introduction
The friendship between Li Fuchun and Zhou Enlai lasted for half a century. Starting from the work-study trip to France, they successively fought side by side on the road of revolution and the Long March.
After the founding of New China, the two presided over the economic construction work together, and the two supported and respected each other, took care of each other, and established a profound friendship.
Picture | Zhou Enlai and his wife and Li Fuchun together
01 The French years of Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun
In 1950, a year after the founding of New China, Mao Zedong made a major decision to visit the Soviet Union. On January 10, at Mao's request, Zhou Enlai decided to lead a Chinese government delegation to Moscow by train to negotiate with the Soviet government.
Coincidentally, Li Fuchun was also part of the Chinese delegation. At this time, Li Fuchun was already the second in command of the party, government, and army in the northeast. He served as vice chairman of the Northeast People's Government, deputy secretary of the CPC Central Committee in northeast China, and deputy political commissar of the Northeast Military Region.
This time Zhou Enlai went to Moscow, Li Fuchun went with him, mainly related to the negotiations of the Soviet Union's aid to the northeast project, for Li Fuchun, Zhou Enlai was very trusting and understanding.
In the early years, Li Fuchun went to France to work and study, and successively worked as a driver and drove a train. The life experience of his youth made his understanding of modern industry more profound than that of ordinary people.
During his work in the northeast, Li Fuchun successively led the industrial construction and restoration work in the northeast, and also formulated the first national economic plan in the northeast, with advanced management and leadership experience, and a lot of understanding of the economy and modern industrial transportation.
The friendship between Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun also dates back to their work-study period in France.
Picture | 1924, members of the Brigade Branch of the Chinese Communist Youth League took a group photo in Paris, with Zhou Enlai in the fourth row on the left and Li Fuchun in the fourth from the right.
Beginning in 1921, the country rapidly launched a study in France campaign. Like many young people, Li Fuchun was unable to go to school because of his family's poverty. When he heard that going to France for work-study could achieve the purpose of further education, he tried to take this path.
On October 31, 1919, Li Fuchun, who was only 19 years old, set off from Shanghai on the French cruise ship "Bolega" and embarked on the road to France.
Like most work-study students, Li Fuchun came to France with the ideal of "engineeringism." In February 1920, Li Fuchun, Together with Li Lin, Li Weihan and others, he formed the "Work-study Incentive Association", which was later changed to the "Engineering World Society".
A year after Li Fuchun arrived in France, Zhou Enlai came to the port of Marseille in France in December 1920 as a 15th class of work-study students organized by the Huafa Education Association and officially began his career in Europe.
It is precisely because of this experience of going to France to work and study, Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun, two revolutionary comrades-in-arms, have a common intersection of life in France.
Pictured| students studying in France in Marseille
In 1920, the Beiyang government sold the railway "right to build the road", secretly purchased arms and negotiated loans with France. Not long after, the matter was disclosed in major French newspapers and made waves among the work-study students who went to France.
Zhou Enlai hastened to contact the Chinese community in Europe with Yuan Zizhen of the "Public School World Society", organized the establishment of an anti-loan committee, and issued a "Notice of Refusal of Funds".
On June 30, the major Groups of Chinese in France organized a huge celebration meeting for more than 300 people in the Philosopher's Hall in Paris. At the meeting, they read out more than 100 protest letters from Chinese groups.
Finally, the French government could not resist the public opinion of the society and was forced to temporarily end the negotiation of borrowing. In this struggle, Li Fuchun has always stood with the comrades of the "Engineering and Learning Cooperative" and has always been at the forefront of the struggle.
Officially, this "struggle to refuse money" became the starting point of friendship and revolution between Li Fuchun and Zhou Enlai.
In many struggles with the authorities, Li Fuchun and Zhou Enlai conscientiously summed up their experiences and lessons and profoundly realized the necessity of building a strictly fighting communist organization.
Photo | Li Fuchun
In 1921, Zhou Enlai and Zhao Shiyan contacted Li Fuchun, Wang Ruofei and other outstanding young people in work-study to discuss the establishment of a communist organization in Europe.
After months of preparation and brewing. In late June 1921, the Communist Group in Europe was formally established, and this group became one of the eight initiating groups of the Communist Party of China.
In 1922, progressive youth who studied in France established the Communist Party in Europe. The following year, it was renamed the Chinese Communist Youth League of Tourism. After the establishment of this organization, one of the most important tasks was to organize young people to study Marxist works.
In order to cooperate with this work as much as possible, the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe founded a publication called "Youth" on August 1. Li Fuchun, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping were not only responsible for writing articles, but also serving as editors, and the editorial office was where Zhou Enlai lived, which was also the office of the executive committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe.
In this small and simple apartment, people like Li Fuchun and Zhou Enlai threw themselves into their work, even if the conditions were very difficult, working during the day and working all night at night.
According to Cai Chang's recollection, Deng Xiaoping and Li Fuchun worked during the day and engaged in party work at night, while Comrade Zhou Enlai completely dropped out of work.
In February 1924, "Teenager" was reorganized and became the semi-monthly magazine "Red Light". Soon, the Nationalist Organization of Youth, headed by Li Huang and Zeng Qi, launched an attack on the Communist Party of China and expressed opposition to the kuomintang-communist united front.
Pictured| The Teenager magazine
Pictured | Red Light magazine
Several people, led by Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun, quickly organized themselves and successively published articles in the magazine "Red Light" to refute them, exposing the nature of the nationalist faction in its name of patriotism and traitorousness.
It was during these years in France that Li Fuchun and Zhou Enlai established a profound friendship, jointly established socialist beliefs, and wrote their youth with high morale.
02 Li Fuchun and Zhou Enlai's return years
After the Kuomintang Congress was held in 1924, the Kuomintang faced a new situation. Guangzhou became the center of the national revolutionary movement, and a large number of cadres were urgently needed, so the Party Central Committee decided to send Li Fuchun and Cai Chang to work in Guangdong.
On August 20, 1925, Li Fuchun and Cai Chang came to Guangzhou by steamship. At that time, Guangzhou was under martial law throughout the city, and all foreign ships were stopped outside the city.
It was not until the next day, after the city imposed martial law, that Li Fuchun and Cai Chang successfully landed and entered the city. It turned out that on the same day, Liao Zhongkai, a leftist member of the Kuomintang, was brutally and brutally killed in front of the kuomintang central party central department.
Pictured| Li Fuchun and Cai Chang
After Li Fuchun arrived at the Central Guangdong District Committee, he met Zhou Enlai and Chen Yannian, who had worked and studied together in France. They were very excited and happy about Li Fuchun's arrival.
Zhou Enlai returned to China a year earlier than Li Fuchun, and after returning to Guangzhou, he served as chairman of the Guangdong Military Commission and propaganda director of the CPC. Soon after, he served as the director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy.
At the beginning of 1925, due to the Nationalist government's crusade, Zhou Enlai could not take into account the overall work of the Cpc Guangdong District Committee, so he asked Chen Yannian to take over his post, and he concentrated on leading military work and served as the minister of military affairs.
After Li Fuchun came to Guangzhou, he first served as a member of the Military Commission of the Guangdong Military Commission of the CPC, and later joined the National Revolutionary Army as a Kuomintang.
In the National Revolutionary Army, Li Fuchun and Zhou Enlai served as representatives of the First and Second Parties and directors of the Political Department of the National Revolutionary Army, respectively. After stabilizing their jobs, Li Fuchun and Cai Chang lived in Wendri, Wende East Road, which is close to the Guangdong District Party Committee. Coincidentally, Zhou Enlai and his wife Deng Yingchao also lived here. Therefore, the relationship between the two families is very close.
Pictured| National Revolutionary Army
For the Communist Party, exactly how to transform the military is a completely new issue for them. Soon after Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun took office, they began to strengthen the military's political work system and strengthen the ideological and political education of officers and men.
To this end, Li Fuchun specially selected a group of progressive young people, members of the Communist Youth League, and communist party members to engage in propaganda and party affairs work, and established secret organizations in the armies and divisions of the Second Army to train communist party members.
Under the leadership and leadership of Li Fuchun, the political work of the Second Army has been carried out with sound and color, and the overall appearance of the army has undergone great changes. Because of his outstanding performance, he was also praised by Zhou Enlai.
Just as the Northern Expedition was in full swing, Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang planned the famous "Zhongshan Ship Incident" in history on March 20, 1926.
At that time, Mao Zedong, who was running a peasant movement training center in Guangzhou, learned of this, so he came to the place where Li Fuchun lived, and several people discussed how to deal with Chiang Kai-shek.
Pictured| Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun
Li Fuchun's attitude on this matter was very clear, and he advocated a counterattack against Chiang Kai-shek. In the end, they unanimously decided that in the Sixth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, except for the 5 commanders of the First Army and Chiang Kai-shek, the rest of the backbone government cadres were basically Communists.
Based on this situation, they proposed that the Ye Ting Independent Regiment should be the main one, and the left wing of the United Kuomintang and all forces that could be united would strike at Chiang Kai-shek.
However, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China did not adopt their opinions, but adopted a policy of compromise and concession, which led to the arrogance of the Kuomintang reactionaries of Chiang Kai-shek and others becoming even more arrogant.
On April 12, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek planned a counter-revolutionary coup in Shanghai that shocked China and foreign countries. On July 15, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei joined forces and openly rebelled against the counter-revolution.
In order to preserve its strength, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to withdraw all the Communists in the Kuomintang army. Because Li Fuchun was an important figure wanted by the Kuomintang, he could only be forced to go underground.
Pictured| Li Fuchun and Cai Chang
03 Li Fuchun protects Zhou Enlai from crossing the meadow
Soon, Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, He Long, Ye Ting, and others launched the Nanchang Uprising on August 1, firing the first shots against the Kuomintang reactionaries.
In 1934, Li Fuchun left the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, where he had worked for nearly three years, and came to Ruijin, a temporary base area of the central government. Presumably, the Red Army was at the time of the failure of the fourth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, and the Central Committee appointed Li Fuchun as deputy director of the General Political Department as acting director.
After the failure of the anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, the central authorities made the decision of the Long March. In 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held the Zunyi Conference. At this important juncture when our Party is facing a vital matter of life and death, Li Fuchun firmly sided with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and firmly supported the political, military, and ideological line of the Party Central Committee.
From August 4 to 6, 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an enlarged meeting of the Politburo in Maurge Shawo to study and discuss the tasks facing the Red Army and the situation at that time. At this meeting, it was decided that Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun would once again partner, and the two would jointly shoulder the heavy responsibility of leading the development and survival of the Red First Army.
On August 20, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to hold a politburo meeting in Maurgai. On the day of the meeting, Li Fuchun and Zhou Enlai jointly issued a decision to carry out the Taoxia Campaign.
Picture | the Red Army is on the Long March
In order to carry out this plan, the Red Army and the Red Fourth Front were divided into two routes, the Left and Right Fronts. Soon, the central authorities transferred Li Fuchun to the Three Corps as political commissars.
During the Long March, Zhou Enlai was responsible for the main responsibilities of the Central Military Commission, and the work tasks were quite heavy, due to long-term physical fatigue, coupled with malnutrition and harsh natural environment, he had a high fever for several days and could not eat.
After examination by the doctor, Zhou Enlai suffered from hepatitis. However, due to the lack of treatment for a long time, a liver abscess has developed and there is an urgent need to drain the pus. Due to the limited environment at that time, only the warriors could take ice cubes from the nearby mountains and apply them to the liver, and use the method of local freezing to reduce body temperature and control the spread of the disease.
On August 21, the Right Route Army decided to cross the meadow, and Li Fuchun followed the Third Army Behind the Palace. At this time, Zhou Enlai was also in the middle of this team. At this time, although his condition had improved significantly, his body was still very weak, and it was difficult to walk even on flat ground.
In the environment at that time, from Maurgai to Banyou, it was necessary to pass through hundreds of miles of vast grassland, full of mud swamps, and it was difficult to pull out if you accidentally stepped into it.
In order to ensure that Zhou Enlai could pass safely through the meadow, Li Fuchun, Peng Dehuai and other commanders of the Third Army decided to organize a stretcher team to escort him out of the meadow smoothly.
The figures | zhou enlai, mao zedong, and Zhu De
On the way, Li Fuchun was very concerned about Zhou Enlai. On the marching road, he often followed Zhou Enlai's stretcher, and from time to time told the stretcher soldiers to be careful. After a six-day and six-night march, Li Fuchun and the soldiers of the Three Legions finally managed to get out of the meadow.
It was precisely under the care and care of Li Fuchun, Chen Geng, and Peng Dehuai that Zhou Enlai's body was much better under such a harsh environment.
04 Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun in the Soviet Union
As the train headed for the Soviet Union, Zhou Enlai and his delegation worked tirelessly to begin preparations for the negotiations. After arriving in Moscow on January 20, they hurried to Mao's residence to study issues related to the Soviet talks.
On the evening of January 22, the talks officially began. Thanks to the efforts of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Wang Jiaxiang, Li Fuchun, and others, the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance was finally formed.
This visit to the Soviet Union was a major diplomatic activity since the founding of New China.
During this period, Li Fuchun not only assisted Zhou Enlai in participating in the negotiation of treaties and related agreements. Under the circumstance that the Central Trade Minister could not attend due to illness, Li Fuchun also presided over the negotiations on Sino-Soviet trade.
Pictured| Li Fuchun and others in the Soviet Union
On February 17, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and others left Moscow in a special train. After Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai left Moscow on February 17, Li Fuchun was not accompanied, and he remained in Moscow to preside over the unresolved issues of sino-Soviet negotiations.
Just as Li Fuchun was in Charge of Sino-Soviet trade negotiations in Moscow, the Central Committee decided to appoint Li Fuchun as deputy director of the Finance and Economic Committee and political councilor of the State Council on April 11, 1950, and succeeded Chen Yun as Minister of Heavy Industry.
On April 19, representatives of the Chinese and Soviet governments signed the Sino-Soviet Trade Agreement. Soon, Li Fuchun left Moscow and returned to his motherland.
After returning to the northeast, Li Fuchun quickly completed the handover work and returned to the central government to make preparations for large-scale work.
In the second half of 1952, the recovery of the national economy was also carried out relatively smoothly. Beginning in 1953, my country decided to carry out its first five-year plan.
At the suggestion of Premier Zhou Enlai, a leading group for the preparation of the Five-Year Plan was to be set up, whose members were mainly Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun, Li Fuchun, and others, who were specifically responsible for the preparation of the first Five-Year Plan.
And Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun, the old comrades-in-arms, once again fought side by side and shined for the economy of new China.
Pictured| Li Fuchun at work
In August 1953, a delegation from the central government visited the Soviet Union again, with Zhou Enlai as the chief representative and Chen Yun, Zhang Wentian, Li Fuchun and Su Yu as the representatives.
This time, the main task of the Chinese delegation was to exchange views with the Soviet Union on the draft five-year plan in order to win assistance from the Soviet side.
After arriving in Moscow, Li Fuchun and Chen Yun jointly assisted Zhou Enlai in conducting secret talks with the Soviet government, and also maintained close contact with the Central Finance Commission at home, briefing them on the relevant situation of the talks and conveying Zhou Enlai's instructions in a timely manner.
Zhou Enlai and Chen Yun stayed in the Soviet Union for more than a month, and after arranging the guidelines and agenda of the delegation and the Soviet Union, they returned from Moscow to the motherland.
For more than ten months since then, li Fuchun has led the Chinese delegation to continue to discuss with the relevant leaders of the Soviet government the specific projects of the relevant departments on Soviet assistance.
In March 1953, something big happened in the socialist countries: Stalin died. Knowing this, the Chinese side led a Chinese delegation to Moscow to attend Stalin's funeral.
Pictured| Zhou Enlai and Cai Chang and his wife walking in the suburbs
From March 10 to 11, Li Fuchun took the time to report on the discussions between China and the Soviet Union in recent months on the outline of China's first five-year plan in recent months.
On the basis of China's actual situation and the situation of negotiations, Li Fuchun analyzed the opinions and existing problems in the draft five-year plan that need to be improved, put forward the conditions for formulating the First Five-Year Plan, and put forward some opinions on the Central Financial Commission and the State Planning Commission.
Zhou Enlai attached great importance to these opinions of Li Fuchun, and he believed that these opinions have good reference value for improving the planning work.
In April of the same year, the Chinese government delegation represented by Li Fuchun, under the strong leadership of Zhou Enlai, conducted repeated consultations and studies with the Soviet side, and the two sides reached agreement on major projects of assistance to the First Five-Year Plan, and basically the conditions for signing the agreement were already met.
On May 15, as the plenipotentiary representative of the Chinese side, Li Fuchun formally signed the Agreement on the Assistance of the Government of the Soviet Socialist Union to the Government of the Union of the People's Republic of China in the Development of China's National Economy.
Under the leadership of Zhou Enlai and the Central Committee, Li Fuchun successfully completed the tasks entrusted to him by the Central Committee.
05 Li Fuchun died of illness, and Zhou Enlai took his illness to the memorial service
Since then, under the leadership of Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun has continued to struggle on the country's economic front, presided over the formulation of the Second Five-Year Plan and the Third Five-Year Plan, drew a blueprint for the economic construction of New China, and made major contributions to the development and construction of New China.
In 1966, as the leader of the country, Fuchun lost the right to work for the people, and even his daily life was not guaranteed.
During this period of living in Zhongnanhai, Li Fuchun's guards met the staff at Zhou Enlai's side in the canteen. The staff member asked, "How?" ”
The guard thought he was asking, so he said a little angrily, "Not good!" ”
The staff member asked him to talk carefully, and the guard said angrily: "It's so cold these days, and the heating is not hot." Li Fuchun could only wear a cotton coat and read at home. We went to the management department to reflect the situation, and no one has repaired it for a few days. ”
The staff member informed Zhou Enlai of what he knew, and did not expect Zhou Enlai to say angrily: "How can they do this, you quickly tell Yang Dezhong and let him hurry up." ”
Pictured| Mao Zedong and Li Fuchun and others
Yang Dezhong was also very angry after learning of the situation, and quickly instructed the relevant departments to repair it quickly. The next day, Li Fuchun's guards found Zhou Enlai's staff and said, "Finally there are workers to repair the heating, this is a problem with the pipes, I already knew that I told you in advance." ”
The staff member smiled and said, "Where do I have such a great ability, or because Premier Zhou has asked about this matter." ”
On January 1, 1975, at the age of 75, Li Fuchun completed the last part of his life. At the end of his life, there was one person who could not be most assured, that is, Zhou Enlai.
He said to the people around him: "I don't know how Zhou Enlai's health is, I am worried about his condition, I hope it will not continue to deteriorate." After all, China's economic construction is inseparable from Zhou Enlai, let alone the special period at that time.
On January 15, the Great Hall of the People held a solemn memorial service for Li Fuchun.
At that time, Zhou Enlai was already plagued by illness. However, he still ignored the persuasion of the hospital staff and rushed from the hospital to the Great Hall of the People to personally preside over the memorial service for his old comrades-in-arms.
Pictured| Zhou Enlai at Li Fuchun's memorial service
When Cai Chang saw that Zhou Enlai was still coming, he asked with concern and excitement: "Premier, how did you come, isn't it..."
Zhou Enlai said emotionally, "How can I not come?" Even if I am very sick, I will come, after all, we are more than 50 years of old comrades-in-arms! ”
When the people present heard Zhou Enlai's words, they were all moved and were deeply moved by the friendship between the two.