The Years of the People's Commune Told by Grandpa
I often sat beside Grandpa and listened to him telling stories about the past, especially
the time of the People's Commune.
Grandpa said that when the People's Commune was just established, the whole village
became lively. The small farmlands that originally belonged to each household were
combined together. Everyone became commune members and went out to work
together every day. Before dawn, the production team leader would strike the bronze
gong under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village. The sound of "Dang, dang,
dang" spread to every corner of the village, which was the signal for assembly. Men and
women would then come out of their courtyards with farming tools like hoes and sickles
in their hands, gather together, and walk towards the collective farmlands chatting and
laughing.
In the commune, work points were recorded for the work done. For example, a strong
laborer could earn ten work points for a day of heavy work, while women or semilaborers who did relatively lighter work might earn six to eight work points. These work
points were very important as they were related to how much grain a family could
receive.
At that time, the commune organized many large projects. Take the construction of a
reservoir for example. It was a huge task. All the laborers in the village went out to work.
The young and middle-aged people dug earth and carried stones at the construction
site. When they were tired, they would sit on the slope to take a rest, and when they
were thirsty, they would drink some cool boiled water from the big earthenware jars.
Grandpa was young and strong at that time and always rushed to do the heavy work. He
said that everyone had a strong motivation in their hearts, thinking that once the
reservoir was built, the crops in the village would have sufficient water for irrigation and
they wouldn't have to worry about drought anymore.
During the harvest season, the fields were bustling with activity. The ripe crops were cut
down and piled up together. Then, arranged by the commune, the grain was
transported to the big granary of the commune. The distribution of grain was very strict.
The accountant would calculate it with an abacus according to the number of people in
each family and the work points earned by the commune members in their daily work.
Grandpa's family had a large number of people and he worked hard and earned a lot of
work points, so the grain they received could barely fill the stomachs of the whole
family, but there wasn't much left over. Generally, first, a basic quota was distributed
according to the number of people to ensure that no one would starve to death, and
then the remaining grain was distributed proportionally according to the number of
work points.
However, as time went by, problems gradually emerged. During the collective labor,
some people were lazy and slacked off. Grandpa said that everyone did similar amounts
of work, but there wasn't much difference in what they got in the end, so some people
thought that it didn't matter whether they worked more or less. For example, when
weeding the corn fields, some people were careless. Anyway, whether the harvest was
good or bad, the amount of grain their families received wouldn't differ much. This
made people like Grandpa, who worked seriously, feel a bit uncomfortable.
Later, the commune began to make some adjustments. Some power was given to the
production teams, allowing them to arrange some small production tasks by themselves.
The production team where Grandpa was in organized everyone to plant some cash
crops, like cotton. When the harvest season came, the cotton was sold to the commune,
and the money obtained could be used to buy new clothes and daily necessities for the
commune members.
After that, the policy changed and the household contract responsibility system was
implemented. At the beginning, everyone was uncertain because they had been working
collectively for so many years. But Grandpa was an enterprising person. He took the lead
in contracting several mu of land. He cultivated it carefully, planted wheat, corn in his
own fields, and also planted some beans and pumpkins beside the fields. That year, the
harvest was much better than that during the commune period, and the granary at
home was gradually filled up.
When Grandpa told these stories, there was always a complicated look in his eyes, with a
sense of nostalgia for the past collective life and an emotion of emotion for the changes
in life later. The history of the People's Commune was like a long scroll, leaving a deep
mark in the long river of time. It witnessed the changes and development of the
countryside and also became an unforgettable memory in the hearts of their generation.