Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

But look at the current situation. Xinyang and the counties below it are isolated and have lost their economic vitality.

"Comrade Lu Xianwen, Comrade Zhang Shufan, haven't you seen the document issued by the Ministry of Rural Affairs? The free market for agricultural and sideline products was formulated by the central government based on actual conditions. Its purpose is to reduce losses among middlemen and encourage rural cooperatives that are more familiar with agricultural and sideline products to participate in the market in large numbers. For this reason, the Ministry of Rural Affairs even prohibits state supply and marketing cooperatives and state-owned commercial companies from participating in the free market for agricultural and sideline products. How dare you do this?"

Zhao Dezun directly questioned the Xinyang cadres.

Zhao Dezun was furious when he read these reports. Lai Ruoyu and Zhao Dezun were directly responsible for the development of rural industry and commerce. After Lai Ruoyu was hospitalized due to poor health, Zhao Dezun had been solely responsible for these matters.

In recent years, the free market for agricultural and sideline products has yielded significant results, significantly increasing rural incomes. In many places, free markets for agricultural and sideline products are flourishing. They are no longer simply free markets for agricultural and sideline products, but are gradually expanding to include processed agricultural and sideline products.

But this kind of thing actually happened in Xinyang.

"What you're doing is simply that local governments are replacing the functions of the former state supply and marketing cooperatives and state commercial companies. If that's the case, why would the central government implement a free market policy for agricultural and sideline products?"

"At the time, the Ministry of Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the National Supply and Marketing Cooperative announced that if a local government-run supply and marketing cooperative was losing money, it would be closed. Look at the supply and marketing cooperatives run by your local government in Xinyang. How many are profitable? And yet they've been operating for so many years? I think you're completely disregarding the central government's orders."

"Do you know what a free market is? It means there can't be any monopoly. Any qualified economic entity, including local governments, enterprises of different ownership structures at all levels, and rural cooperatives, can set up their own supply and marketing cooperatives and participate in the trade of agricultural and sideline products. This is the free market for agricultural and sideline products that the central government is promoting."

Zhao Dezun kept making noises, not giving any face to the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government next to him.

Luo Weilin stood up again and said, "This was a mistake on my part. I will definitely conduct a province-wide rectification to prevent this from happening again."

Wei Hongjun interjected, "Comrade Luo Weilin, there's no problem with focusing on practical work. But you have to understand that you're not a county-level leader, nor are you a cadre responsible for sudden attacks. You're already a provincial-level leader. You need to understand how to manage the overall situation and, even more importantly, how to train cadres. One person can't do all the work. You need to be good at identifying and training cadres so that things don't get delayed."

Luo Weilin was exceptionally adept at identifying problems and finding solutions. However, after joining the revolution, he spent his career wandering around in rural work, remaining a mere county-level cadre at the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan. His remarkable achievements in developing rural cooperatives ultimately led to his rapid rise to prominence in rural work. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he achieved remarkable success in the Rural Work Department, but at the time, he primarily conducted research, conducted theoretical work, and provided advice to its leadership. Therefore, he had never experienced independent leadership.

He is very capable in doing specific work. Just look at his planning of water conservancy projects and fertile farmland development in Henan. He is a cadre with great driving force.

Unfortunately, being a qualified provincial-level official involves more than just doing specific work. As the deputy secretary with full responsibility for Henan's rural affairs, even if he doesn't personally participate, he should have trained some rural officials to oversee the development of Henan's free market for agricultural and sideline products. This kind of problem shouldn't be happening now.

Because Xinyang is a major agricultural area in Henan Province, it should be an area that Luo Weilin attaches great importance to.

Therefore, Luo Weilin is still not fully familiar with the work that a cadre at the level of deputy secretary of the provincial party committee should do.

"Secretary Wei, I will correct my mistakes."

"If you have time, read more of the Chairman's articles, like 'Several Questions on Leadership Methods.' You need to learn how to formulate plans at a higher level, and then lead the cadres and the masses to implement these plans, rather than personally implementing them one by one."

"Yes."

Although Wei Hongjun has been criticizing Luo Weilin's work these two days, he still has high hopes for Luo Weilin.

Because this is a cadre who can get things done. He is not the kind of cadre who blindly pushes forward work, but a cadre who can deploy work from a higher position and also push forward work.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun was willing to teach him more and let him gradually adapt to how to be a provincial-level cadre.

"A supply and marketing cooperative employs so many people, but fails to do their job properly. Are all these people paid by the government? Where do their positions come from?"

After Zhao Dezun finished his criticism, Ma Mingfang also questioned angrily.

The supply and marketing cooperative established by the Xinyang Office had several hundred staff members, including a transportation team, storage management staff, and sales staff in several locations.

If you could make money and solve the problem of agricultural and sideline products in the city, and then you could support these staff members, you wouldn't be so angry.

But the result was that, far from making any money, a large amount of agricultural and sideline products were lost along the way. No one knew whether they had spoiled or been stolen. As a result, the supply and marketing cooperatives continued to lose money.

They couldn't make money, couldn't solve the city's problems, and yet they still had to support so many people. Ma Mingfang, the deputy head of the Organization Department, was furious. Where did all those staff come from?

The government has very strict control over staffing. It is impossible to casually give a public office hundreds or even thousands of people.

To put it bluntly, many of these people are not on the payroll, but are contract workers. But even if they are temporary workers, they still earn their living from the government.

The central government has been emphasizing the issue of bloated government agencies, but even at the local level, the problem persists.

The agricultural and sideline product market could be completely handed over to rural cooperatives, and local governments could simply collect taxes. That way, there wouldn't be a need to support so many people. But local governments insist on creating such a bloated supply and marketing cooperative team, all of which rely on government funding. This is simply outrageous.

None of the Xinyang Prefectural Party Committee and government officials, led by Lu Xianwen and Zhang Shufan, dared to breathe heavily. Meeting provincial and government officials was rare before, but now there were so many central government officials.

Moreover, the criticisms from the central government cadres were directed directly at the Xinyang Prefectural Committee and the public office cadres.

"Comrade Zhao Wenfu, I'd like to ask, is it possible that the Henan Provincial Organization Department is not paying any attention to these issues at all?"

"I think this situation must be investigated. How did so many staff members of the Xinyang Supply and Marketing Cooperative become staff members? Are they relatives or friends of Xinyang cadres? If this is the case, the staff of the supply and marketing cooperative should be disbanded, and those cadres should be dealt with."

Ma Mingfang's criticism was directed at the Henan Provincial Party Committee Organization Department. The current head of the Henan Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, Zhao Wenfu, is also the Secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee Secretariat and has a significant say in personnel matters.

But when this happened in Xinyang, the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department did not respond at all. This is the problem of the Organization Department.

"The Organization Department will send someone to investigate this matter."

Zhao Wenfu immediately expressed his opinion.

"Comrade Pan Fusheng, Comrade Wen Minsheng, Comrade Luo Weilin, Comrade Zhang Wentian, Comrade Zhao Wenfu, yesterday's press conference was the first local government affairs report, so it attracted nationwide attention. Yesterday's events will soon be reported nationwide."

Duan Chengwei is the acting Minister of Propaganda, but he has no power to make the Henan Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government do anything.

But he still put pressure on them, telling them that this matter was extremely sensitive because newspapers across the country would report it. He told them that the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Government should not try to get away with it.

Of course, Duan Chengwei didn't put pressure on them, and the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government didn't dare to be careless. But the big boss Wei Hongjun was sitting there.

"Comrades, we are Communist Party cadres. Our duty is to serve the people. In everything we do, we must always put the interests of the people first."

"Put the interests of the people first. Even if there are problems with work, they are merely mistakes. The Chairman has always said that we should 'cure illnesses and save lives' for such cadres. But if we ignore the interests of the people, then any mistakes we make are infinitely close to dereliction of duty."

Wei Hongjun was very angry about this incident. However, the Central Committee had just formulated the cadre appointment regulations, one of which was that the Organization Departments at all levels would manage the corresponding cadres.

This was Wei Hongjun's own initiative, so he wouldn't break it. Just like the cadres in Xinyang, they are under the management of the Henan Provincial Organization Department. How to deal with them is the responsibility of the Henan Provincial Party Committee.

Wei Hongjun would not directly intervene to deal with the cadres in Xinyang because this was the organizational principle.

But Wei Hongjun still expressed his opinion. The Xinyang cadres' actions were a dereliction of duty, but they did not cause serious consequences.

Wei Hongjun gave the power to handle the Xinyang issue to the Henan Provincial Party Committee, but the handling report had to be submitted to the Secretariat.

Wei Hongjun also had some dissatisfaction with Pan Fusheng. Pan Fusheng had been the Secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee for a long time, and Wu Zhipu had been transferred out of Henan for several years.

Henan Province has made great progress in specific areas, with impressive industrial and agricultural development data. However, Henan's Party conduct, including organizational work and propaganda, still faces numerous problems.

Does Henan lack good cadres? It certainly doesn't. Henan has many excellent cadres. Otherwise, how could Henan's industrial and agricultural development have made such great progress in recent years? Many grassroots cadres in Henan are working alongside the people to overcome Henan's natural disasters. But why do Henan's problems persist so frequently? It's likely that there are problems with the work of Provincial Party Secretary Pan Fusheng.

When Pan Fusheng, a cadre who held the "imperial sword" of the Shandong branch, took office in the Huxi base, he was decisive in dealing with the cadres involved in the "Huxi Purge". He showed no concern for the grievances of the Huxi cadres and ignored them.

But after arriving in Henan, he immediately became obedient in the face of the powerful Wu Zhipu. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the top leader of the Party committee held immense power, but in Henan, he was like a stepmother. Even after Wu Zhipu's transfer, he maintained the same policies regarding some Party committee departments, simply because he didn't want to offend Henan's local cadres.

For example, Zhao Wenfu, Secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee Secretariat and Head of the Organization Department, was Wu Zhipu's early general. After Wu Zhipu's departure, he took up the banner of the localist faction. As Secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, Pan Fusheng did not oversee any Party committee departments.

Wei Hongjun had already begun to consider that Pan Fusheng was truly unqualified as a provincial Party Secretary, and that the Henan Party Committee had too many problems. He believed that Henan should be equipped with strong Organization and Propaganda Department cadres. He needed to thoroughly overhaul Henan's Organization Department and Propaganda Department.

Wei Hongjun did not stay in Henan for too long, and returned to Beijing without waiting for the Henan Provincial Party Committee to come up with a solution.

Because Wei Hongjun saw too many things during his inspection trip to the south, he needed to return to Beijing to resolve them.

1045 Inspection System

After returning to Beijing, Wei Hongjun wrote a report summarizing his visit. Although the main purpose of his trip was to investigate labor union issues within enterprises of varying ownership structures, and the rest of his findings were fragmented, Wei Hongjun still uncovered numerous issues.

But don't be afraid of problems. After all, during a period of socialist development, encountering problems is inevitable. Find the root cause and solve the problem.

Wei Hongjun recorded the details of the industrial and agricultural problems and forwarded them to the Finance and Economics Working Committee, which needed to handle these specific issues.

As for the issue of small collective enterprises within rural cooperatives, Wei Hongjun had a brief discussion with Chen Yun and his team after returning to Beijing. Upon seeing Wei Hongjun's materials, Chen Yun and his team were astonished. They hadn't expected small collective enterprises to have grown to such a scale. If it weren't for Wei Hongjun's materials, they wouldn't have taken them seriously. Now that small collective enterprises have grown so rapidly, Chen Yun plans to convene a meeting specifically to discuss how to treat these enterprises. Wei Hongjun will be invited to attend.

Wei Hongjun was, after all, one of the leaders of the Central Committee's Party affairs department, so after returning to Beijing, his primary focus remained on cadre issues. During his inspection tour south, Wei Hongjun uncovered numerous cadre issues, including incompetence, a growing detachment between Party members and cadres and the masses, and rampant bureaucracy.

But the same thing still applies. Many of New China's current mid-level cadres are veteran Party members who participated in the revolution during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. To put it bluntly, they are all revolutionary heroes, and they all have intricate connections behind them. You can't just let them go because of a minor incident.

Therefore, the cadre issue must be gradually resolved. Those lacking competence must strengthen their studies. The "Regulations on the Appointment and Removal of Cadres" and the "Regulations on the Employment of Cadres" adopted at the Second Session of the Ninth Central Committee must be strictly implemented. Even if you are a revolutionary hero, if you cannot keep up with the pace of national development, you will be gradually eliminated. The state may support you based on past contributions, but those lacking competence must not be allowed to hold important positions.

As for being out of touch with the masses and rampant bureaucracy, we must use the Party’s discipline and supervision to ensure that Party members and cadres always have a sense of urgency.

Therefore, after Wei Hongjun returned to Beijing, he focused on how to continue to improve our party's supervision mechanism. Only strong supervision can solve the problems of certain cadres.

Just like the Xinyang incident, if intra-Party oversight had been kept up, it would have easily been discovered. But it dragged on for years. So how can intra-Party oversight, especially at the local level, be strengthened?

Just like the previous incident in Guangxi and the current incident in Xinyang, it is not feasible to react only after the fact. This would be too passive. Therefore, Wei Hongjun came up with the inspection system.

The CCP is already the ruling party, but how can it maintain its revolutionary character? This requires the CCP to constantly undergo internal self-revolution, eliminating unqualified members and recruiting qualified ones. To achieve this, it must continuously improve internal party oversight.

The inspection system is a very powerful measure of intra-Party oversight. The imperial censorship system, used for many years by Chinese feudal dynasties, certainly has much to learn. Half a century later, the central government began to prioritize the inspection system again.

The Communist Party of China has its own inspection system, which is clearly stipulated in the Party Constitution. Because Wei Hongjun directly participated in, or was directly responsible for, the revision of the CCP Constitution at the Ninth National Congress and the Second Session of the Ninth Central Committee, he is very familiar with the Party Constitution and the provisions regarding the inspection system.

While the Party Constitution contains provisions regarding the inspection system, there are currently no clear rules and regulations within the Party regarding this system, nor are there specific provisions. The inspection clause in the Party Constitution is like a dormant provision, seemingly forgotten and never mentioned. Wei Hongjun, having been in charge of the North China Bureau for over a decade before being promoted to the Central Committee, has never once heard central leadership discuss the inspection system at a Central Committee meeting.

But Wei Hongjun now considered the inspection system, believing it was still necessary for internal Party oversight. Therefore, Wei Hongjun needed to understand the history and development of the internal Party inspection system. He wanted to understand why the Party Constitution clearly contained a provision for the inspection system, yet the Party had forgotten about it.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun re-read the historical materials of the Communist Party of China, especially those related to the inspection system, to understand the development process of the inspection system within the party.

It turns out that as early as the "Constitution of the Communist Party of China" passed at the Second National Congress of the Party in 1922, there were already provisions for the inspection system: the Central Executive Committee may send personnel to various places at any time to convene various forms of temporary meetings, and such meetings should be chaired by the Central Special Envoy.

This marked the first time since the founding of the Communist Party of China that the inspection system was clearly defined. Perhaps the most important aspect of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was the establishment of the Communist Party of China and the clarification of the nature of the CCP. As for more detailed provisions of the Party Constitution, the First National Congress did not have the time to elaborate. Many aspects of the CCP Constitution were refined at the Second National Congress. Therefore, the inspection system was established at the Second National Congress. It can be said that the CCP has attached great importance to the internal inspection system since its inception.

At the time, these special envoys dispatched by the central government held considerable power. They could convey the central government's directives and, in accordance with them, exercise full leadership over local Party committees. Upon their arrival, these special envoys had the power to convene Party meetings, chairing them. It was clearly stipulated that the special envoys were the superiors of the local Party committees, who were to unconditionally obey their commands.

In 1925, with the rapid development of the revolution, especially the vigorous growth of the May 10th Movement, Party organizations were established in many areas where they had previously been absent. In response to the situation where "there was too little central guidance in many areas, especially in the north," the enlarged Central Committee meeting in October adopted a "Resolution on Organizational Issues," proposing that "the number of special Central Committee inspectors should be increased so that they can effectively provide guidance on all work at the district and local levels." This marked the initial establishment of the intra-Party inspection system.

Furthermore, this regulation further clarified and expanded the powers of the special envoys within the Party. After all, it was clearly stated in an organizational form that the special envoys would guide all work.

To further standardize, develop, and improve the intra-Party inspection system, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the "Central Inspection Regulations" in May 1931, requiring inspectors to have "Party membership for at least three years." This was the first time the CPC had adopted inspection regulations, marking the full establishment and continued improvement of the intra-Party inspection system.

In 1938, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the "Decision on the Working Rules and Discipline of Party Committees at All Levels," stipulating that "Party committees at all levels may, in order to understand the situation at the lower levels and facilitate guidance in their work, dispatch inspectors from higher-level Party committees to lower-level Party committees to convey their opinions, investigate the situation at the lower levels, and report back to the higher-level Party committees."

At the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee, the Central Committee began to shift its focus from the inspection system to Party discipline. This was because the Central Committee had already recognized the shortcomings of the existing special commissioner system. In particular, the special commissioners had excessive power, allowing them to intervene and manage everything in the local areas. However, the special commissioners were, after all, higher-level Party committees and were not very familiar with the situation at the grassroots level. However, their excessive power led them to give arbitrary orders at the grassroots level, ultimately causing enormous losses. Therefore, the Central Committee gradually began to integrate the inspection system with internal Party discipline.

However, this idea failed to take off. The CCP's inspection system essentially ceased operation at this point, with no further development, or rather, it gradually disappeared. Although some military regions still use the inspection system and the special commissioner system, these were completely different from the original CCP inspection system. Gradually, no one mentioned the inspection system anymore.

Although party committees at all levels will also send people to the grassroots level, it is different from the inspection system.

The CCP subsequently held numerous high-profile meetings, including the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth National Congresses, at which the Party Constitution was amended. However, the inspection system remained in the Constitution, remaining unchanged, though no one mentioned it.

This is the history of the development of the CCP's inspection system. After reading the materials, Wei Hongjun understood some things, but many questions remained. However, Wei Hongjun has begun to consider how to implement the inspection system.

After seeing what happened in Henan, Wei Hongjun became more certain. Even though New China had been established for ten years, the region was still dominated by various factions. This was because it had been that way during the revolutionary era, and it was impossible to change this situation in a short period of time during peacetime.

Their factionalism is not only manifested in their exclusion of Party members and cadres from other factions, but also in their exclusive focus on their own narrow interests, ignoring long-term interests. They fail to see the overall development issues and only focus on the small gains in the short term.

Therefore, the central government must strengthen its supervision of Party committees across the country, and any problems at the local level must be promptly corrected.

However, this was no small matter, and Wei Hongjun did have some questions. So, he discussed the issue with several secretaries of the Secretariat: Chen Tanqiu, head of the Organization Department; Tan Zhenlin, secretary of the Supervisory Commission; and Zhao Zhensheng, deputy secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

"Although our Party's inspection system played an important role in strengthening Party discipline and promoting the development of local Party organizations in its early years, it also suffered from significant drawbacks. The most significant drawback was that the dispatched special commissioners had excessive power, allowing them to issue orders on behalf of higher-level Party committees. These commissioners had no understanding of local conditions, but because they had the power to directly lead local Party committees, they directly directed their work, causing great damage to the revolution. Precisely because of this, there was a period of intense resistance within the Party to the inspection system, with the Central Committee receiving complaints about it daily. Therefore, although the Central Committee sought to re-emphasize the inspection system at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee, and our Party has maintained the inspection system, it has essentially been abolished."

Organization Department Minister Chen Tanqiu spoke.

Chen Tanqiu was much more familiar with the Party's early work than Wei Hongjun. Wei Hongjun needed to look up materials to understand the Party's early history, while Chen Tanqiu had experienced it firsthand.

Chen Tanqiu was quite familiar with the early Party inspection system. He was even appointed several times by the Central Committee as a special commissioner, inspecting the Shunzhi Provincial Committee and the Manchuria Provincial Committee. He also spent his early years working in the Organization Department, both at the Central Committee and at local levels.

Therefore, he was very familiar with the early inspection system of the Communist Party of China. He saw that Wei Hongjun was not very clear about this issue, so he explained it to Wei Hongjun in detail.