A
VOICE OF PEASANT DISCONTENT IN CHINA
[On New Year's Day the People's Daily and Red Flag carried a joint editorial which stated that the principal task of 1967 was to extend the "great proletarian cultural revolution" into industry and agriculture. Since then not much reliable information on the real situation in the rural areas has been made available.
[One document which does cast a beam of light on this sector of Chinese society today comes from the April-June issue of The China Quarterly. It is the partial text of a poster which appeared in Shanghai January 14 with a list of grievances drawn up by peasants in a Shanghai suburb. The basic complaint is discrimination against the countryside in favor of the cities.
[The poster was put up amidst the tumultuous movements among the Shanghai workers at the beginning of this year which for a time threatened to pass beyond the control of any of the contending bureaucratic factions of the regime.
{The bill of particulars in this indictment was evidently formulated by some highly knowledgeable spokesmen for discontented elements among the peasants. The China Quarterly states that the poster listed thirty-five grievances of which it quotes the following. ]
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(a) Politically we are secondclass citizens.
(1) Why is the countryside used as the general rubbish-bin of the towns? No matter what the crime, anyone in need of remoulding is sent out to the country, some for reform through labour. (2) There are no proper teachers in the countryside. They are all in the towns. Thus, education in the countryside is not on the same level as in the towns. And even if some do come to the country, they just sit in the office all day.
(4) The division between town and country is perpetuated from generation to generation by the fact that country children who come to the town for education return after graduation to the country. Graduates in the town share jobs amongst themselves. If the father tilled the soil, the son must after him.
(4) It is difficult for some young country lads to find a wife, because the girls are attracted to the workers. These girls may have been born in the country, but their mentality is urban. And this is not surprising, because of the workers' better pay. Moreover, they have a pension, whereas a farm worker, even after 70 or 80 years of tilling the soil, gets no pension and has to continue feeding himself his whole life long.
(5) Why are all the big hospitals and medical services concentrated in the town? We countryfolk, who have only the mobile medical services, also have to pay for all medical attention. Some people say this is because we country people are never ill. This is untrue.
(6) Why are all the administrative offices centred in the town? All the officials are very comfortable there, and are reluctant to come out into the country. They are unwilling to come out and investigate the real situation, or to get down to grass roots. They are out of touch with us.
(7) The PLA [People's Liberation Army] is composed of the sons and daughters of the whole people. We all say we uphold the glorious PLA, but why is it that the task of supporting the army and giving preferential treatment to the families of soldiers falls only on our shoulders? Nor do we get credit for it, and have never had one single honour for our services. A small group of people in the towns get them all. We demand that honours should immediately be distributed to us!
(8) Workers have their unions, soldiers have theirs, and Party workers have a body to represent their interests. Why don't we have unions?
(9) Chairman Mao has stressed the importance of education, physical exercise and culture. Our cultural level is very low. But we have few such facilities in the countryside, and haven't even a chance to see films. (Singers and other entertainers are loath to come to the country -- they must come more often.
(10) It is true that the working class is the leading class, and that the peasants are the basis. But this does not mean that the workers should occupy a dominant economic position. Over the last 17 years, the "three discrepancies" have gradually widened. Chairman Mao has always protected the peasants and championed the eradication of the "three discrepancies."
(11) The peasants have no voice. They have only "formal" democracy. At the Second Consultative Conference of Lower- Middle and Poor Peasants, no decisions were made by us. All we had was a few days of free board and lodging.
(12) Originally, the broadening of rivers and building of embankments was a defence measure. So why did the entire
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burden fall on the shoulders of the peasants? If the Chiang bandits attack, they won't just attack the villages and leave the towns alone, will they?...
(14) Some people are always stressing the contribution to the nation made by the working class. But were it not for the peasants, there would be no food to eat and no clothes to wear.
(15) Funds are distributed only once a year. If peasants run short of money and apply to the banks for loans they have to pay interest. This leads to dissatisfaction.
(16) Why is it that, in the Shanghai rural region, there are enormous differences between the consumption of this or that family. Some families have so much food they cannot eat it all, and sell off the surplus at a high price, while others eat congee the whole year round and never set eyes on a grain of rice. We should all have an equal amount of grain. We don't mind if our ration is reduced a little to make up for those with little to eat.
(b) Economically we have not yet secured our freedom.
(17) Our only propaganda materials in the countryside are articles from newspapers. Moreover, we are charged 2.40 yuan reception fee. Who is the dog of an official who introduced this measure?
(18) Why is the burden of retired workers and army veterans put on our shoulders?
(19) In the towns, leaders and officials are paid several tens, several hundreds or even over 1,000 yuan. wages are only 10 or 20 yuan a month. This discrepancy will open the way for the emergence of a Khrushchev in our country.
(20) In 1966, the price of grain was raised. But taxes were also raised. This measure will not help to reduce the "three discrepancies."
(21) Why do we peasants have to contribute share-capital to enter a conmmune whereas workers don't have to pay anything to enter a factory?
(22) Workers live in flats provided by the state, have offices provided by the state, use tools provided by the state. We peasants have to buy everything ourselves, even a sickle.
(23) Many workers in the towns live in blocks of flats. We live in huts which are often in a state of collapse, and we are exposed to wind and rain. Just what attitude do the dogs of officials responsible in the towns have towards the peas~ ants?
(24) Why is it that we poor, lower and middle peasants are responsible for planning birth-control?
(25) We responded to Chairman Mao's call for building small-scale factories in the villages, but they were immediately nationalised by the Municipal Committee, and made into state-owned enterprises.
(26) At New Year and on holidays, workers get special rations. We get nothing at all -- not even bean curd.
(27) Grain grown by us is sold at 10 yuan a picul. But we have to pay 33 yuan a picul for human fertiliser and 16.5 yuan for manure. Of course you can grow a lot of grain with a picul of fertiliser.
(28) Meat is normally sent to us from the city. Why did supplies stop on January 2?