This year marks the 74th anniversary of the February 28 Uprising of the people of Taiwan Province and the 120th anniversary of the birth of Xie Xuehong, the first chairman of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League. Zhang Kehui, former chairman of the Central Committee of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, pointed out: "Without 228, there would be no Xie Xuehong, and without Xie Xuehong, there would be no Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League." In the 228 uprising, Xie Xuehong was the leader of the uprising in Taichung and was a very influential figure in this uprising. After the failure of the uprising, Xie Xuehong and others went to Hong Kong to establish the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, which perpetuated the political demand for democratic autonomy put forward by the Taiwan people in the 228 Uprising.
Form a progressive group to welcome the restoration of Taiwan
In 1947, Xie Xuehong, who was in Taichung.
On August 15, 1945, after arduous resistance, the Chinese finally defeated the Japanese aggressors and won a great victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. Taiwan was restored and returned to the embrace of the motherland. On August 16, 1945, Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang came to Taichung City on August 18 after learning of Japan's defeat and unconditional surrender in Taichung Tou pit. Xie Xuehong, a veteran member of the Communist Party of China in 1925, is well aware of the complicated relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and she has a very clear understanding of the reception of the Kuomintang after the restoration and the development of the social situation in Taiwan. Subsequently, Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang drafted a letter entitled "Warning to The Youth of Taiwan" and mimeographed it and sent it to various places. The main content of the letter is: The colonial rule of Japanese imperialism in Taiwan has come to an end, Taiwan has returned to the embrace of the motherland, and the Chinese Government will administer in Taiwan. The people of Taiwan will no longer be oppressed by Japanese imperialism, but if we do not have political democracy in the future, we will have to struggle. According to Yang Kehuang's recollection: "Due to the small number of letters printed and distributed, the general public could not estimate the situation after the Kuomintang came to Taiwan, so it had little impact, but some old friends learned that we had come out to carry out activities, so they came to Taichung to find us." At the beginning of September, Yang Laichuan, Liao Ruifa, and others in Taipei came to Taichung to hold a meeting with Xie Xuehong, Yang Kehuang, Xie Fu, Lin Dui, Li Qiaosong, Yang Kui, and other progressive figures to organize a mass group so that they could carry out struggles in the future.
On October 5, 1945, the Taiwan People's Association was formally established, and through the "Declaration on the Establishment of the Taiwan People's Association" and the "Constitution of the Taiwan People's Association", Xie Xuehong, Yang Kehuang, Lin Dui, Xie Fu, Li Qiaosong, Wang Tianqiang, and others were elected as members of the Central Committee, and Lin Dui was elected as the chairman of the committee, Xie Fu was made the director of the Organization Department, Yang Kehuang was made the minister of education, and Li Qiaosong was made the director of the Propaganda Department. The newspaper was founded in mid-October 1945. Following the establishment of the Taiwan People's Association, in late October, the Taiwan Farmers' Association and the Taiwan Federation of Trade Union Preparatory Committee were organized successively, the purpose of which was to unite the broad masses of the Taiwan people and fight for democratic rights. From late October to early November, Xie Xuehong, Yang Kehuang, Li Qiaosong, and others gave speeches in various places to publicize the purpose and organization of the people's associations and peasant associations to the people of Taiwan, which produced great social repercussions.
In late October 1945, after attending the Taiwan Restoration Ceremony as a journalist, Li Chunqing, a member of the Communist Party of China from Taiwan, met with Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang in Taipei in the name of the Chinese Communist Party, marking the first time that Xie Xuehong had contacted the dispatched personnel of the CPC Central Committee after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Li Chunqing told her that the CHINESE comrades in Chongqing had asked him to come to Taiwan to learn about the struggle between the Taiwan Communist Party and the Taiwan people. When Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang visit the Kuomintang, they should not show their business cards with the words "People's Association" printed on them, so as not to be considered communist organizations, and introduce them to the political tendencies of Taiwanese people who have returned to Taiwan from the mainland. Subsequently, xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang, in accordance with Li Chunqing's instructions, contacted Zhang Xiqi, counselor of the Taiwan Administrative Office (a native of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, whose Guanghua Eye Hospital is a secret contact point for the Shanghai party organization) and explained to Zhang Xiqi the situation of the Taiwan People's Association formed under the leadership of Xie Xuehong. In early November 1945, Li Chunqing met again with Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang, and Li Chunqing instructed Yang Kehuang to break into the Central News Agency, the core news organization of the Kuomintang. After Accepting the task, Yang Kehuang actively fought for it, but the plan ultimately failed.
In January 1946, the People's Association was dissolved by the Taiwan Chief Executive's Office for exposing and attacking the corruption of Kuomintang recipients for violating the so-called Provisional Measures for the Organization of People's Organizations.
Lead the People's Armed Forces to establish the Twenty-Seventh Army
On February 28, 1947, the people of Taipei City, Taiwan Province, held a large-scale demonstration to resist the tyranny of the Kuomintang authorities and protest against the shooting of citizens by the military and police. People from all over Taiwan responded in unison, seizing weapons and holding uprisings, paralyzing political power in most parts of the province. This was the 228 Uprising.
When the 228 Uprising broke out, the angry taipei people burned down the Taipei Tobacco Monopoly Bureau.
After Xie Xuehong learned of the February 28 uprising in Taipei, she immediately sent Yang Kehuang to the radio station to listen to the news, and also sent Xie Fu and Cai Boxun to contact the party organization, but they could not be contacted. On March 1, Xie Xuehong attended a joint meeting of middle- and upper-class people in Taichung, where they decided to support Taipei citizens in their struggle against the Kuomintang authorities. On March 2, the Taichung Theater held a general meeting of citizens, Yang Kehuang reported on the situation in Taipei, and Xie Xuehong was elected as the chairman of the conference. According to Lin Donghai, "As soon as I entered the venue, I saw several people in their 30s giving speeches. One of the ladies spoke particularly eloquently, and I admired it at the time. The lady Lin Donghai saw was Xie Xuehong. On the same day, Xie Xuehong led the masses in demonstrations and set up a command center at the Industrial and Commercial Conference in the city center, leading the taichung people to surround the police station and the monopoly bureau, capture the county magistrate Liu Cunzhong alive, attack the enemy's strongholds, collect a batch of weapons and ammunition, and select young and middle-aged people to form an armed contingent. In addition to encouraging the enthusiasm of the masses for struggle, she also put forward three principles: "First, we must never burn things; second, we must never beat people from other provinces; and third, we must immediately disarm government organs and police stations." "It was approved by the demonstrators. On March 3, Xie Xuehong organized the establishment of the "Central Regional Public Security Committee Combat Headquarters" and served as the commander-in-chief, and all the military and government organs in Taichung were controlled by the people. On the evening of the same day, Xie Xuehong broadcast to various localities to report on the results of the battle in Taichung City. At the time of the incident, although the party members temporarily lost contact with each other, the radio became an important channel for communication. The party organization received a message from Xie Xuehong in Taichung through the use of broadcast media.
While Xie Xuehong was leading the victorious advance of the rebel troops, the person in charge of the underground party instructed that Xie Xuehong's color was too strong and too exposed, so he surrendered his military power, concentrated on political struggle, and participated in the handling committee to take power. On March 4, Xie Xuehong was instructed to transfer the command of the taichung armed forces to the Taichung Bureau Committee, with Wu Zhenwu, a lieutenant of the Japanese Marine Corps during the Japanese occupation, as commander and Xie Xuehong as a staff officer. At this time, various places in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Huwei, and Chiayi were in a hurry and sent people to ask for help, but the handling committee ignored it, and even refused to send a single soldier and a pawn, and refused to provide weapons and ammunition. On March 5, Zhang Zhizhong, who was leading the Democratic Coalition Army in an armed struggle in Chiayi, immediately rushed to Taipei to discuss the strategy of struggle, and then made a policy of adhering to the principle of focusing on armed struggle, and planned to establish armed bases in central and southern China. After Taipei determined the policy of armed struggle, Zhang Zhizhong immediately rushed to Taichung to contact Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang, grasped the situation of the armed forces in Taichung, affirmed Xie Xuehong's leading role in the armed struggle in Taichung, and said that he would consider personally leading the armed struggle in Taichung at an appropriate time.
After receiving the latest instructions from Zhang Zhizhong to actively carry out armed struggle, Xie Xuehong decided on March 6 to establish the "Erqi Unit" (named "Erqi Unit" because the trigger of the 228 Uprising occurred on the 27th). Zhong Yiren and Zhou Ming successively served as captains, and Chen Mingzhong served as the commando team leader.
"Liberation Daily" published the editorial "Taiwan Autonomy Movement" by the CPC Central Committee in solidarity with the 228 Uprising.
On March 8, the Yan'an Radio Station of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China published a statement in support of the Taiwan people's 228 uprising, "Taiwan Autonomy Movement." On March 20, which happened to be the 28th day of the second lunar month, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China chose this day with special symbolic significance and published the full text of the "Taiwan Autonomy Movement" in the name of an editorial in the "Liberation Daily". The article points out: "We would like to tell the Taiwan compatriots that you are fighting for autonomy by peaceful means and by means of armed self-defense under chiang kai-shek's armed offensive, and we are completely sympathetic to this." Your struggle is our struggle, and your victory is our victory. The military and people of the Liberated Areas will certainly support you and help you with their own struggles. At this time, the Kuomintang army had already occupied Yan'an, and Mao Zedong and others led the CENTRAL Central Committee organs and troops to take the initiative to withdraw from Yan'an and move to northern Shaanxi. It can be seen from this that the CPC attaches great importance to the Taiwan 228 incident and resolutely supports the Taiwan people's political demand for democracy and autonomy.
Take the initiative to retreat to Puli to seek the support of the Wu Society
Since the armed struggle led by Xie Xuehong in Taichung was in a good situation, the Taiwan underground party designated Taichung as the location of the preparatory joint military headquarters. On March 8, Cai Xiaoqian arrived in Taichung and met xie Xuehong at Dahua Restaurant. Cai Xiaoqian told Xie Xuehong: "We have decided to hold a meeting of the armed forces of the whole province and set up a provincial armed leading body recently, and you must also be prepared to participate... When the situation changed, the 27th troops moved to the Puli Mountains. Xie Xuehong instructed Yang Kehuang to draft a declaration and political program on the people's power, and the seals of the people's government were all engraved, but because the Kuomintang troops transferred from the interior landed more quickly than expected, the people's government could not be formally established. After the Kuomintang troops landed, rumors spread, people were panicked, and the combat organizations were disbanded one after another, and only the "Erqi Unit" commanded by Xie Xuehong continued to fight with the enemy.
From March 8 to 12, Cai Xiaoqian was responsible for convening a meeting of the joint military command, and cadres from various places arrived in Taichung one after another, and by March 11 there were more than 50 people, but Zhang Zhizhong had not yet arrived, and the enemy was already approaching the city, and the unified command headquarters could not be established. On the morning of March 12, Cai Xiaoqian met with Yang Kehuang and Xie Xuehong to agree on the steps and contact methods for the evacuation of Puli. According to Cai Xiaoqian's instructions, Xie Xuehong led the "Second Seventh Troops" to retreat to Puli. Immediately from three o'clock in the afternoon, the troops were on close guard against the infiltration of traitors and prepared to meet the enemy troops who could attack at any time; on the other hand, they quickly and secretly transported weapons and other secrets to Puli. Therefore, from the afternoon to the night, trucks on the Taichung-Puli highway continued to flow, and people along the way paid tribute to the soldiers, arriving in Puli Town at dusk. At three o'clock in the afternoon of March 13, the reorganized Twenty-first Division arrived in Taichung and immediately set up a division headquarters in the combat headquarters, but did not dare to act rashly. The reason was that the Twenty-first Division knew that the People's Armed Forces led by Xie Xuehong were still confronting them in Puli. As a result, Taichung City, though brilliantly successful during the uprising, was one of the fewest places to be hunted and looted compared to other places. On the same day, the "Second Seventh Unit" publicized the tasks of the unit to the people in Puli, called on the townspeople to cooperate, and on the other hand explored the terrain and spied on the enemy's situation.
In the early morning of March 14, Xie Xuehong and a group of team members took a big bus to the Wushe, intending to withdraw the team into the deep mountains of the Wushe, for which she needed the support and understanding of the indigenous people. Gao Congyi, the mayor of Wushe Township, refused to let the team go up the mountain, but said: "If the villagers voluntarily join your team, I will never obstruct it." "That night, more than a dozen young people from the Mist Society came down from the mountain to participate in the battle, and later in the battle they fought bravely. At five o'clock in the afternoon, the "Second Seventh Force" learned that the enemy had sent 800 people to Caotun to prepare to attack Puli, and Xie Xuehong made a pre-war mobilization speech. Zhou Ming recalled: "She said that the mountain youth would go down the mountain to support, and also said that she wanted to fight for freedom and democracy and other words to inspire fighting spirits, and her speech made the soldiers' morale rise and fall, and the slogans of 'Down with Chen Yi' and 'swearing to fight to the death' rose and fell one after another, and some people also fired guns at the air, expressing their determination to fight to the death." ”
In March 1947, Xie Xuehong, Yang Kehuang and others formed the 27th Unit.
Eventually, the fighters intercepted them on the way, repelling the Nationalist forces to Caotun . On the same day, Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang received instructions from the Taiwan Work Committee conveyed by Xie Fu, liaison officer of the CPC: Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang were in a very dangerous situation and should be hidden immediately. The "27th Unit" is not well organized, has few people, and is difficult to resist, and should be disbanded at an appropriate time, and the members of the "Taiwan Democratic United Army" in Xiaomei can voluntarily go to Xiaomei to join the "Taiwan Democratic United Army" in the area. On the 15th, the Kuomintang laid siege to Puli. The "Erqi Unit" and the enemy fought fierce battles at Sun Moon Lake and Wuniunan, but in the end, because the weapons and ammunition could not be supplied, and they were attacked by the enemy in two ways, and they were outnumbered, and the "Erqi Troops" were forced to announce their automatic disbandment on the 16th, ending the armed struggle in the central region. On March 17, Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang retreated to Zhushan for refuge, when the Kuomintang authorities broadcast over the radio in five languages: Hokkien, Hakka, Mandarin, Japanese, and Aboriginal: a bounty of 300,000 yuan was paid to those who captured Xie Xuehong alive, and a bounty of 250,000 yuan was paid to those who killed her. In order to deceive the enemy, Xie Xuehong wrote a letter to The Mayor of Taichung, Huang Keli, telling him, "We are in the mountains now, you can come to me." At the same time, he wrote a letter to Chiang Ching-kuo, explaining the reasons for the Taiwan people's resistance to the Kuomintang authorities and demanding that Chiang Ching-kuo "cannot blame the people of Taiwan, still less can he suppress the people of Taiwan." Xie Xuehong and others, with the help of Navy Captain Cai Maotang, arrived in Xiamen by patrol boat from Zuoying in southern Taiwan.
He came to Hong Kong to formally establish the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League
In July 1947, Xie Xuehong, Yang Kehuang, Su Xin and others arrived in Hong Kong via Xiamen and Shanghai. Upon arrival in Hong Kong, underground party liaison officer Wan Jingguang rented a room for them on the second floor of a streetfront building at the eastern end of Shau Kei Wan Road, measuring just 30 square meters, downstairs at the landlord's tea house. Every month, the party organization pays them 30 Hong Kong dollars for living expenses, and the rest of the activity funds need to be self-financed. They had to tighten their belts and save money. The first thing he did after arriving in Hong Kong was to contact progressives to establish the Taiwan Studies Association. In mid-July, Su Xin also went to Hong Kong to meet Xie Xuehong and Yang Kehuang. At the meeting of the Taiwan Studies Association, everyone thought that the most urgent task was to launch a propaganda offensive and decided to create the "New Taiwan Series." Chen Jiageng and others generously donated money. So he rented a two-story building on The Third Street in Xiyingpun as the site of the publishing house, and Su Xin served as the editor-in-chief. In addition to the members of the Taiwan Research Association, Cai Zimin and Zhou Qing, who are far away in Shanghai, have also sent manuscripts. Yang Kehuang and Su Xin wrote day and night, sleeping and forgetting to eat. In each issue, most of them are sent to the island, except for acquaintances and Chinese newspapers in the United States and Southeast Asia. While in Hong Kong, Xie Xuehong and others waged a resolute struggle against Liao Wenyi's separatist act of calling for Taiwan to be entrusted to the United Nations.
Su Xin summarized their tasks in Hong Kong as follows: First, publicize the situation at home and abroad, especially the revolutionary situation at home, to Taiwan, which is closed to information; second, expose the crimes of the Taiwan authorities in oppressing and exploiting the Taiwan people to the people abroad and on the mainland; third, openly oppose the trusteeship movement and the AMBITIONs of the United States toward Taiwan; and fourth, communicate the ties between the Taiwan compatriots and the mainland and overseas compatriots. To this end, it is necessary to organize a political group. Xie Xuehong successively visited He Xiangning, Cai Tingkai, Li Jishen, Peng Zemin, and other patriotic democrats in Hong Kong, and won their support and approval. After several discussions, Yang Kehuang drafted the "Constitution of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League" in Both Chinese and English.
Xie Xuehong pointed out that the slogan of "democratic autonomy" put forward by the Taiwan people in the 228 struggle is the basis for the naming of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League. According to Zhou Ming's recollection, the name of the political party was initially considered to be named "Taiwan Democratic League" or "Taiwan Democratic Alliance," but in the end it was held that under the rule of the four major families, there would be no democracy to speak of without autonomy, and that "autonomy" and "democracy" would be inseparable.
On November 12, 1947, on the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Xie Xuehong, Yang Kehuang, Su Xin, and others who participated in the 228 Uprising of the Taiwan people, with the help of the CPC and the support of patriotic democrats in Hong Kong, formally established the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League. It also determined the "Draft Program of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League," formulated the "Draft Regulations of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League," and issued relevant documents such as the "Slogan of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League" and the "Bulletin of the First Congress of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League." The Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League chose Dr. Sun Yat-sen's birthday to issue a declaration. This was proposed by Yang Kehuang. He said: "The democracy pursued by the people of Taiwan for half a century belongs to the category of bourgeois democracy, and this is precisely the goal of the national revolution that Dr. Sun Yat-sen struggled for all his life. ”
The establishment of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League enabled The Taiwan compatriots inside and outside the island to have an open political group, which played its due role in uniting the broad masses of Taiwan compatriots to jointly oppose the US-Chiang Kai-shek rule at that time, oppose the Taiwan Trusteeship and Taiwan independence, and liberate Taiwan and accomplish the great cause of the reunification of the motherland. Since the founding of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, it has held many forums and academic lectures commemorating the February 28 Uprising of the Taiwan people, edited and published a collection of commemorative essays, and resolutely opposed "Taiwan independence" is one of the important propositions expressed by the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, and the glorious tradition of patriotism and love for the homeland displayed by The Taiwan compatriots in the February 28 Uprising has also been inherited and carried forward by the compatriots on both sides of the Strait.
(Author Affilications: Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League)
Author: Guo Hainan
Editors: Wang Fucong, Sun Jingqi
Transferred from: Unity Newspaper History E Home