What is the development process of the militia system formulated by the Communist Party of China?

On May 16, 1950, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission issued the "Instructions on Strengthening the Construction of Militia", proposing the implementation of a "universal militia system" throughout the country, bringing together the past wars and The principle of voluntary participation in the militia implemented during the period was changed into a system of universal participation in the militia according to prescribed conditions. It stipulates that all young men of appropriate age, as long as they are in good health, have the right and obligation to join the militia regardless of nationality, race, social origin, or education level.

In 1958, in order to deal with the military provocation and war threat of the United States, Mao Zedong issued a call for the establishment of large-scale militia divisions. Militia organizations were generally established across the country from rural to urban areas.

In June 1962, Mao Zedong instructed that “the militia work must achieve organizational implementation, political implementation, and military implementation”, which promoted the healthy development of militia work. During the "Cultural Revolution", although the militia leadership and management systems were severely disrupted and destroyed, progress was still made in militia construction due to the correct leadership of the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries.

In October 1976, the Central Military Commission promptly rectified and restored the traditional leadership and management system of the militia. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with the shift of national work priorities, the reform of urban and rural economic systems, and the change of guiding ideology for national defense construction, the organizational construction, military training and political education of the militia have all changed accordingly. Local adjustments and reforms have been carried out, and weapons and equipment have been continuously improved.

On May 31, 1984, the new "Military Service Law of the People's Republic of China" was promulgated, further establishing the system of combining militia and reserve forces.

On December 24, 1990, the State Council and the Central Military Commission promulgated the newly revised "Regulations on Militia Work", which stipulates the tasks, guiding principles, organizational construction, political work, military training, weapons and equipment, and combat readiness of militia work. Clear regulations have been made on all aspects such as duty, etc., promoting the all-round development of militia work. This is of far-reaching significance for enhancing the people's concept of national defense, further strengthening the construction of national defense reserve forces, and safeguarding national tranquility and social stability.

The contemporary Chinese militia has achieved great results after more than 40 years of construction. Under the leadership of the State Council and the Central Military Commission, militia leadership structures at all levels have been established and improved, forming a relatively complete leadership system for militia organizations from top to bottom.

The national militia work is in charge of the General Staff Department; military regions are responsible for the militia work in their respective regions in accordance with the tasks assigned by superiors; provincial military regions, military divisions and county People’s Armed Forces Departments are the militia leadership and command organs in their respective regions; Townships, towns, streets, enterprises and institutions have People's Armed Forces Departments responsible for militia work.

Local people's governments at all levels also exercise leadership over militia work, organize and supervise the completion of militia work tasks. The tasks of the militia are:

1. Establish and consolidate militia organizations, improve the military and political quality of the militia, equip and manage militia weapons and equipment, and reserve reserve soldiers needed for wartime.

2. Mobilize the militia to participate in the socialist modernization drive, organize the militia to undertake combat readiness duties, and maintain social security.

3. Organize militia to join the army and fight, support the front line, resist aggression, and defend the motherland. The militia is divided into basic militia and ordinary militia. Soldiers who have retired from active service and citizens who have undergone basic training under the age of 28 are incorporated into the basic militia; the remaining male citizens aged 18 to 35 who are not included in the basic militia are integrated into the ordinary militia; female citizens join the basic militia as needed. The militia is organized in accordance with the principles of ease of leadership, ease of movement, and ease of execution of tasks. In rural areas, administrative villages are generally organized into companies or battalions; in cities, enterprises, institutions, and streets are organized into platoons, companies, battalions, and regiments. The core militiamen are organized separately into squads, platoons, companies, battalions or regiments based on their numbers, and professional technical militia units are formed based on combat readiness needs and existing weapons and equipment. Establish militia and anti-aircraft artillery battalions and regiments in key civil defense cities, transportation hubs, and important targets.

Militia training is conducted in accordance with the "Militia Military Training Outline" issued by the General Staff Headquarters and is organized and implemented by the County People's Armed Forces Department. Basic militia members who have not served in active service will participate in 30-40 days of military training between the ages of 18 and 20.

The training time for professional and technical soldiers will be appropriately extended according to actual needs. The county has established a militia military training base to conduct centralized and standardized training for the militia. The weapons and equipment of the militia are planned uniformly by the General Staff Headquarters. The national militia is equipped with rifles, submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft artillery, ground artillery and anti-tank weapons. The political education of the militia is mainly carried out in combination with organizational consolidation, military training, recruitment and major festival activities.

In peacetime, we should do ideological and political work based on the ideological reality of the militiamen, improve their awareness of military training and martial arts, and mobilize the militiamen to take the lead in participating in the construction of socialist material civilization and spiritual civilization. During wartime, the militia are mobilized to join the army and fight, support the front line, and organize the militia to carry out activities such as killing the enemy, performing meritorious service, and disintegrating the enemy army, to ensure the completion of combat and combat service tasks. The contemporary Chinese militia has spread throughout the vast urban and rural areas, and has professional and technical units such as anti-aircraft artillery, ground artillery, communications, chemical defense, engineering, reconnaissance, navy, and air force, and can perform combat missions at any time.

In the socialist revolution and modernization drive, the militia inherits and carries forward the glorious tradition of the revolutionary war era. It is not only a combat team fighting against the enemy, but also a commando team on the production front. It not only plays an important role in liberating coastal islands and annihilating It played an important role in banditry, maintaining public security, suppressing counter-revolutionary riots, resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, and successive self-defense counterattacks. Together with the People's Liberation Army, it established military-civilian joint defense and cooperated with and supported the People's Liberation Army on the sea and land border lines to complete the sacred task of defending the motherland.

According to incomplete statistics from 11 provinces including Sichuan, Guangxi, and Hunan, more than 1.85 million militiamen participated in the anti-bandit struggle from 1950 to 1953, and they fought more than 107,000 times. , more than 304,000 bandits were annihilated, and more than 323,000 weapons of various types were seized. In particular, the militiamen became the main force in detecting banditry and hunting down bandit leaders.

From 1950 to 1979, the National Communist Party annihilated 104 small groups of armed spies with 827 people. Most of them were annihilated by militiamen alone or in cooperation with the army. Combating criminal activities is a regular task of the militia. From 1953 to 1961, militias across the country assisted public security agencies, cracking 1.39 million criminal cases and arresting more than 990,000 criminals. In the campaign to crack down on criminal crimes launched in 1983, police across the country mobilized 2.38 million militiamen.

In the great cause of developing production, rescue and relief, afforestation, and building socialist material and spiritual civilization, the militia often plays a leading role as the backbone. For example, after the Tangshan earthquake in July 1976, 1.52 million militiamen from Tangshan City and nearby counties and districts participated in earthquake relief, forming 13,000 rescue teams. Together with the Chinese People's Liberation Army, they rescued 377,000 people. Multiple people mobilized and escorted 176,000 wounded. In the summer of 1983, a severe flood occurred in the Yangtze River. Several provinces along the Yangtze River mobilized millions of militiamen to participate in the fight against the flood. In Hubei Province alone, 1.919 million militiamen participated in rescue and disaster relief, accounting for 64% of the total number of people fighting against floods in the province, up from 15.29%. Ten thousand militiamen organized into 4,864 commando teams, reinforced 540 kilometers of embankments, and eliminated more than 10,000 dangerous situations.

In the summer of 1991, rare floods occurred in some areas across the country. According to statistics from 15 provinces and cities, 11 million militiamen participated in flood fighting and disaster relief, rescued more than 2 million people, and rescued 193,000 supplies. More than 10,000 tons of dams have been reinforced for tens of thousands of kilometers. In Anhui and Jiangsu provinces alone, more than 3 million militiamen have been organized to rescue and evacuate more than 1.3 million people trapped by floods, more than 1.3 million tons of materials have been transferred, and more than 4,500 dangerous situations have been eliminated. In May 1987, a huge forest fire broke out in Daxinganling, Heilongjiang Province. 19,000 militiamen were mobilized to form 74 fire-fighting commandos to fight the fire, which was praised by the fire-fighting headquarters.

The militia also actively responded to the government’s call and took the lead in afforestation, achieving remarkable results. By 1984, the militia in Gansu Province alone had afforestation of 10.34 million acres, accounting for 63% of the province's afforestation area. History of China’s Reserve Forces

China attaches great importance to the construction of military reserve forces. During the Revolutionary War, organizations such as the Red Guards, Self-Defense Forces and militias were established.

In addition to cooperating with the army in operations, protecting the masses, safeguarding production, and defending local political power, these mass armed forces also shouldered the task of replenishing the army's troops and made significant contributions to the victory of the revolutionary war.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the "Military Service Law of the People's Republic of China" promulgated in 1955 clearly stipulated the establishment of a reserve system, and the reserve registration of soldiers was generally implemented across the country. The region has launched a pilot program to register reserve officers. The Military Service Law re-enacted in 1984 proposed the implementation of a system combining militia and reserve forces, which brought new development to the reserve force.

According to the provisions of the Military Service Law, citizens must serve in active service in accordance with the law. Soldiers and officers who have retired from active service, as well as other qualified citizens, must serve in reserve service within the specified age; serving in active service and reserve service are all obligations that citizens must perform. Military service obligation; militia is the basic organizational form of reserve service; reserve service is divided into soldier reserve service and officer reserve service. Members of the Soldier Reserve include: all militiamen and male citizens registered in the reserve who meet the conditions for the Soldier Reserve.

Among them, the basic militia and retired soldiers under the age of 28 who have registered for reserve service, and local professional and technical personnel are the first type of soldier reserve; ordinary militia and retired soldiers between 29 and 35 years old who have registered for reserve service and other males Citizens serve as reserve soldiers for the second category. Personnel who have completed the first category of soldier reserve service may transfer to the second category of soldier reserve service as needed. Members of the officer reserve include: officers who have retired from active service and transferred to the reserve, retired soldiers who have been confirmed to serve in the officer reserve, college graduates, full-time people's armed cadres, militia cadres, and cadres and professional technical personnel from non-military departments. All types of reserve officers who have reached the maximum age of reserve service in accordance with regulations will be withdrawn from the reserve service.

In order to meet the needs of rapid mobilization of the army under modern conditions, the country has established reserve forces, which are divided into service branches and arms reserve forces. They are composed of reservists and a small number of active military personnel. They are equipped with a certain amount of weapons and equipment. In peacetime, Military and political training is carried out in a planned manner, so that in wartime the troops can be quickly transformed into active forces and carry out combat missions. Reservists have played a huge role in successive self-defense counterattacks, maintaining social security, and rescue and disaster relief. They are an important force in building socialist material civilization and spiritual civilization.