When the People's Republic of China was founded, he was the desired candidate for prime minister, and at the same time, four vice premiers were also elected, namely Dong Biwu, Guo Moruo, and Huang Yanpei.
These four vice premiers all have their own areas of responsibility, such as Dong Biwu concurrently serves as the director of the Political and Legal Committee, ** concurrently serves as the director of the Finance and Economic Committee and the Minister of Heavy Industry, Guo Moruo concurrently serves as the director of the Culture and Education Committee, and Huang Yanpei concurrently serves as the Minister of Light Industry.
We have introduced the story of Guo Moruo and Huang Yanpei before, so let's take a look at why ** was elected as vice premier.
Although he was born poor, and lost his father at the age of two and his mother at the age of four, he had a great talent for management, and dropped out of school at the age of 14 to work at the Shanghai Commercial Press, which further exercised his business talent, and he was born to be a big expert in the economic field.
In 1944, he was asked to preside over the financial and economic work of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region.
The land in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border area is barren, coupled with years of war, the economy is very difficult, especially since Chiang Kai-shek stopped paying the salaries of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army since 1941, and also banned the border area from foreign affairs, resulting in a very chaotic financial order in the border area and soaring prices.
In this context, when he took office, the first thing he said to his colleagues was:"Every one of our comrades must have the attitude of being a 'shopkeeper', play the abacus carefully and carefully, and put the villain first and then the gentleman. ”
However, it was not easy to be a good "shopkeeper", because at that time, the reputation of the border currency was damaged, and the fiat currency took advantage of the situation to occupy the border market, and if the relationship between the border currency and the fiat currency was not sorted out, there would be no normal financial operation in the border area.
What to do?** I thought of a way, first by the salt company to issue a negotiable coupon, and the fiat currency is priced at 1:1, and the price of the side currency is 1:9, first recover the side currency, and then use the side currency ** circulation coupons. In this way, the pricing of the border currency and the fiat currency is 1:1, which can squeeze the fiat currency out of the border area.
At the same time, the Kuomintang began to expand the struggle between the border areas and the Kuomintang regions, calling it a "struggle", and what is even more powerful was that the Kuomintang regarded the border areas as an important battlefield for carrying out work in the border areas, and people of insight in the upper echelons of the Kuomintang were also willing to carry out the work with the border areas.
Through various means, the financial and economic situation of the border area has been greatly improved, and the Eighth Route Army can survive in Yan'an, which can be said to be a great contribution!
After the Liberation War began, ** was sent to the Northeast as the deputy secretary of the Northeast Bureau, and also served as the director of the Northeast Financial and Economic Committee, presiding over the financial and economic work of the Northeast.
Northeast China was the most industrially developed region in China at that time, and together with the black soil and forests in Northeast China, the economy of Northeast China was done well, which could play a huge role in promoting the War of Liberation.
The three-year war of liberation, the expenses were huge, especially the need for industrial products, ** as the "big treasurer" of the economic work in the northeast, under his governance, the northeast became an important base for our army to win the war of liberation, and even Chiang Kai-shek later lamented:"The defeat of the three-year war was the loss of the Northeast. ”
On May 27, 1949, after the liberation of Shanghai, an even greater problem was facing the Communist Party, that is, the economic problem.
Shanghai is a world-famous international metropolis, and Chiang Kai-shek and the reactionary capitalists of various countries were not willing to lose this treasure land, so they tried their best to mess up Shanghai's economy, and even made wild statements:"The CCP can score 100 points militarily, but only 0 points economically. ”
Therefore, whether or not we can fight the economic war in Shanghai is related to whether the Communist Party can sit firmly in the world and whether New China can truly gain a foothold
**Personally pointed** went to Shanghai, presided over Shanghai's economic recovery work, **also lived up to high expectations, through a series of very effective means, quickly stabilized Shanghai's economy, and fought a very beautiful economic battle,**praised:"Its merit is no less than the Huaihai Campaign!”
Therefore, in the economic field, he can be called the first leader of our party, and it is also expected that he will preside over the financial and economic work of New China.
Some people may say that among people outside the party, there are also many people who are experts in the economic field, so why not let them preside over financial and economic work?
This involves the particularity of the state's financial and economic work, which involves a very wide range of areas, and it is necessary to negotiate with various departments; if it is done by people outside the party, they are not familiar with the party's history and economic context, and they have not dealt with various departments within the party, and it is very easy for problems to occur.
And **, he has always been an important leader of our party, he is highly respected, everyone is convinced by what he said, and the work is naturally easy to carry out, which is incomparable to people outside the party.
It was precisely because of these factors that he was appointed vice premier and director of the Financial and Economic Committee and minister of heavy industry, and was in charge of the financial and economic work of New China.
* The important role in the field of finance and economics in New China has been admired even by foreign scholars, such as an American scholar who commented:"In the early years of the People's Republic of China, it would not be an exaggeration to say that ** was dominant in the economic sphere, especially during the recovery period from 1949 to 1952......As China's economic 'tsar', one of his most outstanding achievements was to stop inflation and completely dismantle the last rule of the Kuomintang on the mainland. ”
References: "* Biography", "Overview of Party History", "China Business News").