Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Wei Hongjun implemented a leadership division system under the collective leadership of the Party Committee in the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar base area to address these issues. First, the role of the Party Committee was strengthened. Local cadres could not be allowed to act arbitrarily, and Party Committee supervision was required to enhance internal democracy. Simultaneously, a leadership division system was implemented to clearly define authority and responsibilities. Whoever was responsible should be held accountable.

"The second thing was to hold a rural work conference in Sheng County. I also learned from Secretary Wei that before doing anything, we should first communicate with the cadres and unify our thoughts. In the past two months, we have been exchanging opinions with the rural cadres in Sheng County. We let the rural cadres in Sheng County understand the importance of land reform and exchange some ideas to see how to carry out the land reform.

"it is good."

Wei Hongjun was most satisfied with this point of Chen Tao.

Don’t think that just because there are many CCP members, these meetings are useless.

On the contrary, sometimes such meetings are very important.

Because these meetings can unify thoughts, when we actually get to work, we can get twice the result with half the effort.

So I couldn't help but interrupt and said, "When I was in Yan'an, the Chairman told me that as leaders, we must know how to be good leaders. If there are any problems, we must put them on the table and discuss them together, so that we can find a solution. And as a leader, you must know what the cadres below think, because leaders may not know the actual situation better than the comrades working on the front line. So as a leader, you must be open-minded with the comrades below and listen to their opinions. When doing something, you must not hide anything. First of all, you must unify your thoughts with the comrades below, so that you can implement it smoothly. If we, as leaders, do not do a good job of working with the comrades below, but instead use orders to advance, then many problems will arise. Either the comrades below do not understand the spirit above, and there is a problem with the work direction. Or the comrades below resist the orders above, causing conflicts between superiors and subordinates. This is not advisable. Only when the comrades are of one mind and understand what we are going to do, will things go smoothly."

Chen Tao was very encouraged by Wei Hongjun's praise.

Although Chen Tao stood out among the rural cadres, his work team in Sheng County was not just about rural work. It could be said that Wei Hongjun had entrusted him with a heavy responsibility.

So he was very reluctant to do many jobs.

Unexpectedly, Wei Hongjun immediately praised him. He even quoted the Chairman's words in praise. Wei Hongjun had truly learned a great deal during his year in Yan'an. The Chairman's lectures at the Party School and his several meetings and conversations with Wei Hongjun were particularly inspiring.

"continue."

“The third thing is to recalculate the land situation in Sheng County.

Because we had the foundation of rent and interest reductions, and because both the county and district governments had leaders specifically responsible for rural work, and the rural work conferences were very successful, this work went smoothly. We divided the land into rich peasant and landlord land, middle peasant land, some land reclaimed during the Anti-Japanese War, and some land owned by school officials, clan members, and other gentry.

The foundation of land reform is land.

Land conditions are divided into how much land landlords own, how much land rich peasants own, how much land middle peasants own, how much land self-cultivating and semi-self-cultivating peasants own, how much land poor and hired peasants own, and other types of land. Of course, this kind of land situation survey also includes the number of landlords, rich peasants, middle peasants, self-cultivating peasants, semi-self-cultivating peasants, poor and hired peasants, etc.

In fact, this was not a difficult task for the Eighth Route Army base.

Especially in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei region.

Because the foundation for rent and interest reductions is in place, the implementation of these measures also requires an understanding of the land situation. However, a considerable amount of land has been reclaimed in recent years, so there are some variations.

"The fourth thing is to conduct a comprehensive investigation of all the rich peasants and landlords in the county, including their histories. We'll look at those who oppressed local farmers and have a bad reputation. We'll also look at those who obstructed rent and interest reductions during the War of Resistance, those who had ties to the Japanese and puppet troops, those who had dealings with Kuomintang spies, and those who neither supported nor opposed the rent and interest reductions. Of course, there are also those who actively support the rent and interest reductions, actively support our Eighth Route Army in the war against Japan, and support our Eighth Route Army policies. There are also some who served in our Eighth Route Army and are military dependents. We've done a very detailed survey this time, striving to include every one, and have created the most detailed files on all the landlords in Sheng County."

Just like a military unit, the temperament of the military and political commander will directly affect the temperament of the unit.

The same goes for local officials.

This was especially true of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar base area, which was built up gradually. This was because lower-level cadres had worked under higher-level cadres for many years, and their work style would gradually become closer to that of the higher-level cadres.

This all happens naturally.

These rural cadres in the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar base area all grew up there. Many key members were even students of Wei Hongjun. Their work style was very similar to Wei Hongjun's.

Wei Hongjun, emulating Chairman Mao's style of investigation and research, placed particular emphasis on this practice in the base area. Wei Hongjun also placed great emphasis on statistics, and his subordinates followed suit. They were keen to compile and summarize the results of their investigations and research, no matter what they did.

Although Chen Tao was a rural cadre from the Chadong base area, having transitioned from a middle school teacher to a rural cadre, he was also deeply influenced by Wei Hongjun. After arriving in Sheng County, he didn't act rashly. He continued to work in statistics.

He knew that the most important people in the land reform, or those whose interests were most severely damaged, were the landlords and rich peasants. Therefore, he compiled the most comprehensive statistics on the situation of landlords and rich peasants and recorded their history.

The Eighth Route Army is not a Bodhisattva.

When dividing the land, in addition to dividing these people's land, they also had to divide them according to their support for the Eighth Route Army. Since Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun entered Sheng County to establish an anti-Japanese base, some supported the Eighth Route Army, while others opposed its policies.

This is all history.

Chen Tao had recorded everything in great detail. Wei Hongjun took a look and liked Chen Tao even more. The statistics were excellent, clear at a glance. The history of the rich peasants and landlords was clearly documented. Seeing Chen Tao, Wei Hongjun saw an outstanding local cadre on the rise.

You will be able to do great things in the future.

"The fifth thing is for the work team to lead rural cadres in solidly promoting the openness of village affairs in all rural areas. This will encourage more farmers, including illiterate poor peasants, to actively participate in this activity. We should educate our poor peasants so that they don't feel embarrassed or think this has nothing to do with them. On the contrary, it does matter to them greatly. This will motivate them and change their indifference to these matters. This way, we can quickly mobilize their enthusiasm for land reform during the process. Land reform requires not only policy formulation on our part, but also the active participation and support of the poor peasants at the grassroots level."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

I really admire the fact that Chen Tao was able to do so much basic work in such a short period of time.

Whether it's fighting a war or conducting local work, the most important thing is the preparatory work in the early stages. If the early stages are done well, the subsequent work will be much easier.

"Your work team has done a good job. You have also read the central government's directive document. What are your work team's thoughts on the next land reform work?"

"This time, we are carrying out land reform in Sheng County. Based on the spirit of the Central Government's land reform and the spirit of the previous rural work conference in Zhangjiakou, and combined with the actual situation in Sheng County, we believe that this land reform should be the primary stage of land reform.

To meet the goals of the initial stage of land reform, our work team has formulated five basic guidelines for land reform.

Wei Hongjun took out his little notebook.

Wei Hongjun intended to set an example for the land reform in Sheng County, so he attached great importance to it.

"Article 1: This land reform does not involve middle peasants. The transfer of land ownership is only between landlords, rich peasants, and semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor hired peasants."

Wei Hongjun concluded that the land reform in the early days of the Liberation War was in its primary stage.

So what is the most important thing in the initial stage of land reform?

Stabilizing the middle peasants, that is, stabilizing the self-cultivating farmers. After eight years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region has been encouraging the people of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei to open up wasteland.

Therefore, the proportion of middle peasants in Jin-Cha-Ji was currently very high. Including such a high proportion of middle peasant land in land reform would infringe upon their interests and undermine the stability of the base area. The middle peasants in rural areas have characteristics similar to those of the petty bourgeoisie. They lack a firm revolutionary will and are more of a fence-sitter, siding with whoever holds the upper hand.

The Chairman had discovered this as early as when the Soviet areas were being built.

Therefore, Chairman Mao's land policy in the Soviet areas was to protect the middle peasants in order to gain their support. However, this approach was criticized. The faction that studied in the Soviet Union at that time criticized Chairman Mao's land reform policy as "rich peasantism" and criticized Chairman Mao's rural policy as rightist.

Why were early revolutions, especially bases, frequently lost?

It was because the land reform of the Soviet-educated group was too radical, which infringed on the interests of a large number of middle peasants and pushed them all to the enemy side.

What were the serious problems that arose in the history of land reform in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei?

It also seriously infringes upon the interests of middle peasants.

The land reform in Jin-Cha-Ji was brutal against the rich peasants and landlords, and brutal against the middle peasants. As a result, the entire Jin-Cha-Ji base area was turned upside down. Many cadres who had served in Jin-Cha-Ji for many years could not bear it and eventually defected to the Kuomintang.

Without the cooperation of other liberated areas, the land reform in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei could even cause the base area to fall apart. Therefore, stabilizing the middle peasants and not infringing on their interests was a must in the early stages of land reform.

The next step was to mobilize the large number of semi-self-cultivating peasants and poor hired peasants to support the Liberation War. By stabilizing the middle peasants and gaining the support of the vast majority of semi-self-cultivating peasants and poor hired peasants, over 90% of the rural population would support the Liberation War, laying the foundation for victory. While these changes altered the basic land situation in rural areas, they were only the most basic.

This is the primary stage of land reform proposed by Wei Hongjun.

Chen Tao agreed with Wei Hongjun's assessment of the current land reform. Therefore, the first principle of the Sheng County work team's land reform was that this land reform would not involve the middle peasants.

"Secondly, this land reform is to eliminate the landlord class, not the landlords themselves. We must provide appropriate care for the rich peasants and landlords who have actively supported our Eighth Route Army in the War of Resistance Against Japan, actively supported our Eighth Route Army's policies, actively cooperated with our Eighth Route Army's previous rent and interest reduction efforts, and actively cooperated with this land reform. This includes those whose family members participated in the Jin-Cha-Ji War of Resistance Against Japan, in which case they should be given even greater care. However, for some local tyrants and bullies, we should boldly hold public trials to expose their crimes.

Wei Hongjun put down the pen in his hand.

He said, "Care? What kind of care is appropriate care? Or what degree of care?

Many things require quantitative standards.

Otherwise, if you use adjectives or something without a standard, the subordinates won't know what to do. Alternatively, if there's no standard, the subordinates have a lot of leeway to maneuver, which can easily lead to problems.

"Secretary Wei, we are also considering this aspect. Our work team's idea is to provide appropriate care, that is, when distributing land, we will not forcibly deprive all of the land. Instead, we will provide them with care according to certain standards, which is slightly higher than the standards for middle peasants.

"Slightly higher than the standard for middle peasants? That's the standard for rich peasants?"

“There are some thoughts on this.”

Chen Tao said, "Since we are in the early stages of land reform, the rural situation still requires encouraging people to work hard and become rich. Therefore, our idea is to retain some of the land of rich peasants who have contributed to the revolution. After the land of some landlords is distributed, we can also leave behind land of similar standards to those of these rich peasants."

Wei Hongjun was also thinking.

While Wei Hongjun was trying his best to guard against the "left" side of land reform, he had to also guard against the emergence of another side, that is, the "right" side of land reform.

It is not good if land reform goes "left", but if it goes "right", another problem will arise.

That is, there will be too many compromises in the reform of the military.

This is not a good thing either.

So after a while, Wei Hongjun said: "We are now in the initial stage of the land reform, but don't forget that this is still a major reform to overthrow the feudal rural land system. It is not a gentle reform with tenderness and tenderness. In essence, it is still a violent revolution in the countryside. We must give appropriate care to some enlightened rich peasants and landlords who support us, but I think this care should be from a political perspective. In the process of land reform, we cannot politically attack these rich peasants and landlords like we do to local tyrants and evil gentry. We must regard them as objects of our political unity. However, on the issue of land, we can leave some land to these rich peasants and landlords according to the standards of well-off middle peasants, so that we can give the middle peasants hope. But the proportion cannot be too large. That is, after the land reform, there can be some well-off middle peasants in our base area, but there cannot be rich peasants.

Because rich peasants and landlords belong to the exploiting class that we want to overthrow.

Of course, these are just my opinions. In your actual work, you should adjust our policies according to different situations at any time."

"Yes."

"Many of the cadres in Sheng County are local officials. Have you ever considered that if you give preferential treatment to some rich peasants and landlords through your policies, some people will seek personal favors and pervert the law in the process? So do you have a standard for appropriate preferential treatment? Are the rich peasants and landlords you call appropriate preferential treatment fake?"

Comrade Xiuyang's ideas in this regard make some sense in history.

His biggest problem was that he completely abandoned local cadres and instead stuffed a large number of questionable individuals into the Poor Peasants' League. Some of those active in the Poor Peasants' League even served in the puppet army.

How could land reform be without problems?

Chen Tao immediately said, "There is this hidden concern. That's why our work team has been compiling a historical archive of rich peasants and landlords in Sheng County. We are also worried that there will be some problems with this archive, so the work team decided to set up a rural work group in each village. In addition to a small number of grassroots cadres, the majority of members of this work group will be local middle peasants, self-cultivating farmers, semi-self-cultivating farmers, and poor and hired farmers, according to our statistics. In terms of proportion, semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor and hired farmers will have the advantage.

Everyone has similar ideas.

Just like Comrade Xiuyang established the "Poor Peasants' League", Chen Tao also established the "Rural Work League" in the countryside.

"What is the authority of this work group? Is it to be solely responsible for land reform?"

"They are primarily responsible for reviewing the rich peasants and landlords we have identified. If the Rural Work Group has objections to the designation of a landlord as a rich peasant by the Land Reform Work Team, including those whom the rural cadres believe can be taken care of, but the Rural Work Group considers them to be local tyrants and evil gentry, or those whom the rural cadres consider to be local tyrants and evil gentry, the Rural Work Group believes that this classification is incorrect, they can report this to the Land Reform Work Team or directly to the higher-level land reform department."

"What proportion is considered dissenting? One, two, or three people? Or half, or one-third?"

Wei Hongjun asked directly.

Because these things cannot be taken lightly. Chen Tao replied, "We are still considering this aspect. Our idea is that if one-third of the working group members disagree with the rural cadres' classification of rich peasants and landlords, they can apply for the higher-level land reform department to come back for re-investigation and review.

"This shouldn't be rigidly stipulated. It can be adjusted at any time based on the progress of land reform."

"Yes."

Wei Hongjun wrote in his notebook: Land Reform Work Team, Rural Work Group. The Land Reform Work Team was responsible for formulating land reform policies and implementing land reform work, while local rural cadres were responsible for identifying rich peasants and landlords. The Rural Work Group, on the other hand, was responsible for reviewing the classification of rich peasants and landlords, which was the issue they were most familiar with.

The idea is good, but I don’t know what the effect will be.

Article 3: All land not owned by individuals shall be taken as collective land. This land shall also be used as land for this land reform and distributed to semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor hired peasants.

"So what about the mountains, forests, water, and lakes among the lands owned by individuals?

"Secretary Wei, our work team's idea is that the focus of this land reform is arable land. This is because the main contradiction in rural land reform is concentrated in arable land. We have limited energy and personnel, so we should focus all our efforts on arable land. We should focus on solving the arable land problem and consider these next steps."

Chen Tao replied.

Wei Hongjun nodded and said, "The idea of ​​focusing on and resolving the principal contradiction is correct. However, you must learn to make overall arrangements for your work. While resolving the principal contradiction, you must also pay attention to the secondary contradictions."

We won’t take action now, but we still need to pay attention to this issue.

"Yes."