Preface
On April 28, 1927, Li Dazhao bravely took justice in the face of the minions of the warlord Zhang Zuolin. There was no fear in his eyes, only calmness, and after shouting "sacrifice for doctrine", Li Dazhao, who was only 38 years old, walked to the gallows.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Party Central Committee was determined to investigate the murder of Li Dazhao, and in 1951, all the suspects involved in the case were arrested. However, in the course of the interrogation, a painful fact was revealed: Comrade Li Dazhao was hanged for 40 minutes!
This makes people wonder, what really happened in those years, why did Comrade Li Dazhao suffer such a long hanging, and what kind of conspiracy was hidden behind this?
1. May Fourth, the origin of the spirit
It was a country that was weakening day by day. Under the pressure of the foreign powers, the Qing court was completely reduced to a puppet. However, it is the rotten ruling class that has betrayed the interests of the country that is most desperate. When the motherland is lost, they are not only indifferent, but even more so, they add fuel to the fire and put their own interests above the survival of the nation.
This has made countless young people who care about the motherland completely desperate and resentful. Li Dazhao is one of them. He could have flown away, like many others, to escape the troubled times and enjoy glory in peace.
However, this young man, who was only 18 years old, threw himself into the revolution without hesitation, vowing to regain his dignity for this nation.
The outbreak of the May Fourth Movement was precisely the cry of sorrow at a time when the nation was in peril. When the Chinese people learned of the humiliating decision of the Paris Peace Conference on China, they were furious and indignant condemned in Beijing.
Angry students took to the streets with signs and clashed violently with police and warlord forces. Li Dazhao was also at the scene, fighting side by side with his classmates who were surrounded.
This is the moment when they break with the rotten ruling class. It is also a moment for a generation of new forces to wake up and rise up. In the long history of oppression, Li Dazhao and other progressive students can no longer endure the reality of sinking and degenerating. They are determined to step up and bring the sleepy country back to life.
So after the May Fourth Movement, Li Dazhao was even more firm in his ideals. He believes that Marxism is precisely the force that China urgently needs at present. Therefore, this Peking University student resolutely left the motherland to understand and Xi this brand-new thinking.
2. Communism, a kind of faith
When the flames of the October Revolution swept across Russia, Li Dazhao finally found his lifelong belief - Marxist communism. He believed that the power of such ideas would be enough to save his homeland and all the oppressed people.
Therefore, Li Dazhao, who was extremely enthusiastic, resolutely returned to the motherland and began to translate and propagate Marxist theory. Under his advocacy, more and more people of insight accepted and disseminated this idea, and even students at Peking University organized themselves to learn Xi Marxism. It can be said that in China, the dissemination of Marxist ideology would have been difficult to carry out without Li Dazhao.
He traveled between universities and newspapers in major cities, interpreting Marx's difficult and obscure theories in his unique and precise Chinese.
Li Dazhao expressed the essence of the truth word by word, and expressed the feelings of saving the country every sentence, which made more and more confused students impressed. In the process of Marxist ideology gradually being accepted and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, Li Dazhao made great contributions.
And his actions don't stop there. In 1920, Li Dazhao initiated the establishment of the Marxist Research Association, which gathered many like-minded people with lofty ideals. They combined Marxism with China's reality and laid the cornerstone for the eventual birth of the Communist Party of China.
3. The founder of the party
In July 1921, under the advocacy of Li Dazhao and others, the Communist Party of China was officially founded. Since then, Li Dazhao has become the northern leader of the party and has played an important guiding role in party affairs.
He led the party in the north to launch a number of workers' movements, awakening and organizing working people to fight for their rights. This fully demonstrated the role of communism in promoting the revolutionary movement in China, and also made the revolutionary struggle in the north increasingly intense.
However, Li Dazhao also clearly realized that it was difficult to fight the warlord forces on his own. So he took the initiative to contact the patriotic generals and instigated them to rely on the armed forces to participate in the national revolution. This was extremely difficult in the situation at that time, and the warlords were intimidatingly powerful with heavy armies and power.
However, Li Dazhao still threw himself into it without hesitation, running around to lobby. It is precisely because of this that the patriotic generals have unprecedented trust and support for the Communist Party.
At the same time, Li Dazhao also united the forces of the Kuomintang to jointly resist the repression of the Beiyang warlord government. It was under his advocacy and meticulous operation that the KMT and the CPC achieved their first cooperation.
It can be seen that this young man born in the late Qing Dynasty is not only a disseminator of communist beliefs, but also the founder of the Chinese revolutionary united front. It was precisely because of this cooperation that he led and promoted that the Chinese revolution was able to thrive despite the difficult circumstances.
Fourth, the belief of dedication
However, the people awakened by Li Dazhao also touched the nerves of power. The warlords hated this communist believer and tried to hunt him down many times. After the May Fourth Movement, the Beiyang government blatantly posted notices claiming that all those who advocated communism would be shot.
In order to avoid pursuit, Li Dazhao had to move several times. However, even in prison, he never gave up the struggle. After Zhang Zuolin entered Beijing in 1926, the first order he issued was to arrest Li Dazhao's family. Li Dazhao, who had taken refuge in the embassy area, also insisted on publishing articles exposing the brutality of the enemy in the face of heavy siege, so as to awaken the people's awakening.
On April 6, 1927, Li Dazhao was arrested. He also did not say a word about the torture of the warlords. Because the party's secrets are far more important than his own fate, Li Dazhao would rather sacrifice everything for them. Seeing his scarred appearance but still holding his head high, his comrades-in-arms in prison were impressed by his perseverance and rekindled their fighting spirit.
On April 28, 1927, Li Dazhao faced the gallows and became the first person to be hanged on the newly purchased gallows. However, this was not a routine execution, but a frenzied and dehumanizing execution.
The details of the execution are chilling. On the one hand, there is a theory that the executioner may not be skilled, and Li Dazhao is regarded as the object of "hand training".
On the other hand, it is also possible that someone "above" specifically told Li Dazhao to implement the "three-hanging" execution method, which means that the hanging process must be repeated three times. Whatever the reason, Li Dazhao's last moments were indeed very painful.
This inhumane execution lasted for 40 minutes!
Fifth, the continuation of the spirit of Qianqiu
In 1981, the Li Dazhao Martyrs Cemetery was officially opened to the public. Every important festival, there is always an endless stream of figures to commemorate this martyr who bravely sacrificed his life for the cause of communism.
His head was held high, and his face was resolute, as if he was still telling the world that I came for faith and went for faith. It is precisely because of countless heroic martyrs like Li Dazhao who are willing to sacrifice their lives for their beliefs that today's China has its own independence and dignity.
Li Dazhao practiced Marxism all his life, and even more proclaimed the spirit and courage that a communist should have with his blood and life. His unswerving faith and fearless dedication to justice continue to inspire countless people to forge ahead. This is precisely the most precious spiritual wealth that the May Fourth Movement has bestowed on future generations.
We should take him as an example, inherit and carry forward this spirit, and continue to struggle for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation! We must learn Xi from Li Dazhao's pure heart for faith and his fearless spirit of sacrificing oneself for justice.
The world is undergoing tremendous changes, and we need to be firm in our direction. Only in this way can the blood and life of Li Dazhao and other martyrs be turned into fertile soil for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and blossom and bear fruit!