Source: Jun Zhengping Studio
One
In the early spring of 1945, a team of more than 700 people gathered in Yan'an after a lot of hardship.
They came for the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Some of them set out from the occupied area and crossed the enemy blockade with difficulty; Some dressed as merchants, hawkers, or beggars, and traveled day and night with a pair of feet; Some have returned from abroad several times...... Many people were wounded by enemy attacks and died not far from the Yanhe River and Pagoda Mountain, which they longed for.
If we know the history of the party to which they belong, we know that the bumps in the road are nothing to them, just a "difficult road".
Prior to this, the team led by this party completed the "great feat in the history of mankind" - the Long March. It was an earth-shattering, but more urgent, life-and-death march of 100,000. When the ship of the Chinese revolution sailed into the narrowest channel, the ranks of the Communist Party walked out of the historical rut that changed the world in the fields of Asia and on the land of China. This party was reborn in the midst of a difficult trek.
People were amazed that this army could march an average of more than 50 kilometers a day in the pursuit, interception, and encirclement of an enemy dozens of times their size, and in the midst of the threat of hunger, cold, wounded, disease, and death. Being good at hurrying is a skill; How to get there is worth a serious question. Someone once asked several veteran comrades who had participated in the Long March: "Do you know where to go in the early days of the Long March?" The answer of these old Red Army soldiers was the same: "I don't know, I'm just going along." "To follow along" means to follow the party.
Two
In 1937, Mao Zedong and other central leaders were stationed in Yan'an. This is the foothold of the Long March, and a large number of loyal party members and cadres have been tempered most rigorously in the most brutal struggle. After that, Yan'an became the seat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, where the Communists strategized and made a series of major decisions related to the future and destiny of the Chinese revolution and marched towards New China.
During this period, Yan'an also became a holy place for progressive youth. The number of party members rose dramatically, from 40,000 at the beginning of 1937 to more than 800,000 in 1940, a 20-fold increase in less than four years. How to maintain the advanced nature and purity of Communist Party members has also become an unavoidable issue in the course of the development and growth of this political party. The purity of party members is the loyalty of party members.
Loyalty is born and forged in the rain of material and spiritual bullets, and it must also become an impenetrable line of defense in the face of material and spiritual bullets.
Comrade Mao Zedong said, "A Communist Party member should be open-minded, loyal, and active, regard the interests of the revolution as his first life, and subordinate his personal interests to the interests of the revolution......
Loyalty depends on the inspiration of truth and the firmness of ideals, but it does not fall from the sky. True loyalty needs to be forged, and it needs to be reinvented in terms of values and worldview. In his speech at the Yan'an Marxist-Leninist Institute, Liu Shaoqi said: Whether or not a Communist Party member can absolutely and unconditionally subordinate his personal interests to the interests of the Party under any circumstances is the criterion for testing whether a Party member is loyal to the Party and to the revolutionary and communist causes. For this reason, Chen Yun wrote an essay entitled "Party Members Must Be Loyal to the Party", which clearly opposed "pseudo-loyalty" and "empty loyalty". In the essay of less than 1,800 words, he emphasized the loyalty of party members from different angles, with the purpose of reminding and warning all party members that party members must be loyal to the party, "This is a party regulation." Violating this article is a violation of party discipline."
Dangling Snow Mountain is not a gold and silver mountain, and the loess of Yan'an is not buried with gold and silver treasures. What kind of person is a real communist? They regard absolute loyalty as the primary political character and logic of action. Their loyalty is the only, thorough, unconditional, unadulterated, and devoid of any moisture.
Three
Comrade Mao Zedong said, "A team is often not very neat, so it is necessary to always shout to be in line, to the left, to the right, and to the middle." ”
"Alignment" does not mean that there is a five-pointed star on the hat, wearing the same coarse cloth military uniform, and having the same leggings.
For example, when Zhang Guotao split the Red Army to the point where it could no longer be done, Li Lingzhi wanted to set up a separate "central committee", and it was Zhang Guotao's former subordinate Xu Haidong who had to support the central government when Comrade Mao Zedong wrote a letter to borrow money, "even if he did not eat, drink, starved and froze."
Therefore, "alignment" is to look at the loyalty of the soul; "Always shouting to be on the same page" is a continuous and permanent quenching of loyalty, and it is the unremitting cultivation of the party spirit by Communist Party members.
For another example, when the avant-garde battalion of the Red Fourth Front Army crossed the Dangling Snow Mountain, he saw someone stretching out an arm in the vast sea of snow. They walked over and saw that this person was clutching a party card and a silver dollar tightly in his hand, and the party card read, "Liu Zhihai, a member of the Communist Party of China, joined the party in February 1933." A silver dollar is Liu Zhihai's "family background". Before the sacrifice, the party member wanted to pay the last party dues.
President Xi pointed out that "our party has gone through countless hardships and tribulations along the way, but no difficulties have crushed us, and no enemy has been able to defeat us, relying on the loyalty of thousands of party members." ”
One silver dollar is Liu Zhihai's "family foundation," and thousands of "Liu Zhihai" are the Communist Party's "family foundation."
Four
We must admit that there are not without speculators and betrayers in the history of this party. But this party has always been resolute in its self-revolution. When talking about the handling of the corruption cases of Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan, Comrade Mao Zedong said: As for such traitors and moths, we must eliminate as many as we can. Clearing them is not a loss for the party, but a victory for the party, not a reduction in the prestige of the party, but an increase in the prestige of the party.
Although it is hard to find thousands of waters, the sand is blown away and the gold is reached.
From June 17 to 19, 2024, the Political Work Conference of the Central Military Commission was held in Yan'an, Shaanxi. President Xi's speech was deafening: "Without the revolutionary forging of politics, there can be no great transformation of the people's army in the new era." ”
At this meeting, President Xi Jinping summarized the strategy of political and military construction in the new era as "ten clear", and "make it clear that the gun must always be in the hands of people who are loyal and reliable to the party" is one of the important ones.
The word "loyalty" is very important. Party members are the cells of the party's body, and the party is strong when party members are strong. As of December 31, 2023, the total number of members of the Communist Party of China was 99.185 million. If the party members have an appearance, the party will have strength. Today, we don't have to face shackles and bayonets, but there are still great challenges and risks, such as waves crashing on the shore, and complex changes both external and internal are always testing loyalty.
There are thousands of criteria for evaluating a party member, but the first one must be to see whether he is absolutely loyal to the party.
(Produced by Jun Zhengping Studio, China Military Trumpet)