Chapter 20 Mao Zedong conducted investigations in Jinggangshan

After the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants made their home in Jinggangshan, in order to open up new areas and expand their influence, they attacked the surrounding areas many times. Chaling in Hunan was the first target. On November 16, 1927, the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants set off from Dalong, Ninggang to fight Chaling. Mao Zedong rushed to Dalong to see off the troops.He did not go to Chaling with the troops, because the foot injury he suffered during the Autumn Harvest Uprising had not healed, so he had to stay to heal his injuries. Although it was healing, Mao Zedong was not idle. He used this time to conduct investigations and research.

"Investigation and research" is a word that is frequently used nowadays, especially some leading party and government cadres often use this word verbally.However, do people know that it was Mao Zedong who first advocated and practiced investigation and research within the Communist Party. During his school days, the young Mao Zedong used an umbrella and a pair of cloth shoes to travel around villages and villages during his vacation and conducted social surveys. During the Great Revolution, when the peasant movement swept across the rural land of China like a storm, the right wing of the Kuomintang attacked the peasant movement as a "ruffian movement" and "very bad"; Oops".On the other hand, Mao Zedong plunged into the rural areas of Hunan Province. It took him 32 days to visit five counties including Xiangtan, Xiangxiang, Hengshan, Liling, and Changsha to conduct on-the-spot investigations of the peasant movement. The "Report on the Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan", which was praised as "every Chinese revolutionist should read", enthusiastically praised the great achievements of the peasant movement and refuted all kinds of criticisms of the peasant movement.

Now that Mao Zedong has arrived in Jinggangshan, he must do some investigation and research if he wants to open up a new revolutionary road here. Mao Zedong's investigation started from Ninggang.He conducted extensive social investigations in the areas of Bashang, Yangqiao Lake, and Mayuan in Maoping by means of symposiums or individual visits.Mao Zedong was very serious about the investigation work, "asking and writing by hand, and discussing with others."On the basis of obtaining a large amount of first-hand materials, Mao Zedong compiled these materials into a document and named it "Ninggang Survey".

Then, Mao Zedong conducted a social survey in Qiuxi Township, Yongxin. Qiuxi is located at the foot of Qixi Ridge at the junction of Ninggang and Yongxin counties. In late February 1928, Mao Zedong led a company of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army and came here to carry out revolutionary activities. In Qiuxi, in addition to leading the Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants to fight local tyrants and raise funds, Mao Zedong also mobilized the masses extensively to carry out party building work.At the same time, Mao Zedong did not forget to conduct social investigations.He talked to farmers extensively, held various types of symposiums and survey meetings, learned about the situation from farmers, and listened to their opinions.Moreover, Mao Zedong also mobilized cadres and soldiers of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to go deep into Longyuankou, Qiuxi, Xiaoshanwan, Houshan, Hengxi and other villages separately to visit the poor and ask the poor, and conduct social investigations.

How to conduct social surveys, Mao Zedong drew up survey outlines for officers and soldiers of the revolutionary army who had never done survey work, including political, military, economic, cultural, living conditions of the masses, exploitative relations, customs and geographical conditions, etc.Some survey items are very specific, such as: the number and proportion of local landlords, rich peasants, middle peasants, and poor peasants; the number and proportion of land owned by each class; the situation of mass struggles; local wages and prices; Products; terrain features, river width, depth and velocity, flow, etc.

Under the guidance of Mao Zedong, the officers and soldiers of the army gradually learned to do social investigation work. During the trip to Qiuxi Township, Mao Zedong wrote a "Yongxin Investigation". The "Ninggang Survey" and "Yongxin Survey" were the basic work done by Mao Zedong to establish a revolutionary base in Jinggangshan and formulate rural land revolution policies for the party.When Du Xiujing, a representative of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, came to Jinggangshan in June 1928, Mao Zedong asked his secretary to show him these two investigation materials.

Decades later, Du Xiujing recalled his attitude towards these survey materials at that time: "I saw that these rural surveys written in the merchant's account books 'general book' and 'department book' were stacked one by one for more than a foot. Gao. Because I don’t understand that these are the basis for Comrade Mao Zedong to formulate principles and policies for our party, I only read these investigation materials as some stories or situations, and I can finish reading them in one day. I didn't understand it, and disappointedly collected the returned investigation materials."

Mao Zedong took back these investigation materials, but these painstakingly compiled investigation materials were unfortunately lost in the frequent war environment. Mao Zedong was very sorry for the lost investigation materials, and he mentioned it many times in the days to come. In 1930, when Mao Zedong was in the Central Soviet Area, he conducted a survey of Xunwu. Later, in the "Preface to the Investigation of Xunwu", he said something like this: I used to do Xiangtan, Xiangxiang, Hengshan, Liling, Changsha, Yongxin, The seven systematic surveys in Ninggang, the five in Hunan were done during the Great Revolution (January 1927), the two in Yongxin and Ninggang were done in the Jinggangshan era (November 1927), and the five in Hunan were placed in our In the hands of her lover Yang Kaihui, she was killed. These five surveys were probably lost. The Yongxin and Ninggang two were in the hands of a friend on the mountain when the Red Army left Jinggangshan in January 1929. Jiang Guihui also lost when they attacked Jinggangshan. .I am not in a hurry to lose anything else. Losing this survey (especially Hengshan and Yongxin) makes me think about it often, and I will never forget it.

"I always think about it, and I will never forget it" turned out to be the investigation materials!It can be seen that Mao Zedong attached great importance to investigation and research.It is precisely because Mao Zedong mastered a large number of social conditions in the Jinggangshan area through investigation and research, which provided objective basis for Mao Zedong to make correct judgments and formulate correct policies in the struggle leading the border areas.