In 1971, Chairman ** personally selected Major General Li Desheng as director of the General Political Department. At a meeting of the Politburo, another founding general raised objections, arguing that it was inappropriate for Li Desheng to be the head of the General Political Department.
** Criticize the founding general Xie Fuzhi and say, Li Desheng is not suitable, are you suitable? Why did Xie Fuzhi oppose Li Desheng as director of the General Political Department? It turns out that Xie Fuzhi and Li Desheng have a lot in common.
First of all, they were all born in the Dabie Mountains, one of the top ten general counties in Hong'an, Hubei and Xinxian, Henan. They had a similar experience during their careers.
During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, they all served as generals in the Red Fourth Front Army, although Xie Fuzhi was of a higher rank than Li Desheng. They all served in the 129th Division during the Anti-Japanese War, Li Desheng served in the 385 Brigade led by ***, and Xie Fuzhi served as the political commissar of the 385 Brigade.
During the Liberation War, they were in Liu Deng's army, Xie Fuzhi was the political commissar of Chen Geng's fourth column, and Li Desheng was the brigade commander of the sixth column led by Wang Jinshan. In the later period of the Liberation War, Xie Fuzhi was the political commissar of the Third Corps, Li Desheng was the division commander of the 12th Army, and the 12th Army was subordinate to the Third Corps, and Xie Fuzhi became Li Desheng's leader.
The fate between them is really great.
Huang Yongsheng, Wu Faxian and others were all from the Fourth Field Army, while Xie Fuzhi and Li Desheng were from the Second Field Army. They worked together in the office group of the Central Military Commission, and it stands to reason that Xie Fuzhi should support Li Desheng as director of the General Political Department.
However, Xie Fuzhi opposed this decision, believing that Li Desheng was a pure military general, with a low level of education and no political work, so he was not suitable for the position.
At first glance, Xie Fuzhi's opinion seems to have some truth. However, **'s vision is far beyond Xie Fuzhi. He knew that Li Desheng was a loyal and reliable honest man, and this was the first thing he needed to be the director of the General Political Department.
Therefore, Li Desheng was still chosen for this position.
Li Desheng is a seasoned mass worker, and it is precisely because of his outstanding performance in solving the problem of armed struggle in Anhui that he particularly admires him. Li Desheng's way of solving the problem is political education and guidance, not force and repression.
This rational and fair attitude enabled him to select, appoint, and resolve difficulties for veteran cadres in the post of director of the General Political Department, and was widely praised.
For example, with regard to the problems of Liang Xingchu and Wu Kehua, two veteran generals, he did his best to help them with a fair and just mentality. His behavior made *** have a deeper understanding of his excellence, so he severely criticized Xie Fuzhi, who held opposing views.