Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Wei Hongjun shook his head and said, "The number of party members can be increased, but this increase should be natural, not artificially increased because we need it. Just like some of our government agencies, if the number of party members is not enough, we shouldn't force it."

"The Party Committees of state organs and central government agencies have regulations. Different agencies must have a certain number of party members, and they must have party groups, party branches, and so on. So even if they are forced to do so, each agency will increase its party members."

Chen Tanqiu was in charge of the Organization Department for many years and was also in charge of the daily work of the Secretariat.

Therefore, I am more familiar with the current situation of various institutions than Wei Hongjun. There are differences between the Party committees of state organs and those of central government agencies. Simply put, the Party committees of central government agencies are the leading bodies of the Party committees of departments directly under the CPC Central Committee, while the Party committees of state organs are the leading bodies of the Party committees of the National People's Congress and the State Council.

The Party Committee of the Central Government Agencies has a close relationship with the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, with Yang Shangkun serving as its First Secretary. The Party Committee of the State Organs has a close relationship with the State Council Personnel Bureau, with Zhou Rongxin, Director of the State Council Personnel Bureau, currently serving as its First Secretary.

They have all issued documents to their respective agencies.

In order to ensure that the Party’s lines, principles, and policies are implemented in these units and to strengthen the Party’s leadership, these following institutions and units must at least have Party groups and generally have Party branches.

With such an order, government agencies will certainly try every possible means to increase the number of party members.

"How's the situation with the League organization?"

“There are also such problems.”

Chen Tanqiu spoke.

Although Chen Tanqiu is not responsible for the work of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the work of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League is to cooperate with the Party Central Committee.

So Chen Tanqiu knew the general situation. "I've read the relevant information," he said. "On January 1948, 1, the Party Central Committee issued the 'Resolution on the New Democratic Youth League,' proposing to convene the First National Conference of the New Democratic Youth League and formally establish the China New Democratic Youth League. At the time, the number of League members nationwide was very small, as the Youth League's establishment was not very formal, with only about 1 to 5 members. However, by May 1, when the People's Republic of China was founded, the number of League members had already reached 20. By January 1949, the number of League members nationwide had reached 1 million."

"After the Eighth National Congress in 1952, the New Democratic Youth League held its Second National Congress. By then, the number of members nationwide had reached nearly 2500 million. After the Ninth National Congress, the New Democratic Youth League was renamed the Communist Youth League, and its membership had reached million."

"The number of Communist Youth League members is increasing at a rate far exceeding the number of Party members nationwide. If current development continues, I estimate that by the time of the 4000th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the number of League members will have exceeded million."

Wei Hongjun couldn't help but stand up.

Perhaps other leaders think that such an increase in the number of party members is a good thing.

But Wei Hongjun didn't pay much attention to it.

Such a large-scale increase in the number of party members will lead to many hidden dangers.

Chen Tanqiu continued, "Besides the increasing demand for party members, there's another problem. After the comprehensive construction of New China began, many activists emerged. We can't deny them the opportunity to advance politically."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

Indeed, this is also a problem.

In a factory, there are some activists in the technical field, and there are also some activists among the front-line workers. You can't just say that you won't give them anything. At this stage, the material benefits provided by the state are not high, but you can't also provide spiritual benefits.

This is the case in factories, the army, and rural areas.

For many activists, you must give them hope.

After summarizing all this, Wei Hongjun said, "It's unacceptable to expand the number of Party and League members like this. We still need to be more strict in the process of admitting members to the Party and the League. My idea is to further improve the construction of Party members and League members, with more procedures and stricter assessments, adopting a pyramid model. We should proceed step by step from League activists to League members, to Party activists, to probationary members, and finally to Party members. First and foremost, we must strictly control the procedures for admission to the League and the Party, and limit the number of admissions to the League and the Party. This is not a wartime era, and we would need some unconventional methods at that time. Because the revolutionary nature of many people can be tested in the face of life and death."

"But now is an era of peaceful construction. Our cadres lack experience in testing, and the rapid expansion of Party and League membership will affect the purity of our Party. Furthermore, precisely because we are now in an era of peaceful construction, we have ample time to slowly build a system."

During the war years, people joined the party as young as fifteen or sixteen.

Because of special circumstances.

However, strict controls should be implemented in peacetime. Furthermore, a pyramid model should be established, ensuring that the Party always maintains its representative and leading role. Only in this way can the Party continuously recruit advanced elements of its class and continuously advance the revolution. If the number of members expands, the Party will tend to become a "party for all the people," losing its class representation and ultimately becoming the representative of the vested interests.

This is a theoretical and practical issue that the Party must resolve.

"This requires the Organization Department and the Communist Youth League Central Committee to come up with a plan together. We need to combine the development of the Party with the development of the Communist Youth League, and both sides need to cooperate more closely."

Chen Tanqiu understood what Wei Hongjun meant.

However, this cannot be accomplished by the Organization Department alone. We also need to work together with the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League to see how to train Party members and League members and how to combine their training.

"This is the first step. Joining the Party doesn't mean everything is over; we need to have more oversight of our members. I've seen many reports saying that many people, whose sole goal is to join the Party, behave completely differently after joining than before. This is unacceptable."

Chen Tanqiu nodded.

"Our Organization Department has also noticed this problem, and the military has also reported it. Many young people behave very differently before and after joining the Party. Their sole purpose is to join the Party."

"The Organization Department must take this seriously. How to assess Party members in daily work is a major task. Furthermore, it's very difficult for our Party members to be expelled from the Party right now. Unless they've made serious mistakes, they won't be expelled easily. But I wonder if the Organization Department could consider persuading unqualified Party members, those who don't hold themselves to Party member standards in their daily work, to withdraw."

"Persuade to quit?"

Currently, there is no mention of persuading party members to quit among the punishments they face.

More serious cases include serious warnings, probation, and expulsion from the party.

"It's about persuading them to quit. This isn't for Party members who have made mistakes, but for those who don't fulfill their Party obligations and don't hold themselves to the standards of Party membership—those unqualified Party members. We can't say you're not behaving like a Party member and call for your death. However, if these unqualified members remain in the Party, it will directly affect our Party's reputation. So, for such members, after investigation by the Party organization and public opinion, can we persuade them to quit, and have them write their own withdrawal applications? Of course, this is just an idea I have, and I don't have a specific plan. I'm just discussing it with you."

Chen Tanqiu thought about it and wrote down what Wei Hongjun said in his notebook.

He said, "I will discuss this with other comrades in the Organization Department. Comrade Hongjun, what you mean is that our party members should be able to join and leave, and there should be a mechanism for withdrawal."

"That's right. After joining the Party, if we don't hold ourselves to the standards of a Party member, we will expel unqualified Party members. We can't let people think that just because they join the Party, everything is fine, and that as long as they don't break the law or commit crimes, they won't be expelled from the Party. This is wrong. Unqualified Party members, those who don't abide by Party discipline, and those who don't act according to the standards of a Party member, must be expelled from the Party."

"I'll remember this."

Chen Tanqiu nodded.

Wei Hongjun continued, "This is an issue concerning Party and League membership. Next, I'd like to discuss the cadre selection and appointment system."

1023 Cadre Selection System

1023

"Although the People's Republic of China was founded almost ten years ago, many Party cadres haven't adapted to how cadres are selected and appointed in peacetime. In fact, many of our central leaders are also unaccustomed to the set procedures for selecting and appointing cadres in peacetime. They always consider cadre appointments in the same way as in wartime."

Chen Tanqiu pointed out the main problem currently facing the Organization Department in cadre appointments: leadership selection and appointment of cadres is somewhat arbitrary, often violating the Organization Department's cadre appointment and removal procedures.

He had discussed these with Gao Gang.

But Gao Gang didn't pay much attention to these issues at the time. He was a man of swift action, but he didn't pay much attention to institutional development. All his thoughts were focused on securing his position at the Ninth National Congress.

Without Gao Gang's support, the Organization Department was helpless. The Central Organization Department's position was actually rather awkward. The appointment of cadres at a certain level was a matter for the central government, with the real power of appointment and removal resting with the Politburo and the Secretariat. The appointment of lower-level cadres was the responsibility of individual ministries and local governments, and it was not the Central Organization Department's place to intervene.

Now that Wei Hongjun is in charge of the Secretariat and has begun to pay attention to this issue, Chen Tanqiu will of course tell him everything he knows.

Chen Tanqiu said: "When we were fighting, it was common for officers to be directly recruited from soldiers and promoted to officers. Many of our early officers, who had only been in the army for a year or two, were already battalion-level or regimental-level officers. This was because it was common for many people to be promoted above their level during the war."

Wei Hongjun shrugged.

In wartime, performance was everything. Good grades quickly led to rapid advancement. While seniority was a factor, promotions beyond one's rank were common. Wei Hongjun was a prime example.

Starting as a company-level instructor of the 115th Division, he was promoted to political commissar of the detachment, political commissar of the column, commander and political commissar of the military sub-district, and political commissar of the second-level military region for his contributions to the development of the Chahar-Hebei base. Later, he became a member, standing member, and deputy secretary of the Central Bureau of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Region, deputy secretary of the North China Bureau, and acting secretary.

It took me ten years to walk the path that many people would take their entire lives to complete.

"But this is problematic in peacetime. In wartime, anyone who survived one battle was considered a veteran, and after two or three battles, they knew how to fight. But this won't work in peacetime. If you don't have any experience, you won't be able to accomplish a lot of work."

"Comrade Chen Tanqiu, what are the Organization Department's thoughts?"

"We need to establish a strict cadre selection system. You can't promote a cadre at administrative level 20 to administrative level 15 just because a leader appreciates him. This model of cadre promotion will directly disrupt the normal development of the entire cadre system. Therefore, we must put an end to this kind of skipping promotion."

Chen Tanqiu presided over the Organization Department for several years.

Therefore, they have their own set of ideas on cadre selection and appointment. Nearly ten years after the founding of New China, although some rules have gradually been established regarding cadre selection, these rules are often broken by cadres.

Especially those senior cadres who have been on the battlefield always break the rules.

They are used to employing people this way.

In those days, cadres were scarce, so when they saw a capable cadre, they were promoted very quickly. Take, for example, Zhao Han, Wei Hongjun's current political secretary. He joined the revolution in 1938 at the age of . Because of his education, he was appointed county Organization Department Minister and Youth Committee Director every two months. Within two years, he was County Party Secretary, then a member of the Prefectural Party Committee. At the outbreak of the Liberation War, he was appointed Political Commissar of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Sub-district and Secretary of the Prefectural Party Committee. Just look at that rapid promotion.

There was no such thing as a procedure. It was precisely because of his education and strong propaganda and organizational skills that he became the county party secretary at the age of 20, leading the entire county in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Many veteran cadres are accustomed to this situation.

Therefore, if a young cadre is seen as capable, they will be promoted all the way through, following the same thinking from the war years. Since these veteran cadres are senior and high-ranking, many local organization departments cannot say anything and can only promote cadres according to the requirements of the veteran cadres.

But Chen Tanqiu has already seen the seriousness of this problem.

It is wrong to promote cadres in this way.

First, it will disrupt the normal cadre system, and then those young cadres will be promoted too quickly and lack practical work experience.

This will later lead to conflicts between veteran and new cadres. Many veteran cadres will be dissatisfied, wondering why a young person can be promoted so quickly.

This situation isn't limited to local authorities; it's also happening at the central level. The problem is serious and has already been reported to the Central Organization Department. However, this issue is so sensitive that Chen Tanqiu needs the support of the Secretariat.

"Comrade Chen Tanqiu, the cadre system must be formalized. We can't always have cadre appointments that break the rules. If we don't have a complete cadre selection system, do you know what the greatest danger is?"

Wei Hongjun said seriously, "The issue of the children of leading cadres. In a few years, many of our cadres' children will gradually grow up and be able to work. Without a comprehensive cadre selection system, how will we arrange for them?"

"If there aren't rules that everyone follows, they'll always jump the ranks and promote people. Even if you don't personally step in, but you have old comrades and subordinates who can help you out, the children of leading cadres will be promoted quickly."

"This is a very dangerous tendency. The goal of our revolution is to build a socialist state where everyone is equal, not a hereditary state."

Wei Hongjun spoke frankly.

The Chairman has long spoken about this issue, but most veteran revolutionaries married relatively late, so the problem isn't as serious now.

But what about another ten years? By then, many leaders' children will have reached adulthood.

After they join the workforce, they already have advantages over others. If there are no rules, what will happen in the future?

"The Organization Department still needs to come up with a draft of the cadre selection system. Let me say this: our cadres should have a minimum tenure at certain levels. For example, if a young cadre has just been promoted to deputy township head or deputy district head, they must have at least two years of training in this position before they can be promoted further. They can't be promoted after just six months. There must be this minimum tenure requirement; promotions can't be made at will."

"The ideal situation is that provincial and ministerial-level cadres should be around 50 years old, and central leadership should be around 60. They can't be too old, but they can't be too young either. We can't use the age of cadres in wartime to measure the age of cadres in peacetime."

"If a cadre is indeed promoted on the spur of the moment, and indeed violates such regulations, then the reason for the promotion must be made public. Why is the promotion being carried out in violation of the regulations? The public must be questioned."

Chen Tanqiu nodded as he took notes. Many things require proactive prevention. The cadre promotion regulations Wei Hongjun mentioned serve this purpose.

"One thing we need to pay attention to here is that we can't let the cadres who work there suffer. We need to take better care of those working in border areas where living conditions are poor and the environment is harsh. The same applies to cadre promotion arrangements."

"We need to send more cadres to work in the border areas and build the border areas. They are full of passion and are working to build the motherland's border areas, but we cannot let them suffer losses."

"I hope the Organization Department can give this aspect more consideration."

These cadres are needed to maintain stability in the border areas.

What the ethnic minorities in border areas need is not something nice like promoting some ethnic minority cadres, but real development and improvement of their lives.

The more stable it is, the more likely it is to develop.

"The Organization Department will give special consideration to these cadres."

"Another point is that we cannot practice closed-door policy when promoting cadres. It's wrong for our Party committee to hold a closed-door meeting and then decide to promote someone. This is closed-door policy that doesn't accept oversight from the broad masses of the people. The promotion of cadres must be democratic, with oversight, and we must widely listen to everyone's opinions."

Chen Tanqiu put down the pen in his hand and asked, "Do you have any good ideas?"

"What do you think of the method of publicizing cadre promotions?"?

"Public notice."