As we all know, Zhou Enlai was the first premier of New China, and he was 26 years old, almost becoming synonymous with "premier", and no one can surpass it.
However, Premier Zhou Enlai often needed to go out because of his many affairs, and during his absence, he needed someone to act as prime minister, such as Chen Yun, who acted as prime minister four times.
So, why can Chen Yun take on this heavy responsibility? What contributions did you make during your time as Acting Prime Minister?
In fact, Chen Yun and Zhou Enlai worked together very early, dating back to the Northern Expedition, Zhou Enlai once led the Shanghai workers' armed uprising movement, Chen Yun actively participated in it, because of his outstanding ability, zhou Enlai was deeply impressed.
After the establishment of the Central Special Branch, Chen Yun became Premier Zhou's helper and played a huge role, for example, in handling the matter of Gu Shunzhang and Xiang Zhongfa defecting to the enemy, Chen Yun calmly coped and acted flexibly to avoid excessive losses to our party.
During the reconstruction of the central special branch, Chen Yun took advantage of his own advantage as a local in Shanghai, and through various connections, opened a large number of shops and hotels to cover the continued work of the special branch.
In his long-term cooperative career, Zhou Enlai greatly appreciated Chen Yun's ability, so after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai specially recommended Chen Yun to the central government as vice premier and director of the Financial and Economic Committee, presiding over the financial and economic work of the whole country.
Although Chairman Mao and Chen Yun met relatively late, Chen Yun's major measures and work achievements during the Zunyi Conference and the Yan'an period also made Chairman Mao very appreciative of him, especially during the Liberation War, Chen Yun served as the director of the Northeast Financial and Economic Commission, and made great contributions to taking over Shenyang and restoring the economy, winning unanimous praise from everyone in the party.
Chairman Mao once commented on Chen Yun: "I think he is a good person, he is more fair, capable, and stable, and he has a vision of problems. Don't look at him very peacefully, but he sees the problem sharply and can grasp the main points. Therefore, I see Comrade Chen Yun on the line. ”
Being fair, competent, steady, discerning, able to grasp the main points, attaching importance to the overall situation, and being familiar with economic and people's livelihood work have all become the distinctive characteristics of Chen Yun, so it is also very appropriate for him to act as prime minister.
In November 1954, with the draft "First Five-Year Plan" on the agenda, Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou and others arrived in Guangzhou to conduct special research on the matter. During this period, Chen Yun temporarily assumed the post of premier and presided over the relevant work of the State Council.
Subsequently, the central government held a meeting to discuss the draft five-year plan, and in the course of the meeting, Chen Yun expressed his views on three topics, such as oil, agriculture, and transportation.
Chen Yun believes that oil, as an important foundation for the development of the national economy and the realization of industrialization, at this stage, in addition to importing from abroad, it is also necessary to learn relevant technologies from the Soviet Union.
In addition, on the issue of oil exploration, in addition to the Ministry of Petroleum, it is even more necessary to unite with the Ministry of Geology, the Ministry of Fuel and other departments to carry out work as soon as possible.
On the issue of agriculture, Chen Yun believes that the development of the proportion between industry and agriculture should be balanced, and if there is a tilt, it will have a serious impact on grain supply, foreign exchange sources, and industrial equipment imports.
In addition, in formulating the target for increasing grain production, Chen Yun has taken prudent measures, that is, to draw a reasonable and achievable goal by comparing with foreign countries and considering his own actual situation.
On the issue of transportation, Chen Yun put forward two requirements, one is the issue of investment, to calculate the cost of construction; the other is the quality problem, Chen Yun reminded: "If the quality is not good, the descendants will scold." ”
On November 28, the draft "First Five-Year Plan" ended its agenda, Premier Zhou returned to Beijing, and Chen Yun also ended his first acting premier.
In April 1955, Premier Zhou led a Chinese delegation to Bandung, Indonesia, to attend the Asian-African Conference, and Chen Yun acted as prime minister again.
During this period, Chen Yun mainly focused on two things, one was that at the State Council report meeting on April 16, Chen Yun pointed out in response to the problem of industry and agriculture that the completion of the agricultural plan did not meet the expected targets, which would have a serious impact on industry, which in turn made the relationship between industry and agriculture more tense, so it should be properly handled.
Second, at the State Council report meeting on May 5, Chen Yun made a relevant decision in response to India's request to China to give India hydrological information on Tibet's rivers and the construction of a rainfall observatory.
From mid-November 1956 to early February 1957, at the invitation of eleven countries in Asia and Europe, Premier Zhou led a Chinese delegation on a friendly visit and continued to be acting as prime minister by Chen Yun.
At the two plenary sessions of the State Council, Chen Yun did a great deal of work on such matters as the adjustment of the state budget in 1956, the formulation of the 1957 national economic plan, and the reduction of investment in capital construction.
For example, at the Forty-first Plenary Session of the State Council held on December 15, 1956, in response to the adjustment of the 1956 state budget, Chen Yun pointed out that the fiscal budget and cash receipts and expenditures should be balanced, and should be developed in the direction of a slight balance, and a deficit should never be allowed.
In addition, he also gave opinions on the development of industry and agriculture, saying that agriculture must exert a binding force on industry, and industry cannot do whatever it wants, so the scale of construction should be based on evidence, and there must be no situation in which as many people as we want can arise.
At the two executive meetings of the State Council at the end of 1956, Chen Yun expressed his views on the reduction of capital construction investment, holding that now this "horse" is running too fast, it will cause chaos, and it is very dangerous, so capital construction investment should follow the previous practice, first ensuring the necessary production, and secondly, carrying out construction on the basis of surpluses.
It should be pointed out that it is Chen Yun's series of stable and flexible guiding opinions that have enabled China's national economic development to move forward steadily and avoided the mistakes made by Eastern Europe and other countries.
In mid-February 1958, Premier Zhou was invited to visit North Korea to hold talks with Kim Il Sung on the withdrawal of Chinese volunteers from Korea. During this period, Chen Yun acted as prime minister for the fourth time and his last acting premiership.
At that time, due to many reasons, Chen Yun's own situation was not ideal, so there was not much work in charge of the State Council, and his focus was mainly on reviewing the "anti-adventurous advance".
At the enlarged meeting of the Politburo held on February 18, Chen Yun made a review speech to the plenary, and in response to the "policy errors" mentioned at the Nanning meeting on the issue of "anti-adventurism", Chen Yun made a profound review and proposed a number of improvement measures.
In addition, Chen Yun also made a profound reflection on the problems exposed in financial work.
On February 22, after Premier Zhou's visit to North Korea, he returned to Beijing by train, and Chen Yun ended his mission.
Facts have proved that during Premier Zhou's absence, Chen Yun fulfilled well the tasks entrusted to him by the central authorities, especially his contributions to economic construction, which is very commendable.
(References: "Chen Yunchuan", "Party History Bocai", "People's Political Consultative Conference Daily")