Red China: The Loss of Man

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machine-tool makers "agreed" to switch gears and to concentrate on agricultural equipment.

The cruel rigidity of the commune system was conspicuously softened. The workday was cut to ten hours. Husbands and wives were to be permitted their own room, the unappetizing mess halls were shut down, and commune members were allowed to keep such personal belongings as "houses, bicycles, clothing, blankets, quilts, radios, watches and bank deposits." There was even a typical, doublethink explanation for this return to capitalism. "The small freedom within the big collective—this is dialectical unity."

The kanpus, who in the past had been the grim overseers of the communes, were now forbidden to "arbitrarily set output targets, mechanically arrange crop acreage, or rigidly introduce technical measures." As a final insult, the kanpus were told to seek guidance from "wise old peasants."

Army Farms. The supple new line may have been hurried along by unrest in the Red army. The peasant rank and file was naturally bitter at the suffering of its families in the communes. Red army officers resent the use of their men as a labor force. Because of army protests in 1959, Defense Minister Peng Teh-huai was replaced by more pliable Marshal Lin Piao, who instituted a new and supposedly chastening system of sending officers into the ranks for one month each year to wear "ordinary soldiers' uniforms and to eat, live, drill, labor and play together with fellow soldiers." Even generals undergo this treatment, which seems clearly designed to discourage the emergence of an officer caste.

The Red army is mollified by getting plenty of food. On 700 large farms the army raises its own hogs, vegetables and grain. Enlistments far exceed normal requirements, since, as a refugee in Hong Kong put it, "the army's the one place you can get some meat."

Some Gains. What has held Red China together so far is the Communist Party kanpus, the army, the single-minded but aging leadership. Should these rivets begin to loosen, the whole structure might well come apart. Is there any hope, then, of imminent disintegration or revolt?

Almost certainly not, and to count on it would be a dangerous illusion for the West. China is so vast that no calamity can encompass the whole of it. While food is short everywhere, some provinces are far better off than others. Though most factories are badly run, all are not, and despite fatigue there is a slowly growing competence among skilled laborers. The Communists have even found a sunny side to the commune experience. Explained a Red official: "It wasn't production, it was education. Our people were in awe of technological processes. Now they have learned not to be afraid of 'technique.' It has lost its mystery. People who have actually poured their own steel and made things with it feel that they can do anything."

The mere fact that war has finally stopped in China has brought improvements, and would have done so under any regime. Undeniably, in their twelve years in power, the Reds have accomplished some badly needed reforms in Chinese society. An elementary knowledge of hygiene has spread, preventable diseases have been largely controlled, infant mortality has been greatly reduced, women have been released from the iron dominance of husband