After Mao Zedong graduated from Hunan First Normal School, he was faced with a new choice. Just when he was confused about his future career, he received a letter from Yang Changji, who teaches at Peking University. In the letter, Mao Zedong was very excited to learn that Beijing was preparing to organize a work-study program in France. He immediately put this issue in the Xinmin Association to discuss, and after the resolution of the members, they unanimously agreed that the Xinmin Association should develop outward, and it was very necessary to study in France.
On August 15, 1918, Mao Zedong and 25 young people began their trip to Beijing. Halfway through, they were also blocked by floods and the trip was delayed for a while, so Mao Zedong organized everyone to take turns to visit the countryside to understand the living conditions of the peasants.
After arriving in Beijing, Mao Zedong, who had no financial resources, was introduced by Yang Changji and stayed in the library of Peking University and took up the position of librarian. Here, Mao Zedong met Li Dazhao, whom he had long admired.
Li Dazhao
Beijing was the center of the new cultural movement at that time, and Peking University was the birthplace of the new cultural movement, which was also a battlefield where new ideas and old ideas were confronted. Mao Zedong was hit by an unprecedented ideological shock here, and he sucked every bit of nutrients with hunger and thirst, and read a large number of advanced books in the library of Peking University.
As soon as Li Dazhao met Mao Zedong, he hated each other late, and he greatly appreciated Mao Zedong's extraordinary knowledge and talent. Under the guidance of Li Dazhao, Mao Zedong began to understand the October Revolution in Russia, and Marxist ideas gradually enlightened in Mao Zedong's heart.
In March 1919, Mao Zedong and a group of young people preparing to go to France left Beijing for Shanghai. Although he had been calling for his classmates in France, he himself did not board the ship to France. For Chinese society at that time, revolutionaries who needed to return from the West, and even more needed local revolutionaries who knew China well, Mao Zedong's decision to stay at home to study China's national conditions laid the groundwork for him to go out of the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the future.
Mao returned to Changsha a month later, and in May he launched a campaign to drive Zhang in Changsha. Subsequently, he founded the Xiangjiang Review, which disseminated new culture, and undertook the heavy task of writing.
The release of the Xiangjiang Review immediately caused a sensation in society, and the 2,000 copies of the magazine were snapped up on the same day, followed by 2,000 copies, which were still in short supply. Beijing's Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu and other new cultural fighters gave the magazine a high evaluation. However, the Xiangjiang Review was soon shut down by warlords.
Xiangjiang commented
In order to continue the struggle, Mao Zedong served as the editor-in-chief of "New Hunan" and continued to make the strongest voice of the times, but soon" New Hunan was also shut down.
In those dark times, the voice of justice was always stifled. However, the warlords can snuff out the voices of resistance, but they cannot kill the determination to resist!
In 1919, as the exorcism of Zhang began, Mao Zedong traveled to Beijing as the head of the delegation to Beijing, successfully forcing the Beijing government to make a decision to remove Zhang Jingyao.
In July 1920, Mao Zedong returned to Changsha in Shanghai, still committed to spreading new ideas and culture. Also in the same year, Cai Hesen, who went to France as a work-study student, saw the trauma of the First World War and the achievements of the October Revolution in Russia, and he came to the conclusion that China should take the road of the October Revolution. In a letter to Mao Zedong, Cai and Sen stressed: The establishment of the Communist Party of China is necessary and urgent.
In 1921, the Changsha Socialist Youth League was formally established with Mao Zedong as secretary, and then developed 39 members in half a year. It was the first early communist organization in Changsha, and under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the organization began to vigorously propagate Marxism among the workers' groups. Workers' night schools were also revived with the full support of Mao Zedong, who personally gave classes to the workers and spared no effort to carry out Marxist enlightenment education.
In this way, the unemployed workers and handicraft workers in Changsha gradually acquired their own organizations. In May 1921, in order to celebrate International Labor Day, Changsha workers held a parade. When Mao Zedong recalled this past, he said excitedly: "In the winter of 1920, I organized the workers politically for the first time, and in this work I began to be influenced and guided by Marxist theory and the history of the Russian Revolution. ”
In June 1921, the First Congress of the Communist Party was held, and Mao Zedong rushed to Shanghai with He Shuheng. In July, on the South Lake in Jiaxing, the Communist Party of China was formally established, and China's revolutionary road embarked on a new journey.
The Communist Party of China was founded on the South Lake in Jiaxing
After returning to Changsha, on October 10 of that year, the Communist Party of Hunan Province was officially established, and Mao Zedong was elected secretary.
Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the popularity of the Communists among the workers grew, and Mao Zedong successfully did the work of the Hunan Labor Union and guided the workers to the correct Marxist road.
On December 25, Mao Zedong, through the Hunan Labor Union and the Provincial Federation of Students, mobilized more than 10,000 workers and students in Changsha to march and demonstrate against the Pacific Conference. Two leaders of the Labor Union, Huang Ai and Pang Renquan, also joined the Chinese Communist Party. However, on January 16, 1922, these two great workers' leaders were arrested by the reactionary warlord Zhao Hengti while organizing a rally, and eventually killed. They were the first members of the Communist Party of China to dedicate themselves to the revolution, and Mao Zedong was deeply saddened when he learned of it, and he continued to lead the Workers of Hunan in the struggle against the warlord forces with the will of the two martyrs!
On September 14, 1922, the Anyuan workers' strike led by Mao Zedong pushed the Xianggan workers' movement to a climax, and the workers poured out of the mine like a tide, gushing out of the workshop, and they gathered into an irresistible torrent, rolling towards the reactionary government! Eventually forced the authorities to accept the demands made by the workers, the strike achieved a great victory!
Anyuan strike
This was the first victory of Mao Zedong's leadership of the workers' movement, and in October of the same year, Mao Zedong led the Changsha mud workers' strike, and with his superb art of struggle, Zhao Hengti, the governor of Hunan Province, had to agree to the conditions of the workers: the workers were allowed to have the right to assemble, to form associations, to strike, and so on. Afterwards, Zhao Hengti said helplessly: "If there is another Mao Zedong in Hunan, I will not be able to stand on my feet!" ”
In 1923, Mao Zedong continued to lead the workers' movement, and as the workers' movement rose higher and higher, the warlords stopped making any disguises and began to send troops to brutally suppress the workers. At this critical juncture, Mao Zedong immediately convened a workers' congress and put forward the decision to avoid the enemy's sharp edge. He told the workers not to strike easily, but to be ready to strike at any time, a move that prevented the warlord forces from easily interfering in the activities of the workers.
In April 1923, Zhao Hengti completely tore his face and ordered the arrest of Mao Zedong, the supreme leader of the workers' movement. After Mao Zedong calmly arranged the work in Hunan Province, he left Hunan, and his career in organizing the workers' movement ended here!