Revolutionary partner Song Qiyun Xu Linxia: Eight years in prison never yielded

Revisit Mao Zedong's Important Literature and take the road of the Long March in the new era

Published:2019-05-23 Source:Learning Times

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　　Wang Yibiao

　　This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China by Comrade Mao Zedong and other revolutionaries of the older generation. At a special time node, it is of great practical significance to revisit the important documents of Mao Zedong during the Jinggangshan struggle and the central revolutionary base area period, and grasp from them the innovative consciousness, revolutionary optimism, fine tradition of grasping party building, the people's stand of serving the people wholeheartedly, and the realistic thinking of investigation and research, which we have always upheld, so as to take the long march road of the new era and provide spiritual nourishment for the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

　　In the late spring and early summer of 2019, I came to Jinggangshan, the holy land of revolution, to participate in a two-week special training on party spirit cultivation. In order to systematically understand the historical picture of our party's struggle at Jinggangshan and to more deeply understand Comrade Mao Zedong's strategic thinking on the Chinese revolution, I specially brought the first volume of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" from Beijing. This volume contains a total of nine important documents by Comrade Mao Zedong during the Jinggangshan Struggle and the Central Revolutionary Base Area, namely "Why Can China's Red Regime Exist?" in October 1928. "The Struggle at Jinggangshan" in November 1928, "On Correcting The Wrong Thinking in the Party" in December 1929, "The Spark of a Spark Can Ignite the Plains" in January 1930, "Against Originalism" in May 1930, "We Must Pay Attention to Economic Work" in August 1933, "How to Analyze the Rural Classes" in October 1933, and "Our Economic Policy" and "Caring for the Lives of the Masses and Paying Attention to Work Methods" in January 1934. When I was majoring in the history of the Communist Party of China in college, I listened to the teacher's explanations of the relevant key topics and deeply appreciated Comrade Mao Zedong's outstanding contributions to the Chinese revolution. Today, more than 30 years after graduating from university, I relive these classics on Jinggangshan, and in combination with visiting the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery, the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum, Ciping and the five large and small wells, the Huangyangjie, Maoping Octagonal Tower and other revolutionary sites in the past few days, and also went to Xingguo, Ruijin and other revolutionary memorial sites to study and experience, let me further deepen my understanding and understanding of those major issues that have had a far-reaching impact on history.

　　A deeper understanding of why "Marxism can come out of the ravine"

　　The Communist Party of China is the product of the integration of Marxism with the Chinese workers' movement. As Comrade Mao Zedong wrote in his article "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship", "The October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism with the sound of a cannon." Under the influence of the October Revolution, the advanced elements in China gradually understood and mastered Marxism for the liberation of the proletariat and served as the guiding ideology of the Communist Party of China. However, the Marxist classics have not given an answer to the question of how the Chinese revolution is going, and even from the experience of the Successful October Revolution in Russia, it is impossible to find a specific revolutionary path suited to China's national conditions. It was precisely because of insufficient theoretical preparation and lack of practical experience that in the early days of the revolution our Party held armed insurrections in the cities in accordance with the Russian model, and due to the complex historical background and the conditions at that time, the Chinese revolution suffered major setbacks and fell into a low ebb. At such a historical juncture of life and death, Comrade Mao Zedong judged the hour and sized up the situation, and after the autumn harvest uprising, he took the revolutionary contingent to Jinggangshan and created a revolutionary base area spanning the two provinces of Xianggan and Gansu.

　　During the Jinggangshan struggle and the Central Revolutionary Base Area, the Party's Central Headquarters was still in Shanghai. Most of the revolutionary contingents, including the Red Fourth Army led by Mao Zedong and Zhu De, waged struggles in accordance with the relevant instructions of the party Central Committee headquarters. The Central Committee of the Party, on the other hand, accepts guidance, sometimes very specific instructions, from the Comintern and its representatives, because the majority consider the Comintern and its representatives to be the embodiment of true Marxism. However, according to the instructions of these so-called masters of authentic Marxism, the Chinese revolutionary struggle often suffers setbacks. The Chinese Communists, represented by Comrade Mao Zedong, based themselves on the "ravines and ravines," persisted in integrating Marxism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution, and explored a correct path for the countryside to encircle the cities and seize political power by force. Although he was able to win the battle according to Comrade Mao Zedong's correct line and correct command at that time, he was still ostracized, and some people denigrated his thinking as "Marxism in the ravine."

　　History has long proved that this "Marxism in the ravine" is the great truth that leads the Chinese revolution from victory to victory. This time, he went to Jinggangshan to participate in the study, visited Maoping, which was once the seat of the highest leading organ of the party, government, and army on the border of Xianggan and Gansu, and his reverence for Comrade Mao Zedong and other revolutionaries of the older generation suddenly arose, and he also had a deeper thinking about "Marxism can emerge from the ravine." It was under the oil lamp of the Maoping Octagonal Tower and during those war-torn years that Comrade Mao Zedong successively wrote many reports and articles, becoming a brilliant example of persisting in using Marxism to analyze and study the specific problems of the Chinese revolution. Why can China's Red Regime Exist? From the six aspects of the domestic political situation at that time, the reasons for the occurrence and existence of the Red regime in China, the division of the Xianggan border and the defeat in August, the status of the Xianggan border in the three provinces of Xiang'e, the economic problem, and the military base area problem, the idea of "armed cutting of the drama between workers and peasants" was put forward, and the basic conditions for the existence and development of the Red Army and the red regime in China were scientifically analyzed and demonstrated. "The Struggle at Jinggangshan" further expounds in depth the theoretical and practical issues such as the development of the situation of the armed division of the workers and peasants, military struggle, strategy and tactics, relying on strength, and organizational leadership, stressing that "the red flag on the border has never fallen, which not only shows the strength of the Communist Party, but also indicates the bankruptcy of the ruling class, which is of great significance in the politics of the whole country." "Against Originalism" points out very clearly that we are right in saying Marxism, not because Marx is a "philosopher", but because his theory, in our practice and in our struggle, has proved it right. Our struggle needs Marxism. ...... The "original" of Marxism is to be studied, but it must be integrated with the actual conditions on the mainland. We need "the original", but we must correct the originalism that is divorced from the actual situation.

　　The greatest characteristic of Comrade Mao Zedong's several documents in this historical period is that he adheres to Marxism without being confined to the basics and superstitious dogmas, and has pointed out for our party the correct path of carrying out the armed division of workers and peasants, encircling the cities with the countryside, and finally seizing the cities and winning national power in the rural areas where reactionary rule is relatively weak; this is a brilliant example of integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with the concrete reality of the Chinese revolution, and has laid a solid foundation for the comprehensive formation of Mao Zedong Thought later. In the historical process of China's revolution, construction and reform, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thinking of "three represents", the scientific concept of development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era are important milestones in the sinification of Marxism, and all fully embody the integration of the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality.

　　A deeper understanding of why we can see "the revolutionary high tide is coming" at the low tide of the revolution.

　　The revolutionary struggle at Jinggangshan was extremely cruel and arduous. In the face of the Kuomintang reactionaries' repeated frenzied "advances" and "attacks," the revolutionary environment is very harsh. In the article "The Struggle at Jinggangshan Mountain," Comrade Mao Zedong reported to the CPC Central Committee in this way: "We have been fighting in various places over the past year and have deeply felt the decline of the revolutionary trend of the whole country" "We deeply feel lonely, and we always look forward to the end of this lonely life." We must turn into a boiling revolution throughout the country." In the early days of the Jinggangshan struggle, when the Chinese revolution was indeed at a low ebb, Comrade Mao Zedong made a factual statement in his report, "deeply feeling lonely" like everyone else, but at the same time looking forward to ending "this lonely life" and "turning into the boiling heat of the national upsurge revolution."

　　Under such difficult circumstances, some comrades developed negative pessimism and even raised the question of "how long will the red flag be fought?" In response to this negative and pessimistic ideology in the Party, Comrade Mao Zedong wrote a long letter entitled "Estimation of the Current Situation and the Problem of the Actions of the Red Army", that is, "The Spark of a Spark Can Burn the Plains" that was later included in the "Selected Works of Mao Zedong". In the article, Comrade Mao Zedong, with his firm belief in Marxism and the firm conviction of the proletarian revolutionaries, did not simply criticize the facts, but instead wrote from a big picture, applied the marxist materialist dialectical principles, and conducted a scientific comparative analysis of the revolutionary forces and counter-revolutionary forces, negating the blind activism of exaggerating the revolutionary forces and criticizing the pessimistic idea of not seeing the development of the revolutionary forces, and expounding in a simple and concise manner the great significance and value of the establishment and development of the red power for the Chinese revolution. He also firmly believes that the revolutionary situation is moving forward, that the "spark of stars" of the Chinese revolution will inevitably form a "burning trend", and that the consolidation and expansion of the red regime divided by the armed forces of the workers and peasants will certainly promote the "climax of the national revolution"! Through this historical document, we can deeply feel that the Chinese Communists represented by Comrade Mao Zedong have a profound and rational understanding of the law of the development of the Chinese revolution and a firm belief that only Marxism can save China.

　　The revolution is at a low ebb, and Comrade Mao Zedong still firmly believes that "the revolutionary climax is coming soon", in addition to his firm faith and conviction, but also because he has always been full of revolutionary optimism. Why can China's Red Regime Exist? It reads: "Over the past year, the areas divided by the border regime have been in short supply and very expensive because of the enemy's tight blockade, and daily necessities such as salt, cloth, and medicinal materials have been very scarce and expensive at all times." Every day, in addition to the five cents of food, I feel that I am deficient, I am undernourished, I am sick, and I am even more miserable in hospitals and wounded soldiers." "Attention Must Be Paid to Economic Work" describes it this way: "The enemy is carrying out an economic blockade, the profiteers and reactionaries are destroying our finances and commerce, and the foreign trade in our red areas is greatly hindered." "The harsh material conditions of life did not crush the revolutionary fighting spirit of the officers and men of the Red Army, nor did they shake their spirit of revolutionary optimism. The Red Army song of "red rice, pumpkin soup, autumn eggplant, and good flavor" in the Jinggangshan period is the most vivid and powerful evidence.

　　The party's organizational strength and correct tactics of struggle are the source of self-confidence in seeing that "the revolutionary climax is coming.". In these several documents, Comrade Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized the Party's organizational strength and the Party's tactics of struggle. In "Why Can China's Red Regime Exist?" In the article, he pointed out: "In addition to the above conditions for the long-term existence and development of the Red regime, there must be an important condition, that is, the strength of the Communist Party organization and the infallibility of its policies. In Against Originalism, he emphasized: "If the tactics of struggle of the proletarian party are wrong or wavering and hesitant, then the revolution must lead to temporary defeat... The victory of the proletariat depends entirely on the correctness and resoluteness of the tactics of struggle of its party, the Communist Party. Comrade Mao Zedong always firmly believed that the Chinese revolution could ultimately succeed if there was a Communist Party. Therefore, he wrote boldly and firmly: "What I call the imminent arrival of the chinese revolution is by no means an empty thing that has no sense of action and is unattainable, as some people say that there is a possibility of coming." It is a ship standing on the shore and looking out at the sea, which can already see the tip of the mast, it is a sunrise that stands on the top of the mountain and looks at the east from a distance, it is a baby that is about to mature in the mother's womb. ”

　　We have more profoundly realized the great significance of "building branches on companies" to the regularization of the Red Army

　　As we all know, the organizational establishment of the party's leadership over the army originated from the "Three Bays Reorganization" after the Autumn Harvest Uprising and on the eve of the Jinggangshan Struggle. However, the regularization of the red army corps was carried out and achieved results, mainly during the Jinggangshan struggle. In the article "The Struggle at Jinggangshan Mountain," Comrade Mao Zedong, when analyzing the situation in the divided areas and discussing military issues, for the first time explained for the first time the important idea of building party branches on the company in a theoretical and systematic manner. He said: "The party representation system, experience has proved that it cannot be abolished. Especially at the company level, because the party branches are built on the company level, the party representatives are more important. He was to supervise the soldiers' committee to conduct political training, to guide the work of the democracy movement, and to serve as the secretary of the party branch. Facts have proved that whichever company has better party deputies is more sound. Here, Comrade Mao Zedong made a detailed exposition on how to strengthen the regularization of the Red Army contingent and enhance its combat effectiveness, and clearly pointed out: "The Party organization is now divided into four levels: company branches, battalion committees, youth league committees, and central military commissions. The company has a branch, and the class has a group. The reason why the Red Army fought hard and did not collapse was that 'branches were built on companies' was an important reason. ”

　　The essence of "building branches on companies" is to truly establish the party's absolute leadership over the army and insist that the party commands the gun instead of the gun commanding the party. The establishment of this principle made the Red Army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China qualitatively different from the old army, especially the warlord troops of the Kuomintang. What is this qualitative difference? Comrade Mao Zedong made a special exposition in "On Correcting Erroneous Ideas in the Party", in which he pointed out in his serious criticism of the idea of a purely military point of view that "the military is only one of the tools for accomplishing political tasks" and that "the Red Army of China is an armed group carrying out revolutionary political tasks. Especially now, the Red Army is by no means a simple war; in addition to fighting a war to eliminate the enemy's military forces, it also has to undertake the important tasks of propagating the masses, organizing the masses, arming the masses, helping the masses to establish revolutionary power, and even the organization of the Communist Party. To depart from the objectives of propaganda, organization, arming and building revolutionary power against the masses is to lose the meaning of fighting a war, that is, to lose the meaning of the existence of the Red Army."

　　The reason why Comrade Mao Zedong particularly emphasized the party's leadership over the army and the party building of the army was also because of the particularity and complexity of the composition of the Red Army contingent at that time. During the Jinggangshan struggle, the Red Army ranks were mainly workers and peasants, and at the same time included petty bourgeoisie, old officers, mercenaries, displaced people, captive soldiers and other components. Therefore, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in his article "The Struggle at Jinggangshan" that "we feel that the question of the ideological leadership of the proletariat is a very important issue." How to build the complex contingent of red army contingents into a new type of army with strict discipline and maintaining close ties with the masses of the people was undoubtedly an extremely difficult and arduous task under the harsh environment at that time. To accomplish this task, it is absolutely impossible to leave the correct leadership of the Party. At the same time, in the long and arduous practice of revolution, one of the valuable lessons of blood in exchange for valuable experience is that the correct leadership of the Party is always inextricably linked to the victory of the red army's military struggle.

　　In "Why Can China's Red Regime Exist?" In both articles and "The Struggle at Jinggangshan", Comrade Mao Zedong, when summing up the experience of victory after the partition of the Xianggan-Gansu border in April, held that "the reason lies in the correct policy of the border party (the local party and the army party), and the lesson of the August defeat proves this from the opposite side. Reading through the important documents of the Jinggangshan struggle period, we can clearly see that by strengthening the building of the Party's organization, ideology, politics, democracy, work style, and other aspects of the Red Army's ranks, the political consciousness, combat effectiveness, and influence of the Soldiers of the Red Army have been greatly enhanced, and the three principles of the people's army's political work, namely, the unity of officers and men, the unity of the army and the people, and the disintegration of the enemy army, have basically taken shape.

　　"The same soldier, who was not brave in the enemy army yesterday, but brave in the Red Army today, is the influence of democracy. The Red Army was like a furnace, and the captives melted down immediately when they came. Undoubtedly, revisiting these important expositions of Comrade Mao Zedong today provides an important historical reference for us to further strengthen our understanding of the nature, purpose, mission, and tasks of the people's army; it is still of great and far-reaching guiding significance for us to comprehensively strengthen the revolutionization, modernization, and regularization of the army, and to build a people's army in the new era that obeys the party's command, can win battles, and has a fine work style.

　　More deeply understand why "the real copper wall is the people's masses"

　　In January 1934, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out at the Second National Congress of Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers held in Ruijin: "What is the real copper wall and iron wall? It is the masses, the millions of masses who sincerely support the revolution. This is a real copper wall and an iron wall, which cannot be broken by any force, and it cannot be broken at all. Counter-revolution cannot break us, but we must break counter-revolution. This important exposition, included in "Caring for the Lives of the Masses and Paying Attention to Work Methods", is still meaningful and shocking today, even today, more than 80 years later.

　　The masses were regarded as "real brass walls and iron walls" because Comrade Mao Zedong soberly realized that revolutionary wars are essentially people's wars. War is a continuation of politics, and war is divided into justice and injustice. A revolutionary war is the need of the proletariat to carry out the revolution, a form of armed struggle in which the proletariat and its vanguard, the Communist Party, lead the broad masses of the people to overthrow the rule of the reactionary classes and strive for their own liberation, and it is a just battle. The Kuomintang reactionaries appear to be fighting the Red Army, but in fact they are enemies of the broad masses of workers and peasants. The fundamental factor that determines the war is the will of the people. No matter how powerful the reactionaries are on the surface, they are still "paper tigers" in the face of the "vast ocean" of people's war, and they will be broken at the first poke and vulnerable. In this sense, the "real copper wall and iron wall" are by no means those "turtle shell" bunkers built by the Kuomintang reactionaries, but millions of mobilized masses of the people who support the revolutionary struggle!

　　We regard the masses as "real brass walls and iron walls," because the masses of the people are the creators of history and the heroes who truly promote historical progress. Historical materialism believes that the people are the fundamental driving force that pushes the wheels of human society forward. This has been confirmed by the historical development of human society since the entry into class society. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out after proposing that the masses are the "real copper wall and iron wall": "By uniting millions of masses around the revolutionary government and developing our revolutionary war, we will be able to eliminate all counter-revolution and we will be able to seize all of China." Look at the history of the Chinese revolution after the Jinggangshan struggle: Whether it was the arduous 8-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression or the magnificent 3-year War of Liberation, the people's army led by the Chinese Communists represented by Comrade Mao Zedong had an extremely large gap with the strong enemy in terms of its size of strength, weapons and equipment, external assistance, and other conditions, but it still won a great victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and finally completely overthrew the rule of the Kuomintang reactionaries and established New China. It is these millions of people of all nationalities who have always been able to selflessly give full support to the Communist Party of China, the "iron wall" on which the Chinese Communists have always relied.

　　The fact that the masses are regarded as "the real iron wall of copper" also lies in the fact that the most fundamental class foundation of the Communist Party of China as a proletarian party is the masses of workers and peasants, and it cannot win the support of the masses of the people, and no revolution can succeed. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out very clearly and far-sightedly: "We are the leaders and organizers of the revolutionary war, and we are the leaders and organizers of the life of the masses. Organizing a revolutionary war and improving the livelihood of the masses are our two major tasks. ...... Failure to pay attention to the expansion of the leadership of the Red Army, to the method of enlarging the Red Army, and despite repeating the expansion of the Red Army a thousand times, the result is still unsuccessful. ”

　　During the period of the Jinggangshan struggle and the central revolutionary base areas, the Chinese Communists represented by Comrade Mao Zedong always insisted that all revolutionary work proceeded from safeguarding the fundamental interests of the masses of the people, wholeheartedly sought the interests of the workers and peasants, and fought bloody battles to protect the safety of the masses. Facts have proved that the Party's policies and military struggles in the Red Zone have won the sincere support of the masses. As mentioned in the article, the masses in Nagaoka Township said: "The Communist Party is really good, and everything has been thought of for us." Today, the mass viewpoint and mass line have penetrated deeply into the hearts of the party, the army, and the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the will of the people is the biggest politics. Those who win the hearts and minds of the people win the world, those who lose the hearts and minds of the people lose the world, and the people's support and support is the most solid foundation for the party to govern. Today, when socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, we must cherish and make good use of the magic weapon of the mass line, firmly establish the people-centered work orientation, let the fruits of development benefit all the people more and more fairly, and continuously enhance the sense of gain, happiness and security of the broadest masses of the people.

　　A deeper understanding of why "no investigation, no voice"

　　In May 1930, in order to oppose the dogmatic ideas that existed in the Red Army at that time, Comrade Mao Zedong specially wrote an article entitled "Against Originalism", which put forward the famous thesis that "there is no investigation, no right to speak". To more fully understand the significance of this document and its series of assertions, it is necessary to explore the specific historical context of the writing of the article. As for the purpose of writing this article, in March 1961, Comrade Mao Zedong mentioned in his speech at the Southern Third District Conference that this article was written after a great struggle and was written in 1930 after the Ninth Congress of the Red Fourth Army Party. When he referred to the "great struggle," he referred to the differences and struggles within the Red Fourth Army at that time. After the defeat of the Great Revolution in 1927, dogmatic ideas existed in the Red Fourth Army, and the erroneous tendency to dogmatize Marxism, the resolutions of the Communist International, and the experience of the Soviet Union prevailed in the Party, resulting in many correct ideas not being effectively implemented, the unity within the Party also greatly damaged, and the revolutionary cause encountered serious setbacks.

　　In order to draw profound lessons from the differences and struggles within the Party and to deeply analyze the root causes of dogmatism, Comrade Mao Zedong took investigation and study as the starting point and basis, analyzed the problems existing in the ranks of the Red Army at that time, summed up the lessons learned, and made a series of important expositions. At the beginning of the article, he went straight to the point of emphasizing: "If you don't investigate an issue, you stop speaking about an issue." In view of the fact that some comrades in the Red Army at that time were "content with the status quo, did not seek any solutions, and were empty and optimistic", he shouted loudly: "Quickly change conservative thinking!" In exchange for the progressive ideas of struggle of the Communists! Go into the struggle! Go to the masses for a practical investigation! The article elaborates the significance of the investigation, as well as the purpose of the investigation, the object of the investigation, the content and technical methods of the investigation, etc., and is a very important Marxist historical document on investigation and research.

　　As we all know, as early as the period of the Great Revolution, Comrade Mao Zedong went down to the bottom line, conducted practical investigations and studies on the situation of all classes in Chinese society, attitude toward the revolution, and the peasant movement, mastered a large amount of first-hand information, and wrote two classic documents, "Analysis of all Classes in Chinese Society" and "Report on the Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan.". In the revolutionary struggle since then, Comrade Mao Zedong has always attached great importance to investigation and study, and has taken the initiative to carry out investigation and research. The article "On correcting erroneous ideas within the Party" points out in its criticism of subjectivism within the Party that "to make Party members pay attention to socio-economic investigation and study, thereby deciding on the tactics of struggle and the methods of work, and to let comrades know that without the investigation of the actual situation, they will fall into the pit of fantasy and blindness."

　　Comrade Mao Zedong attached great importance to investigation, but not for the sake of investigation, and the purpose of his investigation was to study problems and ultimately solve them. "Can't you solve that problem?" Then investigate the present state of the problem and its history! You have completely investigated and understood that you have a solution to that problem. All conclusions arise at the end of the investigation, not at the forefront of it. The discussion of "Against Originalism" profoundly reveals the dialectical relationship between investigation and research and problem solving, and there is a particularly appropriate metaphor in the text: "Investigation is like." 'Pregnant in October', solving the problem is like 'giving birth in one day'. Investigation is the solution of the problem. "How to Analyze the Rural Classes" was written by Comrade Mao Zedong on the basis of in-depth investigation in order to correct the bias that occurred in the land reform work at that time and correctly solve the land problem, and later became the criterion for dividing the rural class components.

　　Compared with the Jinggangshan struggle and the period of the central revolutionary base areas, the technical means and guarantee conditions for carrying out investigation and research in the new era are much better, but the importance and fundamental purpose of investigation and research have not changed. The endless emergence of new situations and new problems in the new era requires us to strengthen investigation and study and make scientific policy decisions. The broad masses of party members and cadres should inherit and carry forward the fine tradition of "no investigation and no right to speak" formed by Comrade Mao Zedong during the Period of the Jinggangshan Struggle and the Central Revolutionary Base Area, firmly establish a sense of problems, vigorously promote the trend of investigation and study, and strive to win the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era with correct policies and actions that conform to China's actual conditions and adapt to the trend of the times.