Review Of "Communist Paradise":Research On "Xu Shui Experience"

In 1958,Xushui county,HeBei province,became well-known in China for its organized farmland irrigation.It created the Xushui Experience which was favored by Mao Zedong,and came out in front in The Great Leap Forward and The People's Commune Movement.The construction of the "communist pilot" made Xushui become the focus of the world.It has high research value in the fields of environmental history and revolutionary history,and deserves paying further attention and investigation.Ansu(Xushui)county is surrounded by mountains in the west,with barren soil.In the southeast,the land is low-lying and alkaline,close to the wetlands.Three narrow,short,turbulent rivers——named Cao,Bao and Ping River,flew through the county.Because of natural conditions,such as severe climate and uneven precipitation,the agricultural production is at a lower level.The limitation of natural conditions and the frequent occurrence of disasters such as flood,drought,wind disaster,hail,and plague of insects curbed the further development of agricultural production.Since modern times,Xushui was dragged into a deep and continuous natural and social crisis by successive disasters and wars.Since the Comprehensive Anti-Japanese War,Xu Shui's military and civilians were facing a serious survival crisis.After CPC actively participated in Xushui,the Xushui's Party,government,military,and civilians in the guerrilla zone insisted on mutual production and cooperation,and combined the people's immediate interests with patriotism,so that the Zhang Rui Cooperative became a banner of Jinchaji Cooperative.During the Liberation War,the collective-oriented productive revolution got further developed.After the founding of New China,faced with the historical burden of poverty and famine,organizing became the people's choice.Focusing on agricultural production,Xushui's party,government,and civilians carried out mutual aid and cooperation in helping relief work through production,and embarked on a path of collectivization common prosperity.From the winter of 1957 to the spring of 1958,Xushui County achieved water conservancy through the unified planning and leadership of the county.On the basis of Chen Zhengren's summary of experience,the "Xu Shui Experience" was initially formed.At the Chengdu Conference in March 1958,Mao Zedong approved "the popularization of Xushui's experience." Since then,Xu Shui became an advanced model of the Great Leap Forward and attracted national attention.After the Second Session of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China,Xu Shui launched a county-wide "laboratory collaboration" and "national canteenization",showing the characteristics of "organization of militarization,combat action,and collective life" and was praised as Sprout of communist nature.As Mao Zedong inspected Xushui,the "Xushui Experience" was qualitarified and solidified.Its core——"three modernizations",was internalized and generalized throughout the country as a feature of the "People's Commune" at the Beidaihe Conference.However,under the instructions of the CPC Central Committee,the practice of "communist pilot" in Xushui was carried out,and many excessive behaviors appeared,which were "coldly processed" and ended dimly.Of course,the failure of the "Communist Pilot" is not enough to negate the vast practice of the people of Xushui.An examination of the"Xushui Experience" will help to understand the inheritance and changes of the collective ideals of the Communist Party of China in the first three decades.