At 11:00 p.m. on January 2, 1950, Mao Zedong, who was visiting Moscow, sent a telegram to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to the effect that "Comrade Stalin has agreed to Comrade Zhou Enlai's coming to Moscow and signed a new Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance and agreements on loans, commerce, and civil aviation," hoping that Enlai would leave with the Minister of Trade and his assistants on January 9 and come to Moscow by train.
Sino-Soviet negotiations are destined to be a long process, but the country cannot be without a prime minister for a day. Therefore, at the end of this telegram, Chairman Mao proposed a "personnel appointment": let Dong Biwu serve as acting premier to share the worries of Enlai.
No one in the party has any objection to this appointment. Because everyone knows that Comrade Dong Biwu is impeccable in terms of qualifications, ability, and party spirit.
Dong Biwu was born on March 5, 1886, to a poor family of teachers in Hubei Province. Although he came from a poor family, Dong Biwu was not poor and was very attentive to learning, and he was admitted to Xiucai at the age of seventeen (eighteen).
However, Dong Biwu has not always been addicted to the "Four Books and Five Classics", nor does he intend to fight for the decadent and dark Qing Dynasty.
In 1905, Dong Biwu was admitted to the Wen ordinary school in Wuchang and began to be influenced by bourgeois democratic ideas.
The outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution gave Dong Biwu a new hope, but later Yuan Shikai stole the fruits of the revolution, which caused Dong Biwu's heart to suffer a huge blow.
But he did not sink there, but chose to continue his studies in Japan, where he joined the "Chinese Revolutionary Party" founded by Sun Yat-sen.
Later, after returning to China, Dong Biwu observed the world more carefully, and he saw the warlords fighting, the victory of the October Revolution in Russia, and the defeat of China at the Paris Peace Conference.
The tide of the times has slapped again and again in the heart of this young man, making his revolutionary spirit and spirit of resistance more and more firm.
In addition, in recent years, Dong Biwu has studied many Marxist-related works through his close friend Li Hanjun, and eventually completely transformed into a "Marxist" ideologically.
In 1920, the early organization of the Shanghai Communist Party was founded. Li Hanjun, as a major member of it, wrote a letter to Dong Biwu, hoping that he could set up the same organization in Wuhan.
When Dong Biwu contacted his comrades Zhang Guoen and Chen Tanqiu and immediately took action, it quickly attracted Chen Duxiu's attention.
Therefore, in August 1920, Chen Duxiu sent Liu Bocui, a Hubei native from the early organization of the Shanghai Communist Party, to wuhan with the draft party program to assist Dong Biwu.
Shanghai's assistance has made Dong Biwu more comfortable in propagating Marxism and organizing and expanding the ranks. Soon, with the efforts of Dong Biwu and others, Wuhan became a new "red center" and "cradle of revolutionary bones".
1921 was a year of "groundbreaking" for the old China at that time, and a year of "opening up a new era".
Because in July of that year, the first congress of the Communist Party of China was held, and the Communist Party of China was proclaimed.
It was also at this meeting that Dong Biwu met Mao Zedong, who was seven years younger than himself, and the two saw each other as they always did, and since then they have formed a deep friendship.
By the founding ceremony on October 1, 1949, only two of the thirteen deputies of the "First Congress" were left, one was Mao Zedong and the other was Dong Biwu.
As a member of the Communist Party of China with firm faith and a person who has always kept "serving the people" in mind, Dong Biwu continued to work diligently and earnestly after becoming acting premier without slackening off.
In the spring of 1950, there was a serious spring famine in the country, of which Hebei Province, Shandong Province and Northern Jiangsu were the most serious.
As a result, disaster relief work, relief to disaster victims, and maintenance of social stability have become the urgent tasks of the new regime.
The party and the government attached great importance to the situation in the disaster areas and the lives of the victims, and Chairman Mao immediately put forward the demand that "no one should starve to death."
After Premier Zhou left Beijing, Dong Biwu conscientiously implemented the instructions of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and did his best to organize and lead the disaster relief work.
However, natural disasters were merciless, and after mid-February, the spring famine was further aggravated, and the people in the disaster areas had reached the point of lack of food and cooking.
At this time, some lurking spies and landlords began to take advantage of the opportunity to plan and instigate conspiracy activities in various places, and the victims in the hard-hit areas such as eastern Henan, northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu, and Hebei began to go out to beg in large numbers.
If we cannot help the peasants solve the spring famine situation as soon as possible, the new regime will certainly face an even more severe test.
In order to effectively strengthen the disaster relief work, the work requirement of "absolutely no starvation" has been reiterated many times, and the instructions have been instructed: "Although it is impossible for senior government leaders to travel to the disaster areas, they should also inspect and guide the areas where the disasters are most severe." ”
In order to achieve the goal of "not allowing a single person to starve to death," Dong Biwu repeatedly reflected to the central authorities the real grain shortage situation in various localities on the basis of the situation reported by various localities and the reports of the central working group.
Although the war of liberation in southern China, southwestern, and northwestern China was still under extremely difficult conditions, under extremely difficult financial and economic conditions, 2.242 billion kilograms of grain were allocated successively to help the disaster victims smoothly tide over the winter famine and spring famine.
In just three or four months, so much grain was dispatched and really delivered to the hands of every victim.
The "strong" mobilization ability and operational efficiency demonstrated by this nascent people's power have never been seen in China's thousands of years of history.
However, "fighting famine" is only one of the many tasks that Dong Biwu presided over after he became acting premier.
In addition, he worked to stabilize prices, enact the Marriage Act, and ban drugs.
In order to take on this heavy state affair, Dong Biwu worked hard, getting up at seven o'clock in the morning and not going to bed until about two o'clock at night, and not being able to make time for rest on Saturdays and Sundays.
For a sixty-four-year-old man, such a work intensity is not a small test. But he never complained, but instead stressed that he was busy.
This is Dong Biwu, a great leader who, like Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, has spared no effort and done his best for the sake of New China and the people.
bibliography:
"Dong Biwu: The First Acting Premier of New China" Xu Hua Li Dongfang
"Dong Biwu: A Faithful Practitioner of the Party's Original Mission" Yu Wei
"From Traditional Knowledge Elements to Marxists: Exploring Dong Biwu's Early Ideological Transformation" Zhang Wenkai
"Interpretation of the Initial Intention of Communists in the Founding Period of the Communist Party of China - Dong Biwu Chapter" Wang Xiangkun