Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Wei Hongjun has come across countless cadres with distinct personalities. As long as their personality doesn't affect their work, Wei Hongjun doesn't mind. Placing cadres with different personalities and abilities in different positions is what leaders should do.

He Zai's defense also made some sense. He Zai was the deputy director of the Political Secretary's Office, a high-ranking official, so he was very busy with a lot of work every day. It was impossible for him to meet with every petitioner in person.

But it's not unfair that he has a bad temper.

Yang Shangkun said again: "Comrade He Zai, if you have anything to say, just say it nicely. Don't complain or lose your temper."

"Yes."

He Zai was transferred to the General Office by Yang Shangkun, so he immediately said, "Secretary Wei, I'm not complaining. I'm speaking from the reality of the situation. Our job is to help the people solve their problems, not to insist that I meet them in person. For the people, being able to solve their problems is the most important thing, not some useless formalism."

He Zai has a bad temper, but his ability is beyond doubt as he has reached his current position.

Quickly defend yourself.

And then they turn around and accuse some people of being "formalistic".

"Comrade Qi Benyu, what are your opinions? If you have anything to say, please speak frankly."

Qi Benyu said, "Secretary Wei, Comrade He Zai's statement is a sophistry. The people's difficulties are our difficulties. This is the purpose of our party. Comrade He Zai has never truly addressed the people's problems with his heart. He always sits high and mighty in his office, indifferent to the people's difficulties. Is speaking out to appease the people and give them confidence? This is also 'formalism'."

"Correct."

Lin Ke said, "We should treat the people's problems as our own. Comrade He Zai, however, has no such awareness at all. He says he will solve the people's problems, but in fact, he doesn't care about these problems at all and just pushes them onto us."

The section chiefs in the political secretary's office immediately started criticizing He Zai.

Wei Hongjun frowned.

He looked at Yang Shangkun and Tian Jiaying again and found that they were both silent. Although Wei Hongjun didn't want to speculate about them with malice, he knew that the two parties behind the current trouble were Yang Shangkun and Tian Jiaying.

He Zai didn't mention it, as he was a cadre transferred in by Yang Shangkun. And these young scholars currently filled with righteous indignation had previously worked under Tian Jiaying. To put it bluntly, the current situation stems from a lack of clear responsibilities among departments, with no one willing to compromise, leading to conflict.

He Zai has a really bad temper.

Slowly, He Zai and these scholarly secretaries began to argue, their voices growing louder and louder. Wei Hongjun was furious. Since he was promoted to the central government, he had dealt with many problems, but he had never seen such a situation before.

A group of students were chattering.

When Wei Hongjun was in the State Council, he handled concrete tasks every day. But when he came to the Party Affairs Department, the tasks he had to handle became somewhat "empty".

Wei Hongjun knocked lightly on the table, but seeing they still showed no signs of stopping, he banged on it again. Then he said, "Look at you. Are you engaging in criticism and self-criticism?"

Wei Hongjun was really angry.

The General Office did not solve the problems itself, but brought all the problems to Wei Hongjun, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

Seeing Wei Hongjun's anger, everyone calmed down. Wei Hongjun said, "Comrade He Zai, the comrades think you have a bad temper at work. Some people have opinions about you at work, and you shouldn't suppress them directly. Instead, you should listen to their opinions. This is also an example of inner-party democracy."

"Yes."

"And you."

Wei Hongjun said angrily, "If you have opinions about Comrade He Zai's work, you can raise them boldly. We in the Party support criticism and self-criticism. But you can't insist on saying Comrade He Zai is indifferent to the suffering of the masses and label him as such because of work problems. Comrade He Zai is right. What we need to see is whether the issues raised by the masses have been truly resolved. If Comrade He Zai neither cares about the suffering of the masses nor addresses their suffering, then that is a problem."

After criticizing both sides, Wei Hongjun said to Yang Shangkun, "Comrade Yang Shangkun, I remember the Central Committee issued some instructions on how to receive the masses and handle petitions. But instructions from the Central Committee alone are not enough. The General Office of the Central Committee must have a more complete system. We must implement petition work and receive the masses in a practical manner. We must truly understand the masses' problems and solve their problems. We will discuss this in detail later and must introduce the most suitable system for petitions and receiving the masses."

Currently, the Party Committee’s petition system and mass reception system are managed by the General Office of the Central Committee.

Yang Shangkun can be said to be one of the pioneers of the petition system in New China.

Previously, letters and visits were managed by the Central Secretariat of the General Office of the Central Committee. Later, after Yang Shangkun began to merge the Political Secretary's Office and the Central Secretariat, letters and visits work became the responsibility of the Political Secretary's Office.

The Chairman attaches great importance to petition work.

They believed this was an important measure to combat bureaucracy and strengthen the relationship between the Party and the masses. However, New China was unfamiliar with petition work. There were only vague ideas, including among the Chairman.

Therefore, the current petition work is in its infancy and there are almost no rules and regulations.

Now that Wei Hongjun is in charge of the Secretariat, these are all matters Wei Hongjun has to deal with. What Wei Hongjun needs to do is to turn petition handling and public reception work into a daily routine, a job with a formal system.

"Yes."

Yang Shangkun didn't expect that Wei Hongjun would start talking about petition work and mass reception work from He Zai's first question. The first question was just passed. Wei Hongjun continued: "Let's talk about the second question. Comrade He Zai, comrades think that you will avoid difficult, thorny and difficult things when you encounter them. Once, a group of older sisters who had participated in the revolution very early came to report that some senior cadres in the army were living a corrupt life, hated their wives, and started marrying some female students. They believed that the leaders should step in to deal with such a corrupt life problem of senior cadres. However, Comrade He Zai and the leaders of the General Office of the Central Committee adopted an evasive attitude, and in the end it was the Chairman who instructed the Military Commission to deal with it. Comrade He Zai, can you tell me if there is such a thing?"

1009 Rectification

"Yes."

"So, do you have anything to explain?"

"Have."

He Zai immediately said, "Secretary Wei, this question is no different from the first. This matter shouldn't be handled by the General Office of the Central Committee or the Political Secretary's Office. If the issue of the corrupt lifestyles of those veteran cadres involves military cadres, then it's the responsibility of the Military Commission. If it involves cadres in party and government organs, then it's the responsibility of the organization and supervision departments of the party and government organs. Will our intervention be of any use?"

“That’s conflict avoidance.”

Lin Ke immediately said, "Because the cadres involved are of high rank, you dare not deal with it and can only push the conflict away."

"Then how do you think we should handle this kind of problem? Isn't it our job to turn the issue over to the central leadership? Do you want our Political Secretary's Office to personally resolve the issue?"

He Zai answered with disdain.

A bunch of pen-pushers who have never dealt with any concrete issues and yet are still ranting here.

He Zai also came from a family of scholars.

Before joining the revolution, he was an elementary school teacher. However, as a "38-style" cadre, he had experienced the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation, and had handled many specific matters. Therefore, he was not tolerant of these young people.

It’s just that you read more books and write better.

Just do some theoretical work.

You dare to talk about specific work.

The issue of corrupt lifestyles among veteran cadres, when it comes to veteran cadres, is simply beyond the reach of the Political Secretary's Office. Not only is the Political Secretary's Office incapable of addressing it, but even the General Office of the Central Committee is incapable of resolving it. Doesn't Yang Shangkun, Director of the General Office of the Central Committee, know about these issues?

But when have I ever seen Yang Shangkun express his opinion on these matters? Because such matters can only be resolved by the Party Central Committee, the State Council, and the Military Commission.

Wei Hongjun listened to their argument and once again roughly circled the word "petition." To put it bluntly, it still involved petitioning. Because the current systems weren't perfect, and many cadres had been involved in the revolution for years and were familiar with everyone at the top, when they had issues, they would report directly to the central government.

But they cannot directly find central leaders such as the Chairman and the Prime Minister.

So they all came to the General Office of the Central Committee.

But what can the General Office of the Central Committee do? Although Yang Shangkun holds a high rank, he is not directly responsible for petition work. As long as Yang Shangkun is not in charge of petition work in the General Office of the Central Committee, the weight of other cadres is seriously insufficient.

Just like He Zai.

A cadre who joined the Party in 38, the "th-style" cadre, would have limited rank no matter how quickly he advanced. Among the "th-style" cadres, besides those like Lü Zhengchao who led troops into the Party, there were also some who joined the Party much earlier and were student leaders during the December th Movement. These cadres achieved high ranks after liberation. However, without such a background, the rank of the average "th-style" cadre would have been limited.

But those who can ask the central leadership for decisions are all veteran cadres.

Long experience and high level.

Even with Yang Shangkun's status, it would be a headache to deal with the matter, let alone a cadre of He Zai's level.

So it is understandable that He Zai and others chose to avoid it.

The current reality is that many problems cannot be resolved through formal channels. This is especially true given that many local officials hold considerable power, hindering the development of local democracy and the emergence of legitimate voices. Therefore, these informal channels are even more necessary. The Chairman is aware of this, which is why he has repeatedly urged the importance of petition work. Furthermore, petition work is a crucial channel for resolving many internal conflicts.

Wei Hongjun also believes that regularizing petition work, making it more systematic and formalized, will be beneficial for improving communication between the upper and lower levels. Furthermore, petition work should be given greater attention than it is currently, as the current level of the General Office of the Central Committee is insufficient.

Wei Hongjun is considering assigning at least one member of the Central Committee to be responsible for handling petitions. Only then can petition work be truly taken seriously. However, Wei Hongjun hasn't yet considered any specifics.

Yang Shangkun sat next to Wei Hongjun and saw that Wei Hongjun had written a lot, but he didn't care much about the current dispute between He Zai and other cadres, so he said, "I think this criticism of Comrade He Zai is a matter of normal work disagreement."

Wei Hongjun looked up at Yang Shangkun who had spoken, and then looked at the crowd who were arguing fiercely.

He also nodded.

This accusation is not really a serious problem.

Therefore, the situation was characterized as a mere disagreement on the work. However, Wei Hongjun became serious when he spoke next. "Comrade He Zai, the comrades have complained that after the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the 'Secret Report,' you publicly stated that Comrade Khrushchev had advanced Marxism-Leninism and promoted Comrade Khrushchev's 'Secret Report' everywhere."

"Secretary Wei, it was the Chairman who said that Comrade Khrushchev developed Marxism-Leninism."

He Zai immediately retorted.

As early as after Comrade Stalin's death in 1953, Chairman Mao said that Comrade Khrushchev was an important leader of the international communist movement and had developed Marxism-Leninism.

"What about spreading the 'secret report' everywhere?"

Wei Hongjun's tone became very serious.

At the time, the Party Central Committee strictly prohibited open discussion of the "Secret Report" within the Party. He Zai and his colleagues were mid- to high-level Party cadres, and in a central organization, so they needed to be even more cautious in their words and actions. He Zai hesitated for a moment, then said, "Secret Wei, I admit that I discussed the 'Secret Report' with some comrades, but we definitely did not publicize it. We simply exchanged our views on the 'Secret Report'."

"Have you ever spoken to Lin Xiling? Have you ever encouraged her in the name of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee? Have you ever supported her?"

"No no."

He Zai immediately shook his head.

"Secretary Wei, I've never met Lin Xiling. Some people have told me about her, and I've read some of her previous articles. I think she's very talented, but that's all. I've never met her, let alone encouraged or supported her."

When Wei Hongjun mentioned Lin Xiling, the atmosphere in the meeting immediately became solemn.

Lin Xiling is not a small person.

A student at Renmin University of China, she was a very talented person. Her father followed the retreating Kuomintang troops to Taiwan. Whether they went with them or were forced to leave is unclear. However, her father's fate did not affect her. In 1949, at the age of fourteen, she joined the People's Liberation Army's art troupe. Because of her good performance in the army, she was recommended to study law at Renmin University of China.

Here her talent even attracted the attention of Wu Yuzhang.

She writes very well.

She was also beautiful and active, making her a very influential figure at Renmin University. Based on her performance at Renmin University, she had a bright future after graduation, returning to the military or joining a central government agency. Many central government ministries and commissions were interested in her, and many central government officials had heard of her.

However, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU and Khrushchev's "Secret Report," she became increasingly active. Especially after the Polish-Hungarian Incident, she wrote several articles criticizing the 20th Congress and the socialist system. She pointed out many problems with the socialist system and called for its reform.

If the newspaper did not publish it, he would publish it within Renmin University.

Renmin University of China is a university with a long history in the Communist Party of China. From the Shaanxi-Gansu Public School during the Yan'an period, to the North China United University, North China University, and finally Renmin University of China, it is a school where the Communist Party of China trains its own cadres.

But it is from this university that an active college student like Lin Xiling emerged.

Just how active she was can be seen from the attitudes of the central leadership throughout history. After Comrade Xiuyang first read her article, he directly informed his subordinates to have the Ministry of Public Security keep an eye on her. The Chairman even bluntly declared her a "rightist."

After the central government of this time and space stabilized, not much happened in 1956. Even the democratic parties calmed down, not to mention everyone else. So, despite Lin Xiling's turmoil, the central government paid no attention. After all, Lin Xiling was only twenty-two years old, and in the eyes of the central leadership, she was just a young woman in her early twenties.

No matter how much noise there is, what can we do?

But after 1957, Lin Xiling did something that made the situation suddenly worse. That is, Lin Xiling began to publicly spread the original text of Khrushchev's "secret report" within Renmin University.

This time the nature of the situation has changed.

There's nothing wrong with expressing your own opinions, even criticizing the socialist system. Some central leaders, while disagreeing with her, still believe she's quite talented. It's acceptable for young people to be a bit impulsive and radical. But the widespread dissemination of Khrushchev's "Secret Report," and then using it to criticize the socialist system, is a far more serious matter.

Wei Hongjun is in charge of the Secretariat and has already sent someone to investigate the matter.