【Viewpoint】 Guo Moruo - a glorious banner on the Chinese cultural front

Cultural leaders

Since the fall of Xuzhou on May 19, 1938, and the fall of Anqing on June 12, the situation in Wuhan has been precarious. The Japanese Kou soldiers divided into three routes, advancing from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River by land and water, in a vain attempt to swallow the three towns in one mouth. It is imperative to mobilize all forces to defend Greater Wuhan.

Guo Moruo, Zhou Enlai, and others agreed to seize the opportunity of commemorating the anniversary of the "July 7" War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and to carry out a more extensive and in-depth propaganda campaign. The specific method he was responsible for drawing up to commemorate the "Seventh Seventh" was approved by Chiang Kai-shek, and he was summoned again for this purpose, but what they thought was not exactly the same thing, and Chiang Kai-shek's purpose was nothing more than to use this to publicize him personally and shake his prestige as the so-called "leader of the War of Resistance." However, this provided Guo Moruo with a lot of convenience, "going out of the dynasty according to the will", managing him Chen Cheng and Kang Ze, who dared not let him go!

The commemoration officially began on July 6 and lasted for three days. Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang have grand gatherings every day, and torch parades at night, during which there are singing teams, drama teams, screening teams and makeup performances on the street, going to factories, going to the hospital for wounded soldiers to carry out propaganda, anti-war painting exhibitions and woodcut exhibitions are also displayed on time, and people are crowded in front of the altar. Speaking of donations, Guo Moruo and Chen Cheng had a dispute, and Chen Cheng originally vigorously opposed it, fearing that "people with money will not donate, and those who are willing to donate will not have money", which will damage the face of him as a minister. Unexpectedly, in the past few days, in front of the altar, people from all walks of life have volunteered to come.

Guo Moruo looked at the dozens of large pockets filled with cash and gold and silver utensils, and his eyes were moist and blurred. Oh China, China! You can never become a slave to a foreign country, because your people's affection for the motherland, just like the gushing Yangtze River water will never dry up, they will not only sacrifice everything they treasure for you, but will also build a new Great Wall with flesh and blood to defend you!

The flames of China's anti-Japanese resistance are indeed connected to the anti-fascist smoke of the whole world. In order to cooperate with the convening of the International Anti-Aggression Conference in Paris, on October 23, the International Anti-Bombing Conference was held in Wuhan, and Guo Moruo was elected as a member of the presidium, delivered a speech at the meeting, and resolutely advocated "giving serious blows to the attackers and giving the bombers a fierce bombardment."

At this time, the CPC Central Committee made a decision on the basis of Zhou Enlai's suggestion: Guo Moruo should be the successor of Lu Xun and the leader of China's cultural circles, and party organizations throughout the country would convey it to the party inside and outside the party, so as to lay the foundation for Guo Moruo's position as the leader of the cultural circles. From Guo Moruo's own point of view, he really did not dare to be ashamed, but he could not live up to the party's ardent expectations. As a director of the All-China Association for Resisting the Enemy in Literary and Art Circles, the Work of the Third Department is incumbent upon us to contribute to "unifying the literary and artistic front and consolidating the spiritual defense."

Before and after this, Guo Moruo wrote many literary and art papers, such as "Literature and Art and Propaganda," "Prospects for Literature and Art Since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression," "Commemorating Lu Xun in the Protracted War of Resistance," and "The Urgent Task of Cultural People at present," guiding the vast number of literary and art workers to strengthen unity and unity and have the courage to go to the countryside, especially to carry out work in the occupied areas.

At that time, there were not many gatherings in the literary and art circles, and the two-year commemoration of Lu Xun's death, chaired by Guo Moruo, broke the loneliness of several months, and Zhou Enlai, Bogu, Tian Han, Hu Yuzhi and others all attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Holding such a congress in Wuhan, which is in a hurry of 100,000 people, has its own special significance, just as Guo Moruo said in his speech: The spirit of Lu Xun is to fight against the evil forces to the end no matter what, no matter what, and until the last day of his life, he has not erased or reduced his will, which is the great element of Lu Xun, and it is also the element of his achievements in learning and literature. When we are engaged in a fierce war with the Japanese and the Kosovars today, we should have the spirit of indomitable struggle, and we hope that today we will be able to carry forward the spirit of Lu Xun even more.

Wuhan was lost, and Guo Moruo reached Hengyang via Shashi and Changsha. At the beginning of December, Guo Moruo went from Hengyang to Guilin to reunite with his friends in the third hall. The time in Guilin is not long, but there are many things to do. The "Salvation Daily" had been forced to stop publishing on the eve of the fall of Guangzhou, and a few days ago Xia Yan, Lin Lin and others moved to Guilin, and now Guo Moruo naturally tried to help them resume publication again. On the one hand, he negotiated with Chen Cheng, and on the other hand, he sent Xia Yan to Hong Kong to raise funds for New Year's Day in 1939, so that the vast number of readers could re-see the new face of "Salvation Daily".

Bai Pengfei, president of Guangxi University, was a classmate of Guo Moruo at Kyushu Imperial University in Japan, and when he heard that Guo Moruo had come to Guilin, he not only warmly entertained him, but also invited him to give a speech for teachers and students. On the day he came to speak, the teachers and students greeted him, and the auditorium was full. He did not talk about the general anti-Japanese principles, but talked about the spirit of rejuvenating the Chinese nation, which shows that our national spirit is firstly full of creativity, second, full of assimilation, and third, full of anti-aggression. The whole report does not mention a single word of the War of Resistance, but the audience naturally thinks of the current anti-Japanese struggle. On December 27, 1938, Guo Moruo left Guilin and flew to Chongqing.

On New Year's Day 1939, the Salvation Daily resumed publication in Guilin as scheduled. Although this is a tabloid, it shoulders the heavy responsibility of propagating anti-Japanese resistance, unity and progress, and strives to win the welcome of readers on the left, center and right. This is not easy, Guo Moruo is well aware of the hardships paid by Xia Yan, Lin Lin and others, and he is grateful to them from the bottom of his heart. In order to allow readers in Shancheng to see the newspaper in time, Guo Moruo also used his manuscript fee and living expenses savings to publish the Chongqing Aviation edition of the "Salvation Daily" until the printing house was destroyed.

Since Chiang Kai-shek moved his base camp to Chongqing, he has become more passive in resisting Japan and actively opposing communism, and has further clamped down on the Third Department, not only reducing the number of personnel and laying off personnel, but also tightening funds. The third hall was placed in a middle school on the hill of Lianglukou Road, with two large classrooms as the offices of all the staff, which is of course not the same as Tan Hualin in the Wuhan era. In such a narrow world, the activities of the three halls are still subject to various restrictions, and it is difficult to be as vigorous and vigorous as before. However, Guo Moruo was not discouraged, and he wanted to regroup and lead the three departments to continue their efforts to carry out propaganda work after the War of Resistance Against Japan had entered a stalemate stage.

While carrying out unremitting propaganda and education among the people, Guo Moruo also attached great importance to propaganda work against the enemy. Some of the Japanese propaganda materials, such as leaflets, pamphlets, and passes, issued by the three halls were written by the director himself. Once, a Japanese leaflet written by Guo Moruo was carried by the Air Force and distributed over Tokyo, causing great shock to the enemy country.

Guo Moruo is not only responsible for the work of the director of the three departments, but also shoulders heavy responsibilities in social organizations such as the China Branch of the International Anti-Aggression Movement Congress, the All-China Association for Resisting enemies in literary and art circles, the All-China Federation of Comfort Workers, the Sino-Soviet Cultural Association, the Oriental Cultural Association, and the Chongqing Municipal Association for the Advancement of the Spiritual Mobilization of Cultural Circles. However, no matter how busy he was, he could not do without his pen. On April 11, he wrote an article entitled "Exerting the Spirit of Fearlessness", calling on literary and art workers to strive to overcome the weakness of being afraid of this and that, "to write with their own blood, to write with their own lives, to write the epoch-making national spirit in this great era." "On the cultural front, he himself is a warrior who fights hard and rushes forward.