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Source: Journal of Jiangsu University (SOCIAL SCIENCES EDITION), 2012, 03, by Jia Yanmin (Department of history, Anhui University), Xu Tao (School of international culture and education, Nanjing Normal University), formerly titled: the exposure process of Henan famine during the great leap forward
1、 The exposure and treatment of "the East Henan incident"
In October 1958, Yucheng, Xiayi, Yongcheng and other counties in the east of Henan Province were short of grain and firewood, which led to the spread of edema, population outflow and abnormal death. At the end of 1958 and the beginning of 1959, the situation worsened. In winter and spring, there was no food to eat, and the number of wild vegetables decreased day by day. The situation of hunger and dead people spread over ten counties in the east of Henan Province. In the spring of 1959, Yucheng and Xiayi nearly starved to death every day [1] 86.
For the serious disaster in the east of Henan Province, the provincial Party committee did not take effective measures and still emphasized the leap forward of industry and agriculture. On October 14, the Rural Work Department of the provincial Party committee, the Party group of the Provincial Department of civil affairs and the Party group of the provincial women's Federation jointly held the "life collectivization meeting of the rural people's commune" according to the instructions of the provincial Party committee, informing that the life collectivization was generally realized in the rural areas of the province; the superiority of the rural people's commune promoted the greater leap forward of industrial and agricultural production, etc. 27 reported the meeting to the provincial Party committee: "this year's Grain Reserve is very abundant. At present, we not only need to eat enough, but also how to eat well"; at the same time, we put forward the "marshal" and "satellite" standards for collective welfare undertakings, and strive for "Marshal's promotion" and "satellite on the sky". The provincial Party Committee requests the local Party committee to establish the office of life and welfare and the county Party committee to establish the Department of life and welfare as a specialized organization to focus on the collectivization of life [2].
On December 8, the provincial Party committee issued three documents (drafts) on life issues: instructions on effectively doing well in collective life and welfare work, provisions on labor rest time and provisions on the current ratio of food consumption in rural areas. On January 13, 1959, the provincial Party committee issued these three documents to local governments for research and implementation [3]. Among them, the first article of the instruction (Draft) of Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China on doing well in collective life and welfare work is "to run a public canteen well, to ensure that the members are satisfied with the convenience of eating, eating well, eating hot, eating sparingly and paying attention to hygiene". Article 7 is: "do a good job in epidemic prevention and disease treatment to ensure the health of the people. Strengthen the leadership of hospitals, medical offices and medical stations, and do a good job in health and epidemic prevention. Measures should be taken in various aspects to prevent the spread and occurrence of epidemic diseases. " This shows that the provincial Party Committee on the one hand, in order to cooperate with the situation of the great leap forward, requires to run a good public canteen, on the other hand, in order to cover up the disaster, the puffiness caused by the famine is called an infectious disease, and requires to "prevent the infection and occurrence of the epidemic disease". If the provincial Party committee cannot face up to the disaster, it is impossible to take effective measures.
With the approaching of the Spring Festival in 1959, the situation in East Henan continued to deteriorate. On January 30, 1959, the provincial Party committee sent Guo Xiaotang and Xie Qingzi to the Xinji people's commune of Luyi County in Kaifeng District to investigate the situation of the withdrawal of the canteen. On February 5, Guo Xiaotang and Xie Qingzi said in the investigation report on the stopping of the canteen of Xinji people's commune in Luyi County that, since December 20, 1958, there were 17 canteens in Xinji commune, which were opened when they stopped, the grain allocated to the group or the red taro and radish picked up by the masses were recovered when they gathered, and the grain and sweet potato were stopped when they finished eating. People depend on the ground to pick up red taro, radish and scrape bark to fill their stomachs. There are 55 canteens without food at all, 42 canteens with less than 4 liang of food, 64 canteens with 4 liang to half Jin, 14 canteens with half Jin to 12 Liang, and 10 canteens with more than 12 Liang. There were 978 people with edema disease in the whole society, and livestock died seriously, some production teams died 64%. Guo Xiaotang and Xie Qingzi said in the report that it was not because there was no food in the canteen, but because of the problems of cadres, leaders and cadres. Guo Xiaotang and Xie Qingzi's investigation in Luyi was accompanied by Zhang PENGYUAN, Secretary of the county Party Committee Secretariat. The county Party committee should be clear about the disaster, but the county Party committee took "digging hidden grain, dealing with impure cadres and preventing the enemy's destructive activities" as the fundamental measures to solve the food shortage. In particular, the measures of grain digging were approved by the investigation team of the provincial Party committee, and it was suggested that the provincial Party committee should carry out a mass movement focusing on open grain. On February 13, the provincial Party committee forwarded the report, believing that the weakness of the leading cadres of the commune and some impure backbones were the main reasons for the suspension of the group in the canteen, requiring all localities to carry out class education and communist education for the cadres and members, and to examine and eliminate the impure elements in the cadres [4]. In the face of the famine, the county and provincial Party committees neither reported the disaster to the central government nor opened warehouses to release grain. They also believed that the peasants had grain in their hands and were unwilling to take it out. They forced the peasants to publicly report the hidden grain in their homes. They also covered up the grain shortage with political and class problems, which made the grain shortage more serious.
The exposure of famine in the eastern part of Henan province comes from three private letters to the central leaders Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and relevant departments of the central government. On January 20, 1959, it was signed "north and south of liudiquan station" and disclosed in a letter to Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and all the leaders of the Central Committee: "people in Yucheng County and Xiayi County, East Henan Province, have had a bad life in the past six months People get sick and puffy because they don't eat enough. People die in the villages where Yu and Xia meet. Some people buy things and fall into the ground. Some people find wild vegetables in the fields. These situations often happen Children starve, adults are pessimistic, their hungry skin and bones "[1] 85. On February 25, Vice Premier Li Fuchun gave instructions on this letter: "this is for the premier to read, whether the State Council will send someone to check it.". On July 27, Premier Zhou Enlai said, "after informing the provincial people's Committee by telephone, the Ministry of interior, the Ministry of agriculture and the State Council will send people to check and reply within a time limit" [1] 96.
On February 22, in a letter signed by "cadre of personnel group of Wuhan East West Lake livestock farm" to the Ministry of internal affairs of the CPC Central Committee, it was said that young and middle-aged people in the east of Henan Province fled to Wuhan East West Lake livestock farm for relatives and friends, which affected the life of farm workers. The livestock farm could not be persuaded to leave, and some left and came back. When the cadres of the animal husbandry farm questioned the reasons, they said, "the masses have no food to eat because of the achievements of the holiday report in the community and the struggle for glory. In xiaoguolou village, Yucheng County, more than 80000 Jin of grain was actually collected, but more than 300000 Jin was reported. The bottom of the store is padded with firewood, and food is put on it. This is the leftover grain. After the surplus grain is sold, the masses have no food to eat There is an old woman in her 60s who says that she hasn't eaten noodles for 50 days at home. She eats radishes and wild vegetables. If there are outsiders and superiors to visit, it is called eating and eating well "[1] 88. The outflow of famine population in the east of Henan Province was reported to the Ministry of interior and approved by the general office of the Central Committee of Henan Province. Henan provincial Party committee and Kaifeng local Party committee did not solve the problem of food shortage, but sent people to forcibly return the outflow personnel to their original places [1] 88-90, which blocked the way out for the victims to escape.
On February 25, in a letter signed by all the officers and soldiers of the 0220 troops in Jimo County, Shandong Province to the Minister of agriculture of the Central Committee, it was reflected that when they returned to their hometown to visit their relatives at the beginning of the winter solstice of 1958, they found that "the people's life is very hard, the people's rations are only 428 yuan per person per day. If the people say they don't have enough to eat, the cadres will scold and debate, saying they are on the right, Now the people are like sheep, dare not say, dare not move, afraid of beating Please go to investigate as soon as possible. When you investigate, please don't inform the provinces and counties, and give them a sudden investigation... " [1] 91-92 the letter was transferred from the Ministry of agriculture to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which played a certain role in promoting the joint investigation team of the State Council, Henan Provincial Committee and Kaifeng local committee to investigate and solve the famine in early March.
In early March, the Secretariat of the State Council sent five people to Henan, including Li Jintang, Liu Wenting, Cao Guorui, Wu Yuqing and min shengqian. In collaboration with Henan provincial Party committee and Kaifeng local Party committee, a joint investigation team was formed to investigate areas with severe famine, such as Yucheng, Xiayi and Yongcheng. The results of the investigation prove that the letters from the masses are true. Under the guidance of the State Council and the investigation team of Henan provincial Party committee, Kaifeng local committee of the Communist Party of China held an emergency meeting of the Party committee in late March to formulate ten emergency measures on the current problems of people's lives. Henan provincial Party committee also took corresponding measures to distribute relief food, temporarily alleviating the occurrence of dead people and edema [1] 86-87.
After the "East Henan incident", the provincial Party committee and the county Party committee covered up the disaster, making the problem more serious. The common people bypassed the county Party committee and the provincial Party committee and wrote directly to the high-level leaders of the Central Committee, which attracted the attention of the main leaders of the Central Committee. Under the personal questioning of Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Li Fuchun, the State Council sent people to investigate on the spot to understand the disaster situation. The provincial Party committee and the local Party committee were unable to cover it up and released relief food, which temporarily alleviated the situation of famine and starvation in Eastern Henan. However, this did not touch on the "left" policy of causing famine. After the Lushan conference in 1959, a new round of "leap forward" was launched on a larger scale. The serious famine happened again in Henan Province, among which the Xinyang incident happened in the autumn and winter of 1959 and the spring of 1960 is the typical representative, "Xinyang incident" is the continuation of the "Eastern Henan incident", and it is also the expansion and severity of the famine in Henan Province.
2、 The occurrence of "Xinyang incident" and the concealment of the disaster situation "Xinyang incident" refers to the malignant event that occurred in Xinyang from October 1959 to April 1960 and killed more than 1 million people by starvation. This is the concentrated outbreak and malignant development of famine in Henan during the "great leap forward" period. Xinyang area from the occurrence of food shortage to a large number of hungry people, around the last six months. The investigation from the central government to the full exposure of the disaster delayed another half a year, and the final handling of the responsible person came to the beginning of 1961. The concealment of the county Party committee, the local Party committee and the provincial Party committee aggravated the disaster, and the process of exposure and handling went through twists and turns, paying a greater price.
Before the autumn expedition was completed in 1958, the chayashan satellite commune in Suiping county was short of food. At the beginning of 1959, when there was a general food shortage in Xinyang area, Lu Xianwen, Secretary of the local Party committee, also admitted in the conference call of the local Party committee: "except for a small number of social teams who have made proper arrangements for the lives of their members, the lives of most areas have not been arranged. And in recent days, the whole region has been plagued with food problems "[5].
However, in the face of the severe situation of general grain shortage in the whole region, Lu Xianwen, on the one hand, focused on pig iron production, on the other hand, urged the task of grain purchase, criticized the right leaning thought, continued to expand the satellite, publicized the superiority of the people's Commune, and thought that the lack of grain was an illusion, an ideological problem, and that the farmers were unwilling to sell the grain to the country.
In order to get food, the prefectural Party committee decided to check the small warehouses for private storage in the whole district. As of January 22, more than 100 million jin of privately stored grain had been found in small warehouses. The prefectural Party Committee believes that this is a reflection of the struggle between the two routes on the grain issue. Guangshan County's "ideological movement and mass movement" solution to the grain issue has been promoted throughout the region [5].
In the spring of 1959, the grain shortage in Xinyang increased. The local Party committee still thinks it's a matter of thought. Instead of taking measures, it launched a campaign against concealing the property and dividing it up privately, and dug up the grain everywhere. As a result, it also dug up the little grain left by the peasants. As a result, the starvation of people has continued. The local and county Party committees not only turn a blind eye, but also obstruct the masses from reporting the disaster to the central government. At the beginning of 1959, 74 canteens in Guanmiao group and Wangqiao group of Yuemei commune in Shangcheng County were out of food for more than two months, and more than 100 people died of starvation. Xu Xuefu, a member of the Communist Party of China and a serviceman from Guanmiao Tuan linwan company in Yuemei administrative area of Shangcheng County, went back to his hometown to visit his relatives. When he saw the tragedy in his hometown, he reported the situation to Deputy Commissioner Liu of Xinyang special administration three times in person and was severely criticized and threatened by Deputy Commissioner Liu and other leaders of the special administration. On March 5 and 9, Xu Xuefu arrived