"Shou Chang is dead, Yan Nian is dead... Except for Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the Party Central Committee has no reliable people, I am backward, I am old, the Central Committee is meeting, what can I do? I am not willing to be led by the nose by others, so why should I cause everyone to disperse without results? --Chen Duxiu
Whenever I see Chen Duxiu's life in his later years, I feel a pang of heartache. This man, who has devoted his life to the country, was so desolate in his old age.
Picture | stills of Chen Duxiu
In fact, like Hu Shi, he could have gone to the United States to live an exquisite life and be an egoist, and he could have accepted Chiang Kai-shek's invitation to go to the Kuomintang to get an official and a half-post, but he did not have it. He founded the Communist Party of China, a real communist, he only wanted to do something for the suffering Chinese people, and he gave everything for it, even his two children he loved the most were sacrificed, his friends and confidants were also sacrificed, and he himself was ruthlessly imprisoned, and in such a rough life, he died in loneliness.
Perhaps this is the greatness of the revolutionaries. In 1937, Chairman Mao sent Ye Jianying and Zhou Enlai to persuade Chen Duxiu to come to Yan'an and return to the party, but Chen Duxiu politely refused. Nevertheless, his historical contributions will never be erased, and his name will always be remembered by history.
Pictured| Chen Duxiu
One of Chen Duxiu's contributions: exploring revolution with Li Dazhao
Let's first introduce the background of Chen Duxiu's era.
Since the beginning of the Opium War, China has begun to be colonized by foreign invaders, in 1840, the British invaders in order to make the people of the Qing Dynasty lose the ability to resist, lost every conscience to introduce opium into China, resulting in tens of millions of people withering, even the palace there are many high-ranking officials in the opium smoking, Lin Zexu wrote to the Guang Emperor, if not stopped, the Great Qing is in danger!
This led to the Daoguang Emperor's order lin Zexu to smoke at Humen, but this gave the invaders an excuse, and since then, the closed-door Qing Dynasty could not withstand foreign guns and cannons, and began to seek peace everywhere, starting from 1842, signing a series of unequal treaties such as the Treaty of Nanjing, the Treaty of Tianjin, the Treaty of Maguan, and the Treaty of Xinugu, and China gradually degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.
Pictured| Battle of Jiawu
The so-called colony refers to the economic exploitation, cultural invasion and political enslavement of another country. No wonder it is said that the Great Qing dynasty is corrupt and incompetent. In particular, at that time, the Sino-Japanese War was originally powerful in the Qing Dynasty, but it was because of corruption and corruption that Deng Shichang was martyred, and the country of Japanese projectiles was victorious.
Because of this, the country is in urgent need of patriots to save, Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, slowly came.
Chen Duxiu was born in 1879, 10 years older than Li Dazhao, and in the twenty-third year of Guangxu, that is, in 1897, the 18-year-old Chen Duxiu was ordered by his mother to go to Nanjing to participate in the township examination, and unfortunately fell behind. It doesn't matter if he can't pass the exam, what is important is that this exam allowed Chen Duxiu to witness the corruption in the official arena at that time.
In fact, the open-minded Chen Duxiu originally thought that Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao's path was correct, but after the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China, Chen Duxiu was greatly shaken, and he deeply understood that "Kang Xue" could not save the country.
Therefore, since 1901, Chen Duxiu began to actively carry out anti-Qing propaganda activities, so he was wanted by the Qing government, and in desperation, Chen Duxiu went abroad to explore a new way to save the country! You must know that in that kind of environment at that time, there were very few people who could have thoughts like Chen Duxiu.
Pictured| Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao
In Japan, Chen Duxiu embraced the idea of new democracy. After returning to China, in a speech at the Anqing Library (now the Hongqi Road Regional Broadcasting Bureau), he actually shouted out the slogans of "democracy" and "science" for the first time in the world. That is to say, Chen Duxiu was the first person in China to propose "Mr. De" and "Mr. Sai".
Chen Duxiu was wanted after propagating these ideas, and he went to Japan for the second time, until after the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, Chen Duxiu returned to China to teach at the Zhejiang Army Academy. At that time, Sun Yat-sen recruited a wide range of righteous soldiers from all over the world, and Chen Duxiu was no exception, he served as the secretary general of the Anhui Governor's Office and became the leader of the democratic revolution in Anhui.
Soon, Yuan Shikai stole the fruits of victory in the Xinhai Revolution, Chen Duxiu was arrested and imprisoned after the failure of the "Second Revolution", and a year later, he went to Japan to help Zhang Shizhao found the magazine Jiayin, that is, during the second period, he strengthened Li Dazhao.
Pictured| Li Dazhao
In February 1914, Li Dazhao was admitted to the bachelor's degree in political economy at Waseda University in Tokyo, and in June he submitted an article to Jiayin, signed by Li Shouchang. After Chen Duxiu read Li Dazhao's article, his eyes suddenly opened up, and he felt that he had found his good friend.
Soon, Zhang Shizhao invited Li Dazhao out, and after Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao met, they met and hated each other late, and the two people's ideas of saving the country coincided.
In 1915, Chen Duxiu founded the "Youth Magazine" in Shanghai, which was soon changed to "New Youth", and in the inaugural issue, he published an article entitled "Greetings to youth", which can be described as a sensation in the whole country, when Li Dazhao was still in Japan, in order to echo Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao sent a good article to Chen Duxiu, that is, the famous "Youth".
Figure | "New Youth"
These two people received the attention of China's educational circles, in 1917, Cai Yuanpei and Gu Maolu invited Chen Duxiu to teach at Peking University and serve as the dean of liberal arts, Chen Duxiu brought "New Youth" back to Beijing, a year later, Li Dazhao also came to Peking University as the director of the Peking University Library, after which the two people talked day and night in the Red Chamber, that is, at this time, more and more people joined the new cultural movement with great influence.
Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Shao Piaoping, etc. At this moment, the young Mao Zedong had just graduated from Hunan Normal School, and out of yearning for the two teachers, Mao Zedong came to visit and entered the library of Peking University under the recommendation of his mentor Yang Changji.
It was 1918.
Picture | March 1918, the eighth class of the Hunan Provincial First Normal School was photographed, and the second from the right in the fourth row was Mao Zedong
One of Chen Duxiu's contributions: the guide of the young Mao Zedong
Long before Mao Zedong came to Beijing, he was a loyal reader of "New Youth", and his "Study of Sports" was first published in "New Youth". For Mao Zedong, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao always had a charm that he wanted to know, and of course, as the mentor of the New Culture Movement, Mao Zedong did not expect to see them both.
By chance, in the winter of 1918, Mao Zedong came to the library of Peking University as a librarian under the recommendation of his mentor Yang Changji, although the monthly salary was only 8 yuan, Mao Zedong was not happy, because there were too many books here, Mao Zedong was a person who loved books, and this job was tantamount to sending charcoal in the snow for him.
He loves to read, and he also loves to read at night, which has attracted the attention of Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu. When Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu introduced Mao Zedong, Chen Duxiu was surprised. Looking at all the students in Peking University, there are almost no people like Mao Zedong who stay in the library all day and read without sleeping or eating. Mao Zedong was not a student at Peking University, and this kind of hard work is too rare.
Pictured| young Mao Zedong
Soon, Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu took the initiative to chat with Mao Zedong and introduced him to Shao Piaoping, Liang Shuming, Zhou Zuoren, Lu Xun and others, especially Shao Piaoping, who founded the Beijing Daily and the News Compilation Agency in Beijing and taught journalism at Peking University. At that time, Peking University established the Journalism Research Association, mao Zedong was one of the members, and Later Shao Piaoping recalled: That young man was particularly fond of learning and was particularly polite. It's Mao Zedong.
As far as reading is concerned, it is still far from achieving ideological upgrading, and it is precisely at that time that a world-renowned event occurred, that is, the Paris Peace Conference, which contributed to the "May Fourth Movement" that changed China.
The so-called Paris Peace Conference, the background is that after the First World War, Our country is an Allied country, it is reasonable to say that after the war, Qingdao, which was originally leased to Germany, should be returned to our country, but Japan took advantage of the world war to declare war on Germany to drive out the Germans in Qingdao and forced the Allies to agree to sublet Qingdao to Japan. For China, it's not just about Qingdao, it's about the dignity of Chinese.
Pictured| Gu Weijun at the Paris Peace Conference
It is reasonable to say that China is also a victorious power, so why did Qingdao, which originally belonged to China, be given to Japan? Looking back, in the history of a hundred years, how many places the Qing Dynasty gave to foreigners, this humiliation absolutely cannot happen again! Therefore, this incident caused a strong protest from the vast number of young people, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao led the Peking University students to strike collectively, forcing the government to refuse to sign the Paris Peace Treaty, and finally forcing Japan to make concessions and had to return Qingdao to China.
In fact, the May Fourth Movement took place because it drew on the experience of the October Revolution in Russia, as Chairman Mao later said, "The sound of a cannon of the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism." "Of course, there is another reason, that is, the "New Youth" magazine has transmitted this progressive idea to the domestic youth before, so that more and more young people realize that this is a matter of Chinese dignity, this is their own country.
In fact, before the May Fourth Movement, something similar happened in our country, that is, "writing on the bus", the so-called "book on the bus" refers to the fact that it coincided with the Beijing Examination, and thousands of candidates happened to hear about the signing of the "Maguan Treaty" that lost power and humiliated the country when they were in Beijing, which triggered a protest, so Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others jointly signed many students, wrote on the bus, and opposed the signature. But the effect is not good.
Pictured| the book on the bus
This is because there were too few progressive young people like Xiang Kang Youwei at that time, and the youth of the whole country did not have such consciousness at all; in other words, due to the backwardness of thinking, ordinary people did not even know "what is their own country", and the concept was quite vague, so looking at the "May Fourth Movement", "New Youth" or the New Culture Movement, played a great role in promoting the success of this movement.
Under the guidance of Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, Mao Zedong gradually opened up his own thinking, learned about the October Revolution, and learned about Marxism-Leninism, which laid a great foundation for Mao Zedong's future revolutionary movement.
Picture | stills from "The Age of Awakening"
Chen Duxiu's third contribution: the establishment of the Communist Party of China
In the summer of 1919, Mao Zedong left Peking University because his mother was seriously ill, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao specially sent Mao Zedong off, and before leaving, Mao Zedong asked Chen Duxiu a fundamental question, Mao Zedong asked him, Mr. Zhongfu advocated a new culture, then should the ideas left by our ancestors be abandoned? Chen Duxiu said: Our new cultural movement is to make the Chinese people accept new concepts and new ideas, and they do not conflict with the old culture.
Chen Duxiu's influence on Mao Zedong was indeed enormous.
When Mao Zedong returned to Peking University in the winter of 1919, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were already planning an earth-shattering event, that is, the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party. At that time, Chen Duxiu re-organized "New Youth" in Shanghai, and Li Dazhao stayed at Peking University to give support. Just as the so-called Chen Duxiu Li Dazhao, "one south and one north" met to build the party.
Pictured| 1920, young Mao Zedong (fourth from left) in Beijing
In fact, Chen Duxiu came to Shanghai by accident, and when the domestic situation became more and more tense, Li Dazhao secretly sent Chen Duxiu to Shanghai. Prior to this, Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu had already made a great deal of ideological and cadre preparations, and at that time, the Siberian Bureau of the Russian Communist Party (Brazzaville) sent Vyjingsky and others to China to understand the situation in China and to examine whether the East Asian Secretariat of the Communist International could be established in Shanghai. These things contributed to the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
In May 1920, Mao Zedong went to Shanghai to discuss with Chen Duxiu the plan to organize the "Transformation of the Hunan Alliance", and in addition to giving detailed opinions on the plan to transform the Hunan Alliance, He also talked to Mao Zedong about his own plan for party building. At this time, Mao Zedong and Chen Duxiu met sincerely and did not say anything. It was this contact that gave Chen Duxiu a profound influence on Mao's transformation from a radical democrat to a Marxist. As Mao Zedong later said to Snow: "Chen Duxiu's words of his faith may have been a crucial period in my life, and they had a profound impact on me. ”
In August 1920, Chen Duxiu, Li Hanjun, Li Da, and others established the early organization of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, the "Shanghai Communist Group". After the establishment of the Shanghai Communist Group, Chen Duxiu immediately wrote a letter to Mao Zedong in Changsha, asking Mao Zedong to establish the party in Hunan and sending some progressive books and newspapers to Mao Zedong.
At that time, after receiving Chen Duxiu's letter, Mao Zedong immediately secretly established the Hunan Communist Group, and also repeatedly briefed Cai Hesen and others in Paris on the founding of the party, and Chen Duxiu had great trust in Mao Zedong's work. For example, after the first congress of the Communist Party of China, the workers' movement became the focus of the CCP's work, and when summarizing the workers' movement in various places, Chen Duxiu once said: "The work in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hubei has not been satisfactory, and only comrades in Hunan can say that the work is very good." ”
On July 23, 1921, the first national congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghai, and in 1923, Chen Duxiu transferred Mao Zedong to Shanghai, and Mao Zedong entered the core of the LEADERSHIP of the Communist Party for the first time in the three major congresses of the Communist Party of China. In fact, Chen Duxiu's leadership within the Party has always been correct and majestic, but during the Great Revolution, Chen Duxiu was suspended from work because of a mistake.
Chen Duxiu supported Mao's leadership
We know that during the "Middle East Road" incident, Chen Duxiu was notified by the Comintern to stop working because of Trotsky's ideas, and soon after, Chen Duxiu was dismissed from his post in the Party.
Because the details are too complicated, we will not dwell on them too much, in fact, we are very clear that the difference between Mao Zedong and Chen Duxiu is that Mao Zedong really understood China's national conditions. For example, in 1927, before Mao Zedong went to Jinggangshan, he discussed with everyone how to go next, and if he followed the instructions of the Comintern, he should attack Changsha, but Mao Zedong decided to go to Jinggangshan to become a "mountain king".
Figure | March after the Autumn Harvest Uprising
This seems a bit unrealistic, in ancient times this was called the king of the mountains, the grass for the curse, but it is Mao Zedong's rural line that ensures the strength of the Red Army is developing. Zhou Enlai affirmed this.
Of course, that is, at this time, Mao Zedong's strategic ability has been displayed, before going up the mountain, there are Yuan Wencai's troops stationed on the mountain, if the Red Army uses "force" to attack the mountain, it is easy, this is also the idea of most people, but Mao Zedong believes that although Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo occupy the mountain as king, they are also local armed forces, which can be absorbed, in short, the advantages of peaceful coexistence outweigh the disadvantages, and Mao Zedong's strategic thinking is deeply convincing.
Picture | Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo
At first, the Comintern also expressed dissatisfaction with Mao Zedong's approach, but slowly they found that the line of peasant armed forces and the rural encirclement of the cities established by Mao Zedong seemed to be very much in line with China's national conditions, and once followed the process of the "Vermilion" Red Army, and after many meetings, affirmed the correctness of Mao Zedong's line, so that the approval of Mao Zedong as a political and military leader was the most important change in the party.
On the other hand, after Chen Duxiu left the party, he actually always expressed support for Mao Zedong's leadership and always maintained an objective and realistic attitude. After all, Chen Duxiu recognized Mao Zedong's ability, and that year, that year, that is, in 1927, Mr. Li Dazhao's heroic sacrifice was a great blow to Chen Duxiu.
Of course, this is enough to show that Mao Zedong is a person who really understands China, unlike Chen Duxiu, Qu Qiubai and others, who have studied abroad, and will not say anything very official, "what Marx said, what Lenin said", in the revolutionary road, Chairman Mao often said, "Tell Hanako to beat the dog, fight and go." "The road is facing the sky, each side." Although it is very cheesy, it is very accurate to explain things clearly.
Tu | Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai waiting together
It was not until 1934, after the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, that Mao's ability had once again been demonstrated, when the Comintern had already established its attitude toward Mao, and they openly stated that Mao Zedong should become the leader of the Chinese Communist Party.
The leader is the sail of the ship, the beacon in the vast sea, the center of all action, and in the Party at that time, without a definite leader, it is tantamount to a leaderless group.
Soon, at the Zunyi Conference, Mao Zedong's leadership position was finally determined, and with the strong support of Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong became the highest leader in the party.
After that, Chairman Mao led the Red Army through thorns and thorns, and finally completed the 25,000-mile Long March, creating a great miracle in the history of the Chinese revolution.
Figure | Long March
Chen Duxiu walked alone through his life
In fact, after the September 18 Incident, Chen Duxiu published a series of articles proposing anti-Chiang Kai-shek's anti-Japanese views. In 1932, Chen Duxiu was arrested by the Kuomintang in Shanghai and sentenced to 13 years for "endangering the Republic of China", the fifth time in his life.
At this time, Chen Duxiu was very calm after being imprisoned, at that time, his two sons, Chen Qiaonian and Chen Yannian, were sacrificed, and for him, there was no longer any attachment. Therefore, He Yingqin, the defense minister of the Kuomintang government, met him alone and asked him for words, and he wrote down several big words: "The three armies can seize the marshal, but the puppet cannot seize the will."
In 1937, after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chen Duxiu was released from prison early.
Figure | Chen Duxiu (right)
As the founder of the Chinese Communist Party, Chen Duxiu's ability is beyond doubt. At this time, during the period of the joint resistance of the Kuomintang and the Communists, Chen Duxiu's whereabouts became a big problem. In fact, Chen Duxiu has three options in front of him.
First, Chiang Kai-shek once made him the minister of labor of the Kuomintang government, and even invested 100,000 yuan to ask him to establish another party, but Chen Duxiu directly refused.
Second, Hu Shi invited him to the United States. Hu Shi was living in the United States at that time, which was an invitation from a close friend of the year, and Chen Duxiu also politely declined.
Third, Chairman Mao sent Zhou Enlai to persuade Chen Duxiu to come to Yan'an and return to work within the party. Zhou Enlai and Chen Duxiu had known each other very early, and Chen Duxiu also admired this young man, but Chen Duxiu did not agree.
At the end of June 1938, Chen Duxiu took a boat from Hankou up the river and arrived in Jiangjin in August to live.
Picture | Chen Duxiu's friend, from right: Li Dazhao, Hu Shi, Cai Yuanpei
In February 1939, Chen Duxiu was seriously ill, and chairman Mao learned of it, and asked Zhou Enlai to visit Chen Duxiu in Chongqing. Zhou Enlai met Chen Duxiu accompanied by Zhu Yunshan, the elder of the Xinhai Revolution. The conversation at that time was as follows:
"Mr. Duxiu, long gone, hello!"
"Mr. Duxiu, Enlai is busy and has come to visit you from Chongqing."
"Enlai, Yunshan, hello! You came to see me Chen Mou, I am very grateful. ”
Zhou Enlai expressed the hope that Chen Duxiu would consider Chairman Mao's intentions, write a check, and return to Yan'an, but Chen Duxiu still did not agree, and then he said the words: "Shou Chang is dead, Yannian is dead,...... Except for Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong, the Party Central Committee has no reliable people, I am backward, I am old, the Central Committee is meeting, what should I do? I don't want to be led by the nose, so why should I let everyone scatter without results? ”
Chen Duxiu said eloquently: Don't go, thank you Runzhi for me. A sentence of runzhi tells how many past events. From his meaning, it seems to see a little helplessness, yes, the best friend sacrificed, the children are also sacrificed, only he is alone, upside down and displaced.
Figure | the tomb of Mr. Chen Duxiu
Chen Duxiu is a person with an independent personality, which is beyond doubt, at that time he was 60 years old, he could go to spend his old age in peace, but he chose to go to Jiangjin, Sichuan, to complete his life alone. On May 27, 1942, Chen Duxiu died in the Jiangjin Stone Wall Courtyard at the age of 63 in the midst of poverty and illness.
Chen Duxiu is bright and clear
Deng Xiaoping once commented on Chen Duxiu, saying: Chen Duxiu is not engaged in conspiracies and tricks!
Although Chen Duxiu was poor and destitute in his later years and had no political status, he always cared about the development of the situation and did what he could for the propaganda of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
It is not difficult to find that under the impetus of the dual tasks of salvation and enlightenment in modern China, for the independence of the Chinese nation and the liberation of the Chinese people, the young Chen Duxiu painstakingly sought the truth of saving the country and saving the people, practiced what he preached, advanced with the times, was indomitable, and bravely moved forward. Together with his comrades-in-arms of the same period, he chose Marxism and the Communist Party of China for modern China in theory and practice, and chose the theory of scientific socialism, which can be described as "simple in the beginning and simple in the beginning, and will be completely completed", with brilliant results and far-reaching influence.
Just like that sentence, after running away for half a life, he is still a teenager when he returns. In fact, Chen Duxiu's ideal is that he has been doing something for new China, but he has no definite method. He is the one who founded the party, he is also the one who left the party, he has a strong executive power, he also has a unique thinking power, he looks like a complex person, but in fact he is a simple person, a person who simply wants to make China better, and he simply wants to make China better.
Of course, throughout that era, the country at that time needed to be explored, and not only him, but even the greater people, could not always advance their ideas. The revolutionaries represented by Chen Duxiu are greater than they are in their own time, daring to stand up and speak, and daring to be a sharp blade that cuts through the darkness.
As Chairman Mao said, he and Li Dazhao were their true teachers. Chairman Mao has never forgotten Chen Duxiu.
Pictured| Chairman Mao
The Resolution on Several Historical Issues Concerning the Party, adopted in 1945, affirmed the correctness of the Communist Party of China led by Chen Duxiu in the early and middle periods of the Great Revolution. Chairman Mao also praised Chen Duxiu in his report on the "Seven Work Guidelines" as "the commander-in-chief of the May Fourth Movement" and held that Chen Duxiu had made meritorious contributions to the creation of the party!
This not only reflects Chairman Mao's attitude of seeking truth from facts toward historical figures, but also shows that Chairman Mao has not forgotten those who have had a profound influence on him.
In summary.
No one is a sage, and no one can be blameless. Pi Fu is still invincible, let alone Chen Gong!