Chapter 36 Recalling Comrade Mingfang's Demeanor and Teachings

We were fortunate to be able to know and listen to the teachings of Comrade Ma Mingfang during the period from 1950 to 1952.At that time, he was the secretary of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee and the third secretary of the Northwest Bureau, and we worked in the research office of the provincial party committee.During this period, the central tasks of the Provincial Party Committee were land reform, land investigation and production determination, suppression of rebellion, suppression of bandits, rebellion against hegemony, and restoration of urban and rural economies.The Research Office of the Provincial Party Committee mainly focused on land reform, surveying land and determining production, and restoring urban and rural economies. It provided information to the Provincial Party Committee and served as a good staff assistant. It had more contact with comrades Mingfang in work, and thus benefited a lot.Some of the situations that we have come into contact with and experienced in our work are now recalled as follows.

In Guanzhong land reform, in order to gain experience and make the movement develop healthily and steadily, Comrade Mingfang carefully formulated the steps, methods and guiding ideology of carrying out the movement: first, carry out in stages, conduct multiple experiments, gain practical experience, and guide the overall work; second, Go deep into the actual situation, inspect and inspect, and promptly discover and solve problems that arise during the movement; third, open up your voice, brainstorm, and implement the party's principles and policies in a realistic and realistic manner based on the actual situation.

There are 41 counties (cities), 2,522 townships, and a population of more than 7 million in the Guanzhong region. It is determined to be carried out in two to three phases (for remote areas).The first phase was only carried out in 824 townships with a population of more than 2 million, which accounted for only three tenths of the total population in Guanzhong. It was actually a trial operation, and it was also stipulated that all prefectures and counties should have their own pilot projects so that the leaders Gain perceptual practical experience on the ground and guide the overall work on the ground.Not long after the first phase of land reform started, the province dispatched responsible comrades from relevant provincial departments, provincial land reform committees, and provincial farmers' associations to go to the countryside to inspect and inspect the land reform work.The responsible comrades who went to Xifu to inspect and inspect the work were Li Jingying, member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Ma Dingbang, Deputy Director of the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee, and Yang Bolun, Director of the Provincial Department of Civil Affairs. I and two other comrades were accompanying staff. At the end of the month, he inspected pilot townships and some counties in Baoji and Xianyang, and reported to the Provincial Land Reform Commission after returning.Comrade Mingfang not only listened to the report carefully, but also went to Dongfu to investigate and understand the situation in person.The land reform in the Guanzhong area was carried out in accordance with the general line and general policy determined by the "Land Reform Law" promulgated by the Central People's Government, that is, "rely on the poor peasants and hired peasants, unite with the middle peasants, neutralize the rich peasants, and eliminate the feudal system of exploitation in a step-by-step and differentiated manner." , develop agricultural production".In the process of implementing the policy, people from all over the country and from all walks of life have expressed a lot of opinions, some of which belong to the problem of understanding and understanding, and some of which belong to the problem of grasping the boundaries.For example, in some villages in the Guanzhong area, there are many middle-class farmers and few poor and hired farmers. Who do you rely on?In some villages, poor and hired farmers are the majority, but there are differences of opinion. They think that "Babaili Qinchuan has such good conditions and is poor. Except for those who have lost their labor at home, most of them are people who do not work hard." worried".Then how to grasp the boundary between rich peasants and middle peasants?How to grasp the boundary with the landlord?Some landlords in Guanzhong did not rent out a large amount of land, but hired a large number of temporary workers when planting and harvesting wheat, similar to the management method of rich peasants, and some middle peasants also hired a large number of mikes when they were busy. It is indeed difficult to grasp the boundaries.There are also small land lessors, mainly involving rural intellectuals, primary school teachers, small handicraftsmen, small traders, etc. Each has different specific situations and views.There are also disputes between illegal landlords and law-abiding landlords, and so on.Comrade Mingfang has done a lot of solid and meticulous work in this regard. He has convened many meetings with the Provincial Land Reform Committee, the Provincial Farmers' Association, and especially people from all walks of life outside the Party, asking them to speak freely, express their opinions, and discuss repeatedly.Sometimes we also call comrades in our research room to talk about this issue and listen to the opinions of our comrades who are engaged in specific work.Under his tireless in-depth and meticulous research and guidance, he clarified the boundaries, corrected the understanding, unified the thinking, and ensured the correct implementation of the land reform policy.

After the land reform in the Guanzhong area was completed in May 1951, Comrade Ming Fang proposed that in the winter of 1951 and the spring of 1952, land reform would be carried out in southern Shaanxi, and land inspection and production determination in Guanzhong should be carried out.The secretarial group of the research office is responsible for contacting the situation, collecting data, and providing information, etc. (the rural group is responsible for contacting the land reform in southern Shaanxi).For the purpose of land investigation and property determination, Comrade Ming Fang pointed out in the report "Summary of Land Reform in Guanzhong Area and Rural Work Tasks after Land Reform": "In Guanzhong area, there are still many problems left over from land reform, such as the wrong class composition, landlords' counterattacks against peasants, feudal debts that have not been abolished, transfer funds that have not been recovered, land distribution is not reasonable, cadres are trying to reap the outdated and excessive fruits of land reform, etc., in many rural areas or If there are more or less, they must be properly dealt with seriously. The illegal behavior of the landlords should be punished according to the law under the principle of resolutely protecting the interests of the farmers. The problems within the farmers should be adjusted and persuaded to achieve The purpose of united education. The number of acres of land in various places must be clearly investigated, and the annual output of various types of land must be appraised. According to the economic region, according to the type of land, etc., the whole piece of land is done in stages. This is an extremely complicated and meticulous mass work." "In addition to the problems left over from the land reform and the actual investigation of the acres, the assessment of the annual output, and the determination of land rights, we must go further and use the greatest strength in the vast rural areas to lead all farmers to carry out a long-term patriotic campaign. The socialist production movement." In terms of the method and steps of carrying out this work, it is roughly the same as the first phase of land reform in Guanzhong, and it is also required that each site select some experiments first, and then carry out the full-scale implementation after gaining experience.Comrade Mingfang not only made specific and clear regulations on work tasks, principles and policies, but also sent people to supervise and inspect after the work was fully carried out, so as to keep abreast of the progress of the work.Although he focused on the land reform in southern Shaanxi at that time, he did not relax the work of land survey and production determination in Guanzhong at all.As early as mid-August 1951, in order to find out the remaining problems in the countryside after the land reform, Comrade Mingfang personally went to Wangmang Village, Huangfu Village and Liuxiang in Weiqu District in Chang'an County to conduct in-depth investigation and research, and obtained first-hand information . In the winter of 1951, the field investigation and production determination in Guanzhong was fully launched. In February 1952, the Provincial Party Committee held a meeting of the secretaries, commissioners and Chang'an County Party Committee of Guanzhong, focusing on summarizing the work of land investigation and production determination in Guanzhong.At that time, Ruisheng was the head of the secretary group of the research office of the Provincial Party Committee, responsible for contacting and summarizing the situation of land investigation and production determination in Guanzhong.At the beginning of this work, according to the deployment of the provincial party committee and some doubts among the masses, he wrote a "speech on land investigation and production determination" in the 22nd issue of the "Propaganda Handbook" run by the provincial party committee. The problem to be solved and the four major benefits.Immediately afterwards, "People's Daily" reprinted this "speech".This shows that the leaders at that time attached great importance to publicity orientation, which shows that Ma Mingfang paid close attention to the work of land investigation and production determination.

After checking the acres of land, assessing the yield, and confirming the land rights, the enthusiasm of the masses for production has been greatly enhanced. The agricultural mutual aid and cooperative organizations have been further consolidated and developed, and the unity of the poor and hired peasants, the middle peasants, and other working people has been further strengthened, and the grassroots political power has been consolidated. Carrying out large-scale rural economic construction has laid a more solid mass foundation. At the beginning of liberation, there were very few industrial and mining enterprises in Shaanxi, and it was very depressed due to the expropriation and extortion of the Jianghu gang.At that time, Xi'an was a city directly under the central government, and the province was only in charge of industrial and mining industries outside the urban area of ​​Xi'an, such as Tongchuan Coal Mine, Baoji Xinqin Textile Mill, Machinery Factory, Paper Mill, Match Factory, and Flour Mill.However, Comrade Mingfang attached great importance to this aspect of work. In addition to the Provincial Department of Industry, the Provincial Party Committee Research Office also set up an industrial and mining group (Fengying worked in the industrial and mining group), responsible for contacting the situation in this area and collecting information on this area. provide this information.

The Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China was established in early 1950, and the period from the early winter of 1952 (mid-October) to the early winter (mid-October) when Comrade Ming Fang was transferred from Shaanxi to take charge of the work in the Northwest Region was a period of three years of economic recovery. For business, our basic policy is to protect, support, and help them adjust labor relations, adjust taxes and wages, correct the once-emerging "leftist" signs of "public selflessness", help them improve business management, and carry out patriotic production competitions, etc. , to promote its recovery and development.Comrade Mingfang has repeatedly emphasized at various meetings: "Our industry is still very weak, but as long as we strengthen our leadership and do our best to do all the work in the existing industrial and mining production, our industry will be able to seek rapid expansion. and development".He demanded that "the Department of Industry, the Department of Labor, the provincial trade unions, and local financial committees should use great power to manage the existing private factories and mines in various places well..." "Make achievements and learn from experience" and "train all kinds of workers in industrial construction. talent".He also demanded that "public trading organizations and cooperatives should use all their own funds and organize private business forces to sell the surplus food, local products, mountain products and other sideline products of the masses at reasonable prices, and exchange them for the production needed by the masses. Tools and means of subsistence", pointing out that "this is a major political issue related to the consolidation of the worker-peasant alliance".

After the "five evils", due to the influence of some erroneous practices, there were some restraints and irregularities in commercial circulation and industrial production. After Comrade Mingfang found out, he promptly proposed to change this situation quickly.At the joint meeting of prefectural committee secretaries held in June 1952, it was proposed that within four months from the summer harvest to the autumn harvest, the focus of the province should be to do a good job in production, economic work, and urban and rural economic recovery and development. The work must be done well in order to change the abnormal situation after the "five evils".And clearly pointed out: "Production work includes agricultural production and industrial production, and economic work includes ordering, loans, taxation, purchase of local products, capital investment, supply of needs of the masses, etc." We must do a good job in restoring the economy, developing production and commercial operations (processing, ordering, lending, etc.), and strengthen the education of workers and shop assistants. At the same time, we must do a good job in the work of the Federation of Industry and Commerce and the management. The issue of workers' supervision of management can be focused first. Try to set up one or two small factories, after gaining experience, study and discuss with the prefectural committee, approve by the provincial committee, and then promote it, it should never be widely spread. Otherwise, problems will inevitably occur, even if there are no problems now, there will definitely be problems in the future Something went wrong.” As for the issue of compensation, rebates, and penalties for unlawful businessmen in the “Five Antis”, Comrade Ming’s opinion should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis: “Anything that is useful and beneficial to the national economy and the people’s livelihood should not be punished because of the ‘Five Antis’. Subsidies, rebates, and fines lead to collapse, and let them continue to operate; those with little profit or no future profit should try not to collapse, collapse less, and collapse late.”

It can be seen that, in arranging and deploying work and implementing policies, Comrade Mingfang always asks to proceed from the actual situation in Shaanxi and consider whether it is beneficial to the interests of the people, whether it is beneficial to the development of production, and whether it is beneficial to the national economy and people's livelihood.Under the guidance of his realistic spirit and fine work style, the urban and rural economy of Shaanxi has recovered and developed rapidly.According to statistics, compared with 1949 in 1952, the total social output value increased by 54.4%, the total industrial output value increased by 73%, the total agricultural output value increased by 24%, and the total national income increased by 47.3%.

We have the opportunity to contact Comrade Ma Mingfang only for two short years.However, his serious and meticulous work style, his open-mindedness, and his democratic demeanor of being able to listen to different opinions have taught us a lot.As mentioned earlier, Comrade Ming Fang often called comrades in the research office to analyze and study the situation and problems in land reform, land survey and production determination, industrial and mining, and to study and revise manuscripts.At the meeting, he always encourages everyone to speak freely, to express their opinions, and to talk about whatever ideas and opinions they have.I was not used to it at first, and felt that I should be cautious in my words and deeds in front of the secretary of the provincial party committee, not daring to express my intentions.Later, under the education and guidance of Comrade Mingfang, especially his sincere and modest attitude, he not only did not criticize but encouraged people with different views, gradually everyone dared to speak freely and dared to argue with each other, sometimes even arguing with embarrassment.Under such circumstances, Comrade Mingfang always interrupted with a smile or nodded.Sometimes it is also said: To study a problem, you must dare to argue. A wise man always has a loss, and a fool always has a gain. He has his own perspective on things, and he must have different views. Debates must inspire and benefit each other. Improvement, the closer and more harmonious the relationship will be, and this spirit should be advocated among researchers.Under the words and deeds of Comrade Mingfang, the comrades in the research office are more active in thinking, the atmosphere of democracy is strong, and the thoughts and emotions among comrades are very harmonious.

One more thing. From the winter of 1951 to the spring of 1952, when land reform was carried out in southern Shaanxi, the Ankang Prefectural Committee sent a telegram asking for instructions.At that time, the secretary group of the research room was in charge of the handling of the telegrams in the office. After discussing with the rural group, Ruisheng drafted a draft reply telegram. It is requested that the reply draft be sent to Secretary Ma for review immediately.Ruisheng hurriedly asked a comrade to make a copy, and sent it to Comrade Mingfang's office before he had time to examine it carefully.Unexpectedly, "Your call has been received" on the reply draft was copied as "Our call has been received".Comrade Mingfang asked seriously: "Who are we?" and pointed out the mistakes in the manuscript to Ruisheng.Ruisheng admitted that he was careless and did not proofread in detail.Comrade Mingfang didn't say anything else, just immersed himself in reading the telegram, and Ruisheng stood beside him. After he revised the telegram, he said to Ruisheng seriously and earnestly: You must be careful in doing things in the future. Although this is a mistake, if you I am as careless as you, if I sign this telegram, what impression will it give to the prefectural committee?It will inevitably affect the image of the provincial party committee, isn't it a big joke!He also said: Young people tend to be anxious when things happen, and when they are anxious, they are easy to make mistakes. It is also a kind of personal cultivation to learn to be anxious and not panic when things happen.Afterwards, hand over the draft to Ruisheng and order it to be issued immediately.We will never forget this incident, and thanks to his teaching this time, we have been cautious and careful in our work in the provincial party committee for many years, and avoided some mistakes.

Comrade Mingfang looks very serious and unsmiling, giving people the impression that he is not easy to get close to, but in fact he is very approachable.Just one example.Around the beginning of 1952, the Provincial Party Committee held a report meeting for government officials in the auditorium of the Provincial Party School.At that time, the provincial party committee office was located at the gate of Wuyue Temple, and the equipment was very simple. There was only one old Warsaw sleeper car in the whole office, which was usually only used by the secretary.The Standing Committee and ministers can only use a few old and medium jeeps for public use, and the public vehicles of various departments are only a few bicycles.We went to listen to the report, we had no bicycles to ride, we had to walk, just walked out of the small south gate, when Comrade Mingfang’s car came, we hurriedly gave way and stood aside.Unexpectedly, Comrade Mingfang recognized him, so he stopped the car and asked if we were going to the party school for a meeting?We said yes, Mingfang said: "You can't make it on foot, take my car and go together." The secretary of the provincial party committee can be so caring for the general staff. Although the matter is small, it is commendable, which shows the noble demeanor of Comrade Mingfang.