How to make village cadres more resourceful in getting things done

What makes grassroots cadres feel most "helpless" is money on the one hand and people on the other. Only by building a strong and capable group of village cadres can the hearts of cadres and the masses be brought together

Some time ago, a colleague went to the countryside to do field research and said on returning that some rural cadres often sigh that they are "helpless." A weak collective economy in villages and a lack of support for infrastructure and livelihood projects are "the most depressing thing" for many village cadres. Take a county in the Central Plains region: only 42 villages collect a small amount of rent by leasing barren hills, forest land and houses, while the other 194 villages have no economic entities at all. Village-level operating funds basically rely on "subsidies," public welfare undertakings basically rely on "donations," and infrastructure construction basically relies on "asking for money." Because there is "no money in their pockets," many tasks leave them inevitably lacking confidence when facing villagers.

Apart from economic factors, an aging team and a weak leadership group are another practical problem constraining village-level work. For example, in a certain village in Northeast China, of the 72 Party members in the whole village, 23 are poor Party members, and their average age is as high as 52. In another village in the Central region, the rural Party member team is likewise seriously aging: of 84 Party members, more than 60% are over 50 years old, and only about 10% are under 35. Because older Party members have a low education level, relatively narrow horizons and an outdated knowledge structure, their ability to lead the masses to prosperity in the new era is not strong. Young people with brains and ability all go out to work, and college students and demobilized soldiers are unwilling to come back to serve as village cadres, so grassroots Party organizations urgently need fresh strength.

It can be seen that what makes grassroots cadres feel most "helpless" is money on the one hand and people on the other. Under market economy conditions, the stronger the mobility of factors affecting the economy, the more it can promote the overall health of the economy and its growth vitality. But at the same time, it also creates a trend: places with greater economic strength are more likely to gather factors, while places with weaker economic growth are more likely to lose factors. Although this is the natural law of market allocation, the moderate prosperity we pursue is moderate prosperity in all respects, and on the road to moderate prosperity in all respects "not one person may be left behind." The government must play a role by opening up new markets in backward areas and forming relatively strong village collective economic strength.

To make village cadres "resourceful" about the village economy, they must first be "resourceful" about themselves. For a village to develop, the key lies in the Party branch. If they themselves have no way to get rich, how can they be capable of leading the masses to get rich? The village-level leadership group needs to take the lead in setting an example in all respects, so that farmers can see hope and promise. When a reporter conducted field research in Shabeitou Village, Renzhao Town, Pingdu City, Shandong, it was found that villagers had long lived a life where they "would not go hungry but could not get rich either." Later, relying on a vegetable professional cooperative, the village adopted a "village-cooperative joint construction" model and built Party organizations on the industrial chain. By selecting the worthy and appointing the capable, strengthening Party building guidance and enhancing the Party organization's fighting capacity, after more than ten years of development, it grew from the Shabeitou Village Party branch with only 17 Party members to the Shabeitou Vegetable Professional Cooperative Party branch, and then to the Shabeitou Vegetable Professional Cooperative Party committee with 9 Party branches, driving surrounding villages to move toward prosperity together.

How can there be more "resourceful" village cadres? In some places, in selecting and making good use of village Party secretaries, they consciously focus on cultivating rural industrial experts, experts at getting rich and people returning home to start businesses, and step up the selection and training of village-level reserve cadres, promptly discovering and using young and middle-aged cadres with high quality, an understanding of the economy, management skills and a willingness to serve. Within only a few years, results appeared. In fact, a weak understanding of reform policies and a relatively poor ability to lead villagers to prosperity are shortcomings in grassroots organizations that are more real and urgent than a lack of money and land. From large-scale rotational training of county Party secretaries to the central government's vigorous promotion of Party building reform, its deep expectations and hopes for grassroots cadres cannot be described as anything but profound. The departments above village branches should place the training and education of village cadres on an equal footing with development and management, take everyone "out to see more," break through "old ideas and old methods," use the mobile internet to open up various platforms, and improve village cadres' abilities to adapt to the new era.

Cao Jinqing wrote in China Along the Yellow River about two villages with exactly the same resource endowment and geographical location. It was precisely because the cadres of one village led the villagers to build an irrigation canal that its various development conditions were all better than those of the other village. If the foundation is not solid, the earth will shake and the mountains will tremble. Building a strong and capable group of village cadres is not only of great significance for farmers to escape poverty and move toward moderate prosperity in all respects, but also directly affects our flesh-and-blood ties with the masses. With Party building as the guiding principle, with leading farmers to prosperity as the focus, and starting from guarantees of pay and benefits, policy encouragement, training and cultivation, and other aspects, continuously innovating systems and mechanisms will certainly further stimulate village cadres' entrepreneurial enthusiasm, bring the hearts of cadres and the masses together, and form a joint force for advancing economic and social development.