The hundred-year journey is magnificent, and the original intention of the hundred-year journey has lasted for a long time. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Communist Party of China, and it is also a 100-year anniversary of Jiaotong University's solidarity with the Communist Party of China and the nation. In order to celebrate the centenary of the Communist Party of China, carry out in-depth study and education in party history, draw wisdom and strength from the party's century-old great struggle course, and feel the original intention and mission of the revolutionary ancestors and the model of Jiaotong University, the Propaganda Department of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Archives and Cultural Museum Management Center jointly set up a column entitled "Stories of Party History of Jiaotong University" to tell the party's century-old struggle course and wonderful stories at Jiaotong University, so as to entertain teachers, students, alumni, and the broad masses of people in society.
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Through the introduction of He Chang and Mei Dianlong (Mei Gongbin), a student party member of the Zhonghua Department of the East Asian Tongwen College, Zhang Yonghe joined the Communist Party of China in April 1925, becoming the first student party member of Jiaotong University.
In the history of Jiaotong University for more than 100 years, Shao Lizi was the first alumnus party member of Jiaotong University to join the Communist Party of China, and he attended the special class of Nanyang Public School from 1901 to 1902 and joined the Party in 1921. Hou Shaoqiu, the first martyr of the Communist Party of China at Jiaotong University, studied civil engineering from 1918 to 1920 and died in Nanjing in April 1927. So, among the teachers and students of Jiaotong University, who is the first CCP member? He was Zhang Yonghe (later renamed Zhang Zhizhong), a student of electrical engineering, who joined the Communist Party of China in April 1925.
Zhang Yonghe as a student
Born in 1902 in Luxi County, Yunnan Province, Zhang Yonghe spent his childhood in a rural area inhabited by Yi and Han Chinese. In 1915, he entered the Yunnan Provincial No. 1 Middle School in Kunming. In 1917, he was admitted to the Attached High School of the National Higher Normal School in Beijing. Under the influence of progressive ideological trends, the young Zhang Yonghe germinated the democratic idea of saving the country.
Zhang Yonghe, a student at Jiaotong University, sent four volumes of Nanyang Weekly to his alma mater, Yunnan Provincial No. 1 Middle School
During the May Fourth Movement, he took to the streets with his classmates to participate in the protests denouncing traitors and received patriotic education. He studied with a strong desire for knowledge, did not even return to his hometown during winter and summer vacations, and worked hard in the school library to urgently pursue the truth of saving the country and the people. Sun Yat-sen's "Founding Strategy" and other works gave him the idea of scientific national salvation. In 1921, he was admitted to Beiyang University in Tianjin to study civil engineering; the following year, he was admitted to Tangshan University and changed to railway architecture; in September 1923, he transferred from Tangshan University to Shanghai and went to Jiaotong University to study electrical engineering. At that time, many classmates thought that he had been in and out of several universities so smoothly that he must have a background. In this regard, Zhang Yonghe recalled: "I was a bitter student, there was no backing, relying on my own efforts. ”
Zhang Yonghe's student status at Jiaotong University records that he was transferred from Tangshan University (now Southwest Jiaotong University) in September 1923
After arriving at Jiaotong University, Zhang Yonghe's thinking changed. In 1923, the Communist Party of China held its Third National Congress and established a policy of establishing a united front with the Kuomintang led by Sun Yat-sen. The local party organizations in Shanghai led the national movement to help the Kuomintang establish and develop organizations and strengthen propaganda among young students. Directly influenced by Yun Daiying and others, the vast number of students at Jiaotong University set off a wave of debate on whether to "study to save the country" or "save the country politically" around the issue of establishing and developing the Kuomintang organization. In this great debate, Zhang Yonghe read publications such as "Guide" and "Chinese Youth", raised his political consciousness, and no longer buried his head in reading by relying solely on technical science to save the country. He joined the Kuomintang, was elected as a standing committee member of the Kuomintang Branch Department of Jiaotong University, and actively participated in various political activities. In 1924, Sun Yat-sen traveled north from Guangdong and passed through Shanghai by boat. In order to catch a glimpse of the revolutionary pioneers, Zhang Yonghe rushed to the Sixteen Shop wharf according to the time stated in the newspaper. However, Sun Yat-sen had arrived in Shanghai ahead of schedule and left the docks. Zhang Yonghe rushed to Xiangshan Road, Sun Yat-sen's apartment, only to see that the front of the apartment was crowded with heads and shoulders, and Mr. Sun was smiling, standing in front of the apartment and waving frequently to everyone, thanking the masses for their welcome. This is one of the most memorable scenes in Zhang Yonghe's life.
In 1923, Zhang Yonghe (front row, first from left) took a group photo with his classmates while studying at Jiaotong University
After the establishment of the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, the National Revolutionary Movement aimed at opposing imperialism and feudal warlords lit a lamp of national salvation for enthusiastic young people. With a thirst for national independence and self-reliance, many people threw themselves into the national revolutionary movement. Under the test of practical struggle, through the influence of the Socialist Youth League and the Communist Party of China in many aspects, Gu Guyi, head of the Kuomintang branch department of the school, Zhang Yonghe, member of the Standing Committee, and other backbone members accepted the program and Marxism of the Communist Party and transformed themselves into members of the Socialist Youth League and members of the Communist Party of China.
On June 26, 1925, the 7th National Congress of the All-China Federation of Students was held in Shanghai, and Zhang Yonghe (2nd from right in the back row) attended the meeting as an executive member.
In June 1925, Zhang Yonghe delivered a speech at the memorial service of the May Thirtieth martyrs Chen Yuqin and Wu Hengci
In May 1924, the Shanghai Prefectural Committee of the Socialist Youth League established a league branch in Xujiahui. In the second half of the year, He Chang came to Shanghai as the secretary of the Shanghai District Committee of the Youth League, and he participated in the activities of the Xujiahui League Branch to help develop the organization. He Chang paid great attention to the revolutionary activities of Jiaotong University, often learned about Zhang Yonghe's thinking and work, and enthusiastically gave guidance. During the days when the two of them were together, He Chang educated Zhang Yonghe in the principles of class and class struggle, pointing out that the Kuomintang was a revolutionary alliance of all classes, that its revolution was incomplete, and that only by carrying out a socialist revolution under the leadership of the Communist Party could we truly save China and gain national independence and freedom. He Chang encouraged Zhang Yonghe to read Marxist books and study the theories of social science, and also opened a reading list for him. Zhang Yonghe often went to the library to study Marxist works, and at that time, not many such books were translated into Chinese, and he read many foreign language editions, such as Plekhanov's works. Under the guidance of He Chang, Zhang Yonghe began to turn to socialism and actively carried out propaganda activities. He organized a book club among his classmates to spread Marxist theory and vigorously respond to the nationalist reactionary ideas that were prevalent in the school at that time. In the winter of 1924, through the introduction of He Chang, Zhang Yonghe joined the Socialist Youth League and became the first member of Jiaotong University.
In the early 1990s, Zhang Yonghe reunited with Lu Dingyi, a member of the first party branch of Jiaotong University and a classmate of Jiaotong University, in Beijing to talk about combat friendship.
At the beginning of 1925, the four congresses of the Party and the three major congresses of the League were held in Shanghai, and the Socialist Youth League was renamed the Communist Youth League (referred to as the Communist Youth League). He Chang was elected as a member of the Central Committee of the League, served as minister of agriculture and industry, and still often participated in the organizational life of the Xujiahui League branch, explaining to the members of the League the basic knowledge of the nature, program, and tasks of the party, and discussing them in connection with the actual political struggle, and also organizing them to go to Shanghai University to listen to party lessons. After education, the members of this regiment branch successively became communists, and then established the Xujiahui branch of the CPC. Through the introduction of He Chang and Mei Dianlong (Mei Gongbin), a student party member of the Zhonghua Department of Dongya Tongwen College, Zhang Yonghe joined the Communist Party of China in April 1925 and became the first student party member of Jiaotong University. After joining the party, Zhang Yonghe joined the Xujiahui branch and was responsible for the student movement. On May 8, the Shanghai Prefectural Committee approved Gu Guyi as a member of the Communist Party of China. In this way, before the May Thirtieth Movement, jiaotong university had two communists who became the organizers and leaders of the student movement. They carried out student work through the Kuomintang branch of the school, led the student movement of the whole school, extensively carried out revolutionary propaganda against imperialism and feudal warlords in the school, and awakened more enthusiastic young people to rise up and throw themselves into the May Thirtieth Storm and the revolutionary movement.
Source: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Party History Research Office: The Fortress of Democracy: The Underground Communist Party Fighting at Jiaotong University (1925-1949), Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, 2007.
The author of this article, Ou Qijin, is the deputy director of the History Research Office of the Party History School of Shanghai Jiaotong University
Contributor: Archives And Culture Management Center