Introduction to Li Xuefeng

It is inevitable that there will be ups and downs in people's lives, and some people will have a chance to turn the tables after being hit, but they will never recover, or even end up depressed. And some people are happy and obedient, trying not to be really defeated, and finally enjoy their old age in peace, Li Xuefeng, a veteran revolutionary and former first secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, is a typical representative of them.

Li Xuefeng (1907-2003) was a native of Renyang Village in the west of Yongji City. In October 1933, he joined the Communist Party of China, served as the secretary of the Beiping Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China in January 1936, and founded and led the Taihang Mountain Revolutionary Base in early 1938. In 1954, Li Xuefeng was transferred to Beijing and successively served as Deputy Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Central and Southern Region Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, Director of the Industrial Transportation Department and Minister of the Industrial Work Department of the CPC Central Committee. In June 1966, he was appointed Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, First Secretary of the North China Bureau, and First Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee. In 1983, he was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and in 1985, he was by-elected as a member of the 12th Central Advisory Committee of the Communist Party of China. Li Xuefeng is a delegate to the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of China; Member of the Central Committee of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Secretary of the Secretariat, and alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the 11th Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee; Member of the Ninth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, alternate member of the Politburo; Member of the Standing Committee of the First and Second National People's Congress and Vice Chairman of the Third National People's Congress. He attended the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th National Party Congresses as observers.

Li Xuefeng is a senior general of our party who came out of Yongji, and he has been a revolutionary all his life. Among them, under the direct leadership of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, the establishment of the Taihang Mountain Revolutionary Base Area was the most colorful stroke in his glorious life.

Li Xuefeng is a native of Renyang Village in the west of Yongji City. From 1925 to 1931, he studied at the Taiyuan National Normal School, organized and led reading clubs and book and newspaper cooperatives among young students, got in touch with the distribution department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, obtained many Marxist-Leninist books and periodicals, and influenced and guided a group of progressive young people to embark on the revolutionary road. In 1931, he was escorted to the School of Education of Shanxi University. In October 1933, he joined the Communist Party of China and led and organized the anti-examination struggle that shocked the whole province. In January 1936, he was appointed secretary of the Beiping Municipal Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, and under the leadership of the Northern Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Liu Shaoqi, he engaged in underground party work, successfully won over the Kuomintang general Song Zheyuan to resist Japan, and adopted various methods to rescue the Communist Party members in prison, making organizational and ideological preparations for the all-out anti-Japanese struggle in the future.

From October 1937 to November 1947, Comrade Li Xuefeng fought, worked and lived in Taihang Mountain for ten years. He successively served as the head of the Organization Department and Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of the Hebei-Henan-Jin Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, the secretary of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan District Committee of the Communist Party of China, the secretary of the District Party Committee and the Secretary of the District Party Committee, the member of the Taihang Branch of the Communist Party of China and the head of the Organization Department, the Secretary of the Taihang District Party Committee of the Communist Party of China and the political commissar of the Taihang Military Region. It has made outstanding contributions to the consolidation and development of the well-known Taihang base at home and abroad.

According to Zhou Enlai's instructions, in early 1938, Li Xuefeng led a group of cadres into the Taihang Mountains of Shanxi. Under the direct guidance of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, he founded and led the Taihang Revolutionary Base Area.

At that time, although Li Xuefeng was already a senior general of our party, the concept of "base area" was still relatively vague at that time.

On one occasion, the 129th Division held a meeting of cadres to convey the spirit of the Central Committee's December Conference and to discuss the issues of further dividing troops and mobilizing the masses, waging anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, and opening up and creating base areas. During the meeting, Deng Xiaoping sent Li Xuefeng and Ni Zhiliang, chief of staff of the 129th Division, to study the issue of creating an anti-Japanese base area behind enemy lines. Li Xuefeng was not clear enough about the issue of base areas, and he asked Deng Xiaoping: What is a base area and how can it be established? Deng Xiaoping said that the base areas were first established to resist Japan, and to resist Japan, it is necessary to have arms, so the base areas must be armed. A base area is a geographical area, and in order for a base area to exist and develop in a region, it is necessary to have political power, and to lead the construction of the base area through the anti-Japanese regime. Base areas can only be established and consolidated when the masses are mobilized and participate in the anti-Japanese struggle, so there must be the masses, and this is the foundation. In order for our party to establish a base area behind enemy lines, it must have these three conditions: the armed forces, the political power, and the masses, all of which are indispensable.

After the meeting, the headquarters of the 129th Division and the provincial party committee held another joint meeting to discuss the three major issues of establishing base areas: the armed forces, the political power, and the masses. Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, and Ni Zhiliang of the division headquarters and Xu Zirong, He Yingcai, Peng Tao, Yang Xiufeng, An Ziwen, and Li Xuefeng of the provincial party committee attended the meeting. At the meeting, it was proposed that the development of guerrilla units and self-defense forces should be given prominence, that a county cadre detachment (equivalent to a battalion) should be organized in each county, and that stretcher teams, transport teams, and ploughing teams to help the families of anti-Japanese soldiers should be established within the self-defense forces. In the building of political power, it is necessary to establish a democratic anti-Japanese political power that the masses trust, to expand the scope of the people's participation in political affairs under various names, and to enable all kinds of anti-Japanese progressive elements to work in district and village governments after training. When discussing mass work, the joint conference stressed the need to organize all anti-Japanese forces and not to isolate or alienate anyone. In the implementation of reasonable burdens, we should not make the rich suffer too much, but should be truly reasonable. In order to expand the Sacrifice League in Shanxi, all members of the Farmers' Association can participate in the Sacrifice League. It is necessary to organize women and children to participate in spring ploughing. It is necessary to convene a meeting of the families of anti-Japanese servicemen at any time to solicit opinions and resolve difficulties. It is necessary to organize the masses to read and write and read newspapers, set up night schools, and carry out propaganda. Base areas should take advantage of the favorable terrain of the mountainous areas to mobilize, organize, and arm the masses.

After Deng Xiaoping's explanation and this joint meeting, Li Xuefeng began to understand the base areas. As a result of the above-mentioned successive meetings, they gained a relatively clear understanding of waging guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines and of establishing base areas. In particular, it has been made clear that whether it is developing anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines or opening up and establishing base areas, it is necessary to put anti-Japanese resistance in the first place, and do its utmost to mobilize and organize all forces to participate in the anti-Japanese struggle. To this end, after the meeting, the provincial party committee cooperated with the 129th Division to carry out large-scale strategic work on the Taihang Mountain.

After the loss of Taiyuan, when the 129th Division entered the Taihang Mountains, it adopted the method of dividing troops to mobilize the masses and dispatched many elite units to carry out guerrilla warfare in various parts of the Taihang Mountains while mobilizing the masses to open up and create base areas. In order to train and train the backbone of the anti-Japanese guerrilla war, the 129th Division opened a guerrilla training class at the location of the division headquarters in Xihetou Village, Liao County, to train cadres who were ready to be dispersed and sent to various localities to mobilize and organize the masses. The Eighth Route Army has adopted the strategy of breaking up the whole into parts, which has provided us with more favorable conditions for the party building work carried out in various localities. In order to enable local party members and cadres to learn about the anti-Japanese guerrilla war and the Red Army's experience in mobilizing and organizing the masses and in establishing base areas, the provincial party committee systematically selected and transferred some party members and cadres at and above the county and district party committees to the guerrilla training class of the 129th Division for training. Although these local cadres had heard the term "guerrilla warfare" before, they did not know what it was. As a result of the study, they have gained a relatively clear understanding of what guerrilla warfare is, how to organize self-defense forces and guerrilla units to protect the people's lives and property, how to cooperate with the troops in attacking the enemy, and how to organize the masses to support the front and participate in the war. The 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, which was scattered to various parts of the Taihang Mountains, either in the name of the "Eighth Route Army Working Group" or in the name of detachments and brigades, cooperated with the Communist Party organizations in various localities to carry out the work of building the party, building the government, and organizing guerrillas. By mid-March 1938, the provincial party committee had established five special committees, namely, Jinzhong, Western Hebei, Tainan, Hebei, Henan, and Henan, as well as an office of the provincial party committee in Qinxian County, and established more than 20 party county committees. During this period, the Provincial Party Committee and the 129th Division also paid attention to the establishment of anti-Japanese regime, supported the Xiyang County Government, restored and established the county government of Pingding, Yuci, Taigu, and Shouyang, and protected and improved the county governments of Heshun, Liaoxian, Yushe, and Licheng. We have vigorously launched a mass movement on the Taihang Mountains, organized peasant rescue associations, workers' rescue associations, youth rescue associations, women's rescue associations, and self-defense units in various counties, and greatly developed the Sacrifice League and the First and Third Columns of Decisive Death. They also founded the party school of the provincial party committee, and the special committees held short-term training classes to train a large number of cadres. Despite the difficult conditions and heavy tasks, everyone was very motivated. The Eighth Route Army constantly attacked the enemy in the Taihang Mountains and encouraged the confidence of the masses to resist Japan. The masses regarded the Eighth Route Army of the Communist Party as a dependable relative, and provided our army with all good things. The Eighth Route Army was strictly disciplined, bought and sold in public, and did not take a stitch from the masses, which made the masses believe in and rely on the Eighth Route Army. The combination of the military and the people, and the combination of the party and the masses, enabled the party and the Eighth Route Army to gain a foothold on Taihang Mountain. At that time, the starting point of all our party's policies and work was to resist Japan and to consider the fundamental interests of the masses, and this was the main reason for being able to gain a firm foothold behind enemy lines.

During this period, Li Xuefeng successively served as secretary of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Provincial Party Committee (later changed to Taihang District Party Committee), member of the Taihang Branch of the Communist Party of China and head of the Organization Department, secretary of the Taihang District Party Committee and political commissar of the Taihang Military Region. Militarily, he led the Taihang army and civilians to smash the enemy's two nine-way sieges in 1938 and 1939, and thwarted the enemy's brutal sweep of the Taihang base area from 1941 to 1943 with the "three-light policy". In terms of production, we organized and carried out a vigorous large-scale production campaign, and personally worked with all the soldiers and civilians of Taihang to fight the disaster and save themselves, and defeated the severe drought and the rare locust plague. Mao Zedong once praised that "Taihang Mountain will fight locusts". Li Xuefeng has always paid attention to mobilizing the masses in depth, especially emphasizing the mobilization of the "backward" masses, expanding the scope of unity and reducing the antagonism, vividly practicing the party's united front thinking, and effectively achieving the goal of unanimously resisting Japan.

In 1944, Mao Zedong asked the base areas to answer major questions such as the united front, army training, rent reduction, and large-scale production. After receiving the reply from Taihang District, he gave a special instruction: "Ten questions to answer, the content is excellent. Refer to various places. Agree with your line and hope to carry it out resolutely. Inform the Taihang District Party Committee that it is very grateful...... "This instruction condenses the full affirmation of the work of the Taihang Base Area by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Deng Xiaoping also commented on many occasions that the Taihang base area was "asking for soldiers for soldiers, grain for food, and money for money." It is the most consolidated base area in North China and a strategic base to support the Liberation War. Li Xuefeng has been in Taihang for ten years and has made outstanding contributions!

In 1925, 18-year-old Li Xuefeng came to the National Normal College in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province with enthusiasm, where he did not "ignore the things outside the window, and only read the books of sages". During his university studies, he actively made friends with progressive youth, propagated progressive ideas, and got in touch with the Publishing and Distribution Department of our Party in Shanghai.

In 1927, Li Xuefeng, who wanted to join the Communist Party of China, was full of ambition, but what he did not expect was that a counter-revolutionary coup d'état occurred in this year, and our party was severely hit, and most of the work had to be secretly transferred underground, and it was difficult for aspiring young people to get in touch with the party organization.

After several years, Li Xuefeng finally joined the Communist Party in 1933, and in 1934, he served as the head of the Propaganda Department of the Provincial Working Committee in his hometown of Shanxi, actively promoting the youth movement to save the dead.

At the beginning of 1936, Li Xuefeng began to work in the Beiping City of our party at that time, and in January 1937, he was appointed secretary of the special committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and director of the Propaganda Department of the Pinghan Line Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China. In accordance with the instructions of Comrade Zhou Enlai, he also led a group of cadres of the Pinghan Line Provincial Party Committee into the Taihang Mountains of Shanxi Province, joined the 129th Division, and began the establishment of the Taihang Anti-Japanese Base Area. He participated in the establishment of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Provincial Party Committee, served as the head of the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee, and made great contributions to the development of anti-Japanese base areas.

From the beginning of 1938 to November 1947, he successively served as secretary of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Provincial Party Committee, member of the Taihang Branch of the Communist Party of China and head of the Organization Department, secretary of the Taihang District Party Committee and political commissar of the Taihang Military Region, responsible for leading the work of the local party in the Taihang base area. Li Xuefeng extensively mobilized the people, organized anti-Japanese armed forces, and scored great achievements in the struggle against the enemy in the Taihang Mountain base area. Li Xuefeng worked and fought in the Taihang Mountains for 10 years, shared weal and woe with the people of Taihang, creatively implemented the line, principles, and policies of the central authorities, defeated the enemy and difficulties, and made the Taihang base area famous at home and abroad.

From November 1947 to September 1949, he moved to Dabie Mountain with Liu Deng's army and participated in the Huaihai Campaign and the River Crossing Campaign. He successively served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Plains Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, head of the Organization Department, and deputy secretary, and was appointed to form the first Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, and concurrently served as the first secretary of the provincial party committee and the political commissar of the provincial military district.

Since June 1949, he has successively served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, deputy secretary and head of the Organization Department of the Central South Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice chairman of the Central South Administrative Committee, director of the Central South China Land Reform Work Committee, and president of the Party School of the Central South Bureau of the Central Committee. He participated in and led the struggle against bandits and hegemony in the central and southern regions, the three major movements of rent reduction and surrender and land reform, urban democratic reform and urban economic restoration, the Jingjiang flood diversion project and the initial construction of the Wuhan Iron and Steel Plant, and made arduous efforts for all the work in the central and southern regions in the early days of liberation.

In November 1954, he successively served as Deputy Secretary-General of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Central and Southern Regional Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, Director of the Third Office of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, Director of the Industrial and Transportation Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, and Director of the Industrial Work Department of the CPC Central Committee. It has made important contributions to the construction of party organizations in large state-owned industrial and transportation enterprises in the People's Republic of China, the coordination of relations between the central industrial and transportation departments and local party committees and governments, and the smooth implementation of large-scale industrial projects aided by the Soviet Union.

In September 1956, he was elected as a member of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee. Participated in and led the construction of the state-owned enterprise system of the People's Republic of China, went deep into the factories and mines of the Northeast Industrial Base, conducted on-the-spot investigation and research, obtained a large amount of first-hand information, and participated in the formulation of the establishment of management systems such as "factory director (manager) division of labor and responsibility system under the leadership of the party committee" and "workers' congress system" in the enterprise.

In September 1960, he was appointed First Secretary of the North China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and First Secretary of the Party Committee and First Political Commissar of the Beijing Military Region.

In January 1965, he was elected vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Third National People's Congress. Li Xuefeng vigorously promoted the practice of investigation and study, went deep into the rural grassroots, stepped up efforts to organize the rural areas to fight disasters and help themselves, alleviated and reduced the impact of natural disasters in the past three years, and effectively implemented the principles and policies of the central authorities for economic readjustment. He participated in the formulation of the first constitution of the mainland and the formulation of the "70 Articles of Industry" and "60 Articles of Agriculture".

At the end of 1947, in accordance with the instructions of the Party Central Committee, he successively participated in the Battle of Dabie Mountain, the Battle of Huaihai and the Battle of Crossing the River, and later served as the head of the Organization Department of the Central Plains Bureau and the first secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee.

Beginning in the second half of 1949, he served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central China Bureau and director of the Central and Southern China Land Reform Work Committee.

Since 1954, Li Xuefeng has been in charge of the mainland's industrial departments, served as the minister of industrial work, participated in the reform and construction of many state-owned industrial enterprises, and guided and coordinated the relationship between the industrial construction departments and the local party and government.

In 1956, he served as secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, participated in and led the construction and reform of the state-owned enterprise system in mainland China, conducted in-depth field investigations and studies, and formulated and optimized the management system of the enterprise.

In 1960, Li Xuefeng became the first secretary of the North China Bureau, and concurrently served as the party secretary and political commissar of the Beijing Military Region.

In 1966, he also assumed the post of secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, and the following year, he was briefly transferred to Tianjin, and then served as the political commissar of the Hebei Military Region, and after 1970, he was persecuted and imprisoned for eight years.

Although revolutionary comrade Ji Dengkui once spoke up for his righteousness, Li Xuefeng was unfortunately included in the "group" and lost his party membership, and Li Lao was already in his 60s at this time.

In 1973, he was involved in the 913 incident again, which once again put him on the cusp. At that time, the chairman was particularly sensitive to Mr. Lin's affairs, and Li Xuefeng was considered to be Mr. Lin's faction, so he naturally couldn't be left alone. At such a sensitive moment, he was simply unable to argue, and was eventually expelled from the party and detained and detained. At that time, several people pleaded for him, thinking that he was deceived and hoping to be able to easily deal with him, but they still did not succeed.

Even Premier Zhou said that Li Xuefeng is an honest man, but it is precisely because he is too honest that he will be implicated in the face of a complicated situation, and he is not at all the opponent of those corrupt elements, so he will become a victim of political struggle. It was not until 1982 that Li Xuefeng's matter was brought up again, and at this time the Gang of Four had been dismantled, and the framing of him was naturally not established, so he was rehabilitated. After regaining his freedom and reputation, Li Xuefeng returned to work again and continued to exert his residual enthusiasm to contribute the last bit of his life to the country. In 2003, Li Xuefeng left this world at the age of 97.

Although Li Xuefeng's life has encountered a lot of ups and downs, he is still optimistic and positive in life, and under his influence, his children have become outstanding people. It is worth mentioning that his third daughter, who has been a diligent and studious girl since she was a child, has become an excellent military doctor when she grows up. Under the coincidence of fate, she and Bo Yibo's son came together and formed a family, but she didn't expect the two old revolutionaries to eventually become their sons and daughters, which is really fateful.

Li Xuefeng fell from the peak of his career to the abyss, such a gap is enough to make people collapse, but he is a strong revolutionary ancestor, and his suffering is more than this, so he is extremely calm in the face of political storms. Although he encountered all kinds of hardships, his career came to an abrupt end, and he lost his freedom, but he did not give up his faith because of this, and always believed that one day he would be innocent. It is with such firm belief that he survived the darkest moment of his life, let us pay tribute to this strong and unyielding old revolutionary!

However, Li Lao was determined and did not remain depressed because of this, and this is inseparable from his friends' advocacy for him and gave him spiritual support and comfort. During his detention, although Li Lao gave a proper account of everything, it was not until 1982 that he was finally rehabilitated and all his reputation was restored.

At this time, Li Lao was already in his prime, but he still wanted to do something for the country, and while waiting for the work assignment, he specially went to interview Ji Dengkui, thanked him for his help, and ridiculed Ji Dengkui's boldness at that time.

Later, Li Lao successively served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Central Advisory Committee, etc., and in 2003, Li Lao died of illness in Beijing at the age of 97.

The ups and downs of Li Lao's later years, and his ability to finally rise again, have a lot to do with his inner optimistic and strong mentality, which shows the tenacity of the revolutionaries, which is worth learning from.