Notice of the veteran cadres
On January 6, 1972, Chen Yi Marshal died of illness at the age of 71. Two days later, Premier Zhou handed over the eulogy sent by the Central Military Commission to Chairman Mao for review. After careful reading, Chairman Mao said that "Evaluation of merit and demerits should not be made at the memorial service" . Therefore, the evaluation of Marshal Chen Yi's merits and demerits in the eulogy was deleted. On the afternoon of January 10, Marshal Chen Yi's memorial service was held in Babaoshan, the western suburbs of Beijing.
On the same day, after lunch, Chairman Mao did not take a lunch break as usual. Instead, he picked up the newspaper and sat on the sofa and read it. However, he could still see a little anxious. Since there was no clock around him, he did not know the time. After a while, Chairman Mao suddenly raised his head and asked the staff around him: "What time is it now?"
staff looked at the watch and replied: "It's half past one" . After learning about the time, Chairman Mao, who was sitting on the sofa, suddenly patted the armrest of the sofa and said: "Prepare the car now, I'm going to attend Comrade Chen Yi's memorial service." Chairman Mao's sudden decision caught everyone off guard.
After arriving at the memorial service, Chairman Mao said to Chen Yi's wife Zhang Qian with a voice that was enough for everyone to hear: "Chen Yi is a good comrade who strives for the cause of the people. Although he has argued with me several times, that doesn't matter. We have always cooperated well in the past few decades, and he can unite people."
At that time, Chairman Mao's physical condition had deteriorated, but he still held on to attend Marshal Chen Yi's memorial service formally and completely. Since then, Chairman Mao's health has not been restored, and has also become the last memorial activity he participated in in his life.
2 Premier Zhou mentioned that Chairman Mao attended the memorial service of Marshal Chen Yi at a later meeting and said: "Chairman Mao's participation in Comrade Chen Yi's memorial service moved us old cadres and those who are loyal to the Chairman."
Chairman Mao's action, which contained "apologies", is of great significance and is sending a "hint" to the whole country: Participating in Comrade Chen Yi's memorial service is a precursor to the re-appointment of old cadres. For these veteran cadres, this is undoubtedly a "signal" they have been looking forward to for a long time. With this "hint", the demobilization and work arrangements for veteran cadres have gradually been put on the agenda. In December 1972, Chairman Mao made up his mind due to cadre issues. Premier Zhou seized the opportunity and formally proposed to Chairman Mao to implement cadre policies. In response, Chairman Mao deeply agreed and clearly expressed his support for this work, and handed it over to Premier Zhou for implementation.
Not long after, Premier Zhou began to preside over the relevant work and escort the 175 veteran cadres back out.
was originally a good thing, but unexpectedly, when the specific measures were actually implemented, it was extremely difficult and encountered an extremely embarrassing scene. At the beginning, the major military regions seemed not very enthusiastic about this work, and even said "Our military region does not lack people and cannot accept them." It seems that these old cadres are not going to help with the work, but to cause trouble. Their demobilization work is like a football, being kicked around by major military regions. Even Premier Zhou himself will inevitably encounter a wall. What is the hidden secret behind this?
Why do veteran cadres face such an embarrassing situation when their comebacks? What exactly happened? Even Premier Zhou would hit a wall? How did Premier Zhou solve this difficult problem?
Premier Zhou presided over the demobilization of veteran cadres, and in fact, before Chairman Mao told Premier Zhou to preside over the demobilization of this demobilization, Premier Zhou had already started to prepare since June. After investigation and research, the General Political Department has prepared a list of 175 generals who will return to work in accordance with Premier Zhou's requirements. Therefore, when Chairman Mao formally ordered the start of this work, Premier Zhou made rapid arrangements. This matter is related to the development and stability of the country. It must be done beautifully and safely.
Not long after, at the Politburo meeting held, Premier Zhou conveyed Chairman Mao’s thoughts and decisions at the meeting, officially announced the implementation of the cadre policy by , and allocated the specific tasks for carrying out this work well. The meeting decided that the demobilization of cadres above the provincial party committee will be carried out by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council will be handed over to the Premier’s Office, and the General Political Department of the General Political Department will be responsible for the military. It seems difficult to implement the cadre policy, but in fact, it is enough to follow the working principle of "from top to bottom, from easy to difficult" .
As long as the division of labor is clear and the hierarchy is clear, there will be a lot of formalism that will be missing when connected. However, the relevant reports need to be sent to the Politburo for final discussion before finally deciding whether to demobilize.
In order to complete the task as soon as possible and improve work efficiency, Premier Zhou 5 points to generals, and Tian Weixin, who was then deputy director of the General Political Department, assisted in completing the relevant work.
The work of demobilized cadres is mainly two steps. first needs to find where these cadres are now, contact them, and then consider implementing policies and arranging appropriate jobs for them.
first of all, it is to find someone. It sounds simple but it is actually not easy to deal with. At that time, some of these 175 cadres were distributed all over the country, and some people had not been contacted for several years and their whereabouts were unknown. However, at that time, the relatives and children of these cadres had written letters to the Central Committee, some of which were to Chairman Mao and some to Premier Zhou. Now that they were looking for their whereabouts, these letters from the past became the most important clue.
At the same time, the work of the Party has always been closely linked to the people, and the people have also provided many useful clues.
Once, news came from Guizhou that there was an unknown old lady in the local area. After the General Political Department learned about it, she immediately sent someone to go there. It turned out that the unknown old lady was actually Comrade Xue Ming, the wife of Marshal He Long.
In order to speed up the work progress, the staff of the General Political Department were told that everything could be directly asked Premier Zhou for instructions on handling military cadres.
Since the demobilization of veteran cadres started, Premier Zhou has always been concerned about the progress of the task and called the General Political Department day and night to inquire about the situation. , especially when I first started looking for someone, Premier Zhou’s most common question was: “Where is someone?” “What was the reason before that I left my job?” “Where is now?”
Because of the excessive workload of inquiries one by one, it gradually developed into a military branch and a military district to search. But despite the full support of Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, there are still many difficulties, and each link is full of problems of one kind or another.
Some cadres find it difficult to have a suitable job in a short period of time, Premier Zhou will do his best to take care of them.
Tian Weixin, who is in charge of the demobilization of military cadres, has actively carried out his work according to the principle of "from top to bottom, from easy to difficult", but the result was not satisfactory and the work was deadlocked. At this critical moment, Premier Zhou decided to come forward in person after learning about the situation.
Han XianchuGeneral took the lead in setting an example to relieve pressure from the central government
In early 1973, Tian Weixin, who was in a meeting in Beijing, was called to the office by Premier Zhou. Although the Prime Minister only said that he had something to discuss and did not explain what it was, he also guessed seven or eight points in his heart.
After Tian Weixin arrived, Premier Zhou gave a brief greeting and got to the point. He said: "Implementing cadre policies is indeed a difficult problem. Your own strength is also limited. I thought about it, you can choose another helper and let him come over, and discuss how to solve this matter better."
Premier Zhou not only did not blame him for failing to complete the task, but instead proposed to help him solve the problem. This instantly reduced Tian Weixin's psychological burden over the past few days. After thinking for a while, he could say the name of the then Minister of General Political Department Wei Boting .
After a while, Wei Boting, who received the notice, also arrived. After everyone arrived, Premier Zhou said to them: "This time I mainly want to talk to you about the work arrangements of Comrade Chen Zaidao and Comrade Zhong Hanhua. One of them is the general, and was the commander of Wuhan Military Region , and the other is the lieutenant general. He served as the second political commissar of Wuhan Military Region. He left his job one after another in 1967. He has been today After being unemployed at home for 6 years, it is time to recall them and let them continue to serve the motherland and for the people.
After receiving the instructions from Premier Zhou, Tian Weixin and Wei Boting began to resume the work of the two old cadres. After conducting a series of investigations on them and completing qualification reviews, a new problem followed one after another: What positions should arrange for these two old generals? If is transferred back to the original unit and restored to the old position, then what should the current commander do? It is not the best solution to be reasonable. After thinking a lot, Tian Weixin decided to find another position for him that was comparable to his original job level. However, it was not suitable to suddenly airborne. In the end, Tian Weixin planned to arrange him as the deputy commander of , a major military region of .
Since the relevant report on the return of cadres needs to be submitted to the Politburo for the final discussion and decision, not long after, Tian Weixin sent the written report on the restoration of General Chen Zaidao's work to the Politburo and was approved. I originally thought things would go smoothly, but I didn't expect that this arrangement caused quite a bit of controversy for a while.
After Tian Weixin selected a large military region, he immediately called the commander of the military region and explained his purpose to the other party. "We consider letting General Chen Zaidao come to your military region to serve as deputy commander." After hearing this news, the commander on the other end of the phone not only did not agree readily, but instead looked a little embarrassed. Then, he heard him hesitate and say: "He is my old superior, why are you kidding?"
"old superior" instantly made Tian Weixin understand what he meant, and made a comrade who was older than him and who was his superior come back to work, but he was a deputy. It will be difficult to get along with at work in the future. How dare you order old superiors who have been in the past to do things? It is better to refuse from the beginning.
Now, Tian Weixin had no choice but to continue to say to him with shamelessness: "You think about it again, support and support the demobilization work of cadres." The commander of the military region was also helpless, but in order to avoid embarrassment in the future, he became cruel and said: "There is no room for negotiation in this matter, so he can't let him come."
Tian Weixin failed to arrange a job for Chen Zaidao, and felt very uncomfortable. What made him even more sad was that no one dared to accept the veterans who had been through life and death for the country and the people today, which made him feel heartbroken.
This failure failed to make Tian Weixin give up. He began to re-select the appropriate military region and set his sights on the Fuzhou Military Region on the map.
originally thought that this job would be difficult to do, but what was surprising was that after calling Han Xianchu, the commander of Fuzhou Military Region, before he could speak, he heard Han Xianchu say happily: "Welcome Chen Zaidao to Fuzhou."
When Chen Zaidao left his job, Han Xianchu arranged for people to take care of his life as much as possible. Now, old friends from the past have returned to work, so how can they not be welcomed? In this way, Chen Zaidao's work arrangements were settled. After approval from his superiors, he officially became the deputy commander of the Fuzhou Military Region.
With Han Xianchu's example, the demobilization work of other cadres became smoother, and Comrade Zhong Hanhua's work was properly arranged.
The fourth general gathered in the Fuzhou Military Region to fully cooperate with the work. After the two cadres recommended by Premier Zhou personally had new work, Tian Weixin also regained his confidence in handling this task. However, this confidence has not lasted for long before it has encountered trouble again.
After solving the trouble of Chen Zaidao's demobilization work, Tian Weixin immediately devoted himself to the implementation of General Wang Jian'an's position. He originally thought that he would be more comfortable to handle with experience, but unexpectedly, he suffered a considerable blow.
General Wang Jian'an joined the Communist Party of China in 1927. In the long-term revolutionary struggle and construction cause, he made many contributions to the Party and the people. He had profound revolutionary qualifications. Looking at the major military regions across the country at that time, half of the commanders had served under his troops.
So, Tian Weixin had to find Premier Zhou for advice on handling. Unexpectedly, Premier Zhou said calmly: "Go and find Han Xianchu."
In fact, Chen Zaidao has arrived at the Fuzhou Military Region. It would be a bit inappropriate to find Han Xianchu again, but after looking around, only the Fuzhou Military Region is the most suitable. So, Tian Weixin had to call Han Xianchu again, "Old Han, please help me, I have searched all the military regions across the country, and only you are the most suitable here." When Han Xianchu heard this, although it was difficult to refuse directly, he didn't want to have another one. So he said politely: "Wang Jian'an is my old political commissar, and it is not appropriate to arrange it to me. Besides, I already have an old comrade here. There can be no other deputy commander in a military region, and they are all my old superiors. How to do the work in the future? Who will the soldiers under his command listen to? Besides, other military regions can also be arranged."
Tian Weixin understood Han Xianchu's rejection, but there was no place to arrange it. In desperation, he had to move. Premier Zhou came out and said: "Let Comrade Wang Jianan go to the Fuzhou Military Region, which is also the meaning of Premier Zhou. You can agree."
Unexpectedly, Han Xianchu's attitude was surprisingly firm this time. Even if he used Premier Zhou's name, he could not let him go. Tian Weixin had to report to Premier Zhou: "Han Xianchu still doesn't agree."
Premier Zhou seemed to have expected it, and knew that Tian Weixin had encountered a soft nail, laughed and said "It's okay. When the meeting is held, I will talk to him in detail. You can continue to work hard."
With Premier Zhou's support, Tian Weixin temporarily put down Comrade Wang Jianan's demobilization work and devoted himself to the next cadre demobilization work.
A few days later, Han Xianchu went to Beijing for a meeting, and Premier Zhou specially called him to talk. During the entire conversation, Premier Zhou did not feel heartbroken, talked a long story, and did not force him. He just gave a few words and gave a little advice to relieve Han Xianchu's burden. Finally, Han Xianchu also agreed to let Wang Jianan take office in the Fuzhou Military Region.
Not long after, General Li Zhimin was also arranged to be the political commissar of the Fuzhou Military Region. For a moment, there was a scene where "Four Generals gathered in Fuzhou Military Region" .
Several veterans once held important positions. Now, they have joined the military region and become deputys. If they were others, there is a gap in their hearts. Han Xianchu rejected Wang Jianan before because he was afraid that the veteran would be unbalanced, which would make him hinder and cause trouble for his work. Therefore, after accepting Chen Zaidao, he was unwilling to ask for anyone anymore.
However, what they were worried about did not happen. Although these veteran cadres of have been away from their jobs for many years, they are still full of enthusiasm. For them, the level of positions does not matter. Returning to work and doing practical things for the people is the main thing . They practice the fine traditions of the Party, cooperate with their work wholeheartedly, and do their duty in their jobs. Even when they work under their old subordinates who are less experienced than themselves, they never have any complaints in their hearts.
No matter how complicated and arduous the work is, Chen Zaidao always charges ahead, rushes to do it, and actively cooperates with the work of commander Han Xianchu, showing the excellent qualities and broad mind of a Communist Party member.
Although the Fuzhou Military Region has gathered four generals, they each perform their duties and cooperate with each other, adding a lot of color to the Fuzhou Military Region. It is a blessing for the Party and the country to have such an excellent general at the same time, and it is a blessing for the people of Fuzhou.
Summary
To completely solve the historical problems, it takes a long time to implement them to every cadre.
But even though we know that there are thorns ahead, Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou and other central leaders have always been determined to move forward. Han Xianchu and others actively support it and care for and protect the veteran cadres and provide clues and help to the people. It is the bottom-up efforts of the whole country that allow these veteran cadres to return to work as soon as possible and continue to shine.
In the following year, the demobilization work of was carried out in an orderly manner under the leadership of Premier Zhou. He not only had extraordinary courage and strategy, but also treated every cadre sincerely, unraveled the knots of many veterans. With Premier Zhou's escort, although the demobilization work has gone through many twists and turns, it has been successfully promoted.
