A great man said: Except for the desert, where there are people, there is left, center and right.
In those days, people in the village were divided into three, six and nine classes: the left had poor peasants, hired peasants and lower middle peasants, the middle had middle peasants and rich middle peasants, and the right had landlords and rich peasants. Later, the right side was expanded to include landlords and rich peasants, as well as counter-revolutionaries (historical and current), bad elements and rightists, called “five types of elements”. The poor peasants were the revolutionary leftists, the rich landowners and the bad rightists were the reactionaries, and the middle peasants were the targets of solidarity.
My Family is a rich peasant. In fact, before the land reform, we had a few houses, several dozen acres of land, two carts, and a few short-Time workers during the farming season. Because there is no richer than my family in the village, the village to carry out land reform struggle, only my family to start. So we were divided into houses, land and property. But the hat of a rich peasant was like a stone on everyone’s head for forty years. We had to bend our heads and keep our tails between our legs, and people in the village avoided us as if we were a plague.
The rich peasants were the second of the “five types of elements” and were the target of the revolution. Anti-rightist tendency, plucking the white flag, the four clean-ups, uncovering the class struggle, criticizing the four olds, scraping the twelfth grade storm, which campaign can not escape. The rich peasant uncles were criticized one by one for touching the flesh of their souls, and although they repented and bowed their heads and confessed their sins, they could not escape the fate of being criticized. Because if they were not criticized, the struggle in the village could not be started. I remember that the fourth uncle of a rich peasant, an honest farmer with good farming skills, was sent to the southern slopes to plant beans with a plow. After planting beans, there is still a handful of bean seeds left, four uncles want to carry Home for the edema disease of four aunt boil water to drink, and fear of the village people see, so secretly buried the bean seeds in the ground. I don’t know if Uncle Si forgot or afraid, until people to the south slope of the ground when hoeing, found that a handful of bean seeds on the ground grows a dense bush. This is a new trend of class struggle. Uncle four was pulled out on the spot to criticize, I do not know who carried out from the temple an iron bell, buckled on the head of uncle four, poor uncle four wearing more than fifty pounds of iron bell, in the hot sun and the sound of people’s criticism fell down, fell down forever. The family hastily buried him in the south slope, which in the eyes of the people called “deserved”.
My family was a rich peasant, so I graduated from high school and had no chance to go to university, so I returned to my hometown, Benxi County, Liaoning Province, to work as a peasant in the Xiaoyu Brigade of Nandianzi Commune. In my heart, being a rich peasant was a fear, a shame and a sin. Some of the children of the poor peasants were sent to university, some went to the city to become workers, some joined the army to become soldiers, and those who stayed in the village were captains, accountants, cashiers, janitors, private teachers, barefoot doctors, and those who worked were watching the yard, watching the melon patch, watching the vegetable garden, driving the wagon and other light work. And the dirtiest, most tiring, most painful and dangerous work is the rich peasants and their “educable” children. Second uncle to repair the terraces, three nine days to carry stones, snow steep slope, accidentally fell, stones on the foot, no money for medical treatment, fell lame. In the early spring, when the snow and ice had just melted, the work of building pontoon bridges and rice ridges was the job of the wealthy peasants, Uncle Five and Uncle Six, and the biting muddy water of the river made their legs crawl with curved veins and ulcers. That winter, the village to build a small hydroelectric power station, selected a few of our “can be educated” children to ten miles away from the river to build the power station. In the daytime, we drove piles in the frozen river to stop the river, and in less than an hour, we were freezing and shivering, so we went ashore to drink a sip of old white wine and then jumped into the river. At night, digging machine pits, in the water and cold wind, until late at night. The Spring Festival came and the hydropower station was repaired. We still can not draw a line with the family, or the landlord class of filial sons and grandsons. In order to draw the line, the uncle’s third brother criticized the old father, just criticism is not enough, the dictatorial army also let him beat the old father, in order to touch the flesh and soul. Third brother raised his hand several times, could not bear to strike, the head of the dictatorial army said, “You do not know how to fight, I will teach you.” Said towards the fifth uncle face, the fifth uncle face immediately became a bloody bun. The third brother cried and passed out. In fact, there is no difference between the children of rich peasants and rich peasants, the old generation of rich peasants died, the village still have to fight, the fight is the object of these “educable children”.
On that occasion, I was in the cowshed with Ding Er, a young poor peasant, to remove the dung from the circle of cows. I was in the cattle pen to remove the dung, only a corner left, I want Ding Er to go down the circle to remove the dung, Ding Er refused to do it, leisurely swinging his legs and said: “This is for you to pay respect to my poor peasants, I am to educate you, what, not convinced?” Said stood up with a dung fork towards me raised a face of cow dung. At that time I really forgot that I was a rich peasant, and also used the dung fork to raise dung towards him, who knew that the dung fork cut his finger. Now I got into a big trouble, “the landlord rich peasants against the put, hit the poor peasants!” Ding Er shouted. The captain ran over to see the situation, not by the minute, immediately told the militia company commander to escort me to the commune police station. After the chief reprimanded me, he sent me to the small number. The first three days, I was released. Later I learned that after I was sent away, my mother gave 50 yuan to the captain and another 50 yuan to Ding Er, and made two bowls of noodles and egg Soup for Ding Er. You know that 100 yuan was the only savings my family had! This is not all, in the subsequent campaign, are not less I live target.
The rich peasant family’s greatest worry is not the hardship, but to marry a wife. The children of the poor peasants, one after another married a beautiful daughter-in-law, while the children of the rich peasants, each in their thirties, have not yet married. Auntie Seven’s family has three sons, strong, good features. The eldest is almost 40 years old, still not married, can not play bachelor ah, seven aunt worried white hair. In those days, who would want to marry the son of a rich farmer as a wife! The poor peasant family need not say, even the children of the rich landowners are not willing, this is not from one fire to another fire! Without a matchmaker, Aunt Seven went to beg relatives, who were also helpless. Later, she finally found a girl with a leg disability five years older than her son and got married. But what about the two sons?
After the autumn, the grain field began to distribute rations, which is the most happy day in the village. But for the rich farmers can be happy? The grain raised by the wind at the top of the field was the best grain, while the wind at the bottom was the dry and half-formed grain. The poor and middle peasants share is the top into good grain, rich farmers share is half grain. When the spring yellow does not meet, the upper side of the allocation of relief Food, the poor and middle peasants share the rice flour, rich farmers share is bran. Even so, can fill the stomach on the joss stick. This is the “give way” policy.
The Spring Festival came, the village as usual to twist on a few days Yangge. Men, women and children dressed up on the field, with the resounding sound of gongs and drums, twisting out the joy of the year. Twist the rice-song to blow lock na, play drums, drums are very large, two people play, four people carry, carry the drums are traditionally rich peasants, later rich peasants aged, can not carry, by the rich peasants’ children to take over the class. At that time there is a joke, a young man to a foreign village match, the woman’s father is a teacher, pretending to be civilized, asked: “Young man, how to call the Taifu?” The young man was momentarily baffled, replied: “I am a poor peasant, do not carry the drums, landlords rich peasants carry the drums.” Dozens of pounds of drums, tied to the drum frame, carried on the shoulder, from this yard to that yard, from this street to that street, from this village to that village, from morning to evening, from the first day to the fifteenth day, the average person can not stand, plus two drummers thumping, so that the ears buzzed straight, a day down, paralyzed on the bed, really “the day the people are happy, is the class The day the people are happy is the day the class enemy suffers”.
On the night of New Year’s Eve, the rich peasants were not allowed to set off firecrackers, so I stood in front of the window and watched the poor peasants set off firecrackers.
Looking back on that year, infinite emotions. To use the words of an expert now, who asked you to be unfortunate to be born in a rich peasant family!
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