Centennial tide
The united front is one of the important magic weapons for the success of China's new-democratic revolution. As one of the "Five Elders of Yan'an", Lin Boqu attached great importance to carrying out united front work for non-party personages during the Yan'an period, and he personally practiced it, not only striving to protect their functions and powers politically, actively publicizing the policies and propositions of the Cpc To them in the course of exchanges and studies, always doing his best to care for and integrate into them in his daily life, and finally successfully condensing their strength into the road of fighting for the revolutionary cause of the Communist Party of China.
Guarantee the right of non-Party persons to hold office
During the Yan'an period, Lin Boqu, who was chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region government, attached great importance to protecting the political rights of non-party figures.
In 1940, Lin Boqu focused on solving the problem of "three three systems" political power construction in Yan'an according to the instructions of the central government. At the beginning of the implementation of this policy, there were serious closed-door and sectarian tendencies within the party, and some people outside the party felt that their own functions and powers could not be guaranteed and their opinions could not be taken seriously, and they developed negative resistance in their work. In the first half of 1943, at a government affairs meeting presided over by Li Dingming, vice chairman of the Border Region Government, everyone discussed a document, and after the discussion, Li Dingming said that "I have no opinion", but he refused to line the line in the final wholesale link of the document. It turned out that what Li Dingming said in his mouth that "I have no opinion" is not really no opinion. After Lin Boqu became aware of this problem, he quickly asked Li Weihan, secretary general of the Border Region Government, to personally discuss with Li Dingming and other non-party personages and listen to their ideas and opinions. In his conversation with Li Weihan, Li Dingming unabashedly put forward criticisms such as "cadres treat me as a vice chairman as a decoration." After Li Weihan reported the conversation to Lin Boqu, Lin Boqu, Together with Li Weihan, Xie Jueya, and others, agreed on two methods on how to ensure that non-party personages have the right to hold office and how to improve the relations between non-party personages: "One is to hold a weekly reporting meeting to the chairman and vice chairman, with the participation of the permanent vice chairman of the Senate and the chief and deputy secretary-general of the government, and the responsible personnel of various departments, departments, and procuratorates will take turns to report on their work and discuss and resolve problems on the spot; the other is that all departments, departments, and procuratorates put forward relevant principles and policies to the government affairs council When planning and other important issues, in addition to being studied by the party group, it must also be reported to Vice Chairman Li Dingming, and then submitted to the meeting for discussion after obtaining consent. After this, Li Dingming actively participated in the activities of providing suggestions and suggestions for the government of the Border Region, and the famous "lean army and simplified administration" was first proposed by him and then adopted. He said with deep feeling: "As a non-party personage, I have cooperated with the Communist Party for two years, and I have not felt any discrimination or exclusion from the Communist Party; I have personally seen that none of the non-party personages participating in the 'three-three system' regime in the entire border region have also felt the discrimination and exclusion of the Communist Party. This is a fact that I have experienced firsthand. Li Dingming's remarks not only positively reflect the tremendous results of the CPC's united front policy, but also reflect the outstanding achievements of Lin Boqu, chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government, in implementing the "three-three system" policy. Mao Zedong once praised: "The 'three three systems' regime in northern Shaanxi is doing very well. From the perspective of the government of our border region, the first thing to do this is to Elder Lin. ”
Lin Boqu's efforts against non-party figures are not blindly unprincipled alliances, but are based on adherence to the correct principles and positions of the Communist Party of China. He once said that the unity of non-Party figures "is, on the one hand, a political improvement, and on the other hand, an appropriate criticism and struggle of principle." In 1942, some non-party personages, represented by Li Dingming and An Wenqin, criticized the border region government on the work style of grass-roots cadres in the border areas, the tax burden, and the size of the powers of non-party personages. After investigation and study, Lin Boqu found that some of these opinions did not conform to the actual situation in the border areas, so he talked with people outside the party many times and patiently and meticulously explained the relevant issues one by one. During this period, Li Dingming's health was not good, and Lin Boqu took the initiative to go to Li Dingming's home to dredge and answer relevant problems, and finally corrected their wrong concepts. Lin Boqu's attitude of putting his heart on people outside the party and following good examples was unanimously praised by them. Li Dingming once said that he wholeheartedly approved of the Communist Party's anti-Japanese democratic principles and policies, Chairman Mao's writings, and Elder Lin's moral character and work style.
Actively publicize the Party's policies and propositions to non-Party figures
During the Yan'an period, Lin Boqu often communicated with people outside the Party, using different occasions to explain to them the policies and propositions of the Communist Party of China, and enhancing their understanding of the Chinese Communist Party.
During his tenure as a party representative at the Office of the Eighth Route Army in Xi'an, Lin Boqu had extensive contacts with non-party figures who sympathized with the revolution and advocated the War of Resistance, took the initiative to publicize the policies and propositions of the Communist Party to them, and won them to do things for the Communist Party of China. At that time, the international Red Cross Medical Brigade was headquartered in Xi'an, with five medical teams under its jurisdiction, two of which were located in Yan'an. Wan Fuen, the leader of the medical brigade, has always admired the Chinese Communist Party's spirit of active resistance. After Lin Boqu learned about it, he highly praised Wan Fuen's anti-Japanese stance and personally visited him to further introduce the CPC's anti-Japanese ideas and tactics. Not only that, Lin Boqu also invited Wan Fuen to the Xi'an Eighth Route Army Office as a guest many times, and each time he was warmly welcomed and treated with courtesy, which made Wan Fuen deeply moved. According to Wang Yinpu, who served as a liaison aide-de-camp at the Eighth Route Army office in Xi'an, Wan Fuen once told him: "The Communist Party is not as terrible as the Kuomintang propaganda. Like Elder Lin, a highly respected elder, there is no shelf, and I admire it very much!" In the course of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wan Fuen provided the Chinese Communist Party with much timely and necessary help. Once, the Office of the Eighth Route Army in Xi'an bought a batch of cows from Luoyang, Henan Province, with the intention of transporting them to Yan'an. While passing through Lintong, a group of Kuomintang armed agents came out to make trouble and injured the guard platoon leader escorting the transport. In order to smoothly send this batch of goods to Yan'an, Lin Boqu personally wrote a letter of request for help to Wan Fu'en. After receiving the letter of request for help, Wan Fuen immediately discussed the matter with Xue Peiji, the leader of the medical team who was in Yan'an at the time. After deliberation, they decided that the headquarters of the International Red Cross Medical Brigade would come forward and clarify that the cows had been purchased by the British Embassy for the Indian medical team working in Yan'an, which ensured the successful arrival of the cows in Yan'an.
During his tenure as chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government, Lin Boqu often had heart-to-heart talks with non-party personages holding leading positions in the border region government, explained and publicized the various policies and propositions of the CPC to non-party personages, and helped them eliminate misunderstandings, enhance their understanding, and make progress together. At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when the border areas began to implement the land policy of "rent reduction and interest reduction," some non-party personages, represented by Li Dingming, lacked sufficient understanding of this policy and complained: "You say that it is the 'Second Five-Year Plan' rent reduction, but in fact now the peasants do not pay rents and do not pay interest." In order to dispel this misunderstanding, Lin Boqu patiently explained to Li Dingming the background and significance of the "rent reduction and interest reduction" policy. He pointed out that after this policy was proposed, the phenomenon of non-payment of rent and no interest in the peasant class existed, but the situation of heavy rent and heavy interest and forced rent and forced interest in the landlord class was even more common. The issue must therefore be taken a holistic view. While focusing on solving the problem himself, Lin Boqu also asked mao zedong for instructions and reported on the matter. After listening to the report, Mao Zedong specifically held talks with Li Dingming and some other non-party figures. Through his conversations and Lin Boqu's patient work, these non-party figures have a deeper understanding of the Communist Party's land policy of "rent reduction and interest reduction" and are no longer as passive as before. At the meeting of the governments of the border region held later, around the land policy of "rent reduction and interest reduction," the two opinions were disputed, and Li Dingming took the initiative to reconcile: "Let's stop arguing, our border region government is doing things for the people, and we can't always stand on the opposite side of the people to think about problems and do things!" In the end, the opinions of everyone were successfully unified and the resolution of the meeting was successfully adopted.
Lin Boqu and Du Bincheng, a famous educator in the northwest, have a deep friendship, and their letters to each other are called "my friends". In the course of exchanges, Lin Boqu attached great importance to inspiring and guiding Du Bincheng from political theory and ideological methods, and gave him great help. In 1938, Lin Boqu personally delivered the newly published book "A Concise Course on the History of the United Communist Party (Brazzaville)" to Du Bincheng, and then discussed with Du Bincheng many times on the views in the book, which not only enhanced their friendship, but also improved Du Bincheng's understanding of Marxism-Leninism. It was precisely because of Lin Boqu's care and help that Du Bincheng gained a profound understanding of the CPC's propositions and has since firmly supported the leadership of the CPC. Chang Lifu, who had personally seen Lin Boqu and Du Bincheng talk twice, later recalled: "In his conversation, Elder Lin emphasized the great significance of the second section of the fourth chapter of the history of the United Communist Party and the final concluding remarks. This is a great concern and help to Mr. Du Bincheng, a thorough democrat and a loyal friend of the Party, in his politics. In the days that followed, Du Bincheng always regarded Lin Boqu as his mentor and friend, and regarded the interaction between them as "heart-to-heart friendship". After the outbreak of the civil war, Chiang Kai-shek tried everything to co-opt and induce Du Bincheng, but he resolutely refused, and eventually Du Bincheng was killed by the Kuomintang. After Lin Boqu learned of this news, he not only grieved for the sacrifice of his friend, but also praised his integrity, writing down that "the qi between the bridges and tombs is very proud, and the autumn water is full of pine and cypress exercises." Zimeijia was drunk on this windy day, and Wenshan suffered a particularly high festival. Vow to cultivate democracy with blood and awaken the roaring waves of sleeping lions. Greetings to Mr. Should Be Blind, Thousand Chapters of Autumn Leaves Full of Qinggao" Psalm.
Care for and integrate into the daily lives of non-party figures
Lin Boqu attaches great importance to and attaches great importance to the lives of non-party personages. Lin Boqu stressed that Communist Party members and non-Party figures must not only have political deliberations, but also "it is equally important to have close contacts in daily life." He believes that there are two main problems in the lives of non-party personages: the problem of living habits and the problem of material treatment.
In terms of living habits, some comrades in the Party are not accustomed to some behavior habits of non-Party personages, and they always maintain a certain distance from non-Party personages in their daily work and life. In view of this situation, Lin Boqu pointed out: "Some of our comrades are unwilling to get close to non-Party personnel because they are not accustomed to the living habits of non-Party personnel. There are also situations in which non-Party personnel are required to live like us. The senator and deputy section chief of a certain county surnamed Tang, whose living habits were not very good, made fun of him, and even the attendants treated him with 'sugar, sugar'. The section chief of a certain county is a non-party member, and when he goes to the countryside, his life is not difficult enough, and the district government cadres do not pay much attention to him. Lin Boqu believes that the government of the Border Region cannot force the living habits of non-Party personages to be the same as those of Communist Party members, which will aggravate the dissatisfaction of non-Party personages with the Communist Party, and the correct approach should be for Communist Party members not to interfere too much with non-Party personages and to provide them with the convenience of life as much as possible.
In terms of material treatment, Lin Boqu believed that most of the situations within the party at that time were more reasonable, but there were also two kinds of mishandling behaviors: one was excessive accommodation, and people outside the party would give as much as they wanted; the other was to stipulate that the allowances received by non-party personages were lower than the supply standards for party cadres. Lin Boqu stressed: Because non-party personages are particularly concerned about their own material treatment, the government of the border region should be cautious in handling this issue, take into account the different specific conditions of non-party personages in various border areas, adopt the method of specific analysis of specific problems, and suggest that "each sub-district shall, in accordance with the principle of 'ensuring that he and his family life can be maintained,' separately stipulate the distribution of them." In April 1942, Lin Boqu approved the opinion of the Longdong Sub-district on appropriately increasing the allowance for non-party personages, and stipulated that the government of the Border Region should immediately carry out the approval. In 1947, the government of the Border Region improperly disposed of the land and real estate of An Wenqin, a landlord in northern Shaanxi, and after Lin Boqu learned of this situation, he reported to Mao Zedong, and after obtaining Mao Zedong's consent, he returned some of the real estate to An Wenqin and solemnly apologized to him.
Lin Boqu also often strengthened exchanges and contacts with non-party figures by paying tribute to the dead, chanting poems and lyrics, feasting and entertaining, and visiting friends, so as to integrate into their daily lives and enhance their feelings for each other. When Lin Boqu was at the office of the Eighth Route Army in Xi'an, he learned that the mother of a transportation section chief surnamed Bi of the Xi'an Railway Bureau had died, and Lin Boqu specially sent a link. On September 5, 1941, in Yan'an, Lin Boqu initiated the establishment of the "Huai'an Poetry Society", and since then he has often invited some party members and comrades who love poetry and non-party figures to chant poems and write lyrics together, publicize the party's policies, and enliven the political and cultural life of the border areas. On December 5, 1941, Lin Boqu and Li Dingming held a banquet at the Yan'an Junction to entertain the press, literary and artistic circles, and took the opportunity to explain to them the administrative policies of the Border Region Government. When the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was about to be won, in order to win over domestic public opinion, Lin Boqu had extensive contacts with Shen Junru, Zhang Bojun, Huang Yanpei, and other patriotic democrats through various gatherings and banquets, meeting friends, and receiving visits.
(Author: PhD candidate, School of Marxism, Nankai University)
(Originally published in Centennial Tide, No. 4, 2020)