Su Zhaozheng, a pioneer of the Chinese workers' movement and an important leader in the early days of the Communist Party: The revolution has never forgotten its struggle at the end of its life

Statue of Su Zhaozheng

Text/Picture Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Wu Guosong

There is a white stone street on Qi'ao Island in Zhuhai, which is about 2 kilometers long from east to west. Around 1833, foreign opium vendors invaded Qi'ao, and the local villagers resisted armedly, and the opium vendors had to raise a white flag to negotiate ashore and compensate 3,000 taels of silver. Part of this compensation was used for the construction of White Rock Street.

Not far along Baishi Street is the former residence of Su Zhaozheng. The deeds of the villagers' anti-aggression struggle had an important impact on Su Zhaozheng's growth. As a pioneer and famous leader of the Chinese workers' movement and one of the important leaders of the early Communist Party, Su Zhaozheng participated in leading the Hong Kong seamen's strike and the provincial and Hong Kong general strike that shocked China and foreign countries, and dedicated his life to the workers' movement and the cause of people's liberation. Nowadays, the masses of party members who come to visit Su Zhaozheng's former residence are endless.

Dedicate your life to the cause of the workers' movement

On November 11, 1885, Su Zhaozheng was born into a poor peasant family on Qi'ao Island in Zhuhai. At the age of 18, unable to make a living due to a poor grain harvest, he followed his neighbors to Hong Kong to earn a living, and did miscellaneous labor on the outer ships of Hong Kong, and thus came into contact with Sun Yat-sen, who was running for the revolution, and joined the league to become an active member of the Xinhai Revolution.

Su Zhaozheng successively went to Vladivostok and the ports of European and American countries, learned about the Russian and European revolutions, began to contact Marxism, and realized the strength of the working class itself. In March 1921, Su Zhaozheng and Lin Weimin and others advocated the establishment of the China Seamen's Union Federation in Hong Kong. In January 1922, during the general strike of the Seamen in Hong Kong, Su Zhaozheng was elected as the director of the General Affairs Department and one of the negotiators of the Strike Headquarters Office. The seamen's strike forced the British authorities in Hong Kong to accept the workers' demands and recognize the seafarers' union, which won the strike.

In his long-term leadership of the workers' movement and his exchanges and contacts with the Communists, Su Zhaozheng profoundly realized that only the Communist Party can truly hold hands with the hearts of the working class, and only under the leadership of the Communist Party can the shackles on the toiling masses be completely smashed. In 1925, Su Zhaozheng formally applied to Li Dazhao to join the Communist Party of China. Soon, Su Zhaozheng joined the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.

During the provincial and Hong Kong strikes held from June 1925 to October 1926, Su Zhaozheng served as chairman of the strike committee. Together with the Guangdong District Committee of the COMMUNIST Party of China and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, he carried out a 16-month general strike, the scale of which was so huge and far-reaching that it stood in the annals of the history of the Chinese national liberation movement and the international workers' movement. At the Third National Labor Congress, Su Zhaozheng was elected chairman of the committee and became the leader and revolutionary of the national workers' movement.

From June 18 to July 11, 1928, at the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Su Zhaozheng was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and concurrently served as the secretary of the Central Staff committee, playing an important role in leading the mass struggle and promoting the process of the Chinese revolution.

The harsh environment of struggle and long-term selfless work made Su Zhaozheng sick from overwork and died of illness in 1929 at the age of 44. At the last breath of his life, Su Zhaozheng still remembered organizing the masses to carry out the struggle, and said to Zhou Enlai and others who came to visit him: "The broad masses of the people can no longer live, they want revolution, waiting for us to organize." "Everyone works together and cooperates in unison to achieve the final success of the revolution!"

The red spirit has influenced future generations through a hundred years

Su Zhaozheng's revolutionary spirit has inspired generations of people. In Zhuhai Qi'ao Island, there is a su zhaozheng former residence exhibition hall, which is mainly composed of two parts: the former residence and the exhibition hall. The former residence shows Su Zhaozheng's simple life, and the exhibition hall shows Su Zhaozheng's glorious life.

Two years ago, Ye Zhishan became a docent at the Su Zhaozheng Former Residence Gallery. In the work of explaining, she had a deeper understanding of Su Zhaozheng's deeds and was impressed by Su Zhaozheng's spirit. For example, in the provincial and Hong Kong strike, Su Zhaozheng concurrently served as chairman of the Finance Commission, and he always adhered to honesty, registering every expense and accepting the inspection and supervision of workers. At that time, some reactionaries burned the office of the strike committee and spread rumors that Su Zhaozheng had set fire in order to burn the evidence of corruption. After learning of the situation, Su Zhaozheng immediately led the workers to rebuild the office, organized the workers to set up a 'committee to review financial losses', and carefully checked the accounts of the strike committee, which proved that all the accounts were 'error-free'. ”

Ye Zhishan said that in recent years, the number of party members who visited the exhibition hall of Su Zhaozheng's former residence has been in an endless stream, and the annual reception volume has reached more than 100,000 people. Nowadays, Su Zhaozheng's former residence exhibition hall has become a patriotic education base in Guangdong Province, a party history education base in Guangdong Province, and a party history education base in Zhuhai.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and in conjunction with the study and education of party history, the Former Residence Exhibition Hall of Su Zhaozheng organized and planned a series of activities, while constantly exploring and innovating in form and content. The museum will continue to base itself on the missionary position, continue to tell the story of the party, the story of the revolution, the story of heroes and martyrs, and pass on the red gene.

Source: Golden Sheep Network