Lenin Rock, the spirit is eternal

Author: Chen Jingyuan

Wuzhu Lenin Rock, formerly known as Northern Emperor Rock, is the name finalized by Commander Zhang Yunyi. Here, the front of the Lajia River Valley, the back of the 90,000 large stone mountain. This 8,000-square-meter cave with a capacity of 2,000 people is a natural classroom given to Wei Baqun by the heavens.

Using this extraordinary cave, Wei Baqun founded the first Guangxi Peasant Movement Training Institute here, which instilled ideas, strengthened the organization, and accumulated strength for the vigorous development of the Peasant Revolutionary Movement in Youjiang. Since then, the light of truth of Marxism-Leninism has illuminated the poor and remote areas, and has cultivated elite pillars for future revolutionary struggles. It can be said that without Lenin Rock, there would be no legend of the Right River Revolution, and without Lenin Rock, there would be no birth of a group of national generals in Guangxi. Therefore, Lenin Rock will always be a place for future generations to know the Right River, rely on the martyrs, and read history.

The peasant movement led by Wei Baqun in the early days had several ups and downs, and due to the lack of correct revolutionary theory to guide, there was no cure for consolidation and development. Therefore, he broke through all kinds of obstacles and blockades and arrived in Guangzhou, the center of the Revolution, in January 1925. Subsequently, under the recommendation of Liao Zhongkai, he entered the Guangzhou Peasant Movement Training Institute to study. Wei Baqun eagerly studied Marxist-Leninist theory and the experience of the peasant movement in other places, and in connection with the reality of the peasant struggle in Donglan, conscientiously summed up the lessons and lessons of the past struggle, made rapid progress, and became an outstanding student of the Third Agricultural Lecture Institute. Here he became acquainted with famous communists such as Peng Pan, Chen Yannian, and Ruan Xiaoxian. They graduated early at the Guangzhou Agricultural Institute and were sent back to Guangxi by Liao Zhongkai, then minister of the Central Peasant Department, to work as a special commissioner for the peasant movement.

After studying the brand-new revolutionary theory at the Guangzhou Agricultural Lecture Institute, Wei Baqun and Chen Bomin returned to Guangxi with revolutionary passion, and they returned to Nanning with Li Dingjian, the commander of the Guangdong warlord division. At that time, when the warlords of Yunnan and Guizhou were fighting, the political situation in Guangxi was chaotic and it was difficult to carry out work, so it was decided to return to Donglan Wuzhu and carry out the peasant movement. When Wei Baqun returned to his hometown, the remaining revolutionary cadres, revolutionary youths, and peasant masses were all very happy and came to Donglan to meet with Wei Baqun and asked him to quickly lead everyone to rise up and carry out the revolutionary struggle. Wei Baqun said to everyone with enthusiasm: "Dry, this time we have to do a big job, play a red game!" However, we must not be reckless, we must be organized, planned, and step by step. Wei Baqun built a small hut on the side of Theiya Mountain in Dongli, where he worked, wrote and received visitors. He pasted the images of Marx, Lenin and Sun Yat-sen, which he had brought back from Guangzhou, on the screen inside the house, and pasted a large number of characters on a bamboo fence with a red piece of paper written "For the benefit of the peasants."

During this period, Wei Baqun sometimes wrote at home and talked with people; sometimes asked Chen Jibao to use bamboo rows to go to Xiaolongtan in Dongli to work, reprint the study documents he had brought from Guangzhou, draft and print leaflets, and distribute them to educate the people in various places; at the same time, he organized revolutionary youth to go to the counties of Youjiang to go in tandem, specifically guiding the work of the peasant movement, and secretly organizing peasant associations and peasant armed forces. By the autumn of 1925, the peasant association organizations and peasant armies in Youjiang Counties had been restored and developed.

The rapid development of the peasant movement requires a large number of peasant movement cadres. In order to push the peasant movement to a climax, Wei Baqun and Chen Bomin decided to follow the methods of the Guangzhou Agricultural Movement Institute and open a peasant movement training center to "handle the study procedures in accordance with the regulations promulgated by the Central Party Department" and train agricultural movement cadres for Donglan and Youjiang counties.

In running a peasant movement training center, the first thing to consider is the issue of school buildings. Some comrades proposed renting private houses; some comrades proposed to build huts... Wei Baqun synthesized everyone's opinions and finally decided that the school site was selected in Beidiyan. Why did you choose North Diyan as the school site? According to Comrade Huang Juping's later recollection, there were three main reasons for choosing the site of the school in Beidiyan: First, Wei Baqun and others were very familiar with the terrain around the Lajia Mountain; there were winding paths in the cave to the back of the mountain, and when the enemy attacked, it was conducive to evacuating the cadets, which was extremely beneficial to the safety of the cadets; second, the area inside the Lenin Rock was large, the cave was dry, and the sun was sufficient, and classrooms, offices, and cadet dormitories could be set up at the same time; third, the peasant training institute was accompanied by military training, and it was convenient for military classes to be held here.

After the school site was selected, Wei Baqun organized the students of the Agricultural Lecture Institute and the students who came to report one after another to lead everyone to build the school. Outside the cave, the students cut down bamboo and other trees, used them to make desks, benches, and weave a variety of commonly used bamboo utensils; they also brought a large number of stones to build the school's arches and stairs that were more than a foot high. According to the later memories of the students who participated in the first agricultural lecture institute, the first agricultural lecture institute was arranged like this at that time:

On both sides of the arch of the cave is a couplet inscribed by Wei Baqun: "Stand up to the revolutionary, and walk away if you are not revolutionary." "In the middle of the arch is a notice board made of bamboo mats for the students to give posters or posted by the peasant lecture. On both sides of the board are written a couplet that reads, "Happy Career, Nothing Like Revolution." On both sides of the card are well-furnished libraries and clubs; behind the card is the central part of the cave, lined with more than a dozen rows of wooden desks and wooden benches, which are used as both large classes and meeting halls. On the left and right sides of the classroom, there are students' dormitories with bamboo pieces tied into a paved bed. At the end of the bunk is a wall made of bamboo, divided into simple offices and teachers' dormitories, where Wei Baqun and the teachers stay. The walls are framed with paper with poems, notices, circulars, revolutionary songs and slogans. The door of the office is written with the name of the office and the names of the office people, such as Director Wei, Chen Management, Wei General Affairs, Deng Teacher, etc. From the Tongtian Tunnel, there is the kitchen. The center of the large classroom, the original Great Bodhisattva Platform in the cave, was decorated as a podium. Above the podium hung portraits of Lenin and Sun Yat-sen. On the right, a large blackboard was erected on a wooden shelf, and on both sides of the podium there was a couplet inscribed by Wei Baqun: "The local tycoons and inferior gentry treat the poor as a plate of Chinese food." The toiling masses will make the gentry a muzzle target!" Above the podium were also written the eight characters of "unity, mutual assistance, struggle, and sacrifice." On the wall to the left of the lecture hall is a poem from the Water Margin: "The red sun is like a fire, and the noda seedlings are half scorched." The farmer's heart is like a soup boiling, and the prince and grandson shake the fan. On the side of the podium stood a revealing plaque made of mud bricks, on which were neatly written the fifteen characters of "Revolutionization of Ideology, Discipline of Action, and Transformation of Workers and Peasants in Life", which served as the school motto of the Institute of Peasant Education and the standard for the students to study and live. There are also slogans, couplets and slogans that can be seen everywhere in the cave, such as "No work, no food, no freedom than death", "Transform old China, transform old society", "Overthrow the feudal forces" and so on.

The whole Ofe yan is arranged from the inside to the outside, solemn and simple, and can be called a vigorous revolutionary cadre school.

The directors of the Agricultural Lecture Institute are Wei Baqun, Chen Bomin as administrator, and Wei Mingzhou as shu. The faculty members are Huang Bangcheng, Huang Shulin, Huang Daquan, Huang Shuxiang, Chen Shouhe, Huang Qiansheng, Huang Shaowen, Huang Mengru, Huang Huanzhang, etc. Military instructors were Deng Fearless and Huang Hanying. The Institute offers courses on the history of revolutions in various countries, the general situation of Soviet Russia, the outline of political economy, the general knowledge of economics, military knowledge, the outline of Chinese history, the Three People's Principles, the common sense of law, and the constitution of peasant associations.

The trainees selected by the districts, township peasant associations, and student federations evaded the eyes and ears of the enemy, waded through mountains and rivers, overcame difficulties, and came to Lajia Mountain from all directions one after another and walked into the Northern Emperor Rock. They came from 11 counties, including Donglan, Fengshan, Baise, Lingyun, Fengyi, Enlong, Silin, Guode, Du'an, Hechi, and Nandan, with a total of 276 students, all of whom were male students.

The study and life of the farm is very intense, and it is three lectures, two exercises and one labor every day. In the evening, he went to the homes of the masses to visit the poor and the poor, investigate the people's lives, and carry out revolutionary propaganda activities. Every three days of Wuzhuo, Jiangping, and Sanshi, they lined up to do street propaganda and speeches. On the way out, the trainees were full of spirits, beating gongs and drums, blowing trumpets, singing revolutionary songs, waving small red flags, shouting slogans, and the lineup was serious and lively.

Wei Baqun is both a leader and a teacher, and he personally lectures to the trainees and leads the trainees to exercise. In the afternoon, the Peasant Lecture Institute studied lectures and conducted military exercises, and the trainees each made a wooden gun to practice assassination. Wei Baqun often watched from the sidelines, and when he found that someone was not moving correctly, he stepped forward to correct it. Wei Baqun paid great attention to exercise, and he said to his student Huang Juping: "If winter is not cold, it is not like winter, and if it is not hot in summer, it is not called summer." If the revolution is afraid of hardship, it cannot be revolutionary! When fighting, how can you hold an umbrella in the summer and a fire cage in the winter? The enemy will not choose to make trouble on a sunny and warm day, so those who are not used to it must be trained into habits. Revolutionaries must exercise three habits: First, they must take a firm stand, have a strong will, are not afraid of difficulties, are not afraid of death, and resolutely sacrifice themselves for the interests of the party and the people; second, they must have a strong body, be able to run and jump, and be able to bear hardships and stand hard work; third, in the struggle against the enemy, they must be flexible and brave, bold and meticulous, and change endlessly. Only such a person can withstand the wind and rain, and when he is about to die, he can be fearless and dare to fight for the revolution to the end. Now we study, climb mountains, and wash cold water every day in order to temper such useful revolutionary cadres. ”

At that time, the funds of the peasant training institute were borne by the district and township peasant associations, and some revolutionary comrades donated (Ya Sumin in the Yangtze River District and Liao Yuanfang in Fengshan County each donated 100 yuan to the ocean), but it was mainly maintained by Wei Baqun selling Nakata property. The first Agricultural Lecture Institute was opened on November 1, 1925, and was originally planned to study for half a year, but due to the sabotage and revolutionary struggle of the county governor Huang Shouxian and the big bully Long Xianyun, it was completed ahead of schedule.

The Northern Empire Rock was a place where a major contribution was made to the revolution. In the spring of 1930, when Zhang Yunyi, commander of the Seventh Red Army, came to Wuzhu, he went to the Northern Emperor Rock to visit and pay respects, listened to the introduction, and he believed that Wei Baqun spread Marxism-Leninism here, which was of great significance and worth commemorating, and proposed to change the Northern Emperor Rock to "Lenin Rock". After discussion, the Donglan County Soviet Government agreed to Commander Zhang's proposal. Since then, this name full of revolutionary feelings and with distinct colors of the times has spread throughout youjiang and all over Guangxi.

In the autumn of 1926, the Guangxi provincial authorities' investigation of the "Donglan Peasant Massacre" was basically over, the work of the Donglan peasant movement was revived, the second Donglan peasant association was established, and the Donglan agricultural movement entered a new climax, so the phenomenon of lack of cadres became increasingly prominent. In order to solve the problem of training cadres of the peasant movement as soon as possible and to meet the needs of the vigorous development of the agricultural movement in Donglan, Wei Baqun opened the second peasant movement training center in July 1926 at the Wuzhu Yucai Primary School. This session of the Agricultural Lecture Institute widely attracted young women to participate, organized into male and female classes, more than 80 male students, more than 40 female trainees (the female class is also known as the "Women's Movement Training Institute", is the first women's movement training institute in Guangxi), a total of 120 people, all of whom are Donglan nationals. The directors of this session of the Agricultural Lecture Institute are Wei Baqun, and the instructors include Chen Hongtao, Huang Shulin, Huang Shaowen, Chen Gutao, Chen Shouhe, Huang Runsheng, and Huang Xiaoquan; military instructors Deng Fearless and Huang Baolin; and General Affairs Huang Zhengxiong and Pan Ruisheng. In addition to the same content as that of the first Agricultural Education Institute, in order to meet the needs of the rapid development of the women's movement, literacy teaching and courses on women's liberation, freedom of marriage, and equality between men and women have been added. During the study period, in addition to political courses and military training, the instructors also led the trainees to the nearby villages to conduct propaganda and rectify the peasant associations. After six months of study, the course was completed at the end of December of the same year.

The Second Peasant Movement Training Institute in Donglan, whether it is a male class or a female class, all the students are from Donglan. According to the needs of the development of the revolutionary situation, in order to make the peasant revolutionary movement develop to the surrounding counties and accelerate the training of peasant movement cadres in the Youjiang area, Wei Baqun and other revolutionary leaders continued to open the third Donglan Peasant Movement Training Institute at the Wuzhu Yucai Primary School in early July 1927. At that time, considering that the trainees were mainly from four counties, such as Donglan, Fengshan, Du'an, and Hechi, the current session of the Peasants' Movement Institute was also called the "Tiannanlian County Peasant Movement Training Institute," and Wei Baqun was still the director, and the full-time teachers were Deng Fearless, Ye Yimao, Guan Xueping, and Zhao Shijun. Military instructor Long Jinbiao (later defected), general secretary Liang Shishu. Part-time teachers include Chen Hongtao, Huang Shulin and others, Deng Fearless concurrently serves as deputy director, and Ye Yimao concurrently serves as provost. There are nearly 200 students in this year. Lu Haoren, Huang Fangri, Wei Guoying, Qin Guohan, Huang Rong, huang Zhaomin, and others were the students of this session of the Institute. Courses include philosophy, ethics, political science, history of imperialist aggression, Chinese economics, and history of the peasant movement. In August of the same year, the Gui warlord Huang Mingyuan invaded Fengshan and suppressed the revolution. Wei Baqun led the peasant army and the students of the Third Agricultural Lecture Institute to Fengshan to block the enemy. Later, in view of the fact that the Kuomintang Warlords of the Gui clan began to launch an all-out attack on the Dongfeng base area, forced by the war situation, Wei Baqun withdrew the trainees of the peasant institute from the Fengshan front to Donglan, and on September 5, he assigned the work in advance, and the third session of the peasant training institute ended.

To open a peasant training center, it requires funds, school buildings, teachers, and teaching materials, and Wei Baqun, Chen Bomin, and others are still wanted by the reactionary government authorities. In the face of many difficulties, Wei Baqun and others, with their tenacious will and extraordinary creativity, opened three peasant movement training centers in Donglan and trained nearly 600 peasant movement cadres, which is rare in the country. After returning to various parts of youjiang, these trainees spread Marxist-Leninist theory locally, led the peasant movement, and organized peasant associations and peasant armies. The struggle against feudal warlords, corrupt officials, and local tycoons and inferior gentry was waged, so that the spark of the peasant movement burned throughout the Right River. Most of them joined the Red Seventh Army and made extremely important contributions to the creation of the Red Seventh Army and the construction of the Revolutionary Base Area of youjiang.

【About the author】Chen Jingyuan, male, Zhuang ethnicity, from Donglan County, Guangxi, director of the Network Information Center of Hechi Daily.