An everlasting mark | A loan certificate: witnessing the red regime’s solemn promise

A piece of yellowed, rough-edged paper was quietly stored in a drawer at Luo Wensen's home. The paper was printed with text and a red seal, and the corners were slightly curled. Luo Wensen put the paper in a transparent plastic film and carefully preserved it for many years. "Temporary grain loan certificate for the Red Army of the Chinese Soviet Republic." Luo Wensen pointed to the words on the ticket and read out loud, and the war years of more than 90 years ago also unfolded.

"At that time, the Red Army fell into an extremely difficult period. In order to raise food and wages, it adopted a grain borrowing policy." Luo Wensen stared at the grain borrowing certificate in his hand and said softly.

In September 1933, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized heavy troops to launch the fifth military "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Central Soviet Area, and at the same time implemented a strict economic blockade. The base area continues to shrink, prices soar, and food is extremely scarce. The food supply for the Red Army troops is in an unprecedentedly difficult situation. On September 15 of the same year, the People's Commissariat of Finance of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic issued a circular: When the Red Army's mobile troops are marching and the grain stored in the warehouse is insufficient to supply the troops, temporary grain borrowing certificates can be issued to the people in the Soviet area to borrow grain. A grain loan certificate guaranteed by the credibility of the red regime was born.

In the days of war, even if the rations at home were scarce, many people still took out their millet to support the Red Army without hesitation. "Back then, we had a man named 'Beggar' who was actually a beggar. He also donated 60 kilograms of rice to the Red Army. In order to support the Red regime, the common people would rather go hungry." Luo Wensen lamented. Every household sent millet, pigs, chickens and ducks, and gave all they had to support the Red Army. The love between soldiers and civilians flowed everywhere in the fields and villages.

In September 1934, Chen Tanqiu received an urgent task to prepare food for five to seven days for the army that was about to embark on the Long March. Hundreds of thousands of kilograms of rice needed to be raised and milled. This seemingly difficult task was completed on schedule thanks to the enthusiastic donations of rice from the people in the Soviet area, laying a solid material foundation for the Red Army's strategic shift. In October of the same year, the main force of the Central Red Army gathered in Yudu and embarked on the Long March.

The grain agreement made back then was printed on the grain loan certificates. In the History Museum of the Central Revolutionary Base in Ruijin, Jiangxi, several grain loan certificates from the Soviet Republic of China in 1934 are on display. The front of the ticket registered the amount of grain borrowed, and the back stated the repayment agreement: with the ticket, the dry grain could be retrieved from the Soviet warehouse in September 1935 and September 1936 respectively. A grain loan certificate was paid off in two years, reflecting the tremendous pressure faced by the Red Army and the solemn commitment of the Red regime.

In October 1934, the main force of the Central Red Army embarked on the Long March, and the Kuomintang troops immediately occupied the Central Soviet Area and launched a brutal military "clearance". Anyone who had participated in the Soviets, the Red Army, or the Red Guards, or had supported the Red Army, was targeted for purges. Under the white terror, people risked their lives and hid their grain loan certificates in cracks between bricks, under tiles, and in wall holes, so that these precious certificates could be preserved. Even though grain certificates could later be exchanged for supplies, many people were reluctant to exchange them. Instead, they treasured them carefully and passed them down from generation to generation.

"I know that the grain loan certificate is valuable and commemorative, so I collected the current one and kept it until now." Luo Wensen told the origin of this grain loan certificate that he had treasured for a long time: "In 1985, when I was doing a social survey, I accidentally met villager Luo Jinghuo holding a large bundle of waste paper. , among a pile of old papers, I found this grain borrowing certificate. This grain borrowing certificate was given to him by Luo Jinghuo's aunt. "During the three difficult years around the 1960s, Luo Jinghuo's nephew once suggested that he take this grain borrowing certificate to the township government to exchange for grain to subsidize his family's rations. However, Luo Jinghuo firmly remembered the advice left by his father: he should not use this grain loan certificate to beg for food: "When I lent the millet to the Red Army, I supported the revolution from the bottom of my heart. This support did not ask for anything in return. This grain loan certificate should only be kept as a permanent souvenir."

After the founding of New China, the Communists did not forget the promises they made to the people in the Soviet areas during the war years. The central government has a clear policy: Anyone who holds a grain loan certificate for that year can exchange grain or cash according to the current market price. In the following decades, grain borrowing certificates scattered in the hands of the masses were gradually honored.

Luo Wensen recalled that from the late 1950s to the 1960s, a relative in Anle Town took a grain loan certificate with a denomination of 50 kilograms. He went to the grain station to convert the grain at the current market price and exchanged it for 300 kilograms of grain: "He drove over with an empty truck and loaded a truck full of grain to go home. Our government will honor its words and keep its word."

From 1934 to today, more than ninety years have passed. A small grain loan certificate lent the rice that the people in the Soviet area relied on for survival, and what was left behind was the credibility of a red regime. Today, in the display cabinets of the memorial hall, grain borrowing certificates are quietly displayed one by one, telling the past to people who come to visit. The smoke of war has cleared, but the spirit carried by this little grain loan has never faded. It bears witness to the revolutionary true feelings of the army and the people working together to overcome difficulties in times of crisis, and confirms the original aspiration and responsibility of the Communists to do what they preach. The echoes of history travel through the years, always reminding future generations that this deep love between flesh and blood should be kept alive forever and remembered from generation to generation.