Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

But what do these grassroots cadres do?

Not only did they fail to educate the farmers, but they exploited them even more.

"Then what do you mean?"

"Political Commissar, I've seen that in ancient times, when the imperial court had policies, they would organize scholars to convey the policies to the illiterate. I think this kind of thing happens because many of the people at the grassroots level are illiterate and don't know about the policies formulated by the border region that affect them. Grassroots cadres take advantage of this situation and simply don't take the policies from above seriously. Can the border region party committee issue a document to have work teams convey policies that are closely related to the farmers? In the countryside, can we hold meetings every few days to convey the spirit of the documents to the farmers so that they can understand their rights? This way, we can prevent such things from happening again."

Wei Hongjun's eyes lit up.

Yes.

The biggest reason for this current problem is that so many people in the base areas are illiterate. Their ancestors have been farmers for generations, and beyond that, they know nothing else. It's not because they're incompetent, but because their lives have been repetitive for thousands of years. From birth to death, they've been doing farm work year after year. They live the way their parents lived, and so too can they.

They have never seen the world, nor have they read books to learn anything.

They are just ordinary farmers.

They were unaware of changes in dynasties, countries, and even the world. From birth to death, their horizons were limited to their rural areas. They knew only that someone came to manage the countryside and pay them taxes.

But this is not what the CCP wants.

The new China that revolutionaries want to build is a new China where everyone is the master of their own destiny. However, if the vast majority of farmers do not stand up and fight for their rights, then no matter what others say, it will be of no use.

But one of the problems is that farmers themselves don’t know what their rights are.

This requires everyone to do work.

We need to tell them what rights they have and let them know how to protect their rights.

Thinking about this, Wei Hongjun had a new idea. However, it was only a preliminary idea and still needed to be verified. Therefore, after Wei Hongjun and Chu Yan had a brief conversation, he hurriedly called Li Shaocheng.

Wei Hongjun began to tell him his thoughts.

"Secretary, what does this mean for public disclosure of village affairs?"

Chapter 593: Village Affairs Disclosure

"This incident wasn't difficult to handle. The cadres here can just deal with each one individually. But the underlying problem is very serious, and that's what's been bothering me the most these past few days. What worries me most is that this kind of thing isn't just happening in Weichang County; it exists to varying degrees in many of our bases. And it's not just our base; I think it's possible that we in Jin-Cha-Yi, and even throughout the Eighth Route Army base, have this problem. It's just that we haven't had an incident as serious as the 'resistance to public grain' that we've had here. I've thought carefully about it, and I think it's going to be difficult to prevent things like this in Weichang County, and they're sure to continue happening in the future." I analyzed the reasons for the emergence of these problems. One reason is the serious factionalism, where cadres shield each other, and in fact the situation of "officials protecting each other" that everyone hates the most has emerged. Another reason is the serious bureaucracy that has begun to appear among our party members and cadres. These people only consider their own interests, not the revolution, and do not consider the interests of the people. They have forgotten the purpose of our revolution and have fallen from being revolutionary cadres to the kind of bureaucrats and politicians in the old society who only know how to get promoted and make money. In order to prevent this from happening, we must strengthen the education of our party members and cadres, and resolutely deal with those party members and cadres who have lost their revolutionary beliefs and clear them out of our party and our revolutionary government. Another thing is to strengthen supervision over our party members and cadres and not let them do whatever they want at the grassroots level. Especially in rural areas, many of our farmers are illiterate, so they don’t understand our policies. Moreover, our farmers, under thousands of years of feudal oppression, have formed They've become submissive. So, whatever our work teams say, they simply accept it. Our farmers won't question the policies announced by the work teams, or whether their work is correct. This is the biggest problem. No matter how many good policies we formulate at the top, how grassroots cadres interpret them determines how they'll work at the local level. Therefore, the effectiveness of many of our policies at the local level depends entirely on the ability and attitude of grassroots cadres. If they truly care about the people and consider their needs, then the policies will be good. Even if their abilities are limited, at least they won't do things like this that harm the people. However, if our cadres develop a patronizing attitude and rampant bureaucracy, then any policy they implement at the local level will become a bad policy. This is something we must prevent, and we must address the underlying causes.

"We must absolutely not slacken our efforts in educating Party members and cadres. It seems our previous rectification campaigns were a bit too soft, failing to reach the souls of these cadres. Old Han, the Political Department must formulate a plan. We must launch an anti-bureaucratic, mass-line rectification campaign in the base area. We must give those of us Party members and cadres with "big boss" complexes a good lesson. Cadres with serious problems will all be reassigned to new posts or even expelled from the Party. Corrupt and degenerate cadres will be sentenced, and serious cases can be reported to the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau for execution. We are short of cadres now, but we lack truly revolutionary cadres who care about the people, not those who want to be "big bosses." Furthermore, the work of literacy among the people must not be stopped, but must be intensified. Even if our people cannot become educated, they must at least be able to read simple articles and letters. Only in this way can our people avoid being blind and understand our policies."

"But all this takes time. So what should we do at this stage?"

Han Weiguo asked.

Wei Hongjun has been really having a headache recently.

Others might have viewed this as a mere occasional problem. They simply dealt with those cadres who violated policy. But Wei Hongjun disagreed. He understood better than anyone that such incidents would become more frequent in the future.

After the founding of New China, this problem has remained a persistent problem.

Even after entering the 21st century, with advanced communications and the direct public disclosure of central and provincial policies, there were still numerous instances of grassroots misrepresentation of central policies, and even the embezzlement of central and provincial subsidies intended for the people. These individuals were truly brazen. Furthermore, in an era when communication was largely based on shouting, even the Chairman's writings could be suppressed by lower-level cadres. It can be said that for half a century after the founding of the People's Republic of China, central policies relied solely on interpretation by lower-level cadres. Ordinary people had virtually no opportunity to understand central policy documents. The precise implementation of central policies at the local level depended solely on the quality of grassroots cadres.

This is a long-standing problem.

It was impossible for Wei Hongjun to invent a method that could completely eliminate this problem. So Wei Hongjun was not considering a radical solution to the problem, but rather an effective prevention method to reduce the probability of such incidents.

"When I was chatting with Comrade Chu Yan, he said something that really touched me. He said that even though the work teams collected such a high percentage of public grain, no local villagers questioned it. This was because they didn't understand the policy and didn't know how much they had to pay. If they all knew how much they had to pay, how could our work teams dare to collect so much? That's why I said we need to strengthen literacy education so that our people can read and write, understand our newspapers, and understand our policies. But this alone is far from enough."

"If we want to reduce or prevent this kind of thing from happening, we must mobilize our people. Give them the right to know, the right to participate, and the right to oversee. The right to know is very simple. That's the job of our work teams and our grassroots governments: let our people know. For example, let's take the simplest example: how much public grain is collected each year and where it's used. We should let our people know in detail where the public grain we collect from them is ultimately used. Only by making it clear to our people can we prevent our grassroots cadres from arbitrarily distorting policies and making them on their own."

"Then there's the right to participate. Chairman Mao's Sanwan Reorganization and the Jinggangshan Struggle transformed our army into a modern one, and it began to undergo qualitative changes compared to the old one. One of the most important initiatives was the Soldiers' Committee. It was with the Soldiers' Committee that our army began to have equality between officers and soldiers. Because the Soldiers' Committee had the right to participate in the army, it could participate in all aspects of the army's military and economic work. Although the Soldiers' Committee was later abolished, the original system of Soldiers' Committees was a major innovation of our army. So my idea is to learn from the model of the Soldiers' Committee and give our people the right to participate. In rural areas, let our people boldly participate in village work. This will pool resources and at the same time allow our grassroots cadres to have more contact with the masses, preventing them from becoming detached from the masses and developing bureaucracy.

"Finally, it's about the right to oversee. Our people can't just blindly accept orders from above, like they did in previous feudal dynasties. They shouldn't just do whatever they're told to do. This isn't the purpose of our revolution. Our revolution isn't just a revolution for a few people, but a revolution for the people of the entire nation, a revolution for all of society. It requires the masses to awaken and arm themselves to protect their own rights and interests."

Our Party's mission is to help and educate the masses, raising their awareness. Our people shouldn't simply have as many rights as our grassroots cadres grant them. Instead, they must understand their rights themselves and independently safeguard them. Only in this way can they effectively oversee our grassroots governments and prevent the corruption of our grassroots cadres.

Han Weiguo and Li Shaocheng listened to Wei Hongjun's words and kept analyzing them in their minds.

Wei Hongjun was trying to make new changes to rural work. Previously, rural work was largely determined by dispatched work teams. The work of these teams directly affected the rural situation.

Because the working team has the power to interpret and implement policies.

But it is obvious that Wei Hongjun wants to make new changes and attempts.

"Secretary, according to what you mean, this village affairs disclosure means that the village's work should be fully disclosed to the people. At the same time, the people should be invited to participate in the village's work and supervise the work of the work team.

"Correct."

"Secretary, this idea and desire are good. But I think many parts of it are inappropriate."

Li Shaocheng immediately spoke up to express his opinion.

No hiding, very direct.

Wei Hongjun had a solid foundation in this area. Perhaps because he had just arrived in this time and space, he was constantly worried about his inability to lead the troops. From that time on, Wei Hongjun feared that his decisions would lead to negative consequences. Therefore, whenever he discussed matters with cadres, he listened very carefully to each cadre's opinions and allowed each cadre to speak freely. As a result, this gradually became Wei Hongjun's working style, and many cadres in the Eighth Column and the Chahar South Special Committee who had followed Wei Hongjun for many years were influenced by him.

Especially the cadres who are familiar with Wei Hongjun, they all directly expressed their opinions on Wei Hongjun's ideas.

Li Shaocheng followed Wei Hongjun for eight years. During almost the entire War of Resistance Against Japan, Li Shaocheng was Wei Hongjun's right-hand man in rural work.

So it was this time too. Wei Hongjun had just expressed his views on rural work when Li Shaocheng immediately dissented.

"If you have any ideas, please share them. Much of our work is unprecedented and requires gradual refinement. My own strength is limited, and my own ideas certainly have many shortcomings. You have extensive experience in local and rural work. Share them and let's discuss them together."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

He did not get angry because Li Shaocheng said that many parts of Wei Hongjun's ideas were inappropriate.

Because Li Shaocheng had been in charge of rural work in the base area since Sheng County, he was more familiar with rural affairs than Wei Hongjun. Wei Hongjun had a historical memory, so he could summarize historical experience at a higher level. However, when it came to specific implementation, he still had to listen to the opinions of local cadres like Li Shaocheng, as they had more experience and were more familiar with the countryside than Wei Hongjun.

Li Shaocheng said: "Secretary, it is a good idea to let the people participate in the grassroots government. I think this idea and direction are correct. But there is an important problem. Most of our rural semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor hired farmers are illiterate. Secretary, it's not that I don't trust our people. But the reality is like this. Many of them are honest and hardworking. Their ancestors have been facing the loess and back to the sky all their lives. They only know how to farm. Apart from farming, they don't know anything else and won't participate casually. Because they came here this way, they don't know how to do, or dare not participate in, many things in the countryside. The secretary's idea is correct, but it is impossible for these farmers to participate in rural work in a short time. On the contrary, once we allow rural farmers to participate in our work, then the first The rural activists who have joined in are not the honest, hardworking peasants we hoped for, nor the semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor hired peasants we hoped for, but rather the rural lumpenproletariat. Aside from powerful figures like the rich peasants and landlords, many of those active in the countryside are rural scoundrels. If we truly allow rural peasants to participate in rural work, the proportion of these scoundrels involved in rural affairs will even exceed that of most middle peasants. If these scoundrels join our revolutionary ranks, they will greatly undermine our revolutionary work and even damage our Party's image in the countryside. If we allow these scoundrels to participate in rural work, the harm they cause will far exceed that of the cadres we have dealt with in Weichang County this time. This kind of thing has happened many times in the Soviet areas before.

Wei Hongjun scratched his head.

The reason why Wei Hongjun admires Li Shaocheng is that he is really familiar with the countryside.

Rural issues are complex.

Giving power to the peasants, and how much power to give them, are issues that require careful discussion. In particular, the idle, deceitful, and swindling lumpenproletarians in rural areas are most likely to join the revolutionary tide. However, these lumpenproletarians are also a particularly destructive group within the revolutionary ranks.

This is what Li Shaocheng is worried about.

Once villagers are asked to participate in grassroots work, honest and hardworking farmers will hesitate, their long-term oppression preventing them from stepping forward. This is when the lumpen proletariat are most likely to join. They are essentially a bunch of local scoundrels, but if they present themselves as rural activists, they might even be able to join the Party, seize its power in the countryside, and ultimately tarnish its image in the countryside.

Seeing Wei Hongjun silent, Li Shaocheng continued, "Secretary, besides the ruffians, another major force in the countryside in the past was the clan.

Once rural farmers are allowed to participate in rural work on a large scale, the direction of rural work will not be what we want, but will completely benefit the clans. Rural work will favor the clan with the largest population in a village. This problem is as dangerous as allowing scoundrels to participate in our rural work.

Wei Hongjun listened to Li Shaocheng very carefully.

I was also thinking in my heart.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, many people, when discussing the achievements of the first thirty years of the People's Republic of China, tend to focus on industry. However, the true achievements of the first thirty years of the People's Republic of China were the dismantling of the rural feudal system, the crackdown on remnants of feudal ideology, and the destruction of the prevalent clan system in rural areas. These are, in fact, the greatest contributions of the first thirty years of the People's Republic of China.

Wei Hongjun has been in this time and space for eight years.

The clans in the north weren't as powerful as those in the south. Even so, in the base areas of Jinchayi, many rural clans were still quite powerful. Seeing Wei Hongjun frown, Han Weiguo said, "Political Commissar, Comrade Shaocheng is right. We should supervise our Party members and cadres, but we can't hand over the leadership of rural work to the clans and ruffians below for this reason."

Although Wei Hongjun did not express his opinion, he listened to everything.

The Party's absolute control over the military is the foundation of its current success. Similarly, the Party's control over the countryside is the foundation of its successful implementation of the civil service reforms. The countryside is also the foundation of national stability.

The Party cannot lose control over the army, nor can it lose control over the countryside.

Party members and cadres need supervision, and farmers must awaken and fight for their own rights. However, in the process, the Party's power must not be usurped by rural clans and scoundrels.

"Secretary, another point is that in rural areas, the only people who have the opportunity to study are at least middle peasants. In other words, if we really want to get the people involved, the only people who will participate in rural work in the short term, apart from the lumpen proletariat and clan forces, will be educated people from middle peasant families.

While the Eighth Route Army emphasized the united front, it inevitably chose to suppress rich peasants and landlords in rural political matters. This wasn't to say the Eighth Route Army disliked them. Rather, they were the rulers of the old society, the profit strata of that society. To seize power in the countryside, the Eighth Route Army had to suppress them in order to establish a new rule. However, the Party needed some educated people in the countryside, and these were necessarily from middle-class peasant families.

"That is to say, once rural villagers are given the opportunity to participate in grassroots work, they will no longer be the vast majority of semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor hired farmers.

"Yes. Semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor hired peasants are the oppressed class in the countryside. They suffer the most severe oppression, so they are also the least vocal in the countryside. They are also the least willing to try anything new. And based on my many years of experience working in the countryside, many of them are unlikely to participate in rural work anytime soon. If we want to get them involved, I think it would be better to pin our hopes on the current teenagers and those in their twenties."

Wei Hongjun was thinking.

Wei Hongjun took Li Shaocheng's words to heart.

Wei Hongjun is determined to promote the disclosure of village affairs.

But it certainly cannot be implemented blindly.

Many good things, when implemented blindly, eventually run into problems. Historically, major problems with land reform in North China arose from blind implementation. Wei Hongjun was also grateful to have Li Shaocheng, an experienced rural cadre, by his side to offer advice.

Otherwise, if I really blindly promote new ideas in rural areas, it might really cause chaos.

Wei Hongjun thought for a moment and said, "Village affairs disclosure should be carried out, but what you said is also a problem. We should simplify some outdated policies and implement work that is suitable for the current stage first. My idea is to only give our villagers the right to know and limited supervision rights, and full participation rights can be put on the back burner. After we cultivate more educated people in the countryside and let our farmers understand more about their rights, we can let them participate in rural work. The right to know can be achieved by holding a rural village meeting every month or every quarter. At the meeting, the work team or the village branch will report to the villagers on their work. The right to supervise is to supervise the work of the work team.

We can experiment with this. Scholars from middle-class peasant families, as well as those among rich peasants and landlords who support our policies, can also participate in small groups. We should implement this on a small scale, testing it out in a few villages first. There's no rush; we can wait and see how it works. If it's effective, we can roll it out countywide. Then, if it's good, we can roll it out throughout the border region.

"If it's simplified, I think it could be tried."

Li Shaocheng also supported it.

After all, this is a new idea and a very feasible one.

Wei Hongjun looked at Li Shaocheng and said, "Comrade Shaocheng, please assign some capable staff members to Weichang County to be responsible for this work. You should also come and take a look in person. Although I proposed the open village affairs policy, tell our staff not to feel any burden. Any problems should be written down. We must seek truth from facts. Only by constantly identifying and solving problems can our policies be improved. Don't cover up problems, because they may be extended to the entire Yi-Re-Cha Border Region in the future, and by then there will be dozens of counties. Even if it is extended to the entire Jin-Cha-Yi Border Region, that would be even more. If problems arise at that time, it will be fatal."

"Secretary, don't worry. I'll personally take charge of this work."

Wei Hongjun was not only thinking about the present, but also about what would happen after liberation.

How to deal with rural work after liberation.

Wei Hongjun knew that the Chairman's vision of a greater democracy would be difficult to achieve. Therefore, he hoped to find a democratic approach to rural governance, starting in the countryside, to offer a different option for future central leadership. The Chairman's vision of a greater democracy that would curb bureaucracy might also begin with smaller rural democracies.

That's why Wei Hongjun came up with such a pilot project.

Chapter 594: Activating Chu Yan

Wei Hongjun, Han Weiguo, Li Shaocheng and others carefully deduced the situation.

He then determined which options were appropriate for the current situation and which were inappropriate. He then began to consider a specific implementation plan. After completing this process, Wei Hongjun visited several villages where problems had arisen, primarily to appease the local population.

Such incidents have severely damaged the party's image in these rural areas.

Wei Hongjun needs to repair the relationship between officials and the masses here as soon as possible.

Wei Hongjun went to the homes of those arrested and spoke to them one by one. He did not apologize directly to them, but simply talked to them about their current living conditions and some of the policies in the border area.

Just like Lao Jiachang.

But the effect is very good.

It took Wei Hongjun several days to make a tour, but he quickly stabilized the people's hearts here.

Finally, Wei Hongjun came to find Chu Yan.