The May 7th Cadre School is a very unfamiliar term to many people nowadays, but to those who came from the Cultural Revolution in the last century, it was a very popular concept at that time. Today, I will take you to visit a 2A-level scenic spot built on the site of the former May 7th Cadre School, to review and feel the hot era and hot place at that time.
This special scenic spot is located at Longhu Station, Dawukou District, Shizuishan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, covering an area of 8,520 square meters. At that time, this place belonged to Pingluo County, and it was called Xidatan. It was the largest and highest-level May 7th cadre school directly under the State Council. The cadre school was established in October 1968 and abolished in April 1972. It lasted for more than four years. It was established by the State Council in accordance with Premier Zhou's "Four Instructions".
On May 7, 1966, Chairman Mao Zedong read the "Report on Further Improving the Agricultural and Sideline Production of the Army" by the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army, and made an instruction: The People's Liberation Army should be a big school. This university should study politics, military affairs, and culture. It should also be able to engage in agricultural and sideline production, and also run some small and medium-sized factories to produce certain products that it needs and products that can be exchanged with the state at an equivalent price. This large school can also engage in mass work and participate in the socialist education movement in factories and villages. After the socialist education movement is over, there will be mass work to do at any time, so that the army and the people will always be one. They must also participate in the cultural revolution struggle to criticize the bourgeoisie at any time. In this way, military studies, military agriculture, military industry, and military civilians can all be combined. Chairman Mao went on to point out: Workers, peasants, and students should also do the same.
This instruction was later collectively referred to as the "May 7th Instruction". Encouraged by the spirit of this instruction, 90,000 staff members, 10,000 workers, 30,000 family members, and 5,000 educated youths from the central state organs established 106 May 7th Cadre Schools in 18 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country. The scale of the May 7th Cadre School directly under the State Council is only smaller than the May 7th Cadre School directly under the Central Committee in Gongqingcheng, Jiangxi Province at the same time.
When the May 7th cadre school was established, it took over all the facilities and farmland of the original Chaohu labor reform farm. When the cadre school was closed down, some of the staff returned to Beijing, and some went to an aircraft factory in Shijiazhuang to continue labor training. There are mainly two groups of people who come to the May Seventh Cadre School: one is the cadres who are directly under the State Council, and the other is their family members and children. There are as many as 2,000 people who come here to work and exercise. The management of the cadre school is governed by the military representative management system. The operation of the cadre school is basically in a semi-militarized state. The basic task of the cadre school is labor training, and the second is to carry out the movement, mainly to check the "May 16" elements.
The farms of the cadre school mainly produce wheat, rice, sorghum, corn, fruits and vegetables, etc. The cadre school is basically more than self-sufficient in these agricultural products. Due to its good management, the cadre school soon developed a breeding industry and diversified operations, mainly raising cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, chickens and other poultry and livestock, and developed a vinegar sauce processing industry based on self-sufficiency. With the expansion of the production scale of agricultural and sideline products, a large amount of wheat straw appeared; coupled with the surplus of wheat straw in the surrounding villages and teams, the paper industry of the cadre school developed immediately.
History has turned a page of the times, and the May 7th Cadre School has become a not-too-distant memory and a symbol of the times. Facing history, there are memories, thoughts, looking back at history, experience, lessons, and scrutiny, but no matter what In any case, history is always an existence.
Today, the Shizuishan May 7th School History Museum is planned and built on the original site of the May 7th School directly under the State Council to reproduce the history of the "Cultural Revolution". History of work and study experience. The museum is located at Longhu Station, Dawukou District, Shizuishan City, Ningxia, covering an area of 8,520 square meters.
