Section 2 Readjustment of Post Communications

From 1959 to I961, because of the mistake of the Great Leap Forward and Anti-Rightist, plus the impact of the natural disasters, the national economy faced sever problems. In the winter of 1960, the central government decided to carry out the policy of "making readjustment, consolidation, enrichment and improvement" to the national economy. The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications determinedly carried out the decisions of the central government. From 1961 to 1963, it held 3 state post and telecommunication working conferences one after another to sum up the lessons of the Great Leap Forward, corrected the directive thinking and operating Principle, recovered venous rational rules and regulations, and studied and put forward the specific schemes and measures for readjustment.

A. Readjust postal leadership system and strengthen enterprise management

In May 1961, in light of the transfer layer by layer of the communication management power during the Great Leap Forward Period, which caused a confused situation of unplanned establishment, orderless communications, weak command and ineffective management, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications submitted to the central government the report for instruction on the readjustment of the postal system. In December, the central government approved the report for instruction and decided to cap out a new management system starting from January 1962. Except the Tibet Autonomous Region still taking the local authority as the main body, all postal enterprises across the country were drawn back, which were under the dual leadership of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications as the main body and the local governments of the province, municipality and the autonomous region. The postal enterprises in the county(city) were under the dual leadership of the Post and Telecommunication administration of the province, municipality and the autonomous region as the main body and the local government of the county (city). Within the postal system, the ministry-province-county three-layer management system was adopted. The new system enhanced the centralized leadership of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications of the postal communications, unified the command and control of the whole course and the whole network, and recovered the normal communication order.

In the meantime, the postal sectors also made readjustment to the enterprise management. They enhanced the establishment and management of the production units and groups, beginning with the establishment of the system of personal responsibility. In 1963, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications further strengthened the enterprise management system, carried out the system under which the bureau chief assumed full charge under the leadership of the Party Committee, established the system of congress of workers and staff at all levels, strengthened the inspection and supervision, organized the workers and staff to practice basic skills, rectify the production order, established the management system, and improved the reward methods, putting the communication order to normal gradually. Later, the Ministry modified and specified in succession the postal service management system and the rural postal management methods. In 1963, the Ministry put forward Regulations On Technological Management Of Postal Communication Enterprises. It established in the post and telecommunication administrations in the province, municipality and the autonomous region and the post and telecommunication bureaus in the cities subordinate to the province, a system under which the chief engineer assumed full charge under the leadership of the bureau chief, which specified the responsibilities and powers of the chief engineer. In addition, through investigation and research, the Ministry summed up the experience and put forward the County Post Office Management Manual to direct the operation of the county post office.

B. Streamline administrative structure and reducing staff, rectifying leadership style, strengthening staff build-up

During the Great Leap Forward period, the administrative structure of the postal sectors expanded rapidly, and the staff were increased greatly. In 1957, there were 278,000 postal workers and staff across the country. By the end of 1960, it reached more than 434,000 with a 56% increase. All this brought heavy burden to the enterprise. In 1961, according to the spirit of the central government to streamline the administrative structure and reduce the staff, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications cancelled some unnecessary affiliated facilities, merged some functional institutions, readjusted the labor and production organizations, allotted labors rationally, reduced the staff and improved the Productivity. In the meantime, the Ministry also readjusted the postal service facilities and reorganized the service network and delivery routes. After 2 years of streamlining, by the end of 1962, 67,000 staff was reduced in the postal sectors.

In June 1961, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications deployed the rectification movement of "rectify the work style, rectify the system, rectify the staff" in the Postal sectors across the country to seriously examine the problems existing in the Great Leap Forward campaign. The leaders should bear the responsibility for the problems caused by the boastfulness in the Great Leap Forward campaign. The criminals who violated law and discipline and were engaged in graft and embezzlement should be seriously dealt with. Criticism, education and disciplinary measures should be taken against the cadres and staff who neglected the duty, violated the communication discipline and caused accident due to negligence according to the treatment of contradictions among the people.

In 1961, in order to enhance political and ideological work, to carry out the Principle of "People's Post and Telecommunications Serves People" and to further improve the service quality, according to the instructions of the central government, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications started the pilot to establish Political and ideological working facilities in the postal sectors in provinces such as Guangdong, Liaoning, Hunan and Guizhou. In 1964, the Ministry established the political department. Afterwards, political working facilities were established successively in the postal enterprises at all levels.

C. Readjusting industry, college and university

From 1961 to 1963, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, according to the principle of "overall planning, rational distribution", made rectification of "shift to a different line of Production, merge with others, suspend operations or simply close down" to the Postal factories. In the meantime, Shijiazhuang Post and Telecommunication Normal College was changed into Post and Telecommunication School. Two colleges in Changchun and Xi'an were converted into secondary specialized school. The secondary specialized schools were cut down according to the standard of "each province, municipality or autonomous region generally establishes one".

After 3 years of readjustment, the postal cause achieved great development. For example, the linear and ring parcel sorters in Shanghai and Be1Jing were developed and put into operation in 1964. These two equipment after continuous perfection became the specified parcel sorting equipment used in the large and medium-sized cities. In 1964 and 1965, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications formally established the postal research institutes ill Be1Jing and Shanghai. After that, Beijing Post Administration and post administrations in some provincial capitals gradually established appropriate postal technology research facilities.

From 1958 to 1965, although the postal cause met disturbance and setbacks, it achieved great achievements because of the superiority of the socialist system and the socialist enthusiasm of the workers and staff. 1965, compared with 1957, the total length of the nation-wide mail routes and rural delivery routes increased l .27 billion kilometers with an increase of 57%. The postal transportation trucks increased 613. The service volume increased rapidly, the number of mails were increased to 2. 17 billion in 1965 from l.64 billion in 1957; the number of parcels were increased to 30 billion in 1965 from 25 million in 1957; the number of newspapers and magazines were increased to 5.4 billion in 1965 from 2.958 billion in 1957.