Chapter 27 Cultivating the experimental fields of the new democratic society

Mao Zedong's "On New Democracy" refuted the fallacies of the Kuomintang diehards, outlined a blueprint for the future society for the Chinese people, and pointed out the way for the correct development of the Chinese revolution.This is the theoretical result of years of exploration by the Chinese Communists and an outstanding contribution to Marxism.However, whether the "special form different from the Russian system" that China wants to establish, that is, the new-democratic state and regime, is scientific, correct, and supported by the people's needs has yet to be tested in practice.

In fact, when Mao Zedong designed the blueprint for China's future, he began to conduct experiments in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, where the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is located, and constantly improved specific policies in practice. In January 1939, the first Senate Council of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region was held in Yan'an. Senators were elected by the people, including workers, farmers, intellectuals, businessmen, landlords and gentry.Mao Zedong attended the meeting and delivered a warm congratulatory speech, hoping that the party organizations and people of the border areas would work hard to strengthen the democratic construction of the border areas.

Not long after, Mao Zedong drafted the Inner-Party Instructions for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on "The Issue of Political Power in the Anti-Japanese Base Areas", proposing that the political power in the base areas under the leadership of the Communist Party of China should be of the nature of the united front, that is, the democratic dictatorship of several revolutionary classes united against the traitors and reactionaries. .The "three-three system" is implemented in the regime, that is, among the members of the government, the Communist Party, non-party leftist progressives, and centrists each account for 1/3.In order to ensure the leading position of the Communist Party in the political power, Mao Zedong believed that "one-third of the Communist Party members must have superior conditions in terms of quality."

In the democratic election of the first meeting of the Shanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Senate Council, Lin Boqu and Gao Zili were elected as the chairman and vice chairman of the border region government. The Senate not only had the right to vote, but it was also stipulated at the time that the Senate should “supervise and impeach government officials at all levels of the Border Region,” “approve various plans for civil affairs, financial construction, education and local military affairs,” and “supervise and inspect the implementation of Resolutions of the Senate" and other rights.This reflects the degree of democracy in the anti-Japanese base areas.

The first session of the Senate was held in Yan'an.The picture shows Mao Zedong attending this meeting. Under the strong advocacy of the Communist Party, democratic movements were widely carried out in the border areas.This is firstly manifested in the fact that 80% to 90% of the voters participate in the election of members of parliament at all levels.Among them, for example: Ansai Panlong participated in almost all except those who were housekeepers, went out, and were sick. In the extremely tense war environment, in the vast rural areas of China where democratic traditions are very lacking, ordinary farmers with mud on their legs have the right to elect "officials" for the first time. This is a remarkable change.

Many uneducated peasants attach great importance to elections and are very active.Illiterate and unable to fill in ballots, they created methods such as "throwing beans" to conduct elections. During the election process, the masses are very concerned about who to elect and are very cautious.When the "candidate list" was announced, every village enthusiastically participated in the discussion. Some criticized someone for not being active in the revolution, someone who had opposed the revolution, someone who had embezzled, someone who had been a hooligan, and someone who had smoked opium. etc".Awareness of democratic participation in politics has generally been improved.

Due to the widespread implementation of democratic politics, the vast majority of the people in the border areas have joined the mass organizations. According to statistics, 95% of workers in various industries have joined trade unions.All farmers join the peasant association.70% of women joined the Women's Salvation Congress.The vast majority of young people joined the Youth Salvation Association.Merchants also organized chambers of commerce.Children organize children's groups. The masses of the people have extensively participated in various mass organizations. Through participating in activities, training and learning, not only the awareness of democracy has been greatly enhanced, but also the ability to participate in political life has been greatly improved due to the improvement of human quality.

Western journalists who visited Yan'an were so surprised that they could hardly believe their eyes when they saw that women with children in their arms were actually discussing important issues in the border area with the gentry and chief executives of various counties. After democratically electing political organizations at all levels according to the principle of the three-three system, in order to ensure the anti-Japanese, democracy and integrity of the government, in May 1943, the Border Region Government promulgated the "Convention on Political Personnel in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region", requiring the The staff of government organs at or above the level must strictly implement the following 10 requirements:

1. Faithfully implement the political program and implement laws and resolutions. 2. Adhere to democratic centralism, strictly abide by government discipline, and obey the overall interests. 3. Investigation and research, in-depth inspection, and summing up experience. 4. Be active and responsible, and carry forward the spirit of creativity. 5. Be fair and honest, and abide by the law. 6. Mutual relatives and mutual assistance, righteous people and self, implement the spirit of the three-three system. 7. Caring for the masses and keeping close contact with them. 8. Love the anti-Japanese army and actively help the army.

9. Raise political vigilance and guard against enemy spies. 10. Study hard. These 10 articles are all annotated, explaining the specific content and requirements, and guiding and supervising government officials.For example, it is stated in the commentary to Article 5: "To be a role model in terms of conduct and morality, to set an example for the people, to know the law and abide by the law, not to abuse power, not to act for private interests, not to follow personal interests, not to embezzle, not to bribe, not to gamble, not to corrupt , not to fall." Regarding the economy, on January 28, 1942, the Politburo meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China passed the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Policy of Anti-Japanese Base Areas".The decision sets out "three fundamental principles":

(1) "Acknowledge that peasants (including farm laborers) are the basic force of production in the Anti-Japanese War. Therefore, the party's policy is to help peasants, reduce feudal exploitation by landlords, reduce rent and interest, and guarantee peasants' human rights, political power, land rights, (2) "Acknowledge that the majority of landlords have the requirement to resist Japan, and some enlightened gentry are in favor of democratic reform. Therefore, the party's policies...after protecting the peasants' human rights, political power, land rights, and financial rights, they must Protect the human rights, political power, land rights and financial rights of landlords”; (3) “Acknowledge that the capitalist mode of production is a relatively advanced mode of production in China, while the bourgeoisie, especially the petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie, are China’s current relatively progressive modes of production. social composition and political power". This is an unprecedented major policy for our party to adjust class relations.Mao Zedong once pointed out that "this decision is the first time to publicly recognize and encourage capitalist production." In terms of culture, the party strives to build a national, scientific, and popular cultural framework. An important measure in cultural construction is to carry out literacy campaigns among the military and civilians to improve the cultural level of the military and civilians. At that time, the culture in the border area was very backward. Many peasants were illiterate, and quite a few people in the revolutionary ranks had low education levels. Most of the soldiers and workers in particular came from poor backgrounds. in a state of illiteracy.The Party Central Committee and the Border Region Government have vigorously advocated and popularized cultural learning, and set up various cultural schools, such as night schools, half-day schools, and winter schools in private schools. The climax of learning culture.Newspapers, radio and blackboard newspapers of various units often publicize and report the dynamics and experiences of learning culture.For example, the "Life" newspaper of the central government has opened a column to summarize the staff's cultural learning experience and introduce methods.The Yan'an Office has an easy-to-understand "Dazhongbao", which is specially designed for those who have just learned to read.Various literary and art groups and mass Yangko teams also arrange learning culture into performances to commend learning activists emerging from the masses.The well-known Yangge opera "Literacy of Couples" reflects the cultural learning of farmers in Yan'an.All walks of life formulate work plans, model worker conditions, reward and punishment methods, etc., and must include the content and requirements of cultural learning.For example, in the selection criteria and scoring methods for model workers formulated by the central government, "those with outstanding cultural and academic achievements" are listed as one of the conditions, and 15 points can be scored.All participants must formulate a personal study plan, such as how many words to recognize every day, how many words to recognize, write, and use throughout the year, list specific indicators, and be regularly checked by the study group leader. The extensive and long-lasting literacy campaign has had a huge impact on the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, where there are more than 1 million illiterates and 2,000 witch gods out of a population of 1.5 million. In July 1944, Yan'an launched an "Eleventh Movement", which may help us better understand the blueprint designed by the Communist Party in Yan'an.The specifics of this campaign are: (1) Each household has one year's surplus grain; (2) Each village has a loom; (3) Each district has a blacksmith's shop, and each township has a blacksmith's stove; (4) Each township has a private school or evening school; ( 5) Each person can read 1,000 characters; (6) Each district has a health cooperative, each township has a doctor, and each village has a health worker; (7) Each township has a free warehouse; (8) Each township has a deputy peddler; ( 9) Each household has one cow and one pig; (10) Each household has 100 trees; (11) Each village has a well and each household has a toilet. This is the short-term goal of economic and cultural construction planned by the Communists to change the appearance of poverty and backwardness in northern Shaanxi, and it depicts a picture of prosperity. The construction of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region played a demonstration role again, driving the construction of anti-Japanese base areas across the country.In this way, a relatively democratic and vigorous new atmosphere appeared in all the liberated areas of the country. Even many foreigners who have been to Yan'an have felt this. Stuart Schramm is an American scholar who studies Mao Zedong. He said in his book "Mao Zedong": “American journalists and other travelers who visited Yan’an or the Communist guerrilla areas during the Anti-Japanese War often felt far more at home here than in Kuomintang China. attracted by the high morale here." Xie Weisi, a member of the US military observation team, wrote after visiting Yan'an: "Yan'an's people and officials are mixed together, there are no beggars on the road, the family is poor, the clothes are simple, men and women are equal, women don't wear high heels, and they don't have lipstick. Review, another world with Chongqing."