Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

"Yes."

Wei Hongjun said confidently, "Chairman, anyone who has established a base area during the war years can feel this. After a few years of working together in revolution, it's easy to form factions and independent kingdoms. Furthermore, if cadres stay in one place for more than ten or twenty years, even if they aren't already independent kingdoms, they will become them. This applies not only to local governments and the military, but also to many of our large factories, state-owned farms, and rural cooperatives."

"Ah."

"Therefore, we must adhere to the cadre division of labor system under the leadership of the Party Committee. We must respect the right of cadres to speak in each area of ​​division of labor. However, the Party Committee must constantly supervise their work. At the same time, workers and farmers must not be deprived of their right to know. Factories should hold workers' meetings every six months or every year. Factory leaders should report on their work at these meetings. The same goes for rural cooperatives. We must continue to strengthen the village affairs disclosure system and make our cooperative members accustomed to participating in village affairs disclosure and village affairs supervision. Factories should also learn from the village affairs disclosure of rural cooperatives and implement a factory affairs disclosure system. Furthermore, trade unions should strengthen communication between factory leaders and workers, regularly participate in factory affairs disclosure, and directly participate in the distribution of factory benefits."

The chairman listened to Wei Hongjun's words for a while, then said, "It seems that some of the criticisms of the trade union issue a few years ago still have some problems."

The chairman recalled the debate on the nature of trade unions a few years ago.

There was a lot of debate at that time.

Ultimately, it was Comrade Xiuyang who conducted a self-criticism. The Chairman didn't believe the criticism was flawed in principle, as Comrade Xiuyang and Comrade Li Lisan were ambiguous about the nature of the trade union. It was simply that the arguments between the two sides were so heated that the wrong side's views were completely negated.

Now I think that although Comrade Xiuyang and Comrade Li Lisan made some mistakes regarding the nature of the trade union, some of their views were correct.

The Chairman said, "The functions of trade unions in New China will certainly differ from those in the old era, because the revolutionary tasks have changed. But trade unions are workers' organizations after all, and they should still consider the workers more. You are right. The working class's right to supervise and distribute is the power of the workers and must never be deprived by revisionists. But how to ensure the working class's right to supervise and distribute requires the role of trade unions. Comrade Red Army."

"President."

"The work of the Federation of Trade Unions has always been the responsibility of the Secretariat. However, after the founding of New China, the work of the Federation of Trade Unions has gradually been neglected. The Secretariat has a lot of things to deal with, so the Federation of Trade Unions has been neglected. In the future, you should pay more attention to the work of the Federation of Trade Unions. See how the trade union organization can guarantee the supervisory and distribution rights of the working class while assisting production."

"Yes."

The Secretariat and the State Council are two completely different institutions.

But there are a lot of departments under his command.

For example, the Secretariat, in addition to the Party Committee departments, also includes the Communist Youth League Central Committee, the All-China Women's Federation, and the Federation of Trade Unions. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the work of the Federation of Trade Unions began to be given more attention.

After all, the Communist Party of China originated from the labor movement, the peasant movement, and the student movement.

At that time, trade unions were still very powerful. However, after the debate over the nature of trade unions broke out, the status of the Federation of Trade Unions in the Party Central Committee declined. Even the Chairman gradually forgot about the work of the Federation of Trade Unions.

However, after a trip to the Soviet Union, the Chairman began to pay attention to the work of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions again.

Because the Chairman was worried that if he did not pay more attention to the work of the Federation of Trade Unions, the working class would soon lose power.

So he instructed Wei Hongjun.

Wei Hongjun continued, "Revisionism is most evident in the third aspect. When it comes to the question of who to rely on, while they claim to rely on the people, they tend to favor cadres when it comes to lawmaking and policymaking. Gradually, through laws and policies, they establish the privileges of cadres and deprive the people of their power."

"Revisionism likes to expand its power. For example, in production and construction, we need to abide by production discipline. This is the same as in war; strict discipline is essential in production and construction. This includes observing time discipline, work discipline, safety discipline, confidentiality discipline, and so on. These disciplines are essential in production and construction, and no amount of strengthening is excessive. If these production and construction disciplines are seriously violated, cadres and workers should be criticized and punished. Repeated offenders should even be persuaded to resign or expelled."

"But revisionism extends this discipline from production and construction to everyday life. At work, subordinates obey their superiors, and subordinates follow their superiors' orders; this is expected and required discipline. But outside of production and construction, in everyday life, everyone is a comrade, with no distinction between superiors and subordinates. Everyone can criticize and supervise each other. However, revisionists extend the distinction between superiors and subordinates from production and construction to everyday life, demanding that the working class obey orders in their daily lives as well as in production and construction. Their 'production discipline' is no longer the discipline of production and construction, but an artificial hierarchy and class system."

"The result is a clear distinction between cadres and the working class, not only in production and construction, but also in daily life. The socialist pursuit of equality between officers and soldiers, or between cadres and the masses, has disappeared, and instead a bourgeois legal hierarchy has emerged. The revisionists are using this method to divide the masses into different classes and gradually establish bourgeois legal rights."

"Once the people have grown accustomed to it, accepted it, and become numb to it, they will choose to co-opt the cadre class in future lawmaking and policymaking, completely changing the purpose of 'serving the people.' All lawmaking and policymaking will no longer be about the people, but about protecting the privileged class."

The chairman was silent.

In fact, this is "bureaucracy".

It’s just that Wei Hongjun put it more clearly.

Why did the Chairman criticize "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office"? Because he hoped the people would not expect a "clean slate." They should fight for their own power. But this is too difficult.

The people have sharp eyes, but this takes time.

The masses often blindly follow what others say. This is especially true for the many newly illiterate people of New China, whose lives are confined to small places and whose perspectives are limited. They are even less clear about their rights. Only after experiencing many things do people gradually understand.

It is unrealistic to expect them to fight for their own rights.

The chairman thought for a moment and said, "There's been a lot going on lately, and a lot of work. Don't worry, just solve each problem one by one."

The Chairman knows that the Secretariat currently has a lot of work to do.

Wei Hongjun also had a lot to do. Every few days, the Secretariat would compile a report for the Chairman, reporting on its work. There were Party building, cadre appointments, propaganda, the newly established petition system, the work of the Communist Youth League Central Committee, and now, the need to consider "anti-revisionism." None of these issues were easy to resolve.

There are many things to do, and a calm mind is needed.

"Yes."

"Oh, I was originally thinking of studying more international affairs and socialist theory. But now it seems there are still many practical problems to solve."

The chairman shook his head.

The Chairman had originally thought that after the Ninth National Congress had made its arrangements, the work of the Central Committee would be divided among different leaders, and his own responsibilities would be greatly reduced. However, after discussing with Wei Hongjun, the Chairman realized that many practical issues still required his own decisions.

If I don’t solve these problems now, it will be more difficult for future cadres to solve them.

Wei Hongjun saw the Chairman's expression and asked, "Chairman, how many foreign delegations have you received this year?"

"I don't know."

The Chairman shook his head and smiled bitterly, "It's quite a lot anyway. Every time an ambassador to China is replaced, I have to make an appearance. There are also so many foreign Communist Party delegations, foreign dignitaries, and even some foreign celebrities visiting our country. I have to meet them all. If I don't, people will accuse me of being arrogant."

The Chairman is most annoyed by these things.

This is mainly because the Chairman is used to being casual. He prefers occasions where he can speak freely. However, meetings with these delegations are always very formal. And the conversations can last for an hour, so the preparation time adds up to several hours.

There are rules about what to say and what to wear.

This is what the Chairman hates the most.

But there's nothing we can do about it. The President is the President of the country, and these are all formalities. That's what the President of the country does.

The chairman must come forward.

Originally, the Chairman wanted to give up the presidency, but many within the Party opposed it. Initially, Gao Gang and Wei Hongjun were the most vocal opponents, and later, even more people opposed him. So, he had no choice but to continue serving.

Wei Hongjun suggested, "Chairman, I think you can let someone else do these tasks. Mr. Song Qingling is the Vice President of the State, and he is familiar with these occasions. In addition to being the Vice President, the Central Committee can nominate her to serve as the Honorary President of the State. As long as the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approves it, Mr. Song Qingling will become the Honorary President of the State. This way, Mr. Song Qingling can attend these occasions on behalf of the Chairman in the future."

The chairman became excited when he heard this.

These matters take up a lot of the Chairman's time every year. If this time can be saved, the Chairman will have more time to consider more important issues.

After thinking for a while, the chairman felt that this was indeed a good idea.

Song Qingling held a high position and great prestige, but he wasn't a Party member. If someone from within the Party were to become President, it would likely spark unnecessary speculation within the Party. But Song Qingling didn't have that problem.

No matter how the Central Committee honors Song Qingling, it is just honor. There will be no misjudgment within the party.

"I'll talk to Mr. Qing Ling about this."

The chairman felt better.

He told Wei Hongjun, "Don't make a big fuss about revisionism, especially don't spread criticism of the Soviet wage reform. But the Secretariat should do a good job formulating various 'anti-revisionist' policies. Also, the Secretariat has a lot of work to do, and there's no need to report every two or three days; that's too frequent. I don't have time to carefully review many of the reports submitted by the Secretariat. My suggestion is that, except for important matters that require immediate reporting, the Secretariat's daily work can be reported to me once a week, and written reports can also be reported once a week."

"Yes."

1031 The Battle Between Vacuum Tubes and Transistors

"Revisionism" is a major issue that cannot be easily resolved in a short period of time. Therefore, Wei Hongjun's first task was to discuss the issue of wage reform with Chen Yun, Deng Xixian, Li Fuchun, Deng Zhihui, and Li Xiannian.

Consensus must first be reached at the central leadership level.

The future direction of China's wage reform is to achieve equality and narrow the wage gap between cadres and staff. The current gap, over 20 times, should be reduced to 5 times. Reaching consensus on this issue at the central leadership level shouldn't be difficult.

Generally speaking, those who were able to participate in the revolution with their lives at risk, especially those who survived the brutal Agrarian Revolution, were cadres with ideals and beliefs.

Those cadres who lacked faith and ideals were eliminated long ago in the harsh environment of the Agrarian Revolution. They either left the ranks or betrayed the revolution. After all, the Agrarian Revolution was the most brutal period.

On the one hand, Chiang Kai-shek and the local warlords were constantly suppressing the CCP, resulting in the complete fall of all Soviet areas, leaving only one in ten remaining after the Long March. On the other hand, the leftist errors of the Central Committee led to the sacrifice of scores of Party members and cadres, not only in the fall of the Soviet areas, but also in the urban Party organizations, which were decimated. Of course, it wasn't just the enemies who were at stake; the Provisional Central Committee was also carrying out a brutal "anti-counterrevolutionary" campaign internally.

Hundreds of thousands of party members suffered heavy casualties, which is comparable to the critical moment during the "April 12th Counter-Revolutionary Coup".

Party members and cadres lacking faith and having weak willpower could not have survived the Agrarian Revolution. Why do we always talk about seniority? Because that's what seniority is. Can you ignore those who persevered under harsh circumstances and continued the revolution?

Today's key central officials all came from the Agrarian Revolution. Even Wei Hongjun, a relatively junior figure among the central leaders, joined the Red Army in 1929 and became a member of the Communist Party in 1932.

Therefore, everyone is relatively supportive of wage reform. Most people support the direction of wage reform, which is that while there will be disparities in rank, they should be kept small. After all, the original ideal of the revolution was to build a new society where everyone is equal.

On the contrary, the military was much more brutal.

Mr. Peng is always impatient.

After returning, he convened a meeting of the Military Commission. At the meeting, he directly pointed out that the current wage gap in the military was too large. The average soldier's monthly allowance was only four to six yuan, but after the previous reform, deputy platoon-level officers received around 50 yuan. Compared to the allowance of ordinary soldiers, that's a tenfold difference.

So Mr. Peng got angry again.

General Peng asked directly, is this still a unit from the Red Army?

Ordinary soldiers' allowances were so low, while promoted officers received such high salaries. The Red Army has always emphasized equality between officers and soldiers, so how could such a large disparity in allowances and salaries exist? Therefore, General Peng clearly stated that if the army were to implement wage reforms, the first step would be to increase ordinary soldiers' allowances, not adjust officer salaries.

The salaries of military cadres are already so high and do not need to be adjusted.

Many people on the Military Commission remained silent. Some agreed, while others, seeing General Peng's temper flaring, didn't want to argue with him. However, many things in the early days of the People's Republic of China's military could only be carried out with General Peng's personality.

This is something that offends many military officers.

At this time, Wei Hongjun was listening to a report on the electronics industry.

Bo Shuchun, Director of the National Science and Technology Commission, Zhang Jingfu, Deputy Director, Wang Zheng, Minister and Party Secretary of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, as well as researchers from the Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Department of Electronic Engineering of the West China Military Industry Corporation, and the Shanghai Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, as early as the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1952, the Premier personally led and participated in the formulation of scientific research plans. Based on reports from researchers at the time, the "Ten-Year Development Plan for Chinese Scientific Research" was formulated. This plan identified 57 tasks and 616 research topics, 12 of which were designated as key research areas. Computers, electronics, semiconductors, and automation were selected as the four urgent measures within the development plan.

So the Prime Minister has done a lot of work in this regard.

The entire First Five-Year Plan was devoted to laying the foundation.

Although China's electronics industry is currently underdeveloped, after several years of development, it has established a solid foundation. Starting with research institutes, supporting factories have been established across the country. For example, the Chinese Academy of Sciences established the Institute of Computing Technology and the Institute of Semiconductor Physics, and many universities have established semiconductor programs. Shanghai then established the East China Institute of Computing Technology, Shanghai Component Factory No. 5, Shanghai Electron Tube Factory, and Shanghai Radio Factory, among others.

The reason why Wei Hongjun convened this meeting was because there was a dispute over the direction of development of China's electronics industry.

That was the battle between vacuum tubes and transistors.

In 1956, Shanghai produced a transistor radio. Although it encountered numerous problems during technical acceptance, it was significantly smaller than tube radios, but its reception stability was far from stable. Many people gave it a low rating during the initial technical acceptance.

However, this was the first transistor radio in Chinese history, and it was a practical application of transistors. In 1957, Shanghai further improved the transistor radio and underwent a second technical inspection. Although some stability issues persisted, it was significantly better than the first test. Consequently, the sound of the transistor became even louder.

The current question is whether China's computer development should use vacuum tubes or transistors. Computers and semiconductors are both key areas of research and development for the central government, leading to growing controversy.

China's industry primarily emulated the Soviet Union, but Soviet technical advisors currently favored the development of vacuum tubes and, in turn, China's development of vacuum tube computers. Early semiconductor devices were noisy and unstable, leading Soviet experts to view transistors with a negative attitude.

In fact, such disputes also occurred within the Soviet Union.

That’s how to develop.

Should the development of vacuum tubes be prioritized, or should transistors also be developed? However, internal Soviet debate culminated in a 1955 electronics industry conference in which transistors were rejected, with the majority of resources allocated to vacuum tubes. Historically, the Soviet Union only gradually discovered the advantages of transistors after the s. At the time, transistors were rapidly developing in the United States, and integrated circuits were being adopted across various industries. The USSR was already lagging behind in the integrated circuit market, with many products boasting both superior performance and marketability. The US was already well ahead in computers, too. It was only then that the USSR began to refocus on transistor development.

So it wasn't until 1967 that the Soviet Union decided to imitate the IBM 360.

China is also currently experiencing this influence. If China had completely emulated the Soviet Union, there wouldn't be such a debate; it would simply have followed the Soviet Union's lead. However, many of the current technological leaders in China's electronics industry are former students of the United States.

Take, for example, Luo Peilin, a current leader in China's semiconductor industry, who firmly supported the development of transistors. Luo Peilin, 44, studied electrical engineering at Jiaotong University. A gifted scholar, he studied mechanics, metallurgy, chemical engineering, and management in addition to his major. He then joined the Shanghai China Radio Industry Company, where he participated in the design and development of large radio transmitters.