In the later stages of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Japanese invaders stepped up their offensive against the rear area. Guilin and other places fell, Sichuan and Guizhou were frequently bombed by the Japanese army, and the voices of surrender within the Kuomintang rose again. At that time, some high-level intellectuals from the cultural, educational, and scientific and technological circles in Chongqing often gathered together to exchange views on the current situation, and they were extremely anxious about the situation of the War of Resistance in China at that time, and everyone believed that the Chinese nation must carry forward democracy, strengthen unity, and resist the war to the end.
At that time, Xu Deheng and Mr. and Mrs. Lao Junzhan lived in Chongqing. Senior intellectuals such as Liang Xi, Pan Shu, Tax Xiheng, Huang Guozhang, Zhang Ximan, Zhang Xueyan, He Lu, and Tu Changwang often went to Xu Deheng's house or Zhang Ximan of the Sino-Soviet Cultural Association to discuss the issue of democracy and the War of Resistance. In 1944, Xu Deheng initiated and organized a democratic science forum with Liang Xi and Pan Shu in Chongqing, and regularly held discussions on the current situation.
Chairman Mao went to Chongqing for negotiations
In August 1945, in order to fight for domestic peace, democracy, unity, and opposition to civil war, Chairman Mao personally went to Chongqing to negotiate with the Kuomintang regardless of his personal safety. During his stay in Chongqing, Chairman Mao extensively carried out united front work and received Xu Deheng and Mr. and Mrs. Lao Junzhan. Chairman Mao, Xu Deheng and Lao Junzhan were old friends.
Xu Deheng
Xu Deheng is a famous patriot, political activist, educator, and founder of the Jiusan Society. In his early years, he joined the Xinmin Society, which was initiated by Chairman Mao, joined the League in his youth, and participated in the Xinhai Revolution. During the Five Kingdoms Movement, he was a well-known student leader who drafted the May Fourth Declaration. Xu Deheng and Chairman Mao are also members of the Young China Society, which was organized by Li Dazhao. In 1920, he went to France to work and study, and in 1925, he married Lao Junzhan in Paris. In 1927, he returned to China and served as the secretary general and acting director of the General Political Department of the National Revolutionary Army.
Lao Junzhan at the National Women's Normal College
The friendship between Chairman Mao and Lao Junzhan began with the Xinmin Society. In his youth, Lao Junzhan studied at The Zhounan Girls' School in Changsha. During the May Fourth Movement, he served as the propaganda director of the Changsha Federation of Students, founded the magazine "Women's Circle Bell", and later joined the Xinmin Society, a progressive student group founded by Chairman Mao and Cai Hesen and others. In 1921, when Lao Junzhan went to France for work-study, Chairman Mao invited many members of the Xinmin Society to send them off at the Bansong Garden in Shanghai and take a group photo.
Chairman Mao sent members of the Xinmin Society to Study in France in Shanghai
When Chongqing was reunited, Xu Deheng and Lao Junzhan reported to Chairman Mao on the situation of the democracy forum. Chairman Mao encouraged Xu Deheng to turn the forum into a permanent political organization, and Xu Deheng was worried that the number of people who had set up the organization was too small, and Chairman Mao said: "It doesn't matter if the number is quite large, even if it is small, you are all influential representative figures in the scientific, cultural, and educational circles, and you often express your opinions and opinions in the newspapers, and don't you also play a very great propaganda role!" After some guidance and promotion by Chairman Mao, Xu Deheng and Lao Junzhan were greatly inspired and encouraged and resolved to transform the forum into a permanent political organization.
Chairman Mao also met with Professors Pan Shu, Liang Xi, Jin Shanbao, Tu Changwang, Xie Lihui, and other university professors in Chongqing Guiyuan to encourage them to strengthen their confidence in peaceful and democratic nation-building and to encourage them to build the democracy forum into a permanent political organization.
Under the care and encouragement of Chairman Mao, on September 3, 1945, the Democratic Science Forum was renamed the 93rd Forum. On January 6, 1946, Xu Deheng and other seniors of the Jiusan Society held a symposium on the expansion of the Jiusan Society and decided to establish the Preparatory Group of the Jiusan Society. On May 4, 1946, the Jiusan Society was officially established in the Chongqing Youth Building, marking the birth of a political group dominated by high- and middle-level intellectuals in the fields of science and education.
In the first half of 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army won the Liaoshen Campaign, the Huaihai Campaign and the Pingjin Campaign, and most of the cities in the country were liberated one after another. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to convene a new political consultative conference and establish a democratic coalition government. The Preparatory Meeting for the New CPPCC was initiated by the Communist Party of China, which put forward the "May Day slogan." On April 30, 1948, the Communist Party of China issued a slogan to commemorate Labor Day in order to mobilize people from all walks of life throughout the country to realize the glorious mission of building a new China. The "May Day Slogan" was enthusiastically echoed by democratic parties and non-party democrats, who issued declarations, telegrams, and talks, and accepted invitations to go to the Liberated Areas to discuss with the CPC the grand plan for nation-building. All those who agree with the "May Day Slogan," or who have expressed it in documents and telegrams or have been consulted, have been invited to attend the preparatory meeting for the CPPCC.
On June 11, the CPC, democratic parties, and non-party democrats held a preparatory meeting for the preparatory meeting for the new CPPCC in Beiping, and it was agreed that 23 units and 134 deputies would participate in the preparatory meeting. Among them, the democratic parties include the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, the China Democratic League, the China Democratic Construction Association, the China Democratic Promotion Association, the China Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party, the Chinese People's Salvation Association, the Three People's Principles Comrades Federation, the China Kuomintang Democratic Promotion Association, and the China Zhi Gong Party. From 15 to 19 June, the first plenary meeting of the Preparatory Committee was officially held.
Preparatory meeting for the New Political Consultative Conference
The Jiusan Society is not among them. When the "May 1st Slogan" was issued, the Jiusan Society was under the high pressure of Kuomintang rule, and it was not until January 26, after the peaceful liberation of Peiping, that it issued a declaration supporting the CCP's "May 1st Slogan". On 17 June, when Chairman Mao went to the dormitory of the teachers in Heping Normal University and Heping Gate to visit Li Jinxi, a history teacher at the Hunan First Normal School, and Huang Guozhang, a fellow teenager, he learned that Li Jinxi, Tang Xuzhen, Huang Guozhang, and Dong Weichuan and Lu Baozhong, who were present, were all members of the Jiusan Society.
After the concern of Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, on June 19, the first plenary session of the Preparatory Committee adopted the "Regulations on the Number of Units Participating in the New CPPCC Session and the Number of Representatives", and the Jiusan Society was officially recognized as a Chinese democratic party, becoming one of the 45 constituent units participating in the New CPPCC, and determining 5 official representatives and 1 alternate representative.
Xu Deheng spoke at the first plenary session of the NATIONAL Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
After the founding of New China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, various democratic parties actively participated in the administration and discussion of state affairs. However, some comrades of the democratic parties believe that the democratic parties were born to strive for democracy, and now that democracy has been established and the historical mission of the democratic parties has been fulfilled, they can be merged or dissolved. In December 1949, the Chinese National Salvation Congress declared itself over. The New Democratic Youth League was renamed the Communist Youth League of China and became a non-partisan mass organization.
At this time, the Jiusan Society was also preparing to dissolve. There have been several meetings to discuss this matter, and the majority of the members of the local community have agreed to disband, and a declaration of dissolution has been drafted.
In February 1950, Chairman Mao visited the Soviet Union and returned to Beijing, and when he heard that the Jiusan Society was about to be dissolved, he immediately instructed Li Weihan, director of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, to convey his opinion to the friends of the Jiusan Society: Before the liberation of the Jiusan Society, it contributed to the revolutionary cause of the whole of China, and now that it is liberated, the Jiusan Society will continue to make contributions to New China, and we hope that the Jiusan Society will not only not be dissolved, but will continue to develop.
It was precisely under chairman Mao's insistence that the Jiusan Society was retained and, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, continued to make contributions to the cause of socialist construction.