Comrade Chen Yi's life was bright and upright, which was the charm of his great personality and the point that Mao Zedong most appreciated.
After the Gutian Conference, Chen Yi approached Mao Zedong and made a request for a job exchange.
Chairman Mao said: You are still in the Red Fourth Army, do not go to Eyuwan, nor to the Red Seventh Army, I will keep you. I wrote you a letter, and Comrade Zhu De showed it to you, but I don't know what your opinion is. Chen Yi hurriedly said: I support your letter, and I approve of the criticism of me in your letter.
The Chair said: If that issue is resolved, there will be no problem. I originally estimated that you would never go back (the chairman was referring to Chen Yi's trip to Shanghai), you came back, and I welcome you to stay here. This problem is solved.
After Mao Zedong returned to the Red Fourth Army, he treated Chen Yi with sincerity and heart to heart with a friendly attitude of revolutionary comrades. Mao Zedong's frank attitude once again won Chen Yi's admiration. Because, as a result of this controversy in the Red Fourth Army, the impact on Chen Yi was accompanied by a lifetime.
Because Mao Zedong grasped the basic laws of the Chinese revolution, his set of ideas coincided with and adapted to the basic path of social development in China as a whole.
Chen Yi himself said that after the Jinggangshan meeting, it was not yet determined whether Zhu De would be the leader or Mao Zedong, but after the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Congresses of the Red Fourth Army, he truly knew Mao Zedong, and thus followed Mao Zedong forever like a great river rushing eastward to the sea and never returning.
In March 1942, Liu Shaoqi, political commissar of the New Fourth Army and secretary of the Central China Bureau, wanted to return to Yan'an. On March 4, the Central China Bureau held its first enlarged meeting. At the end of the summary report, Liu Shaoqi said: "The central authorities have a telegram to transfer me back to Yan'an, and after that, the secretary of the Central China Bureau will be represented by Rao Shushi, and the military branch will be represented by Commander Chen Jun... Comrade Rao Shushi and Commander Chen Jun are very good leaders in the party, and I have no problem leaving. Under the leadership of Rao Shushi and Commander Chen Jun, comrades will certainly be able to unite and work hard. This can be said to be Liu Shaoqi's arrangement for the leadership work of the Central China Bureau before leaving, and Chen Yi himself has no opinion and obeys this arrangement.
In May, Rao Shushi also left the Headquarters of the New Fourth Army and took the working group to Huainan to inspect the work of the 2nd Division. It would take him three months to return, and Chen Yi took the post of acting secretary of the Central China Bureau and political commissar of the New Fourth Army.
After Rao Shushi left the military headquarters, there were some discussions in the Central China Bureau: Why is it that the person acting as the secretary of the Central China Bureau is not Chen Yi but Rao Shushi? In the discussion, there are more people who praise Chen Yi's work, and Rao Didishi is still only the acting secretary, which is a lot of pressure for Rao Shushi.
On September 1, the Party Central Committee issued a decision on unifying the leadership of the Party in the anti-Japanese base areas, proposing to implement the unified leadership of the party, government, military, and people. Chen Yi, on the other hand, is older than Rao Shushi, and has military achievements such as the Decisive Battle of Huangqiao, which opened up the situation in central China, and may be appointed by the party Central Committee as the secretary of the Central China Bureau at any time.
In October 1934, the rectification movement of the East China Bureau began, and Rao Dishi intended to take this opportunity to stink Chen Yi and squeeze Chen Yi out of the East China Bureau so that he could monopolize power.
At the rectification meeting, as soon as Chen Yi finished self-criticism, Rao Didishi couldn't wait to jump out and accuse Chen Yi, and his hat flew all over the sky. Chen Yi has always opposed Chairman Mao, in the Red Fourth Army, opposed the system of political commissars, intended to command the party with guns, pursued the guerrilla line, and made it difficult to remove Chairman Mao's former party secretary, and so on.
That night, Rao also wrote a 1,500-word letter of complaint and sent it to Chairman Mao of the Party Central Committee, in which he vigorously provoked Chen Yi's relationship with Chairman Mao and Liu Shaoqi. On October 16, Rao Organized a Struggle Meeting for Chen Yi at the Huanghuatang garrison.
The Huanghuatang incident made Chen Yi embarrassed and passive. In order to salvage the impact, Chen Yi had to send a telegram to Chairman Mao of the Party Central Committee, reporting on the general course of the incident and reviewing the deficiencies and mistakes in his work.
Chairman Mao and Chen Yi, among others
After receiving Chen Yi's telegram, Chairman Mao replied:
Comrade Chen Yi, and forgiveness:
(1) The incoming call has been informed. This incident is not good, but it can be explained and corrected.
(2) We hope that Chen Laiyan will attend the Seventh National Congress, but the last time you called to ask for one person to extend it, at that time we did not know the discord between you, and now there is such a situation, and the basic reason is because many issues within the Party have not been explained, such as Chen Lai Yan'an to attend the Seventh National Congress, and stayed here for about half a year, understanding the new style of the Party and many major issues in the history of the Party that should be re-estimated... Then all discord will be freed and will be of great benefit to the party...
During Chen Laiyan's period, his position was temporarily represented by Yunyi, and he still returned to Central China after the Seventh National Congress and conveyed the Seven Principles.
Please consider the above proposals.
Mao Zedong
November 8, 1943
In the telegram, Mao Zedong pointed out that the essence of the problem was not the so-called "anti-Mao" of Chen Yi, but chen Rao's discord, which obviously diluted the nature of Rao Shushi's complaint.
After Receiving Mao Zedong's call, Chen Yi decided to go to Yan'an. On November 25, 1943, he and his wife Zhang Qian left the Central China Bureau for Yan'an. After a long journey, he arrived in Yan'an on March 7 of the following year.
Chen Yi traveled thousands of miles to Yan'an to meet Mao Zedong. Song Shilun later said to people:
Chen Yi was worried because of the Huanghuatang incident. Although he wrote quite a few poems along the way:
Like "The stars are brilliant, the Big Dipper lives in Yan'an." The sea has waves, flying up Qingliang Mountain." Such verses praising the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong are sung, but what attitude Mao Zedong and the Central Committee will treat him is innumerable in his heart. Therefore, when he saw Mao Zedong, he appeared to be respectful and cautious.
Chen Yi has not seen Chairman Mao for a full decade since the Long March of the Central Red Army in 1935 and when he came to Yan'an to resume his life this time.
When we met again ten years later, Chen Yi had this attitude, and Mao Zedong couldn't help but lose his temper with him. Song Shilun recalls:
After the business-like conversation, Mao Zedong couldn't help but lose his temper: You old Chen, we haven't seen each other for 10 years, old comrades-in-arms, old friends, how do you look like this! ... How else can I talk to you like this?
It turned out that Chen Yi was completely thinking too much. Mao Zedong was still the same Mao Zedong who chatted with him. Still so kind, so calm!
Chen Yi's heart knot opened at once. He was originally prepared to come and ask Chairman Mao for his guilt, but Instead Chairman Mao did his ideological work, and Chen Yi was extremely touched, so he let go of his ideological baggage. The more I talked to Chairman Mao, the more cordial I felt, and the more I talked, the more I felt like I had returned to the Jinggangshan period.
At that time, Chen Yi wanted to talk to the chairman about the problem between Rao and Rao, but Mao Zedong poured cold water on him: "If you want to talk about the experience of guerrilla warfare in three years and the experience of the War of Resistance in Central China, that is very good. I can call a meeting and invite you to talk for three days and three nights. As for your and Xiao Rao's question, I don't think I should mention it, not a single word. ”
……
"As for this matter, there was a telegram sent to the Central Committee in central China (referring to Rao Didishi's telegram to Chairman Mao on Chen Yi's report), and if you want to see it, I can show it to you. However, I think it is better not to look at it for the time being. ”
Chen Yi hurriedly said, "Then don't look!" ”
Mao Zedong did not let Chen Yi talk about this issue, nor did he read the telegram, because he loved him. Because if you look at it, you may add more views, and if you don't look at it, your mind will gradually calm down. Mao Zedong knew people well and was also good at doing people's ideological work. He didn't let Chen Yi talk about those unpleasant things, but he didn't forget to untangle those knots in his thoughts.
On March 15, Mao Zedong approached Chen Yi and said, "After more than a week of consideration, I thought your basic attitude was good. You can now send a telegram to Central China to make a self-criticism of them. I also sent a telegram at the same time to talk about it, and this question will be closed, how do you see? ”
Chen Yi said sincerely, "If this is good, I will do it."
Therefore, Chen Yi sent a telegram to Rao Shushi and the Central China Bureau and the Military Branch. The telegram recounts the education and help given to him by Mao Zedong and others after arriving in Yan'an, and then Chen Yi made self-criticism, such as in the unity of advance, in the understanding of certain issues, in the way things are handled, so that the coordination of work with each other is a big obstacle ... ... I am ashamed that my work in Central China in the past year has not been able to do my best. This is the lesson I learned when I arrived at the Central Committee. ”
After reading it, Mao Zedong also drafted a telegram, which was sent to central China on March 15, saying: "The controversy between Comrades Chen and Rao is only of the nature of a working relationship. ...... Whether during the civil war or the war of resistance, Comrade Chen Yi made meritorious contributions and did not make mistakes in the line. ”
Mao Zedong attributed Chen Rao's controversy to the "nature of the working relationship" and affirmed that Chen Yi "had merit", apparently speaking for Chen Yi, lest he be misunderstood.
On April 9, Mao Zedong replied to Chen Yi, enlightening him: "The letter has been informed. Be patient in everything, think more about your shortcomings, gain what you can't do, take care of the overall situation, as long as you may as well be a big principle, forgive others more. Patience is the hardest, but as a politician, you have to practice patience. This is an opinion that please consider. ”
The next day, Mao Zedong called Chen Yi for an interview.
Chen Yi saw Mao Zedong and truthfully reported his condition and mood in recent days. Mao Zedong advised him: "You are in Yan'an now, and you can't go back. This matter is easy to solve, you can solve it in the future when you go back, mainly because people have misunderstood you, what can you do? The more you explain, the greater the misunderstanding. ”
When Chen Yi heard these words that only existed among confidants, the resentment in his heart suddenly disappeared: "Originally, I was very angry, and when you talk like this, I don't have any opinions."
In December 1944, the chairman wrote a letter to Chen Yi: "Your thinking is all-encompassing, there is no obstacle, and since then there is a way everywhere."
After the liberation of the whole country, Chen Yi served as the mayor of Shanghai and the commander of the East China Military Region. As the whole party matured politically, Chen Yi also became a mature member of our mature party. After the founding of New China, the times changed and the environment changed, but Chen Yi's belief in Mao Zedong did not change.
Chen Yi also often said: "You want me as a person to go with the wind, and the rain to follow the rain, I will not!" And his feelings for Mao Zedong are not the kind of feelings that follow the wind and rain, but a kind of faith. So it will last, it will be unwavering.
Chen Yi once said to the staff around him in a serious tone: "Chairman Mao is a great thinker and a great man of our time, and Chairman Mao stands in the forefront of history, directs the course of history, and foresees the future of history." If our work can be consciously carried out in accordance with Chairman Mao's instructions, we will certainly be able to win more victories.
In September 1954, at the suggestion of Mao Zedong, Chen Yi was elected vice premier and vice chairman of the National Defense Commission at the first session of the First National People's Congress, and then became executive vice premier, in charge of the Academy of Sciences, political science and law, cultural work, and also participated in national defense work, while his position as mayor of Shanghai remained unchanged, and he also served as a member of the Central Military Commission. At this time, Chen Yi became the "first vice premier" of the State Council after Zhou Enlai.
bibliography:
("The Great River Goes East: Why They Follow Mao Zedong" Chen Yi: Follow Chairman Mao, You Can Win)