Chapter 28 Zhou Enlai and the construction of the People's Customs in New China

In June 1949, I was transferred from the Northeast Liberated Area to Beijing.One day, Comrade Zhou Enlai talked to me and said that the Party Central Committee had appointed me to be in charge of preparing for the establishment of the new China General Administration of Customs.I feel sudden about this change in the workplace.So I replied: I don't even know what customs is, let alone understand customs business.I said that I was afraid of not doing well, and I didn't want to do this job.Comrade Zhou Enlai said kindly: Not knowing the customs situation and customs business is not a reason not to do it.The victory of the revolution has taken back the sovereignty of the customs. Will the imperialists continue to control China's customs?You don't know what customs is, and neither do I, but as long as we do it ourselves and experience it, we can learn things that we didn't know before, and gradually become familiar with it and do a good job.

In fact, Comrade Zhou Enlai already had a basic understanding of the situation of the old Chinese customs, and had a deep understanding of the important position of the People's Customs in the construction of the new China and its important role in the struggle against foreign trade control and anti-control. For a country, customs is a government department with great specificity. It is an administrative agency that supervises the goods, currency, securities and means of transportation entering and leaving the country according to national laws, collects customs duties and implements investigations and smuggling.Customs work has always had a major impact on national political and economic activities.

The old Chinese customs have two notable features: one is the semi-colonial nature.From the Opium War to the founding of New China in 1949, my country's tariff autonomy, customs administrative management, and tariff payment have been controlled by imperialism.From the General Taxation Department of the National Customs (the highest agency of the old Chinese customs) to the taxation departments of local customs, all are controlled by imperialism.China's customs door was wide open, and the imperialists used the power they seized to import a large number of commodities into my country and buy cheap raw materials, making my country a semi-colony for a long time.The second is the semi-feudal nature.The reactionary rulers of old China succumbed to the pressure of imperialism, opened ports indiscriminately, and set up customs everywhere, resulting in many customs agencies and checkpoints in old China.If a feudal warlord establishes a firm foothold and dominates one side, he must also set up barriers.There are many types of exorbitant taxes in old China, including customs taxes of various names.In a word, the old Chinese customs were semi-colonial and semi-feudal in nature.Instead of protecting and promoting the development of our national industry and agriculture, it has become a tool for imperialism to destroy China's national economy and squeeze and plunder the wealth of the Chinese people.

In order to recover customs sovereignty, the Chinese people put forward the slogans of "tariff independence" and "customs revolution" in the national democratic revolutionary struggle, and once fought to recover customs sovereignty.But it has never been able to achieve its goal, because it is impossible to succeed in the so-called "customs revolution" to recover the sovereignty of the customs without overthrowing the reactionary rule of imperialism and its agents in China. Comrade Zhou Enlai made a thorough analysis of the disadvantages of my country's old customs and the importance of the work of the new China Customs, and said: "The nature of the work of the New China Customs requires national unity, and there must be consistent external unity. If this cannot be achieved, It is impossible to become a truly independent people's customs. New China must completely transform the old customs controlled by imperialism and make it a people's customs that serves the cause of new China's construction."

Comrade Zhou Silai's words convinced me wholeheartedly, and I accepted with confidence the glorious task of taking over the old customs and organizing the new General Administration of Customs of China.According to the instructions of Premier Zhou and Comrade Chen Yun, on August 13 of this year, Comrades Yao Yilin and Zhu Jianbai and I jointly submitted the "Preliminary Opinions on the Establishment of the General Administration of Customs" to the Central Committee. After several months of preparation, on October 25, 1949, the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China was formally established under the direct leadership of the State Council and the guidance of the Finance and Economics Committee of the State Council.

Premier Zhou believes that in order to make the new China Customs truly an independent people's customs, first of all, it should clearly define the new principles and new policies of customs work, and establish the basic direction of the work of the people's customs.According to Premier Zhou's instructions and the basic idea of ​​recovering the administrative power of customs and building a new Chinese People's Customs, and under his specific guidance, the General Administration of Customs began drafting after its establishment and submitted it to the Government Council in January 1950. The draft "Decision on Tariff Policy and Customs Work" was announced and implemented in the name of the Government Administration Council on March 7 of the same year after being discussed at the government affairs meeting and approved by Premier Zhou.

The "Decision" criticized the essence of the old customs' service to imperialism, stipulated the organizational form, working principles and tasks of the people's customs, and clearly pointed out: Due to the great victory of the Chinese People's Revolution, the state of inequity and involuntary ending ended, and the withdrawal It has guaranteed China's independence in tariff policy and the autonomy in managing customs affairs.It also emphasizes that the General Administration of Customs must be a unified, centralized and independent state agency.The General Administration of Customs is responsible for the actual supervision and management of the import and export of various goods and currencies, collecting tariffs, and fighting against smuggling, so as to protect our country from economic aggression by capitalist countries. The "Decision" also stipulates that customs work should play an important role in the recovery and development of our people's economy.Customs tariffs must protect national production and the competition between domestically produced products and foreign goods must be protected.This is the first policy document to guide customs work across the country promulgated by the Government Administration Council three months after its establishment, from which it can be seen that Premier Zhou attaches great importance to customs work. The birth of the "Decision" has made the customs work in New China have a clearer direction.

After the basic direction of customs work was established and certain achievements were made in practice, Premier Zhou proposed in a timely manner that the customs work should turn its attention to the reform of the customs organization. On October 6, 1950, I made a "Summary Report on the National Customs Affairs Conference" at the 53rd meeting of the Government Administration Council.When discussing the report I made, Premier Zhou fully affirmed the work achievements of the General Administration of Customs in the past year since its establishment, and pointed out: The most outstanding achievement of the General Administration of Customs is: the semi-colonial customs that have served imperialism for a long time have basically changed. Come, let us hold the keys to the gates of the country.At the same time, Premier Zhou once again gave a clear explanation of the principles for the establishment of the new China Customs, pointing out that it doesn't matter, and whether to establish or not should be decided according to specific needs.An analytical attitude should be adopted towards the old customs system.It should be noted that, on the one hand, it is a product of imperialism in semi-colonies, so it cannot be taken over as a whole like factory real estate.For example, the customs personnel system and treatment issues should be reformed.However, on the other hand, there are many business, administrative, technical, and methods that are useful. For example, customs statistics are relatively reliable, and some data and business experience are also relatively useful, which should be absorbed and improved.According to the spirit of Premier Zhou's speech, the General Administration of Customs drafted an instruction on the establishment of customs on behalf of the Administration Council.

On December 14, in the name of the Prime Minister of the State Council and the Director of the General Administration of Customs, the "Instructions on the Establishment of Customs Principles and Adjustment of National Customs Organizations" were announced. The "Instructions" pointed out: The basic principle of the establishment of customs in the People's Republic of China must reverse the policy of reactionary rule in the past to obey the imperialist economic aggression measures of dumping foreign goods in large quantities and absorbing raw materials at a low price, open foreign trade indiscriminately, and set up customs agencies everywhere. And strictly in the spirit of independence, according to the needs of the country's economic situation, customs agencies should be established in places that should be opened to foreign trade.Any checkpoints, checkpoints, posts, sentries, etc. that are not in line with this basic principle should be canceled in a planned and step-by-step manner according to the specific conditions of each place.According to this principle, the General Administration of Customs adjusted the original 173 customs to 70.At the same time, a new cadre policy and personnel system were implemented, foreigners were dismissed, and heads of customs in various places were re-appointed and dismissed.

Due to the resolute implementation of the above two documents by the General Administration of Customs, fundamental changes have taken place in the work direction and organizational structure of the national customs, and the pace of transforming the old customs and building a new people's customs has been accelerated. In May 1951, Premier Zhou pointed out in his "Diplomatic Report" at the Central People's Government Committee: The imperialist countries had controlled our customs for a long time. In this way, they not only violated our sovereignty, but also took advantage of this illegal privilege to control our finances and carry out economic activities. aggression.He solemnly declared: Now, this privilege has been completely abolished.The Central People's Government has completely taken back the sovereignty of customs.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the General Administration of Customs paid attention to the formulation of regulations on customs work in New China.Premier Zhou attached great importance to the construction of the legal system of the People's Customs, emphasizing that there should be laws to follow in the work of the Customs and that affairs should be handled according to the law.He actively supported the General Administration of Customs to first formulate the Customs Law and Customs Tariffs on the basis of summarizing the work experience in the past few months, and put forward opinions on the content that these two basic regulations should contain, so that the drafting of the Customs Law be carried out smoothly. On March 23, 1951, Premier Zhou presided over the 77th government affairs meeting to discuss the "Customs Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft)".In his speech, he pointed out that the Customs Law is a new thing and should be well publicized.The name can be changed to Interim Customs Law or Customs Trial Law.The meeting decided to change the name to "Interim Customs Law of the People's Republic of China". On April 18, Premier Zhou issued an order to promulgate the "Interim Customs Law", which will be implemented on May 1.This is one of the first interim decrees issued by government departments. According to Premier Zhou's opinion that the "Interim Customs Law" should be well publicized, on May 11, I gave a radio speech on the Central People's Broadcasting Station under the title "Historical Changes in the Customs System and the Interim Customs Law of the People's Republic of China".This speech reviewed the history of imperialist control of China's customs, and systematically introduced the content of the "Interim Customs Law" and the significance of implementing this law.Point out: "Interim Customs Law" is the first basic customs law in Chinese history.It clearly and systematically stipulates the organization, tasks, powers and unified working principles and methods of the new China Customs; at the same time, it stipulates the obligations of foreign trade and foreign exchange government agencies, transportation departments, social groups and private individuals to abide by customs rules and regulations. responsibilities, as well as customs and their interrelationships, etc.I hope everyone will implement it seriously. After the promulgation of the "Interim Customs Law", in mid-May the Government Administration Council promulgated and implemented the "Interim Implementation Regulations of the Customs Import and Export Tariffs of the People's Republic of China".Then, based on the principle and spirit of the "Interim Customs Law", more than 30 relevant business regulations were formulated and implemented, which gradually improved the legal system of the new China Customs and ensured the thorough transformation of the old Customs by the People's Government in terms of legal system. During the "Cultural Revolution", I was shocked.The rebels labeled me a counter-revolutionary revisionist.One of the reasons is that I presided over the drafting of the "Interim Customs Law" in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.They say this is a bourgeois view of the legal system and a revisionist view.Why is it called the "Interim Customs Law"?The so-called interim is nothing more than implementing it for a period of time, such as two or three years later, and promulgating it again after supplementation and improvement.However, due to various subjective and objective reasons, the implementation of this customs law was not terminated until the end of June 1987, which lasted for 36 years. The practice of more than 30 years of customs work has proved that the "Interim Customs Law" has played an important role in safeguarding my country's national sovereignty and dignity, protecting and promoting the development of the national economy, accumulating construction funds, combating smuggling, and ensuring the implementation of relevant national policies. . In order to build a new customs, the Party Central Committee sent many cadres from liberated areas to work in the customs.Among the nearly 10,000 customs officers, nine out of ten are former customs officers, and many of them are progressive intellectuals. In view of the composition of customs personnel in the new China, Premier Zhou gave a realistic analysis and evaluation of the basic situation of the old customs personnel, pointing out that the vast majority of the old customs personnel were good and relatively good intellectuals.They are patriotic, progressive, and willing to accept the leadership of the Communist Party of China. They are also familiar with customs business and have experience in customs work.We cannot imagine that we can do a good job in the customs work of the new China under the condition of being separated from the vast number of old customs personnel.Therefore, it is an important condition for the construction of the new Chinese People's Customs to work hard to unite and educate the old customs personnel to work together.He once warned that, except for the elimination of very few counter-revolutionaries, we should follow the guidance and be kind to the old customs personnel; Work at the post.In this way, when Premier Zhou was considering the leadership of the General Administration of Customs, he appointed Li Guitang, who had served as the Deputy Taxation Department of the old China Customs, as the only deputy director of the new China General Administration of Customs; Give him political concern and support him to join the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.At the same time, the General Administration of Customs, in accordance with the spirit of Premier Zhou's instructions, appointed some old customs personnel to take up responsible positions in the General Administration and various customs offices across the country to promote the smooth development of the new China Customs work. At the same time, Premier Zhou also mentioned that because the old customs officers had been working in the old customs for the interests of imperialism for a long time, many of them could not be free from the influence of bureaucratic and comprador thinking, and could not be enslaved by imperialism. As a result, it has to be contaminated with some so-called "super-political" and xenophobia ideas.Under such circumstances, if the people's government reforms the old customs from the system alone, it will not be able to achieve the fundamental purpose of completely transforming the old customs and building a new people's customs; Only by educating them and helping them transform their minds can they be successfully won to become useful talents serving the people. According to this spirit, on March 23, 1951, when Premier Zhou discussed the "Summary of the Work of the General Administration of Customs in 1950 and the Key Points of the Work Plan in 1951" at the 77th Government Affairs Meeting of the Government Administration Council, he clearly pointed out: on the one hand, absorb new blood, on the other hand On the one hand, reforming the old personnel was an important task of the General Administration of Customs in 1951.He said: The main fault of the old customs officers was not a matter of empiricism, but a matter of standpoint.They are now beginning to stand on the stand of the people, but they still need to work hard to get a firm foothold.Therefore, it is mainly a matter of reforming the old customs officers.Transformation is the main focus, combined with improvement.Only by carrying out education and learning in this way can the old bureaucratic customs be completely changed into the new people's customs.At the same time, he instructed: There are so many old customs personnel, the united front work must be done well and set an example. Since then, the General Administration of Customs has put the ideological transformation of the old customs officers on the agenda of the customs work.Based on the ideological status of the old customs officers, we actively organized them to participate in political studies and social activities, helped them raise their awareness, and gradually established the idea of ​​serving the people and a clean and simple style of work.As a result of this, the mental outlook of customs officers across the country has undergone significant changes: in the various tasks of the customs, a large number of advanced collectives and advanced individuals have emerged, contributing to the recovery of the national economy in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the smooth progress of the first five-year plan. , made a positive contribution.The effectiveness of customs work reflects Premier Zhou's brilliant thoughts on treating intellectuals correctly and doing a good job in united front work. Premier Zhou's achievements will always be engraved in the hearts of customs staff.