On February 15, 1923, the Yangtze River was whimpering, the Hongshan Mountains were hanging down, and Wuhan and the motherland were immersed in great sorrow. On this day, China's first "labor lawyer" and revolutionary martyr Shi Yang made a heroic sacrifice, and he used his life to practice the duty of "protecting human rights and upholding justice", and was deeply loved by countless labor classes across the country. In this year, the martyr Shi Yang was only 34 years old, and in the most brilliant years of his life, he dedicated himself to the revolutionary cause, and his lofty revolutionary ideals and firm communist beliefs were admirable. Let us trace the imprint of history and recall the glorious history of this communist fighter.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > was born in Xiangmendi and actively promoted new ideas</h1>
Shi Yang, born on June 13, 1889 in Shuanggui Village, Majiadu Town, Zhushan County, Hubei Province, was born into a family of "generations of scholars", although he was poor, he could also be regarded as a scholarly family. His grandfather's name was Shi Tingjin, and he was a student during the Qing Dynasty (in ancient times, xiucai who ranked first in the imperial examination was called a student, and the student was given the official government rice allowance). After Shi Yang was born, his grandfather loved him very much, often holding him on his knees and teaching him enlightenment books, hoping that he could inherit his own wishes when he grew up, and be crowned the top of the list of imperial examinations, Guangzong Yaozu.
Shi Yang
Shi Yang's father, Shi Yongzhen, was the second eldest among his brothers, and was also a twin of the Qing Dynasty, a teacher with a sense of justice and patriotism. He witnessed the dark status quo of the old society, the people's lives could not be effectively guaranteed, often looked at the moon and sighed, worried about the country and the people. As Shi Yang grew older, his father also began to teach him to read and learn characters personally, telling him stories from "Water Margin", "Yue Fei", and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which stimulated his strong patriotic enthusiasm. In particular, the lofty integrity of national heroes such as Yue Fei and Guan Yu in the book has always inspired him.
The moon has clouds and sunshine, and people have sorrows and joys, which is difficult to complete in ancient times. When Shi Yang was nine years old, seven people, including his grandfather, grandmother, and uncle, died one after another, and the family has since fallen. Shi Yongzhen had to stop teaching and sell some of his family property to make ends meet. Due to his family's poverty, Shi Yangfang only began to go to a private school more than a dozen miles away from home at the age of eleven. In the private school, Shi Yang understood that his opportunity to study was not easy to come by, so he worked very hard, often reading until late at night, spring and summer, so he insisted on it for 6 years, and his knowledge gradually increased.
From the age of 6, he began to help his mother do some housework within his ability, often carrying water and chopping firewood, burning fires to cook, and helping his parents work when the farm was busy, alleviating the pressure on the family. In June 1904, Shi Yang's hometown had been in drought for a long time, natural disasters were continuous, coupled with the exploitation and oppression of the landlord class, resulting in hunger and death in the wilderness, and the people were not happy. When shi Yang was a child, he witnessed such a tragic situation in his hometown, and the idea of finding a way out for the poor people sprouted in his heart, so he worked harder and studied hard, hoping to one day use what he had learned to benefit the toiling people.
Shi Yang's wife and daughter are in zhushan hometown
In 1907, the 18-year-old Shi Yang applied for the higher primary school in the county town, and his excellent grades should have been among the best, but he was jealous of the gentry, and they secretly did it, and Shi Yang's name fell to Sun Shan. This incident stimulated Shi Yang greatly, and also planted the seeds of rebellion against the old society in his heart. After missing the Zhushan County Higher Primary School, Shi Yang, with the financial support of his mother-in-law and wife, left his hometown and was admitted to the Xunyang Provincial Agricultural School. Here, after Shi Yang finished his homework, or did experiments, or read progressive books and periodicals, his thinking was greatly changed.
The outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 brought political and ideological emancipation to the Chinese people that cannot be underestimated. Shi Yang also conformed to the trend of history, calling on relatives and friends to cut off their braids and abandon foot binding to show their resistance to the decadent regime of the Qing Dynasty. Later, Shi Yang returned to his hometown and founded a national school to publicize new ideas. However, how could the remote countryside trap the tiger, and after some ideological struggle, Shi Yang decided to leave his hometown and go to Wuchang, the birthplace of the Xinhai Revolution, to continue his studies. He firmly believes that only by mastering more knowledge can we do more meaningful things.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > the vanguard of the "May Fourth" wave, born into death as a laborer</h1>
In 1915, Shi Yang was admitted to the law department of Hubei Private Law and Politics College, and he wanted to use his knowledge to become a lawyer with a strong sense of justice and maintain social fairness and justice. Most of the students studying at the Hubei Law and Politics School are stupid children who want to seek promotion and wealth, they do not learn any skills, and they cause trouble everywhere. Shi Yang, on the other hand, aimed at studying and transforming society, eagerly absorbed the nutrients of the law and constantly enriched himself. When he graduated in 1917, Shi Yang won the first prize in the first class, which left a deep impression on the teachers and students of the school.
Shi Yang (third from left) in Wuhan
In 1917, the great "October Revolution" broke out in Russia, which brought Marxism-Leninism to China. Shi Yang was very happy when he heard the news, as if he saw the light in the darkness and guided him in the direction of progress. Under the influence of the October Revolution in Russia, the May Fourth Movement broke out in China. This was an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal patriotic movement, and Shi Yang, then vice president of the Wuhan Bar Association, responded positively, organizing a lawyers' conference, writing declarations, issuing circulars, fighting for national rights abroad, punishing national thieves at home, and supporting the students who marched and demonstrated, guiding and promoting the student movement.
On June 1, students and progressives in Wuhan took to the streets to propagate patriotic ideas and declare war on the recalcitrant Beiyang government. However, these vicious imperialist lackeys, raising butcher knives and waving at the students who had no power to bind chickens, suddenly many fell into a pool of blood. This is the famous "June 1 Massacre". After the massacre, Shi Yang united the forces of all walks of life to speak out for the students, and held a meeting of the Bar Association to file a lawsuit against the court for this inhumane bloody case and defend the students' obligations.
After the student strike, the workers' strike movement and the merchant strike movement in various places also flourished. Affected by this, strikes and strikes in various parts of Wuhan also arose one after another, and Shi Yang risked his life to take to the streets, and put forward the slogans of "strike the market to save the people", "leave the business to save the country", "get rid of the traitors and save the patriotic students" in public, and declared: "Do not punish the traitors, never open the market!" "Such a great righteousness and awe-inspiring national righteousness, like the rolling tide of the Yangtze River, constantly beat in the hearts of the people, and the tide of the call for national salvation is higher than the tide.
Wuhan workers' movement
Shi Yang's superb command skills and heroic revolutionary behavior have been deeply praised by the broad masses of the people, and all walks of life in Wuhan have regarded Shi Yang as a leader. Under shi Yang's leadership, the strike and strike achieved a great victory. In February 1920, Yun Daiying, Lin Yunan and others founded the "Liqun Book Society", which was specially used to publicize new ideas and new doctrines. Shi Yang and many progressive people often came here to exchange ideas or study progressive books such as Marxism-Leninism, and over time, they formed like-minded comrades with Yun Daiying and others.
In the second half of 1921, under the leadership of the Communist Party, the workers' movement in Wuhan developed vigorously. In fact, before that, Shi Yang had already begun to pay attention to the labor movement, and he often went deep among the working people and provided help to the workers in all matters related to the law. Over time, Shi Yang's revolutionary spirit of sharing weal and woe with laborers won the respect of everyone, and workers would affectionately call him "Labor Lawyer", and since then, Shi Yang has become the first labor lawyer in China.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > 34-year-old dedicated himself to the interests of labor, Chairman Mao angrily denounced the murderer</h1>
In the summer of 1922, through the introduction of Xu Baihao and Xiang Delong, Shi Yang gloriously joined the Communist Party of China. In the autumn of that year, workers' groups across Wuhan sprung up like mushrooms and developed dramatically. In order to launch a large-scale workers' movement, Shi Yang assisted the Communist Party-led trade unions in organizing amateur schools, personally teaching the workers, and propagating the true meaning of the revolution that unity is powerful. At the end of July, Shi Yang led the workers of the Hanyang Iron Works to victory in the strike, and then changed the factory's club into a union.
Shi Yang's wife and granddaughter and grandson
Later, in order to unite and strengthen the strength of the working class, the "Wuhan Federation of Trade Unions" was established, and Shi Yang was hired as the legal adviser of the federation, using legal knowledge to defend the legal rights of laborers. With the continuous expansion of the influence of the "Wuhan Federation of Trade Unions", the federation was renamed "Hubei Provincial Federation of Trade Unions". On September 9, 1922, the workers of the Wuchang section of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway went on strike because of their long-term abuse and humiliation, and they united to form the All-Road Alliance and held a huge strike movement under the leadership of the Communist Party.
During the strike, Chairman Mao sent Guo Liang to organize and lead the way, but during the strike the laborers were suppressed by reactionary warlords, and Guo Liang and 46 others were arrested. Therefore, Chairman Mao sent He Shuheng to Wuhan to join hands with Lin Yunan, Shi Yang and other leaders of the Wuhan Federation of Trade Unions to actively rescue the arrested comrades. In order to put pressure on the reactionary warlords, trade unions across the country have sent telegrams of solidarity: if they do not respond quickly, they will strike to the end. The reactionary warlords, forced by helplessness, finally agreed to investigate and deal with the overseers who insulted the workers, and to release the arrested workers, bury the dead, and compensate the wounded.
In February 1923, in order to fight for the establishment of the Beijing-Hankou Railway Federation of Trade Unions and the political rights of the working class, the Beijing-Hankou railway workers, under the leadership of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Union, held high the banner of anti-imperialism and anti-sealing, and held a general strike of Beijing-Hankou railway workers (that is, the "February Seventh" strike) that shocked the world. Shi Yang used all his energy to organize and lead the general strike, but fell under the enemy's butcher's knife. Before the revolutionary martyr Shi Yang bravely took up his righteousness, he twice shouted "Long live the laborers!" The sound was deafening and deafening, waking up every sleeping Chinese.
The tomb of the early Shi Yang martyrs
After the death of Shi Yang, a labor lawyer and industrial leader, the people of Wuhan fell into mourning and the people wept, and the Hunan Provincial Federation of Trade Unions under the leadership of Chairman Mao issued two consecutive telegrams, angrily denouncing the cruel atrocities of Wu Peifu, Xiao Yaonan and other murderers, and resolutely supporting the struggle of the Beijing-Hankou railway workers. After Shi Yang's sacrifice, only the old mother Yi Rongde, his wife Guo Xiulan and his only daughter Shi Fengying were left in the family. In 1951, the government found Shi Yang's wife and daughter, moved them from their hometown in Majiadu Town, Zhushan County, to Baofeng Town, and the following year took his mother, Yi Rongde.
Shi Yang, China's first "labor lawyer" and revolutionary martyr, shed his last drop of blood for the cause of the liberation of the working class and the cause of communism, and was only 34 years old when he died. After his sacrifice, Chairman Mao angrily denounced the murderer, complained about the revolutionary martyrs, and continued his revolutionary cause. 28 years later, the government found Shi Yang's wife and daughter and took care of them, comforting the spirits of the martyrs in heaven. Now that decades have passed, the glorious deeds of revolutionary martyr Shi Yang still inspire us to forge ahead and not forget our original intentions.
Reference Book "Biography of Figures in the History of the Communist Party of China"