Investigation and Research Methods of the Party during the All-round Anti-Japanese War

Investigation and research is the heirloom of our party and the basic skill for our party to do a good job. During the period of the all-round Anti-Japanese War, in order to make the whole party fully understand the national conditions, social conditions and party conditions, and better carry out various tasks, under the vigorous advocacy of Mao Zedong and other party leaders, the style of investigation and research emerged within the party. The anti-Japanese base areas carried out various forms of investigation and research work, and applied the methods of general investigation, typical investigation, conference investigation and pilot investigation to the investigation and research work, and achieved good results.
　　universal survey method
The universal survey method is the most basic survey method. A general survey, also known as a comprehensive survey, is a survey method that conducts an unflinching one-by-one survey of all objects within the overall scope of a certain survey in order to achieve an accurate understanding of the overall situation of the survey objectives. The advantage of the universal survey method is that it can ensure the comprehensiveness and completeness of the survey data and avoid survey bias; the disadvantage is that for most survey activities with large survey data, the cost of manpower, time and so on is greater. Thus, the universal survey method is generally applicable to smaller investigative activities.
Li Zhuoran's "Gu Lin Investigation" is one of the typical cases of using the universal investigation method. From September 24 to November 25, 1941, Li Zhuoran, then director of the Propaganda Department of the Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, led Ke Hua, Qin Chuan and others to form an investigation team to conduct a two-month in-depth investigation of the three districts in Gulin. The survey covers the local economic and social situation, the construction of grass-roots party organizations and the work of the government, especially the propaganda work. Finally, it is written as a 100000-word investigation record and investigation analysis. The survey report pointed out: "The actual policy decision must be based on the specific situation. What is imagined while sitting in the house and what is written in the careless written report is by no means a specific situation. It is dangerous to decide the policy based on a report that is unrealistic." The "Gulin Survey" is an early comprehensive survey of the rural economic and social status and the work of the party and government grassroots organizations carried out by the Party Central Committee. This survey was issued by the Propaganda Department of the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to the entire Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region for party members and cadres. Reference has played an important guiding role in understanding and improving the party and border government's rural work and promoting agricultural production in the border area.
　　typical survey method
The typical investigation method refers to the selection of individual representative survey objects, in-depth and detailed investigation and analysis, to obtain detailed information, so as to summarize the regular characteristics of similar things. This method well embodies the dialectical thinking of Marxism on the particularity and generality of things. Mao Zedong referred to this method of investigation, which was extrapolated from the individual to the general, as "dissecting sparrows". The significance of the typical survey method is that it can draw general conclusions from the analysis of representative typical samples and provide principled guidance for the study of other similar things. The characteristics of the typical investigation method are: the content of the investigation is specific and detailed, the investigation efficiency is high, the time required for the investigation is short, the situation is reflected quickly, and it is suitable for the investigation activities of the survey objects. The difficulty of this survey method is how to correctly select the typical. Generally speaking, the more representative the typical selection, the more universal the conclusion.
The typical investigation method was also widely used in the investigation and research work at that time. For example, on August 1, 1941, after the "Decision on Investigation and Research" was issued by the Party Central Committee, the local committees of Taihang District set up investigation and research offices to focus on investigating the land issues, financial affordability and branch construction in Taihang District. In 1943, when the Taihang District Party Committee investigated the village party branches in Wuxiang, Pingshun and other counties, it selected some typical branches according to the classification of general branches, weak branches and consolidated branches, and analyzed the formation process, development stage, current situation and composition of branch members from the aspects of branch construction, branch composition, branch education, branch leadership to war, branch life and so on, the working situation of cadres and the relationship between the party and the masses have been investigated and studied in detail, and the development law of various types of branches has been compared and analyzed, so as to obtain the development status and specific differences of different types of branches, which provides an important reference for the construction of grass-roots party organizations.
　　Conference Survey Act
Mao Zedong pointed out: "The investigation meeting is the most simple and reliable method." He believes that convening people who understand the situation to hold an investigation meeting to analyze the source and current situation of difficult problems in a realistic manner will help solve the problem. So, who would be more appropriate to convene to participate in the survey? Mao Zedong pointed out that the participants should invite "people who can deeply understand the social and economic situation. In age, the elderly are the best, because they have a wealth of experience, not only understand the status quo, but also understand the cause and effect. Young people who have experience in struggle should also, because they have progressive ideas and sharp observation. In terms of occupation, workers, farmers, businessmen and intellectuals are also required, ...... Naturally, when investigating a certain problem, people who have nothing to do with that problem do not need to be present, for example, when investigating commerce, workers, farmers and students do not need to be present". He also believes that the conference survey should be a discussion-based survey, "only in this way can we get close to the right, in order to draw conclusions. The kind of investigation without a survey meeting, without a discussion, only by one person to speak his experience method, is easy to make mistakes. The kind of only casually asked, without raising the central issue in the conference table after debate method, is not close to the correct conclusion".
The conference survey method is another survey and research method that is more widely used. For example, when Taihang District conducted an investigation on rural land issues, financial affordability, and branch construction in 1941, it "proposed to use a top-down administrative system and combine various political work at the time to conduct investigations and collect various regular figures., Hold investigation meetings, send investigation missions, individual in-depth interviews, etc". For another example, from January 1942 to February 1943, Zhang Wentian also widely used the conference investigation method in the process of leading the rural investigation in Yan'an, and combined the conference investigation with individual talks and field investigation. Zhang Wentian pointed out: "investigation and research should start with village cadres and party members, but only through them, we can't stay there often, we should get into the society from them, and the way is to conduct household surveys and hold investigation meetings." In the process of investigation, Zhang Wentian started with personal investigation, and then took villages and towns as units, and invited the respondents who knew the situation to hold an investigation meeting according to the contents of the investigation. At the survey meeting, everyone exchanged opinions and opinions with each other, so as to obtain an objective and comprehensive view of the survey content. "Only from Zhang Wentian's investigation from January 26 to September 25, 1942, he held 12 investigation meetings, talked with villagers 38 times, and interviewed and investigated 10 times at home. The problems ranged from economic, political, social, legal, etc."
　　pilot survey method
Mao Zedong pointed out in "Several Issues on Leadership Methods": "Any work task cannot mobilize the masses to take action without a general call. However, if it is limited to the general call, and the leaders do not specifically and directly implement the called work from several organizations, break through a little, gain experience, and then use this experience to guide other units, they will not be able to test whether the general call they put forward is correct, nor can they enrich the content of the general call, and there is a danger that the general call will be lost." Here, he pointed out the importance of the pilot investigation method, which is to obtain experience and breakthroughs from selecting a pilot, and then use this experience to guide other units, so as to continuously make new progress in practice.
The Hao Jiaqiao survey was a typical example of the use of the pilot survey method at that time. In order to solve the problem of people's living difficulties, Xi Zhongxun, then secretary of the Suide Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China, led the investigation team to select Haojiazhuang Village as a pilot to conduct an in-depth investigation. Through the investigation, Xi Zhongxun believes that Hao Jiaqiao has taken measures of typical significance and promotion value in reforming agricultural production, straightening out land lease relations, transforming loafers, organizing people to emigrate to the south, implementing mutual assistance in changing jobs, and intensive cultivation. During the investigation, the investigation team also found that Liu Yuhou, a villager in the village, was hardworking and capable, and was deeply supported by the villagers. He made important contributions in leading the villagers to develop production, manage the village, and support the war of resistance. At the proposal of Xi Zhongxun, the prefectural party committee decided to award Liu Yuhou the title of "model party member" and "labor hero" and the plaque of "rural model" in Haojiaqiao Village, and demanded that the learning upsurge of "learning Hao Jiaqiao in every village and Liu Yuhou in everyone" be set off in the whole district. After the investigation, under the guidance of Xi Zhongxun, the investigation team formulated guidance on immigration and other issues in Suide area based on Hao Jiaqiao's experience, so that Hao Jiaqiao's experience was widely popularized in Suide and even in the whole Shaanxi Gansu Ningxia border region. Under the guidance of typical experience, organizations at all levels in the whole region have studied and formulated scientific production development plans, set up transformation teams in rural areas, actively advocated the innovation of agricultural farming technology, and significantly improved the efficiency of agricultural production.

Source: China Organization and Personnel News