The Communist Youth League in Europe was an important experience in Deng Xiaoping's revolutionary journey and had a profound impact on his entire revolutionary career. Deng Xiaoping went to France at the age of 16 to work and study and began to embrace revolutionary ideas, and then joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe, gradually growing from a fledgling editorial novice to an outstanding revolutionary leader in the party. In the revolutionary career of more than 70 years, no matter how difficult his personal situation was, no matter how bumpy the revolutionary road, Deng Xiaoping always maintained his persistent pursuit of faith, and contributed his whole life to continuously advancing the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics with his indomitable tenacious will and pioneering and innovative historical responsibility.
The new youth who are "always on the side of socialism".
In the summer of 1920, Deng Xiaoping, who was only 16 years old, traveled to France to work and study. His work-study life in France was not all smooth sailing, and the tempering of the difficult environment and the enlightenment of advanced ideas enabled Deng Xiaoping to gradually change his ideological understanding and grow from a patriotic boy with the ideal of "saving the country through industry" to a progressive young man who believed in Marxism.
When Deng Xiaoping first arrived in France, he hoped to save the poor and weak China by learning advanced industrial technology, but due to the need to make a living, he only studied for five months before he had to leave school and look for work to earn a living. In April 1921, Deng Xiaoping entered the Schneider Iron Works as a steel rolling worker. More than 20 days later, Deng Xiaoping resigned from his job due to physical exhaustion. After losing his job, in addition to receiving short-term benefits, he worked as a porter, cleaner and other handymen at railway stations and docks, and his life was extremely difficult. These work experiences and the difficult living conditions enabled Deng Xiaoping to initially understand the dark side of capitalist society and personally experience the miserable situation of the working class being oppressed and exploited, which became an important practical basis for his ideological transformation.
After 1922, the France economy began to improve, and Deng Xiaoping found a job again as a shoe worker at the Hutchinson rubber factory. Here, Deng Xiaoping became acquainted with Wang Ruofei, who worked in the same factory, and Zhao Shiyan, who often came to Hutchinson to carry out revolutionary activities. Under their influence, Deng Xiaoping gradually embraced revolutionary ideas and began to read books and newspapers such as "New Youth" and "Socialist Discussion Collection". After his initial exposure to these progressive theories, Deng Xiaoping believed that he had made progress, because he often heard people around him arguing, "I am always on the side of socialism." In October 1922, Deng Xiaoping quit his job in the hope of continuing his studies, but was unable to do so due to insufficient tuition. As a result, those fantasies such as "saving the country through industry" and "learning some skills" have come to naught. In February 1923, Deng Xiaoping returned to the Hutchinson factory. More than a month later, Deng Xiaoping resigned again and left. The reason for leaving on the file card is "refusal to work". In fact, before leaving the factory, Shu Huihui had mobilized him to join the Communist Youth League in Europe, and then Wang Zekai talked to him twice. In June 1923, Deng Xiaoping traveled to Paris and joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe, becoming one of the earliest and youngest members of the organization. This was not only the starting point of his revolutionary career, but also the inevitable result of his close integration of theory and practice. As Deng Xiaoping later said, on the one hand, he received a little knowledge about socialism, especially communism, and on the other hand, he was propagated by the enlightened elements, and at the same time, he had suffered first-hand, and he had the demand and desire to join the revolutionary organization. Joining the Communist Youth League became a new starting point for him to constantly practice his revolutionary ideas.
"Mimeographed Doctors" who propagated the Party's correct ideas
After joining the Communist Youth League in Europe, the 19-year-old Deng Xiaoping became the youngest member of the editorial board of "Youth" (later renamed "Red Light"). From then on, Deng Xiaoping was directly involved in revolutionary propaganda and officially became an out-and-out professional revolutionary. Although this was the first time that Deng Xiaoping had directly participated in revolutionary work, he had left a deep impression on everyone with his conscientious and responsible work attitude and outstanding work achievements.
The editorial office of "Red Light" is located in the residence of Zhou Enlai in the small hotel at 17 rue de Godefroy in Paris. When night fell, Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Fu Zhong, Li Dazhang and others crowded into a small room and began to work. It was in such a difficult environment that these party cadres in Europe worked hard, fought tenaciously, and maintained an optimistic and upward revolutionary enthusiasm. Deng Xiaoping's initial job was to engrave and print periodicals. He often worked as a handyman during the day and rushed to the editorial office after work. In order to ensure that the publication was published on time, Deng Xiaoping often took over the engraving and printing of an article after Zhou Enlai finished writing or correcting it. I often work all night and stay up all night. Deng Xiaoping's wax plates are always meticulously engraved, not only the font is symmetrical and neat, beautiful and generous, but the mimeographing and binding work is also completed very neatly. Therefore, everyone praised him as "Dr. Mimeograph".
In addition, Deng Xiaoping often wrote articles in "Red Light" to carry out revolutionary propaganda, boost revolutionary enthusiasm, sharply refute the right wing of the Kuomintang, expose the deception of the nationalist faction, and expose the imperialist conspiracy. In his later years, Deng Xiaoping humbly said: "Those articles are not ideological at all, but they only want the national revolution, the struggle against the Kuomintang rightists, and the struggle against Zeng Qi and Li Huang." Although these articles are of an exposing nature and have not yet risen to the level of theory and political discourse, there is no doubt that they have in fact played a positive role in propagating the party's correct propositions and guiding people to distinguish between right and wrong. With the joint efforts of all colleagues in the editorial department, "Red Light" is lively and lively, with various forms, short and concise articles, and to the point, which has a great influence on work-study students, Chinese workers and Chinese, and is known as "the pioneer of our struggle" and "the star of the Chinese in France".
Party leaders who actively organized revolutionary activities
With the needs of the development of the domestic revolution, Zhao Shiyan, Li Weihan, Wang Ruofei, Zhou Enlai and a number of other backbone party groups in Europe were recalled to China one after another. In order to establish a new leadership collective, in July 1924, the Fifth Congress of the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe was held, and Deng Xiaoping was elected as a member of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee.
After becoming the head of the Communist Youth League in Europe, Deng Xiaoping, together with other comrades, vigorously carried out revolutionary work in spite of difficulties. They often organized mass rallies, lectures, meetings of various groups in Paris, and served as a forum for political propaganda. In the spring of 1925, Deng Xiaoping, as a special commissioner of the European branch of the Communist Party of China, was sent to work in the Lyon area, serving as a training officer of the Lyon branch of the Communist Youth League in Europe, and concurrently serving as the secretary of the Lyon group of the European branch of the Communist Party of China, leading the party and caucus work and the Chinese workers' movement in the Lyon area.
With the outbreak of the "May Day" movement, the domestic situation changed drastically, and the party organizations in Europe also suffered serious damage. In the face of the brutal repression and persecution of the France authorities, Deng Xiaoping did not retreat in the slightest, but decisively resigned from his job in Lyon and returned to Paris, took the initiative to take over the leadership of the party organization, and devoted himself more actively to revolutionary activities. From June to September 1925, Deng Xiaoping participated in organizing a number of large-scale demonstrations and rallies of Chinese in France in solidarity with the anti-imperialist movement in China. In October, Deng Xiaoping presided over a 25-person meeting of Chinese communists at a café on Charlotte Street in Ihi-Molino to discuss the rebuilding of the party's organizational structure and the creation of a publication. In November, Deng Xiaoping held a mass meeting attended by 47 people to commemorate Wang Jingqi, the head of the Kuomintang in Europe who had been deported by the French and died of illness on the ship returning to China, and to protest against the arrest Chinese France the police. In January 1926, Deng Xiaoping attended a meeting convened by the China Action Committee in France at 23 rue de Boiille in Bellevera, advocating proximity to the Soviet government and opposition to imperialism.
A few days later, France police prepared to search the homes of Deng Xiaoping and others based on detailed information they had. Deng Xiaoping later recalled: "Because I was more active. Our actions France police are clear! The France police also repeatedly mentioned in their reports of monitoring Deng Xiaoping that "he was a communist activist and often spoke at various meetings of the Communist Party" and that "these Chinese appeared to be active communists." Fortunately, Deng Xiaoping and others had learned the news in advance, and on the eve of the arrest by the France police, they embarked on a journey to Moscow in the Soviet Union.
Deng Xiaoping's revolutionary years in the European Communist Youth League were not long, but they were precious. It was during this process that Deng Xiaoping took the initiative to participate in revolutionary practice and grew into a leader of the Communist Youth League in Europe. On the occasion of the 120th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's birth, looking back on this revolutionary period can also give a deeper understanding of the political wisdom and broad-mindedness of this great man.
Source: Mass Magazine Issue 14, 2024
Author: Zhang Qingqing, Guo Kai (Author's Affiliation: Party School of Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China)
Editor in charge: Zhang Lilei