Chapter 66 3. A special "sage list"

Autumn 1949. The Chinese People's Liberation Army has achieved great and exciting victories in the Northwest and South China battlefields. At this time, preparations for the new CPPCC meeting were intensified. After Mao Zedong studied the issue of forming a coalition government with the leaders of the various democratic parties in Xiangshan, he asked Zhou Enlai, Lin Boqu and others to hold a preparatory meeting for the new CPPCC. At this meeting, the five tasks to be done by the preparatory meeting and the number of units and representatives participating in the new CPPCC were formulated.

Mao Zedong said at the meeting: "The task of this preparatory meeting is to complete all necessary preparatory work, quickly convene a new Political Consultative Conference, and establish a democratic coalition government in order to lead the people of the whole country and eliminate the Kuomintang as quickly as possible. The remnants of the reactionaries will unify the whole of China and carry out political, economic, cultural and national defense construction work in a systematic and step-by-step manner across the country." The six tasks adopted by the meeting are: 1. To plan the units and the number of representatives of each unit to participate in the new Political Consultative Conference.

2. Draft the organizational regulations of the new Political Consultative Conference. 3. Draft a common program. 4. To formulate the organizational plan of the Central People's Government. 5. Draft the General Assembly Declaration. 6. Draft plans for the national flag, national anthem, and national emblem. The number of representatives of each unit approved is as follows: (A) The party represents 14 units and 142 people. (B) The area represents 9 units with 102 people. (C) The army represents 6 units with 60 people. (D) The group represents 16 units and 206 people. There will also be a special invitation unit, the number of representatives and candidates will be decided by the Standing Committee.

After passing a stage of work, the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to establish the Party Committee and Standing Committee of the CPPCC Preparatory Committee. The Party Committee is composed of 21 people.Zhou Enlai, Lin Boqu, Li Weihan, Xu Bing, and Li Li served as members of the Standing Committee of the Executive Committee.The specific division of labor at that time was: Zhou Enlai, Lin Boqu, Li Weihan, and Qi Yanming were in charge of the parties. Chen Yun and Bo Yibo are in charge of finance and economics. Dong Biwu and Chen Shaoyu (Wang Ming) are in charge of the political and legal aspects.

Nie Rongzhen, Ye Jianying, and Luo Ruiqing are in charge of the military. Hu Qiaomu, Xu Bing, Zhou Yang, Qian Junrui, and Liao Chengzhi are in charge of culture and education. Li Lisan, Cai Chang, and Feng Wenbin are in charge of workers, youth and women. Lianlian and Yang Jingren are responsible for farmers and ethnic groups. Zhou Enlai was the main person in charge of the CPPCC Preparatory Committee. One day, he sent the list of candidates for the CPPCC to Mao Zedong's desk. Mao Zedong looked at the list of so many people and laughed.He said to Zhou En: "It can be seen that you have spent a lot of painstaking efforts to pull this list!"

Zhou Enlai said: "We must consider various factors and take care of all aspects. In short, we must facilitate the establishment of a coalition government." "Yes. We invite people to participate in politics, just to let them have something to do. Our Communist Party does not practice one-party dictatorship, and we want to let the world see." "This is just a preliminary draft, please approve the chairman." Mao Zedong said with a smile: "This is a 'list of sages', and it is also a 'book from the sky'. It includes all forces from all sides, very good, very good!"