Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

But there are still more than 200 people in their district team.

"I've checked. The staff in their district, other paid personnel, as well as the district teams and rural work teams, all receive allowances much higher than the stipulated amount. And there are also subsidies. The annual subsidies for these staff alone require at least 300,000 kilograms of grain. According to the stipulated public grain collection plan, the grain left in their district is simply not enough for them. But the extra grain collected becomes subsidies for their own staff. They sell the remaining grain and food to our stores in the name of the district government in exchange for what they need. They then distribute these items during festivals. Their district party secretary and mayor don't actually take much more than others."

“They didn’t take more than others, but this was a greater evil.

Wei Hongjun became even angrier.

This is a complete gang crime.

In the eyes of these cadres, the district party secretary and mayor of Weitai Township were presumably first-rate "good cadres." After all, they secured so many benefits for them. However, these people didn't consider that all those extra benefits were taken from the farmers. The "good cadre" in the eyes of these cadres was, in fact, a corrupt official who "levied heavy taxes and collected extortionate sums."

He is truly not worthy of being a human being.

"What about the other districts?"

“There are also cases of overstaffing, but not as extreme as in Weitai Township.

Wei Hongjun understood.

During this time, Jin-Cha-Ji was developing so rapidly, and the rear base was so stable. Consequently, many problems that shouldn't have arisen at this time began to surface in the base area. These problems were originally supposed to emerge after liberation.

But it was still the Anti-Japanese War period, and problems began to arise.

The central government has required all military regions to streamline their forces and administration, and it has only been a short time.

Instead of losing weight, the number of people has become bloated.

"Does the county government know about the situation in Weitai Township?"

"It's hard to say."

Han Weiguo said, "It should be said that they are all in the same county, and Weitai Township is blatantly doing so, with absolutely no concealment. The news should have reached the county government, but we haven't seen any action from them. However, our investigation has not yet revealed that the county government has collected any extra grain from Weitai Township."

"If you don't know, then you're just a bunch of fools. If you know and turn a blind eye, then even if you didn't take these things with Weitai Township, you're still guilty of an unforgivable crime. This is actually worse than the evil that can be seen and touched, and it's even more destructive to our revolution."

Wei Hongjun calmed himself down.

After a while, he said, "Let's deal with them one by one."

Chapter 591: Factionalism and Staff Reduction

After receiving the report, Wei Hongjun couldn't sleep at all at night.

Tossing and turning.

This incident had a profound impact on Wei Hongjun. He had been considering the underlying causes. While there was a certain element of chance in the occurrence of anything, there was also an inherent inevitability. Only by truly identifying and resolving this inevitability could the problem be truly resolved.

However, finding this inevitability or solving this inevitability is often the most difficult thing.

Wei Hongjun was so consumed by thought that he couldn't sleep, so he went outside to refresh himself in the cool air. He saw Han Weiguo and walked over. He offered him a cigarette and lit one for himself. Whenever he felt troubled, Wei Hongjun would resort to smoking to clear his mind.

"Old Han, you haven't slept either."

"Alas, this time it was my fault. Our work was mainly focused on the enemy spies, but we didn't pay attention to the problems within the base area. The problems in the public security department are also very serious. Many of our comrades in the public security department were directly transferred from the army because of insufficient manpower. These people may be good on the battlefield, but after arriving at the public security department, they have too many problems. Many of them, although they have arrived at the public security department, their hearts are still on the battlefield. They still treat public security work as if they were fighting in the war. Some are cadres transferred from the army's security department, and they treat things more like they treat enemy spies. Maybe it's their habit, they always consider any problem from the perspective of enemy spies."

Han Weiguo has been reflecting.

Although Han Weiguo no longer interfered with the specific operations of the Public Security Bureau after its establishment, the work of the Public Security Bureau was still within Han Weiguo's scope of work. With such a serious incident happening this time, Han Weiguo naturally felt very guilty.

Wei Hongjun patted Han Weiguo on the shoulder. Among the many cadres in the Eighth Column, every Party member and cadre has their own selfish motives; it's impossible for all to be selfless. Many people may have different motivations for joining the revolution. But while many may harbor some ulterior motives, the majority of Party members and cadres of this era still possess ideals and passion.

Among these people, Wei Hongjun had the best impression of Han Weiguo.

This is a true member of the Communist Party of China in this era.

He usually works meticulously.

Although he may seem a bit unkind, he usually handles things fairly and doesn't judge people by their closeness or intimacy.

Of course, what Wei Hongjun likes most about Han Weiguo is that he is very principled, but he is not corrupt when dealing with things. He can grasp policies very flexibly based on principles.

Such cadres are outstanding wherever they are.

"Public security is indeed a top priority. As our military bases expand, conflicts in many areas shift from being between enemies and ourselves to being conflicts among the people. Therefore, many security efforts previously focused on conflict between enemies and ourselves must be transformed into public security efforts focused on conflicts among the people. These two types of work are different in nature and require different approaches."

Therefore, we cannot apply the old military and political security methods to public security work. After all, handling contradictions between ourselves and the enemy and handling contradictions among the people are two completely different things. Furthermore, effective public security work requires a thorough understanding of policy. Regularization of public security work is imperative.

"Regularization of public security?"

"Yes. We need a group of public security cadres who are familiar with the policies and understand public security operations under the new situation. I will discuss this matter with the commander. Our Jin-Cha-Ji rear is currently so safe that we should do something. Many things need to be explored and prepared from now on. Only when we are fully prepared will we not panic when the revolution triumphs and the new China is established.

Han Weiguo nodded.

Han Weiguo likes chatting with Wei Hongjun and working with Wei Hongjun.

It’s because Wei Hongjun has foresight.

While others were still thinking about tomorrow, Wei Hongjun was already thinking about what would happen a month from now. Han Weiguo had discovered problems on the public security front. Many Party members and cadres who had transitioned directly from the military to public security were not suited to public security work.

They brought their warlike working style directly into the public security sector, and as a result, their working style became very rough.

There may be no problem on the battlefield.

But on the public security front, this problem is much more serious.

But I had only just begun to consider this issue, considering how to change the work style of the public security department. But Wei Hongjun had already begun to consider the issue of regularizing the public security front. Wei Hongjun even summarized this issue: in the stable base areas now, the main contradiction has shifted from the enemy to the contradiction among the people. The methods used to deal with the enemy cannot be used to resolve contradictions among the people.

This sentence immediately opened Han Weiguo's mind. After hearing Wei Hongjun's words, Han Weiguo began to consider what qualities a regular public security cadre should possess. If it was a conflict among the people, how should the public security cadres handle it? Han Weiguo and other security cadres were very familiar with handling contradictions between ourselves and the enemy. But what about conflicts among the people?

What are contradictions between ourselves and the enemy? What are contradictions among the people?

This also needs to be redefined by these security cadres.

Even Han Weiguo himself was not sure about this.

Because he has never been a serious public security cadre.

"Old Han, do you know what shocked me the most this time?"

"what?"

"It made me further realize the problem of factions and factionalism."

"this?"

If this incident is attributed to factionalism, wouldn't it be a bit of an exaggeration? Wei Hongjun sighed and said, "Do we have few Party members and cadres in District Three? Quite a few. They've been working here for a long time. Don't they know there's a problem? For example, in Weitai Township, the work team cadres collaborated with large landlords to obstruct rent and interest reductions. Some people saw it, discovered it, but simply didn't speak out. The same goes for the cadres in Weichang County. Don't they really know what's going on in Weitai Township? Don't they really know what's going on in District Three? Why do they have the audacity to lie and cover up these problems?

The Weichang County Public Security Bureau also conducted an investigation, but why did their report favor the Three Zu District so much? Why? Because the current cadre composition in many of our areas consists of people who have been involved in the revolution together for a long time. Many of the cadres in Weichang County originally came from the Pingxi Prefectural Committee, some later moving to the Chadong Base Area, and some to the Pingbei Base Area. Many of them came to Weichang County together to work there. They worked together for five or six years, or even seven or eight years. After such a long period of working together, there's undoubtedly a bond. But this also began to breed factionalism, and they began to harbor ulterior motives.

"You said the emergence of factions is a normal phenomenon. Over the long term, everyone works together, revolts together, and lives together, so naturally, their feelings develop. Over time, this creates what people often call factions. The existence of factions is objective, but factionalism is unacceptable. The result of widespread factionalism is that people only care about their own faction's interests and don't want others to interfere in their affairs. Even if there are problems, they will help cover them up rather than correct them. Factionalism will exclude other cadres and form a group to protect their own interests. Factionalism will bring great harm to the revolution. In the future, when the revolution triumphs and the construction of a new China is achieved, factionalism will also be a major problem."

After all, Wei Hongjun was just an ordinary civil servant in his previous life.

And I just started working not long ago.

Therefore, I have no personal experience of the so-called factionalism described in history textbooks. In the early years, Wei Hongjun always felt that the central government always emphasized the fight against factionalism because it was worried about the emergence of "warlords".

I also think that overemphasizing criticism of factionalism is a bit of an overreaction.

However, as Wei Hongjun fought in this space and time for so many years, he gradually began to understand what he had only read about in the past, including some theories. He began to truly understand the harm of factionalism. No matter how to deal with factionalism, it is not excessive.

This incident made Wei Hongjun realize even more clearly what factionalism really is and how serious its harm is. The problem in Weitai Township was so serious; if the Public Security Bureau had conducted a thorough investigation, wouldn't they have known about it? Could it be that the county government had been completely unaware of the overcollection of public grain in Weitai Township for the past two years? Yet, why did everyone remain complacent?

They deceived the border region party committee from above and suppressed the farmers' doubts from below.

This incident reminded Wei Hongjun of the famous historical cases of Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan.

After liberation, the two of them acted arrogantly in Hebei, hiding many of their actions without a trace. For them, seizing power was commonplace. Some cadres at the time believed their actions were wrong, so they reported them to higher authorities, hoping they would rein them in. However, their reports had no effect. The Hebei Provincial Party Committee and the North China Bureau clearly received reports against them. But during the period when they were committing these mistakes, why did the North China Bureau and the Hebei Provincial Party Committee suppress these reports? Why didn't they deal with Liu Qingshan, Zhang Zishan, and others?

In fact, it is factionalism that is at work.

After liberation, the local cadre system in North China was primarily composed of cadres from Comrade Xiuyang's North China Bureau. The military system was primarily composed of cadres from the North China Military Region. In other words, after liberation, the situation in both the central government and North China was that local cadres were primarily composed of cadres from the North China Bureau, while military cadres were primarily composed of cadres from the North China Military Region, effectively the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei region.

This was definitely a big mountain at that time.

The problems of Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan were also due to factionalism at the time. We were all old colleagues, so we turned a blind eye.

At that time, there were quite a few such people among the cadres in North China, but their ranks were not as high as Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan, and their stories were not as sensational.

Even after the Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan cases broke out, the leaders of the North China Bureau and the top leaders of Tianjin wanted to show them some leniency, saying they were taking into account their revolutionary contributions, but in fact, they were just taking into account that they all came from the same faction.

If I had only read the information about the cases of Zhang Zishan and Liu Qingshan.

Wei Hongjun personally witnessed and understood what happened in Weichang County. He came to understand the dangers of factionalism.

I used to think that the loyalty and righteousness of a member of a faction was truly precious. After all, affection between people is the hallmark of true friendship. But after experiencing more, Wei Hongjun began to understand why the Chairman said, "When dealing with friends: judge work by the matter, judge personal relationships by personal relationships. Discuss work based on theory and law, and judge personal relationships based on affection." Factionalism challenges this very principle. They confuse work with personal relationships, treating work matters with the sentiment of personal relationships.

Factionalism is truly destructive to the revolution.

Han Weiguo nodded slowly after hearing Wei Hongjun's words.

Yes.

If we analyze this matter from the root, we can see that it is indeed a matter of factionalism.

"Old Han, today we are alone, so I will say something a little bit extreme. What happened here is just a grassroots issue.

What about on a larger scale? Our Yirecha Military Region is a faction, as was the former 120th Column, and the First Division, also a faction. Going up further, our Jinchaji Military Region is an even larger faction. What about the other units? The 129th Division, the th Division, and the Shandong Military Region—are they all part of a faction? If these factions don't value revolution, principles, or cooperation, and only value internal sentiments within their factions, what a terrible factionalism! If this kind of factionalism runs rampant, it will hinder the progress of the revolution and undermine its purity. Even if the revolution succeeds, it will pose serious problems. After victory, everyone will sit in a row and divide the spoils. Then, according to their factions, they will be assigned different positions, preventing other cadres from intervening. How can we achieve unity and cooperation in building a new China under such circumstances?

The two have worked together for many years.

Wei Hongjun believed in Han Weiguo's character, so he expressed his concerns to him. Han Weiguo nodded, but soon frowned and said, "But people are emotional animals after all. When people get along with each other for a long time, they will develop feelings. Just like the two of us, for example, if someone said one day that I was a counter-revolutionary, would the political commissar believe it at the first time? If it was me, I would definitely not believe it and would even defend the political commissar. Many problems arise naturally and we cannot avoid them." Han Weiguo had been doing underground work during the Red Army period.

I still know a lot about interpersonal issues.

Wei Hongjun nodded.

Many issues are difficult to handle because it's difficult to strike the right balance. If you stay within that balance, it's just revolutionary sentiment. But if you exceed that level, it becomes factionalism.

However, Wei Hongjun continued, "Old Han, organize people in your political department to use this incident as an example to write an article criticizing factionalism. Our cadres must not, just because they have been working together in the revolution for many years and have developed personal relationships, use friendships to replace principles in their work."

Always remember that work is work, and personal relationships are personal relationships. All Party members and cadres are absolutely prohibited from using personal relationships for work purposes. Then, circulate this message to all departments below, so that they all understand the dangers of factionalism.

"it is good."

"Old Han, tell me, is human nature good or evil?"

The higher Wei Hongjun's position, the more he thought.

I started thinking about philosophical questions.

No wonder it is said that qualified politicians are philosophers.

"Whether human nature is good or evil has been debated for thousands of years. How could I possibly understand it? But one thing is certain: it takes time for a person to learn good things, but it only takes a moment to learn bad things. Many of our Party members and cadres can sometimes learn bad things in a moment's thought. Or if they relax their self-discipline even a little, they will make mistakes."

"Yes, as long as people relax, they are prone to making mistakes. But our party members and cadres are prone to relax when there is no pressure."

Conquer the world and rule the world.