Eternal life in the fire

On stage, a huge LED screen shows a bright red background. Standing in front of the camera, Zhang Guimei, the recipient of the "July 1st Medal", gently picked up a book manuscript with her wrinkled hands and began to read it in a slightly trembling voice——

"Sister Jiang took the red flag with both hands, and with a shake of the wind, the five shining venus immediately flew with the red flag..."

This is a classic fragment of the novel Red Rock. In 1961, "Red Rock" was published, and the revolutionary story of the female underground party member "Sister Jiang" spread throughout the north and south of the river. Red Rock has also become a spiritual landmark for communists.

60 years later, Zhang Guimei, an outstanding female Communist Party member who touched China, once again relived the deep memories of hundreds of millions of viewers of "Sister Jiang" and the spirit of Hongyan on the CCTV "Readers" program.

Always towards the East

Always towards the party

The room was small and dimly lit. There are no beds, the futons are directly on the ground, the summer is hot, the winter is cold, and a dozen people are crowded in this small space...

In the autumn, when the mountain city of Chongqing was still humid and hot, the reporter went to the slag cave and walked into the women's prison where the Kuomintang reactionaries were imprisoning "Sister Jiang."

The "Sister Jiang" in the novel is based on the revolutionary martyr Jiang Zhujun, who was only 29 years old when he was killed.

In an exhibition room in the slag cave, the reporter saw a touching photo. In the photo, a young couple and a young child are filled with happy smiles.

This is the only family portrait of Jiang Zhujun's family, taken before she and her husband Peng Yongwu are about to go to the eastern xiachuan region to participate in the armed struggle.

Behind the brief moments of happiness are the difficult choices of the revolutionaries. After taking this photo, Jiang Zhujun entrusted her and her husband's only child, Peng Yun, to her relatives to raise, and resolutely followed her husband to participate in the armed struggle.

Soon after, her husband Peng Yongwu was martyred, and his head was cut off by the enemy and hung at the city gate. Jiang Zhujun endured grief and took over her husband's work. On June 14, 1948, she was arrested for betrayal by traitors.

The child is always a piece of meat in the mother's heart. Before the sacrifice, the only thing Jiang Zhujun carried on his body was a picture of his son. It is hard to imagine how strong a mother and a wife must have to be in order to endure the separation of children and husbands. What kind of strength supported her to make such a choice?

"If you are unfortunate, Yun'er will give it to you, hoping to follow in the footsteps of your parents, to build a new China, and to fight to the end for the cause of the communist revolution." In Jiang Zhujun's "ink" written in "ink" made of bamboo skewers dipped in cotton ash, the reporter found the answer.

In the exhibition hall of the Gele Mountain Martyrs' Cemetery, the reporter's eyes were attracted by dozens of "red hearts" carved with toothbrush handles, some of which were engraved with "Follow the Party" and some with "Long live the Communist Party"...

The producer of these "red hearts" was Yu Zusheng, a 21-year-old Communist Party member at the time of his arrest. In the slag cave, he honed hundreds of such "red hearts", and almost all the imprisoned victims received the "red hearts" he gave.

Each "red heart" is the heart of a revolutionary and the heart of loyalty to the party. As the novel "Red Rock" praises —

"You, petrel in the storm, greet the pre-dawn darkness. Fly! Fight now! Always towards the East, always towards the Party! ”

May my blood be used to donate the soil

In exchange for Shenzhou Yongtai

Chongqing Hongyanzui No. 13, Zengjiayan No. 50, Hutou Yanhua Longxin Village No. 76, the former CPC Southern Bureau, the Eighth Route Army Office, xinhua daily headquarters location. Red Rock is the general name of these 3 places.

Today's Chongqing, the inter-building light rail, the magic overpass, the river ropeway, the dongzi hot pot... Many punch cards with city and fireworks in the world are often talked about by netizens. More than 70 years ago, this was a special position for our Party to fight wits and courage with the reactionaries. The spirit of Red Rock is nurtured in the struggle and immortalized in the fire.

In the early morning, the Jialing River is sparkling, and the boats in the river are dotted with stars. Climbing Gele Mountain overlooks the green color of the Red Rock Revolution Memorial Hall, the White Mansion, the Slag Cave and other educational bases.

"Surrounded by mountains on three sides, in front of a deep ditch, there are six guard booths at the commanding heights, and one machine gun position", this is the scene of the heavily guarded Zha di cave in that year.

Located 2.5 km from Zha Di Cave, there is a country house. It is the white mansion that is called "two living coffins" along with the slag cave. It was held political prisoners who the military command considered "serious cases."

Walking into the "torture room" of that year, under the dim light, all kinds of torture instruments were displayed: tiger stools, fire-backed baskets, wire whips... The eerie atmosphere seems to still tell the darkness before dawn.

It was in these "two living coffins" that Xu Xiaoxuan, Chen Ran, Jiang Zhujun, Xu Jianye, Luo Shiwen, and other revolutionaries who were deeply imprisoned waged an indomitable struggle against the reactionaries.

Chen Ran, the main person in charge of the "Advance Newspaper", was locked up in a damp cell in the White Mansion. Through a secret passage, the victims passed him a half-cut pencil and some cigarette box paper, and he wrote down the outside news he had accidentally obtained during the struggle with the enemy and passed it on the paper.

Enduring the severe pain, Chen Ran wrote down in a dignified manner on the cigarette box paper: "The first issue of the Zhenjin Bao" was published by the White Mansion. In this way, the news of the victory of our Party and our army spread throughout the cells.

Walking into the slag hole, the yellowed pages of the display cabinet are full of long and short verses. People stop here and chant silently —

"Today, we are in prison, what is so rare about going to prison?" In order to save the next generation from suffering, we wish – we would like to wear this prison to rest! ”

On the first day of the first lunar month in 1949, the "Iron Window Poetry Society" composed of He Xuesong, Cai Mengwei, He Jingping, Lan Tiyu, Fu Boyong and 20 other people was secretly established in prison. This poem "Sit through the Bottom of the Prison" is exactly the portrayal of the indomitable revolutionary integrity of the poets in the iron window. Using poetry as a drum of war, revolutionaries criticize the old world, imagine the new world, inspire their companions, and mock their enemies.

On the eve of the righteousness, Lan Tiyu wrote a small poem "Shi'er" for his children's cultivation of the wilderness, "In the future, may you use the spirit of turning autumn into spring to cultivate the barren sand of the motherland into a beautiful garden!" ”

On October 1, 1949, the bright five-star red flag was raised in Tiananmen Square. In the white mansion, which was still shrouded in darkness, Luo Guangbin, Chen Ran, Liu Guoyong, and Ding Diping, full of victory, made a red flag out of a red quilt and a few paper-cut five-pointed stars, which were hidden under the floor of the cell.

Regrettably, this red flag has not been raised. On the eve of the victory, except for Luo Guangbin, who escaped from danger, the other 3 comrades bravely took the initiative.

"May I donate my blood to the soil in exchange for eternal peace in Shenzhou." On November 27, 1949, three days before the liberation of Chongqing, the Kuomintang reactionaries killed more than 200 revolutionary volunteers imprisoned in the White Mansion and the Slag Cave, and the blood of the martyrs stained the Red Gele Mountain.

The mineral sands are refined

in order to produce gold

The sunlight sprinkled on the Gele Mountain Martyrs' Cemetery, through the pines and cypresses, casting dappled light and shadow. A breeze blew through, and the leaves rustled as if the martyrs were whispering.

Walking into the exhibition hall of this martyrs' cemetery, the "Eight Articles in Prison" condensed with the blood of the revolutionary martyrs came into view.

Prevent the corruption of leading members; strengthen education within the party and temper the actual struggle; do not be idealistic and do not be superstitious toward superiors; pay attention to the line problem and do not jump from right to "left"; never despise the enemy; attach importance to the economic, romantic, and life style problems of party members, especially leading cadres; strictly rectify the work style of the whole party; and punish traitors and spies.

This is the bloody last words left to the party by the collective wisdom of the revolutionary heroes and martyrs at the end of their lives, and they are also the heavy sustenance and expectations for new China.

In the solemn exhibition hall, Zhou Yong, an expert in the Party History Research Office of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, told reporters the story behind the "Eight Articles in Prison" --

On the eve of the liberation of Chongqing, the revolutionary ancestors who persisted in the struggle in the slag caves and white mansions, with deep feelings of incomparable loyalty to the cause of the party and the people, tried every means to discuss and exchange views and sum up the experiences and lessons learned in the struggle against the enemy and the building of party organizations in the kuomintang areas.

Later, Luo Guangbin and more than 10 comrades successfully escaped from danger, and with great sadness and indignation, wrote down the analysis, summary, and suggestions of the prison party organizations on revolutionary work, which were later sorted out and refined by party history experts, and became the "eight articles in prison" that we see today.

The first of the "Eight Articles in Prison" refers directly to the leading members. The comrades in prison pointed out to the point that "under the long-term passive and hidden policy, some veteran cadres have not actively demanded their own progress, and gradually in ideology and consciousness, they have developed a tendency to leave the party, and even reflected it in action."

In April 1948, Liu Guoding, then secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, and Ran Yizhi, deputy secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, defected one after another, and the underground party organization in eastern Sichuan was seriously damaged. The martyr Xu Xiaoxuan, who had been imprisoned for 10 years, once reflected that before his arrest, Chongqing had found that under the negative concealment, the ideology and life of individual comrades had a tendency to break away from the party and become corrupt, and they had begun to rectify the situation. I didn't expect that this corruption would later destroy the entire organization, which was really painful and sad.

Party spirit is not innate, and the tempering of work style is not once and for all. As martyr Chen Ran said, "Only after the ore is refined can it produce gold." The profound lessons of loyalty and betrayal made the martyrs solemnly suggest to the organization that "the education within the party and the tempering of practical struggle" and "strictly carry out rectification of the whole party" should be carried out.

Today, the "Eight Articles in Prison" is still deafening to read. Between the lines of this bloody and tearful word, there is a political character of self-purification of a century-old party, reflecting the sober examination of the Marxist political party on itself.

In front of the "Eight Articles in Prison", almost every visitor to the exhibition hall will stop, stare, and meditate. Looking at the back of those who were contemplative and contemplative, a sentence said by the revolutionary martyrs appeared in the reporter's mind: "The living can die in the hearts of the living, and the dead can live in the hearts of the living." ”

The spirit of Hongyan will surely remain in the hearts of the Chinese Communists forever!

Source: People's Liberation Army Daily