introduction
*This article is excerpted from the third series of "Yangxin Literary and Historical Materials" (March 1987), written by Feng Lejin, with the original title "My Fronts and Afters in Caolanzi Prison".
The former site of Caolanzi Prison is at No. 19, Caolanzi Hutong, Xicheng District. In September 1931, the Kuomintang government used it as a temporary detention center in order to detain the arrested Communists in Beiping and Tianjin, and in March 1932, it was changed to the Beiping Military Introspection Branch.
Commonly known as Caolanzi Prison. The prison sits south and faces north, and there is a small gray two-story building on the west side, which was the office of the prison authorities in the past. In the backyard of the building, there is a long cylindrical cell that is divided into a southern prison and a northern prison, each with 24 cells.
The former site of Caolanzi Prison is a key protected cultural relic in Xicheng District.
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body
I was born in 1908 in a peasant family, went to school at the age of 8, and graduated from Huimin High School for three years after finishing primary school. The family did not have much land, and my father often went out of the village to work part-time, so I led my seven or eight-year-old brother to work in the fields every day. At that time, the warlords were fighting and the peasants were suffering. Zhang Zongchang, a Beiyang warlord, organized the Zhilu coalition army in Shandong, appointed himself as the commander, and levied three years of money and grain in advance; Coupled with natural disasters such as droughts, floods, hailstorms, and flying locusts, the harvest fails every year; Therefore, I deeply feel the suffering of the peasants, and I am often depressed about the way out for the peasants and their own future.
There is a man in my village named Qi Liankui, who worked as a Chinese laborer in France during the First World War, and passed through the Soviet Union when he returned home after the war. He often said: "The Russian Revolution has succeeded, and the Communist Party is the party of the poor...... "Although I didn't know what the "Communist Party" was all about at the time, I often heard this kind ......of discussion in the village, and it gradually had some influence and inspiration in my thinking.
Later, my younger brother was able to work, so I went to Tianjin to find another way. I have been a merchant and sold groceries; He also worked as a conductor on the train. In 1927-1928 I earned only 60 yuan, and I had no choice but to go home. When he came back, his father was dissatisfied and said that it was better to work at home as a long-term farmer. However, at that time, there was a trade union in the Tianjin Tramway Company, and I heard from the villagers that there was a Communist Party among them. At a time when the imperialist powers were intensifying their aggression against China, the domestic warlords were fighting each other, and the people were struggling to make a living, they dared to expose the darkness of the Kuomintang social system, propagate the superiority of the Soviet social system, and organize the workers to carry out the struggle against imperialism, feudalism, oppression, and exploitation. I often see some leaflets and pamphlets in this area from my fellow villagers, but I never get on them.
From the spring of 1923 I taught at the Shopping Street Elementary School. Later, he was admitted to Yangxin Normal School and graduated in 1932. At that time, I learned from the progressive teachers about Sun Yat-sen's three major policies, namely, "uniting with Russia and the Communist Party, and helping the workers and peasants." However, Chiang Kai-shek betrayed this purpose. In particular, after the "September · 18" incident, the Japanese invaders occupied the three northeastern provinces of China, and the whole country set off an anti-Japanese upsurge, and the normal teachers also suspended classes. I hated Chiang Kai-shek's doctrine of non-resistance. A few of my good classmates and I yearn for the Communist Party ideologically, hoping to join the Communist Party, and we are looking for the Party everywhere in all the schools and institutions of Yangxin and Huimin; Talk to those progressive teachers or enlightened people about their views, their views on the rise and fall of the country, and their aspirations to serve the country. However, in the end, I was disappointed. Because they are only sympathetic, they don't have much resonance, let alone any organization that helps the country and the people. So, after the Spring Festival in 1933, in order to find the party, I ran away from home for the second time and went to Tianjin, and then transferred to Beiping.
At the beginning of 1933, the Japanese invaded Shanhaiguan and the Rehe area. Song Zheyuan, commander of the 29th Army, led his troops and the Northeast Army to fight against the Japanese invaders in the area of the Great Wall and Rehe, and was stationed in the area of Pingjin. The contingent of Zhang Xueliang, the major commander of the Northeast Army, deputy commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Navy, Army and Air Force, and director of the Beiping Army Branch, was also there. Of course, Beiping is mainly Zhang Xueliang's forces. When I went to Beiping, Zhang Xueliang was recruiting military police officers in the name of the Beiping Military Police Headquarters in the "Military Police School" (now the site of the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts) located in Shuaifu Garden, and the duration of study was one year. I was living in extreme difficulty at that time, and seeing that this was an opportunity to stay and find a party, I resolutely applied for the exam, and was soon admitted.
Most of the leaders and instructors in the gendarmerie school were from Northeast China, and after the "September · 18" incident, their hometowns fell one after another, and the fate of their relatives was uncertain, and everyone reacted strongly to Chiang Kai-shek's "policy of non-resistance." It is believed that the country is in danger, the people have a family that is difficult to run, even the ancestral graves have been lost, and the Nanjing government does not allow resistance, etc. Whenever there was a New Year's festival dinner, some officers would use wine to vent their scolding of the Nanjing government, and even hugged their heads and cried. Therefore, the atmosphere of anti-Japanese and anti-Chiang in the school was very high. In addition, there is a "lecture meeting" every Saturday on the campus, which covers a wide range of topics, is very democratic, and has no restrictions on people. Our underground party organizations often used this to propagate Sun Yat-sen's three major policies of "uniting with Russia and the Communist Party and helping workers and peasants," which also had a great influence on students' thinking. Seeing this situation, I was also more sensitive, so I took the initiative to approach the progressives, so I officially joined the Communist Party of China about two months after the start of the school year. The introducer is Comrade Chen Zao, secretary of the underground party branch. He is a native of Xinmin County, Liaoning Province. During the 10-year catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution, the rebels went to him, and he still remembers introducing me to the party. In May 1933, Feng Yuxiang, commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Second Army, cooperated with the Chinese Communist Party to organize the "People's Anti-Japanese Allied Army" in Zhangjiakou to resist Japan. Soon after, our Beiping underground organization was destroyed, and at the end of 1933, Chen Zao and four other comrades were arrested at the same time in the graduation probationary (the 12th Detachment of the Eastern Fourth Section, the old site of the Military Police School). Up to this point, I had only been a cadet soldier at the gendarmerie school for 10 months.
At that time, the Law Enforcement Section of the Beiping Military Police Headquarters wanted to sentence us political prisoners heavily to warn the public. Commander Shao Wenkai said: "How serious are some young students, and how heavy are they to be sentenced? "The Law Enforcement Section wanted to acquit us again, and Shao Wenkai said that it was difficult to explain to Chiang Kai-shek. In this way, the sentence was changed several times, and the final result was that Chen Zao was sentenced to five years in prison, and the other three of us were sentenced to two and a half years in prison. In this way, our four political prisoners were imprisoned in the Kuomintang "Army Prison" northeast of Beixinqiao in Beiping.
It is located at the former site of the Beiping Army Prison at No. 21 Artillery Bureau Hutong
The Army Prison is an old prison left over from the fall of the feudal Qing Dynasty, and has the most famous "modernization" facilities in Beiping. The traitor Wang Jingwei was arrested when he participated in the assassination of the Qing regent Zaifeng in the early days, and he was imprisoned here. Later, after the arrest of Ji Hongchang, the commander of the Second Army of the Chasui Anti-Japanese Allied Army and the commander-in-chief of the former enemy on the North Road, he was also martyred here at the end of 1934.
At the time of our arrest, there were more than 1,000 prisoners in the Army Prison. Some of our 30 or so political prisoners believe that whether the Communist Party is good or not, it is too dangerous, and the pros and cons in the future have yet to be weighed. There were also some people who gradually became scared and regretted that they should not have joined the Communist Party; However, after being imprisoned, more than a dozen of us who took a firm stance took the opportunity to contact each other, exchange ideas, motivate each other, strengthen our beliefs, and concentrate on activities.
Those of us are the first to recommend Dong Dehua, former secretary of the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee, as a leader. He's been in prison for three or four years, and he's closest to me. The second is Yang Feilin, a native of Xiangtan, Hunan, who was the secretary general of the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee before the arrest, and studied in Mesco for three years. In addition, there are Hu Yunxian, Liu Ziling, Li Youshan and others. At that time, all books published in the public were not considered "forbidden books", so the comrades in prison asked someone to buy some progressive books and sent them in to study together under the leadership of Dong Dehua and Yang Feiteng, and use theory to guide the ideology in order to make progress and improve.
A year later, in June 1935, Liu Geping of Cangxian County was also imprisoned. He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for leading the Majihe riots in Qingyun County years earlier. At that time, life in prison was very hard, and everyone could not have enough to eat, so Liu Geping wanted to start a food disturbance. There weren't many responders at first, but I was persuaded by him because I was a member of the prison branch and he gave me work repeatedly. Of course, some people persuaded me not to make trouble, the sentence is two and a half years, it's almost two years, what are you making trouble? I didn't listen to any of that either. We first looked for activists among the political prisoners, and we developed a series of propaganda and agitation, from a dozen to dozens, 100, 200...... In this way, the anger that had been pent up among the masses for a long time finally exploded. We openly proposed to the prison warden that we must improve the food, that we should not withhold the prisoner's food, and that we should not eat these nests with rat droppings...... In the end, they fought on a hunger strike. The prison warden (colonel) was afraid that he would not be able to explain the situation, so he had to agree to negotiate with us face-to-face, and Liu Geping and I became negotiators.
During the negotiation, the warden said, "Brother, I admire your character, and I would like to make friends with the brothers." I'm here to mess around, and there is no hatred between us, so don't go too far. In the past, we didn't take enough care of you, but in the future, we will let the wind run long in the summer, build a stove in the winter, and let the political prisoners eat fine food. If the rations are not enough, you can add some ...... from my salary" We said, "It is not enough to give us political prisoners small food, we are all prisoners, and we want all prisoners to eat small food." In this way, the prison warden refused on the grounds that he "did not dare to be self-sufficient", and only said that he would ask his superiors for instructions, but he delayed again and again, and finally came to nothing.
A month later, in December 1935, two large-scale student movements, "12·9" and "12·16" broke out in Beiping, and a new revolutionary upsurge arrived. One day near the end of the year, the prison suddenly set up a sentry post, set up machine guns, loaded bayonets, and posed as a frame ready to kill. At the beginning, all political prisoners were called to come forward, and then one by one. At this time, everyone felt that the problem was serious. Some are disfigured; Some people are scared; Although these resolute-minded people are open-minded, they actually don't kick the bottom line. Later, everyone encouraged each other, saying that the Communist Party was fearless and wanted to learn from Ji Hongchang, who was righteous here, and if it was brought to the execution ground, we would sing the Internationale and shout long live the Communist Party. In this way, the mood improved slightly and gradually stabilized. Finally, the warden said: "You are all political prisoners, and the conditions in our army prison are not good, so you have been commissioned here." Today I want to take you to a better place and try to satisfy everyone as much as possible......" In this way, all of our more than 30 political prisoners got into the car and were sent to the "Caolanzi Prison" together.
Caolanzi prison cell
Caolanzi Prison got its name from its location in Caolanzi Hutong. When it was first established in September 1931, it was only a temporary detention center, but in March 1932, it was officially changed to the "Beiping Military Reflection Branch" (the main hospital was located in Nanjing). The "Introspection Yuan" was set up by the Kuomintang government specifically to imprison communists and revolutionaries. This prison is under the direct control of the "Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Army and Air Force" and exercises military control over prisoners. In fact, none of the prisoners were soldiers. There were nearly 100 prisoners in the prison, and about 130 of them were all political prisoners. The purpose of the Kuomintang in setting up this "Reflection Yuan" was nothing more than to carry out fascist persecution of the arrested Communist Party members and revolutionary masses, and at the same time to add new methods such as "ideological reform" and "political siege," so as to achieve the goal of "introspection" and "repentance" of those who had been "reformed," publish the "Anti-Communist Notice" in the newspapers, and then develop into the goal of voluntary surrender and rebellion as they hoped.
In this special environment, there are only two points of view among the prisoners, there is no middle, and there is no clear distinction between them. Those who could not stand the suffering of this white terror and fright deliberately reflected and demanded to be released from prison. Most of the prisoners live in the North Prison.
And those who are firm in their thinking and insist on not reflecting are locked up in the southern prison. The 30 or so people we came with were all living in the North Prison when they first arrived at the Reflection Courtyard. Shortly after, three of the four people who were arrested at the same time as me were released from prison at the Reflection House, as the enemy had hoped. I was the first (early March 1936) to be sent to the Southern Prison first. Fortunately, among these "staunch revolutionaries" who oppose introspection and are imprisoned in the Southern Prison, there are strong and unyielding underground party branches headed by comrades such as Bo Yibo and Yin Jian, who can directly contact the Beiping Municipal Party Committee through their connections. Soon after I arrived in the prison, I got in touch with the party branch in prison and reorganized the activity group. There are four people in our group: one is Zhao Mingxin (from Leling), who later served as the head of the Organization Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the secretary of the Party Committee of the Changchun No. 1 Automobile Factory. After I was imprisoned, he took the initiative to greet me and often kept in touch with me secretly. The second is Wang Xinpo, also known as Wang Zixi (Tangshan), who worked in northern Henan for 38 years, and later served as the principal of the aviation school and the deputy commander-in-chief of the Daqing Oilfield, in addition to the former secretary of the Northern Henan Working Committee, and later served as the head of the Propaganda Department of Luxi District, Zhu Zemin and me.
In order to raise our own ideological and theoretical level and to meet the greater and more severe struggles in the future, the Ministry of Party Culture and Culture in prisons has proposed that we should not only turn prisons into battlefields for the struggle against the enemy, but also turn prisons into "party fluids" for comrades to study Marxism-Leninism. To this end, under the leadership of the party branch, we have set up a study committee, and the person in charge is Yang Xianzhen. In addition, the school committee has established strict learning discipline and detailed study plans. The main contents of the study at that time were: (1) the classic works of Marxism-Leninism, the documents of the Party Central Committee, the books on philosophy, political economy and socialism published at home and abroad, and the "International Newsletter" published by the Comintern; (2) New books on the modern history of China and on the various currents of thought in China; (3) Comrades with low education study culture, and comrades with conditions learn one or several foreign languages. To this end, the party branch obtained quite a number of Marxist-Leninist books in Chinese, such as Li Da's "Modern World View" and "Outline of Sociology," and also secretly obtained some Marxist-Leninist books and periodicals in Russian, English, and other foreign languages, which were translated by comrades who knew foreign languages (mainly Yang Xianzhen), and then secretly numbered paragraph by paragraph and sent to each prison number for study. At that time, dozens of books and periodicals were translated while in prison, such as Lenin's "Imperialism is the Highest Stage of Capitalism" and Stalin's "On the National Question", which were even earlier than those translated outside.
In addition, in order to raise the ideological level of the party members in prison, the comrades secretly published their own journal "Red October" in prison, so that they could exchange ideas and study experiences, and convey the news of the victory of the party and the Red Army. The editors are Yang Xianzhen, Hu Xikui, etc. Facts have proved that this kind of secret study organized by the party branch has indeed become an important part of the "introspection policy" of the comrades in prison against the enemy; At the same time, it has also trained a number of subordinates for the party who have both practical experience in struggle and a certain level of theory, and have fulfilled the desire to turn the prison where the enemy imprisons and persecutes the communists into a "party school" for our comrades to study Marxism-Leninism.
During the period of introspection, some comrades from other places and I did not have financial resources such as family members, relatives and friends in Beiping, but there were still many people in Beiping who had family members or relatives and friends to help them, so everyone's economic situation was extremely uneven. Party members in prison handed over all the money sent by relatives and friends to the organization for unified use. According to everyone's proposal, the party branch also returned 20% to his own pocket use, and designated the rest to be managed by the branch life committee, which was mainly used to purchase medicines for sick comrades, to study and buy progressive books for everyone, to buy necessary clothes for comrades who are really in difficulty, and to transmit documents and information inside and outside the prison. As for food such as "snacks, fruits, and pickles", everyone can eat a little. Everyone deeply felt the warmth and friendship between comrades, and they all humorously said: We are living the life of a "primary communist society." This supply-like prison life was maintained until the final release.
In May 1936, the prison authorities issued each student uniform (which was taken back when it was finished) and asked us to line up with leg shackles, and Comrade Liu Shenzhi taught us Taijiquan and Baduanjin. The prison authorities also took pictures of us in an attempt to spread the word that they were "not bad for the Communist Party," but we used it to get some exercise. This photograph has been copied and enlarged by the Chinese History Museum and preserved as a precious historical relic.
In 1936, when the Japanese invaders stepped up their aggression against North China, they continued to increase troops near Pingjin, and the students in Beiping "went south to propagandize" and insisted on saving the ·. It was precisely because of the wanton arrest and massacre of patriots by the agents of the Chiang Gang that the patriotic and traitorous fronts became more distinct, the credibility of the Kuomintang was discredited, and the prestige of the Communist Party was raised. The Red Army's Long March had triumphantly reached northern Shaanxi, and the anti-Japanese upsurge throughout the country was unprecedentedly high. There is a lot of work in our party that needs to be done, but there are too few party cadres in the white areas.
In the spring of 1936, Comrade Liu Shaoqi, shouldering the heavy trust of the Party Central Committee, came to Tianjin as a representative of the CPC Central Committee to preside over the work of the Northern Bureau and served as secretary of the Northern Bureau of the CPC. On the one hand, Comrade Shaoqi sharply pointed out that the "leftist" adventure was the "main crisis" of the party at that time, and that "it had the longest and deepest influence in the party, and it also caused the greatest loss to the party; On the other hand, the Northern Bureau was organizationally rectified and comrades who adhered to the party's correct policy were arranged to hold important posts in the Northern Bureau and the Beiping City CPC Committee. In his report to the Central Committee, Comrade Shaoqi said: "Except for the preservation of the party's banner in the white areas, very few other things have been preserved, and the party organizations have generally not been preserved......." In order to meet the needs of the new situation, to carry out the party's work, and to solve the problem of the shortage of party cadres, Comrade Shaoqi, after repeated consideration, held that many of the 50 or 60 party members who were imprisoned by the Kuomintang in the "Peiping Military Reflection Branch" were the strong backbone of our party, and it was necessary for the party organization to adopt certain "tactical means" to rescue them from prison. After studying the situation, the Northern Bureau immediately wrote a report to the Party Central Committee, which was discussed and approved by the Party Central Committee. As a result, Comrade Ke Qingshi, director of the Organization Department of the Northern Bureau, conveyed to the prison the instructions of the Party Central Committee on "asking Comrade Yuzhong to strive to be released from prison as soon as possible to work for the Party."
The party branch in prison received the first letter from the party organization outside, and decided not to carry it out because it was a trap set by the enemy. After some time, the Northern Bureau sent a second letter to the prison branch through Niu Baozheng, the head of the prison guard squad, to the effect that the party organization rescued you from prison, which was the decision of the central government. I have not seen any movement from you since the last letter, and now I will give the following instructions:
1. After the fall of Northeast China, many party members in prison were killed. At present, the Japanese invaders are invading North China, and Pingjin is in danger, and your situation is very dangerous. However, Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang still adhered to its traitorous policy of "settling the country at home before attacking the outside world," and the hope of the people of the whole country to resist Japan and save the country was completely pinned on our party. However, our party cadres are not enough to be distributed, and there is a shortage of cadres in the white areas, so you must strive to be released from prison as soon as possible to undertake the actual work assigned by the party organization.
2. Your struggle in prison is correct and necessary, and should be fully recognized. But now that the situation has changed, you should not be confined to the small circle of prisons, but should go out into the great world of resistance against Japan to mobilize the masses in order to prepare for a broader struggle against the enemy.
3. You have done the right thing in opposing the enemy's "policy of introspection" and have withstood the test from it, and the central authorities trust you politically. But we are not yet in a position to force the enemy to release you unconditionally. Only by adopting the "strategic means" of dealing with the enemy and fulfilling the "procedures for getting out of prison" can you be released from prison to work for the party. This is a special measure in exceptional circumstances. The Central Committee believes that you can and must do so, otherwise, you will make serious political mistakes.
4. The Central Committee is fully politically and organizationally responsible for the Party members who have been rescued by the Party organization and released from prison to work for the Party.
As a matter of fact, in order to win the hearts of the people and divide and disintegrate us, the reactionary Kuomintang authorities stipulated that political prisoners who had served more than one-fifth of their sentences in prison could be released from prison if they publicly published an "anti-communist notice" in the newspaper. We considered that if we wanted to get out of prison as soon as possible, there was no good way but to publish it in the newspapers. However, we also consider that to publish the "Anti-Communist Notice" in the newspaper against our will is tantamount to openly giving up the belief that we have insisted on and fought for many years, and the suspicion of this treachery cannot be washed away even if we jump into the Yellow River. So we all discussed, and Yang Xianzhen wrote in a foreign language to the Northern Bureau and the Party Central Committee to report our opinion that we "did not agree with the release from prison". He also said that if the party organization insists that we be released from prison in the newspaper, then we will make three demands:
1. If the party organization insists that we do so, the responsibility for publishing the newspaper should be borne by the organization.
2. After we go out, we are still party members, and we should immediately be placed as official party members, and there is no need to file a case for review.
3. We acted in accordance with the order this time, and the organization can no longer hold us accountable for this matter in the future.
Finally, it was reported to the Northern Bureau for a reply and forwarded to the Party Central Committee for instructions.
This piece is still transferred out through Niu Baozheng. Niu Bao is the sergeant and squad leader of the detention squad, a native of Wudi, who has contacts with many leading comrades of our country, often delivers letters and articles to us inside and outside the prison, and does a lot of work for the comrades in prison, and in fact becomes the liaison between the Party and Culture Department in our prison and the party organizations outside.
Our report, Niu Baozheng sent it to the Northern Bureau again. And by another means of communication, we were able to obtain a third letter from the Northern Bureau, which fully confirmed that these letters were indeed instructions from the Party Central Committee. Attached to the letter were copies of the main contents of the Northern Bureau's recommendations to the Central Committee to prove that these instructions were indeed approved by the Central Committee after the Northern Bureau made a proposal to the Party Central Committee. At this time, in accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee, the party branch in prison made a proposal to "prepare for implementation" and secretly submitted it to all party members for discussion. As a result of the discussion, our 52 party members unanimously agreed to obey the organization's decision to release from prison. So we published a newspaper with something along the lines of: "We have never been a member of the Communist Party and are suspected of being imprisoned, and we will never do anything for them in the future, let alone participate in their activities." (During the Cultural Revolution, the Gang of Four created the so-called "Sixty-One Traitors Case" with the sole intention of muddying the waters.) The other nine people, in different circumstances, do not fall within the scope of the party's rescue from prison).
Seeing that so many people were asking to be released from prison at the same time, the enemy could not distinguish the truth from the fake for a while, and did not dare to rush to approve it. So there is no news yet a month later. At this time, the central authorities once again instructed us to be released from prison quickly, and said: If we do not follow the instructions of the central authorities, we will be punished according to party discipline.
As a result, we stepped up our work and demanded that we be released from prison in batches. In early September 1936, the first batch of comrades to be released were Bo Yibo, Zhou Zhongying, Dong Tianzhi, Han Jun, An Ziwen, Yang Xianzhen, and Liu Lantao. There is another thing to say here is that Yan Xishan, director of the Taiyuan appeasement, has long admired Bo Yibo's great talent, and now he heard that he has broken away from the Communist Party, so he sent a secretary to invite him to Shanxi to "jointly plan the great cause of protecting Jin." Bo asked Comrade Shaoqi for instructions through the Northern Bureau, and after approval, he went to Shanxi. Before Comrade Bo Yibo left, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, and he returned to the prison to visit us, and brought us two large baskets of mooncakes, pear fruits, and sugar cubes, and said that he was going to Shanxi, and also said that we were welcome to work in Shanxi after we were released from prison. In fact, more than a dozen comrades were sent to Shanxi to carry out their work.
On September 22, 1936, the second group of 21 comrades, including Zhao Lin and me, were also released from prison. After that, it was not until the ninth time that all 52 of us were released. When everyone came out, in order to reduce the goal, we first dispersed our activities, and a few of us lived in an apartment near Zujia Street Middle School at first. When walking on the street, for safety, they don't talk to each other, as if they don't know each other. Later, he gradually connected with the party organization and accepted the party's work assignment. The Central Committee asked me and eight other comrades to go to the Central Party School to study at Wayaobao in Shaanxi Province, the seat of the Party Central Committee at that time. However, just a few days before I left, the organization (Liu Zijiu) talked to me again. He said that our party wants to open up work in Shandong, but Han Fuyu, commander-in-chief of the Third Group Army, has implemented a armor protection system in Shandong, and it is difficult for people from other provinces to enter the country. The organization decided to send me back to my hometown in Shandong to make the party's work a profession.
He also said that since I graduated from the normal school, I could find a school to be a teacher first, and then carry out activities after I had established myself. He also said that the organization would send someone to contact me later, and the code was to buy sheep, and ask how the price of the sheep was, and whether the sheep would be good or not. In this way, the organization issued 25 yuan for the journey, and I left Beiping. When I think about it, I went home in mid-October 1936.
After returning home, I began to work as a teacher at Daliufu Primary School in Zhanhua County, but later because of the propaganda of the anti-Japanese resistance and the Xi'an Incident, the principal was extremely dissatisfied and gave a euphemistic warning. When I got home, my father beat me up for fear of causing trouble. In January 1937, I again taught in Xiaosang Township. At this time, he had already connected with the party organization (Zhao Mingxin). After the "7 ·" incident, because I openly publicized and agitated to resist Japan at the bazaar, the Kuomintang county party headquarters sent people to arrest me. After I received the letter, I left home in a hurry for the third time and hid in the Longsangsi Township Agricultural School in Huimin County. In October, Zhao Mingxin and I organized armed forces to engage the devils at Liupowu, and then withdrew across the Yellow River and moved to Luxi. Later, I participated in the work of opening up the Taixi and Yimeng Mountain base areas. After Xing Renfu's rebellion in the summer of 1943, I was transferred back to the Jilu border area......
April 1945 was the eve of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. Our church held the 7th National Congress in Yan'an. Among the 52 party members who were ordered to be released from prison by the "Peiping Military Introspection Branch," there were 12 official representatives of the "Seventh National Congress" and 2 alternate representatives. After Comrade Bo Yibo arrived in Yan'an as the official representative of the "Seventh National Congress", he reported to Chairman Mao on the struggle in Caolanzi Prison at that time, and Chairman Mao said: You are right to do this. Turning the prison into our party school, studying the theory of grass life, arming our minds, and preserving, tempering, and educating a group of comrades is a victory. In the end, he also made a list. At the meeting, Comrade Ren Bishi, chairman of the Seventh National Congress Qualifications Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Committee, also explained the matter in public, saying: "This group of comrades has no problem politically. The party organization's rescue of them from prison was the suggestion of the Northern Bureau and approved by the Central Committee, so it did not affect their qualifications as representatives at all. Later, it was submitted to the Seventh Party Congress for unanimous adoption, which formed the Party's clear conclusion on the issue of "release from prison".
In 1950, some comrades who were imprisoned in Caolanzi Prison took a group photo at the site of the former prison.
The four-person gang of Kang Sheng and his gang have always played framing tricks within the party to eliminate dissidents, and in the Cultural Revolution, they created a rare "61-person traitor case" in the history of the international communist movement, and framed Comrade Liu Shaoqi. At that time, many old comrades were persecuted to death, many innocent people were imprisoned and persecuted, and many innocent children were ...... It was not until the Third and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 11 th CPC Central Committee that it was decided to completely rehabilitate the "61 people case" and Comrade Liu Shaoqi. Rehabilitation is also a continuation of the party's tradition of "seeking truth from facts." Grievances are revealed, justice is upheld, and the whole party supports it. Like other old comrades who have survived, I have been given a new lease of life. The party restored my membership and reassigned me to work. Now I am happily enjoying my old age.
Original note: This article was compiled by Comrade Wang Dongkui on the basis of Comrade Feng Lejin's dictated records.
Sources:
The third volume of "Yangxin Literary and Historical Materials" (March 1987), the illustration comes from the official website of the "Beijing Municipal People's Government" - "Faith Creates a Strong Battle Fortress in the Iron Window".