The Chinese Communist regime is built on frenzied mass movements. The people on the mainland has been subjected to an endless procession of drives and campaigns since 1949. The fever last year centered on "backyard furnaces." Now, it is hog-raising.
Whatever the campaigns are for, it is not to be laughed at nor taken lightly. The People's Daily of Peiping, which sets the tune for all propaganda drives, has already devoted six editorials to this subject, on November 11, December 17, 18 and 23, and January 5. A call was issued: "Let all communes and production brigades establish hog farms." In Shensi, more than 600 Communist cadres, including CCP county secretaries, magistrates, commune CCP secretaries, commune directors and production brigade officers, volunteered to work in hog-breeding farms.
Argued the People's Daily: "The hog has traditionally been treated as the animal of least importance among the six domestic animals-horses, oxen, sheep, poultry, dogs and hogs, in that order. This is truly very unfair to hogs. According to their contribution to agricultural production and to the livelihood of mankind, the six domestic animals should be re-arranged in this order—hogs, oxen, sheep, horses, poultry, and dogs. In other words, it is only fair to put hogs at the head of the six domestic animals."
Shock campaigns were launched everywhere to force production up. Reported the New China News Agency on December 23: "In Chekiang, Hunan, Honan, Szechwan, Shansi, Shantung and Kansu provinces, drives were launched for planting hog-raising red banners and emulating the advanced." Another dispatch declared: "Government offices in the cities are also successfully running their own hog farms in the suburban areas." Hog-raising "heroes," according to Radio Peiping, cropped up everywhere in military units, schools and factories.
Many slogans and ditties were invented by the resourceful Chinese Communist propagandists. Samples: "A hog is a small organic chemical fertilizer factory." "Be livestock feeders first before trying to be commanders; be livestock feeders on the one hand and commanders on the other," and "The benefits of raising hogs are like killing three birds with one stone-there will be more fertilizer for agricultural production, more income, and more pork."
The people on the mainland were told: "To the society as a whole, the hogs are of very high value. The bristle, skin, bone and internal organs of the hogs are important raw materials for the tannery, textile, and chemical industries. Besides, pork, pigskin, bristle, and casings are important export goods. Each ton of pork can be used to exchange for five tons of steel products, each twelve cases of bristle for one tractor, and each barrel of casings for more than eleven tons of chemical fertilizer."
The target set was that there should be one hog for each, mou of land. By the end of last year, "according to incomplete statistics compiled in localities distributed in 15 provinces and municipalities, three hsien, 67 people's communes, and more than 4,000 production brigades have achieved the aim of averaging one hog for each mou of land, while the number of areas and units aver aging one hog per capita is much larger," boasted the People's Daily.
The Kungchin People's Commune in Yuchung hsien, Kansu province, even went so far to prescribe that (1) each mother hog should breed at least 18 sows per year; (2) for each 114 catties of fine fodder and 540 catties of coarse fodder, the return should be at least 200 catties of pork; (3) each hog should produce at least 12,500 catties of manure per year; and (4) hog feeders will receive 30 per cent bonus for exceeding the standards set above, or be fined 15 percent for failure to meet the standards.
It is evident that Peiping could not possibly reach its goal of one hog per capita. To raise 600,000,000 hogs, it would need 390,000,000,000 catties of fodder a year, a labor force of 20,000,000 hog breeders, and materials and capital to build some 1,000,000,000 square meters of pigsties. The "whole people raise hog" campaign will inevitably follow the failure of last year's "whole people make steel" drive.
Travelling Buddha
Panchen Erdeni, whom Peiping picked as the No.1 puppet in Tibet after the Dalai Lama's flight for freedom, is a Living Buddha according to Lamaist belief. Now he seemed to have become the travelling Buddha.
Since September last year, he has apparently been kept away from Tibet. After attending the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the regime in Peiping, he was feted by Mao Tse-tung and other Communist bosses, patted on the back, and sent on a tour of the Northeast provinces, Inner Mongolia, Shanghai, Kwangsi—in short, everywhere but Tibet.
During his prolonged absence, the Chinese Communists pushed through the first stage of their "democratic reform" program, and were starting on the second stage of "land reform" work. A total of 503 "farmers' associations" were established in rural areas, and 27 "resident's committees" in urban areas, staffed by some 1,900 Tibetan cadres trained by Peiping and sent back to Tibet after the March uprising last year.
On December 20, 1959, the first plenary session of the First Tibet Committee of the "Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" opened in Lhasa, without the presence of Panchen Erdeni. Curiously, no mention was made of him in all the dispatches emanating from Lhasa reporting on the proceedings of the CPPCC Tibet Committee.
Attending the meeting were 134 committee members "who came from various nationalities and all circles in all parts of Tibet," and also 215 "delegates from various nationalities, circles and areas." Of the full-fledged committee members, 52 percent were selected from "upper strata people and the religious circles" and 10 percent from "among the peasants and herdsmen," according to Chang Ching-wu, director of the United Front Department of the Tibet Working Committee of the Chinese Communist Party who was also secretary-general of the CPPCC Tibet Committee meeting. Presumably, the remaining 38 percent were Han nationality cadres. It was they who staged the show and ran everything else.
The Chinese Communists left nothing to chance. They not only steered Panchen away from Lhasa, but also could not trust any other Tibetan to make him puppet chairman of the CPPCC Tibet Committee. General Tan Kuan-san, political commissar of the Tibet Military Area Command who was the top-ranking Chinese Communist commander in Lhasa at the time of last year's uprising and to whom the Dalai Lama wrote the three famous letters, picked up the gavel and declared himself the chairman of the first meeting. The Tibetan members and dele gates who gathered in the newly completed auditorium of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibetan Autonomous Region, situated conveniently within the Tibet Military Area Command compound, meekly applauded.
Chang Ching-wu, Peiping's top representative in Tibet and secretary of the CCP Tibet Working Committee, addressed the meeting "by special invitation." He warned the gathering: "Only by solid unity in the great family of the socialist motherland, under the brilliant leadership of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman Mao, can Tibet have sufficient materials, money and modern scientific and technological forces to build itself up. Only by completing the democratic reform and moving along the road of socialism can Tibet's stagnant, poor and backward economy and culture be transformed to bring the Tibetan nationality in Tibet in line with the more advanced."
Chang Kuo-hua, commander of the Tibet Military Area Command and vice secretary of the CCP Tibet Working Committee, delivered the political report. He boasted: "The chief special feature in Tibet's current situation is the thorough overthrow of the ruling organs of the feudal serf system and the one million serfs now standing up on their own feet, exercising their own rights as masters and building a new life for themselves under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. The democratic reform is being carried out triumphantly and thoroughly by the functionaries and the masses, working vigorously for the building up of a democratic, socialist, new Tibet."
There was not much discussion during the eight-day meeting, judging from the New China News Agency reports from Lhasa. On the second day, the members and delegate, led by Tan Kuan-san, joined the workers on the site of the 7,500 kilowatt hydroelectric power station in the Lhasa Valley. It adjourned on December 27, after adopting a resolution pledging to "carefully study the various policies, diligently raise our political consciousness, strengthen the unity among nationalities, consolidate and expand the democratic united front, and mobilize all positive factors to strive for fulfillment of the tasks of 1960."
Unable to find a Tibetan whom he could trust, General Tan Kuan-san had to elect himself to be the permanent chairman of the CPPCC Tibet Committee. The eight vice chairmen elected are Gohden Tsripa, Thubten Kunga, Chou Jen-sheng, Namdon Kunga Wongchug, Sampo Tsewong-Rentzen, Yabshi Gonpo-Tsetan, Thubten Nima, Pongda Dorje, and Sampo Doje-Phagmo, a woman. The Standing Committee of the CPPCC Tibet Committee composed of 39 persons headed by Dinge Dorje-Geltseng. But the secretary-general is again Chang Cheng-wu, whose duty it is to promote "united front" work among the Tibetans.
Dear Comrades
Moscow and Peiping exchanged New Year greetings for 1960. The messages were noticed by experts on Chinese Communist affairs to contain several peculiarities.
First, the Kremlin seemed to be eager to promote the impression of a "collective leadership" on its puppets in Peiping. The message was addressed to not one, but four persons:
"Comrade Mao Tse-tung, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
"Comrade Liu Shao-chi, chairman of the People's Republic of China.
"Comrade Chu Teh, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China.
"Comrade Chou En-lai, premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China."
In return, Peiping's message of thanks was also signed by the foursome.
Secondly, the cable from Moscow had an almost condescending tone. It said nothing of Peiping's pet projects—the people's commune, the great leap forward or the steel campaign-in the past year. There was only one sentence which might be regarded as a sort of congratulations: "The Soviet people rejoiced wholeheartedly over the great achievements scored by the fraternal Chinese people in the selfless struggle for the victory of socialism under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party."
On the other hand, Mao and company heaped praises upon Comrade Khrushchev and kowtowed all the way through. Peiping cooed: "The Chinese people have witnessed with profound admiration in the past year the great achievements gained by the fraternal Soviet people under the leadership of the glorious Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its Central Committee headed by Comrade Khrushchev, in the grand Seven-Year Plan for the realization of the transition to Communism, and their outstanding contribution in their relentless efforts to win and defend lasting world peace."
It continued: "All these have greatly increased the might of our socialist camp, dealt a heavy blow to the criminal conspiracies of the imperialist war-mongers and greatly inspired confidence among the peace-loving countries and people throughout the world in their struggle for winning lasting world peace."
Thirdly, both sides reaffirmed the "unbreakable unity" between them, and Peiping was especially vociferous about this point. In the message from the Kremlin, it was expressed that "we believe that the coming year will mark the further consolidation of the unbreakable unity and fraternal friendship between the Communist Parties, governments and peoples of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, and our close cooperation in the struggle for the relaxation of international tension, for peace and friendship among nations and for the victory of Communism."
However, Peiping vowed: "In the past year, the deep friendship and all-round cooperation between the Chinese and Soviet people have been further consolidated and enhanced. The Chinese people express wholehearted gratitude to the Soviet people for granting enormous aid to our country in its socialist construction.
"The fundamental interest of the Chinese and Soviet peoples rests on their close unity, which is the dependable guarantee for human progress and world peace. The Chinese people will continue to exert all-out efforts to develop the fraternal friendship and cooperation of the Chinese and Soviet peoples and safeguard the unity of the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union."
The Great Stalin
Nothing happened in Moscow on December 20, 1959, nor in any other satellite capital.
But in Peiping, the day was commemorated as the 80th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. The People's Daily, official organ of the Chinese Communist Party, carried a special article signed by Ai Ssu-chi, top Chinese Communist theoretician and a close advisor to Mao Tse-tung. There was not the slightest doubt that this article was inspired by Mao, who probably wanted to show his defiance to Nikita S. Khrushchev.
Began the article: "Today is the 80th anniversary of the birth of Joseph V. Stalin, an outstanding figure of the CPSU and the Soviet Union, a staunch revolutionist of the International Communist Movement, and a great Marxist-Leninist. Stalin devoted 60 full years to the cause of Communism from the age of 15 when he first joined the revolutionary movement to the age of 74 when he died. After the death of Lenin, Stalin led the Soviet Union, the first socialist country of the world, for 30 years. Today, when commemorating Stalin, we see that Communism has gained unprecedentedly great development not only in the Soviet Union, China and other socialist countries, but also on a worldwide scale."
It went on to recount "the great victories and achievements attained by the Soviet Union in the course of 42 years after the October Revolution." While not mentioning names, it declared that: "The victory of the world anti-fascist war with the Soviet Union as the champion force and the birth of the people's democracies in Middle and East Europe following this victory became a great turning point in human history after the October Revolution." In plain English, this meant that it was Stalin who won the war with Hitler, and it was Stalin who grabbed Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Roumania, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria and East Germany into the Communist camp. The implied meaning was plain—where was Khrushchev then?
Then it went back on safer grounds, to deal with Stalin's earlier years which were not attacked by Khrushchev in his famous de-Stalinization speech before the XXth CPSU Congress.
Ai Ssu-chi pointed out: "After the death of Lenin, for the sake of upholding the Leninist line, Stalin waged serious struggles against the enemies of Marxism-Leninism—the followers of Trotzky and Bukharin and other agents of the bourgeoisie. In the course of these struggles, Stalin safeguarded and creatively employed and developed Marxism-Leninism. In his Foundations of Leninism, Several Questions Concerning Leninism and other works, Stalin set forth the fundamental theories of Marxism-Leninism in a systematic manner.
"He defended Lenin's law of unbalanced development of capitalism and Lenin's theory that socialism could be successful first in one country, and used this theory to increase the confidence and determination of the Soviet people in building socialism. He also defended Lenin's theories concerning Party construction, proletarian dictatorship, and socialist construction.
"In accordance with the will of Lenin, Stalin outlined the policies and tasks of industrialization and collectivization of agriculture, and smashed the joint attack of the Trotzkyites and the rightist-inclined Bukharin opportunists against the general line of the Party.
"Stalin wrote many books. His last work, The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, is an important literary piece which delves into socialist political economy. His creative contributions to the enhancement of the theories of Marxism-Leninism have an indestructible influence upon all socialist countries, the working class of the whole world, and all oppressed peoples, Although Stalin's works contain certain isolated errors with regard to ground for reasoning and formula, they are as a whole still an important legacy among the treasures of Marxism-Leninism."
Having sung enough praise of Stalin the learned scholar, Ai Ssu-chi, became bold enough to say: "Stalin, whose loyalty to the cause of proletarian revolution was boundless, was an uncompromising enemy of imperialism. He made important contributions to the defense of his socialist motherland to the development of the International Communist Movement, to the liberation of the oppressed peoples, and to the protection of world peace." He had, however, to be vague on Stalin's other achievements.
The most important statement in the whole article was then presented. No doubt, it had been carefully weighed by Mao himself. "In his later life, Stalin committed a number of serious mistakes. However, when compared with his great contributions, the mistakes are only secondary."
Even these mistakes, which Khrushchev openly accused before the CPSU Congress, were justified with a Chinese twist. "Now the serious lesson from Stalin's mistakes has become an important asset of the International Communist Movement. Just as the repeated successful experiences of the CPSU, Stalin's mistakes are playing a positive role. They can be and should be used to heighten the consciousness of all Communists with a view to preventing the recurrence of similar mistakes, and thus pushing ahead the advance of Communism."
Just what kind of reproval would come from the Kremlin for this article on the People's Daily was not known. But the world could be sure that it did not please Comrade Khrushchev a bit, and that he would most certainly make Comrade Mao pay for it.
Road to Zanzibar
Even those who had seen the picture "Road to Zanzibar" by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope could not remember where is Zanzibar. Last month, however, the Chinese Communists were busy buying their way into that East African colony.
Abdul Rahman Mohamed, general secretary of the Nationalist Party of Zanzibar, had the dubious honor of being the first visitor to Peiping in 1960. He arrived on New Year's Day with his wife at the invitation of the "Chinese Committee for Afro-Asian Solidarity."
For them, Peiping rolled out the red carpet. The couple were met at the airport by Wang Ming-yuan, acting secretary-general of the "Chinese Committee for Afro-Asian Solidarity," Liao Meng-hsing, deputy director of the international liaison department of the "All China Women's Federation," and Chien Ta-wei, deputy director of the international liaison department of the "All China Youth Federation."
Chen Yi, "vice premier and minister of foreign affairs," received the Zanzibari guests on January 3. Present were Liao Cheng-chih, chairman of CCAAS, and Wang Ming-yuan. In the evening, the Mohameds were entertained at dinner by Burhan Shahidi, vice chairman of CCAAS and a fellow Moslem from Sinkiang.
With such hospitality on the part of his Chinese Communist hosts, it was not surprising that Mohamed felt obliged to grant an exclusive interview to the New China News Agency on January 5. He fired some broadsides at Britain: "Our people are fed up with British imperialist exploitation and the oppression and poverty under 70 years of British rule." He said his people were fully determined in their strivings for independence in 1960, and would settle on nothing less than that."
Declared Mohamed: "Our struggle has now entered a new stage of historical significance. We want independence both politically and economically. We want to improve the living conditions of our people." According to him, the "Pan-African Freedom Movement in East and Central Africa" had grown in East Africa since it was started in September 1958. All political parties in East and Central Africa had committed themselves to this movement, one of the objects of which was to secure independence for these countries in 1960. The Nationalist Party of Zanzibar had declared that if independence was not secured in 1960, it would take effective action. And he warned: "It is the first open action of our people, reflecting their resentment of imperialism."
Whether the Zanzibari leader did say these things were not known, but the NCNA managed to drag the United States into the picture. According to the dispatch broadcast from Peiping: "Mr. Mohamed pointed out that the U. S. imperialists were actively penetrating into East Africa from two directions—on the one hand through their stooges in the trade union movements in East African countries, with the aim of replacing British imperialism, and on the other hand through the white settlers in these countries who were clamoring for more American investment as 'the only way of improving conditions.' He pointed out that the British and U.S. investments in Central Africa, especially the latter, resulted in robbing the countries there of two-thirds of their national income."
Mohamed was in Peiping for only four days until then, and had seen nothing except what the Chinese Communists wanted him to see. Yet the NCNA quoted him as saying: "I have seen how a country which suffered so much from imperialist oppression and exploitation has achieved big progress in a short space of 10 years. This gives great inspiration especially to us who come from countries where we are constantly told that only by relying on aid from the West can we improve our livelihood. In face of the great successes of the Chinese people, we realize even more profoundly how ridiculous such statements are!"
The whole thing pointed dramatically to one fact: that Peiping is now taking the major share of the job of infiltrating into Africa under the overall direction of Moscow. It has harped incessantly on the theme of "supporting the African people's struggle against colonialism." It has staged "Imperialist Quit Africa Day" in all of the major cities on the mainland. And it has been scoring propaganda gains. If the democracies do not heed this danger and keep on dreaming about the summit and Chinese Communist participation in the disarmament talks, they will wake up one day find that all is lost on the African continent.