Chapter 6 Chapter 5: Working in the Central Ministry of Finance and Trade

In April 1954, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China appointed Ma Mingfang as the Deputy Secretary-General of the Central Committee and Deputy Minister of the Organization Department of the Central Committee. In August, Ma Mingfang took up a new post from the Northwest Region to the Central Committee to assist Deng Xiaoping, Secretary-General of the Central Committee and Director of the Organization Department of the Central Committee. On December 28, 1955, the Politburo of the Central Committee decided to establish the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Finance and Trade) according to the needs of the development of the situation. Ma Mingfang was appointed as the Minister, and Pei Mengfei was appointed as the Deputy Minister. minister.

The central government stipulates that the tasks of the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee are: to manage the cadre work of the finance and trade department, to inspect the implementation of the party's resolutions and policies in the finance and trade department, to manage the work of the party's grassroots organizations in the finance and trade department, and to guide the work of the political organs of the finance and trade department. Ma Mingfang resolutely implemented the four tasks stipulated by the central government, and proposed that the cadres of the Ministry of Finance and Trade should go deep into the grassroots, familiarize themselves with the situation, delve into economic work, accumulate experience, strengthen the study of theory and policy, and strive to lay a solid foundation for work within two to three years .After five years of solid work, remarkable achievements have been made in politics, ideology, and organization, which have effectively promoted the development of the national financial and trade work.

The financial and trade departments have a wide range of work and are closely related to industrial and agricultural production and people's lives.There are more than 100,000 grassroots units in the national financial and trade system, spread across cities and rural areas, and they are the basic strength of the financial and trade department.All the decisions and policies of the party and the work of the financial and trade departments must be realized through the grassroots units.The quality of grassroots work directly affects the quality of the entire financial and trade work.Therefore, Ma Mingfang emphasized that the Ministry of Finance and Trade at all levels should take grasping the grassroots and laying the foundation as a regular and important task. In particular, they must spend a lot of time and energy to effectively strengthen the work of the party's grassroots organizations and give full play to the fighting fortress of the party's grassroots organizations effect. At the end of 1955, among the more than 8 million employees in the national financial and trade departments, there were only 430,000 party members, accounting for a little more than 5% of the total number of employees. The distribution of party members was very uneven. Some departments and enterprises had few or no party members. Most enterprises do not have a separate branch, and all branches are the tasks of the executive branch.Without changing this situation, it is impossible to strengthen the work of grassroots units.

In February 1956, the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee held a symposium for ministers of finance and trade departments of party committees of 12 provinces and municipalities, studying and discussing the main points of several work plans from 1956 to 1957.In his concluding speech at the symposium, Ma Mingfang pointed out: Strengthening the construction of the party's grassroots organizations is the primary task of the Ministry of Finance and Trade at all levels.He pointed out that the financial and trade departments at all levels must pay attention to absorbing a group of activists who have the conditions to join the party from the shop assistants, salesmen, financial accountants and intellectuals of the grassroots units. After several years of hard work, the number of party members will reach 10% of the number of employees. about.In the work of developing party members, we must adhere to the "active and prudent" policy, pay attention to the quality of party members, and prevent the bias of purely pursuing quantity.Any enterprise unit with more than three party members should establish a separate party branch; if there are less than three party members, party members and league members can form a party group to strengthen the work of the party organization in the enterprise.In addition to performing the tasks of the general branch, the enterprise branch should also guarantee and supervise the administrative work.His concluding speech, after being approved by the central government, will be printed and distributed to party committees at all levels for implementation.

In February 1957, the Central Ministry of Finance and Trade held the first working meeting of the party's grassroots organization of the national finance and trade department.When this meeting was held, the financial and trade departments had newly recruited more than 100,000 party members, and many enterprises had established separate party branches and implemented a manager responsibility system under the leadership of the party committee.Some branches have been reorganized, cadres have been adjusted, and leadership over economic work has been strengthened.In his concluding speech at the meeting, Ma Mingfang pointed out that in 1957, the grassroots organizations of the financial and trade departments should focus on mobilizing the masses and extensively carrying out campaigns to increase production and save money.In order to organize and lead this movement well, it is necessary to further strengthen the construction of the grassroots organizations of the party, lay a solid foundation for the work of the grassroots organizations, effectively strengthen the leadership core of the grassroots organizations of the party, and adhere to the working method of the mass line.It is necessary to fully mobilize the masses to expose the problems existing in the work, especially the waste problems in commodity circulation, capital turnover, material storage, financial management, purchase and transportation of agricultural and sideline products, and rely on the masses to rectify them one by one.It is necessary to resolutely criticize those erroneous views that think that the financial and trade departments increase production and save "not much oil and water" and "not much waste" that are not in line with reality, and carry forward the spirit of building a country and running a business with diligence and thrift.The masses must be mobilized to carry out all tasks in the financial and trade departments. If the collective leadership of the party deviates from the mass line, it will become formal, empty, lifeless, weak, and even make mistakes.Therefore, in the campaign to increase production and save money, it is necessary to educate party members on the mass line so that party members, especially leading cadres, learn to follow the mass line in practical work and get in close contact with the masses. A practical issue of the construction of the party and the leadership of the party.This meeting played a great role in strengthening and improving the party's grassroots organization work and promoting the increase of production and economy in the financial and trade departments.

In 1958, the grassroots work of the party in the finance and trade department made new developments.There are more than 40,000 grass-roots organizations in the finance and trade department, and more than 600,000 party members. Most business units have established branches, and many places have trained branch secretaries.After the rectification movement, the work of rectifying the party's grassroots organizations has been carried out in various places. The political and ideological level of party members has been further improved, the party organization has been further consolidated, and the party's leading role has been strengthened. Participate in management, the masses participate in supervision) "one reform" (improving business management) and advanced management experience such as employee congresses and democratic management committees have been widely promoted, and a large number of advanced branches have sprung up, which have become models for grassroots party organizations to learn from.The Central Ministry of Finance and Trade and the Ministry of Finance and Trade of each province and city have compiled and printed a compilation of work experience at the grassroots level, and introduced the experiences of hundreds of advanced branches to the national finance and trade departments. Organized a work meeting, summarized and exchanged the experience of the party's grassroots organization work in the finance and trade department in 1958, and determined the tasks for future work.Ma Mingfang made a concluding speech at the meeting.He pointed out that there were more than 60 speeches and more than 20 written speeches in this meeting, which talked about the party committee’s leadership in financial and trade work, the party’s grassroots organizational work, socialism and communism education, the development of the red flag movement, technological innovation and management improvement system, the party's political work, mass work, and the financial and trade work of the people's communes.The speeches at the meeting reflected that there are many good experiences in various places and fields, which need to be humbly and carefully studied and learned from each other, and adopted according to the actual situation of the region and the unit.He proposed that to continue to strengthen party building, we must first strengthen the leadership core of the party's grassroots organizations and improve the work of branch committees.At present, about half of the grassroots organizations of the party in the financial and trade departments across the country have strong leadership cores and are doing a good job; there are also about half of the grassroots organizations whose leaders are not strong enough, and their work and organizational life are not very sound. In the few grassroots organizations, the leadership core has not yet been formed, the organization is lax, and the work is in a backward state.Therefore, it is necessary to first pay attention to strengthening the leadership core of the grassroots organizations. Comrades who are politically firm, energetic, good-styled, and supported by the masses should be absorbed into the branch committees, so as to increase the leadership core of the grassroots organizations. the power of.For those units with weak leadership, a group of politically strong cadres must be transferred to enrich the grassroots. First, the branch secretary should be equipped with strong ones.How to form a strong core of leadership?That is to say: Party branch committees should gradually achieve: be able to adhere to the Party's policies, principles and principles, be good at making ideas and finding ways according to the actual situation, implement the Party's policies, principles and principles in practical work, and be good at Summarize practical experience, continuously improve work, improve leadership, be able to unite and organize all party members, unite and organize activists and employees, give full play to enthusiasm and creativity, correctly complete various tasks, and be able to correct all kinds of mistakes. At the same time, he is able to listen to different opinions within the party and among the workers, is good at analyzing problems, explains the truth, and constantly improves the ideological level of party members and workers.Only with such a leadership core can the party's grassroots organizations have combat effectiveness and give full play to the party's leading role.We should strive to bring all branches to this level within a certain period of time and through hard work.After collective research and discussion at the meeting, the document "On Further Strengthening the Party's Grassroots Organization of the Ministry of Finance and Trade" was formulated, which was issued by the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the party committees at all levels for reference and implementation.This meeting is of great significance for further strengthening the construction of the party's grassroots organizations.

In February 1960, the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee held the fourth ministerial meeting of the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the party committees of various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.Ma Mingfang proposed at the meeting that, based on the development of the party's grassroots organizations in the financial and trade departments over the past few years, in 1960, we should focus on improving the ideological level of all party members and the party's leadership level.It is necessary to establish a strong and powerful collective leadership core that communicates with politics and business. It must not only do a good job in the party's political, ideological and organizational work, but also manage and lead economic work well.The meeting discussed and approved the document "Further Improving the Party's Leadership Level in Financial and Trade Departments", which was implemented by the central wholesale party committees at all levels.

In September 1960, the central government decided to abolish the Central Ministry of Finance and Trade.After five years of work, a certain foundation has been laid for the party's grassroots organization work in the finance and trade department. At the beginning of 1956, there were more than 23,000 grass-roots organizations in the financial and trade department, with 430,000 party members. By September 1960, the number of grass-roots party organizations had grown to more than 75,000, with more than 30,000 full-time branch secretaries, and 85 party members. The political quality and professional level of party members have been greatly improved, the leadership role of the party's grassroots organizations has been strengthened, and a certain amount of experience in political work, mass work and economic work has been accumulated, which has effectively promoted the development of financial and trade work. develop.

Ma Mingfang attached great importance to cadre management and education during his work in the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee, and proposed to "cultivate a red and professional cadre team" as the goal of cadre work in financial and trade departments at all levels. The cadre team of the financial and trade department is very large. According to statistics at the end of 1955, there were a total of 1.6 million cadres in the financial and trade departments across the country, of which 370,000 worked before the founding of New China, and 1 million worked after the founding of New China and had more than three years of work experience.In terms of educational level, there are 40,000 people with a college degree, 190,000 people with a high school degree, 700,000 people with a junior high school degree, and 700,000 people with a junior high school education or less.There are 50,000 cadres above the county level and 300,000 district-level cadres.These 1.6 million cadres are the backbone of the financial and trade department, playing an important role on the financial and trade front, and have accumulated certain experience in various aspects of work.However, judging from the needs of work development, the number of leading cadres at all levels in the financial and trade system is still insufficient. The political and professional levels of cadres are generally not high. It is not perfect, and the work of cadres still lags behind the needs of the political situation and the development of economic work. This situation needs to be gradually changed.

In February 1956, Ma Mingfang pointed out in his speech at the symposium of finance and trade ministers of 12 provincial and municipal party committees held by the Central Ministry of Finance and Trade that strengthening the management and education of cadres in finance and trade departments is an often important task for finance and trade departments at all levels.The main problems in cadre work at present are: cadre work is not well integrated with politics and business, unfamiliar with cadre situation, cadre work lacks lofty goals, and there are serious conservative ideas in the promotion of cadres. Effective measures must be taken to quickly reverse this backwardness. Passive situation.He pointed out that it is necessary to formulate a comprehensive plan for the work of cadres.There must be two plans, the two-year plan for this year and the next and the seven-year plan, and these two plans should be connected.When formulating cadre planning, it is necessary to do a good job in investigation and research, to fully understand the situation of cadres in various departments and the needs of future development, so that the cadre work plan can be established on a reliable basis.He pointed out: We must actively train cadres, and boldly and exceptionally promote cadres with both ability and political integrity that are urgently needed in all aspects of work.Break through the shackles of "seniority", "class", "level" and other rules and regulations, and identify and promote cadres from the process of in-depth investigation and understanding of cadres.When promoting cadres, we must pay attention to the promotion of intellectual cadres, especially senior intellectuals and technical experts; we must pay attention to the promotion of non-Party cadres and women cadres; Pay attention to the promotion of outstanding clerks to take on leadership positions.He pointed out: We must do a good job in the education and training of cadres.Effectively rectify and strengthen the existing cadre schools at all levels, adhere to the teaching policy of "combining politics with business, combining theory with practice, and improving the level of thought and business", and strive for five to seven years. The leading cadres of the financial and trade departments at the higher level will be trained in rotation.Cadres who are not in a hurry for the current level of education should organize them to study culture in a planned way.He pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen and improve the management of cadres in the financial and trade system. The financial and trade departments of party committees at all levels should, in accordance with the regulations of the central government on the management of cadres at different levels, quickly determine the names of their respective management cadres, and often inspect the actual work of cadres. Equip and use cadres correctly.He pointed out that in order to do a good job in cadre management, it is not enough to rely on a large number of people in the party committee for finance and trade.During the symposium of Ministers of Finance and Trade, the "Central Finance and Trade Plan for Several Works from 1956 to 1957" was discussed and formulated, which was reported to the central government for approval and forwarded to party committees at all levels for implementation.The main points of this plan are basically correct, and the work of the finance and trade departments of party committees at all levels is basically carried out according to this main point of the plan, and certain achievements have been made.

In August 1956, the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee held the second ministerial meeting of the finance and trade departments of the party committees of various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. This discussed the use of non-party cadres, the training of cadres, and the management of cadres in the financial and trade departments. In February 1957, the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee held the third meeting of Ministers of Finance and Trade Departments of the party committees of various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Ma Mingfang pointed out at the meeting that in the past year, the number of cadres in the finance and trade departments has grown to 2.13 million, and cadres above the county level have been promoted and assigned. 20,000 people, 140,000 cadres above the director level of district supply and marketing cooperatives, and the shortage of leading cadres has basically been solved.These 160,000 people are the focus of cadre management in the financial and trade department. The cadre management department must go deep into the actual work to understand the cadre's professional ability, ideological level, and learning situation.Systematically study cadre policies and work experience, and train and manage these 160,000 cadres well.It can drive everyone to do a good job.At the same time, it is proposed that in the campaign of increasing production and saving, we should discover and praise good cadres, and overcome and correct various bad tendencies that appear in some cadres. In March 1958, Ma Mingfang pointed out at the meeting of ministers of the finance and trade departments of the party committees of the eight provinces that in the rectification movement, we should start with opposing conservatism and waste, and deal with corruption, waste, bureaucracy and other issues exposed by cadres in a realistic and serious manner. Criticize and deal with.Our policy is to cure the sick and save the patient, to be honest and honest, not to beat people to death with a stick. In June 1958, Ma Mingfang pointed out in his concluding speech at the Guangdong Xinhui on-site meeting attended by the heads of the party committees and government finance and trade departments of various provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and governments that our long-term goal in cadre work is to cultivate a red and professional cadre team Therefore, it is necessary to train a team of cadres with communist consciousness, cultural and scientific knowledge, proficiency in business, and the ability to closely contact the masses in a planned way. This is a basic construction of the financial and trade department. In April 1959, Ma Mingfang pointed out in the summary report of the cadre meeting specially held by the Central Ministry of Finance and Trade that during the rectification and the Great Leap Forward, major changes had taken place in the team of finance and trade cadres. Go to the industrial and agricultural departments, strengthen the work on the industrial and agricultural fronts, and transfer 200,000 cadres to labor training. In the future, they will continue to transfer in rotation.Attention should be paid to helping them politically, giving them convenient conditions to study, helping them to temper their thinking in labor, to strengthen their proletarian stand, to become one with the working people, and to establish a relationship with the working people. This is an important way to train cadres. In February 1960, Ma Mingfang pointed out in his speech at the 4th ministerial meeting of finance and trade departments of the party committees of various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions that the focus of cadre work in finance and trade departments in 1960 was to strengthen the education of cadres, organize cadres to study, and have Organize them to systematically study Mao Zedong's works in stages and batches in a planned manner, and further improve the theoretical and policy level of cadres. After nearly five years of hard work, under the leadership of the central government and party committees at all levels, the cadre work of the financial and trade department has made great achievements, formulated and implemented the work plan for cadres, and determined and improved the job titles of management cadres of the financial and trade departments of the party committees at all levels. In other words, the training and management of cadres has been strengthened, and the working conditions of cadres, especially leading cadres at all levels, have been comprehensively inspected and understood.The Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee handled the appointment and dismissal procedures for more than 500 high and middle-level cadres, approved the review conclusions of more than 170 cadres above the department and bureau level, transferred more than 2,400 cadres to the frontier, and inspected the work of cadres and the execution of cadres in 22 provinces. Regarding the Party’s resolutions and policies, financial and trade departments at all levels have promoted more than 300,000 cadres, including more than 50,000 cadres above the county bureau chief, and more than 50,000 cadres were directly selected from among workers and shop assistants. Various problems of more than 10,000 cadres, 300,000 cadres were transferred to labor training by turns, and the number of scientific and technological personnel increased from more than 4,000 to more than 10,000.In the 149 cadre schools of the national financial and trade departments, 350,000 cadres have been trained in rotation, including 150,000 cadres above the district level.While carrying out the above work, combined with daily work, organize cadres to study Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong's works conscientiously, study the party's line, principles, and policies, learn to do political work, economic work, and mass work, and comprehensively strengthen production viewpoints, political viewpoints, and mass work. Viewpoints and overall perspectives, the vast majority of cadres have taken a big step forward on the road of red colleges.Of course, there are still many shortcomings in the work of cadres, especially during the anti-rightist struggle, the financial and trade departments at all levels mislabeled more than 1,000 rightists, although some people have been decapitated one after another, especially after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party Correction conclusions have been made for all comrades who made mistakes, but it did hurt some comrades, and they should learn lessons seriously. Ma Mingfang has always attached importance to political and ideological work. On January 3, 1956, he proposed at the cadre meeting when the Central Ministry of Finance and Trade was established that efforts should be made to do a good job in political and ideological work, accumulate experience, and promote work. In 1956, Chen Yun proposed that all employees in the financial and trade departments should establish production concepts, political viewpoints and mass viewpoints.Ma Mingfang fully agrees, and takes this as the basic policy of finance, trade and non-political thinking.Combining theory with practice, he has made many important, in-depth and concise expositions in his work. Ma Mingfang repeatedly emphasized at various conferences and on inspection tours that Marxist-Leninist political economy profoundly expounds that social production, distribution, exchange, and consumption are all links in a unified process, of which production plays a decisive role. .Production is fundamental. If there is no development of production, the financial and trade work can be carried out well. Only the financial problems can be solved without economic development. The financial and trade work must start from production everywhere and make every effort to promote the development of production.Production determines distribution, exchange and consumption, but at the same time, distribution, exchange and consumption in turn affect production, and sometimes even play a decisive role in production under certain conditions and scope.The main job of the finance and trade department is to be in charge of exchange, distribution and consumption.The financial and trade department provides funds and raw materials for production, sells products, and meets the needs of people's life and production. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly establish a production point of view, support production through its own business activities, and provide more and better commodities for the people. The people's demand for the quantity and quality of consumer goods is fed back to the production department to promote the development and improvement of production.It is wrong to think that the financial and trade department is only doing transfer, transfer, transportation, storage, and earning. Ma Mingfang has repeatedly pointed out: "Political work is the lifeline of economic work."Financial and trade personnel must firmly establish political viewpoints so that politics and economy are closely integrated.The view that only cares about economics and does not care about politics is wrong. Ma Mingfang pointed out many times: Finance and trade work is for the people, and finance and trade staff must clearly establish the views of the masses and follow the mass line.Finance and trade departments are directly and closely related to people's production and people's lives. They must actively and timely understand the needs of the masses in production and life through their own business activities, and try their best to meet the diverse needs of the masses through their own work. The masses, if they do not follow the mass line in their work and only want to make money, then they will lose the characteristics of socialist financial and trade work, and they will become divorced from the masses and cause dissatisfaction among the masses. Ma Mingfang repeatedly emphasized that political work must be carried out on the counter and implemented in daily economic activities; improving the service quality of the financial and trade department is the central link to improve and improve the financial and trade work.Service quality is a comprehensive index, a combination point and concentrated expression of political work, economic work, and mass work, and a concrete manifestation of the unity of economic and social benefits.This includes not only service attitude, service content, and service methods, but also various economic indicators and operating methods.Only with good service quality can we effectively support production and meet the needs of the people, and enable the development and improvement of financial and trade work.Good service quality is silent propaganda, which can attract the masses to see the superiority of socialism, thus mobilize the enthusiasm of the masses, unite around the party, and work together for the cause of socialism.If you always keep a straight face, don't serve the masses with enthusiasm, and don't do economic work with enthusiasm, you will naturally not be able to win the support and support of the masses, and the superiority of socialism will not be displayed.This is not only an economic issue, but also a political issue. Ma Mingfang has repeatedly pointed out that financial and trade departments must participate in organizing and arranging people's lives and guiding people's consumption. Since 1958, due to the great social and economic changes caused by the "Great Leap Forward" and the people's communes, the shortage of food and daily industrial products has caused many difficulties in people's lives.Ma Mingfang pointed out that the financial and trade departments should do everything possible to organize and arrange people's lives, rationally distribute insufficient commodities, guide people to consume in a planned way, manage the house diligently, keep a steady flow of water, and oppose bad tendencies such as "going through the back door".Ma Mingfang has repeatedly pointed out that financial and trade workers are economic workers, but also political workers and mass workers.In economic work, we must implement the party's policies, etc., use the standpoint and method of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought to deal with various problems, carry forward the spirit of communism, unite and love, work hard, help each other, and work together.It is necessary to patiently publicize relevant policies to the masses, care about the sufferings of the masses, be a caring person for the masses, and rely on the masses to do a good job. Ma Mingfang also pointed out that the financial and trade departments should actively cooperate closely with the industrial, agricultural, and transportation departments, coordinate actions, and carry forward the spirit of communist cooperation, so that the supply of raw materials for industrial agriculture, the purchase of industrial and agricultural products, the turnover of funds, and the transportation of commodities It is closely linked with the processing of agricultural and sideline products, forming a one-stop cooperation between industry, agriculture and business, and resolutely opposes the erroneous thinking of being complacent, talking about each other, and ignoring the overall situation. Ma Mingfang has repeatedly pointed out that the financial and trade departments should actively organize cadres and employees to study Mao Zedong's works, especially Mao Zedong's "Economic Issues and Financial Topics", "Caring for the Lives of the People, Paying Attention to Working Methods", "Must Learn to Do Economic Work" ", "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" and other works, as well as the party's line, principles and policies to arm their minds. It is impossible not to be affected, but Ma Mingfang's above-mentioned guiding ideology has played a positive role in the work of the financial and trade department.During that period, the political work of the finance and trade department was very lively and vigorous, which effectively improved the ideological level of the cadres and employees of the finance and trade department.From today's perspective, Ma Mingfang's above-mentioned views are also completely correct. Beginning in 1956, the financial and trade departments across the country launched the Advanced Workers Movement, and a group of advanced workers emerged from all walks of life in the financial and trade departments. In February 1957, Ma Mingfang pointed out in his speech at the third Ministerial Meeting of Finance and Trade Departments of Party Committees of Provinces, Municipalities and Autonomous Regions held by the Central Ministry of Finance and Trade that the Advanced Workers Movement launched last year had achieved results.The disadvantage is that the standards for advanced workers are low. Some units also rate employees who have only completed general tasks as advanced workers. In some units, advanced workers account for 50% or 60% of the total number of employees. The role of workers.He proposed that an advanced worker should be a model who has made outstanding achievements or made major contributions in his work and is recognized by the masses.Grasping typical models and setting up models is a good leadership method and should continue to be promoted. In 1958, red flag competitions were launched in many places.The commercial department of Beijing first grasped the typical example of Tianqiao Department Store, summed up the experience, promoted it, and quickly launched a mass movement to learn from the experience of Tianqiao Department Store across the country.Ma Mingfang personally inspected Beijing Tianqiao Department Store, and praised it for doing a good job in several major aspects. In March 1958, Ma Mingfang said in his speech at the ministerial meeting of the finance and trade departments of the party committees of the eight provinces that everyone visited Beijing Tianqiao Department Store and Maliandao Warehouse and other advanced units and was deeply moved.Now many local financial and trade departments have discovered advanced units and advanced areas, such as Macheng County and Qichun County in Hubei, Xushui County and Liangjiatai Credit Cooperative in Hebei, Credit Cooperative in Guan County in Shandong, Jiangyou County in Sichuan, Hunan’s Hengyang County has made outstanding achievements.Finance and trade departments at all levels should grasp models, set up models, carry out red flag competitions, and promote the development of finance and trade work. In 1958, the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee began to promote the advanced experience of Beijing Tianqiao Department Store, Macheng and Qichun in Hubei Province, and successively held on-site meetings in Tianjin, Shuangcheng, Hankou, Jiangyou, Hengyang and other places to summarize and promote the financial and trade work. advanced experience.According to Mao Zedong's instructions, Ma Mingfang held a larger-scale on-site meeting in Xinhui County, Guangdong Province, introducing and summarizing the advanced experience of the financial and trade department of Xinhui County.From January to April 1958, the finance and trade department of Xinhui County excavated 400,000 tans of fertilizers to support production. Banks helped agricultural cooperatives arrange funds. For pig feed, the commercial sector actively solves industrial raw materials, organizes agricultural cooperatives to use straw as raw material to increase production of papyrus, produce bricks and tiles, plant medicinal materials, increase production of melon seeds, lotus seeds, straw mushrooms, and tea, and purchase them door-to-door to meet market needs.At the same time, more than 200 shopkeeper teams and more than 2,000 people were organized to go to the countryside to sell goods, and small vendors were organized to recycle waste products for processing and utilization. The county plans to use more than 280 kinds, which are equivalent to 100 million catties of rice.Home beautification service groups have also been established in various places to help residents clean up waste and beautify their homes.The financial and trade department has become the right-hand man in production and the organizer of people's life.Ma Mingfang pointed out in his speech at the Xinhui on-site meeting that the experience of Xinhui County is the direction of rural financial and trade work, and it has set up a banner for the financial and trade department.The banner is established after the cadres and the masses have done their work correctly, not imposed by anyone on a certain unit or area.After the banner appears, we must grasp it, cultivate it, and place it in a prominent position as an example to learn from. In June 1959, Ma Mingfang personally presided over the drafting of an article entitled "On the Current Red Flag Movement on the Financial and Trade Front" and sent it to "Red Flag" magazine for publication.The article pointed out: The Red Flag Movement launched on the financial and trade front last year was a mass socialist competition movement, and a large number of signs of advanced single integration emerged everywhere.The more the red flag movement is carried out, the more in-depth, meticulous and practical the work must be done.The tendency to be content with pomp and ostentation must be guarded against and overcome.The Red Flag Movement is an activity in which the advanced drives the backward, the backward catches up with the advanced, and the advanced becomes more advanced. It is an organizational form of learning from each other and improving together.The purpose of carrying out the Red Flag Movement is to summarize and promote advanced experience and promote the development of financial and trade work. Attention must be paid to bringing practical effects in politics and economy.We must prevent formalism, championshipism, putting on airs, excessive exaggeration and extravagance.The title of red flag unit is given to advanced units in order to encourage the latecomers to learn and advance.It is absolutely not allowed to give white flags, yellow flags, and black flags to those units whose work is not advanced. Otherwise, a large number of people will be hit, the enthusiasm of most people will be dampened, and they will be separated from the masses. On November 2 and 24, 1959, Ma Mingfang successively attended the National Conference of Heroes of Financial and Trade Departments and the National Conference on Exchange of Experience of Advanced Collectives and Advanced Workers in Financial Work, and delivered speeches at the two conferences.He repeatedly proposed that on the basis of continuing to mobilize the masses, the political content and economic content of the red flag movement should be enriched, the mass movement should be more magnificent, and the red flag competition movement should become a conscious activity of the masses. In February 1960, Ma Mingfang pointed out in his concluding speech at the Fourth Finance and Trade Ministers Meeting of the Party Committees of the Provinces, Municipalities and Autonomous Regions: Over the past five years, a large number of red flag units and nearly a million advanced workers have emerged in the financial and trade departments across the country. They are the leaders of the financial and trade front. The vanguard, connecting millions of people, plays an important role in uniting, educating and organizing the masses, and has a profound impact on continuously improving the level of financial and trade work. During Ma Mingfang's work in the Ministry of Finance and Trade of the Central Committee, he was diligent and down-to-earth, and resolutely implemented the decisions of the Central Committee, step by step.He loves and cares for the comrades of the Central Ministry of Finance and Trade. He often educates them, goes deep into reality, goes deep into the grassroots, investigates and studies, sums up experience, studies politics hard, learns business, practice basic skills hard, and closely integrates work, study, and writing.Sincerely criticize the unhealthy thoughts and behaviors of certain comrades.Although he also made some exaggerated remarks during the "Great Leap Forward", from a general point of view, he opposed exaggeration and advocated seeking truth from facts; Classified as rightists, the three comrades were given wrong punishments.In the anti-rightist struggle, he only conveyed, and did not carry out anti-rightist campaigns in the ministry.He also has shortcomings in his work, and he has made self-criticism in ministry meetings many times.Everyone thinks that he is a loyal elder who speaks the truth, does honest things, and is an honest person.