The Communist Takeover of Hangzhou

4. One Step Back, Two Steps Forward

4 One Step Back, Two Steps Forward After coming to Hangzhou, the new city leaders moved into lavish villas on Shentang Street, facing West Lake.1 Through their windows they could see pleasure boats on the water and hear music from nearby gardens. The Western mansions on the shores of West Lake used to belong to the foreign and local rich; boating on the lake was also a privilege of the rich. From their windows, looking around the lake, the Communist leaders were glad to see happy crowds whose dress suggested a working-class background. In a discussion meeting with trade union cadres and worker activists, Tan Zhenlin was glad to point out that thanks to the Communists, the ordinary people could enjoy the beautiful scenery of West Lake, Lingyin Temple, and other city attractions.2 However, a report on his desk soon ruined Tan’s cheerful frame of mind. A report by the city’s Labor Bureau informed him that a group of unemployed workers, upon getting relief funds after the Communists took over the city’s treasury, rented boats and spent all the money entertaining their families on West Lake instead of buying food or paying off debts. That was how they saw the meaning of ‘‘liberation.’’ Afterward, they again turned to the government for help.3 The Communists had proclaimed they were the saviors of the people, and the people now took it for granted that they could depend upon government support. The Labor Bureau report showed Tan Zhenlin how easily working people picked up a ‘‘bourgeois’’ style of life since they were more concerned about tangible, material benefit than Communist politics. The message of the Labor Bureau report was not difficult to understand . Although the ccp would depend upon the workers in staging all its revolutionary programs, the workers had to be educated and reorganized. For this task, the Party desperately needed a great number of experienced cadres. However, most southbound cadres had gone to rural areas of the province because only one and a half months after the ccp took over the city, the ccp Zhejiang Committee decided that the focus of the ccp’s work would again be shifted back to the countryside.4 The literature has not paid attention to this consequential decision, which raises a number of questions. For example, why did the ccp retreat to the rural areas as soon as it had successfully stabilized the urban situation? If the Communists had not given up their goal of urban revolution, how was this retreat relevant to their future urban programs? If this retreat was part of their well-designed tactic of ‘‘one step back, two steps forward,’’ how did the Communists play this game in other spheres of their urban work? A Temporary Retreat The first Communist leader to suggest retreat to the rural areas was Lin Biao, chief commander of the pla Fourth Field Army and Party secretary of the ccb. On June 6, 1949, soon after his troops had stormed and taken over most cities in Central and South China, Lin Biao sent most of his cadres back to the countryside. He warned the Communists of the pitfalls in the cities and argued that ‘‘the center of gravity of the Party’s work is still in the villages.’’5 He pointed out that the rural-urban connection was vital for the Communists to consolidate the new regime, as well as for keeping the revolution alive. Lin’s argument clearly conflicted with a resolution of the Party’s Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee, which had called on the Party to shift this center of gravity from the village to the city.6 The city leaders in Hangzhou saw good reason to support Lin Biao. The Communists had established solid rural bases in Manchuria and North China through the land reform and other political campaigns, creating the preconditions for the Party’s shift to One Step Back, Two Steps Forward 99 the cities in these regions. South of the Yangtze River, however, the rural areas were still controlled by landlords, rich peasants, and remnants of the gmd. Holding the city of Hangzhou without a nearby rural base, the Communists could hardly sit on the shores of West Lake and enjoy the fishing. In order to consolidate the urban centers, it was necessary to fully command the countryside. Ten days after Lin Biao’s...