Moving Closer to Village Tradition: Analysis of the Problem of “Dividing up Brigades and Teams” in the Early 1960s
向村庄传统靠拢——20世纪六十年代初期 “分队”问题剖释
Abstract
From the end of the 1950s to the early 1960s, the Party Central made positive adjustments to the people’s commune system. Each tier of the system was downsized. Existing scholarship has mainly provided macro-narratives or policy analyses of this episode of history from the perspective of political history or institutional history. Using archives on “dividing up brigades and teams” of the communes in Pucheng county in Shaanxi province, this article contends that, during the collectivization period, the state neglected the pre-existing environmental, social, economic, and cultural characteristics of villages, as well as the relationships among the villages, in the process of integrating them into larger units of collective production with a higher degree of public ownership, thus engendering new conflicts and ruptures in local society. During the process of “dividing up brigades and teams,” individuals and collectives used their legitimate rights of division to maximize their own interests, during which multiple forces were at play. To some extent, this led to a return to long-standing village traditions. These findings are crucial for us to understand the history of the adjustments in the people’s commune system and to reflect on the institution of agricultural collectives in the pre-Reform era.
摘要
20世纪五十年代末期至六十年代初期，中共中央对农村人民公社体制做出了积极调整，公社各级规模有所缩小。对这段历史的研究，学界多从政治史、制度史角度加以宏观叙事和政策梳理。利用20世纪六十年代初的陕西蒲城县农村人民公社“分队”档案，本文研究认为在集体化时期，国家力量在把村庄整合进规模更大、公有化程度更高的集体生产组织的过程中，忽视了村庄之间原有的自然、社会、经济和文化等方面的特征和联系，给地方社会带来新的裂痕与矛盾。在分队过程中，个人、集体利用被授予的分队合法权利，谋求自身利益的最大化，呈现出多种力量的互动关系。从客观结果来看，分队在某种程度上是对地方上长期层累形成的村庄传统的尊重和靠拢。这对我们从整体上认识公社体制调整历史和反思集体化时期集体组织制度具有重要意义。
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 139 | 139 | 1 |
| Full Text Views | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 5 | 5 | 0 |
Moving Closer to Village Tradition: Analysis of the Problem of “Dividing up Brigades and Teams” in the Early 1960s
向村庄传统靠拢——20世纪六十年代初期 “分队”问题剖释
Abstract
From the end of the 1950s to the early 1960s, the Party Central made positive adjustments to the people’s commune system. Each tier of the system was downsized. Existing scholarship has mainly provided macro-narratives or policy analyses of this episode of history from the perspective of political history or institutional history. Using archives on “dividing up brigades and teams” of the communes in Pucheng county in Shaanxi province, this article contends that, during the collectivization period, the state neglected the pre-existing environmental, social, economic, and cultural characteristics of villages, as well as the relationships among the villages, in the process of integrating them into larger units of collective production with a higher degree of public ownership, thus engendering new conflicts and ruptures in local society. During the process of “dividing up brigades and teams,” individuals and collectives used their legitimate rights of division to maximize their own interests, during which multiple forces were at play. To some extent, this led to a return to long-standing village traditions. These findings are crucial for us to understand the history of the adjustments in the people’s commune system and to reflect on the institution of agricultural collectives in the pre-Reform era.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 139 | 139 | 1 |
| Full Text Views | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 5 | 5 | 0 |