Text | Documentary in the film
Edit | Documentary in the film
When New China was just founded, Premier Zhou Enlai went to the Soviet Union for an incident, and at this time there was a need for someone to preside over the post of premier.
In fact, Chairman Mao had already considered the temporary replacement of Premier Zhou Enlai and named him as acting premier for three months.
On October 2, 1949, the Soviet government took the lead in recognizing and deciding to establish diplomatic relations with New China. However, long before the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, on August 14, 1945, the Kuomintang and the Soviet Union signed an "Agreement on Sino-Soviet Friendship and Alliance".
The "Agreement" was an "unequal" treaty signed between the Kuomintang and the Soviet Union, which recognized the Soviet Union's 30-year management of the Changchun Railway and set up Lushun, China, as a shared base for the Sino-Soviet Navy.
After the founding of New China, the previous unequal treaties should have been annulled, and for this reason, Chairman Mao embarked on the road abroad for the first time.
On December 6, 1949, Chairman Mao boarded a special train bound for Moscow and arrived in Moscow ten days later. The purpose of Chairman Mao's visit to Moscow was very direct and clear, that is, to hold major political and economic consultations with Stalin, the supreme leader of the Soviet Union.
The key content of this is on how to properly handle the "Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance" and other issues, because this treaty was signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain without notifying the Chinese Government, which seriously damaged the sovereignty and interests of New China.
When Chairman Mao met with Stalin, Stalin directly pointed out that he was unwilling to abolish the contents of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, for the simple reason that Stalin said: "There is no direct threat of war in China at present, and Japan is unable to wage war; although the United States shouts war in the international community, it is most afraid of war; and European countries are even more seriously traumatized by war." No one will use force against New China today, and the Soviet Union can guarantee China's peace for 5 to 10 years, or even longer. Therefore, China and the Soviet Union should retain the treaty concluded in 1945. ”
After hearing Stalin's answer, Chairman Mao directly stated: "We must take action, and it is in the best interests of the Chinese people, and this question must be properly resolved." There has always been a saying in Chinese society that the treaty was signed between the Kuomintang and the Soviet Union, but now that the Kuomintang government has fallen, the treaty seems to have lost its necessity. ”
On whether to abolish the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, Chairman Mao and Stalin had serious differences of opinion. To this end, Chairman Mao thought of a more appropriate way, hoping to get Premier Zhou Enlai to go to Moscow for discussions.
When Chairman Mao asked Stalin whether he would allow Comrade Zhou Enlai to go to Moscow, Stalin refused very simply, saying: "Since the president of the country has already come here and the prime minister has come again, it will have an adverse impact on the appearance and feeling, so I think it is advisable for Comrade Enlai not to come." ”
The main reason why Chairman Mao wanted Zhou Enlai to come to Moscow was that Comrade Zhou Enlai held two important posts as premier and minister of foreign affairs, and it was certainly necessary for Zhou Enlai to personally handle diplomatic affairs.
Chairman Mao wanted him to deal with the issue of signing a new treaty with the Soviet Union, and Stalin's refusal to allow Premier Zhou to go to Moscow was obviously unwilling to sign a new Sino-Soviet treaty with New China.
Chairman Mao saw that Stalin was unwilling to show sincerity, so he did only three things a day during the negotiations in the Soviet Union: eating, sleeping, and going to the toilet.
And because Chairman Mao was so slow to return to China from the Soviet Union, britain maliciously speculated that the Soviet Union had taken some improper measures against the new Chinese president in order to achieve some goals. In order to dispel the rumors, Stalin, with Chairman Mao's consent, allowed Comrade Zhou Enlai to go to Moscow and signed a new Sino-Soviet treaty of friendship and alliance.
On January 2, 1950, Chairman Mao sent a telegram to the Party Central Committee in Moscow, the main content of which was to send Premier Zhou to Moscow to sign a new Sino-Soviet treaty with the Soviet Union.
Because Chairman Mao was not in China, all the problems of New China, large and small, fell on Premier Zhou.com. Premier Zhou has to get up early every day to work greedily, and the rest time of the day is less than 5 hours, which also lays hidden dangers for Premier Zhou's body.
If Premier Zhou Enlai had visited the Soviet Union and negotiated a new treaty with Stalin, it would have taken a long time. The absence of Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, two important leaders of the country, from home for a long time is bound to cause great chaos.
The far-sighted Chairman Mao had already seen the problem, so he put forward a very prescient suggestion at the end of the telegram: Comrade Enlai could determine in advance a "acting prime minister" to dock relevant work matters before leaving.
Acting Premier, three words appeared in the eyes of the top brass of the Politburo of the Central Committee, so who in the end has the ability to take over the post of Premier Zhou?
Chairman Mao already had a suitable candidate, and in a telegram to Premier Zhou, he wrote a man's name: "Dong Biwu." Chairman Mao wrote in the cable: "I propose that Comrade Dong Biwu be appointed as acting premier. ”
After seeing Dong Biwu's name, the senior leaders of the central authorities unanimously agreed and raised their hands in agreement with Chairman Mao's decision.
In fact, when Dong Biwu was elected by Chairman Mao to the post of acting premier, he was already the first vice premier, and he was fully capable of taking up the post by virtue of his ability.
Maybe in terms of fame, Dong Biwu is not as good as Premier Zhou, but if we talk about seniority, Dong Biwu is definitely the most qualified person in the party to become the acting premier.
At the ceremony of the founding of New China, Chairman Mao announced on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square: "New China has been founded," and Dong Biwu, as the "great" representative of our party, stood by Chairman Mao's side.
Chairman Mao called Dong Biwu "Elder Dong," not only because Dong Biwu was older than Chairman Mao, but also because he was one of the founders of the Communist Party of China.
Dong Biwu, born in 1886, received a very good education from an early age. At the age of 17, he should pass the Qing Dynasty's Xiucai Examination, but after seeing the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government and the oppression of the Chinese people by the Western powers, he resolutely chose to give up his official duties and became a teacher.
In order to save the dawn people in the midst of water and fire, Dong Biwu gave up a comfortable teaching life and followed Sun Yat-sen on a revolutionary road to save the country and save the people.
After the Xinhai Revolution, the Qing government was overthrown, but Dong Biwu saw warlords across China divided and fighting everywhere. Dong Biwu realized that the existing ideas in the West could not save China at all, and he made up his mind and vowed to find a correct path for China.
After the October Revolution in Russia, a completely new socialist road was taken according to Marxism. After Marxism spread to China, Dong Biwu seemed to see a broad road, and he immediately decided to fight for "communism" all his life.
In 1920, under the propaganda of Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, communist groups were established all over the country, and Dong Biwu and like-minded Chen Tanqiu established the Wuhan Communist Group in Wuhan.
On July 23, 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, in which Dong Biwu met Mao Zedong, who was 7 years younger than himself, and the two formed a deep revolutionary friendship.
After experiencing Chiang Kai-shek's counter-revolutionary coup, the Communist Party of China began the Long March in 1934, and Dong Biwu, who was 48 years old at the time, completed the Long March with the Red Army team, and even more cultivated the glorious quality of not being afraid of sacrificing for the revolution on the road of the Long March.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Dong Biwu, as a literati, did not take a gun to the battlefield, but relied on his excellent talents to promote the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists to resist Japan together. After that, he served as the president of the Central Party School, absorbed people of insight from all over the world, and cultivated a large number of backbones for the later new China.
When the War of Liberation broke out, Dong Biwu went deep into the Kuomintang-occupied areas, engaged in revolutionary work behind enemy lines, and actively contacted the leaders of other democratic parties, hoping to promote the liberation of the whole country through non-war means.
At the end of the Liberation War, when the Kuomintang reactionaries were gradually defeated, Dong Biwu stood up again to help the Liberated Areas restore financial order, and mentioned a proposal that had a major impact on New China: the establishment of a unified bank and the issuance of a unified currency.
On November 18, 1948, after the end of the Liaoshen Campaign, Dong Biwu, chairman of the North China People's Government, held the third government affairs meeting, which mentioned the unification of the national currency and the establishment of the Chinese Bank. After the name "Chinese Bank" was finalized, it showed that this bank mainly served the people, but also made it the specification of the national central bank after the new China.
After the establishment of the Chinese Bank, the Liberated Areas began to issue a unified currency, and this was the first set of renminbi in China. On the first set of renminbi, the six words written on the "Chinese Bank" are written by Dong Biwu.
On October 1, 1949, Chairman Mao stood on the tower of Tiananmen Square and announced to the world: "New China has been founded", and at this time, the 63-year-old Dong Biwu stood next to Chairman Mao and witnessed the founding of New China.
After the founding of New China, Dong Biwu did not look like he was in his sixties at all, and his treatment of the new China, which was in ruins and waiting to be revived, was full of youthful vigor. He has successively served as a member of the Central People's Government, vice premier of the State Council, director of the Political and Legal Committee, and president of the Supreme People's Court.
During his term of office, Dong Biwu worked diligently and devoted himself to the construction of new China.
In January 1950, before leaving for Moscow, Premier Zhou Enlai informed Dong Biwu as acting premier and informed him that chairman Mao had personally made the decision.
At first, Dong Biwu was sternly refused when he was appointed comrade, because in his opinion no one could replace Zhou Enlai as premier. However, when he heard that it was "the need of the country", the 64-year-old Dong Biwu knew the heavy responsibility and resolutely stood up to become the first acting premier of New China.
When Dong Biwu, 64 years old, took over the post of "acting premier," he did not expect that the responsibility would be so great. After a brief handover, on January 10, 1950, Zhou Enlai embarked on the road to Moscow for consultation, and the burden of the new Chinese premier officially fell on Dong Biwu's shoulders.
Zhou Enlai did not have an exact date of return when he traveled to Moscow, which could be a week, or two or three months. Even so, during his tenure as acting premier, Dong Biwu did not slacken off in the slightest, and he made full use of 24 hours a day to make his own contributions to the country and the people.
After the founding of New China, the biggest problem plaguing the country was that due to successive years of conquest, the farmland was destroyed and there was an extreme shortage of grain. At that time, more than half of the country's population was hungry, and Dong Biwu's first thing to solve was the problem of the people's food.
Before chairman Mao's visit to Moscow, he issued an important directive: "No one shall starve to death."
In order to be able to carry out Chairman Mao's instructions, the leaders of the Party Central Committee have worked hard. After Dong Biwu became acting premier, he immediately set up the "Central Disaster Relief Committee" and issued an important policy: "Self-help in production, thrift in crossing the famine, mutual assistance among the people, work instead of relief, and supplemented by necessary relief." ”
After the establishment of the Central Disaster Relief Committee, it implemented Dong Biwu's disaster relief policy, combined with the investigation of the agricultural situation throughout the country, collected disaster relief grain from provinces with developed agriculture, and continuously sent it to the hard-hit areas with grain shortages.
In just over a month, under the command of Dong Biwu, the Central Disaster Relief Committee finally successfully helped the people tide over the serious food crisis and not "starve to death."
It is not clear in his post that the responsibilities of the Prime Minister are. During his period as acting premier, Dong Biwu lived the same life as Premier Zhou Enlai, resting at two o'clock in the morning every day, getting up at seven o'clock in the morning to work, and spinning almost day and night.
As president of the Supreme Court of the people's Chinese, Dong Biwu has successively participated in the construction of more than ten legal provisions such as the "Organizational Principles of the People's Courtroom" and the "Marriage Law".
In the more than two months he served as acting premier, Dong Biwu held 8 national government affairs meetings and participated in the discussion of major state affairs more than 50 times.
On February 13, 1950, Dong Biwu wrote in a letter to his cousin Dong Liangxi: "You can hardly imagine that I am busy, others generally do not work on Saturdays and Sundays, and only a few people in our party work at night. As for me, I get up at 7 o'clock in the morning and go to bed at two o'clock in the evening, it doesn't matter whether it's Saturday or Sunday, the secretary and guard who work with me are dragging very hard..."
The 64-year-old Dong Biwu was 12 years older than Premier Zhou Enlai when he became acting premier, and he persevered in such a high-intensity work without the slightest mistake, which is enough to see the old man's sincerity to the country and the people!
On March 8, 1950, Premier Zhou Enlai and Chairman Mao returned to China from Moscow, which meant that Dong Biwu's career as "acting premier" for more than two months came to an end. After meeting Dong Biwu, Chairman Mao successively praised him for his tireless efforts for the country and the people.
After no longer serving as the "acting premier", Dong Biwu still shined in important posts in the central government and dedicated his life to serving the people.
In 1975, Dong Biwu, who was seriously ill, wrote the last poem of his life on his sickbed:
"Ninety years have passed in an instant, and I have a hard time feeling it." The maladministration of the five dynasties has been experienced first-hand, and the new regulations of a generation must be gradually worn out. Thoroughly renovate and reform the face, and follow the people to govern the mountains and rivers. Obey the invincibles of Marxism-Leninism and be convinced that the future will be a success. ”
27 days later, Comrade Dong Biwu, who devoted his life to the Chinese revolution, died of illness in Beijing at the age of 90.
This old revolutionary thought of the great righteousness of the country until his death.