On August 20, 2008, Comrade Hua Guofeng passed away of illness in Beijing.
On August 31, the farewell ceremony of the old man's body was held in Babaoshan, which is equivalent to the Standing Committee of the Central Committee. People from all walks of life also came to mourn and send the old man on his last journey.
In the square outside the mourning hall, a gay man in his 50s who came to mourn pulled up a banner with black letters on a white background and 16 large characters written on it.
And these sixteen big characters are very apt to interpret the life of the old man.
So, what kind of revolutionary life did Comrade Hua Guofeng have?
And what are these sixteen big characters?
Political Commissar of China
Hua Guofeng was born on February 16, 1921, and his hometown is Jiaocheng County, Shanxi.
His father, Su Qinghui, went to the county seat as an apprentice at the age of 15, and after leaving school, he relied on tanning skills to make a living. Later, he married Hua Guofeng's mother, Wang, and gave birth to Hua Guofeng's brothers.
Su Qinghui had read some books, so he not only named Hua Guofeng Su Zhu, but also named him Chengjiu.
After having two sons, the family's expenses increased a lot, and Su Qinghui and Wang's lives became even tighter, and the family could only barely survive. But when Hua Guofeng was only six years old, his father became ill due to overwork and died young.
Since then, the Hua Guofeng brothers have had a hard time with their mother Wang. Although Wang is an ordinary peasant woman, she is open-minded, and in order to make the descendants of the old Su family also educated, she saves money and provides for her two sons to go to primary school.
After Hua Guofeng's elder brother graduated from primary school, Wang let his son inherit his father's business and learn tanning for the sake of the family's livelihood. And because Hua Guofeng was talented, Xi hard, and had excellent grades, his mother was reluctant to let him drop out of school, so she continued to save money for him to be admitted to the county's commercial vocational school. Although this school is only at the junior high school level, it is the most advanced school in Jiaocheng County.
In 1935, at the age of 14, Hua Guofeng enrolled in school and studied until he graduated in 1937. During his studies, he was still working hard, not wanting to disappoint his mother's hard work. Moreover, he inherited the excellent character of his parents, and was calm, humble, and sincere, so he was very popular among his classmates and had a high prestige.
During this period, he was exposed to a large number of progressive books and initially established his revolutionary ideals. After the Red Army triumphantly arrived in northern Shaanxi, it carried out an eastward expedition, all the way to Jiaocheng County, and helped the people. This has enabled Hua Guofeng to have a better understanding of our party and our army. After the outbreak of the all-out war of resistance, he decided to follow our party and devote himself to the great anti-Japanese salvation movement.
In June 1938, Hua Guofeng hid from his mother and joined the anti-Japanese guerrillas in Jiaocheng with his classmates. In order to facilitate his future work and not to affect his family, he changed his name from Su Zhu to Hua Guofeng. Soon after, he became an honorable member of our party. This year, Hua Guofeng was 17 years old.
With the continuous increase of experience in struggle, Hua Guofeng successively served as secretary of the county party committee and political commissar of the county armed brigade in Jiaocheng County and Yangqu County. Therefore, decades later, the people of the whole country affectionately called him "Chinese political commissar".
Jiaocheng County was the county with the most militia heroes during the Anti-Japanese War, and Han Fengzhu, Cui Sanwa, and Duan Xiangyu were all from this county. The famous anti-Japanese novel ~ "The Legend of Luliang Heroes" is based on these heroes. What many people don't know is that these heroes were all cultivated by Hua Guofeng.
Later, many veteran anti-Japanese cadres in Jiaocheng proposed to write some articles to publicize Hua Guofeng's contribution to the cultivation of the militia, but Hua Guofeng resolutely refused, and he did not allow any propaganda in this regard. But the people of Jiaocheng have taken his contribution to heart.
In 1949, Hua Guofeng went south with the People's Liberation Army, and after arriving in Hunan, the organization decided to leave a group of outstanding cadres to support local construction. As a result, 29-year-old Hua Guofeng was appointed as the first secretary of the county party committee of Xiangyin County, Hunan Province after the liberation.
Since then, he has worked in Hunan for 27 consecutive years.
In 1952, Hua Guofeng was 31 years old and transferred to the secretary of the Xiangtan County Party Committee in Hunan. As we all know, Chairman Mao's hometown of Shaoshan was once subordinate to this county. Later, the reason why Chairman Mao was able to pay attention to Hua Guofeng, a revolutionary descendant, among countless provincial and prefecture-level cadres, had a lot to do with Hua Guofeng's position.
In the autumn of 1955, Chairman Mao met with Hua Guofeng in Changsha. At that time, Hua Guofeng, who was loyal, dressed plainly and spoke plainly, leaving a good impression on Chairman Mao. In October of this year, Chairman Mao broke the routine and arranged for Hua Guofeng to attend the enlarged meeting of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of our party.
During the meeting, Chairman Mao, who was over sixty years old, said to the 34-year-old Hua Guofeng: "You are my parents' official!"
In 1969, Hua Guofeng was elected as a member of the Central Committee at the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
The Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China is an extremely important meeting in a "special period". At this conference, Lin Biao was identified as Chairman Mao's successor.
As a new member of the Central Committee, Hua Guofeng naturally supports the decision of the Central Committee. However, he certainly did not know that in a few years, he would become the new successor.
successor
In 1970, Yuan Longping's hybrid rice research project encountered a major setback. However, Hua Guofeng, then acting director of the Hunan Revolutionary Committee, still invited him to speak at an important provincial agricultural experience exchange meeting. This gave Yuan Longping great encouragement, and he made up his mind to grit his teeth and persevere, and do a good job of hybrid rice.
On September 13, 1971, Lin Biao fell to his death in Mongolia.
Chairman Mao had to reconsider the issue of succession. At that time, many old revolutionaries were forced to "stand aside", and Chairman Mao could only turn his attention to the younger generation. Although the loyal and simple Hua Guofeng left a deep impression on the old man, his qualifications were still shallow, and Chairman Mao was hesitant for a while.
However, after more than 2 years of investigation and comparison, Chairman Mao was still determined to train Hua Guofeng as his successor.
In August 1973, Hua Guofeng, then the first secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, was promoted to a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee. Since then, he has risen to the top leadership of our party.
In 1975, Hua Guofeng was appointed Vice Premier of the State Council and Minister of Public Security. And gradually take over the work of Premier Zhou, who is seriously ill.
In this year, Yuan Longping's hybrid rice research made a major breakthrough, and it is urgent to carry out large-scale promotion in Hunan. However, because of the "special period", there was no response to several reports to the superiors. In desperation, Comrade Chen Hongxin, vice president of the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, directly wrote a "letter of help" to Hua Guofeng in December.
Soon, Hua Guofeng personally met with him and gave important instructions on the promotion of mixed rice. Later, when Academician Yuan Longping recalled this past, he said affectionately: "Without the support of Comrade Hua Guofeng, it would be very difficult to popularize hybrid rice on a large scale. ”
In January 1976, Premier Zhou passed away. Hua Guofeng began to serve as acting prime minister.
On April 7, 1976, Chairman Mao personally proposed that he be the first vice chairman of the CPC Central Committee, and the word "first" was unprecedented. Chairman Mao's proposal made it clear that Hua Guofeng would be his successor.
Before his death, Chairman Mao was speechless, but he still wrote to Hua Guofeng, "You do things, I can rest assured". This fully reflects Chairman Mao's trust and support for him.
After Chairman Mao's death, Hua Guofeng, as his successor, delivered a eulogy at Chairman Mao's memorial service. It can be said that Hua Guofeng was already the top responsible person of our party at that time. And the challenges and pressures he faces are unimaginable to ordinary people.
At that time, the four bad guys had already begun to "seize power" in a big way, and the cause of the party and the country was facing a severe crisis. Hua Guofeng is isolated and helpless, and his situation is extremely difficult, and if he retreats slightly, the consequences will be unimaginable.
In times of crisis, the true character of heroes is revealed. In the face of the crisis, Hua Guofeng showed astonishing composure and decisiveness, and quickly decided to seek support from the revolutionary elders.
On the afternoon of September 10, 1976, the day after Chairman Mao's death, Hua Guofeng skillfully got rid of the stalking of the four bad guys and found Comrade Li Xiannian for a secret talk. He pointed out straight to the point that the four bad guys have become more and more rampant, and the ambition to usurp the party and seize power has been clearly exposed. At the same time, he asked Comrade Li Xiannian to contact Marshal Ye Jianying and other veteran comrades as soon as possible to plan a countermeasure.
After more than 20 days of intense preparations, on October 6, 1976, with the support and assistance of Ye Jianying, Li Xiannian and other veteran comrades, Hua Guofeng and Ye Shuai sat in Zhongnanhai and took decisive action, and Comrade Wang Dongxing came forward to arrest the "four bad guys" and their henchmen. As a result, the mainland is about to usher in a new era.
Soon after, Hua Guofeng took over as chairman of the CPC Central Committee, chairman of the Central Military Commission, and premier of the State Council, integrating the power of the party, government, and military, and becoming the supreme leader of the mainland.
The action of smashing the "four bad guys" made Hua Guofeng win the hearts of the people and the party, and many veteran comrades looked down on him with admiration. In those days, in various public occasions, Ye Shuai always followed closely behind him and escorted him.
At that time, the people's love for Chairman Mao was almost to the level of personality cult based on their love for Chairman Mao. Although Hua Guofeng has always been opposed, his standards are still hung all over the motherland, and songs praising him such as "Our Hua Political Commissar" and "The Mountains of Jiaocheng, the Water of Jiaocheng" are also resounding throughout the land of China.
What is commendable is that Hua Guofeng has maintained a rare calmness for the love of the people.
He knew very well in his heart that the country had just gone through a "special period" of ten years, and everything was in ruins, and if he was not careful, he would face the danger of collapse. Therefore, he quickly realized that the economy must be boosted as soon as possible in order to truly reverse the crisis.
Out of his own limitations, Hua Guofeng put forward the slogan of "grasping the program to govern the country". Although this slogan has not been able to get rid of the theoretical system of the "program", the focus has been placed on the aspect of "governing the country." At the same time, Hua Guofeng also creatively put forward the grand goal of realizing the "four modernizations" and outlined a majestic blueprint for the future economic development of the country.
However, in his vision, there are many development goals that are not in line with the actual situation, and the large-scale import of foreign equipment he proposed does not take into account the bearing capacity of national strength. But in any case, Hua Guofeng's decision on the point that the "four modernizations" will be the direction of China's future development can be called wise.
However, compared with the drastic changes in the economic development plan, Hua Guofeng is quite conservative in terms of ideological emancipation.
Out of loyalty to Chairman Mao, he put forward the "two whatevers" and continued to hold high the banner of the "proletarian revolution." Obviously, this could not solve the problems that the mainland urgently needed to solve at that time, and it also caused a serious disconnect with the trend of the times.
Therefore, his views were criticized by many comrades. At the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee successfully held in 1978, "seeking truth from facts" officially replaced "two whatevers". At the same time, with this congress as a sign, the mainland has entered a new era of "reform and opening up."
However, what is rare is that although Hua Guofeng has "shortcomings", the party comrades have a very high evaluation of him.
Why is that?
Good
Hua Guofeng actually has a valuable sober understanding of himself, and he knows very well that he is not suitable to lead the country back to glory.
Therefore, at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held in December 1980, he took the initiative to resign from all positions, retired bravely, and smoothly handed over the party and the country to the second generation of core leadership. Since then, Hua Guofeng has officially left the highest level of power in the country. However, until the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2002, he was always a member of the Central Committee.
In the 30 years since his retirement, Hua Guofeng has never expressed any of his own views on the country's major policies, but is just willing to be an ordinary old man. However, whether it is at the top of the country or among ordinary people, he has an excellent reputation.
Comrade Gu Mu, a veteran leader, once wrote affectionately in a reminiscence article: "Comrade Hua Guofeng is a good person. In fact, this sentence can represent the views of many comrades.
There are many definitions of this "good person", but from a political point of view, Hua Guofeng's most recognized point is that his style is democratic.
After the end of the "special period," the democratic atmosphere within our party has been enlivened again, and the situation is not as tense as it used to be. But from another angle, Hua Guofeng's tolerant and restrained attitude cannot be ignored in restoring this good atmosphere.
After he put forward the "two whatevers", the public opinion circles took the lead in this. However, after discussing and brewing with the "mouthpieces" of the "People's Daily," "Guangming Daily," and the "Jiefangjun Daily," Comrade Hu Yaobang jointly published an eloquent article entitled "Practice is the Only Criterion for Testing the Truth," criticizing the "two whatevers."
What is unexpected is that Hua Guofeng did not interfere and stop this. He even spoke to many comrades. This is a very crucial issue, and we must make it clear that we must proceed from the desire for unity and achieve the goal of unity.
Even when he was hailed as a "wise leader" and held great power, Hua Guofeng still believed that the differences of opinion among the comrades in the party would not lead to struggle. He also stressed the need to discuss the question of the criterion of truth for the sake of unity, with the aim of clarifying it.
Comrade Hu Yaobang's eldest son, Comrade Hu Deping, once mentioned a detail about this period of history: During the Central Work Conference on "Reform" held in 1978, Hua Guofeng set a tone, that is, to let everyone speak their minds freely. He said: I have made up my mind to let the comrades speak, and since I have invited all the comrades, I must let everyone be able to speak so that we can pool our wisdom. Later, he also self-criticized his mistakes, demanding an end to all kinds of propaganda about the cult of personality.
From these examples, it can be seen that Hua Guofeng is indeed a generous and good person. From a historical point of view, he was only a "transitional" leader, but he made indelible contributions to the smooth transition of the country in a special period and to the continuation of the revolutionary cause.
His exploits deserve to be remembered forever and will shine through the ages.
Outside his mourning hall, a banner held up by a comrade in his 50s read in 16 large characters: "Take into account the overall situation, be open-minded, make great achievements, and be wise forever."
These 16 words are indeed the best interpretation of Comrade Hua Guofeng's life.
Comrade Hua Guofeng, immortal!