Chapter 41 Reminiscing about Ma's second and third things

Comrade Ma Mingfang, a proven outstanding Communist Party member, died on August 13, 1974, 26 years ago, due to the long-term brutal persecution and torture by Lin Biao and the "Gang of Four."Now, the latecomers have written a biography to commemorate him. I will talk about the things I have not forgotten about the old man I know, so as to remember him. From February 1950 to January 1957, during my work at the Secretariat of the General Office of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee, I had contact with several leading comrades who presided over the overall work of the Provincial Committee.Among them, Comrade Ma Mingfang was the one who lasted a long time and left a deep impression on him.He was the first Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and the first Chairman of the Provincial People's Government of our province after liberation.From January 1950 to 1952, he worked continuously in Shaanxi for three years.These three years have been an eventful period in the history of the new Shaanxi.It can be said that the foundation for the new social development of our province was initially laid during this period.

The establishment of the Provincial Party Committee was faced with a situation where all the waste was waiting to be implemented.The muddy water of the old society needs to be cleaned up, the mess left by the old regime needs to be cleaned up, and all tasks have to be started from scratch. "All beginnings are hard".At that time, the first thing we encountered was a spring famine of varying severity throughout the province. Including the Guanzhong area, a large number of peasants had no food to eat or were in a state of shortage.Comrade Ma Mingfang soberly saw that this was a major event related to the livelihood of the masses, and clearly stated that in the spring of 1950, all work in the province must be centered on production and disaster relief, and party and government departments at all levels and provincial departments must cooperate with this task. The center does its own other work well.On the basis of investigation and research, the Provincial Party Committee issued several specific policies in a timely manner, and publicized them to everyone through the methods of party and government at all levels, radio stations, papers, and posting notices; at the same time, cadres at all levels were mobilized to go to the countryside to discuss with the masses to overcome famine Method.I remember the policies issued by the provincial party committee at that time: whoever grows will reap, and no part of the cultivated land is allowed to be barren; free borrowing, borrowing and repaying; building canals and roads, using work as relief; stabilizing prices, and letting the state release grain to the market, etc. These are disaster relief measures that are popular with the masses.The government mobilized the masses to produce and save themselves, and the spring famine, which affected people's uncertainty, was successfully passed, and the provincial party committee's repeated orders not to allow one person to starve to death were fulfilled.The victory in the first battle inspired the cadres, stabilized the hearts of the people, won the trust of the broad masses of the people in the party, and made a good start for the subsequent economic recovery work.

In the early days of liberation, a lot of waste was waiting to be revived, and there were many clues to heal the wounds of the war and restore the economy. During this period, land reform, land inspection and property determination, anti-rebellion, three anti-anti, five anti-anti, party consolidation, and resistance to the United States and aid to Korea must be carried out intensively.Under the correct leadership of the Central Committee and the leadership of the Provincial Party Committee headed by Comrade Ma Mingfang, and with the efforts and support of the broad masses of cadres and the masses, these arduous tasks have been successfully completed one by one.I remember that several of his capable deputies in the provincial party committee team at that time, some of them were appointed by the central government and never came to work for some reason, and some of them served for a short time and left for long-term recuperation. Said it was all about him.However, he bravely shouldered heavy responsibilities and worked hard. Together with a group of people in the provincial party committee, he did all aspects of the work in the province with a prominent focus and proper cooperation.In just a few years, the situation in the whole province is a situation where the government is well-organized and the people are harmonious, and the people are motivated.As a demobilized cadre, I have returned to work in the province for ten years, and I often come into contact with some acquaintances from the past, and they almost talk with one voice: the early 1950s were an unforgettable good time.

Mr. Ma put in the most effort during his tenure in Shaanxi, and I think nothing was more important than his firm grasp of the entire process of land reform. Preparations for land reform started in conjunction with spring production and disaster relief.In addition to organizing and surveying the land ownership of various strata in the countryside, he mainly focused on policy research and cadre training. He never let go, and selected cadres to carry out pilot land reform.From the division of labor at all levels to training land reform cadres, organizing the study of central land reform policies, to proposing the implementation plan of the province's land reform in connection with the actual situation in the study, Mr. Ma led a group of people from the provincial party committee to do a lot of meticulous and meticulous work.When discussing the issue of changing the property of rich peasants in the land reform, he held many meetings to study and weigh the pros and cons.I remember once he said something like this at the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee: The land reform does not change the property of the rich peasants. Now it is not a matter of daring or not, but whether it is beneficial to protect and unite the middle peasants, especially after the land reform. Conducive to the development of production issues.We used to carry out land reform in the old areas, which moved the property of the rich peasants, often hurt the interests of the middle peasants, but isolated the poor and hired peasants; the serious consequence was that after the land reform, everyone was afraid of being outstanding, and the enthusiasm for production was not high. Regression, the ultimate loss is the peasants themselves and the whole society.He was far-sighted, unified everyone's thinking and understanding with sufficient reasons, adhered to the central government's policy of not allowing rich peasants in the land reform, and ensured the smooth and healthy progress of the province's land reform from the source.

In order to mobilize the whole party to do a good job in the work of turning the land into the center, the provincial party committee reported to the Northwest Bureau for approval, and decided to hold the province's first party meeting in the auditorium of Northwest University in August 1950 (using the school's summer vacation). Delegate meeting.The theme of the conference was to discuss the implementation plan of the province's land reform.In order to prepare the report of the conference, the writing team responsible for drafting the manuscript made serious research and drafting after busy work.However, after reading it and discussing and revising it several times, he still felt dissatisfied. Finally, he decided to write it himself.At this time, the opening date of the conference was approaching. He ruled out all disturbances, and braved the high temperature of midsummer, sitting alone in the office and writing the final draft day and night.At that time, the conditions for heatstroke prevention and cooling were extremely poor. There was no air conditioner, and there was not even an electric fan.One day, I went to deliver an urgent mail to him, only to see that he was sweating profusely and buried himself in a book.Wearing only a sleeveless and collarless undershirt on the upper body, a fan is placed on one side of the table, and a wet towel is placed on the other side, and he works while wiping sweat.At this moment, I couldn't bear to delay his time for a minute, so I quickly put down the file, and after hearing his "hmm", I immediately exited.I was deeply moved by this scene, which is still fresh in my memory.In the early days of the land reform in Guanzhong, Mr. Ma discovered many new situations and problems while inspecting the progress of the land reform.One of the more serious and widespread problems is that many new cadres participating in the land reform work cannot do the work of mass ideological mobilization, and often arrange and replace things, and engage in formalism.Some hold cock-crowing meetings and talk empty and lengthy words; some follow the script without explaining, with little effect.In this regard, he first asked leading cadres to pay attention to correcting them in a timely manner, otherwise it would affect the mobilization of the masses and go through the motions; secondly, he personally wrote the article "On the Two Positions and Two Sets of Practices of the Mass Work in the Land Reform", except in "The Masses The Daily was published publicly, and it was printed as a pamphlet and distributed to the land reform cadres for reading and discussion.On the one hand, the article reveals and analyzes the manifestations and origins of this bad tendency; on the other hand, it puts forward some good practices and experiences from reality for land reform cadres to learn and reform.Ma Lao took the lead in in-depth practical guidance, encouraged and educated cadres at all levels, and promoted the continuous and extensive development of the land reform mass movement.

The province's land reform began in the autumn of 1950 and was basically completed by the end of 1952.Although some problems were unavoidable in the movement, generally speaking, it was a healthy, stable, extensive and in-depth peasant turnaround movement, and it was a mass movement with the most profound historical significance in the democratic reform in our province.The landlord class was overthrown and the social productive forces were liberated.Taking the Guanzhong area as an example, although the proportion of land owned by landlords is not as large as that in Jiangnan and other places, according to statistics, farmers still account for 51% of the total population to obtain benefits in land, food, and the abolition of usury debts.After the land reform, farmers' enthusiasm for production increased, farmers' production income increased, and their political awareness improved. A large number of young farmers voluntarily signed up to join the army to resist the US and aid Korea.The former withered countryside is thriving.Now it can be seen more and more clearly that the ultra-left views in the Social Education Movement and the "Cultural Revolution" that denied the land reform in our province or said that the land reform was not thorough are untenable, and it also proves that Comrade Ma Mingfang was faithful and correct in implementing Implemented the principles and policies of the Party Central Committee on the implementation of land reform in the new area.Comrade Ma Mingfang's dedication to the Shaanxi people will last forever.