<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > preface:</h1>
As a professional revolutionary and thinker, Hu Qiaomu went from "scholar" to "shi" and approached the political core of the country. In Chairman Mao's view, he was a typical high-ranking intellectual who "had the best way to transform his thinking," and Deng Xiaoping once said, "He is the first pole of our party." Hu Qiaomu is extremely talented, has in-depth research on literature, history, philosophy, etc., and loves old and new poetry. From the 1940s to the 1960s, he served as Chairman Mao's secretary for a long time. Although there is no poetry between Chairman Mao and Hu Qiaomu, there is still a deep friendship between the two. Chairman Mao revised Hu Qiaomu's poems and recommended them for publication, which made Hu Qiaomu's poems shine brightly, and the chairman and his secretary exchanged poetry and art and later passed them on as good stories; Hu Qiaomu did a lot of work for the revision, publication, and publication of Chairman Mao's poems. The two worked together for more than twenty years, but after the last time they met in 1966, they became a farewell, which is also Hu Qiaomu's biggest regret.
Wang Ruofei, secretary general of the CPC Central Committee, summoned Hu Qiaomu in early February 1941, when he was the provost of the Zedong Youth Cadre School. Wang Ruofei told him: "Chairman Mao's side needs some outstanding talents, and the organization has decided to transfer you to his side as a secretary." This sudden decision surprised Hu Qiaomu very much.
At that time, Hu Qiaomu had been coming to Yan'an from Shanghai from July 1937 for five years. Although the scope of Yan'an at that time was not large, and Chairman Mao and other central leaders were often able to see it, for Hu Qiaomu, who was less than 30 years old, it was basically impossible to have closer contact with Chairman Mao. But this did not affect his respect for Chairman Mao. Like many of his peers who went to Yan'an, Hu Qiaomu left Shanghai for Yan'an, no doubt for reasons to avoid the white terror of the Kuomintang, but more often than not, a vision of this hot land led by Chairman Mao. That year, Hu Qiaomu was only 25 years old, but he had been in the party for 5 years. He had previously joined the Communist Party of China in his hometown of Yancheng.
In his early years, he studied in the History Department of Tsinghua University in Beiping, and after the September 18 Incident, full of patriotic enthusiasm, he threw himself into the revolutionary wave of anti-Japanese salvation.
Hearing that Wang Ruofei wanted him to be Chairman Mao's secretary, Hu Qiaomu was very worried: to be Chairman Mao's secretary, he was worried that he would not be able to do a good job, because he had never done the work of a secretary.
In order to dispel his concerns, Wang Ruofei told him bluntly: You should be Chairman Mao's secretary, and the chairman himself ordered it. The content of the article you published in "China Youth" to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement was greatly appreciated by the chairman, who said: "Qiaomu is an excellent talent." Therefore, Chairman Mao has long noticed you, and recently Chairman Mao has been understaffed there, and he has transferred you to the post of secretary by name, and at the same time, you will also serve as the secretary of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee.
This opportunity changed the fate of Hu Qiaomu's life, and he later became the "first pole of the CPC Central Committee", and it was precisely because he worked next to Chairman Mao for a long time that he was deeply influenced by the chairman.
Hu Qiaomu, who had never had experience as a secretary, was very nervous when he came to the residence of Chairman Yang Jialing in Yan'an. The chairman kindly said a word or two to him, but only asked about the general experience of the young man in front of him, and then he was busy with work again. Hu Qiaomu was overwhelmed for a moment, so he could only stay in his office and wait for the task.
As a result, Hu Qiaomu was very anxious and uneasy in his heart, and he plucked up enough courage to go to the earthen cave where Chairman Mao lived to ask for instructions and reports. Later, Hu Qiaomu recalled: "When I saw Chairman Mao reviewing the Sixth National Congress, I said to Chairman Mao, 'Let me do this,' and Chairman Mao said: 'This is your first task.'" He told me how difficult it is to proofread, which is also called proofreading, that is, to review the errors in the article like an enemy. I've been taking over this ever since. ”
"Since the Sixth National Congress" is a collection of documents compiled and selected under the auspices of Chairman Mao summarizing the struggle of the party organizations' lines since the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which is used by senior CADREs of the Cpc to rectify the work style and discipline. Hu Qiaomu had been an editor and had good writing skills, so the proof he reviewed not only did not make typos, but also modified some of the original erroneous views of the document. The Chair very much recognized his work.
Assisting Chairman Mao in compiling the Sixth National Congress was Hu Qiaomu's first lesson at Chairman Hu's side. This experience had a profound impact on what he later became "a pen of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China." In the proofreading work, he systematically learned the internal situation of the struggle at the top level of the party since the Sixth National Congress, laying a solid foundation for accurately grasping major historical events in the future. Ten years later, in 1951, he spent a month writing "Thirty Years of the Communist Party of China", which was unanimously praised by everyone, which was closely related to those experiences.
Not long after Hu Qiaomu became Chairman Mao's secretary, on May 15, 1941, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a "Circular on Publishing Jiefang Ribao", "merging "Today's News" and "New China Daily" into "Jiefang Ribao", and putting forward a request: The central comrades and important party members and cadres will write the editorial of "Jiefang Ribao". He was listed as a "central comrade and an important party member cadre" and became an important invitee to the newspaper's director, Bogu. He wrote several editorials in the Liberation Daily. Some of these editorials were written in accordance with the instructions, some of which he wrote on the basis of Chairman Mao's important speeches at the internal congress, and some of which he wrote and published after the chairman's revision and approval. This is undoubtedly determined by its theoretical level.
Later, with the gradual political maturity of Hu Qiaomu, he began to attend the meetings of the Politburo and the Secretariat, and became Chairman Mao's right hand.
At the beginning of the founding of New China, Hu Qiaomu was still Chairman Mao's secretary, but he also held several positions at the same time: director of the General Administration of Information, deputy director of the Propaganda Department, president of Xinhua News Agency, and president of People's Daily. From the current recollections of Hu Qiaomu, we can understand that from the founding of New China to around 1958, Hu Qiaomu's cooperation with Chairman Mao was very relaxed and pleasant, whether it was editing the "Selected Works of Chairman Mao," drafting the "Constitution," or writing "Two Treatises on the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat." Hu Qiaomu's control over Chairman Mao's ideology and politics was already very mature and won Chairman Mao's praise. Hu Qiaomu was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and later at the First Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, he served as alternate secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Of course, he remained Chairman Mao's secretary. During this period, Chairman Mao also criticized Hu Qiaomu.
The Second Cultural Congress of the Ministry of Culture was prepared in 1953. Chairman Mao decided to let Hu Qiaomu preside over the preliminary work. Hu Qiaomu advocated abolishing the Literary Association and replacing the literary and art societies and drama societies of that time according to the Soviet literary and artistic system. It was changed to a special association in various fields, advocating that the members of the writers' association should be re-registered for the record, and those who did not write for a long time should not be registered for the record. When the meeting was about to be held, Hu Qiaomu reported to Chairman Mao that Chairman Mao did not say anything about the remaining measures, but only expressed dissatisfaction with the abolition of the literary association and openly criticized Hu Qiaomu, believing that abolishing the literary association would be very unfavorable to the unity of the old writers and artists. In this way, Hu Qiaomu was not allowed to manage, so the telegram asked Zhou Yang to come back and re-plan the second Wen Congress.
At the preparatory meeting chaired by Zhou Yang, Hu Qiaomu conveyed Chairman Mao's criticism of him and reflected on him. After this incident, Chairman Mao did not pay attention to it.
From August 17 to 30, 1958, the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was held in Beidaihe. It was a meeting to build momentum for the Great Leap Forward Movement, and its report called on "all Party members and the people of the whole country to strive for an annual output of 10.7 million tons of steel."
As an indicator of the movement, the annual output of "10.7 million tons of steel" was clearly proposed by Secretary Ke Qingshi of Shanghai municipality at that time, and was praised by the chairman. But Chen Yun, who has been engaged in economic work for a long time, remained calm about the matter. Three months later, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China formulated indicators for social and economic development in 1959, and Chen Yun thought that such indicators were difficult to achieve, so he approached Hu Qiaomu, who was preparing a communiqué, and suggested that he should not write specific figures in the communiqué.
As a drafter, he undoubtedly had no right to do what Chen Yun said without asking for instructions. Later, for other reasons, Hu Qiaomu did not report Chen Yun's suggestions to Chairman Mao, but also wrote out specific indicators in the communiqué, which Chairman Mao adopted after reviewing it.
Since then, Chen Yun has repeatedly raised his proposals to Chairman Mao. At the Seventh Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee held in Shanghai in April 1959, Chen Yun, after reading the communiqué, once again expounded his proposals to Chairman Mao, and Chairman Mao felt that Chen Yun's words were reasonable. During the conversation, Chen Yun mentioned what he had said to Hu Qiaomu at the end of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee. After hearing this, the chairman was very dissatisfied with Hu Qiaomu and severely criticized him: "You are just a secretary, do not report the vice chairman's suggestions? ”
Although Hu Qiaomu felt very aggrieved by this matter, he immediately accepted the criticism - fortunately, the nature of the matter was not too serious, and the matter did not hinder the normal work between the chairman and him.
After the Lushan meeting, due to long-term fatigue, Hu Qiaomu's mental weakness intensified and he could no longer work normally.
On August 17, 1961, Hu Qiaomu sent a letter to Mao reflecting on his condition, and Jing asked for a long period of rest. Chairman Mao wrote back and agreed to his request. Since then, although Hu Qiaomu is nominally the secretary of the chairman, he has long ceased to work with the chairman. During this period, although the two exchanged letters, they did not have much political connection. After the years of unrest began, Hu Qiaomu was not able to escape the fate of being thrown into a political trough.
From April 16 to 26, 1966, Chairman Mao held a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in Hangzhou. At this time, Hu Qiaomu was recuperating in Hangzhou, and at this moment he had received a notice to return to Beijing to attend the conference. When he knew that the chairman was in Hangzhou, he naturally wanted to see the chairman. As everyone knows, his request has never been answered. Hu Qiaomu could only return to Beijing via Shanghai with a confused mood. Unexpectedly, after arriving in Shanghai, a phone call came from Hangzhou: Chairman Mao wanted to meet Hu Qiaomu. Hu Qiaomu immediately turned around and came to Hangzhou to meet Chairman Mao.
No detailed records were left of the meeting. Among them, the chairman also said very simply to Hu Qiaomu: You go back to Beijing, look more, and learn more about the specific situation.
Chairman Mao did not forget Hu Qiaomu, and he affirmed Hu Qiaomu's talent from beginning to end. In the summer of 1971, when Chairman Mao went down to Jiangnan, in response to Ding Sheng's "what kind of person is Hu Qiaomu?", he said: "Hu Qiaomu has drawn up many important documents for the Central Committee. Others worked on it for months, but they didn't understand it, and as soon as he wrote it, he wrote it. For Chairman Mao's kindness, Hu Qiaomu will always remember it in his heart and will never forget it. In his later years, he wrote affectionately in the preface to his collection of works: "There is no doubt that, as far as I am concerned, it would be very difficult to write such an article without the guidance and teachings of Comrade Chairman Mao, and it would be difficult for me to show obvious progress in my writing ability in this book here. ”
The hasty separation in 1966 was the last conversation between Chairman Mao and Hu Qiaomu. Since then, Hu Qiaomu's career as Chairman Mao's political secretary has also officially ended. It is said that once Chairman Mao was supposed to come to see him, but he missed it because he had walked through the wrong door.
History often goes against people's wishes, and Hu Qiaomu regrettably missed the last opportunity to meet Chairman Mao. Although he was unable to meet Chairman Mao, Hu Qiaomu, who was suffering so much, felt great comfort in his heart, and also greatly improved his situation at that time. When the news of the chairman's visit to Hu Qiaomu's house spread, the others did not dare to fight Hu Qiaomu again.