryside: A Study on the Construction of Rural Grassroots Governments in the Early Years of the PRC: 1949~~1957

Author: Chen Yiyuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: During the Republican era, the Guomindan regime in Liling faced two major challenges: one was to alleviate the financial pressure brought by prolonged warlord conflicts, and the other was to deal with the rise of the Communist Soviet movement in the 1920s. To achieve the devolution of state power, the Guomindan attempted to use two channels. At the institutional level, it established district organizations and township systems. Simultaneously, to strengthen control over rural grassroots levels, it created various anti-bandit organizations. The Qingxiang teams, tuanfang teams, security battalions, watch teams, and regular guard teams were all attempts to further consolidate grassroots control based on the district and township systems. The Guomindan struggled with the unresolved tension between the baoguo system and rural self-governance. After Liling's peaceful liberation in 1949, the Communist Party of China, as the leader and organizer of the new regime, needed to carry out mobilization and reconstruction of the rural society to fully mobilize the peasants. Initially, through campaigns such as grain collection for military support, the reduction of double burdens and suppression of local tyrants, and the reduction of rent and deposits, the traditional power structures in the old rural areas were dismantled, and the baoguo system declined. Later, the party carried out democratic governance and the establishment of new townships. As a result, the impoverished and low-income peasants at the bottom of society were mobilized, the old clan and family social and cultural networks in rural society were disintegrated, and state power devolved to the countryside. "Organizing" aimed to guide and organize peasants to take the socialist path through mutual assistance and cooperation. In the process of mutual assistance movements, the state actually faced the issue of how to align upper-level policies with grassroots realities. Liling County's mutual assistance movement clearly and specifically presented the different perspectives of local landlords and grassroots cadres and peasants on the devolution of state power. From its actual development, the state gradually gained leadership through channels such as the expansion of the number of party members, the monitoring of party branches, and grassroots cadre work teams in terms of the advantage of promotional discourse, the selection of mutual assistance team leaders, the functional positioning of mutual assistance organizations, and the development direction of mutual assistance movements.