Luo Ming's memoirs | The Victory of Xiamen's Prison Breaker: One, Two

"Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, Reliving the Red Story"

Sixth, xiamen's victory in breaking prisons

(1) (2)

Luo Ming's memoirs – Chen Pixian

Finishing: People who don't shoot mountains

On May 25, 1930, there was a thunderclap in the flat land, and the news of Xiamen's victory in breaking the prison shook Fujian Province and all over Nanyang. It has expanded the influence of the Party and inspired the courage and confidence of the revolutionary people to persist in the struggle.

(i)

On Sunday, May 25, 1930, it was just a good weather after the rain, and the streets of Xiamen City were bustling with people. At the gate of the Kuomintang Siming County Government in the city (the political prisoners' prison is located on the left side of the county government), there are two sentries, and everything is calm as usual. At 9 o'clock, 3 people from outside the armed team came to the front of the county government, and Lin Xuerong, dressed as a peddler who picked and sold bayberry, placed weapons under his bayberry basket - two barge guns. Tao Zhu and Wang Zhanchun pretended to be customers and were buying bayberry. Their task was to solve the sentry, control the gates of the county government, and enter the courtyard to storm the 40-man garrison. Subsequently, the first group of 2 people in the inner group entered the prison on the grounds of visiting the prison. Their task was to open the prison's large iron gate. Immediately after that, the members of the second and third groups also went in under the name of "visiting prisons." The third group carried a large box of Ma Yushan biscuits, which was larger than the window of the confinement room for political prisoners, and according to the prison's regulations, the guards had to check it. When the guards leaned over to open the biscuit box to check, the members of the second group were in a hurry, they were supposed to "visit the prison" and quit, controlling the large iron gate entering the prison from the compound, at which point they had to draw their guns and kill the guards. Members of the third group followed suit, shooting and killing the guards, and immediately using large steel scissors to cut the iron lock on the door of the political prisoner's cell, so that more than 40 political prisoners rushed out. At this time, the first group of the inner team immediately moved after the gunshot (the first gunshot was agreed to be a signal of action), killing the guards guarding the large iron gate of the prison. At the same time, after hearing the signal, the outer group immediately overthrew the Bayberry Basket, shot and killed the sentry at the gate, controlled the gate, and stormed the Inner Hall of the Siming County Government, shooting at the guard platoon. More than 30 soldiers in the garrison platoon were eating, and in a moment of panic, some of them went under the bed, some of them jumped out of the window and fled, and more than 20 people were injured by our armed team. Because the entire battle was carried out quickly, in less than 10 minutes, 48 "political prisoners" rushed out of the prison gate and the county government gate, and according to the original plan, the receiving team members were taken to the Shapowei Wharf in the west of Xiamen, and sailed out to sea on two sailing boats to Tong'an County, where they were placed in Pengcuo Village, where the agricultural movement in southern Fujian was the best, to rest, and then transferred to western Fujian. After the "prisoners" rushed out of the prison, our armed team also quickly withdrew from the scene, mixed into the crowd of the street market, and returned safely to each other.

The city of Xiamen has been an isolated island ruled by the Fujian Navy since the Northern Expedition. There is a naval headquarters in the city, not only naval ships at sea, but also two battalions of marines stationed in the city, one in Heshan and one in Panshi near Xiamen University. In addition, there are public security bureaus and public security sub-bureaus in the city. However, half an hour after the prison was broken, Xiamen's military and police went out one after another, surrounded siming prison, Xiamen University, and heshan Middle School garrisons, declared martial law, cut off traffic, and searched everywhere, but found nothing.

Half a month later, the Minxi Special Committee held a general meeting in Longyan Zhongshan Park to celebrate the success of prison breaking and welcome comrades who were released from prison.

The attack on Xiamen Siming Prison killed 2 enemy people, wounded more than 20 people, and rescued 48 "political prisoners." Most of these "political prisoners" are CPC party-member cadres and communist youth league cadres, including Liu Duansheng, former organization director of the CPC Minnan Special Committee and secretary of the Xiamen Municipal CPC Committee, and Chen Baisheng, former secretary of the Fujian Provincial CPC Committee of the Communist Youth League. Our armed detachment, with a total of 11 people, was not arrested, killed or injured, and completed the task with brilliant victory. Afterwards, the Fujian Provincial CPC Committee received a commendation from the PARTY Central Committee.

Lenin had an incisive account of the attack on prisons. In his article "From Defense to Offense", he first quoted the following telegram:

"Seventy people had attacked the Riga Central Prison the night before, cutting off the telephones and climbing up the rope ladder into the compound, and after a fierce battle, two guards were killed and three seriously wounded. The mob released two political prisoners who had been tried by a military tribunal and would be sentenced to death. During the pursuit, one detective was killed, several police officers were injured, and all but two of the rioters were at large. Lenin then pointed out: "In this way, the cause is moving forward after all!" Lenin saw from the attack on the prison that revolutionaries were moving away from personal terror to the armed struggle of the people. He also pointed out that the leaders of the proletariat were cultivated from the practice of this armed struggle of the people.

Lenin also said: "Salute to the heroes of the revolutionary Riga Combat Team!" May their victory be an inspiration and an example for the social-democratic workers of all Russia. Long live the vanguard of the People's Revolutionary Army! ”

He added, "Look at how great a victory the Rigas have been in their actions, even from a purely military point of view. The enemy killed three people, and about five to ten were wounded. Our losses were no more than two, and they were probably wounded before they were captured by the enemy. Our victory was the recapture of two revolutionary leaders captured by the enemy. What a glorious victory"!

Lenin spoke highly of the liga people's armed attack on prisons in this way, which is of great enlightenment to us in reviewing and understanding the xiamen prison breakage incident.

The Xiamen prison break incident was a bold operation in which less won more. The reasons for such a tremendous victory in breaking the prison this time can be summed up in the following aspects: (1) because the Fujian Provincial CPC Committee has drawn up a strict plan after investigation and study; (2) because of the corruption and lax management of Xiamen Siming Prison, the prison personnel only know how to extort money, greed for money and bribes, and prevent it from being lax; (3) because of the resoluteness and bravery of the armed personnel and the recipients who participated in this work. Sun Tzu, an ancient military expert in our country, said: "If you know each other and know yourself, you will never lose a hundred battles." Comrade Mao Zedong attached great importance to and quoted this sentence. It is precisely because the Fujian Provincial CPC Committee has learned about the situation between the enemy and ourselves that it can proceed from reality, formulate correct tactics, take advantage of its lack of preparation, and make a surprise attack, so as to win more with less. These were also in line with the requirements of Mao Zedong's strategic and tactical principles, which were gradually taking shape at that time.

(ii)

The victory in xiamen in breaking the prison was not only a victory militarily, but also a victory politically; it expanded the influence of our party and greatly encouraged the people of the whole province, while the reactionaries were shocked and struck.

The sound of gunfire attacking Siming Prison, the frantic search of reactionary military and police, the rush of people to spread the news of the news of the victory of the prison break spread throughout Xiamen City in less than a few hours, and immediately spread to Fuzhou and Shanghai. The next day, Five newspapers in Xiamen, including the Republic of China Daily, Jiangsheng Bao, Minzhong Bao, and Xiasheng Bao, published in half a page the experience of breaking the prison under the headline of the first edition, and some of them also painted pictures, comparing the actions of our armed forces to the heroes who robbed the law field in "Water Margin". Shanghai newspapers also carried this amazing news on this day. For example, the Ta Kung Pao reported on the 1st and 3rd editions as follows:

At 10:00 a.m. (25 July), Xiamen Siming Prison opened Room No. 5 and No. 9 for bandits, indulged the prisoners, fled to Yuxingkou, boarded a large water boat prepared, fled overseas, killed the warden and the guards, wounded three captains and guards, fifty-four fugitives, and detained eight people. ”

The Republic of China Daily also carried basically the same news. By then, Chinese had learned to see positive news in negative telegrams, and through the reports of these famous newspapers in the country, their impact was even broader.

Southern Fujian is a hometown of overseas Chinese, and there are many overseas Chinese living in the Nanyang area, and Xiamen is a key transportation place for overseas Chinese to connect with overseas Chinese. Therefore, the news of the xiamen prison robbery soon spread among overseas Chinese in various parts of Nanyang. Many newspapers run by overseas Chinese have also reported on this matter. In this way, the prison breaking incident of our party in Xiamen not only caused a sensation in Xiamen, Fuzhou, and southwest Fujian, but also spread to all parts of Nanyang.

Due to the swift and crisp operation of this prison-breaking battle, the Kuomintang authorities did not know the details and could only speculate in vain. Therefore, people add a lot of legendary color to their own imagination in the transmission of messages. For example, the armed forces are compared to "divine soldiers descending from the sky" and so on. However, people have expressed a common view in different languages, that is, they believe that the Communist Party is just and worthy of sympathy when it opens prisons and rescues its companions, and many people also praise the bravery and wit of the Communists, saying that "the Communist Party really has the ability to come without a trace and go without a shadow." Coupled with the continuous spread of the news of the victory of the "Zhumao" Red Army at that time, the influence of the Communist Party among the masses was expanding day by day.

On the contrary, after the prison break, the Kuomintang reactionary authorities were both shocked and angry. The Kuomintang central government sent a telegram to the Fujian provincial government to "investigate and deal with" and "ordered the Judicial Yuan to strictly prevent the recurrence of such incidents." The Organization Department of the Kuomintang Central Committee demanded that the president of the Siming Local Court be severely punished, that the Judicial Yuan of the National Government "suspend Deng Ji'an, the president of the court, from his post first," that the Fujian High Court dismiss the prison keeper and director of the detention center, and that the remaining managers be subjected to debt checks. In addition to repeatedly shouting "strict prevention", they have no choice!

After the prison break incident in Xiamen City, although the reactionary military and police investigated closely day and night, they did not find any clues to our underground party organization. In order to shirk their responsibility, they even reported that more than 100 of us participated in the prison break, and they also said that the leaders of the underground party of the CCP often had many plainclothes armed forces following them for protection, which frightened themselves. For a while, they didn't dare to do it easily.