The Party’s Discovery and Cultivation of Military Industry Talent in the Base Areas during the War of Resistance

In its more than one hundred years of struggle, the Communist Party of China has always attached importance to training talent, uniting talent, guiding talent, and enabling talent to achieve success, uniting and supporting talent of all kinds to make contributions to the Party and the people’s cause. During the War of Resistance, the CPC profoundly recognized the extreme importance of independently developing the military industry. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: “With guns one can indeed create the Party; the Eighth Route Army created a big Party in North China. It can also create cadres, create schools, create culture, and create mass movements.” (Mao Zedong Selected Works, Vol. 2, People’s Publishing House 1991, p. 547) In October 1938, the Party’s Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee pointed out: “The supply of munitions for guerrilla warfare is an extremely important issue. Every guerrilla warfare base area must try its best to establish small arsenals, to the point of being able to manufacture its own ammunition, rifles, hand grenades, etc., so that guerrilla warfare will not suffer from a shortage of munitions.” (Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Party (1921–1949), Vol. 15, Central Party Literature Press 2011, p. 614) In order to rapidly develop the military industry in the anti-Japanese base areas, the Party actively mobilized and united talent from all fields. The base areas saw a peak in the development of military industry talent, forming a contingent of military industry personnel with professional technical skills and relatively high political quality. During this period, through the introduction, mobilization, and cultivation of military industry technical talent, the Party ensured the effective operation of the military industry, and also laid the talent foundation for the subsequent War of Liberation and the development of the military industry in New China.

在百余年奋斗历程中，中国共产党始终重视培养人才、团结人才、引领人才、成就人才，团结和支持各方面人才为党和人民事业建功立业。抗战时期，中国共产党深刻认识到独立自主发展军事工业的极端重要性。毛泽东同志指出：“有了枪确实又可以造党，八路军在华北就造了一个大党。还可以造干部，造学校，造文化，造民众运动。”（《毛泽东选集》第2卷，人民出版社1991年版，第547页）1938年10月，党的六届六中全会指出：“游击战争的军火接济是一个极重要的问题，每个游击战争根据地都必须尽量设法建立小的兵工厂，办到自制弹药、步枪、手榴弹等的程度，使游击战争无军火缺乏之虞。”（《建党以来重要文献选编（1921—1949）》第15册，中央文献出版社2011年版，第614页）为了迅速发展抗日根据地军工事业，党积极调动并团结各领域人才，各根据地迎来了军工人才发展的高潮，形成了一支具备专业技术和较高政治素养的军工人才队伍。这一时期，党通过对军工技术人才的引进、调动和培养，保障了军事工业的有效运转，同时也为解放战争时期和新中国的军工事业发展奠定了人才基础。

Combining the Introduction of High-Level Talent with the Absorption of Skilled Workers

引进高层次人才与吸收熟练技工相结合

In April 1941, the Central Military Commission issued the “Instructions on the Policy of Absorbing and Treating Specialists in the Army,” requiring military industries in various regions to absorb large numbers of intellectuals and technical experts, while emphasizing the importance of military industry talent. “An army without a large number of specialists (military experts, engineers, technicians, doctors, etc.) cannot become a powerful organization” (Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Party (1921–1949), Vol. 18, p. 223), and “in the construction of ordnance industry, attention should be paid to collecting specialists and assigning them responsible work, such as factory directors, institute directors, etc. According to the Yan’an experience, newly arrived proficient technical cadres should be appointed as factory directors” (Selected Important Documents Since the Founding of the Party (1921–1949), Vol. 18, p. 226).

1941年4月，中央军委印发《关于军队中吸收和对待专门家政策的指示》，要求各地军事工业大量吸收知识分子和技术专家，同时强调了军工人才的重要性。“一个军队没有大量的专门家（军事家，工程师、技师、医生等等）参加，是不可能成为一个有力量的组织的”（《建党以来重要文献选编（1921—1949）》第18册，第223页），“在兵工建设上应注意收集专家给以负责工作，如厂长、所长等，依延安经验，应以新来的精通技术干部为厂长”（《建党以来重要文献选编（1921—1949）》第18册，第226页）。

Specifically, on the one hand, the Party actively introduced talent from domestic higher education institutions and from those who had studied abroad. The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army implemented the policy of “unified leadership, centralized production” for the mobile repair shops scattered in the Taihang anti-Japanese base area. Several hundred military industry talents and skilled workers from these mobile repair shops were transferred to the Eighth Route Army headquarters repair shop to form the Eighth Route Army Mobile Work Group, which was hailed as the “arsenal carried on the backs of donkeys” (Wang Zhaoqian, The Cradle of Ordnance Industry: Wuxiang, CPC History Publishing House 2013, p. 22). The Eighth Route Army Mobile Work Group absorbed many highly educated and high-level technical talents, including students who had returned from Europe, overseas Chinese who had returned from the South Seas, and professors and students from domestic higher education institutions. They used the techniques they had mastered, combined with the actual needs of the War of Resistance, to create and develop many new technologies and weapons. The military industry talents introduced by the Party in the anti-Japanese base areas covered specialties including machinery, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, civil engineering, and electrical engineering. In order to disseminate and promote military industry knowledge, these military experts also took the initiative to teach professional knowledge to students and workers at the base area’s military industry schools.

具体来看，一方面，党积极引进国内高等学府及国外留学归国人才。八路军总部对分散在太行抗日根据地的随军修械所实行“统一领导、集中生产”的方针，数百名随军修械所的军工人才和技术工人被调往八路军总部修械所，组建八路军流动工作团，被誉为“驮在驴背上的兵工厂”（王照骞：《兵工摇篮武乡》，中共党史出版社2013年版，第22页）。八路军流动工作团吸收了众多高学历高层次技术人才，有从欧洲回国的学生，有从南洋归来的华侨，也有国内高等学府的教授和学生。他们运用掌握的技术，结合抗战实际需要，创造和研发了诸多新式技术和武器。党在抗日根据地引进的军工人才专业涵盖机械、物理、化学、冶金、土木工程、电力工程等。为了传播和推广军工知识，这些军工专家还主动到根据地军工学校给学员和工人传授专业知识。

On the other hand, the Party also absorbed large numbers of skilled workers in the military industry field. Most of these skilled workers came from arsenals in Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, and other places, possessing superb skills in machinery, fitting, forging, casting, woodworking, and other special techniques. Based on their work experience in the ordnance industry, they became “local” experts cultivated in the anti-Japanese base areas. Among them, the military industry pioneered by the Huangyadong Arsenal [1]1 Huangyadong Arsenal: A major arsenal built by the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains in 1939, known for its production of rifles, grenades, and mortars under difficult conditions. and other important representative enterprises spurred the construction of military industries in various anti-Japanese base areas, and in actual production cultivated and trained large numbers of military industry scientific and technical talents and management talents. Throughout the entire War of Resistance, the Huangyadong Arsenal and the branch factories later established by it repaired and manufactured large numbers of guns, cannon, and ammunition. Among them, tens of thousands of guns were made, 2,500 grenade launchers were produced, more than 2 million rounds of ammunition were reloaded or newly manufactured, more than 580,000 hand grenades were made, and 38,000 mortar shells of various calibers were produced. At the same time, it guided and assisted local areas in producing landmines and hand grenades (China War of Resistance Military History Series: Eighth Route Army Memoirs, Vol. 4, PLA Press 2015, p. 129).

另一方面，党还大量吸收军工领域的熟练技工。这些熟练技工大多来自河北、山西、山东等地的兵工厂，在机、钳、锻、铸、木以及其他特殊工艺上具有精湛技艺。他们依据自身在兵工领域的工作经验，成为抗日根据地培养出来的“土”专家。其中，以黄崖洞兵工厂等为重要代表的军事工业的开创带动了各抗日根据地军事工业的建设，在实际生产中又培养、锻炼了大批军工科技人才和管理人才。在整个抗战期间，黄崖洞兵工厂及其后来建立的分厂修理和制造了大批枪、炮、弹。其中，造枪数万支、产掷弹筒2500具、复装和新制子弹200多万发、手榴弹58万余枚、各种口径的迫击炮弹3.8万发，同时还指导和协助地方生产地雷、手榴弹（《中国抗日战争军事史料丛书：八路军回忆史料》第4册，解放军出版社2015年版，第129页）。

Founding Military Industry Schools to Train Core Technical Personnel

创办军工学校培养技术骨干人才

During the War of Resistance, in order to cultivate urgently needed talent in Party affairs, military affairs, administration, and other fields, the base areas established various schools. Founding military industry schools was an effective way to solve the serious shortage of military industry talent in the anti-Japanese base areas. By absorbing young people and workers with some knowledge, management cadres and technical talents were cultivated for the development of the military industry. The Military Industry Department of the Eighth Route Army headquarters first established an engineering training team to train production skilled workers and management cadres. In May 1941, on the basis of the original Taihang military industry talent, it founded the Taihang Industrial School, directly subordinate to the Military Industry Department of the Eighth Route Army headquarters. As the first ordnance school of our Party and our army, the Taihang Industrial School holds great significance in the history of military industry education. In terms of faculty, the Taihang Industrial School gathered a group of returned students and college graduates to serve as leaders and teachers at all levels, accounting for about one-third of such technical cadres in the Military Industry Department (Revolutionary Base Area Military Industry Historical Materials Series: Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Base Area, Ordnance Industry Press 1990, p. 251). Its students mainly came from the Special Branch of the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University, the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, the Taihang Military Region, the Dare-to-Die Corps of the War of Resistance, directly subordinate units of the Eighth Route Army headquarters, and backbone personnel from various arsenals (The Cradle of Ordnance Industry: Wuxiang, p. 22). The Taihang Industrial School trained nearly 400 mid-level industrial management cadres and technical cadres for the military industry, supporting the military industry construction at that time (Revolutionary Base Area Military Industry Historical Materials Series: Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Base Area, p. 252).

抗战时期，各根据地为培养战争急需的党务、军事、行政等方面人才，开办了各种学校。开办军工学校是解决抗日根据地军工人才严重匮乏问题的有效路径，通过吸收有一定知识的青年和工人，为军事工业发展培养管理干部和技术人才。八路军总部军工部先是成立工训队，培养生产技工和管理干部。1941年5月，又在原太行兵工人才的基础上成立了太行工业学校，直属于八路军总部军工部。太行工业学校作为我党我军第一所兵工学校，在军工教育史上具有重要意义。在师资队伍方面，太行工业学校集中了一批留学生和大专毕业生担任学校的各级领导和教师，这批人约占军工部同类技术干部的三分之一（《革命根据地军工史料丛书·晋冀豫根据地》，兵器工业出版社1990年版，第251页）。其学员主要来自抗大特科大队、冀鲁豫军区、太行军区、抗战决死队、八路军总部直属单位及各兵工厂的骨干（《兵工摇篮武乡》，第22页）。太行工业学校为军事工业培养了近400名中级工业管理干部和技术干部，支援了当时的军工建设（《革命根据地军工史料丛书·晋冀豫根据地》，第252页）。

In order to change the situation of technological disadvantage, the Central China base area continuously summed up experience and actively established industrial schools to improve and transform military industry production technology. In this regard, the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army achieved relatively outstanding results. It founded the Huaibei Industrial School, which offered three departments: mechanical engineering, chemical industry, and hydraulic engineering. The students were mainly recruited from Huaibei Middle School and young workers with some educational level transferred from factories (China War of Resistance Military History Series Editorial Committee: New Fourth Army: Documents, Vol. 4, PLA Press 1994, pp. 941–945). The Fourth Division also held four sessions of demolition training classes, training combat backbone personnel for various types of assault and demolition operations. The main training content included demolition principles, demolition techniques, black powder manufacturing, and the assembly of landmines and hand grenades. With the establishment of industrial schools in the base areas, the shortage of technical talent in the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Divisions of the New Fourth Army, as well as the Sixteenth Brigade and the Zhejiang-East Column, was alleviated to a certain extent (New Fourth Army: Documents, Vol. 4, pp. 924–927).

为改变技术条件处于劣势的状况，华中根据地不断总结经验，积极创办工业学校以提高和改造军工生产技术。在这方面，新四军第四师的成绩较为突出，其创办了淮北工业学校，学校设机械工程、化学工业、水利工程三个科，学员主要是从淮北中学招来的学生以及从工厂调来的具有一定文化水平的青年工人（中国抗日战争军事史料丛书编审委员会：《新四军·文献》第4册，解放军出版社1994年版，第941~945页）。第四师还先后举办四期爆破训练班，为部队培训各种攻坚爆破的战斗骨干，主要训练内容有爆破原理、爆破技术、黑火药制造及地雷、手榴弹的装配。随着根据地工业学校的创办，新四军第一师、第二师、第三师、第四师、第五师、第十六旅以及浙东纵队的技术人才短缺问题得到一定程度的改观（《新四军·文献》第4册，第924~927页）。

These military industry schools cultivated a batch of military industry talent for the various anti-Japanese base areas. Their students later played a backbone role in arsenals in North China, Central China, and Northeast China, laying a certain talent foundation for the establishment of New China’s military industry.

这些军工学校为各抗日根据地培养了一批军工人才，其学员后来在华北、华中、东北的军工厂里发挥了骨干作用，为新中国军事工业的建立奠定了一定的人才基础。

Multiple Measures Simultaneously to Cultivate and Stimulate the Growth of Military Industry Talent

多措并举培育与激励军工人才成长

In the process of establishing and developing the military industry, a prominent feature of the Party’s cultivation of military industry talent was the adherence to combining political theory study with military professional knowledge. It not only emphasized ideological and political education but also strengthened technical training and promotion. At the same time, it adopted various methods to continuously mobilize the enthusiasm of military industry talent, laying a solid talent foundation for the development of the military industry in the base areas.

在军事工业建立和发展的过程中，党培养军工人才的显著特点是坚持政治理论学习与军事专业知识相结合，既注重思想政治教育，又加强技术培训推广，同时还采取各种方法不断调动军工人才的积极性，为根据地军工事业发展奠定坚实人才基础。

In terms of political education: first, strengthening political theory study. The focus was on studying Mao Zedong’s military thought, including important content such as Chinese revolutionary history, the CPC and the proletariat, and the strategy of guerrilla warfare during the War of Resistance. This provided theoretical guidance for the development of the military industry during the War of Resistance. For example, the Taihang Industrial School attached great importance to the political education of its students. While offering courses such as Chinese Revolutionary History, CPC History, and Political Economy, it also stipulated that the proportion of political class hours should not be less than 15%. Second, strengthening ideological and political work, an important part of which was calling for the launch of revolutionary emulation to boost the morale and will of military industry personnel. Developing and producing the most weapons in the shortest time, seizing every opportunity to sprint to complete and overfulfill military industry production tasks, became the pursuit and goal of all military industry workers.

在政治教育方面，一是强化政治理论学习。重点学习毛泽东军事思想，包括中国革命历史、中国共产党与无产阶级、抗日战争时期游击战争的战略等重要内容，这为抗战时期军工事业的发展提供了理论指导。例如，太行工业学校十分重视学员的政治教育，在开设中国革命史、中共党史、政治经济学等课程的同时，还规定了政治课时的比例不低于15%。二是强化思想政治工作，其中一项重要内容是号召开展革命竞赛，以此鼓舞军工人才的士气和意志。在最短时间研发生产最多的武器，利用一切机会抢抓时间突击完成和超额完成军工生产任务，成为所有军工职工的追求和目标。

In terms of skills training, emphasis was placed on the promotion and application of military industry technology. The Party continuously adjusted and optimized training content in light of the development of the War of Resistance situation, in order to cultivate more technical and management personnel. The Military Industry Department of the Eighth Route Army headquarters specially established a cadre training team, focusing on promoting various military industry technologies. For example, it opened cultural and technical night schools, bomb and landmine training classes, etc., adopting methods such as classroom lectures, technical research meetings, and using technical backbone personnel as “little teachers” to help students learn and improve workers’ skills in all aspects. Through specialized technical training, a large number of military industry talents emerged in the various base areas. Military industry technical personnel represented by Liu Guifu designed and manufactured the “August 1st Type Horse Rifle” [2]2 August 1st Type Horse Rifle: A standard rifle designed by the Eighth Route Army in 1940, named after the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (August 1). that could meet the requirements of mountain guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare. This was a new standard rifle designed and manufactured by an Eighth Route Army arsenal, “changing the history of the people’s army having no standard weaponry” (Heroes on the Production Front: Eighth Route Army Military Industry Hero Liu Guifu, Great Wall Publishing House 2011, p. 67). Sun Xianghan and others from the Third Division of the New Fourth Army developed rifle grenades, and Wu Yunduo developed a rifle grenade launcher, both of which demonstrated significant effectiveness through battlefield testing. Outstanding military industry talents Guo Dongcai and Tang Chengyi developed special machinery for manufacturing original ammunition and complete sets of equipment for forming smokeless gunpowder. They were successively sent to various places to participate in the construction of arsenals, contributing to the development of the military industry.

在技能培训方面，注重军工技术的推广应用。党依据抗战形势的发展不断调整优化培训内容，以培养更多的技术和管理人才。八路军总部军工部专门成立干部训练队，着重推广各种军工技术。例如开办文化技术夜校、炸弹地雷培训班等，采用课堂讲授、技术研究会、技术骨干担任“小先生”帮助学习等方式提升工人各方面技能。经过专业技术培训，各根据地涌现出大量军工人才。以刘贵福为代表的军工技术人员设计制造出了能够适应山地游击战和运动战要求的“八一式马步枪”，这是八路军兵工厂自己设计制造的制式新步枪，“改变了人民军队没有制式兵器的历史”（《生产战线上的英雄：八路军军工英雄刘贵福》，长城出版社2011年版，第67页）。新四军第三师的孙象涵等人研制出枪榴弹，吴运铎研制出枪榴弹筒，通过实战考验均发挥了明显的效益。军工优秀人才郭栋才、唐成仪研制了原装子弹的专用机具及无烟药成型的成套设备。他们先后被派往各地参与兵工厂的建设工作，为军工事业的发展作出贡献。

In terms of talent incentives, the Party mobilized the enthusiasm of military industry talent by gradually improving the salary and welfare system. In just a few years, the Party enabled the military industry in the base areas to continuously develop and grow, which was inseparable from the establishment and improvement of the incentive mechanism for military industry talent. Under the arduous conditions of extreme material scarcity, how to guarantee the livelihood of military industry talent and fully mobilize their production enthusiasm was a major challenge for the development of the military industry in the base areas. When Peng Dehuai inspected the Huangyadong Arsenal in 1940, he pointed out: “The factory is not an army, and the workers are not soldiers. Production management systems should be established, labor laws should be promulgated, to ensure the completion of military industry production tasks and protect the interests of workers.” (China War of Resistance Military History Series: Eighth Route Army Memoirs, Vol. 4, p. 125) On the one hand, the grain and wage treatment of military industry talent in the base areas was higher than that of other military and political departments at the same time; on the other hand, the Ordnance Department provided special protection and preferential treatment for professional technical personnel in terms of medical and health care, insurance fund systems, and family benefits. The New Fourth Army also established in the management of its arsenals a “system of rewards for inventions, a system of new rewards for production exceeding quotas, and a system of rewards for processing with extra effort and pay” (New Fourth Army: Documents, Vol. 4, p. 921). Even during the particularly difficult period from the autumn of 1942 to 1944, the base areas adopted various methods to raise grain and actively ensured that military industry talent had enough to eat. The system of preferential treatment for technical personnel, the system of rewards for technical inventions, the performance-based wage system, and flexible and varied talent incentive measures established in the anti-Japanese base areas safeguarded the rights and interests of military industry talent and workers to the greatest extent, further released the creativity of military industry talent, and provided a guarantee for the enhancement of the military strength of the base areas.

在人才激励方面，通过逐步完善薪酬福利制度调动军工人才积极性。党在短短数年间使根据地军工事业不断发展壮大，这与军工人才激励机制的建立完善密不可分。在物资极度匮乏的艰苦条件下，如何保障军工人才生活所需,并充分调动其生产积极性，是根据地发展军工事业的一大考验。1940年彭德怀视察黄崖洞兵工厂时指出：“工厂不是军队，工人不是战士，要建立生产管理制度，颁布劳动法，保障军工生产任务的完成，保护工人的利益。”（《中国抗日战争军事史料丛书：八路军回忆史料》第4册，第125页）一方面，根据地军工人才的粮食工资待遇高于同时期其他军政部门；另一方面，兵工部对专业技术人才在医疗卫生、保险金制度、家属待遇等方面进行了特别保护和优待。新四军在军工厂管理方面还建立了“发明奖励制度，生产超过规定新的奖励制度，及加工有力资奖励制度”（《新四军·文献》第4册，第921页）。即使在1942年秋到1944年间的特殊困难阶段，根据地也采取多种方式筹集粮食，积极保障军工人才温饱。抗日根据地建立的技术人员优待制度、技术发明奖励制度、绩效工资制度以及灵活多变的人才激励手段最大程度保证了军工人才及工人的权益，进一步释放了军工人才的创造性，为根据地军事力量的提升提供了保障。

(The author: Anna, Associate Professor at the School of Marxism, Shanxi University)

（作者：安娜，系山西大学马克思主义学院副教授）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心