At the climax of the large-scale local industry, the national steelmaking process quickly became an overwhelming movement. In order to realize the "beating the UK and catching up with the US" plan for steel and other major industrial products, in 1958, the state allocated steel production tasks to Zhejiang were: 300,000 tons of pig iron, 100,000 tons of steel, and 75,000 tons of steel. In 1957, Zhejiang Province could not produce steel and steel, and the annual output of pig iron was only 4,700 tons [1]. To this end, the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to the whole province the task of "taking steel as the commander" and driving the comprehensive "great leap forward" of the industry. On June 28, the Wenzhou Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China held an emergency conference with the secretaries of the county party committees participating, requiring the whole party to mobilize and the secretary to take charge, and immediately set off a wave of large-scale steel construction.
According to the instructions of the superior, the Yongjia large-scale steelmaking movement was launched quickly. As early as January 22, 1958, the Yongjia County Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Urgent Notice on the Production and Procurement of Bamboo and Firewood, Supporting the "Steel Marshal" and Supplying the High-speed Development Need for Industry." On July 1 of the same year, the county party committee established a steel production leading group, with county party secretary Shen Defu as the group leader, and county party committee deputy secretary and county magistrate Liu Zhiliang as the deputy group leader; the group was under the group, an office, training group, mining group, infrastructure group, and mechanical refractory equipment group, responsible for the sampling of full-time personnel to prepare for the construction of the county steel plant. In mid-July, the county party committee held a on-site meeting of the steel industry.
At the same time, in order to prepare for the material resources of the steel industry, the county party committee issued the "Notice on the Launch of the National Mining Movement Month in July", deciding that from July 20 to August 20, the Mine Movement Month was the Mine Movement Month, requiring party committee secretaries at all levels to take charge and effectively arrest the steel industry and mineral sources. By August 13, 235 iron ore were found in the county, with a reserve of about 104.1 million tons, and 1,226 tons of iron ore have been developed [2], and a coking plant was established and a refractory equipment factory was expanded, laying the foundation for the next step of developing local industry with "steel as the basis".
In order to further promote steel production, on July 18, the Provincial Party Committee held a provincial steel meeting in Hangzhou. The meeting believed that the steel industry must also develop at a faster pace, so that the large-scale steel industry will become a mass movement. On July 21, the Prefectural Committee held an emergency conference on the secretaries of the county party committees of each county and determined that Yongjia produced 2770 tons of steel and 27,000 tons of iron in the second half of 1958 [3]. In order to complete this task, on July 23, the county party committee issued the "Opinions on the Establishment of Small Blast Furnaces and Earth Cylinder Furnaces", requiring all districts and departments in the county to build 30 3 cubic meters of small blast furnaces, 14 8 cubic meters of small blast furnaces and 315 earth furnaces by the end of August, with a total production of 1,862 tons of pig iron. Subsequently, all parts of the county relied on the masses to implement the policy of "combining the land and foreign countries, first the land and then foreign countries", and built large-scale earth furnaces and small blast furnaces. By August 13, 161 earth furnaces and 303 earth furnaces have been built in the county. Among them, the small blast furnace has produced 34.88 tons of pig iron, 0.28 tons of steel, and more than 100 tons of earth iron [4].
html From August 17 to 30, an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was held in Beidaihe. The meeting determined that steel production in 1958 doubled compared with 1957 to 10.7 million tons. In early September, the Provincial Party Committee held a provincial three-level cadre meeting to convey and implement the spirit of the Beidaihe meeting and decided to carry out the large-scale steelmaking movement on a larger scale. From September 8 to 9, the Prefectural Committee held another emergency meeting of the county party secretary on Lishui to discuss and determine the steel production tasks of each county. The steel production task assigned by the Prefectural Committee to Yongjia is 6,000 tons[5], and it is required to be completed by the end of the year. On September 10, the county party committee issued the "Urgent Instructions on Mobilizing the Whole Party and the Whole Party and the Whole People to Take Action and Ensure the Realization of Steel Production Tasks", deciding to carry out mass movements, implement the Secretary’s leadership, and the whole Party and the Whole People to Make Steel. At the same time, in order to shift the focus of work to industry, focusing on the steel industry and the mechanical industry, the county party committee combined the county industrial and handicrafts bureau and the county mining and smelting company [6] into the county industrial bureau, and combined the county planning committee and the planning and statistics department into the county economic planning committee, and established the county basic construction committee and the multi-operation committee.
September 14, the county party committee made the "Decision on the Large-scale Steel Industry", deciding to carry out a massive publicity and education activities to accelerate steel production across the county, setting off a climax of the whole party and the whole people's large-scale steel industry.In order to strengthen the leadership of steel production, the county party committee expanded the steel production leadership group into a steel command center, with Li Shaonan, secretary of the county party committee [7] as the command, Liu Zhiliang, deputy secretary of the county party committee and county magistrate, and Yang Jinyuan and Wang Qinghan as deputy commanders. The command center has an office, a production technology guidance group, an ore mining (sand washing) transportation group, a fuel material supply group, and a labor allocation group. Steel production headquarters were established in four key steel production areas including Sichuan, Hesheng, Yantan, and Yonglin, and other districts and townships established steel production leadership groups. The county party committee decided to draw one-third of cadres from counties, districts and townships to invest in steel production in order to strengthen ideological and organizational leadership on the steel front. The county party committee requires that no matter where or any department, it must make every effort to protect steel. All equipment, materials, power, and manpower must give priority to meeting the needs of steel production. If there are any contradictions, other industries will "stop and give way."
After the "Decision" of the County Party Committee was issued, all districts and departments took active action to study and formulate specific plans and measures to build the steel industry and support the steel industry based on the local and departmental situation. On September 15, Sichuan and Luofu and eight districts including Sichuan quickly dispatched 50,000 semi-labor laborers and 300 full-time cadres to be put into steel production according to the tasks assigned by the county party committee. In accordance with the requirements of the "Decision", all localities have established steel groups under the district command, generally four battalions: ore mining, fuel production, transportation, and smelting, and companies, platoons and squads below the battalion; each company has established party and youth league branches, and implements militarization of organization, combat operations, and disciplined life. By October 8, more than 80,000 people and more than 300 furnaces were mobilized to be put into steel production, with a daily output of 58.88 tons of steel [8].
On October 4, the Provincial Party Committee held a telephone conference with the participation of the secretaries of the local (municipal) committees and county party committees to organize the second steelmaking assault in the province, striving to complete the 100,000 tons of pig iron and 30,000 tons of steel. On October 21, the county party committee issued the "Opinions on Current Steel Production", deciding that "from the 22nd of this month, steel production will be normalized, requiring a daily production of pig iron of 150 tons, which will gradually increase in the future and cannot decline." In order to ensure the completion of the task, the county party committee immediately took a series of specific measures, such as strengthening specific leadership over production, implementing the "five fixed measures", and focusing on the "three materials" [9].
Through a series of mobilizations, tens of thousands of enterprise employees, government officials, students, urban residents and rural members in the county who know nothing about steel smelting have been widely mobilized, and they are passionately invested in the steel production front, engage in "human sea tactics", and fight hard day and night, setting off a mass steel production boom. In September 1958, there were 135,000 people in Da'ao Township, Sichuan District alone [10]. They fought on the steel production front day and night, fighting every second. Of the 262 adult women in Yantan Brigade of Yantan Commune, 150 participated in the transportation team. A 72-year-old woman rushed 15 miles away to pick up charcoal at night. Literary and artistic workers formed the Yuejin Art Team and promoted the promotion through large-scale performances, fireside singing, construction site singing, heart-to-heart singing, glorious flowers, canteen performances, etc. A large number of medical workers also went deep into the furnace and put forward the slogan "Where are steel soldiers, there are doctors." There are smoke everywhere in the county and fire everywhere.
However, in the early days of Yongjia's liberation, there were almost zero steel enterprises, and even steelmaking furnaces and blast furnaces had never been seen. In addition, there was a shortage of iron ore and coal mine resources, and fuel and transportation were also very difficult. It was not easy to develop the steel industry. By mid-November, the county only produced 1,573 tons of pig iron and 41.4 tons of steel [11], and most of the steel production tasks throughout the year were not completed. Since the expected indicators were not met, various regions mobilized the whole people to donate scrap steel, scrap copper and scrap iron. Not only did all units donate all the stock of steel, iron, copper and copper that was temporarily unused, but many farmers also smashed the iron windows, iron pots and iron farm tools, , and , which were being used as "scrap steel".
After several months of blind and reckless actions and a considerable degree of false reports and exaggeration, by the end of 1958, it was announced that the pig iron production reached 3,510.9 tons and the steel production reached 466.3 tons [12]. This has not yet completed the indicator tasks determined and allocated by the Prefectural Committee, many of which are worthless slag .
[1] Party History Research Office of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China: "History of Zhejiang" Volume 2, Volume 2, Communist Party History Press, 2011 edition, page 469.
[2] The Secretariat of the First Session of the Second Congress of the Communist Party of China Yongjia County: "Develop local industries at a high speed with steel and strive to achieve industrialization in the whole county", August 13, 1958.
[3] Yongjia County Committee of the Communist Party of China: "Opinions on the Establishment of Small Blast Furnaces and Earth Cylinder Furnaces", July 23, 1958.
[4] The Secretariat of the First Session of the Second Congress of the Communist Party of China Yongjia County: "Develop local industries at a high speed with steel as the basis and strive to achieve industrialization in the whole county", August 13, 1958.
[5] Yongjia County Committee of the Communist Party of China: "Emergency Instructions on Mobilizing the Whole Party and the Whole People to Take Action and Ensure the Realization of Steel Production Tasks", September 10, 1958.
[6] County Industrial and Handicraft Bureau: After the Handicraft Management Section was established in February 1956, it was abolished in August of the same year, and the Industrial and Handicraft Bureau was established, and it was changed to the Industrial and Handicraft Bureau in May 1957; County Mining and Metallurgical Company: In April 1958, Yongjia County established a Mining Preparatory Office, which was later renamed the local state-owned Yongjia Mining and Metallurgical Company.
[7]In August 1958, Shen Defu was transferred from Yongjia, and Li Shaonan was elected as Secretary of the Yongjia County Party Committee of the Communist Party of China.
[8] Yongjia County Committee of the Communist Party of China: "Summary Report of the Third Enlarged Meeting", October 17, 1958.
[9] "Five fixed points": fixed points, fixed cadres, fixed workers, fixed main indicators, and fixed systems; "three materials": raw materials, fuel, and reserve materials.
[10] Yongjia County Industrial Chronicle Editorial Committee: "Yongjia County Industrial Chronicle", internal information, 1994 edition, page 46.
[11] Li Shaonan: "Grasp the current work, implement the rectification movement to the end, do a big move, and change the work face of Yongjia County ", November 12, 1958.
[12] Office of the Yongjia County Committee of the Communist Party of China: "Basic Situation of Yongjia County", March 15, 1959.
