Chapter 11 transform

Since April 28, the Kuomintang B-24 and B-25 bombers taking off from the base in Taiwan will visit Nanjing every few days.Seamer Topping, a reporter for the New York Times who was in Nanjing at the time, recalled, “They were like big black vultures circling over the waterfront areas of Nanjing’s power plants, water supply plants, railway crane factories and various warehouses.” The bombers flew at fairly low altitudes, as the communists at the time had no anti-aircraft weapons of any kind other than the limited-range 50-caliber machine guns. However, "Many bombs that should have been dropped on electric ferries and riverside factories fell into the river." Seamus Topping, who later served as editor-in-chief of The New York Times, wrote in his memoir "Walking Through Old and New China" "It seems that to a large extent, the pilots deliberately tried their best to avoid bombing their own compatriots." In the first few air raids, Nanjing suffered almost no losses.

The winds are generally in favor of the new regime.In Nanjing, the Communist Party, which had just come to power, had won the support of intellectuals. At dawn on April 24, Seymour Topping, who stayed up all night to send the news of "The Communist Party Occupied the Presidential Palace" back to the United States, rushed to the northwest gate of Nanjing City. In the city, some students climbed onto the top of the truck and shouted slogans to salute the army.Three weeks ago, 6,000 students had gathered in this way, but to demonstrate against the Nationalist government and demand peaceful negotiations between the government and the Communist Party.The students now welcome the establishment of the communist regime with great enthusiasm.Under the escort of the army, they went to the Yangtze River to strengthen the embankment in case of spring.The Nanjing Military Control Committee represented by Liu Bocheng cleverly combined the two classes, which continued the rich experience of the Communist Party in rural work.For the first time in their lives, the students of the School of Agriculture of Jinling University participated in rural life practices. The farmers that Canadian diplomat Chester Langning met in the countryside on the outskirts of Nanjing showed him the new farm tools he had just received and told him Tell him that the farmers were on committees of the new organization, and that students from the city visited them frequently to provide them with fertilizers and take soil samples.

In the past, peasants came to the city mostly to sell the crops in the field. In May 1949, peasants from 72 villages in Nanjing held high the white banners and red flags with the names of their respective villages and marched majestically on the roads of Nanjing city.They sang communist songs with the students who took to the streets to form a "speech team" to promote "new democracy" to the citizens. Some students joined the peasant parade and danced Yangko with them.Lang Ning later recorded this fresh sight in his memoirs from the perspective of an observer, saying: "Although I often see peasants entering the city, I have never seen them take to the streets to celebrate and parade, and everyone gave way. "Participation from all walks of life is the key to the release of tremendous energy by the new regime after the liberation of Nanjing."

The purpose of the Communist Party is to turn Nanjing from a "consumer city" into a "production city".Shenyang's experience has made it very clear that the Communist Party does not need to eliminate the bourgeoisie in Nanjing.Liu Bocheng said that in the stage of New Democracy, the Communist Party needs to concentrate its efforts to achieve the goal of developing production by promoting private and public enterprises.While accumulating capital, we must also pay attention to the development of productive forces. The Nanjing Military Control Commission has a secretariat and eight bureaus to manage the municipal administration.The eight bureaus are in charge of supply, foreign affairs, real estate control, financial and economic affairs, military takeover, political takeover, cultural takeover, and public security.Most of the staff in these departments were former national government employees who had a favorable opinion of the new regime.In factories and municipal government offices, the Communist Party set up "re-education classes" or organized "study groups" to study and discuss Mao Zedong Thought.The foreign journalists were allowed to observe a study meeting for the staff of the Nanjing Power Plant, where a trade union representative introduced how the study group in the old "liberated area" carried out activities.Such studies would begin to become more frequent in late 1949.