Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Land reform is the subject that Wei Hongjun spent the longest time studying.

Therefore, he had a complete idea about land reform. Wei Hongjun said: "Once land reform enters the second stage, it will be a major event for the entire countryside.

In particular, by then, it wouldn't just be the rich peasants and landlords who would be affected; even the middle peasants would be affected. After all, to implement the principle of 'land to the tiller,' distributing land according to population, everyone's land would have to be redistributed. The rich peasants and landlords' land had already been redistributed once, and they were also affected during the first phase of land reform, so they wouldn't face much of a problem in the second phase. But the middle peasants were different. Currently, the middle peasants in our base areas are divided into traditional middle peasants and new middle peasants. Traditional middle peasants have their land passed down from their ancestors, and if we were to touch their land, they would certainly not be happy. Similarly, the new middle peasants, a new crop born after land reform, have just received their land and are naturally deeply attached to it, treating it like a treasure. If we were to suddenly redistribute land at this point, they would also be unhappy. At this stage, we are still at war with the Kuomintang; we haven't yet reached a point of complete peace.

At this stage, we still need to stabilize the middle peasantry and the rural areas. There shouldn't be too much fluctuation in the rural areas at this stage."

"Our land reform cannot be too radical, let alone too mechanical. We must implement our land reform based on actual conditions. Of course, we cannot fully enter the second stage of land reform, but we can go further. The mountains, forests, rivers, and lakes controlled by rich peasants and landlords must be confiscated and redistributed, or ownership can be transferred to local governments or villages. We cannot allow rich peasants and landlords to occupy even the mountains, forests, rivers, and lakes in rural areas. We must thoroughly crack down on the privileges of rich peasants and landlords in rural areas."

Lai Ruoyu listened quietly.

Tao Lujia took out a notebook and wrote down what Wei Hongjun said.

After a while, Lai Ruoyu said, "Deputy Secretary Wei, we thought too simply."

“Are there already some voices in rural areas calling for land redistribution?”

"Yes."

Lai Ruoyu nodded and said, "I've done some research in the countryside. After the land reform last year, the target was only the rich peasants and landlords. But the rich peasants and landlords were few in number, and although they occupied a lot of arable land, they also had a lot of semi-self-cultivating peasants and poor hired peasants. So the semi-self-cultivating peasants and poor hired peasants who were newly allocated land had far less land than the middle peasants. So some people were instigating that the middle peasants' land should be divided up and rural land should be evenly distributed."

"What do you think?"

Wei Hongjun wasn't too surprised. Human nature is a difficult thing to grasp. Numerous sages throughout history have analyzed it, but to this day, it remains the most elusive.

Don’t worry about having too few and too little.

It was a good thing to be allocated land, but people were greedy and thought that the middle peasants had more land. So some people started to think about how to divide the land of the middle peasants.

Wei Hongjun asked Lai Ruoyu.

Rural issues are complex and deviations can occur if we are not careful.

Wei Hongjun also wanted to hear how Lai Ruoyu and the others did it.

Lai Ruoyu said, "Deputy Secretary Wei, we've done a lot of research on this. Comrade Tao Lujia spent two months in the countryside specifically investigating this matter. After careful investigation and research, we discovered that those most active in promoting the distribution of land to the middle peasants weren't honest farmers, but rather those who idled around all day and refused to work hard even after receiving their land. So, we held a rural meeting and reiterated to the rural cadres the central government's spirit of land reform. Before entering the second phase of land reform, we must absolutely not affect the interests of the middle peasants."

Seeing that Wei Hongjun was listening to him seriously.

Lai Ruoyu summarized it this way: "Some idle lumpenproletarians in the countryside don't work hard on the land they're given, hoping to get something for nothing. If it weren't for the regulations that prohibit the sale and pawning of land during land reform, these people would have sold their land long ago. These people have a negative impact on rural development. But they are also the easiest to infiltrate our revolutionary ranks. Comrade Tao Lujia and I recently investigated members of the rural work group and found that there are quite a few of these destructive lumpenproletarians. They are dissatisfied with the list of rich peasants and landlords drawn up by the land reform work team and rural cadres, and they want to drag many middle peasants into the list as well. That way, they can get more land. Because they have loud voices, they are more active than those honest and hardworking peasants. As a result, in many rural areas, some people mistakenly classify middle peasants as rich peasants and landlords."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

He looked up to Lai Ruoyu and the Tao Lu family. At Wei Hongjun's current position, he couldn't just focus on his own direct lineage. Ziguang needed to look further afield and find many like-minded cadres. Cadres tied to factions often relied on personal connections, extending their own faction's interests. However, cadres with shared political ideals might not come from the same faction, but precisely because they shared the same governing philosophy, they were more likely to become true political allies.

These two people are cadres who get practical work done.

If it were some other cadres, they would not investigate these issues carefully. They would simply assume that this was the will of the rural people and start the second phase of land reform on a large scale.

“The problem of the rural lumpenproletariat is indeed a huge problem.”

"Deputy Secretary Wei, the rural people actually hate these lumpen proletarians very much. However, many of these lumpen proletarians are either aggressive and aggressive, acting like scoundrels in the countryside, so the honest and hardworking farmers are unwilling to offend them. Or they have many relatives and friends behind them, and their clan power is strong, so ordinary farmers can't afford to offend them. This problem must be taken seriously, otherwise their voices in the countryside will become louder and louder, suppressing the honest and hardworking farmers.

Wei Hongjun is also the leader.

Dealing with these lumpen proletarians in the countryside is no easy task. If we crack down on them, it could easily affect the farmers who are just beginning to fight for their own rights. But if we don't crack down on them, these people will become a cancer in the countryside.

Moreover, these people can easily infiltrate the revolutionary ranks and undermine the government's prestige in the hearts of the peasants.

"Some rural scoundrels and village tyrants should be cracked down on. But this requires us to make a detailed plan." The lumpen proletariat must be cracked down on.

But Wei Hongjun still needs to think about how to combat them. He can't just blindly attack them because they are a cancer. That would only lead to chaos.

“In addition to the lumpenproletariat, there is another problem in the countryside that needs to be solved as soon as possible.

"Talk about it."

"Deputy Secretary Wei, secret society activities are rampant in rural areas right now.

Although the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region issued a notice in 42 to ban secret societies, the situation remained serious. These secret societies used deceptive tactics to deceive large numbers of people into joining. In some areas, the influence of secret societies was so great that they even had a hundred followers. In southern Shanxi and southern Hebei, for example, secret societies were active in almost every village. Many people in rural areas were illiterate and easily fell for these so-called "magic tricks." Moreover, these secret societies colluded with the Kuomintang reactionaries to undermine our Party's policies. Many rumors in the liberated areas were spread by these secret societies, which easily caused panic. Simply issuing a few government ban policies would have limited effect.

"Society of Dao? I see."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

Rural areas are plagued by a myriad of problems. But ultimately, the biggest problem is education. It's precisely because of the lack of universal education that rural areas face so many problems.

Secret societies are a malignant cancer.

Statistics after the liberation of New China showed that the number of members of secret societies in China exceeded 10 million. One can only imagine how rampant secret societies were in old China.

“I’ll arrange this.

"Deputy Secretary Wei, if our liberated areas are to enter the second phase of land reform, they must be areas under our complete control and free from harassment by the Kuomintang reactionaries. Even then, we won't directly promote the second phase of land reform. Instead, we should do a good job of promoting the principle of 'land to the tiller,' which is the principle of 'land to the tiller,'" he said. "Only then can we implement the second phase of land reform."

Blindly pushing forward will cause many former middle peasants and new middle peasants to not understand."

Li Shaocheng spoke.

Wei Hongjun looked at Li Shaocheng with appreciation.

It seems that Li Shaocheng is not getting carried away by his new position as Director of the Agricultural Department of the North China Joint Administrative Committee. The rank of Director of the Agricultural Department is very high, and Wei Hongjun is worried about his work style after Li Shaocheng's promotion.

He is doing very well now, which is why Wei Hongjun has always admired him.

Wei Hongjun turned and said, "Comrade Lai Ruoyu, Comrade Tao Lujia, to put it bluntly, it all comes down to one thing: when we deal with problems, we must firmly grasp the principal contradiction and not be influenced by surrounding factors. The principal contradiction determines the direction of our work. At this stage, our main task remains the battle against the Kuomintang reactionaries, that is, the military struggle. To achieve this primary task, we must stabilize the middle peasants in the liberated areas. Once our North China liberated areas are completely stabilized, we can enter the second stage of land reform."

"Yes."

Lai Ruoyu nodded.

Lai Ruoyu quickly said, "Deputy Secretary Wei, there is a problem in our liberated areas that needs to be urgently resolved."

"what is the problem?"

Chapter 694 Rural Funding Issues

"Deputy Secretary Wei, here are some of the details we investigated. Please take a look."

Lai Ruoyu handed Wei Hongjun a report.

Wei Hongjun took it and looked at it carefully.

The report was remarkably detailed. It primarily surveyed the conditions of local residents in southeastern Shanxi, including land area, arable land ownership, agricultural tools, and grain production. Wei Hongjun greatly appreciated the report because of its detailed analysis, clear data, and absence of ambiguous rhetoric.

No conclusion, no bias.

It's a detailed investigative report. Wei Hongjun particularly enjoys hearing his subordinates use detailed reports like these, because they're full of data. He dislikes reports that use exaggerated rhetoric and infer obvious bias from conclusions.

It took Wei Hongjun half an hour to finish reading the report. But this was just a cursory glance; a thorough reading would take several hours.

Seeing Wei Hongjun close the report, Lai Ruoyu said: "Deputy Secretary Wei, just as it is written in the report, the southeastern part of Shanxi has always been unstable. During the Anti-Japanese War, this was the place where we fought against the Japanese puppet troops and the Kuomintang diehards. Originally, the Kuomintang troops stationed here were Pang Bingxun's troops. After Pang Bingxun went to Hebei, it was Sun Lianzhong's troops stationed here. After Japan surrendered, Wu Shimin's troops entered here. Because the various troops frequently fought here, the economic production here was severely damaged. Therefore, the economy of the southeastern part of Shanxi is also very bad now, and the rural economy is also severely damaged. Since the reform of the landowners last year, the biggest problem in the southeastern part of Shanxi, including the southwestern part of Shanxi, is the lack of means of production in rural areas. Because of the long-term stalemate here, many wealthy landlords here have fled to escape the war.

Many rich peasants and landlords have fled, and other farmers have even less foundation.

In southeastern Shanxi, some villages don't even have a single ox to work with. Not only is there a shortage of oxen, but the shortage of farm tools is also severe.

After the land reform last year, although everyone was very happy, grain production still did not increase and productivity was very low.

Wei Hongjun nodded.

This was the situation in rural areas of old China.

The problem in the countryside is not just about arable land. Poor farmers lack even farm tools, so even giving them arable land and letting them farm poses many problems.

Tao Lujia, who was standing nearby, said, "Deputy Secretary Wei, this problem must be resolved as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will seriously affect rural grain production. Our land reform has changed the production relations, but if we lack sufficient production tools and productivity increases slowly, then the effectiveness of our land reform will be greatly reduced."

"What do you think?"

Wei Hongjun asked Lai Ruoyu and Tao Lujia.

It was obvious that the two men had already made up their minds, otherwise they wouldn't have brought Li Shaocheng to see him. Lai Ruoyu said, "Deputy Secretary Wei, we hope to reach a loan agreement with the bank."

"Tell me more specifically?"

"The bank lends money to farmers so they can buy oxen and farm tools. The farmers then repay the money every year with grain."

“It’s very difficult at the moment.

Wei Hongjun shook his head.

"The bank's main task now is to stabilize the financial order in the liberated areas and support the recovery of industry and commerce. You want the bank to lend money to farmers to buy oxen and farm tools, but how can we justify this for so many farmers? We are seriously understaffed at the moment, and we can't increase administrative costs just to lend to individual farmers."

Although Wei Hongjun shook his head, he began to think about it in his heart.

Money is a good thing.

The flow of funds directly affects the development of a region. The level of development of a region can be judged by the scale of capital flow.

Especially in China now, funds are very scarce.

Therefore, many places can develop rapidly as long as capital flows in.

Currently, the banks' primary task is to restore financial stability. China is an agricultural country, and rural areas must not be neglected. Bank funds should support rural development. However, China as a whole is poor, the government is poor, and the banks are poor. Currently, large-scale support for rural areas is very difficult.

Not to mention lending to individual farmers, which is even more impossible to succeed.

Because in this era, individual farmers' ability to resist risks is too poor.

If you lend money to them, it's very difficult to get it back. Banks are unlikely to support this. Furthermore, lending to rural areas is impossible with the existing banks in these areas. We need banks specifically designed to support rural areas.

Wei Hongjun thought of the current mutual aid society.

Only with this collective model can banks significantly reduce risks, lower administrative costs, and complete lending. But the current situation is that there are not many such mutual aid societies in North China. Tao Lujia saw Wei Hongjun shaking his head and said, "Deputy Secretary Wei, we were also worried about this before. But this time we met Comrade Luo Weilin in Huailai and the mutual aid society and small collective model he promoted in Huailai.

We discussed this with him, and we believe that this mutual aid society, a small collective model, is very suitable for the current situation. Individual farmers lack the financial resources to purchase oxen and farm tools. Even if a bank loan were granted to purchase oxen, it would likely take ten years to repay the loan. Furthermore, given the current state of farmland owned by a family, owning a single ox is simply too extravagant. An ox should be shared by several families to avoid waste. So, I discussed with Comrade Lai Ruoyu that if we were to establish a mutual aid society or a small collective model, the bank would be entirely likely to lend us money. If dozens of families could band together to purchase a few oxen and the necessary farm tools, the pressure would be much less.

Lai Ruoyu and Tao Lujia came to the meeting this time.

There was no simple meeting.

They walked around, wanting to see the land reform situation in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei.

After all, the land reform in Jinchaji was recognized by the Central Committee. Therefore, they not only observed the land reform situation in Jinchaji, but also communicated with the rural cadres in Jinchaji.

After meeting Luo Weilin, Lai Ruoyu and Tao Lujia were particularly interested in the mutual aid societies and small collective models currently being implemented in Huailai. Their conversation was very enjoyable, and they were both deeply inspired.

The risk resistance of collectives and individual farmers is completely on different levels.

The same is true for loans.

Lending to a group and lending to an individual are two completely different concepts.

Not only will the risks for banks be reduced, but the pressure on mutual aid societies and small groups will also be reduced.

Wei Hongjun looked at Lai Ruoyu and Tao Lujia. He was surprised that they were so optimistic about the mutual aid society and small collective model, and even linked the mutual aid society and small collective with bank support. So he asked, "What do you think of the mutual aid society and small collective model that Huailai is implementing?"

"At present, it is a very suitable method for the actual situation. The war has caused many elderly, weak, women and children to leave the countryside. They have land but cannot cultivate it. Mutual aid societies and small collective models can effectively help these people. Moreover, the foundation of our rural areas is too weak, and we must maximize the function of means of production. This mutual aid society and small collective model can maximize the use of the currently limited means of production. But at the same time, even if we maximize the current rural means of production, the lack of oxen and agricultural tools in rural areas is still obvious. Therefore, I think we can use the mutual aid society and small collective model, coupled with the help of banks, to enable rural areas to own a batch of means of production as soon as possible, so as to improve rural productivity. As long as grain production can be increased, the bank's money can be repaid soon.