Tong Xiaopeng's Memoirs Part II-21

The first five-year plan

Zhou Enlai predicted that it would take about three years for the national economy to recover. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman Mao, the people of the whole country threw themselves into the cause of economic construction with high spirits; in the past three years, all work has progressed smoothly, fundamentally reversing the chaotic situation left over from the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, not only achieving political, economic, and social stability, but also achieving achievements in many production projects that have exceeded expectations, and realizing the recovery of the national economy ahead of schedule.

Mao Zedong was far-sighted. In February 1951, at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, he put forward the idea of "three-year preparation, 10-year planned economic construction," decided to implement the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy from 1953 onwards, and demanded that all aspects of the five-year plan be drawn up immediately, and strive to complete the trial preparation work within 22 months (i.e., 10 months in 1951 and the whole year of 1952). At Zhou Enlai's suggestion, a six-member leading group was set up to strengthen leadership. The members of the group are Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun, Bo Yibo, Li Fuchun, Nie Rongzhen, and Song Shaowen. These six comrades, Chen Yun, are vice premiers of the State Council and chairman of the Central Financial and Economic Commission; Bo Yibo and Li Fuchun are vice chairmen of the Central Finance Commission; Nie Rongzhen is acting chief of the General Staff; and Song Shaowen is director of the Central Financial and Economic Planning Bureau.

At that time, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was underway, and in view of the fact that it was impossible to end the war in the short term, the central authorities made a strategic decision to build while fighting the war. The Central Committee pointed out that the five-year period from 1953 to 1957 was the first stage of the mainland's long-term construction, and its basic tasks were to lay the foundation for the country's industrialization, to consolidate national defense, to improve the people's material and cultural life, and to ensure that the mainland's economy advanced along the socialist road.

According to Mao Zedong's opinions on heavy industry as the center, the policy of five-year construction was clarified as follows:

(1) Industrial construction is dominated by heavy industry, supplemented by light industry. Priority should be given to the construction of iron and steel, coal, electric power, petroleum, machinery manufacturing, military industry, non-ferrous metals and basic chemical industries. Priority is given to the light industry in the textile, paper and pharmaceutical industries.

(2) The speed of industrial construction, and strive for rapid development under possible conditions.

(3) The regional distribution of industry should be conducive to national defense and long-term construction, and in light of the actual situation, give full play to the role of the original industrial bases in Northeast China and Shanghai, continue to cultivate and utilize the existing industrial base and technical conditions, and create conditions for the construction of new factories, mines, and new industrial bases.

(4) The main task of railway construction is to communicate the southwest, northwest and central south, so as to meet the needs of long-term construction under the conditions of national defense and security.

At that time, the general guiding ideology of the Central Financial and Economic Commission in formulating the first five-year plan was:

(1) The economic plan should ensure the key points.

(2) The scale and speed of construction should be arranged according to actual needs and the possibility of financial, human, and material resources, and supporting construction.

(3) The First Five-Year Plan should be linked to the Second Five-Year Plan.

In June 1952, the Central Finance and Finance Commission summed up the economic construction indicators reported by the major regions and industrial departments, and tried to compile the "Outline of the Plan for 1953 to 1957 (Draft)" and its "General Description" divided by departments and industriesHarbin, Shenyang, Qiqihar and Xi'an regions centered on power equipment and heavy machinery manufacturing industry, Jilin region centered on chemical industry, Fushun and Datong regions centered on coal and mining equipment manufacturing, and Luoyang and Chengdu regions centered on machinery manufacturing industry. This new framework for industrial construction embodies the idea of giving priority to the development of heavy industry and draws up a grand blueprint for the planned large-scale construction that will be launched in New China.

There is no precedent for the implementation of a planned economy in China, and only the Soviet Union, the first socialist country in the world, has experience in this regard, so it can only learn from the Soviet Union; At the same time, it was necessary to carry out planned economic construction and transform China, an agrarian country, into an industrial country, and to carry out industrialization behind closed doors could only be done on paper, and at that time imperialism was hostile to the new China, and it was impossible to obtain the necessary equipment, technology, and capital from the advanced industrial countries of the West, and there was only one way to obtain the necessary equipment, technology, and capital from the advanced industrial countries of the West.

On August 17, 1952, Zhou Enlai led a powerful Chinese government delegation to visit the Soviet Union, which was his second visit to the Soviet Union in a public capacity after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Zhou Enlai served as the head of the regiment, the deputy leaders were Chen Yun and Li Fuchun, and the members of the regiment included Wang Heshou, Lu Dong, Chen Yu, Song Shaowen, Chai Shufan, Luo Ruiqing, Qiu Chuangcheng, Liu Yalou, etc., including many industrial and military departments of the government.

At that time, the mainland did not have its own civil aircraft, and the Soviet government sent three military aircraft and one civilian aircraft for the use of the Chinese government delegation. When the plane passed through Irkutsk, he stayed overnight, and the next day he changed planes to continue the journey, and when he left the hotel, Zhou Enlai shook hands with the hotel attendants one by one and thanked them for their warm and thoughtful service to the Chinese government delegation. The waiters were deeply touched by the fact that the Chinese premier was so approachable and amiable. The plane arrived in Moscow via Novosibirsk.

Zhou Enlai has always been conscientious and responsible for his work, and he is even more meticulous in everything he does in major matters. After arriving in Moscow, he reviewed in detail the draft of the First Five-Year Plan and the "General Explanation" that he was going to provide to the Soviet Government for discussion, word by word, even punctuation, and corrected any mistakes. During the review, it was found that the figures of forestry harvesting, afforestation and timber accumulation plans did not match, and Zhou Enlai immediately severely criticized the comrades in charge of the comprehensive work on the phone.

However, the next day, Zhou En went to the hotel where the Chinese government delegation was staying and had lunch with everyone. The waiter brought a bottle of brandy, Zhou Enlai personally poured two cups, stood up and walked to the comrade who was criticized yesterday, handed him a glass, and said with a smile: "I criticized you yesterday, you should be more careful in the future!" Don't get such an important number wrong. Come, now I toast you with a glass of wine and wish you better work in the future! A glass of wine and a few heart-warming words eased the tense and dreary atmosphere caused by the unpleasant incident that had happened a day earlier. They were deeply touched by the Prime Minister's rigorous style and superb leadership skills.

In order to facilitate discussions with the staff of various departments of the Soviet side and face-to-face study of the formulation of the plan, Zhou Enlai divided the members and staff of the delegation into a number of corresponding groups and asked them to have direct contact with the comrades of the relevant departments of the Soviet side to carry out their work. Doing so can also make Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun, and Li Fuchun more detached and have more time to consider and solve some larger problems that need to be dealt with urgently.

Two or three days after arriving in Moscow, Stalin hosted a banquet in the Kremlin to entertain the Chinese government delegation headed by Zhou Enlai. Foreign Minister Vyshinsky stood up to toast on behalf of Stalin. After the banquet, Stalin accompanied Zhou Enlai to watch a movie, and ate pastries and fruits while talking, and the banquet was held for three hours.

After the working groups were on the right track, Zhou Enlai led some members of the delegation to visit an automobile factory in Moscow, and then visited Stalingrad, the purpose of this trip was to comfort the residents here who showed great courage and tenacity in the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, who suffered heavy sacrifices and played an important role in turning the tide of the war; The second is to investigate the destruction of the city by the Nazi army in the most brutal war rarely seen in history, the Battle of Stalingrad; The third is to learn about the recovery and reconstruction work carried out in the city after the war.

They visited several battlefields of that year: the flour mill, the mass gully (a ditch leading to the Volga River, where tens of thousands of people were killed or wounded on both sides), the banks of the Volga River, and the buildings in the heart of the city. Moskvin, who served here after the war as secretary of the provincial party committee, painted a thrilling picture of the fighting of Soviet troops and people in these places. During the tour, Zhou Enlai was warmly welcomed by the people on both sides of the canal. Six years have passed since the end of the war, and the traces of the war, such as the ruins and walls, trenches and ditches, have not yet disappeared, which shows the depth of the war and the difficulty of recovery.

In mid-September, Stalin met with Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun and Li Fuchun, and Molotov (first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers) and Vyshinsky attended the meeting. The main content of Zhou Enlai's talk is:

1. China's economic overview;

Second, the five-year construction policy;

The main indicators and main projects of the three-year and five-year construction;

4. Preparations for long-term construction;

5. Request for assistance from the Soviet Union.

Stalin gave a positive reaction to Zhou Enlai's introduction, and he made three points:

First, after the first five-year plan, China should be able to manufacture automobiles, airplanes, and warships;

Second, the development speed of China's industry must be very fast, but there should be room for planning, and there should be reserves;

Third, the Soviet Union's assistance to China was cheap and the technology was first-class.

At that time, the imperialist countries led by the United States imposed a blockade and embargo on China, and shortly after the end of World War II, the Soviet Union's own reconstruction work was very heavy, and the Soviet Union had never engaged in such large-scale foreign aid.

In late September, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yun returned to China in advance, leaving Li Fuchun to lead the Chinese delegates and the Soviet government to continue negotiations. Before leaving the Soviet Union, Zhou Enlai counted the relevant documents he personally handled with the Soviet Union one by one and handed them over to Li Fuchun's secretary Wu Junyang. The Soviet Government's reception of the Chinese delegation was changed to Saburov, member of the Political Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee and chairman of the State Planning Commission of the Soviet Union. The State Planning Commission of the Soviet Union attached great importance to this work and organized a group of people to focus on examining China's first five-year plan and the projects for which assistance was requested. Li Fuchun sent telegrams to the CPC Central Committee for instructions on all major issues, and Zhou Enlai carefully reviewed these telegrams, studied them with other leading comrades of the CPC Central Committee, and gave timely replies.