MaLin, a representative of the Comintern, and the founding of the Chinese Communist Party

【Review of the CPC's Foreign Relations】

Author: Zhang Yinan

On June 3, 1921, Shanghai was wet and sweltering. The foreigners in the concession are immersed in the pleasure and distress caused by the exotic wealth. No one noticed a tall foreigner, nearly 40 years old, striding down the steps of the Sixteen Shops Pier. He was Marin, the Dutch revolutionary who had an indissoluble relationship with China's early revolution.

Marin, whose original name was Hendrik sneevlet, was born in Rotterdam in 1883 and joined the Dutch Social Democratic Labour Party in 1902. In 1913, he went to the Dutch colony of Java for revolutionary activities and established the East Indies Social Democratic Union. In 1920, he attended the Second Congress of the Comintern under the name "Marin" and was elected to the Executive Committee of the Comintern. Lenin was so impressed with him that he personally appointed him as a representative of the Comintern to China to assist in the establishment of the Communist Party of China.

At this time, the exhausted MaLin did not have the heart to appreciate this bustling Far Eastern city, and he was eager to meet Li Da and Li Hanjun, two Chinese. Under the pseudonym Andreison, he publicly identified himself as a reporter for The Economist of the East, and went out with Nikolsky, who had since arrived in Shanghai, to learn about the situation every day and meet at Marin's residence at night. They learned that China had established a number of communist groups, the situation was very optimistic, and suggested that a national congress be convened as soon as possible to establish the Communist Party of China.

After consulting with Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, Li Da and Li Hanjun decided to convene the founding congress of the Communist Party of China in July, and then informed the local communist groups and demanded that each province send two representatives to Shanghai for the meeting. Considering the long distance from the provinces to Shanghai, MaLin also sent 100 yuan of travel expenses to each delegate from the activity funds brought. Why is the meeting scheduled for July? It was because many members of the communist group in China were studying and working, and some were still students at the time, such as Wang Gemei and Deng Enming. It is also not convenient for members who are studying in France and Japan to return to China on weekdays. In this way, Marin and the Shanghai Communist Group began intense preparatory work. However, their actions were soon targeted by the spies.

From the end of June to the middle of July, a group of dusty young people secretly rushed to the meeting place, talking about what they saw on the road in different local accents, regardless of the fatigue of the boat. The eldest former Qingxiu, He Shuheng, who is 45 years old, and he and 28-year-old Mao Zedong quietly came to Shanghai from Changsha. In order to keep it a secret, they did not even tell their friend Xie Jueya the purpose of the trip. Paris replied that the road was far away and inconvenient to attend the meeting; Chen Duxiu was striving for an education grant, and it was inconvenient to come to Shanghai, so he sent Bao Huisheng to attend the meeting on his behalf; Li Dazhao was also busy with school affairs.

On July 23, the first congress of the Communist Party of China was held at the home of Li Hanjun and his brother Li Shucheng at 106 Wangzhi Road (now No. 76 Xingye Road) in the French Concession of Shanghai, which was then known as the "Li Mansion" at the time. On this afternoon, 12 delegates and Bao Huisheng, who had been sent by Chen Duxiu to attend the meeting, and two foreigners, Ma Lin and Nikolsky, were secretly gathered in the Li Mansion. Perhaps some delegates did not know that the foreigner malin sitting in the middle was the behind-the-scenes advocate of the meeting.

At the meeting, Ma Lin gave a warm speech: "The formal establishment of the Communist Party of China is of great world significance. The Comintern added an Eastern section, and the Soviet Bolsheviks added an Eastern comrade-in-arms. More than a decade later, Mao Still remembers it vividly, saying that Malin was "energetic and eloquent." Bao Huisheng recalled: "He had a profound quality in the teachings of Marx and Lenin, and he was as loud as a bell, his mouth was like a river, and he had the ability to argue between vertical and horizontal ... We opened our eyes under his words. ”

In the ensuing meetings, the delegates disagreed on what relationship the CCP should maintain with the Comintern. For security reasons, Marin did not attend these meetings. However, when he heard about the content of the CPC program that "we must unite with the Third International," he felt the "seriousness" of the problem and insisted on attending the meeting on the evening of the 30th.

However, shortly after the meeting began, a very thrilling thing happened. Just as Marin was about to speak, a middle-aged man broke in and looked around the room. Li Hanjun asked calmly, "Who are you looking for?" The man said that he wanted to find President Wang of the Federation, but his eyes kept looking at the two foreigners in the room, Marin and Nikolsky, and then he turned around and went out. Marin, who had a lot of secret work experience, patted the table and decided to stop the meeting immediately, while Lee Hanjun guided everyone to quickly evacuate from the front door. Usually, the front door is not open. Li Hanjun quickly cleaned up the venue after everyone left, and sat nervously in the study with Chen Gongbo. Who would have guessed that everyone had forgotten that there was a small note in the desk drawer when they hurriedly evacuated.

Ten minutes later, a sharp siren suddenly sounded on the road. A dozen heavily armed French policemen broke in with the secret agent and shouted, "What about people? ”

At this time, Li Hanjun looked unusually calm, "Who? What are so many of you going to do? ”

"What about those people just now?"

"Ah, some of my friends, they're gone."

"What meeting did you have?"

"We didn't have a meeting, we just talked about publishing a series of books."

"Search for me!" The men began to rummage through the boxes and cabinets, and in the midst of the chaos, the note full of words was thrown on the ground without attracting attention.

"What did those two foreigners do?" Why do you have so many socialist books in your house? The leader asked. They are British, foreign professors from Peking University, who come to Shanghai to exchange academics. I'm the editor and translator of the Commercial Press, and this is the book club, and of course I have everything. Li Hanjun replied.

In fact, where does the patrol room know that here is the "big one" of the CCP. The problem was with Marin, a Dutchman who had been expelled by the authorities for his revolutionary campaign in Dutch Java. Marin's actions have been monitored by Dutch authorities ever since. As soon as he arrived in Shanghai, he attracted the attention of the Dutch Consulate General in Shanghai and informed the consulates and concessions of various countries to begin close surveillance of him. The disaster was caused by Marin, and it was Marin's alertness that decisively saved the delegates. Li Da later recalled: "If there were no Marin's alertness, we would have been wiped out." ”

The French patrol did not find anything for half a day. Strange to say, everything was searched, except for the small note. As everyone knows, this note contains a big mystery, and it actually writes the draft outline of the Communist Party organization!

The rest of the story is familiar. At the suggestion of Li Da's wife, Wang Huiwu, the deputies transferred to Jiaxing South Lake to continue the meeting. Marin and Nikolsky feared that the targets as foreigners were too conspicuous and did not continue attending the meeting. Li Hanjun and Chen Gongbo did not go to Jiaxing because they received attention. In this way, on the South Lake cruise ship that spent the summer at night, the Communist Party of China was born! This is a groundbreaking event!

China in 1921 was not peaceful, there were 10 earthquakes recorded in the historical records alone, floods, droughts, fires, plagues one after another, domestic warlords fighting, bandits and soldiers in an endless stream. If it were not for the "bag inquiry", this secret "big one" of the CCP would not have attracted the attention of the authorities. In this way, a new revolutionary flame was ignited in the dark night.

From the "Great Congress" of the CCP to his recall by the Comintern in 1924, Marin put forward the idea of the unity of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party based on his experience in the revolutionary struggle in Java and his field visits in China, and played an important role in formulating the policy of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists and joining the Kuomintang. While in China, Ma Lin traveled extensively to rescue Chen Duxiu, who had been arrested, and even used the few thousand yuan of funds given to him by the Comintern to unblock relations. When the Kailuan Coal Mine Alliance went on strike, he went deep into the mine to talk to the workers and mobilize. Sick and hateful, he encountered foreign patrols to harass Chinese coolies, and even came to the rescue...

However, Marin did not have a good understanding of how the Chinese Communist Party should maintain its independence and vigilance against the Kuomintang's rightists and anti-communism, nor was he familiar with the characteristics of the Chinese revolution. After returning to Moscow, he disagreed with the Eastern Department of the Comintern, resigned and returned to China to take up the leadership of the Dutch Communist Party. After the defeat of the Great Revolution in 1927, Ma Lin once said to the familiar Chinese comrades with deep feelings: "On the Chinese issue, we all have the responsibility to lose the chess game, and we should face up to our mistakes and strive to move forward in the future." ”

After the fall of the Netherlands in World War II, Marin went into the underground struggle again, secretly editing and publishing the Spartak newspaper, calling on the people to resist the German occupation. In 1942, Marin was unfortunately arrested. Before the execution, he sang the Internationale with seven comrades-in-arms and was generous and righteous.

Guangming Daily ( 2021-07-05 12 edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily