Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Marshal Nie was also very angry.

Jin-Cha-Ji was the base area built by Marshal Nie. Liu Huafu's previous "land reform plan," while not as clearly planned and step-by-step as Wei Hongjun's, was generally less problematic.

But how come the land reform became so serious after Liu Huafu went to Pingshan County?

Marshal Nie was seriously dissatisfied with Liu Huafu.

You are a local cadre, but your land reform work is not as good as that of a military cadre like Wei Hongjun. After hearing Marshal Nie's words, Liu Huafu realized that if he did not fight back, he would have no place to stand in Jinchayi.

Therefore, he said, "I do not agree with Comrade Nie Rongzhen's resolution. Even if the land reform in Pingshan County is somewhat radical, it is absolutely not problematic strategically. On the contrary, the land reform in Sheng County has a serious rightist tendency. I absolutely cannot accept the comrades' rejection of the land reform in Pingshan. As the deputy secretary of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau, I propose that we submit our land reform plan to the Central Committee for judgment."

Marshal Nie's face turned ugly.

Marshal Nie nodded and said, "Since Comrade Liu Huafu thinks so, then I agree with you. In addition to your land reform plan, please report the current land reform situation in Sheng County and Pingshan County to the Central Committee."

Chapter 662 Sheng County Experience

The five secretaries of the Central Committee.

In this era, the Secretariat is responsible for the central work, and the Central Secretariat replaces the functions of the Political Bureau Standing Committee.

Of course, this doesn't mean that all work is handled by the five secretaries together. If everyone were to handle all work together, the five secretaries would be extremely busy. There are also divisions of labor among the five secretaries.

Normally, only major tasks will be discussed together by the five secretaries.

That's it now.

However, Wu Hao is currently in Nanjing, so the meeting is held by the four major secretaries.

The land reform dispute in Jin-Cha-Ji had a significant impact. Cadres from the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau were extremely dissatisfied with the Pingshan land reform, and many sent telegrams to the Central Committee expressing their dissatisfaction with the Pingshan land reform. Marshal Nie also directly expressed his opposition to the Pingshan land reform.

Of course, Liu Huafu also sent a telegram to the Central Committee, expressing his own thoughts on land reform. He then criticized the land reform in Sheng County led by Wei Hongjun, and even "accused" military cadres such as Yang Quanwu, Wang Zhi, and Li Zhimin of interfering in his land reform.

Wei Hongjun didn't say anything about the Pingshan land reform.

Because it is not necessary.

Now Yang Quanwu, Wang Zhi, Li Zhimin and others are more anxious than anyone else.

Because Pingshan Tu was transformed into the 12th Brigade of the First Field Army of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei, the morale of the troops was unstable. Yang Quanwu and his men were very anxious.

The 12th Brigade was an elite unit from the Fourth Division. It was formed by merging the former Fifth Regiment of the Fourth Division with the troops from the Ninth Division of the Hebei-Central Military Region.

A force of more than 10,000 people.

If we can't win the war in a short period of time, the losses will be huge.

So they all accused Pingshan of land reform.

Liu Huafu had been "accusing" Yang Quanwu, Wang Zhi, and Li Zhimin of being unqualified to interfere in land reform. He had forgotten that Yang Quanwu was a member of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau, and that Yang Quanwu and Wang Zhi were Party secretaries of the Hebei-Central Border Region and the Hebei-Shandong Border Region, respectively. All held local positions.

Wei Hongjun didn't have the energy to add insult to injury for Liu Huafu. In his report to the Central Committee, Wei Hongjun carefully outlined his ideas for land reform. He divided land reform into three phases.

One is the primary stage, one is the intermediate stage, and one is the advanced stage.

During wartime, land reform needed to proceed gradually, serving the war effort. This phase was the initial phase of land reform. The goal of this phase was to stabilize the middle peasantry, provide land to the vast majority of semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor and hired peasants, and initially transform the rural land system. However, it was also necessary to provide a way out for the rich peasants and landlords; they could not be pushed entirely to the enemy's side.

When the revolution reached a certain stage, all the bases were completely stabilized.

The next step is the intermediate stage of land reform.

That was to implement the policy of "land to the tiller." Land was distributed according to population, and at that time, all peasants, including middle peasants, were required to participate in the intermediate stage of land reform. In the intermediate stage, in addition to cultivated land, even the mountains, forests, and rivers and lakes were included in the scope of land reform.

When the revolution is victorious, it will be the advanced stage of land reform.

At that time, the goal of land reform, in addition to "land to the tiller", will also include considering how to develop rural productivity and take care of the rural orphans and widows.

All of this must be accomplished in the advanced stages of land reform.

It is impossible to achieve everything in one step.

Wei Hongjun has his own analysis of the policies for each stage of land reform.

Wei Hongjun then raised many previously unanswered questions. After this land reform, it was possible that among the semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor peasants, some diligent and intelligent people would stand out and quickly become new rich peasants.

How should we treat such people?

Should they be treated as new rich peasants? Or should they continue to be treated according to their original class status? In the intermediate and advanced stages of land reform, should they be treated as rich peasants?

If this is the case, who among the farmers who have been allocated land would dare to get rich?

Or perhaps some activists among the semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor hired peasants were recruited into the Party. But what if their families became wealthy?

Wei Hongjun's land reform plan was very detailed.

Wei Hongjun, of course, gave a detailed account of the land reform in Sheng County, including the preparatory work undertaken by Li Shaocheng, Chen Tao, and their investigations of Sheng County. He also included the "Five Basic Principles" proposed by Chen Tao during the land reform in Sheng County.

The five secretaries looked at the report quietly.

Ren Peiguo's face darkened as he looked at Wang Zhi's report. He began, "I think there are many problems with the land reform in Pingshan, and Comrade Liu Huafu's land reform plan has even more. In my opinion, Comrade Liu Huafu's land reform in Pingshan has at least the following six major problems. The first is the practice of stipulating the ratio of rich peasants to landlords. Every village has its own unique circumstances. Stipulating a ratio for rich peasants and landlords in each village is artificially creating contradictions. What if some villages don't have that many rich peasants and landlords? That wouldn't be forcing lower-level cadres to increase the number of rich peasants and landlords. This is typical dogmatism."

"The second issue is that the criteria they set for defining rich peasants and landlords are flawed. In Comrade Liu Huafu's plan for the reform of the gentry, anyone who had engaged in employment was classified as a rich peasant or landlord. However, I believe this is also a serious problem. It stems from Comrade Liu Huafu's complete lack of understanding of the countryside and agriculture. Farming has its busy and slack seasons. During the busy season, some middle peasants, short of manpower at home, would temporarily hire others to do the work. I don't believe this type of employment constitutes exploitation and doesn't meet the criteria for rich peasants. As long as the income from such employment accounts for a very low proportion, these people still fall into the category of middle peasants. At best, they are well-off middle peasants."

"The third issue is that Comrade Liu Huafu's land reform in Pingshan completely severing the history of the Jin-Cha-Yi region. Comrade Wang Zhi's point is quite reasonable. Pingshan County was the old base area of ​​the Jin-Cha-Yi region, and the people here fully supported our Eighth Route Army in its fight against Japan. Those with money contributed money, and those with people contributed people. These people should be the ones we unite with, the ones we need to unite with, not our enemies. However, the Pingshan land reform did a very poor job in this regard. They didn't make a clear distinction between rich peasants and landlords, and instead lumped them all together as local tyrants and evil gentry. This is not in line with central government policy."

"Fourthly, Comrade Liu Huafu's land reform in Pingshan also had serious problems with its policy towards the middle peasants. They classified a large number of middle peasants as rich peasants, making them targets for our overthrow. However, we know that there are currently a large number of self-cultivating farmers in North China, and their proportion is very high. If we carry out land reform according to Comrade Liu Huafu's model in Pingshan, our land reform will seriously harm the interests of these middle peasants. The purpose of our land reform is to unite more forces, not to push more forces to the enemy side.

"The fifth problem is that the land reform in Pingshan did not have a clear goal, nor a clear procedure for land reform. The land reform in Pingshan seemed lively and bustling, but it was completely disorderly. The land reform work in the villages below was not under the control of our work teams, but was completely handed over to the "Poor Peasants' League." However, without any guidance, many of the things the "Poor Peasants' League" did were too extreme. It was just like the burning and killing policy of the Southern Hunan Special Committee back then. They beat and killed rich peasants and landlords, and even affected many middle peasants. In just a short period of time, the Poor Peasants' League beat and killed so many people and imprisoned so many people.

"The sixth issue was the tension between the land reform team led by Liu Huafu and local cadres in Pingshan County. As a result, the land reform work in Pingshan County was underdeveloped and lacked a plan. Each village did what it wanted."

Ren Peiguo's health is very poor.

He was arrested and imprisoned twice, where he suffered severe torture, which was a great blow to his body.

Blood pressure even reached 200.

But he still went around to investigate. Land reform in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region was also beginning to show some signs of "leftism." However, Ren Peiguo's data was still insufficient. He hadn't expected such a major dispute to ensue in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei over the issue of land reform.

Ren Peiguo carefully observed the land reform work in Pingshan County.

Especially the reports written by Wang Zhi and Li Zhimin.

Ren Peiguo, unconcerned with Liu Huafu's former status as a key figure in the Northern Bureau, directly pointed out the problems with Pingshan's land reform. He continued, "I believe that while Comrade Liu Huafu has his own land reform plan, it only has objectives and conclusions, not an overall strategy or plan. This is the reason for the numerous problems with Pingshan's land reform. I remain very optimistic about the land reform plan drafted by Comrade Wei Hongjun."

In particular, he divided land reform into its primary, intermediate, and advanced stages. Comrade Wei Hongjun had a clear mindset; he understood what should be done in the initial stages of land reform. To prepare for land reform in Sheng County, the work team began work there early. Their preliminary work was exceptional, compiling detailed statistics on the county's land situation and the various classes, including historical archives on rich peasants and landlords. This enabled them to confidently advance the reform. They also anticipated future challenges that would arise after land reform, such as land sales and the rise of new middle and rich peasants. They considered these issues and developed specific solutions.

After Ren Peiguo finished speaking, everyone fell silent.

After a while, the commander-in-chief said, "The land reform is affecting military morale, which is a major problem. The land reform in Pingshan County targeted rich peasants and landlords indiscriminately, and then expanded to include middle peasants. Among them are many military dependents, especially those of the 12th Brigade of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Region."

"We can't be too eager for success or rush into anything when doing our work."

The chairman put down the report in his hand.

I asked Ren Peiguo, "What do you think of Comrade Wei Hongjun's reform of the military in Sheng County?"

"This is a land reform experience worthy of promotion. I believe that Comrade Wei Hongjun's land reform has achieved groundbreaking results in four aspects. First, Comrade Wei Hongjun's judgment on the division of land reform into primary, intermediate, and advanced stages is excellent. His idea of ​​implementing land reform policy in stages is based on an analysis of the actual situation, conforms to the objective facts of the current stage, and is a pragmatic view. His division of land reform stages can fully become our overall policy for land reform."

"Secondly, during the land reform in Sheng County, he used archival statistics that combined history and reality to analyze the rich peasants and landlords. This is very important. Many rural land reforms currently lack this kind of statistics, which is why they are wavering between left and right, and they don't know how to treat the rich peasants and landlords. All of our liberated areas should learn from Sheng County and compile a complete archival statistics of the history of the rich peasants and landlords, as well as their current policy attitudes towards us. Only with the most detailed and complete archival statistics can we formulate policies on rich peasants and landlords based on them.

"Third, during the land reform in Sheng County, Comrade Wei Hongjun's land reform team formally determined that the land involved in the land reform could not be sold, bought, or mortgaged. Comrade Wei Hongjun wasn't just considering the current land reform; he was also considering what would happen after the land reform, to prevent new land mergers. I believe the central government should adopt this suggestion. The land involved in the land reform must not be sold, bought, or mortgaged.

"Fourth, during the land reform work in Sheng County, Comrade Wei Hongjun creatively adopted a three-way integration model involving the land reform work team, local cadres, and the rural work group. This model was much more effective than the poor peasant group that emerged during the land reform in Pingshan. This was because this three-way integration model had leadership from the land reform work team, implementation from local rural cadres, and supervision from the rural work group."

The chairman nodded.

He looked at Xiuyang and said, "Comrade Xiuyang, you are in charge of land reform work in the central government. What do you think?

"We've recently received reports on land reform work from a number of locations, and many have encountered the same problems as in Pingshan County. After the central government issued its directives on land reform, it seems our cadres were a bit too eager to achieve results, wanting to complete the work quickly. This is why so many problems have arisen. I believe these cadres have good intentions, but their working methods are flawed, and we should criticize and correct them."

But for these hard-working frontline cadres, the central government should give them a chance. After all, they all had good intentions but ended up doing something bad. Their original intentions were good.”

Xiuyang answered very seriously.

He continued, "Sheng County's land reform does have many commendable aspects. But it also has many problems, the biggest of which is its excessive compromise. Should this aspect be adjusted?"

The chairman shook his head.

He said, "I agree with Comrade Wei Hongjun's phased approach to land reform. We are indeed in the early stages of land reform, and since we are in the early stages, we should have early-stage land reform policies. We shouldn't be too radical in the early stages, and some compromise is necessary. The reform of the Shishi in Sheng County is very good."

The Chairman directly affirmed Wei Hongjun's work in Shengxian land reform.

Because many of Wei Hongjun's land reform policies were modeled after the Chairman's land reform in the Soviet area.

Xiuyang's face was solemn.

According to the division of labor among the five secretaries, Comrade Xiuyang was in charge of land reform.

However, less than three months after the central government issued the land reform directive, Wei Hongjun proposed such a perfect and comprehensive land reform plan.

Wei Hongjun's "land reform plan" was more profound, more theoretical, and more practical than that of the Central Land Reform Working Committee. As a result, others agreed with Wei Hongjun's land reform plan and wanted to divide it into stages to form the overall strategy of the Central Land Reform Working Committee.

As a result, Wei Hongjun became an iconic figure of land reform.

The Chairman really appreciates Wei Hongjun's report.

It is well-reasoned and based not only on reality but also on a judgment of the future. Even the Chairman had not considered the judgment of the primary, intermediate, and advanced stages of land reform.

But it is very suitable for the current land reform.

Ren Peiguo said directly, "I think Comrade Wei Hongjun can be fully responsible for the land reform work in Jin-Cha-Ji. Moreover, the land reform experience of Sheng County should be fully promoted and can be called the 'Sheng County Experience'."

Chapter 663: Division of Labor of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau

Wei Hongjun's land reform plan was approved by the central government.

Wei Hongjun's conclusion on the three stages of land reform was supported by many central leaders and was eventually incorporated into the central government's land reform documents. The central government affirmed Wei Hongjun's assessment of the current land reform, believing that the land reform currently underway in the liberated areas was in its primary stage.

The hallmark of the initial stage of land reform was that it targeted only rich peasants and landlords, leaving the larger middle peasant class untouched. To protect the interests of the middle peasants, adjustments were made to the land relations between the rich peasants, landlords, and semi-self-cultivating peasants and poor hired peasants.

This directly became the general outline of the central land reform document.

This is like the central government's judgment that China's current revolution is a new democratic revolution. Based on this judgment, a series of policies appropriate to the stage of the new democratic revolution were introduced. The same is true for land reform. Once the overall judgment is made, specific land reform policies can be formulated based on this judgment.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun's division of land reform into stages became the general program of the central land reform.

Significant.

Wei Hongjun quickly became a leading cadre in the land reform work.

Of course, in addition to the general program, Wei Hongjun's specific work in Sheng County was also recognized. In particular, the three-in-one model he implemented in Sheng County, combining land reform work teams, local rural cadres, and rural work groups, was highly praised.

Because he balanced the relationship between the land reform work teams and local cadres, while also mobilizing rural semi-self-cultivating farmers and poor hired peasants to participate in the land reform. Wei Hongjun even said that this land reform was intended to encourage more rural farmers to step forward and understand the meaning of supervision.

This will lay the foundation for the comprehensive implementation of "village affairs disclosure" in rural areas in the future.

These achievements were highly praised by the central leadership. Many even considered Wei Hongjun one of the most outstanding rural cadres in the Communist Party. Wei Hongjun's "Five Basic Principles" for land reform in Sheng County were also adopted by the central government.