Chapter 129 Commune Meeting

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Holding meetings now is much simpler than in later times. There is no need to coordinate venues, arrange food and accommodation, or coordinate the time of participating experts. Meetings can be held at any time and are extremely efficient.

On the evening of the previous day, Wang Yiming passed the news on, and the team leaders gathered at the commune early the next morning.

Secretary Li introduced Xie Yun to everyone: "This is Xie Yun, the new propaganda officer of our commune. You can just call her Xiao Xie.

She'll be interacting with you all frequently in the future, so you should all get to know her and keep an eye on her when she goes down to work. Xiao Xie is young, only 19 years old, and you are all experienced veterans, so please keep her in good stead.

Xiao Xie graduated from high school and attended Qushui No. 1 Middle School. She had excellent grades and she worked hard on the farm in the brigade for three years, earning full work points. She has both theoretical and practical skills, a flexible mind, and a lot of ideas about agriculture and rural development. If you have any questions in the future, you can communicate with her more.

Xiao Xie has published several articles in newspapers before. Not only is she a good writer, she's also a very good painter. She's the best writer in Taoyuan Commune. I admit I can't compare to her."

As soon as Secretary Li finished speaking, the team leaders responded with a smile:

"What a promising young man!"

"Didn't the Chairman say that young people are full of vigor and vitality, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning? He must be talking about Xiao Xie."

"Xiao Xie, come visit our brigade when you have time."

Xie Yun stood up and said, "Thank you Secretary Li for praising me! This is encouragement from the leadership to young people. Thank you all for not looking down on my youth and lack of experience. I will definitely work hard, learn from everyone, work hard, and contribute to all the members of our Taoyuan Commune. I will have to trouble you all in the future, so you must help and support me!"

"Don't worry, we will definitely support you."

Director Zhong smiled and said, "Okay, you can talk privately later. Let's start the meeting. Today's meeting is about the problems of the educated youth, but it's also about our problems. How can we fully leverage the policy of going to the countryside to mobilize the enthusiasm of the educated youth and have them contribute to the development of our Taoyuan Commune? This is an issue we need to actively explore."

Liushutun Brigade has already made some very successful attempts in this regard, and Comrade Zhang Guangzong will share his experience with you later. You may also be familiar with the development of Liushutun over the past six months, thanks to the efforts of the members and the contributions of the educated youth.

Let's first let Secretary Li explain our commune's overall policy for educated youth. Everyone is welcome."

The applause was very enthusiastic.

Xie Yun wrote furiously and was responsible for taking minutes of the meeting.

Secretary Li's views were largely the same as what Xie Yun had said yesterday, but he had clearly digested and thought about them, and his presentation was more coherent.

“You have to understand one thing: the educated youth came here not to occupy our resources, but to make contributions.

It doesn't mean that we should let them do all the easy work or give them all the good opportunities, but we should let them help us train our young members, and even middle-aged members, so that our members have the ability to engage in various jobs in all walks of life.

We must fully utilize the convenience provided by the "Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside" policy and strive to improve ourselves. The country called on educated youth to go to the countryside to train them and to develop agriculture and rural areas. Everyone must keep this in mind."

The team leaders all felt as if they had been enlightened. So, they decided not to let the educated youth serve as scorekeepers, but to let them train more members who could serve as scorekeepers; not to let the educated youth serve as teachers, but to let them train more members who could serve as teachers; not to let the educated youth drive tractors, but to let them teach the members how to drive tractors...

I understand.

Both knowledge and skills must be learned.

Next, Zhang Guangzong shared the experience of Liushutun. In just half a year, Liushutun has made great progress.

Night schools were opened and registered in the county;

The flour mill has been established and registered with the county. When Secretary He visited Liushutun to open the night school, he also visited the flour mill and told them to try it out first. If it develops well, it could be renamed the Qushui County Grain and Oil Processing Factory. Not only would all of Qushui County's grain and oil processing duties be assigned to it, but an asphalt road would also have to be built from the commune to the brigade.

There is also a research institute. Liushutun is currently conducting scientific planting experiments, which have achieved certain results, and wheat seed breeding is underway.

Beekeeping is going great!

After this introduction, the captains of other brigades were so jealous that their eyes almost turned red.

"Old Zhang, you are so unfair. You took all the benefits and didn't even leave any for us."

Zhang Guangzong laughed heartily and said, "You can also raise bees. Our technician Xiao Yan will promote scientific planting throughout the commune. When he goes to your place, you should cooperate with him. You can also do night school. Our brigade had two educated youths at the beginning. They worked during the day and went to night school at night. They performed very well.

It's the flour mill and the research institute. You might not be able to run them for now. But that's okay, hahaha. The research institute belongs to Taoyuan Commune, and the research results will be promoted throughout the commune. The flour mill could also become a grain and oil processing plant for the entire county, and we'll all benefit. Hahahaha."

Captains: “…”

Haha, bullshit, you haha!

Seeing that Zhang Guangzong was constantly stirring up trouble, Director Zhong said, "Each brigade has its own advantages and characteristics. Liushutun has fully mobilized the enthusiasm of the educated youth, allowing them to work hard for the development of the brigade. After we go back, we should also think carefully about how to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of the educated youth and let them come up with ideas and solutions for the development of the brigade."

Also, you can tell us what kind of talents you need. When we receive and assign educated youth, we will make arrangements based on your needs.

Talent is available; you need to think about how to develop it. Later, Secretary Li and I will visit each brigade and provide some advice. Next, we'll invite Comrade Zhang Qiheng, our Women's Director, to speak with you about the marriage policy for educated youth.

Xie Yun: “…”

It seems that after she left yesterday, everyone worked overtime and discussed these things again.

Director Zhang's speech was also based on what Xie Yun said yesterday, and he thought about it in combination with the actual situation. Generally speaking, it is about delaying marriage and childbirth, so that the educated youth can focus all their energy on building the countryside and not worry about personal problems.

"We'll be doing regular outreach. It's not just the educated youth from the city; our own young people are also encouraged to marry and have children later. This is national policy. We don't want to start matchmaking for children as soon as they turn 16 or 17. We shouldn't set up a wedding banquet for them before they even reach marriageable age. Their development hasn't even fully developed yet."

Why did people in ancient times have short lives? It's because they married too young! Why did so many children die young? It's because mothers gave birth too frequently, their bodies didn't fully recover, and the children didn't receive enough nutrition in the womb, resulting in birth defects and premature death.

This is a mandatory requirement. Marriage before the legal age will no longer be permitted. Weddings without a marriage certificate will be considered treasonous! Ideally, we should all follow the national guidelines: men marry at 25 and women at 23. Anyone who violates the Marriage Law, national policies, and the leadership's spirit will be criticized.

The policy for educated youth is that men must marry at 28, and women at 25. For those who want to marry before that age, you should persuade them and do some work. You must make these two points clear to everyone when you return.

Young people, don't think about getting married all the time. If you think too much, it's because there isn't enough work. If anyone violates the policy, give them more work!

Xie Yun: “…”

Captains: “…”

Secretary Zhong smiled and said, "The bottom line is the law. We must do a good job in popularizing the law. The age Secretary Zhang just mentioned is the marriage age recommended by the state, as published in the newspaper. Listen to the Chairman and follow the Party. Our young people have high ideological awareness. If you explain the state's policies to them, they should be able to follow them."

The captains understood what he meant and realized that they had the leader’s support!

Once this banner is raised, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished.

Fight against heaven and earth, omnipotent!

Just as the meeting was about to end, Qian Gaoyun's father Qian Daguang arrived.

Since it is a public-to-public relationship, he must of course come to the commune first.

Qian Daguang revealed his identity, took out his letter of introduction, and explained his purpose, "Workers and farmers are one family. In the past, agriculture supported industry, but now it is time for industry to give back to agriculture.

The children from our fertilizer factory came to our Taoyuan Commune and worked in Liushutun. Naturally, the fertilizer factory also hopes to form a friendly and mutually supportive brother unit with our Liushutun Brigade and support each other.

Therefore, we donated a batch of books and fertilizers to Liushutun. In the future, if Liushutun needs anything else, we will do our best to help!

Secretary Li and Director Zhong were both very happy, and Zhang Guangzong's face was beaming with joy.

Although the other team leaders were envious, they were more concerned about whether they could go back and ask which factories were behind the educated youth in their area and whether they could provide some assistance. Even if the educated youth now didn't have factories behind them, they could choose those who did in the future!

This is a newspaper from 1972. According to this report, the educated youth did have many opportunities in the countryside.