After the founding of New China, in order to unite the vast number of patriotic and democratic political parties, groups, and personalities, our party actively recruited them to participate in and discuss state affairs, and even let them join the central government.
However, historical reasons have caused many of these people to have complex backgrounds, and there have been people who have participated in the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army. Nevertheless, our party has treated the past with a broad mind and no blame, and has won widespread praise and respect.
However, there are still some comrades who are dissatisfied and puzzled by this, so some people have written some slips to express their dissatisfaction, such as: "Early revolution is better than late revolution, late revolution is better than no revolution, no revolution is better than counter-revolution, small counter-revolution is not as good as big counter-revolution!" ”
There is some truth to such witty complaints, such as the fact that Li Jishin, a former warlord, was elected vice president in 1949.
Faced with the puzzlement and dissatisfaction of these comrades, Premier Zhou explained: "Mr. Li Jishen is different from a reactionary like Chiang Kai-shek, he has made positive contributions to history, and if we had followed his advice in 1934, the Red Army might not have had to march for thousands of miles..."
Through this explanation, everyone agrees, and no one disagrees. So why did Premier Zhou say this? What historical contribution does Li Jishen have?
Born into a poor peasant family in Cangwu, Guangxi, Li Jishen took an active part in the revolutionary movement that broke out in 1911, threw himself into the fierce struggle with his classmates.
Before the revolution began, in order to make the rebel army more fully prepared, Li Jishen and some revolutionaries used explosives to blow up the southbound railway, delaying the Qing army's southward march to Wuchang.
At the end of 1911, he came to Shanghai to seek to join the Northern Expedition and devote himself to the revolutionary cause. At that time, the revolutionary army was actively expanding its troops, and there was a great demand for talents who understood military affairs, and Army Commander Yao Yuping saw that this outstanding student from the military academy automatically came to the door, which was like a treasure, and immediately appointed Li Jishen as an operational staff officer.
During the Northern Expedition, Li Jishen displayed his outstanding military command ability, he formulated detailed and comprehensive battle plans, and made important contributions to several battles to defeat the Qing army. Due to his outstanding combat exploits, he was promoted to chief of staff of the division.
In 1920, Li Jishen came to Guangzhou and, through Deng Keng's introduction, entered Sun Yat-sen's newly established military government to protect France, served as an adjutant chief, and joined the Kuomintang.
In January 1924, Sun Yat-sen began preparations for the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy. Li Ji was deeply appreciated and trusted by Sun Yat-sen, and became one of the main responsible persons of the preparatory group for the military academy.
In June 1924, the Whampoa Army began to recruit the first batch of cadets. The establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy has contributed to the cultivation of a large number of backbone military talents. Some of these people soon became famous anti-Japanese generals on the mainland and made outstanding contributions to the War of Resistance Against Japan.
However, under the circumstances of constant factional struggle within the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek's suspicions, Li Jishen had close contacts with our party personnel, and as a result, he was directly imprisoned. It was not until after the "918 Incident" that Chiang Kai-shek's unusable people were released.
Later, because Chiang Kai-shek insisted on a policy of non-resistance, the entire territory of Northeast China fell into the hands of Japanese invaders, and Li Jishen thoroughly realized Chiang Kai-shek's true face.
In 1933, Li Jishen decided to officially start "anti-Chiang" and led the 19th Army, which was unwilling to "suppress the communists", to Fuzhou, Fujian Province to establish a new revolutionary government. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek launched successive "encirclement and suppression" against the workers' and peasants' Red Army on Jinggang Mountain, and our party was about to face a long march.
Li Jishen immediately contacted the leader of our party and said: "I hope that both sides can put aside their previous hatred and unite with the outside world." After discussion between Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, they decided that Li Jishen's plan was feasible.
However, after the two sides reached an agreement, Wang Ming raised objections, which led to the breakdown of cooperation, and our party was beaten to pieces by the Kuomintang reactionary forces, and could only embark on the difficult road of the Long March.
Premier Zhou said with regret: "It is really unfortunate that the party insiders are too shallow and refuse to accept the opportunity of others to save the Red Army!" Chairman Mao agreed.
Li Jishen's contribution to the Chinese revolution did not stop there.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, as a veteran of the Kuomintang, Li Ji was deeply dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's so-called policy of "bringing in foreign countries before securing the country," and advocated "uniting with the Communist Party to resist Japan," which provided our party with many conveniences.
In 1945, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was won and the War of Liberation broke out, and Li Jishen was hiding in Hong Kong because he was ostracized by Chiang Kai-shek.
In 1948, Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang regime was increasingly defeated, and even the United States, which supported him, stopped optimizing him and began to look for a replacement.
At this time, Li Jishen entered the field of vision of the Americans. Chiang Kai-shek had been abandoned by the United States, and Li Zongren was not favored, so the United States targeted Li Jishen.
If he agrees to form a so-called "third government" in accordance with the US opinion, it is very likely to provide the United States with an excuse for directly sending troops and seriously damage the interests of the mainland.
However, Li Jishen showed strong patriotic feelings and decisively rejected the US proposal, disagreeing with their so-called plan of "drawing the river and ruling the river."
From this point of view, Li Jishen has also made great contributions to the country and the nation.
Later, in order to prevent the democrats in Hong Kong from going north, Chiang Kai-shek specially sent people to control several of Li Jishen's sons in an attempt to blackmail them.
However, in the face of national righteousness, Li Jishen did not hesitate at all, took advantage of the guards immersed in the joy of Christmas, relaxed his vigilance, and stepped on the Soviet cargo ship prepared by Zhou Enlai with other democrats and went to the Liberated Areas. This made Chiang Kai-shek, who got the news, very angry, but helpless.
Subsequently, Li Jishen and a group of democrats finally arrived in the Liberated Areas and threw themselves into the preparatory work for the CPPCC. In order to hasten the end of the civil war, he relied on his contacts and resources in the Liangguang region to organize anti-Chiang Kai-shek armed forces, and made strong cooperation in the cause of liberation in the south.
After six months of preparation, the first meeting of the preparatory committee of the new CPPCC was held in Zhongnanhai, attended by the CPC, various democratic parties and people from all walks of life. The task of this meeting is to establish a democratic government in order to lead the people in political, economic, cultural and national defense construction in a planned and step-by-step manner after the reunification of the country.
On June 15, 1949, when the first plenary meeting of the preparatory committee of the new CPPCC opened, Li Jishen delivered a speech on behalf of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, saying: "The preparatory meeting for the new political consultative conference is the starting point for building a new China that meets the aspirations of the people. ”
Later, Li Jishen was elected vice chairman of the Central People's Government, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, actively supporting socialism and the leadership of the Communist Party of China, actively consolidating and expanding the patriotic united front, promoting the reunification of the motherland, and enhancing friendship with the people of all countries.
On October 9, 1959, Li Jishen died of illness. On the evening of October 11, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Song Qingling, Peng Zhen and other central leaders went to Zhongshan Hall in Zhongshan Park to mourn Li Jishen. At 10 a.m. on October 12, people from all walks of life in Beijing held a public memorial ceremony at Zhongshan Hall in Zhongshan Park, where Li Jishen represented the remembrance and remembrance of many democrats who contributed to the prosperity, unity and progress of the country and the nation.