【Take a closer look at the History Exhibition Hall of the Communist Party of China (052)】 Xu Mengmeng, Wang Xiaotong
Nie Rongzhen's letter to his parents displayed in the Chinese Communist Party History Exhibition Hall:
This family letter was written by Comrade Nie Rongzhen to his parents on June 3, 1922, at the Salois University of Labor in Belgium. This family letter is 21 centimeters long and 27.2 centimeters wide, with a total text of 605 characters and a total of 586 words in the text, written vertically from right to left.
Before and after the May Fourth Movement, a large number of aspiring young people in China, under the condition of witnessing the perilous situation of the country and suffering from being out of school and unemployed, joined the work-study movement in France in order to find the knowledge and truth to save the country and make the country strong and transform society. From 1919 to 1920, a total of 20 batches of about 1,600 people arrived in France. They come from 18 provinces in the country, of which Sichuan (378 people), Hunan (346 people), Hebei (147 people) are the most, basically 16~30 years old youth. Nie Rongzhen is one of them.
With the dream of "industrial salvation", he went to France for work-study
Nie Rongzhen was born in 1899 to a poor peasant family in Jiangjin County, Sichuan Province (now Jiangjin District, Chongqing City). At the age of 7, he entered his grandfather's private school, and at the age of 11, he transferred to Yongchuan County Chen Shichang High School. In the summer of 1917, Nie Rongzhen was admitted to Jiangjin County High School with excellent results. During his days of studying in Jiangjin, Nie Rongzhen began to explore his life path while learning scientific and cultural knowledge. When Nie Rongzhen was in middle school, when Marxist thought was setting off an upsurge in China after the October Revolution in Russia, a group of progressive intellectuals in Sichuan began to accept and propagate Marxism, and some progressive books and periodicals also sprang up in Sichuan. Nie Rongzhen's thinking also began to change.
After the May Fourth Movement broke out in 1919, Nie Rongzhen actively participated in the patriotic movement, and was put on a "blacklist" by warlords and unable to return to school to continue studying. At the same time, years of warlord chaos have made Sichuan mournful, like purgatory on earth. Therefore, Nie Rongzhen urgently needs to go abroad, learn technical skills, return to China to run a good industry, and realize "industrial salvation".
"Industry saves the country" is no way to go
In 1919, Nie Rongzhen embarked on the road of work-study in France with the dream of "saving the country by industry". In China, the "Declaration" also reported on Nie Rongzhen and others going to France for work-study.
On the road of Nie Rongzhen's work-study, his daily life is to enter the factory to work to make money, return to school after a little savings, and then return to the factory to work after the savings are spent, and repeat, a typical work-study life.
The factories he chose to work in were also purposeful: Hutchinson Rubber Factory, Kruzou Steel Works and other heavy industrial factories. Although the income is small, it has broadened my horizons, increased my rational understanding of the decay of capitalism and a deep understanding of the working class, and with the relief money I received from the Chinese Legation in France, I can still live a good life.
But the good times did not last long, and after 1921, the French economy was sluggish, factories closed down one after another, and it was very difficult to find a job. In addition, the Chinese Law Education Association, which is in charge of study abroad affairs in China, announced in mid-January 1921 that it would sever economic relations with work-study students on the grounds of financial constraints.
To this end, the international students sent representatives to negotiate with the embassy to ask the Beiyang government to solve the funding problem of international students, and the embassy also called the international students' appeals to the Beiyang government. But the callous Beiyang government rejected the students' legitimate demands and threatened to "send them home." As soon as the news came out, it aroused the voice of the majority of international students to protest. International students have asked the Minister of the Beiyang Government in France to fight for the "right to live" and "the right to study".
On February 28, Nie Rongzhen, together with more than 400 international students, gathered at the Chinese Legation in France. Nie Rongzhen received a relief of 69 francs, temporarily relieving the economic pressure. This movement is the first movement carried out by Chinese students studying in France - the pure economic movement; It was also the first struggle in which Nie Zaifa participated.
Work-study is full of ups and downs, and Nie Rongzhen's original intention of "saving the country by industry" has never changed. Even after participating in the "Refusal Movement" of the second movement of international students in France in 1921 and the struggle to "return to the Sino-French University of Lyon" in the same year, he still hoped to return to school when faced with the dilemma of Cai Hesen, Chen Yi and other students being sent back to China. However, the defeat of the struggle following the Sino-French University of Lyon made Nie Rongzhen feel very confused; The cruel reality also made Nie Rongzhen completely wake up, and he realized that "industry to save the country" is a dead end that cannot be taken! But where is the road?
The Path of Faith
At the end of 1921, due to the subsidy funds received by the Sichuan provincial government, Nie Rongzhen entered the preparatory class of the Sagrova Labor University in Belgium, and was admitted to the Department of Chemical Engineering a year later. Following Nie Rongzhen, many international students have successively transferred from France to the Belgian university.
With the increase in the number of Chinese students studying abroad, various social trends of thought have also emerged, forming an upsurge. Representatives of various schools of thought also appeared, vigorously promoting their own ideas, and almost all Chinese students studying abroad were involved in this trend, supporting their respective parties and debating with each other.
It was impossible for Nie Rongzhen to stay out of the matter, but he couldn't figure it out for a while, so he flipped through various books like hunger and thirst, thinking hard. Nie recalled that when he was most depressed, he came into contact with Marxism and Leninism, and in college he borrowed publications such as "The Communist Manifesto" and "The Infantile Disease of the "Left" in the Communist Movement."
The magazine "Guide" combined the dissemination of Marxism-Leninism with the analysis and study of the Chinese issue, which gave Nie great inspiration. During this period, Nie Rongzhen also became acquainted with Liu Bojian, one of the earliest Marxists in China. Nie and Liu were fellow countrymen, with a very deep affection, and soon became close friends, and the two often discussed the drawbacks of capitalism and the prospects of socialism, analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of various doctrines, and had always witnessed the decay and incompetence of feudal society, the brutal rule of warlords, and the poverty and backwardness caused by imperialism in China.
After repeated reflection, he realized: "If we want to save the country and nation from peril, so that 40,000 compatriots have food and clothing, the only way is to establish a labor dictatorship and practice socialism." ”
Therefore, he upheld the new faith in his heart and wrote this bloody family letter on June 3, 1922, which also symbolized the change of the 22-year-old Nie Rongzhen's worldview. The following is the full text of the family letter:
"This man's ambition is also a lifelong career!"
Parents and adults:
Don't give a long hand. Overseas travelers, what is the suspense? Wen Sichuan war resumed, the troops increased, and bandits revived! In a hometown in dire straits, how can the father's hardship be embarrassing? Wolf poison ambition power! Encroachment on the land of the continent for no reason! The denial of the twenty-one article was rejected, and the lease expired, and deliberately refused to return it! The government with its own pockets only knows how to fight for its own turf, has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, nothing more than killing its compatriots, how can a hot-blooded boy see this? Male also, although he does not dare to take the world as his own responsibility, it is the responsibility of young men to save their fathers and elders from all kinds of fire and water, and to fight for the right of the country to save the perilary! Besides, men study far away, what do they learn! It is by no means a matter of self-sufficiency, but of 40,000 compatriots. Nor is it self-sufficiency, but happiness among 40,000,000 compatriots! This man's ambition is also a lifelong career!
The day before yesterday, the man and his fellow villagers submitted a letter to the embassy in Belgium to consult the provincial office, and hereby have replied to the approval, the cloud is suitable for the western conditions of the study abroad loan fee, so this reply, and sent a letter to Li Yaoqun, and immediately received a letter from the classmates, Yunshi has been restored, and now I plan to send another letter to the new inspector, but with the county's funds to support and few people who are enthusiastic about overseas education, so although the provincial department approved, and whether the county can pursue it is a problem. However, the man's continued study depends on whether the loan fee can be realized, otherwise it will be difficult to help his classmates, and he has not seen a reply to the previous beggar to pay the subsidy, I don't know why the adults think so? Originally, the cloud repaid the money, and the real people were out of the population, and then the man had a plan to compare. Beg to know, can fundraising be successful? In order to carry out the new plan of men.
Compared with June, it is still cold, and the weather this year is very strange, but since the man entered the dormitory, his body has improved quite a lot because of the better air and increased exercise.
The mother's photo has long been sent, I don't know if I will receive it? To the image of the second mother-in-law, because the mail is lost, begging to send another copy, I don't know if it has been sent? How do mothers and second mothers eat? Are you still as healthy as before?
Knock
man
Rong Zhen knelt down
June 3
This family letter mentions: "The mother's photo has long been sent, I don't know if I will receive it?" As for the image of the second mother-in-law, because the mail is lost, I beg to send another one, I don't know if it has been sent?" Ask for photos, one to talk about comforting their longing, and the other is to paint their photos into oil paintings to show filial piety. At first, his mother's photo was cut into a bust by Nie Rongzhen and taken to paint. Worried that his mother did not understand such a move, he also wrote to his mother to explain.
Two months after writing this letter, through the introduction of two classmates, Liu Bojian and Xiong Weigeng, Nie Rongzhen joined the Chinese Youth Communist Party in Europe and served as an executive member of the regiment and deputy director of the training department. He has since embarked on the road of fighting for the cause of communism.
"In order to maintain confidentiality, everyone uses pseudonyms for correspondence or publications. My pseudonym is 'Up'. Nie Rongzhen wrote in his memoirs.
As the work of the organization increased, Nie Rongzhen encountered the contradiction between learning professional knowledge and carrying out revolutionary work. On the attendance sheet of the Charova Labour University, it is repeatedly stated that he "does not attend much class". Nie Rongzhen pondered that a person with limited energy, and he had to study his profession and do revolutionary work; in the long run, it was not a way to simply give up studying and concentrate on doing revolutionary work.
From 1921 to 1924, Nie Rongzhen traveled to Europe. The four-year European travel period was the period of establishing his world outlook, the beginning of the real revolution, and the starting point of the revolution in his life.
"This man's ambition is also a lifelong career!" Nie Rongzhen did as promised in his family letter, using his revolutionary life to practice his earnest service to the national conditions and make immortal contributions to China's revolutionary construction. In the letter, he is a filial child who cares about his relatives and a hero who fights for China's prosperity and strength!