Author: Shi Qian
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Chairman Mao went to Nanniwan to inspect the production achievements of the soldiers of the 359th Brigade. He said: "At present, we have no foreign aid, and if we have foreign aid in the future, we still have to rely on self-reliance." ”
After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered the stage of strategic stalemate, the Japanese army carried out a large-scale military offensive and a brutal "sweep" of the liberated areas in a vain attempt to completely destroy the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines. The Kuomintang diehards also actively pursued anti-communist policies and tightened military encirclement and economic blockade. Coupled with the continuous natural disasters year after year, an extremely serious and difficult situation has emerged in the Liberated Areas.
What to do in the face of serious difficulties? In order to persist in the protracted War of Resistance and win the final victory in the War of Resistance, the CPC Central Committee issued a call to launch a large-scale production campaign. On December 20, 1938, the New China Daily published an editorial entitled "Extensively Carrying Out a Large-Scale Production Movement," in which it demanded that commanders and fighters in the Liberated Areas "work while producing, and link work with production."
In February 1939, Chairman Mao made a vivid and profound speech at the Yan'an Production Mobilization Conference, saying: "In the face of serious difficulties, are we starving to death? Disband? Or do you do it yourself? Starvation is not approved by anyone, and dissolution is approved by no one. Do it yourself! That's our answer. ”
In accordance with the principles of "doing it yourself, producing self-sufficiency" and "developing production and ensuring supply" put forward by the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao, the Central Military Commission issued instructions to the whole army in February 1942, requiring all units of the whole army to fight on the one hand, produce on the one hand, study on the other, and carry out production campaigns according to different environmental conditions.
After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered the most difficult period, on October 1, 1943, Chairman Mao, in his instructions for the CENTRAL Committee of the Communist Party of China entitled "Launching a Campaign to Reduce Rent, Produce, and Support the Government and Love the People in The Base Areas," demanded that all base areas carry out a "large-scale production campaign of doing it yourself and overcoming difficulties (except for the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, not to mention the slogan of abundant food and clothing for the time being)." Since then, the large-scale production movement has been vigorously launched in the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines.
Chairman Mao called for "do it yourself," and he himself practiced it, personally reclaiming an acre or so of wasteland, planting vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, etc., and using the harvested vegetables to entertain guests.
At the mobilization meeting held on February 18, 1940 for the production summary and awarding of various organs, troops, and schools in Yan'an, Chairman Mao, Zhang Wentian, And Wang Jiaxiang were all rated as special model workers. What is even more interesting is that Chairman Mao also packed a small cloth bag of red chili peppers he personally planted and entrusted the Soviet crew to give them to Stalin to express his gratitude to the Soviet Union for supporting China's War of Resistance.
Decades later, on new Year's Day 1976, Chairman Mao brought up the incident when he met with the daughter and son-in-law of former US President Richard Nixon. He said humorously that in the past, Stalin supported us with materials produced by workers and peasants, and I gave him a bag of red peppers, which I had grown myself, and we had a draw. Chairman Mao here placed special emphasis on "doing it yourself" and gave it a profound meaning.
The 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, in accordance with the call of the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao, went to Nanniwan and other areas south of Yan'an in the spring of 1941 to carry out army reclamation in this overgrown and deserted place. After three years of arduous struggle, the commanders and fighters of the 359th Brigade opened up more than 120,000 mu of land on the barren mountains, turning Nanniwan into a "southern Shaanxi" full of crops and cattle and sheep. The 359th Brigade became a banner of the mass production movement.
In September 1943, Chairman Mao and others inspected Nanniwan. Chairman Mao lived in a snow-white new cave in the Nanniwan Reclamation Area, and for several days in a row, inspected the agriculture, aquaculture, and processing industries of the soldiers of the 359th Brigade, and was very satisfied with the scene of their abundant food and clothing after doing their own work, and gave them a high evaluation. He praised the "agro-industrial commerce" developed by the army in agricultural reclamation.
After visiting the 359th Brigade's iron factory, food processing factory, and family textile factory, he said: "Although these factories are small, they solve big problems. The comrades of the 359th Brigade wore much better than in the past. After the victory of the revolution, cooperatives and collective farms will be established, and women can participate in collective labor. ”
Seeing the achievements made in Nanniwan, Chairman Mao was very excited, saying: "Difficulties are not invincible monsters, and when everyone starts to conquer it, it bows its head." Everyone is self-reliant, eating and wearing. At present, we have no foreign aid, and if we have foreign aid in the future, we will still have to rely on self-reliance. ”
Large-scale production campaigns were also widely carried out in all the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines. In guerrilla areas, the troops dispersed their operations on the one hand, and on the other hand, they carried out production, and practiced the "combination of labor and force," and many guerrillas cultivated land during the day and trained at night. Through the large-scale production movement, the liberated areas basically solved the problem of feeding the army and the people, and achieved the goal of doing their own work and having enough food and clothing, thus overcoming the serious difficult situation, breaking the economic blockade of the Kuomintang diehards, and laying a material foundation for persisting in the War of Resistance and winning the final victory of the War of Resistance.
Chairman Mao said: "This is a miracle that has never been seen in Chinese history, and this is the material foundation of our invincibility." "It not only supported the arduous War of Resistance, but also accumulated experience in economic construction and trained a number of cadres, which is a priceless treasure that cannot be calculated by numbers.
In 1943, the Eighth Route Army's General Political Film Troupe filmed the film documentary "Combining Production and Combat", which was later renamed "Nanniwan". When the film was about to be finished, Chairman Mao personally inscribed eight big characters for the film: "Do it yourself" and "Plenty of food and clothing"!
Chairman Mao's slogan of "do it yourself, have enough food and clothing" has become the goal of the efforts of the base areas to overcome economic difficulties and achieve self-sufficiency in production. After liberation, when there were economic difficulties in the whole country or in a certain region, "do it yourself, have enough food and clothing" has always been the action order of the party and the government to encourage the people to produce and save themselves.
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The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region was suddenly struck by lightning. A peasant said: If God does not open his eyes, why doesn't he kill Chairman Mao? The security services traced it as a counter-revolutionary incident. Chairman Mao stopped it. He pondered: Why would a farmer say such a thing? What exactly is wrong with our work?
Around 1940, there was a serious phenomenon of overstaffing in the leading organs of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. This phenomenon not only increases the burden on the people, but also hinders revolutionary work. Li Dingming, a non-party figure, put forward an "extremely important policy" -- streamlining the military and streamlining the administration.
Because the Kuomintang diehards carried out an economic blockade of the border areas, the troops were short of clothing and food, and the economic conditions of the base areas themselves were not good, and their ability to provide support was limited, which caused tremendous difficulties in the border areas. The grain issue is the most urgent problem that needs to be solved in the economic work of the border areas.
On June 3, 1941, the government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region held a joint meeting of county governors to discuss the issue of grain collection. It was raining heavily, the conference room was suddenly struck by lightning, and Li Caiyun, the acting county magistrate of Yanchuan County, was electrocuted to death. Afterwards, a peasant said: If God does not open his eyes, why not kill Chairman Mao? The security departments wanted to pursue this incident as a counter-revolutionary incident, but Chairman Mao stopped it. This peasant's words aroused Chairman Mao's deep thinking: Why would a peasant say such a thing? What exactly is wrong with our work?
Chairman Mao concluded: "I have investigated, and there is only one reason for this, that is, there are too many public grain requisitions, and some ordinary people are not happy. At that time, there was indeed too much public grain. Do you want to reflect on research policy? want! In order to lighten the burden on the common people, Chairman Mao carried out two major policies, one was to call for the active development of a large-scale production movement centered on agriculture; the other was to implement the practice of streamlining the army and streamlining the administration.
In November 1941, at the first session of the second session of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, li Dingming, an enlightened gentleman, boldly put forward a proposal on financial issues in light of the actual situation that the people in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region were overburdened, suggesting that "the government should thoroughly plan the economy, practice the doctrine of streamlining the army and simplifying the administration, and avoid the phenomenon of insufficient income and economic disorder," and also put forward five specific implementation measures. After this proposal was proposed, it became controversial. Some feared that this would leave the border areas with insufficient strength to resist when attacked by the enemy, and some even suspected Li Dingming's motives for proposing this plan.
However, Chairman Mao saw the great significance of this proposal. He copied the entire proposal into his notebook, circled the important places with a red pen, and added a paragraph of criticism to the side: "This method is very good, and it is precisely the antidote to transform our institutionalism, bureaucracy, and formalism." ”
When this proposal was submitted to the conference for discussion, as soon as Li Dingming finished speaking, Chairman Mao stood up, walked to the front of the stage while applauding, and nodded to Li Dingming. Chairman Mao expounded very profoundly the necessity of streamlining the military and streamlining administration, and criticized some incorrect views.
He vividly explained: In the early days of the War of Resistance, it was naturally wrong to adopt elite militaryism, but now the situation is different; it has been five years since the all-out War of Resistance, the people's economy is in great difficulty, and our big organs and incompetent troops are not suitable for today's war environment. He also criticized the sectarian sentiments of his comrades in the Party. He solemnly pointed out that our Party serves the people, and whoever puts forward the opinion, as long as it is beneficial to the people, we will do so.
Speaking of the main reason for the practice of streamlining the army and streamlining the administration, Chairman Mao said: "At present, a contradiction has arisen between the organs of war and the situation of war, and we must overcome this contradiction. The enemy's policy is to expand our contradiction, and this is his 'three lights' policy. If we want to maintain a huge institution, we will be in the wrong way of the enemy. If we shrink our institutions and make our troops lean and lean, our war apparatus, though small, is still powerful; and by overcoming the contradiction between the big fish and the small waters and the small waters, and making our war apparatus suitable for the circumstances of war, we will appear more and more powerful, and we will not be defeated by the enemy, but will finally defeat the enemy. On the basis of this analysis, Chairman Mao emphasized that streamlining the military and streamlining the administration is "an extremely important policy" for overcoming difficulties.
In December, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued an instruction to streamline the administration of the elite army. Elite troops are to downsizing the command organs and enriching the company. The main forces have partially localized, strengthened local armed forces and militias, stepped up rectification and training, and enhanced combat effectiveness.
Simplifying administration means straightening out the institutions and organizations, tightening the number of organs and personnel, strengthening the grass-roots units, improving efficiency, saving manpower and material resources, and opposing bureaucracy.
In order to conscientiously implement the spirit of the CPC Central Committee on streamlining the army and streamlining the administration, Chairman Mao repeatedly telephoned the anti-Japanese base areas in north and central China, asking them to make great determination to carry out a thorough streamlining of the army and simplifying the administration, otherwise "if the people are trapped and the army is worried, there is a danger of sitting and dying."
According to the instructions of the CPC Central Committee, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region has been streamlined three times and achieved great results: The number of units directly under the border region has been reduced from 35 to 22, and the number of staff has been reduced from 469 to 279; the troops directly under the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army have been reduced by 96 percent, leaving only 4 percent; and the total number of funds and grain budgets in the entire border area has been reduced by more than 100,000 people. For the first time in the history of the Communist Party of China, a new situation of simplifying the government and facilitating the people and having sufficient food for the troops has appeared, and has made major contributions to overcoming the difficult period and winning the victory in the War of Resistance.
About author:Shi Kui, history teacher at colleges and universities, history researcher. He has been cultivating the history of the Party, the Military and the History of War for a long time. History lovers are welcome to exchange criticisms.