Anna: The Party's Discovery and Cultivation of Military Industry Talents in Revolutionary Base Areas During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
Throughout its century-long journey of struggle, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has consistently placed great importance on cultivating, uniting, leading, and empowering talent, rallying and supporting professionals from all sectors to perform meritorious service for the cause of the Party and the people. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression [1], the CPC recognized the extreme importance of developing a military industry through independence and self-reliance. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "With guns, one can indeed build a Party; the Eighth Route Army built a large Party in North China. One can also build cadres, schools, culture, and mass movements" (Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 2, People's Publishing House, 1991 edition, p. 547). In October 1938, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth CPC Central Committee noted: "The supply of munitions for guerrilla warfare is an extremely important issue. Every guerrilla base area must try its best to establish small arsenals to the extent of self-manufacturing ammunition, rifles, and hand grenades, so that guerrilla warfare does not suffer from a lack of munitions" (Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Party (1921–1949), Vol. 15, Central Party Literature Press, 2011 edition, p. 614). To rapidly develop the military industry in the anti-Japanese base areas [2], the Party actively mobilized and united talent across various fields. The base areas witnessed a surge in the development of military industrial talent, forming a contingent characterized by professional technical skills and high political literacy. During this period, through the recruitment, transfer, and cultivation of technical personnel, the Party guaranteed the effective operation of the military industry while laying the foundations for the development of military industry during the Liberation War [3] and the founding of New China.
Combining the Recruitment of High-Level Talent with the Absorption of Skilled Workers
In April 1941, the Central Military Commission issued the "Directive on the Policy for Absorbing and Treating Specialists in the Army," requiring military industries everywhere to absorb large numbers of intellectuals and technical experts, while emphasizing the importance of military industrial talent. "Without the participation of a large number of specialists (military scientists, engineers, technicians, doctors, etc.), an army cannot become a powerful organization" (Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Party (1921–1949), Vol. 18, p. 223). "In the construction of the ordnance industry, attention should be paid to gathering experts and giving them responsible work, such as factory directors or institute directors. According to the experience in Yan'an, newly arrived cadres proficient in technology should serve as factory directors" (Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Party (1921–1949), Vol. 18, p. 226).
Specifically, on the one hand, the Party actively recruited talent from domestic institutions of higher learning and those who had returned from overseas study. The Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army implemented a policy of "unified leadership and centralized production" for the mobile repair shops scattered across the Taihang Anti-Japanese Base Area. Hundreds of military industrial personnel and technical workers from these shops were transferred to the Headquarters' repair shop to form the Eighth Route Army Mobile Work Team, lauded as the "arsenal on a donkey’s back" (Wang Zhaoqian, Wuxiang: The Cradle of the Ordnance Industry, CPC History Press, 2013 edition, p. 22). The Mobile Work Team absorbed numerous highly educated and high-level technical talents, including students returning from Europe, overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia, and professors and students from domestic universities. They applied their mastery of technology to the practical needs of the war effort, creating and researching various new techniques and weapons. The expertise of the military industrial talent recruited by the Party in the anti-Japanese base areas covered machinery, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, civil engineering, and electrical engineering. To disseminate and promote military industrial knowledge, these experts also took the initiative to teach specialized subjects to students and workers at base area military industrial schools.
On the other hand, the Party also absorbed a large number of skilled workers in the military industrial field. Most of these workers came from arsenals in Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong, possessing exquisite skills in machining, fitting, forging, casting, woodworking, and other specialized processes. Drawing on their work experience in the ordnance field, they became "indigenous" [4] experts trained within the anti-Japanese base areas. Among them, the pioneering military industry represented by the Huangyadong Arsenal stimulated the construction of military industries across all anti-Japanese base areas, while simultaneously training and tempering a large number of military industrial science and technology personnel and management cadres Through practical production. Throughout the War of Resistance, the Huangyadong Arsenal and its subsequently established branch factories repaired and manufactured a vast array of guns, artillery, and ammunition. This included tens of thousands of rifles, 2,500 grenade launchers, over 2 million rounds of reloaded and new ammunition, more than 580,000 hand grenades, and 38,000 mortar shells of various calibers; they also guided and assisted local regions in producing landmines and grenades (Military Historical Materials of the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression: Memoirs of the Eighth Route Army, Vol. 4, People's Liberation Army Press, 2015 edition, p. 129).
Establishing Military Industrial Schools to Cultivate Technical Backbone Personnel
During the War of Resistance, various base areas established a variety of schools to cultivate the talent urgently needed for Party affairs, military, and administration. Establishing military industrial schools was an effective path to solving the severe shortage of talent in the base areas. By absorbing youth and workers with a certain level of education, these schools trained management cadres and technical talent for the development of military industry. The Military Industry Department of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters first established a technical training team to cultivate production technicians and management cadres. In May 1941, building upon the original Taihang ordnance personnel, the Taihang Industrial School was established, directly subordinate to the Military Industry Department. As the first ordnance school of our Party and army, it holds great significance in the history of military industrial education. Regarding the teaching staff, the Taihang Industrial School concentrated a group of returnees and college graduates to serve as leaders and teachers at all levels, accounting for about one-third of the similar technical cadres in the Military Industry Department (Military Industrial Historical Materials of the Revolutionary Base Areas: Jin-Ji-Yu Base Area, Ordnance Industry Press, 1990 edition, p. 251). Its students primarily came from the Special Branch of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University [5], the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, the Taihang Military Region, the Resistance and Decisive Death Column [6], units directly under the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, and backbones from various arsenals (Wuxiang: The Cradle of the Ordnance Industry, p. 22). The Taihang Industrial School trained nearly 400 middle-level industrial management and technical cadres, supporting the military industrial construction of the time (Military Industrial Historical Materials of the Revolutionary Base Areas: Jin-Ji-Yu Base Area, p. 252).
To reverse the situation of technical inferiority, the Central China Base Area continuously summarized its experience and actively established industrial schools to improve and transform military production technology. In this regard, the achievements of the 4th Division of the New Fourth Army were particularly prominent; it founded the Huaibei Industrial School, which featured three departments: mechanical engineering, chemical industry, and water conservancy engineering. The students were mainly recruited from Huaibei Middle School as well as young workers with a certain educational level transferred from factories (Editorial Committee of Military Historical Materials of the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression: New Fourth Army · Documents, Vol. 4, People's Liberation Army Press, 1994 edition, pp. 941–945). The 4th Division also held four sessions of demolition training classes to train combat backbones for assaulting fortified positions, focusing on the principles and techniques of demolition, the manufacture of black powder, and the assembly of landmines and hand grenades. With the founding of industrial schools in the base areas, the shortage of technical talent in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Divisions of the New Fourth Army, the 16th Brigade, and the East Zhejiang Column was alleviated to a certain extent (New Fourth Army · Documents, Vol. 4, pp. 924–927).
These military industrial schools cultivated a cohort of talent for the anti-Japanese base areas. These individuals later played a backbone role in the munitions factories of North China, Central China, and Northeast China, laying a talent foundation for the establishment of New China's military industry.
Cultivating and Incentivizing the Growth of Military Industrial Talent Through Multiple Measures
In the process of establishing and developing the military industry, a salient feature of the Party's cultivation of talent was its persistence in combining political theoretical study with specialized military knowledge. It focused on ideological and political education while strengthening the promotion of technical training, and simultaneously adopted various methods to continuously mobilize the enthusiasm of talent, laying a solid foundation for the development of military industrial undertakings in the base areas.
Regarding political education, the first measure was to strengthen the study of political theory. Emphasis was placed on studying Mao Zedong’s military thought, including the history of the Chinese revolution, the Communist Party of China and the proletariat, and the strategy of guerrilla warfare during the War of Resistance, which provided theoretical guidance for the development of the military industry. For example, the Taihang Industrial School attached great importance to the political education of its students; while offering courses such as the History of the Chinese Revolution, CPC History, and Political Economy, it also stipulated that political course hours should not be less than 15%. The second measure was to strengthen ideological and political work, an important element of which was the call to launch "revolutionary competitions" to bolster the morale and will of the personnel. Researching and producing the maximum number of weapons in the shortest time, and seizing every opportunity to conduct "shock" efforts to complete or exceed production tasks, became the pursuit and goal of all military industrial staff.
Regarding skill training, emphasis was placed on the promotion and application of military industrial technology. The Party continuously adjusted and optimized training content according to the development of the war situation to cultivate more technical and management personnel. The Military Industry Department of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters specially established cadre training teams to focus on promoting various technologies. For example, it established evening schools for literacy and technology and training classes for bombs and landmines, utilizing methods such as classroom lectures, technical research societies, and having technical backbones serve as "little teachers" [7] to help others learn, thereby enhancing the skills of workers in all aspects. Through professional technical training, a large number of military industrial talents emerged in the various base areas. Technical personnel represented by Liu Guifu designed and manufactured the "Type 81 Carbine," which met the requirements of mountain guerrilla and mobile warfare. As the first standardized rifle designed and manufactured by the Eighth Route Army’s own arsenals, it "changed the history of the people’s army lacking standardized weaponry" (Heroes on the Production Front: Liu Guifu, Hero of the Eighth Route Army’s Military Industry, Great Wall Press, 2011 edition, p. 67). Sun Xianghan and others from the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army developed rifle grenades, and Wu Yunduo developed rifle grenade launchers, both of which proved highly effective in combat. Outstanding talents Guo Dongcai and Tang Chenyi developed specialized machinery for original cartridges and complete sets of equipment for smokeless powder molding. They were subsequently sent to various locations to participate in arsenal construction, contributing to the development of the military industry.
Regarding talent incentives, the enthusiasm of personnel was mobilized by gradually refining the salary and welfare system. The rapid expansion of the military industry in the base areas within just a few years was inseparable from the establishment and perfection of incentive mechanisms. Under the harsh conditions of extreme material scarcity, ensuring the livelihood of military industrial personnel while fully mobilizing their production enthusiasm was a major test. In 1940, while inspecting the Huangyadong Arsenal, Peng Dehuai pointed out: "A factory is not the army, and workers are not soldiers. We must establish a production management system and promulgate labor laws to guarantee the completion of military production tasks and protect the interests of the workers" (Military Historical Materials of the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression: Memoirs of the Eighth Route Army, Vol. 4, p. 125). On the one hand, the grain-based wages and benefits for military industrial personnel in the base areas were higher than those in other military and political departments during the same period; on the other hand, the Ordnance Department provided special protection and preferential treatment for professional technical talent in areas such as medical care, insurance systems, and benefits for family members. In managing military factories, the New Fourth Army also established "an invention reward system, a new reward system for production exceeding quotas, and a reward system for vigorous labor in processing" (New Fourth Army · Documents, Vol. 4, p. 921). Even during the period of exceptional difficulty from the autumn of 1942 to 1944, the base areas adopted various methods to raise grain, actively ensuring the basic subsistence of military industrial personnel. The system of preferential treatment for technical personnel, the technical invention reward system, the performance-based wage system, and flexible incentive measures established in the anti-Japanese base areas maximized the rights and interests of personnel and workers, further releasing their creativity and providing a guarantee for the enhancement of the base areas' military strength.