From February 22 to March 8, 1982, the 22nd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 5th National People's Congress of China was held, and a major decision was made: 11 vice premiers were abolished and only two vice premiers were retained. This initiative was unprecedented and immediately attracted the attention of the whole world. So, why did ** make such a major reform decision?To understand this event, we have to start with the Soviet Union. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union, as the "big brother" of socialism, taught China many political systems, including the "lifelong leadership system". In the heyday of the Soviet Union, this system did not seem to have much of a problem, but as time passed, its drawbacks began to become apparent. In 1982, after the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet Union immediately revealed its precarious side, and the huge country fell into a state of "shock" with the departure of an elderly leader, and there was chaos in many important areas.
The Soviet Presidium hastily elected Andropov to power, but he was already 68 years old and died after just over a year in office, and the Soviet Union was once again paralyzed. The Soviet Presidium then elected Chernenko to power, but Chernenko, who was 73 years older than Andropov, also died after more than a year in office. As a result, the once-invincible Soviet Union became the laughing stock of the whole world. In order to save face, the Soviet Union "picked a general among the short" and elected a 54-year-old Gorbachev. However, it is well known that the much-anticipated Gorbachev ultimately led to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Fortunately, such a catastrophe did not take place in China, where its leaders had long seen the consequences of such a system. The abolition of the post of vice premier in 1982 was the result of the Chinese leaders' profound reflection and sober understanding of history.
At that time, ** was already an old man, and Wang Hongwen was only 40 years old, and he declared to ***: "Even if you are in power now, you will be handed over to us in 10 years!".Although these words are arrogant, they are a serious and realistic problem. ** worriedly said to *** and other old comrades: "What will happen to us in 10 years?"In terms of age, we can't compete with them. As a result, he began to plan for the "rejuvenation of cadres" and put forward a series of standards, that is, dare to struggle, not afraid of falling, and be young and promising. Subsequently, ** proposed at many meetings: "It is necessary to urgently solve the problem of the leadership group, and select some comrades who have the courage and courage to take responsibility for it." It is necessary to select people with practical experience from among the cadres who are slightly younger to be selected to join the leading groups, and it is even better if they are 50 or 40 years old. However, when *** was ready to implement this plan, it was forced to shelve.
It was not until 1977 that ** made a comeback and relaunched the reform of rejuvenating cadres. At that time, the first institutions at all levels were already extremely large, taking *** as an example, 13 deputy prime ministers were set up, and the staff of various departments were as many as 510,000 people, not to mention subordinate institutions at all levels, has created a serious bureaucratic style and seriously hindered the cause of reform and opening up. Therefore, it was decided to start from two aspects: ideological understanding and system and regulations. First of all, he published a speech entitled "Streamlining Institutions is a Revolution," in which he elevated the issue of the rejuvenation of cadres to a revolutionary character, and called on veteran cadres to proceed from the party spirit and "make the last historical contribution to the party," that is, to consciously let the virtuous and let younger and more professional cadres come to power.
At the same time, he put forward the "four modernizations" of cadres, namely "revolutionization", "youth", "knowledge" and "specialization", as the party's new employment standards, and pointed out: "Let the elderly and sick block the path of relatively young, energetic and capable people, not only that there is no hope for the four modernizations, but even involve the problem of the destruction of the party and the country." Of course, not all veteran cadres are regarded as obstacles, on the contrary, the positive role that veteran cadres still have, who have given everything for the revolutionary cause since their youth, have shown incomparable loyalty to the party and the people, have a strong sense of party spirit and responsibility, and have rich revolutionary experience. Veteran cadres are the precious wealth of the country, and they have accumulated rich experience in work and struggle, and they can play an important role at critical moments. Therefore, the initiative of establishing an "advisory committee for veteran cadres" at the provincial and provincial levels was put forward, aiming to allow these veteran cadres to carry out the work of "passing on the help and guidance".
This call was positively responded to by the majority of the veteran revolutionaries and cadres, who gave up their positions one after another. At the 22nd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 5th National People's Congress, a resolution was passed on the issue of institutional reform, reducing the number of vice premiers to two, and the number of ministerial-level institutions from 100 to 61, realizing the rejuvenation of cadres, thus greatly guaranteeing the smooth progress of reform and opening up. The role of veteran cadres has become more prominent, and their experience and wisdom have injected a strong impetus into the country's development.