The Paper's reporter Chen Sisi
【Editor's Note】
Shanghai is the birthplace of the party and the place where its original intention originated.
Over the past hundred years, Shanghai has continuously reformed, explored, innovated and practiced, and has become a window and a banner for the world to see China.
In 2021, The Paper traces back a hundred years, visits the old revolutionary sites, toures red venues, traces secret radios, hooks and sinks revolutionary publications, decrypts red agents, rereads the left-wing characters... The Surging News launched a series of reports on "Red Shanghai • ChuXin Road".
On the pedestrian street of Nanjing Road, a stainless steel monument stands in front of Taikang Food Company, which is clearly engraved with the six characters of "May 30 Massacre Memorial". Photo by The Paper's reporter Chen Sisi
In the bustling Pedestrian Street of Nanjing Road in Shanghai, there is a monument.
Stop and take a closer look, the monument is inscribed with a bloody incident nearly a hundred years ago: on May 30, 1925, on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, more than a dozen people were killed and dozens injured.
To trace this history, known as the "May Thirtieth Massacre," we must first talk about the sacrifice of Gu Zhenghong, a member of the Communist Party.
Gu Zhenghong The picture comes from the official website of the Shanghai Municipal Local History Office
sacrifice
In 1905, Gu Zhenghong was born in a poor peasant family, and at the age of 17, after his father interceded with many parties, he entered the Ninth Cotton Factory run by Japanese capitalists as a sweeper, and then through the introduction of his co-workers, he entered the Seventh Factory of the Japanese Merchants' Inner and Outer Cotton Spinning Factory as a pan worker.
In 1924, he entered the Huxi Workers' Club founded by the Communist Party of China, insisted on listening to lectures, and made rapid progress in thinking and study, and soon understood that only when the working class was organized and persisted in the struggle could it overthrow Japanese imperialism and capitalists.
Within three months of the establishment of the Huxi Workers' Club, nineteen spinning mills established secret organizations of the club, and the total number of workers participating was nearly a thousand. In early February 1925, workers in the cotton factory held a strike for "opposing the beating and expulsion of workers by the Orientals", and Gu Zhenghong grew rapidly during the strike and joined the Communist Party of China.
On May 14, 1925, the Japanese dismissed workers for no reason, arrested workers' representatives, closed factory doors, stopped production, and prevented workers from going to work.
Gu Zhenghong organized his co-workers to wage a struggle against the Japanese capitalists. According to the "Putuo District Chronicle", on May 15, 1925, the Japanese merchants closed the Neiwai cotton factory 12 and 7 factories, and posted a notice to stop work for 2 days. Gu Zhenghong led the workers who asked to go to work, knocked on the factory door, and poured into the factory area. The Japanese guarding the gate raised wooden sticks and iron rods to beat the workers. Gu Zhenghong led the crowd straight to the material room, each holding a shuttle stick to defend himself.
Gu Zhenghong used a shuttle stick (replica) to resist the Japanese capitalists' armed suppression of workers' self-defense. Gu Zhenghong Memorial Hall WeChat public number picture
Daiban Kawamura, Japan, of the Seventh Factory, led a group of thugs and rushed with weapons. Kawamura raised his gun to shoot, and Gu Zhenghong's body was shot several times and fell in a pool of blood. Eleven workers were injured, 4 of them. At about 2 p.m. the next day, Gu Zhenghong died of his injuries at the age of 20.
Strike demonstrations in the cotton factories inside and outside the Gu Zhenghong massacre. Shanghai Longhua Martyrs Cemetery "Longhua Heroic Martyrs" WeChat public number picture
On May 16, all workers in various factories in Inner and Outer Cotton went on strike to protest, and more than 10,000 workers gathered in Tanziwan Square to organize a strike committee, proposing eight conditions for punishing the murderers and recognizing the trade union; and setting up workers' pickets, speech teams, and relief teams to carry out their work. The strike committee twice issued a manifesto to trade unions, schools, and newspapers throughout the country, accusing Japanese businessmen of atrocities and calling on compatriots throughout the country to support them; sending representatives to schools and groups throughout the city to publicize them; and distributing leaflets throughout the city. Various trade unions, student unions and small and medium-sized business groups have issued declarations of solidarity, students have taken to the streets to give speeches and collect donations, more than 30 groups have formed the "Snow Shame Association for the Massacre of Compatriots by Japanese People", and the representatives of groups that have gone to Tanziwan to mourn the martyrs have flowed endlessly.
On May 24, the "Gu Zhenghong Martyrs Memorial Conference" was held in Tanziwan. At the meeting, there were hangings of the link, the camphor and the plaque, and the portrait of the martyr was hung in the middle, the banner was "Pioneer of the Workers", and the banner was "Although the gentleman is dead, the spirit is not dead; the murderer is still there, where is the axiom!?" The martyr's spiritual hub is covered with white silk, and it reads "The Orientals killed Chinese."
On the same day, the public concession authorities arrested four Shanghai University students who participated in the memorial meeting, falsely accused of "disturbing public order", and were scheduled to be tried at the public office on the 30th. On 28 July, the CPC Central Committee and the Shanghai Prefectural Committee of the CPC held a joint meeting, at which Yun Daiying, Li Lisan, Cai Hesen, and others attended the meeting, and decided to launch an anti-imperialist demonstration on the 30th to further integrate the workers' struggle with the anti-imperialist struggle of the people of all strata.
erupt
The "May 30 Massacre Memorial" monument on Nanjing Road records that on May 30, more than 2,000 Shanghai students publicized in the concession to support the workers' struggle, and the concession patrol arrested more than 100 students. Subsequently, more than 10,000 people gathered at the front of the patrol door of Nanjing Road in the public concession and demanded the release of the arrestees. The British patrol opened fire and massacred, killing more than a dozen people and injuring dozens of people, resulting in the "May Thirtieth Massacre".
The text on the monument records the historical background of the May Thirtieth Movement. Photo by The Paper's reporter Chen Sisi
The identity and names of the victims of the bullet are recorded in the book "Six Thousand Years of Shanghai": He Bingyi, head of the Student Union of Shanghai University (a member of the Communist Party of China), Yin Jingyi, head of the Student Union of Tongji University (a member of the Communist Youth League), Chen Yuqin, a student of the Affiliated Middle School of Nanyang University, Tang Liangsheng, an operator at the Huayang Telephone Bureau, Chen Zhaochang, a kitchen worker at the East Asia Hotel, Zhu Monk, a foreign worker, Wu Jinhua, a worker of the New World, Shi Songsheng, an employee of the Electrical Appliance Company, Chen Guangfa, a chartered car dealer, Yao Shunqing, a painter of the piano shop, Wang Jifu, a tailor, Tan Jinfu, a friend of Weixiangju, and Xu Luofeng, a trader.
"Declaration" published the news of the May Thirtieth Massacre The picture comes from the official website of the Shanghai Municipal Local History Office
"Republic of China Daily" published the news of the May Thirtieth Massacre Picture from the official website of the Shanghai Municipal Local History Office
On the night of the May Thirtieth Massacre, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an emergency meeting and decided to establish a united front among all classes and launch a three-strike struggle - workers' strike, student strike, and businessmen's strike – to unanimously fight back against imperialism.
The march of the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions at the outbreak of the "May Thirtieth" Movement Picture from the official website of the Shanghai Municipal Local History Office
The most powerful of the three strike struggles is the general workers' strike. On June 1, Huayang Delufeng, Inner and Outer Cotton Yarn Factory, Meiyi WoodWare Factory, zhonghua bookstore and others took the lead in striking. On June 2, workers in various factories responded to the call, and the wave of the May 30 anti-imperialist strike rose rapidly. According to preliminary statistics, as of July 21, chinese and foreign workers from all walks of life in Shanghai had participated in a total of 206 may-thirtieth anti-imperialist strikes, with about 250,000 strikers.
At the same time, from June 1, 1925, 50,000 students from all major and middle schools in Shanghai went on strike one after another, issued strike declarations and telegrams, exposed the crimes of imperialism in slaughtering Chinese people, and called on compatriots throughout the country to rise up and resist. In addition, the students organized fundraising teams, carried out boycotts of British and Japanese goods, and went to other areas to carry out anti-imperialist propaganda.
In addition, almost all walks of life in the Shanghai public concession have thrown themselves into the torrent of strikes, with nearly 20,000 shops on more than 30 major roads. In addition, the various shops in the Chinese and legal circles responded one after another, and the momentum was unprecedented.
After the news of the May Thirtieth Massacre reached Beijing, all circles in Beijing established the "Snow Shame Association" and the "Shanghai Case Support Association" to actively carry out anti-imperialist propaganda and demonstrations. Nanjing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Qingdao, Chengdu and other places have also held mass demonstrations, street propaganda activities, etc., students, workers, business, education, culture, religious circles and other people a total of 17 million people participated in the May Thirtieth Anti-Imperialist Patriotic Movement. The international working class has also expressed its support in various ways.
It is worth mentioning that the "May Thirtieth Massacre Memorial" monument on Nanjing Road is located in front of the patrol house on Nanjing Road in the public concession at that time, that is, where the May Thirtieth Massacre occurred. The monument reads "The Site of the Patriotic Masses of the May Thirtieth Movement Who Shed Blood and Sacrificed."
The next time you go to Nanjing Road, you can look for this monument with indelible history.
Editor-in-charge: Zheng Hao
Proofreader: Yan Zhang