Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Luo Qirong, Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, will leave Guangdong after the Ninth National Congress and be officially transferred to the central government.

Go back to your old business first.

Of course, Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection wasn't the best position for Luo Qirong. After all, he had performed remarkably well as Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, and Guangdong's development in recent years had been among the fastest in the country. With rapid industrial and agricultural development, coupled with thriving commerce and trade, a promotion to Vice Premier wasn't unreasonable.

Luo Qirong, however, was not dissatisfied. His greatest achievement at the Ninth National Congress was not his Supervisory Commission position, but his appointment as an alternate member of the Politburo. This not only brought him closer to becoming a member of the Politburo, but also allowed him to attend Politburo meetings. While he only had speaking rights, not voting rights, it did allow him to gradually participate in central decision-making.

This is the central government's real recognition of Luo Qirong's achievements.

Luo Qirong was promoted to the Central Committee and recommended Tao Zhu as Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Chen Tao as Governor of Guangdong. At the Ninth National Congress, both advanced to new heights: Tao Zhu officially became a member of the Central Committee, while Chen Tao, thanks to his contributions to land reform and the development of the rural cooperative economy in Guangdong, became an alternate member of the Central Committee. Among the cadres who advanced during the Liberation War with Wei Hongjun during the land reform, Li Shaocheng and Chen Tao advanced the fastest, becoming the first to become alternate members of the Central Committee at the Ninth National Congress.

At the same time, the Central Committee established the Political and Legal Committee, abbreviated as the Political and Legal Committee, to be in charge of public security, procuratorial and judicial work.

Nie Shuai, a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee, serves as Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, with Zhao Zhensheng, Director of the First Office of the State Council, Ma Xiwu, Vice President of the Supreme People's Court, Zhang Dingcheng, Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, Du Liqing, Minister of Public Security, Zheng Shaowen, Deputy Minister and Party Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, and Wu Xinyu, Minister of Internal Affairs, serving as deputy secretaries.

The departments under the Political and Legal Affairs Commission are all powerful departments.

Public security, procuratorial, judicial and administrative departments, plus the Ministry of the Interior.

Dong Biwu, the President of the Supreme People's Court, retired at the Ninth National Congress, but only lost his Party position. His official retirement from the Supreme People's Court requires approval from the National People's Congress. However, Dong Biwu's retirement is a foregone conclusion, leaving the position of Deputy Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission to Ma Xiwu, Vice President of the Supreme People's Court and Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group. This demonstrates Party support for Ma Xiwu as the next President of the Supreme People's Court.

Then there's the Ministry of Justice, whose current Minister is Shi Liang. Shi Liang is very famous and one of the few female ministers in central government ministries.

However, Shi Liang is the vice chairman of the China Democratic League and not a member of the Communist Party of China. The Political and Legal Affairs Commission is an institution directly under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and can only be represented by Party members. Therefore, the candidate chosen was Zheng Shaowen, the Deputy Minister of Justice and Party Secretary.

Then there is the matter of the election of the Secretariat.

Before the Secretariat election, issues concerning the United Front Work Department were discussed at the meeting.

The central government criticized Li Weihan's previous work in the United Front Work Department.

In addition to the problems that arose during last year's symposium with democratic figures, the Chairman's "Political Report" also criticized the United Front Work Department's work in ethnic minority areas, indicating a problem with the Party's policy. Finally, at the Ninth National Congress, Liao Chengzhi was elected as the new head of the United Front Work Department.

The Prime Minister has the final say in selecting the Minister of the United Front Work Department.

Because the Premier has long been in charge of the Party's United Front work, he is familiar with the cadres working in the United Front Work Department. It can be said that the cadres in the United Front Work Department are essentially veterans of the Premier's staff. Furthermore, within the current United Front work, Liao Chengzhi possesses extensive experience, high rank, and, naturally, extensive connections. In the election for the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Liao Chengzhi also received a significant number of votes.

But this is not the end.

Because the Ninth National Congress only chose the position of Minister of the United Front Work Department.

As for the internal arrangements of the United Front Work Department, especially some of its deputy ministers, they will have to wait until the Ninth National Congress to discuss them again with the Secretariat and the Politburo. Because this time the United Front Work Department was criticized, it was not just Li Weihan who was criticized.

The entire United Front Work Department's work approach was criticized. While Li Weihan was singled out for criticism, the Premier and the officials working under the United Front Work Department were also implicated. Because United Front work falls under the Premier's overall leadership, Li Weihan and the United Front Work Department's officials are specifically responsible. Liao Chengzhi, as Deputy Minister of the United Front Work Department, has been responsible for overseas Chinese affairs and, naturally, was also among those criticized.

Therefore, Liao Chengzhi was able to become the Minister of the United Front Work Department only because of his qualifications and level.

In addition to Wei Hongjun, the first secretary of the Secretariat, there are six other secretaries in the Secretariat election. They are Chen Tanqiu, head of the Organization Department; Xi Zhongxun, head of the Propaganda Department; Tan Zhenlin, secretary of the Supervisory Commission; Zhao Zhensheng, deputy secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission; Liao Chengzhi, head of the United Front Work Department; and Tan Zheng, director of the General Political Department.

There has been a minor change in the alternate secretaries of the Secretariat. Wang Jiaxiang, Minister of the International Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee; Yang Shangkun, Deputy Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office; and Chen Boda, Director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, have been appointed alternate secretaries.

Chen Boda replaced Cai Chang, who was in charge of women's affairs. This effectively meant that the Central Policy Research Office had replaced women's affairs. From then on, the Secretariat was directly responsible for drafting Party policies, researching Party theoretical issues, and providing policy and theoretical basis directly to the Politburo. This included compiling and publishing the proceedings of Politburo Standing Committee and Politburo meetings.

After the Secretariat elections, the Politburo also underwent some new changes. At the Ninth National Congress, it was decided to establish several working committees directly under the Politburo.

In fact, it is to strengthen the party's leadership.

This was influenced by both the Chairman's desire to establish a specific division of labor within the central leadership and the influence of the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the unrest in Eastern Europe. The more turmoil in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe intensified, the more many within the Party came to believe that this was a problem with the Party's leadership.

It is precisely because the party leadership in Eastern Europe is not strong and the party's control is insufficient that these riots occur.

Therefore, there is a unanimous demand within the party to strengthen the party's leadership.

This call, combined with the Chairman's thoughts on the division of labor within the Party leadership, led to the current situation. The meeting decided to establish the Central Finance and Economics Commission, the Central Science Commission, the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, and the Central Culture and Education Commission under the Politburo. These committees directly supervised their respective departments and were solely accountable to the Politburo.

The Finance and Economics Working Committee is responsible for finance, industry, agriculture, trade, and transportation.

This committee is similar to the Finance and Economics Committee of the State Council in the early years of the People's Republic of China. It oversees the State Council's Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Offices. Of the nine State Council offices, the Finance and Economics Committee directly oversees six.

Political Bureau Standing Committee member Chen Yun served as Secretary of the Finance and Economics Committee, with Deng Xixian serving as First Deputy Secretary, supporting Chen Yun's work. In addition to these two, Li Fuchun, Zhou Bin, Deng Zhihui, Li Xiannian, and Zeng Shan served as Deputy Secretaries of the Finance and Economics Committee.

Just look at the cadre strength to know the strength of the Finance and Economics Working Committee.

Two members of the Politburo Standing Committee, three members of the Politburo, one alternate member of the Politburo, and one candidate for Vice Premier of the State Council.

The Finance and Economics Working Committee established the Finance Group, the Industry Group, the Agriculture Group, and the Transportation Group. Li Fuchun served as the head of the Industry Group, Zeng Shan as the deputy head of the Industry Group, Zhou Bin as the head of the Finance Group, Deng Zhihui as the head of the Agriculture Group, and Li Xiannian as the head of the Transportation Group.

In this way, Comrade Chen Yun became the undisputed top leader of China's economic work, both from the Politburo and the State Council.

General Chen, a member of the Political Bureau, Vice Premier of the State Council, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, served as Secretary of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, with Marshal Ye and Wang Jiaxiang serving as Vice Secretaries. Marshal Ye was responsible for military exchanges with foreign countries and research on global military developments. In recent years, Marshal Ye has been responsible for all Chinese military delegations on overseas visits. Members of the Foreign Affairs Commission included Li Kenong, Wu Xiuquan, Wang Bingnan, Ke Boyan, and other Foreign Ministry officials.

Political Bureau member and Minister of Propaganda Xi Zhongxun serves as secretary of the Cultural and Educational Work Committee, and Minister of Education Yang Xiufeng, Deputy Ministers of Propaganda Zhang Jichun and Duan Chengwei, and Deputy Minister of Culture Qian Junrui serve as deputy secretaries.

He is fully responsible for the work of the Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and other departments.

Originally, the deputy secretary of the Cultural and Educational Work Committee should have been Shen Yanbing, Minister of Culture.

Shen Yanbing was one of the earliest members of our Party and served as secretary to Chairman Mao during his tenure as Acting Minister of Propaganda of the Nationalist Government. However, he later lost contact with the Party organization. After regaining contact, Shen Yanbing attempted to rejoin the Party several times, but the Party Central Committee believed that he would be better served working outside the Party.

Therefore, Shen Yanbing is currently a non-party member.

This time, a Foreign Affairs Working Committee directly under the Politburo was established. Shen Yanbing was not a Party member, so he was not appointed as Deputy Secretary. Of course, Shen Yanbing could become a member of the Working Committee as a non-Party member, but he could not serve as Deputy Secretary.

But Qian Junrui is already the deputy secretary, and letting Shen Yanbing just be a member always causes some problems.

Then there is the Scientific Working Committee.

Wei Hongjun, a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee, serves as secretary of the Science and Technology Working Committee. The Science and Technology Working Committee has three subcommittees: the Science and Technology Commission of the Central Military Commission, and the State Council Science Planning Commission and the National Technology Commission under the State Council.

The Science Working Committee was established this time, the Science and Technology Committee of the Central Military Commission was changed to the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and the Science Planning Committee and the National Technology Committee of the State Council were merged into the National Science and Technology Commission.

Responsible for national defense science and technology and civilian science and technology respectively.

Yang Quanwu and Bo Shuchun served as deputy secretaries.

Yang Quanwu was appointed Director of the newly established Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND), while Zhao Lu was appointed Deputy Director. The COSTIND held considerable power, encompassing the military's Nuclear and Aviation Industries, as well as other weapons development agencies and factories. This is why Zhao Lu, the head of the General Logistics Department, was appointed Deputy Director of the COSTIND.

Bo Shuchun served as director of the newly established National Science and Technology Commission, and Zhang Jingfu as deputy director. Compared to the more powerful Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, the National Science and Technology Commission primarily formulated science and technology development plans. It had no direct ministries or commissions under its purview.

So if you want to do anything, you have to coordinate with other departments.

Wei Hongjun recommended Bo Shuchun for the position of Director of the State Science and Technology Commission not only for his ability but also because of his high rank and extensive connections. In his early years, he was a key cadre in the Shunzhi Provincial Committee and later in the Northern Bureau, directly involved in the formation of the Shanxi New Army. He later served as Acting Secretary of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Central Bureau and Third Secretary of the North China Bureau. After his appointment to the central government, he first served as Minister of Finance and later as Director of the Third General Office of the State Council, overseeing heavy industry, both of which were crucial to national prosperity and livelihoods.

So with him in charge of the National Science and Technology Commission, many things will be much easier to handle.

With the establishment of these four working committees, plus the previously established Political and Legal Affairs Commission, this restructuring has virtually hollowed out the State Council, as the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and these four working committees are all government agencies directly led by the Party.

The person with the greatest influence is the Prime Minister.

Although many ministries and commissions of the State Council are nominally ministries and commissions of the State Council, their daily work is actually subject to the orders of these working committees. This is equivalent to the Politburo using these working committees to undermine the power of the State Council.

The Prime Minister only has the title of Premier of the State Council, but he is unable to interfere in the work of these units.

In the past, although each vice premier was responsible for a specific area and the premier did not interfere much in their work, they were all nominally vice premiers of the State Council, and many tasks still had to be reported to the premier.

But it's different now.

They can bypass the Premier of the State Council and report directly to these working committees.

If this were to happen to any other official, he would be unacceptable and would likely flip the table. This goes without saying, as the Premier has long been a core cadre of the Central Committee, possessing considerable influence and power within the Party. Hollowing out the State Council's power would effectively strip the Premier of significant authority. If the Premier truly refused to accept this, it would cause a major uproar.

However, the Prime Minister accepted the change calmly.

Not even a single complaint.

Instead, they are diligently coordinating the relationship between the State Council and these working committees. After all, both the State Council and the working committees nominally lead these ministries. How to avoid conflicts and impact work efficiency requires careful discussion between the two sides.

Apart from other things, in terms of party unity, no one in the Party Central Committee leadership can compare with the Prime Minister.

The final election at the meeting was about the Central Military Commission.

After the Eighth National Congress, the Central Military Commission was composed of Comrade Li Desheng as Chairman, with the ten marshals plus Gao Gang, Wei Hongjun, Deng Xixian, and Yang Quanwu as members, for a total of fifteen. General Peng and General He, as members of the Military Commission, presided over its daily work.

But after five years, the army and cadres have changed a lot.

The commander-in-chief retired, Marshal Nie had completely left the army, Gao Gang had an accident, the army began to formalize, various specialized arms emerged, and the work of the Military Commission became increasingly complex.

Therefore, the number of members of the Central Military Commission will be expanded and more formalized. In addition to the chairman, the Central Military Commission will be reorganized to have four vice-chairmen, nine standing members of the Central Military Commission, and nineteen members.

Comrade Li Desheng was undoubtedly elected Chairman of the Military Commission.

Four people, Peng Dejun, He Dejun, Luo Shuai, and Wei Hongjun, were elected as Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission. Peng Dejun, He Dejun, and Luo Shuai handled the day-to-day work of the Military Commission, while Wei Hongjun, as Vice Chairman, was only in charge of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Originally, Wei Hongjun had always been a member of the Military Commission without any division of labor.

However, with the establishment of the Central Committee's Science and Technology Working Committee, Wei Hongjun began to oversee the work of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. Therefore, Wei Hongjun had to be assigned a position within the CMC. Wei Hongjun is now a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, fully responsible for Party affairs at the Central Committee, so he couldn't just be an ordinary CMC member, so he became Vice Chairman of the CMC.

Comrade Li Desheng, Wei Hongjun, General Peng, General He, Marshal Luo, Marshal Liu, Marshal Xu, Marshal Ye, and Yang Quanwu served as members of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission.

The most unexpected person here is Coach Lin.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, although Marshal Lin was recuperating and not participating in the work, he would be promoted when it was time for him to be promoted. The Central Committee would not forget him. Just like when he was an alternate member of the Politburo and a member of the Politburo before, whenever there was a position, Marshal Lin was able to obtain it step by step.

According to the original situation, even if Marshal Lin did not get the position of Vice Chairman of the Military Commission this time, he would have no problem becoming a member of the Military Commission's Standing Committee. After all, the ten marshals, the commander-in-chief retired, Marshal Nie left the Military Commission, and General Chen no longer had a division of labor in the Military Commission.

Of the remaining seven marshals, except Marshal Lin, the other six became standing committee members.

In this CMC reorganization, Marshal Lin not only failed to become Vice Chairman of the CMC, he didn't even receive a standing committee seat. To put it bluntly, as the central organizational structure began to stabilize, so did the central power structure. Most people didn't want someone suddenly intervening. Marshal Lin was, after all, a member of the Politburo and a veteran of many years. His return would still affect many people. Furthermore, the Gao Gang issue affected the central government's view of Marshal Lin.

So after the election of Politburo members, Marshal Lin entered the Politburo.

But Marshal Lin was the only one among the 19 Politburo members who did not have any division of labor.

On the basis of the nine standing members of the CMC, there are ten people including Marshal Lin Biao, General Chen, Chief of the General Staff Su Yu, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Chen Geng, Secretary General of the CMC Huang Kecheng, Director of the General Political Department Tan Zheng, Minister of the General Political Department Wang Zhi, Acting Minister of the General Training Department Zuo Quan, Minister of the General Logistics Department Zhao Lu, and Commander of the Shenyang Military Region Deng Guo.

There are a total of nineteen members of the Central Military Commission.

With the completion of the election of members of the Central Military Commission, the Ninth National Congress has come to an end.

But the end of the Ninth Congress is just the beginning.

Because the new Politburo will hold a meeting soon to begin adjusting new policies and cadres.

1003 Adjustment

After the Ninth National Congress, the new Politburo immediately convened a meeting.

This is completely coherent.

Because every time a national congress like this is held, policies, institutions, and personnel need to be adjusted. Therefore, the Politburo needs to complete personnel adjustments as quickly as possible to ensure the normal operation of various departments. The first step is to adjust the work of the State Council.

The real restructuring of the State Council will take place at the National People's Congress. However, some adjustments don't need to wait until the National People's Congress. The first thing the Politburo will reorganize is the State Council Party Group.

This time, the State Council Party Leadership Group will no longer have so many deputy secretaries, with the entire group consisting of just nine members. The Premier will serve as Secretary of the Group, Deng Xixian will serve as Deputy Secretary, and Li Fuchun, General Secretary Chen, Li Xiannian, Bo Shuchun, Li Xuefeng, Zeng Shan, and Lin Feng will serve as members.

Chen Yun, Nie Shuai, Wei Hongjun, Deng Zhihui, Tan Zhenlin and other former members of the State Council Party Leadership Group are not on the new State Council Party Leadership Group. This is actually a very clear signal.

That is, these people will leave the State Council at the National People's Congress meeting in October and will no longer hold positions in the State Council.