《毛澤東視野中的中國農民問題》目錄、中英文提要、后記

Abstract

     With the high development of the ancient civilization in agriculture, China's small-scale peasant economy came into existence, yet it has long been bogged down in a “potato” destiny in the super-economic constraint and the concerto characterized with stressing farming but check trade or business. How to assist peasants to go through the historic predicament became a focus both in governing and engaging in research the Chinese elites confronted with in any era.  Mao Zedong, born in a peasant family, devoted his whole life to the great cause of saving his country and his people. Mao showed solicitude for the destiny of peasants and the development of the rural economy, which exhausted all his energies. In this great cause, Mao combined Marxism-Leninism with the Chinese culture, resolved to change the unreasonable feudal economic system in rural areas, and endeavored to explore a way for peasants, with which they could shake off the bewilderment, and move towards the “golden future,” in which everyone, man and woman, would be prosperous and equal. Mao, basing himself on reality, divided China's economic reform in rural areas into two stages, that is, “Land Reform” and “Collectivization”.  　　

In the first stage, what Mao adopted to reform the rural economy is to immerse himself into rural areas, mobilize the broad masses, and destroy relations of feudal production in rural areas. In order to gain success in the first stage, Mao found a foothold in the most poverty-stricken mountain villages, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the poor peasants and helping them cast off the yoke of feudalism, which was later popularized throughout the whole country, and eventually, the feudal land ownership, which lasted for centuries, was thoroughly wiped out and was taken the place by the new democratic rural production relationship, which took the peasantry as a subject. Hence there emerged rural production relations of a new democracy instead. Meanwhile, Mao got a generous support from the peasants, which helped him win the final victory of the protracted revolutionary war and seize the political power. With the establishment of the political and economic system of the new democracy, the peasants were granted with new “sunshine” and “rain and dew”, and a wide horizon presented in front of them.　　

    When the national flag was fluttering in the wind over Tian An Men Tower, Mao immediately made a decision “to strike the iron while it is hot”, and to take the road of collectivization, which push forward his economic reform in rural areas to the second stage. The question of how to get a collect perception of the small-scale peasant economy, and how to guide and remold the small producers led China's economic reform in rural areas to a new crossroad. The style of seeking truth from facts advocated by Mao was gradually replaced by a subjective will. The individual farming, the fixing of farm output quotas for each household, the commodity economy were regarded as hotbed of capitalism, private plot, household sideline production, rural trade markets as the “remains” of capitalism, getting rich by labor as polarization between the poor and the rich. Mao's second stage in the rural economic reform is to make the small producers extinct, and move towards the establishment of people's communes large in size and collective in nature, which was Mao's main principle in promoting collectivization. The concrete operation of the reform had its own novel style and characteristics, nevertheless, apparently it did not extricate itself from the influence of Utopian socialism and the ex-Soviet traditional pattern of collectivization, nor did it cast off the wartime system and the tracks of the political movements. Whether it was to “shrink back and readjust” or to “block road and stride”, the factuality of the peasantry still hides in the back of varieties of campaigns or policies. Mao devoted himself to his ideal in all his life, as a Chinese proverb said, “even if he arrives the bank of Yellow River, he won’t be frustrated, either.” The exceptional experience and unrealistic romanticism once blinded the insight of the historical giant. As a result, the vast rural areas and the multitudinous peasants were squeezed into a new stereotyped pocket. In real life, the history seemed once again coagulated, and the peasants call for independence and liberty a second time.　　

However, the Chinese history, with the emerging of household contract responsibility system, household farms, professional household, town-and-village-run enterprises, flow of laborers, socialist marketing economy, and permission of getting some people wealthy earlier, has moved a sound step forward after many twists and turns. The new idea of reconsidering and transforming small peasantry, which arise from CHANGE A BRAIN by removing Mao's cognitive misinterpretations; the abolition of feudal land ownership system, which has long been cast aside into history; the numerous irrigation projects kept at extremely high cost——all these have become the material base and starting point of the new rural economic reform since 1980s.The Third Plenum of the 11^th Central Committee of CCP and five “NO.1   resolutions” has provided Chinese peasants an accessible platform to take significant steps in rewriting their own history.　　

However, with the quick progression of Chinese modernization and the mixture and co-existence of planning economy and marketing economy, peasants, being out of the present regime, have to endure double squeezing derived from “plan and market” or “power and competition”, as a result of which peasant problem has emerged in the form of the predicament among peasants, agriculture, countryside” as follows: peasants’ burden was too hard to ease despite of continuous decreasing trial; the labor transferring faces layers of obstacles which brought about the serious trouble in increasing peasants’ income as well as the unprecedented severe challenging to rural ecology; the production initiative right of peasants declines increasingly, even to get lost, and the peasants’ property  rights and interests like the land are being eroded in the process of weakening and surfacing, which led to the lost of peasants’ lands or jobs, even residences; peasants’ normal citizenship treatments has never been respected so that the securities of social public services and facilities are seldom available for them…, that is to say, fairness or justice market owns naturally seems to be an exception for peasants! All the problems above-discussed stemmed from the lost of market subjects of rural economy, in other words, peasants doesn’t obtain the real community or national master treatment. The covertly rising of “Mao Zedong Upsurge” since the end of 1980s just reflected the reality that the “Peasantry, Agriculture and Countryside” problem is getting more and more serious. Up to 2004, the problem of peasants, agriculture and countryside was promulgated as NO. 1 resolution once more by the Central Committee of CCP seventeen years later, which means peasants problem is stressed exceptionally once more. Nevertheless, how to  grasp the folk information conveyed by the “Mao Zedong Upsurge” and how to treat the peasants problem correctly depends on recognizing peasants and peasants’ family production correctly with a new attitude, which requires us to really trust, respect, treat decently and depend on peasants, insisting on the sustainable development based on humanity thus to get through the shadow of egalitarianism remolding peasants… The pioneering practice characterized with collectivization led by Mao Zedong not only broke through the millennium dream pursued by Chinese social elites, but also displayed the strength source of reform that is to trust, organize and depend on peasants firmly, thus left behind valuable legacy for posterities both in thoughts and in practices. Unexaggeratedly speaking, Mao’s recognition on peasantry and peasantry problem concentrated all the correctness and fault in recognizing the same problem by Chinese social elites in any age. No understanding Mao Zedong, no understanding Chinese peasantry problem. Peasantry may be liberated only when peasantry themselves are capable of represent themselves, instead of others.　　

Key Words: the peasantry; rural economy; class struggle; land reform; collectivization; the fixing of farm output quotas for each household; commodity economy; market subjects　　

后    記　　

    我對農民和農村經濟的研究開始于20多年前。當時，近百年的中國農村經濟變革已經進入了一個嶄新的階段，鄧小平支持和推動的農民家庭承包經營責任制改革已全面啟動并初見成效，中國農民的命運和農村經濟改革的新選擇引起了國內外的廣泛關注；中國農村社會經濟發展的全新態勢也給我們的傳統思維提出了許多嶄新的問題和需要重新探索的未知。作為一個近現代社會經濟史的研究者，理應站在歷史與現實的交匯點上，像關心歷史一樣關心現實。20多年來，我為釋疑與探索未知的強烈刺激所吸引，農民和農村經濟問題的研究成為我生活的重要部分，在生活中，包括與人閑聊、看電視、甚至飯桌飯后家人間的談笑，我都總是將話題與我的研究聯系在一起，以至常被人們笑稱為“三句話不離本行”。從某種程度上說，我是把這種樂在其中的艱辛勞動看作是生命的必要，即使沒有顯赫的收獲，也能心平氣靜地繼續耕耘，我的研究與生活本身已緊緊相融。其間，我出版與發表的論著雖不多并又不太合于學術主流，但卻得到了國內外同行學者的理解、肯定與認同；同時，農民和農村社會經濟問題研究耗費了我20多年的主要時間，因而減少了對妻子與家庭應有的關懷；借拙作付梓之際，我要對所有支持與幫助過我的師長與國內外朋友們表示衷心感謝，并特別感謝我的愛人楊麗瓊和兒子溫靖20多年來對我的理解以及為支持我的研究工作所做出的奉獻?！　?/p>

    中國農民豐富的社會實踐與歷史創造是本書認識與觀點生長的源泉。實踐需要理論的指導，理論則需要不斷地接受實踐的檢驗，并在豐富的實踐中加以修正和完善。理論是“灰色”的，“生活之樹長青”。正是千百萬農民群眾實踐的現實需要，促使人們投入農民和社會農村經濟問題的研究。拙作注重在比較研究中吸收學界最新成果的同時，立足走出書齋，將自己的視野投向中國火熱的農村社會經濟改革大潮。在多年的農村實地調查與學習考察中，農民那勤奮自勵、勇于實踐、善于創造的精神和寬厚的胸懷，農民那熱情的接待、無私的支持以至免費的茶水或便飯招待，則是拙作得以形成的最為寶貴的精神支撐和物質支持。因此，我要感謝在江西、福建、廣東、河南、河北、陜西、山東等省農村實地調查中給予我支持和幫助的所有農民朋友，同時，還要感謝在收集和查閱資料時提供方便和照顧的省、市、縣圖書館、檔案館以及各級政協文史資料室的專家與朋友們，感謝江西財經大學領導對我的理解、支持與鼓勵！　　

拙作許多論點的完善直接來源于師生間爭鳴討論時閃現的思想火花，很多的論述直接形成于解答學生、朋友質疑時進行的邏輯思考。“師者，所以傳道授業解惑也”；但“師不必賢于弟子，弟子不必不如師；聞道有先后，術業有專攻”。（韓愈）“人只知教師教授，學生學習；不曉得有的時候，教師倒從學生那里得好多的教訓”。（陶行知）教師是我重要的社會角色，教書是我重要的工作，和學生平等相處，共同探討，教學相長，不僅使我獲益匪淺，而且也使我樂在其中。正是師生間教與學的相融，使本書超過了我個人可能達到的水平，為此，我要感謝所有曾參與我幾十年教學與研究討論的所有同學們；而本書能夠較快完成出版，則要特別感謝我在福建師大招收的碩士研究生汪忠列。他以其與我似乎有同樣家庭背景和對農民的真摯感情隨我進入近現代史尤其是農民問題的學習與研究，并逐步加入我正在進行的課題研究之中。他在幫助我完成本書新增章節和對全書稿件的整理校訂中付出了艱辛的勞動?！　?/p>

    本書的出版還要特別感謝江西人民出版社辛康南先生等人給予的支持和付出的辛勤勞動?！　?/p>

                                                         作  者

                                 2004年暑期于江西財經大學校園