Discipline is the guarantee for the implementation of the line, principles, and policies. During the Yan'an period, with the continuous maturity of the Communist Party of China and the continuous development of its cause, the party's discipline construction was also gradually improved, and great achievements were made in the areas of strict discipline, system and rules, and emphasis on setting an example and grasping specifics. This played an irreplaceable role in ensuring the purity and consolidation of the party and the people's army and winning a complete victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
After settling in northern Shaanxi, the Communist Party of China recruited a large number of party members in an effort to establish the broadest anti-Japanese national united front. With the continuous growth of the ranks of party members, some non-proletarian ideas have also infiltrated the party organization. How to properly handle the problems of the party's development and organizational purity? The leaders of the Communist Party of China have thought deeply.
From September 29 to November 6, 1938, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China convened the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee. The meeting formulated a series of intra-party political disciplines and was an important meeting to "establish rules" for the whole party. For the first time, the meeting clearly demanded that all party members should achieve the "four obediences" - the individual obeys the organization, the minority obeys the majority, the subordinates obey the superiors, and the whole party obeys the central committee. At this meeting, Mao Zedong stressed: "Without discipline, the party cannot lead the masses in a victorious struggle against the army." ”
In 1939, Mao Zedong delivered a speech at the third anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Anti-Japanese Military and Political University (referred to as Kang Da) Visual China/Courtesy photo
On March 19, 1940, Chen Yun said at the graduation meeting of the fifth class of students of Yan'an Anti-Japanese Military and Political University: "Without a party with iron discipline, the proletariat cannot unite and lead the petty bourgeoisie. At this time, the Chinese nation was facing life and death, and the Communist Party of China led the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army to create base areas behind enemy lines, which became the mainstay of the Chinese nation's leadership of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. At this critical historical juncture, the importance of party discipline is particularly prominent in order to safeguard the party's unity and unity, strengthen the party's ability to govern, and realize absolute leadership over the armed forces. To this end, Chen Yun pointed out: "Is it possible to be disciplined? If you don't want it, it's the six words that Chairman Mao said: 'Death of the party, death of the country, and death of the head' is inevitable. If the party is a fighting party, the only weapon it relies on is discipline. ”
The "swift and precise" implementation of the party's decisions without any excuse was a requirement of discipline for every member of the Chinese Communist Party during the Yan'an period. Mao Zedong said humorously and solemnly: "The hoop on Sun Xingzhi's head is gold, and Lenin said that discipline is iron, which is more powerful and hard than Sun Xingzhi's golden hoop. One of our 'mantras' is called 'Writing Notes,' and we're all going to write it, and I'm going to write a little bit about it." Chen Yun summed up several excuses for those who break discipline: First, whether the superior is politically correct or not as a condition for observing discipline, second, taking the ability of the other party as a condition for observing discipline, third, taking high status as a condition for observing discipline, and fourth, confusing different historical conditions. With these excuses or so-called grounds, party members are not disciplined, and party resolutions often become empty words.
Since party discipline is a kind of restraint, violations of discipline will inevitably be punished by the organization. For a period of time, because of the Japanese invaders' repeated key sweeps, the environment in the anti-Japanese base areas became extremely difficult, and individual party members were reluctant to go behind enemy lines. The Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee selected more than 10 comrades from northeast China in Yan'an and prepared to send them back to their hometowns to carry out their work; seven of them refused to go for various reasons, and finally they were demoted from regular party members to alternate party members, and one of them was given a serious warning. For this reason, Chen Yun specially published an article in the "Liberation" weekly, a publication of the CPC Central Committee, to educate the broad masses of party members and cadres that once a decision of the organization department is formed, it must not be bargained, but must be implemented "quickly and accurately" without any excuse.
During the Yan'an period, observance of discipline was not only a mandatory requirement for party members, but also reflected the high degree of consciousness of party members as advanced elements of the proletariat. Mao Zedong pointed out: "Party discipline is coercive; At the same time, however, it must be based on the consciousness of party members and cadres, and it must not be one-sided commandism. Chen Yun also pointed out: "Only when all party members consciously abide by discipline can discipline become an iron, unshakable, and effective thing." "From the exposition of the central leadership, we can see the concept of discipline of the Communist Party of China - every party member should consciously follow the party's discipline. This kind of consciousness is just as Liu Shaoqi pointed out in "On the Cultivation of Communist Party Members": Every Communist Party member "can 'be cautious and independent' and not do any bad things even when he works independently, has no supervision, and has the possibility of doing all kinds of bad things." It can be seen that a good party member who can consciously abide by discipline can show himself to be a model of resolutely abiding by the party's iron discipline in his practical actions and on every specific issue in his daily life.
"There are no 'special people' or 'special organizations' who do not abide by discipline in the party"
The words and deeds of party members are the most direct starting point for testing whether every communist abides by party discipline. Therefore, abiding by the party's discipline and safeguarding the authority of the central authorities should not only be reflected in ideological and political consistency with the party Central Committee, but should also be implemented in the words and deeds of every Communist Party member. In May 1939, Chen Yun emphasized: "Whether you are a member of the Central Committee or an ordinary party member, whether you are an old party member or a new party member, you must abide by discipline. "Whether it's the Central Committee or the branch committee, you have to be disciplined." "There are no 'special people' or 'special organizations' within the party who do not abide by discipline."
There is nothing to hide in the face of discipline, and there are no special citizens in front of discipline, which is a true portrayal of the strong concept of discipline of the Communist Party of China during the Yan'an period. When Mao Zedong's cousin Wen Yunchang learned that Mao Zedong had become a "big official" in Yan'an and asked for a job introduction, Mao Zedong replied: "My brother wants to come to work very well, but we only have food and clothing here, from the commander-in-chief to the husband, and the treatment is the same, because our party does things for the country and the national toiling people, sacrificing personal interests, so everyone is equal and has no salary." Similarly, Chen Yun was once blocked by a sentry when he entered the north gate of Yan'an City, and the sentry let Chen Yun in only after carefully tying the wind and discipline buckle. This discipline buckle is a discipline buckle, and it is tied to discipline without discrimination.
Yangjialing Revolutionary Site Xinhua News Agency/Photo courtesy of Xinhua News Agency
In February 1941, Wang Ming sent a letter to Chen Yun, demanding that the proportion of students at China Women's University who were transferred to various tasks at any time by the Organization Department of the Central Committee be reduced to 25%. In his reply, Chen Yun pointed out that this is "a decision adopted by the Central Organization Department in accordance with the recent decision adopted by the majority of the Central Committee comrades," "it is better for us to obey each other in accordance with the decision adopted by the majority of the Central Committee Secretariat," and "I am a party worker, and my responsibilities and demands are only the four big characters of 'treating all people equally.'" Chen Yun's "equal treatment" is a manifestation of the party's leading cadres strictly abiding by party discipline and not engaging in specialization.
During the Yan'an period, the Communist Party of China punished Party members, especially leading cadres, who violated laws and discipline in accordance with regulations. At that time, two cases with great influence were seriously handled: the Liu Zhenqiu case and the Huang Kegong case. Both of them participated in the Long March and made great achievements. Liu Zhenqiu made serious bureaucratic mistakes and embezzled public funds, "often using public funds to buy private luxury goods, and in a few months, such expenses were about 300 yuan, and another 240 yuan of public funds were embezzled." Huang Kegong shot and killed Liu Qian, a female student of Northern Shaanxi Public School, because she was forced to marry while studying at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, which had a very bad impact on the party and the army. With regard to Liu Zhenqiu, the Party Affairs Committee of the General Political Department of the Central Military Commission made the following decision: "In order to consolidate the party and strictly enforce party discipline, Liu Zhenqiu is hereby expelled from the party and handed over to the court for handling. Huang Kegong, on the other hand, was handed over to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border District High Court and sentenced to death for immediate execution.
"Once the party rules are formulated, they should be implemented to the letter, so as to unify the actions of the leading organs at all levels."
During the Yan'an period, the important task facing the Communist Party of China was to win the people's strength and strengthen the ranks, which required greatly strengthening the party's discipline building, establishing a new image, and gathering new strength. With the development of the situation, especially the sudden change in the situation of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the infiltration of the Kuomintang's policy of dissolving the Communist Party, the organization and members of the Communist Party of China are facing severe tests.
In this regard, Mao Zedong maintained a high degree of vigilance, and proposed to prevent "the Kuomintang from seducing Communist cadres with promotions to make a fortune, drinking and eating delicacies, and indulging in pleasures." When the cadres in the border areas directly participated in economic construction, some party members "filled their minds with legal tender," and the phenomenon of abusing power for personal gain began to appear, seriously undermining the party's discipline. He also proposed in "On the New Stage": "The leading organs from the central to the local authorities should formulate a kind of party rules and regard them as a part of the party's law and discipline. Once formulated, it should be implemented to the letter, so as to unify the actions of the leading organs at all levels and make them a model for the whole party. ”
In accordance with this idea, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party adopted the Decision on the Rules and Discipline for the Work of the Central Committee and the Decision on the Rules and Discipline for the Work of Party Departments at All Levels, which reaffirmed the Party's discipline. In the "Outline of the Report on the Issue of Strengthening Party Spirit," Ren Bishi put forward five main signs for "measuring the party spirit of party members," the fourth of which is "to abide by the party's unified discipline." In his report on revising the party constitution, Liu Shaoqi pointed out that one of the decisive factors in the party's proletarian nature is "the party's iron discipline of the proletariat, which every party member must abide by and must not exceed." At that time, the Yan'an large-scale production movement also became a discipline education movement, and central leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai were not only advocates and organizers, but also direct participants, taking the lead in setting an example and leading by example. The red classic oil painting "Morning in Yangjialing", the "vegetable field planted by Mao Zedong" at the former site of the Yangjialing Revolution, and the spinning competition between Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi vividly illustrate a truth - during the Yan'an period, in the face of party discipline, everyone was equal.
The bigger the cadres, the more discipline they stressed, and this was the simple truth of the Communist Party of China during the Yan'an period to unite people's hearts and unify its organization. In 1943, the government of the border region promulgated five regulations on "strict economy", and Lin Boqu, chairman of the government of the border region, put it into practice and made public his plan to quit foreign paper cigarettes and self-sufficiency in daily necessities. When he moved to northern Shaanxi, Ren Bishi found that his son Ren Yuan had accepted the "little mouse" toy given by the village cadres, and immediately asked him to return it seriously. In terms of discipline, the upward movement naturally has a downward effect, which gave rise to the story of Zhang Side in the process of buying a pig, because he mistakenly drove a pig from the masses and returned the pig more than ten miles under the scorching sun.
On the other hand, the party organization will never tolerate softness and severely punish those who violate organizational discipline and trample on party discipline, regardless of their seniority or position. Zhao Wenyuan used to be the deputy director of the Eighth Route Army Cooperative, and he did not have a correct attitude towards marriage issues, did not report to the party organization when he got married, and treated the bride badly after marriage; When hiring workers to dig caves, the wages of workers were deducted, and 420 yuan of public funds were used privately for marriage. The party organization punished him after the conversation education was ineffective, and he took advantage of the anti-sweep to escape. On June 22, 1943, the General Branch Committee of the 18th Group Army issued the "Decision on Expulsion of Zhao Wenyuan from the Party". Another example is Xiao Yubi, who took advantage of his position as director of the Zhangjiapan Taxation Bureau in Qingjian County to embezzle and accept bribes, partner with others to do business, and even sold grain and oil to the Kuomintang army, embezzling 3,050 yuan of public funds. After the case was discovered, the government of the border region sentenced him to death in accordance with the law. The discipline work in the Yan'an period started from the leading cadres, started from small things, set up typical examples, formed a deterrent, and made discipline a charged high-voltage line.
If discipline is strict, the party will govern the country and prosper; If discipline is lax, the party will be chaotic and the country will decline. The discipline work during the Yan'an period combined theory and practice, improved party rules and party discipline, and achieved remarkable results, which safeguarded the unity and unity of the party and the army, and enhanced the combat effectiveness and cohesion of the party and the army. Today, when we look back at the discipline building in the Yan'an period, learning from these good practices has important enlightenment significance and reference role in promoting the comprehensive and strict management of the party to develop in depth.