Model worker (, abbreviated as or láomó) is a term in the People's Republic of China that refers to a worker who exhibits some or all of the traits appropriate to the ideal of the socialism. Exemplary workers come from various sectors of the Chinese economy and can be both men and women. Since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, thousands of male and female model workers have been selected from a wide range of sectors. A few model workers also came from ethnic minority groups to showcase the ethnic unity policy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Higher authorities take charge of the decision on selecting a model worker based on their work performance, and political consciousness, patriotism, "worship of science," activities in environmental protection, and the pursuit of excellence. Central and provincial-level departments in China select national model workers. Some cities and large companies also have processes for selecting and praising local model workers.
Displaying the ideals of socialism, model workers bear the highest expectations from the new state to guide and correct their fellow workers in everyday production and behavior. The Model Workers are supposed to inspire people by their own work performance and political consciousness by setting good examples. People learn from the Model Workers and can become the new citizens the state requires. On the other hand, the Model Worker is also a coercive project. It attempts at aggressively correct people who are outliers of the new socialist scheme. Outliers become "bad elements" in contrast to the "good" Model Workers and the outliers are also forced to reform themselves.
The state consistently uses model worker as one of the central propaganda strategies to realize socialist goals. As a political term, it originates from the Yan'an period of the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s. The party leaders introduced the Soviet Stakhanovite model and hoped to increase agricultural and industrial productivity when it was cut off from military resources in the Shaan-Gan-Ning border region. After the Communist Revolution in 1949, the Model Worker policy continues as a fundamental component of the political and cultural system in the new state. It plays a key role in many of the political campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward by setting up exemplary workers who define the ideal production. As a propaganda tool, the Model Worker has wide visual representations in cinema and posters to broadcast the ideals of the socialist state to China's vast population. Underlying the propaganda, the appeals of nationalism, the development of socialism and economic prosperity based on a new system propel the application of Model Worker in the People's Republic. The Maoist ideology composed of these three elements seeks to transform people's thought and behaviors on the road of creating new citizens for the new socialist China. The Model Workers represents the concrete examples of how the state wishes to intervene in the daily lives and production of ordinary people.
Model workers are often afforded privileges not available to other citizens or Communist Party members. "The possibility to become a model worker offered peasants and workers one of the few opportunities for upward mobility other than joining the army," writes scholar Yu Miin-lin.Miin-lin Yu, "Labor Is Glorious": Model Laborers in the People's Republic of China". in Bernstein, Thomas P., et al. China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–present. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 254. Model workers have an easier time joining the Communist Party, and also to become a higher-level cadre, manager, or other leader.
Historical development
The Republican era (1936-1949)
The Communist Party promoted the ideals of model workers in the border regions. This discourse sought to change popular attitudes toward physical laborer from "suffering" to "glory" through emulation of "labor heroes". It sought to frame labor as central to building personal dignity, prosperity in the family, social recognition, and the development of the state.
In the late 1930s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) introduced the Soviet Stakhanovism to the Shaan-Gan-Ning border region under its control. Decades of military conflict with Kuomintang forced the CCP to the northwest, where it strove to survive by promoting agricultural productivity and military strength. Stakhanovism originated from the Second Five-Year Plan of the Soviet Union and carried strong Soviet traits. However, the Chinese Communist leadership did not borrow the idea without mediation. Under the influence of the Stakhanovist predecessor, Model Worker campaigns were launched to increase productivity and the popularity of the Party among the people in the border region.
Stakhanovism was rooted in Russian literature and the Soviet context. It refers to an optimistic hero who was willing to devote himself to the larger good. He acts without meaningless talk. It later referred to young soldiers in the Communist brigades who were diligent and efficient in fulfilling production quotas.Miin-lin Yu, "Labor Is Glorious": Model Laborers in the People's Republic of China". in Bernstein, Thomas P., et al. China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–present. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 232. The Soviet leaders realized the potential significance of the Stakhanovite image in promoting productivity facing the Second Five-Year Plan. They made miners and other obscure workers as “national heroes” nationwide to stimulate competition to complete the production quota. Stakhanovism thus symbolized the labor momentum to construct socialism in the Soviet Union.Miin-lin Yu, "Labor Is Glorious": Model Laborers in the People's Republic of China". in Bernstein, Thomas P., et al. China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–present. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 232-233. The ideal Stakhanovite refers to someone who bridged the gap between manual labor and mental labor, and someone who worked efficiently but could enjoy high class culture during leisure times.Miin-lin Yu, "Labor Is Glorious": Model Laborers in the People's Republic of China". in Bernstein, Thomas P., et al. China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–present. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 233.
When the Soviet Stakhanovite movement was about to run out of steam due to routinization by mid 1930s, the Chinese Communist Party sought to borrow the idea for the border region under its control.Miin-lin Yu, "Labor Is Glorious": Model Laborers in the People's Republic of China". in Bernstein, Thomas P., et al. China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–present. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 233-234. The Party aimed at eradicating the three major differences that haunted China: the difference between manual labor and mental labor, the difference between the city and the countryside, and the difference between factory work and farm work.Karl Gerth, Unending Capitalism: How Consumerism Negated China's Communist Revolution. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), 7. And the Stakhanovite fit into the scheme of bridging the gap between the three major differences and provided a ready-made example for the Party to remake the people.Miin-lin Yu, "Labor Is Glorious": Model Laborers in the People's Republic of China". in Bernstein, Thomas P., et al. China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–present. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 234.
The first CCP campaign to honor model works began in 1942. The CCP adapted the Soviet Stakhanovism to suit the practical situation on the ground. The earliest CCP mentioning of Stakhanovism can be dated back to 1936, though the Party did not implement Stakhanovite campaign until 1942 when the Kuomintang cut off from supplies in the border region. During the Great Production Campaign, the Party leaders selected Zhao Zhankui, a factory worker, as the Chinese Stakhanovite. The CCP leaders avoided using the wording of "Stakhanovite" to simplify the propaganda and Zhao Zhankui became equivalent of hard work and high political consciousness. Here high political consciousness referred broadly to the love for work and devotion to the public good.Miin-lin Yu, "Labor Is Glorious": Model Laborers in the People's Republic of China". in Bernstein, Thomas P., et al. China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–present. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 235.
As the Zhao Zhankui campaign proved successful, the CCP routinized the Model Worker system in the border region and carried it over across 1949 after its victory over the Kuomintang. The CCP leadership regularly held conferences for labor models in the border region and awarded them with certificates. Model Worker was one of the fundamental propaganda policies to stimulate economic production in the border region under the CCP.
Beginning in 1943, the Communist Party publicized the efforts of female model workers in agriculture.
Early PRC (1949-1966)
Four major national conferences for Model Workers were held in the 1950s until the end of the Cultural Revolution. Each conference marked significant milestones in the socialist construction of Maoist China. And the selection and the propaganda around Model Workers functioned as support for and confirmation of the official narrative.James Farley, Model Workers in China, 1949–1965: Constructing A New Citizen. (Routledge, 2019), 20.
From September 25 to 30, 1950, the was held in Beijing. Mao Zedong delivered a speech at the beginning of the Conference to celebrate the liberation of major parts of China thanks to the "excellence performance of workers from the military and economic fronts." Although the CCP just won the Civil War over Kuomintang, Mao warned that China still confronted the military threats from the "American imperialists" and Chiang Kai-shek regime on Taiwan, so it was imperative for the Chinese workers to continue consolidating national defense for the construction of the nation in the long term. To encourage workers to participate in building socialism, this conference awarded 464 model workers, among whom 208 were from the industrial sector, 198 from the agricultural sector, and 58 others from the military. About one tenth of the model workers were female.Miin-lin Yu, "Labor Is Glorious": Model Laborers in the People's Republic of China". in Bernstein, Thomas P., et al. China learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–present. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 236. Liu Shaoqi, Vice-Chairman of the Central People's Government, Zhou Enlai, Premier of the State Council, Chen Yun, Vice-Premier of the State Council, and Nie Rongzhen, Acting Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, also delivered addresses.
The CCP launched a series of radical social revolutions in the early 1950s. The Land Reform destroyed the traditional rural order by distributing land to peasants. The CCP leaders mobilized peasants to exert violent struggles against “class enemies” such as the “landlords” and “rich peasants.”Felix Wemheuer, A Social History of Maoist China. (Cambridge University Press. 2019), 55-61. When the Party announced the Land Reform successful, it implemented the Three- and Five-Anti Campaigns in the urban areas. The two Campaigns aimed at eradicating corruptive behavior and bureaucratic practices within the Party itself to preempt capitalist tendencies. Meanwhile, the Campaigns served to "rectify" the Model Workers to create pure new citizens.James Farley, Model Workers in China, 1949–1965: Constructing A New Citizen. (Routledge, 2019), 30-31. The National Conference of Representatives of Advanced Producers () took place in Beijing from April 30 to May 10, 1956. The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council awarded the title of National Advanced Collective to 853 out of 5556 delegates and the title of National Advanced Producer to 4703 delegates. Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and other Party and state officials attended the conference.