A few days ago, in a series of lectures on party history study and education held by the China Financial Information Center, Xu Guangshou, vice president of the Shanghai Communist Party History Society and professor of Shanghai Lixin Institute of Accounting and Finance, told everyone about the "high style and bright festival of early communists and the spirit of party building." The following is the main content of the lecture.
On July 1 this year, at the meeting to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed in an important speech: One hundred years ago, the pioneers of the Communist Party of China founded the Communist Party of China, forming a great spirit of adhering to the truth, adhering to ideals, practicing the original intention, undertaking the mission, not being afraid of sacrifice, heroic struggle, loyalty to the party, and living up to the people, which is the spiritual source of the Communist Party of China.
The great spirit of party building was forged by the pioneers of the Communist Party of China and was formed and perfected in the process of party building. The creators of the great spirit of party building are the pioneers of the Communist Party of China. Who were these pioneers generally referred to? It mainly includes the founders of the Party, the early leaders of the Party, and the martyrs who died heroically during the democratic revolution. The main founders of the party were "Southern Chen Bei Li", that is, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao. Also making major contributions to the building of the party were deputies who participated in the CPC's "First Congress." In addition, there were some early Communists, although they did not participate in the "First Congress", but also made important contributions to the founding of the party, such as Chen Wangdao, Yu Xiusong, Deng Zhongxia, etc., were also included in the list of founders of the party. In addition to Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, the early leaders of the party included Cai Hesen, Deng Zhongxia, Qu Qiubai, Luo Yinong, Chen Yannian, Zhao Shiyan, Zhang Tailei, Zhang Wentian, and others. As for the martyrs who died, the number is even greater.
There are only a few stories that highlight the high spirits and bright days of the early communists.
"Chen Duxiu of "Three Stickers and Three Releases""
Chen Duxiu
Let's start with Chen Duxiu, the main founder of the Chinese Communist Party.
Chen Duxiu is a native of Anqing, Anhui Province, from a family of official eunuchs and scholars. At the age of 17, he was admitted to the first xiucai in Anqing Province. At that time, Anqing was the capital of Anhui, and it was possible to pass the first xiucai, which showed that Chen Duxiu's talent was high. His family wanted him to follow an old path from Xiucai and Juren to Zhuangyuanlang, but he embarked on a new path from the "Kang Party" (those who participated in and approved of Kang Youwei and other people who launched the reform of the Law) to the "chaotic Party" and then to the Communist Party.
Around the time of May Fourth, Chen Duxiu's thinking underwent tremendous changes. Originally, Chen Duxiu was a French fan. In September 1915, he founded the magazine "Youth" in Shanghai, and the second article in the inaugural issue was "The French People and Modern Civilization". He pointed out that the "three major civilizations of the modern world" theory of human rights, biological evolution, and socialism were all founded by France. Therefore, Chen Duxiu placed high expectations on the Paris Peace Conference. However, the dark inside story of the Paris Peace Conference spread to China, which was a huge blow to Chen Duxiu. In Russia after the October Revolution, its domestic and foreign affairs were refreshing. Chen Duxiu's gaze began to shift from France to Soviet Russia.
In the May Fourth Movement, Chen Duxiu has always been at the forefront. Although the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement was in Beijing, what gave Chen Duxiu hope was Shanghai, because the "three strikes" struggle that broke out in Shanghai, including student strikes, business strikes, and workers' strikes, dealt a heavy blow to the Beiyang government, not only forcing the Beiyang government to remove Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang, and Lu Zongyu, three traitors, but also finally refusing to sign the Paris Peace Treaty.
In February 1920, Chen Duxiu was forced to leave Beijing for Shanghai. He began to actively propagate Marxism, mobilize the workers' movement, and promote the integration of Marxism with the Chinese workers' movement. On his visit to Shanghai, his goal was very clear, that is, to create the Communist Party of China in accordance with the agreement with Li Dazhao.
As a celebrity, Chen Duxiu not only has a prominent social status, but also has generous economic treatment. However, for the sake of the great cause of party building and the great cause of revolution, Chen Duxiu "put three stickers and three releases", that is, pasted money, affixed residence, and attached freedom, and gave up high salaries, family property, and status.
Stick money. He used his own writing fees as party funds and provided loan guarantees for progressive groups such as the Wuhan Liqun Book Society and the Changsha Culture Book Society. When Chen Duxiu was the dean of liberal arts at Peking University, his monthly salary was as high as 300 oceans, and he was also the editor-in-chief of New Youth, which at its peak had a circulation of 16,000 copies and a very impressive income. At that time, 1 ocean could buy 10 catties of pork or 40 catties of rice, and the average monthly wage of ordinary workers was 7 oceans. But after creating the Communist Party and becoming leader, he gave up these occupations and high salaries in favor of a living allowance of 40 yuan a month from the Comintern. In addition, his main income is the fee. In 1920, Chen Duxiu guaranteed a loan of 300 yuan to the Yadong Bookstore for the young Mao Zedong and Yun Daiying who came to Shanghai to visit him. Later, in order to raise the party's funds, Chen Duxiu handed over the articles he had published since the founding of "New Youth" to the Yadong Book Company to compile and publish them in an anthology, subsidizing the party's funds with manuscript fees and royalties.
Stickers to the residence. Chen Duxiu used his shanghai apartment as the editorial office of New Youth, which was actually the place where the Shanghai Initiation Group of the Communist Party of China was founded. Soon after Chen Duxiu returned to Shanghai, he moved into No. 2 Old Yuyangli. At that time, No. 2 Laoyuyangli was a sacred place in the hearts of progressive youth. Many progressive young people walked into the front of No. 2 Laoyuyangli, their hearts were full of confusion and confusion, but when they went out, they were in a good mood and invigorated, and the young Mao Zedong was one of them. Upstairs in Old Yuyang Li No. 2 is the bedroom and study of Chen Duxiu's family of four, and there are two large rooms downstairs, one of which is the editorial office of New Youth. At that time, the editor of "New Youth" was Chen Wangdao. Chen Wangdao was the translator of the first full translation of the communist manifesto Chinese, and due to the suspension of the Weekly Review, Chen Wangdao was temporarily idle, and Chen Duxiu invited him to live in his home to edit the New Youth. In addition, Zhang Guotao, Zhang Shenfu, Li Da, and Li Zhong, the first workers' party member, lived in No. 2 in Laoyuyangli.
Stickers are free. For the revolution, Chen Duxiu was wanted 8 times in his life, arrested 5 times, and detained 4 times. In June 1919, he was arrested and imprisoned for the first time for distributing leaflets of the Beijing Citizens' Manifesto, and spent 98 days living in a closed window. In October 1932, Chen Duxiu was arrested for the fifth time and imprisoned by the Kuomintang government for 4 years and 10 months.
Chen Duxiu's life was bright and honest, and he treated people frankly. Lu Xun commented that he was "consistent in appearance, no difference between inside and outside, clear at a glance, and there is no need to be wary." Deng Xiaoping commented that he "did not engage in conspiracies and tricks." On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of Chen Duxiu's birth in 2019, the Second Research Department of the Institute of Literature of the CPC Central Committee published a long article entitled "Commemorating the 140th Anniversary of Chen Duxiu's Birth" in the tenth issue of the authoritative journal "Research on the History of the Communist Party of China", which highly praised Chen Duxiu: "The spiritual leader of the new cultural movement, the commander-in-chief of the May Fourth Movement, the main disseminator of Marxism, the main founder of the Communist Party of China, and the main leader of the early Communist Party of China." ”
"Staunch Marxist Li Dazhao"
Li Dazhao
Li Dazhao is a native of Leting, Hebei Province, from a family of cultivators and readings, 10 years younger than Chen Duxiu. He has a prominent quality, that is, to take on the mission and live up to the people. This is part of the great founding spirit of the Party. The motto "Iron shoulders moral righteousness, clever hands write articles" is his best portrayal. Li Dazhao was a staunch Marxist, before whom many people had propagated Marxism, but none of them openly professed their belief in Marxism, and Li Dazhao was the first to make it clear that he believed in Bolshevism.
Another lofty spirit of Li Dazhao is not afraid of sacrifice and heroic struggle. In his essay "Sacrifice", he said: "The purpose of life is to develop one's own life, but there are also times when one must sacrifice one's life in order to develop one's life." Because of ordinary development, sometimes it is not as good as heroic sacrifice enough to prolong the sound and brilliance of life. April 28, 1927 was the day of Li Dazhao's heroic righteousness, and in the face of the enemy's gallows, he was fearless and was the first to go up.
Li Dazhao also has the spiritual qualities of selfless dedication and single-mindedness for the public. His income is not low, but his family has always been poor. After Li Dazhao's death, some reactionary military police took reporters to his home to raid his home, thinking that his family must be very rich, because Li Dazhao not only served as a professor at Peking University and secretary of the Northern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee for a long time, but also the director of the Northern Executive Department of the Kuomintang, but after he went there, he found that his family was simply destitute. Li Dazhao often received poor students and comrades, and the Complete Works of Li Dazhao included the guarantee he submitted to the accounting department of the university in September 1919 for Liu Renjing, a student of Peking University, for "accommodation and other fees". What is particularly touching is that he also paid his own salary to use as party funds. According to the party concerned, in September 1920, when the early organization of the Communist Party of Beijing and the Marxist Theory Research Association of Peking University held its first meeting, Li Dazhao publicly announced that he would donate 80 yuan a month for various work. This exceeded half of Li Dazhao's salary, so much so that Peking University President Cai Yuanpei intervened, and he took care of the Accounting Department of Peking University: in the future, Mr. Dazhao's salary will only be allowed to take half of it, and the other half will be taken home by Mrs. Dazhao.
Li Dazhao dared to be bold and bold, and was bright and upright. When Chen Duxiu was released from prison, he wrote a three-paragraph long poem full of enthusiasm , "Welcome Duxiu out of Prison", which was sincere and sincere, and published it several times, expressing his deep friendship for Chen Duxiu and his comrades-in-arms.
Li Dazhao is a model for practicing the great spirit of party building. In October 2019, Wang Huning, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, spoke highly of Li Dazhao in his speech at the symposium commemorating the 130th anniversary of Li Dazhao's birth, saying that Li Dazhao was "a model of firm faith and loyalty to the party, a model of adhering to the original intention and benefiting the people, a model of courage to take responsibility and dare to be the first, a model of daring to struggle and being good at struggle, a model of adhering to the truth and seeking truth from facts, and a model of honesty and integrity and high moral character."
"The Youth Backbone of the Early Communist Party"
The backbone of the young Communists in the early days was the main force of the party, and its representative figures were Mao Zedong, Chen Yannian, Cai Hesen, Zhou Enlai, Yu Xiusong, and so on.
Mao Zedong was undoubtedly the best of these young cadres. Before and after the founding of the party, the biggest characteristic of the young Mao Zedong was that he was truth-seeking and pragmatic. He gave up going to France to study work-study and chose to stay in China, just to further understand the current situation in the country. The work style of seeking truth and being pragmatic also enabled him to go deep into the industrial and mining areas and rural areas to develop party organizations and strengthen the revolutionary forces after the "first congress" of the party. In particular, in 1922, the Anyuan Road miners' strike led by Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi and others won a comprehensive victory. This was the first workers' strike under the independent leadership of the Communist Party of China and a complete victory, and it was a feat in the history of the Chinese workers' movement.
At the "Three Congresses" of the Party held in Guangzhou in June 1923, Chen Duxiu only praised Hunan in his work report, saying that "only Hunan's work can be said to be relatively well done." It was precisely this pragmatic style of seeking truth that enabled Mao Zedong to later lead the Cpc from the cities to the countryside, from the workers to the peasants, and opened up a new road for the Chinese revolution.
Chen Yannian
Chen Yannian was the eldest son of Chen Duxiu, who transformed from anarchist to staunch Marxist in his early years. After Chen Yannian was sent back from the Soviet Union in 1924, he soon served as the secretary of the Guangdong District Committee of the Communist Party of China, led the provincial and Hong Kong general strike, and developed and expanded the party organization in Guangdong. Chen Duxiu never took much care of this eldest son, but put him in the most difficult and even dangerous place. In April 1927, when Chen Yannian went to Wuhan to participate in the "Five Congresses" of the Party, the Central Committee appointed him to take over as the secretary of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang District Committee of the Communist Party of China, and he immediately transferred to Shanghai. Soon after, there was a counter-revolutionary coup d'état on April 12, and Shanghai fell into white terror. Chen Yannian came to Shanghai regardless of his personal safety to look for separated comrades, restore and rebuild party organizations, and actively carry out struggles. On June 26, Chen Yannian was unfortunately arrested for betrayal by traitors, and the enemy tortured him to the death, but he insisted on party secrets and preferred to die. On the night of June 29, he died heroically on the banks of the Fenglin Bridge in Shanghai.
Yu Xiusong is also a representative of this group of young backbones. Among the early Communists, if Li Dazhao was a model for the older generation of Communists, then Yu Xiusong was a model for the younger generation. As one of the 8 founders of China's first Socialist Youth League, he not only served as the first secretary and actively guided the work of building the league in various localities, but also participated in the creation of the Foreign Chinese Society, which trained a large number of proletarian revolutionaries for our party. In his daily work and life, Yu Xiusong was not only loyal to the party, but also attached importance to friendship, family affection, and love, which can be called a model of the high moral character of early communists.
People without spirit cannot stand, the country without spirit is not strong, and the party without spirit will not prosper.
When the Communist Party of China was born in 1921, there were more than 400 political parties and political groups across the country, but only one party stood out in the end, that is, the Chinese Communist Party. Why? One of the important reasons is that the Communist Party of China has formed a great spirit of party building, and with the spirit of party building as the source, it has formed the spiritual genealogy of Chinese communists. In the various historical periods of revolution, construction, reform, and rejuvenation, various spirits of positive progress and high spirits have emerged, such as the spirit of Jinggangshan, the spirit of Yan'an, the spirit of the Long March, the spirit of Lei Feng, the spirit of Jiao Yulu, and so on. Although each spiritual quality is a product of a specific era background and environment, they are in line with the great founding spirit of the Communist Party of China.
Inheriting the great spirit of party building, we must bravely take up the baton of the pioneers, continue to move forward, and make unremitting efforts to achieve the historic task of making the country rich and strong and the people happy and the second centenary goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Professor Xu Guangshou in the lecture. (Courtesy of China Financial Information Center)
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gong Danyun Text Editor: Xu Bei Title Image Source: Shangguan Tu Editor Photo Editor: Zhu Xuan
Source: Author: Xu Guangshou