As might be expected, farmers in Kwangtung Province require less arable land because of a longer growing season and more ample rainfall than farmers in northern provinces.

2. FUNCTIONS AND ACTIVITIES AT BRIGADE LEVEL

a. Administration

Brigades are structured today much the same as they were in 1958 (see the organization chart on page 370. Members in brigade congresses continue as before to elect a preselected slate of officers for chairman and members of the management committee or revolutionary committee as the case may be.

94

While not all brigades have Party branches, a survey of reports since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution suggests that the great majority now have them. Party membership has grown in this period and Party organizations have been strengthened since the period began.95 The Party branch secretary continues to be the most important leader at the brigade level. Party branch leaders today hold concur rent positions in brigade management (revolutionary) committees as was the case at the beginning of the period."

Another index of the brigade's increasing importance is the fact that in the past few years more brigades have obtained headquarters buildings. These buildings house offices for members of the brigade's management committee and Party branch. They also provide space for the credit cooperative, the branch store of the supply and marketing cooperative, and various brigade industries. These headquarters, usually located in the largest village within the boundaries of the brigade, seem to have become an increasingly important center of rural life.97 98 Depending upon size, a production brigade may have a militia company or a battalion.99 100 After the head of the militia unit is also the chief of the security section of the brigade's management committee. This fact highlights once again the concurrent holding of jobs in different organizational systems and stresses the fact that one of the militia's most important functions is public security.101 Militia units have important economic functions as well, such as fighting forest fires and reclaiming land. 102

Moreover, militia units have ne special function of mobilizing the masses to work on corvee labor-type projects. They seem to be the activists who go to the worksites illustrating to their fellow brigade members that the work can and will be done. Furthermore, they are called on to do difficult and sometimes dangerous tasks on construction

94 "Go to the Production Team and Do Its Work Well!" SSSI, No. 8, Apr. 16, 1964; translated in SCMM. No. 418, May 25, 1964. pp. 47-48. 95 "Kwangtung CCP, Committees Decision on Agriculture Reported," FBIS, Daily Report: People's Republic of China, No. 26, Feb. 7. 1973, D. 1–7.

90 Prof. A. Doak Barnett, Cadres, op. cit., p. 361. Also see "Poor Mountain Village in South China Transformed by Mao Tse-tung Thought," NCNA, in English, Nanning. Feb. 4, 1970: in SCMP. No. 4596, Feb. 13. 1970. nn. 126–128.

07 Rewi Alley. "In Two Counties of Talhang Shan." EH, vol. XII, No. 2, pp. 15-32. (1973). 99 Rewi Alley, Travels in China, 1966-1971, Peking, New World Press, 1973, pp. 336–337. No. 5. 1974. nn. 27-38.

Rewi Alley. Travels in China, 1966-1971, Peking. New World Press, 1973, pp. 336-337. 100 "People's Daily on Correct Way to Diversity Production," Peking, JMJP, in Chinese, June 21. 1973, n. 2: translated in FBIS. Daily Report: People's Republic of China, No. 135. vol. I. July 13, 1973. n. B-1.

101 Rewi Alley. Travels in China, 1966-1971, Peking. New World Press, 1973, np. 135–139. 10 "Heroic Militiamen Put Out Forest Fires," NCNA, in English Wuhan, May 12, 1968; In SCMP, No. 4180, May 17, 1968, pp. 18-20.

work. For example, the commander of a brigade militia unit in Hunan Province led a group of workers to drill holes and set off explosive charges to construct an irrigation ditch alongside a steep cliff.103 Brigades function today much as they did in 1963.10 They serve as an intermediary collecting reports from teams and sending them to the commune, and, in turn, passing instructions and policies from the commune to the teams. The brigade receives state plan targets, compulsory state procurement (grain) quotas, and schedules for delivering grain taxes and then works out plans with its teams to achieve these targets. Brigades continue to mobilize the rural labor force to build roads, canals, and water conservation projects. Brigades, of course, continue to manage their own enterprises and cooperate with teams to manage joint enterprises. Since the Cultural Revolution, brigades have shouldered the burdens of managing rural health services and primary schools, and have some responsibility for supervising state-managed supply and marketing branch stores.

b. Production

Like the commune level, brigades do not produce a significant portion of basic agricultural commodities because teams manage most of the labor and arable land. Brigades, however, do undertake certain agricultural production functions. They often engage in swine production, i.e., raising boars and brood sows to produce piglets which are sold to teams and households.105 106

Brigades also operate orchards,107 fish ponds, and fishing boats,108 and manage timberland. For example, one brigade in a mountainous region in Anhwei Province afforested 1,300 hectares (3,212 acres), operated a tree nursery and supervised a timber mill.109

Although statistical information is not currently available to indicate trends, many reports on the commune system give the strong impression that the past 12 years have seen considerable growth in brigade-level industry. This industry generally is of a smaller scale, requiring less capital, labor inputs, and technical skills than those run by the commune.

The most frequently mentioned brigade level industries were grain, fiber, edible oil processing, and farm equipment repair shops. Specialized regional industries frequently mentioned in the reports include mining, tea curing, and crushing of sugar cane. Industries not as widespread as the first category, but still rather common include: Food processing plants producing bean curd and noodles; kilns manufacturing bricks, tiles, and lime; and shops weaving native materials to make gunny sacks, straw mats, hemp rope, and wicker baskets. Among

103 "Advancing in Spirit of Tachai, Model in China's Agriculture," NCNA in English, Jan. 15, 1970 ; in SCMP. No. 4591, Jan. 21, 1970, in. 67–69.

104 Prof. A. Doak Barnett, Cadres, op. cit., pp. 372-373.

105 "Two Good Short Investigative Reports," HC, No. 8, 1972, pp. 43-49; translated in SCMP. No. 5188, Aug. 3, 1972, pp. 155–158.

106 "Prosperous Northwest China Commune," NCNA in English, Sian Apr. 10, 1974; in SCMP No. 5598, Apr. 22, 1974, pp. 22-23.

107 "Kirin People's Commune Benefits From Mechanization." Peking, NCNA in English, Sept. 21, 1973; in FBIS, Daily Report: People's Republic of China, No. 188, Sept. 27, 1973, pp. G-5 and 6.

108 "Cheklang Fishing Industry Mechanizes Operations," Peking NCNA, July 4, 1972; FBIS. Daily Report: People's Republic of China, No. 132, July 7, 1972. p. C-2.

109 "Anhwel Commune Overcomes Hardships by Diversifying Economy," Peking, NCNA in English, Oct. 16, 1973; in FBIS, Daily Report: People's Republic of China, No. 202, Oct. 18, 1973, pp. C-3 and 4.

the more unusual industries reported at the brigade level were weaving and knitting cloth, manufacturing paper, generating hydroelectric power, and operating an inn.

c. Services

Service activities provided by brigades have expanded greatly since 1963. Some improvements occurred in brigade level health and education service from 1963-65. During and after the Cultural Revolution, however, great efforts were made to improve these services.

111

Most brigades in China now have health stations staffed by parttime health workers. Brigade health workers receive training from commune clinics, from special training courses at the county level, and from People's Liberation Army medical teams. 110 Health workers earn part of their living by earning work points laboring in agriculture. For their health services, the brigade gives them a subsidy to bring their income level up to the average earnings in the brigade.' These paramedics render simple treatment to farmers, refer more serious cases to commune clinics, work on public health problems, and teach health classes in primary schools.113 Both Western and traditional Chinese treatments and medicines are used in treating patients.114

112

About half of the brigades in the country now have cooperative medical systems. 115 116 Persons in the brigade can become cooperative members of the system by paying a small fee (1 yuan per year). For every person who subscribes, the brigade makes a small contribution. (0.10 yuan) which it draws from its welfare fund. Patients pay a small fee (0.5 yuan) per visit to the health stations. However, difficulties in recruiting and training personnel, and finding adequate funds, are problems which are yet to be resolved.

117

Brigades continue to be responsible for running primary schools.118 As before, the brigade's Party branch committee person for propaganda continues to be responsible for managing the schools. The achievements of China's rural education efforts prior to the Cultural Revolution have been chronicled elsewhere.119 120 As far as could be judged from the research materials gathered for this report, the system seems to have continued to improve in the past 6 or 7 years.

During the Cultural Revolution, and especially since 1968, poor and lower middle peasants in brigades have been mobilized to manage primary schools. 121 If there is a limited number of spaces in school, then

110 Rewi Alley, Travels in China, op. cit., pp. 164-165.

111 One labor day equals ten work points. See pages 400 ff. for more details regarding the meaning of labor days and work points.

113 Paul G. Pickowicz, "Barefoot Doctors in China: People, Politics, and Paramedicine,” EH. vol. XI. No. 5. 1972. n. 32.

113 Rewi Alley. Travels in China, op. cit., pp. 164-165.

114 "Co-op Medical Care in Sun Village." CR, vol. XXI, No. 11. November 1972. pp. 2-7. 115 "Health and Medical Care for the People," CR. vol. XX, No. 6, June 1971, pp. 2-3; also. "Co-op Medical Care in Sun Village," CR. vol. XXI, No. 11, November 1972, pp. 2–7. 110 David M. Lampton, op. cit., p. 4.

117 "Shen shou p'ing hela chung mung huan ying te ho-tso 1-11ao chih-tu." (The Cooperative Medical System Is Being Deeply Appreciated by the Poor and Lower Middle"); JMJP, Dec. 5. 1968. p. 1.

118 See Prof. A. Doak Barnett, Cadres, op. cit., pp. 386–388.

119 The Editor, "Educational Reform and Rural Resettlement in Communist China," CS, vol. VIII. No. 17. November 1970. pn. 1-8.

120 The Editor, "Recent Developments in Chinese Education," CS, vol. X, No. 7, July 1972, pp. 1-6.

121 For example, see "The Question of Prime Importance in the Revolution of Education in the Countryside Is That the Poor Lower-Middle Peasants Control the Power in Education." JMJP, Peking, Oct. 18, 1968; translated in Current Background, No. 868, Dec. 31, 1968, pp. 1-5.

poor and lower middle peasants presumably decide whose children will attend. The move to make poor and lower middle peasants responsible for primary schools could also be an attempt by government to make the system more responsive to rural needs. At present, the primary emphasis of education is to train workers who will increase rural production, not migrate to the cities, as has occurred so frequently in developing economies. In fact, educated youths from urban areas are being used as teachers in these primary schools. Other teachers include the head of the militia unit, brigade accountants, paramedics, and agricultural technicians. These teachers, far from being elevated beyond the rural population, are now being paid in work poirts and receive only the average local income of the farmers they

serve.

Brigade-run schools charge tuition fees as brigade incomes generally cannot fully support operation of the schools. Some brigades give land for students and teachers to work to help support the school and others encourage classes to engage in subsidiary production activity to help support their education.122

Regarding marketing services, supply and marketing cooperatives often have branches at the brigade level. These branches receive direction from the headquarters of the supply and marketing cooperative, and from the brigade management committee and Party Branch. Especially since the Cultural Revolution, local inhabitants have increased their voice in managing these branches. These branch stores stock small quantites of producer goods and function to supply farmers with manufactured daily necessities of life, such as needles, thread, and rubber shoes. The stores also purchase category 2 goods, pigs, fruit, and handicraft items for the State from brigades, teams, and households.

Branches of credit cooperatives are located at brigade centers. Households put their excess funds in savings accounts in these branches, and can obtain consumption loans from the cooperative, if sanctioned by the proper authorities. From the evidence currently available it was not possible to determine if brigades and teams had their financial accounts with branch credit cooperatives or with branches of the People's Bank at the commune level.

3. CONNECTIONS

While commune level connections with institutions outside the commune system were expected, similar relations between brigades and outside institutions were not expected, but nonetheless may not indicate a degree of autonomy as they may have been required to obtain approval from the commune level before engaging in the kinds of activities explained below. For example a brigade in Hopeh Province processed hog bristles for the Shihchiachuang Animal Products Co.123 A State farm in Kwangtung Province paid cash to a brigade which mobilized its labor force to construct fields for the farm.124 A brigade near Chengtu agreed to supply labor force units for use by a transport

122 See Rewi Alley, Travels in China, 1966-1971, op. cit., pp. 268-269.

123 Chang Ho-wel, "The Worker-Peasant Labor System in Finance and Trade Departments." HCS, No. 1-2, Feb. 20, 1966; SCMM. No. 534, July 25, 1966, p. 33.

124 "T'leh-chien sung ch'iung-shih, ch'ih-shou huan hsin-t'len" ("Iron Shoulders and Bare Hands Eliminate the History of Poverty and Construct a New World"), NFJF, January 2, 1966, p. 2.

51-174 O-75-26

and storage company.125 A brigade near Peking signed a contract to supply vegetables to a specific marketplace.126 Foreign trade departments approached brigades in Hopeh to process goods for export. 127 128 The connections between brigade and team are of great importance because the brigade is the last link in the chain of institutions which bind the Party and Government to the basic production unit in rural China. The best plans and policies from Peking tend to miscarry if there is poor exchange between brigade and teams. We know that State plans, policies, procurement targets, and tax quotas are passed from brigades to teams. We do not know precisely how this is accomplished, nor how brigades motivate or lead teams to implement policies and meet targets. Much to the chagrin of researchers, there seems to be an inverse relationship between the importance of these subjects and the quantity of research material available.

Moreover, of the small amount of information obtained, more of it concerned how brigades ought not to work with teams than how they actually did work with teams. Brigades selected for criticism usually violated the rights of teams. For example, one brigade in Liaoning mobilized the labor force of all teams to construct a reservoir regardless of whether teams would benefit from the project or not. Members of those teams not benefited by the reservoir lagged behind in their work on the project. They began to work diligently only when the brigade following the principle of exchange at equal value and began to compensate the laborers for their work. 129

Regarding the interconnections between individual brigade-level units, the famous Sha Shih Yu (Sand Stone Gulch) Brigade in Hopeh Province provides a good example of cooperative activity. A neighboring brigade gave its consent for Sand Stone Gulch Brigade to drill an irrigation well in one of its fields.130 Less neighborly feelings were generated in two brigades also in Hopeh Province when children of one brigade killed an animal belonging to a second brigade. The brigades were not on speaking terms until amends were made and the animals lost were replaced.131 Commercial transactions also occurred between brigades in which hatching eggs and draft animals were exchanged for cash.132 133

C. Team Level

In the past 12 years, the production team has lost some of its importance because of the growth of industry and services at the commune and brigade level. Nevertheless, aside from the family, the

128 "Szechwan Factories and Mining Enterprises Extensively Experiment on Labour System of Work and Farming by Rotation," NCNA, in English, Chengtu, December 27, 1965; SCMP. No. 3615, Jan. 12. 1966, pp. 18–20.

128 "Advanced Vegetable Production Brigade on Peking Outskirts," NCNA, in English, Peking. July 2, 1971: SCMP. No. 4935. July 13, 1971, pp. 88-89.

127 "Organize Peasants to Process Export Products on the Spot," TKP, Peking, Aug. 31, 1965: SCMP. No. 3542. Sept. 22. 1965, pp. 11–13.

128 T-ich-chien sung ch-lung-shih, ch'ih-shou huan hsin t'ien" (Iron Shoulders and Bare Hands Eliminate the History of Poverty and Construct a New World"), NFJP, Jan. 2, 1966,

p. 2.

129 "Liaoning's Fu County Corrects Errant Rural Policies," NCNA, Peking, Domestic Service in Chinese, Jan. 4, 1973; FBIS, Daily Report: People's Republic of China, No. 11, vol. 1. Jan. 16, 1973. G-1.

130 "North China Rural Cadre Reviews Changes in His Village," NCNA, in English-Shihchiachuang. Jan. 12. 1974: SCMP. No. 5539. Jan. 22. 1974. np. 45-49.

131 Rewi Alley. Travels in China, 1966-1971, New World Press Peking, 1973, p. 144.

133 Rely on Poor and Lower-Middle Peasant for Successful Financial Management," Peking JMJP, Oct. 21, 1971: SCMP. No. 5009. Nov. 8 1971, pp. 10-16

133 Liu I-yung, "Make Efforts To Study Amid the Storm of Class Struggle," HC, No. 11, Oct. 1, 1971; SCMM, No. 715, Nov. 1, 1971, pp. 13–19.