In his later years, Feng Xuefeng and his handwriting of the materials explained
■ Wang Xirong
It is rare to see that a large number of "confessional materials" and "review books" have been included in the compilation of writers' anthologies, and as many as 800,000 words have been included; it is rare to see those who have never written accounting materials and have become academic research papers and important historical research materials. Now, the "Complete Works of Feng Xuefeng", which has just been published by the People's Literature Publishing House, allows us to see this scenery: the "Complete Works of Feng Xuefeng" with a total of more than 12 volumes and more than 5 million words, of which only "external materials" account for two volumes, and the number of printed words has reached more than 800,000. These external transfer materials are mainly Feng Xuefeng's examination and investigation by external investigators, and the "confession materials" written at the request of the party, most of which are handwritten texts, and very few are the transcripts of conversations compiled by others. The earliest year was 1954, and the latest was 1974, spanning twenty years, most of which were written between 1966 and 1968. Surprisingly, his "confessional materials", although he claimed to have a "bad memory", revealed a huge amount of true, accurate, and detailed historical materials; although visitors often guided him to confirm some historical facts, he often refused to confirm them, which made people disappointed, and sometimes stated that he had misremembered before. But in the material that is left now, there is not a trace of fabrication, chaos, and the common falling stones of the time... This is the most peculiar "confession material" we have seen so far, and it is also the most precious memoir, and it is also an academic research historical material with important historical research value.
Document a legendary life
Feng Xuefeng, the most legendary and tragic writer, poet, translator, literary theorist, publisher, and revolutionary in the Chinese literary world of the twentieth century. He was a famous "lakeside poet" in the 1920s, one of the founders of the Left League in the 1930s, secretary of the party group, secretary of the Central Literary Committee, contact person of the COMMUNIST Party organization and Lu Xun, vice president of the Marxist Communist School (equivalent to the Central Party School) in the Central Soviet District, participated in the Long March, presided over Lu Xun's funeral, squatted in the Shangrao concentration camp in the 1940s, the founder, the first president and editor-in-chief of the People's Literature Publishing House in the 1950s, the editor-in-chief of the Literary and Art Daily, the vice chairman of the China Writers Association, and was criticized in 1954. In 1957, he was beaten to the right and was wronged for more than 20 years, until his death in January 1976. His creations were mainly poetry and translation in the 1920s, essays and literary theories in the 1930s, essays and fables in the 1940s, and since the mid-1950s, he has mainly written reviews and explained materials! This batch of "confession materials" is the record and main "achievement" of his criticism for more than twenty years, and this alone is enough to make people sigh! In his "confession" of historical facts, we see a Feng Xuefeng who trekked for national liberation, for cultural development, for carrying forward the spirit of Lu Xun, and for enduring humiliation and heavy burdens.
Disclosure of important historical facts
Although Feng Xuefeng said many times in the material: his memory is not good, and many things cannot be recalled. However, this precisely reflects his extremely serious, strict, and rigorous attitude toward historical facts. In fact, we have seen that the historical facts he disclosed are huge in amount and involve a very wide range of people, involving more than 200 relevant personnel. In particular, it provides first-hand authoritative historical materials for the cultural circles in Shanghai in the 1930s, the history of the left-wing literary movement, the various ties between the CPC Central Committee in northern Shaanxi and Shanghai, the background of the establishment of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, and so on, as well as various situations in the work of the CPC organizations in Shanghai at that time.
For example, in April 1936, when he was appointed by the Central Committee to work in Shanghai as a special commissioner from Wayaobao in northern Shaanxi Province, he went through the "two slogan debates", Lu Xun's funeral, the establishment of the united front, and the establishment of the Shanghai office of the Communist Party of China, until he left Shanghai in September 1937. As early as the end of the 1970s, Feng Xuefeng's "The Course of Action of Zhou Yang and Others in 1936 and Lu Xun's Slogan of "Popular Literature of the National Revolutionary War" was circulated in the folk, and a large number of historical facts were adopted by many historians. Now we see in the "Complete Works of Feng Xuefeng" that there are many materials with the same or similar themes, and a large number of mutual materials have been added. It turned out that he had made countless memories of these issues, added a lot of details, and further confirmed the previous statement.
For another example, on the question of who arranged for Snow to go to northern Shaanxi, until recently, there were various theories on the Internet, some saying that Song Qingling arranged it, some saying that it was arranged by Huang Jing, and some saying that Dong Jianwu sent him there. But Feng Xuefeng's confession shows that the matter is like this: In May 1936, the American journalist Smedley told Feng Xuefeng that Snow wanted to visit Yan'an. In June, the central government sent Liu Ding to Shanghai to convey the central government's instructions to Feng Xuefeng: let Snow go to northern Shaanxi immediately. In early June, Snow set off from Beiping and arrived in Xi'an in mid-June to meet Dong Jianwu. However, it was not immediately able to reach northern Shaanxi, and due to various obstacles, it was not until early July that it entered northern Shaanxi. Also on the way was the famous doctor Maheder. The last person to be sent to northern Shaanxi was not Dong Jianwu, but Tu Zhennong. In fact, the whole thing was completely arranged by Feng Xuefeng, Dong Jianwu was only on Feng Xuefeng's orders, after meeting with Snow in Xi'an, he was ready to send him to northern Shaanxi, and in the end, he did not actually deliver it, and Dong Jianwu soon returned to Shanghai. Feng Xuefeng said that he sent Dong Jianwu as a traffic, only once. Obviously, since Feng Xuefeng, who was sent from northern Shaanxi, was here, no one else could take on this matter. In fact, it was the instructions given to Feng Xuefeng by the CPC Central Committee at that time: Northern Shaanxi urgently needed doctors and reporters to go to help treat patients, publicize CCP policies, and let Feng Xuefeng find suitable candidates and send them to northern Shaanxi. This is related to Snow, who is eager to go to northern Shaanxi to find out. In Shanghai, Smedley, who was also eager to go to northern Shaanxi, fell behind and did not have the opportunity to go until the beginning of 1937.
No one else can say these important historical facts, only Feng Xuefeng, and these extremely important first-hand historical materials are all revealed in this batch of confessional materials. The sheer volume and importance of the historical materials provided in this batch of materials is unparalleled in history.
Nitpick yourself
The biggest feature of Feng Xuefeng's confession materials is extreme prudence. There are four features:
One is low profile. Feng Xuefeng's repeated emphasis on his poor memory is that he is unwilling to say that his memories must be correct, which shows his attitude of responsibility for history: in fact, he is afraid that his own statements will be misleading. In fact, he has provided an extremely rich and reliable historical material, he feels that his memory is not good, in fact, because he is involved in too many and too wide, it is impossible to remember all the details, there are too many people who come to ask him for materials, and visitors often ask for more and more detailed materials in the corners and corners, so he feels that he can remember too little.
The second is to nitpick on yourself. He sought a precise representation of historical processes, causes and effects, people, and so on. Things that are not clearly remembered will never be easily identified. It is a vague impression, it is a vague impression, and it will never be said to be a memory. Remembering how much is how much, it is provided by others, and it is clear who provides the statement, not their own memory. For example, on November 14, 1968, "On the Situation of Sending People from Shanghai to Northern Shaanxi in 1936 and the Problem of Sending Tu Guolin", after saying some of the situations he remembered, he explained: "The above is the situation I remember", and then explained and analyzed, and then said: "The following is what the comrades of the Seventh Machine Department and other parties who came to investigate told me (not the impression left by myself)... The above situation is a synthesis of the materials said by the comrades who have investigated from several aspects, and I do not remember it. This pursuit of the precise expression of the nuances of the caliber of recall is almost to the point of harshness: he is writing the confession material with an attitude of academic research and the method of historical examination.
The third is not to climb the pole and not to fall into the well. Feng Xuefeng's statement to the visitors will definitely emphasize how he had an impression in the past, and then after being inspired by others, and adding his own repeated memories, how it was. If you still can't remember clearly, you still can't remember clearly, you will never follow the crowd, and you will not easily change your caliber; some external transfer personnel (sometimes the censorship department) are oriented, hoping that he can provide shells and evidence, as long as he echoes it, the other party's purpose will be achieved, and another unjust case may arise. However, Feng Xuefeng insisted on his own statement and never fell into the other party's favor. Let me give you an example: On September 16, 1968, at the request of the relevant parties, he wrote "A Little Material on Hu Qiaomu's Emphasis on the Traitor Zhou Zuoren", and wrote three things: One was that Hu Qiaomu once told him that Zhou Zuoren could translate the book by another name, and the previously translated book could also be published under a different name; the second was that Hu Qiaomu talked more than once about Zhou Zuoren's "Characters in Lu Xun's Novels" and "Lu Xun's Former Home" as important materials for studying Lu Xun, and the writing was good and could be published The third is that Hu Qiaomu once told him while watching a play that Zhou Zuoren's prose was good and that people could read it, and that when he was older, he could be asked to do something quickly (such as translating ancient Greek things, etc.). These three things, in fact, do not seem to be wrong now, they are all insights. However, at that time, Feng Xuefeng's pure and objective confession seemed to avoid the important and light, and could not pass the pass, so he was forced to rewrite a material entitled "Hu Qiaomu Shielded and Reused the Crimes of the Traitor Zhou as a Man", but in addition to changing the title and aggravating the charges, the content was almost exactly the same as the former, and even deleted the content mentioning Zhou Yang in the first draft. It can be seen that Feng Xuefeng holds an attitude of never framing, no matter how you force a confession, he will not change his statement.
Fourth, if we know what we are wrong, we must correct it. Anyone who has been wrong in the past and later discovered it must be specially explained. This is, of course, rare. There is a typical example: On November 26, 1967, Feng Xuefeng said of Zhou Wen's wife, Zheng Yu, that she was not a party member in 1933, and that he had not developed party membership after he returned to Shanghai in 1936. It was therefore concluded that she was not a member of the Party in 1936. On June 9 of the following year, Feng Xuefeng again said that Zheng Yuzhi was "not a regular staff member of the Shanghai office at that time", but "did many internal work", adding: "When Zheng Yuzhi was in 36 years and 37 years, I remembered that she was not a party member. But later, after repeated recollection, he found the contradiction of his own memory, so on July 26, he recalled again and specially corrected his statement: "The material I wrote about Zheng Yuzhi twice, on the one hand, I admitted that Zheng Yuzhi did a lot of work at that time, and on the other hand, I thought that she was not a regular staff member of the Shanghai office." I now believe that this statement is unclear and incorrect, and that she should be recognized as a regular staff member of the Office, based on the work she had done at the time. He also deeply analyzed the reasons why he remembered wrongly: on the one hand, at that time, Feng let Zheng Yuzhi do things, did not clarify her position, in fact, at that time, the Shanghai office except for the director and deputy director had a name, no one else had a clear position, and her living expenses were with Zhou Wen, so he could not remember clearly. But writing more than thirty years later still doesn't make it clear that it's irresponsible, and in fact should be affirmed that her position is "internal transportation." Therefore, he solemnly proposed: "I must request correction here: I now think that Zheng Yuzhi should be recognized as a regular staff member of the Shanghai office at that time." Similarly, "I now think that the explanation in the first two materials about whether Zheng Yuzhi was a party member at that time was wrong." I now repeat: Zheng Yuzhi was a party member at the time, Zhou Wen said to me; I recognized her as a party member and appointed as a party member. He also analyzed in detail the reason for the mistake, which was due to his "sloppy attitude" and "irresponsibility". This clarifies a fact that is extremely important for Zheng Yuzhi personally. Feng Xuefeng's frank bosom is fully revealed in this material.
800,000-character replacement material case 《Complete works》
Before that, we had rarely seen the "Cultural Revolution" confession materials included in the "Complete Works", let alone a large number of confessional materials. At the beginning of the editorial board, making such a decision undoubtedly requires boldness and vision. But in fact, the reason why the editorial board dared to do this was based on the excellent reliability of Feng Xuefeng's materials. We can see that Feng Xuefeng's 800,000-word external tuning material shows a very prominent feature: that is, no major memory errors have been found so far, and there are no major inconsistencies before and after. Although there are some nuances, there are no major contradictions. Of course, he is not a memory machine, and it is inevitable that he will make mistakes. For example, he recalled the successive leaders of the Left League many times, and many times before he listed the secretaries of the Left League, he did not mention Ding Ling, but later he mentioned Ding Ling as the secretary of the party group. But this omission is not exclusive, so the fact that it was not mentioned earlier does not mean that he denies that Ding Ling has ever been the secretary of the party group. So, it's a difference but not an error. Among the vast sea of historical materials, Feng Xuefeng's reminiscences have so far proved to be the richest, most reliable, and most detailed historical materials about that period in general. Feng Xuefeng was a literati with a strong poetic temperament, but also a revolutionary with a strong persistent character, and the confession materials he wrote had the most distinctive characteristics of a historian: fine judgment.
The act of explaining the materials into the "Complete Works" has opened up an example for the future literature collation and the editors of the celebrity "Complete Works", giving people great enlightenment. The Complete Works of Feng Xuefeng undoubtedly sets a high standard: it marks the evolution of the attitude of the Chinese towards historical and cultural relics in the twenty-first century. This not only reflects the editor's attitude of being responsible for history, the ancestors, and society, but also reflects Feng Xuefeng's attitude of seeking truth from facts, seeking only the truth, and never allowing misrepresentation. It is precisely on the basis of confidence in Feng Xuefeng's extremely serious, extremely strict, and extremely responsible attitude on historical issues that the editor dared to do so.
Of course, no one is immune to the influence of the political atmosphere of the times, and Feng Xuefeng's mention of some historical figures and events inevitably has the limitations of the times: it must be known that in such a specific political environment, it is not possible to say that it is not possible to say so. For example, the criticism of Hu Feng, as well as some political discourse at that time, and so on. This is, of course, the height that history allows him to reach, and it is difficult for anyone to surpass. The editors not only included word for word the term "great criticism" that had the characteristics of the times in Feng Xuefeng's confessional materials, but also did not evade the specific historical and political conditions at that time, and distorted many of the statements that distorted the judgment of the merits and demerits of historical figures under the upside-down concept of history, including the so-called "exposé" and other references, and also truthfully included them without changing them. For, unless deliberately destroyed, sooner or later all the remnants of history will be revealed, and all the truth will be revealed. If those historical factors are excluded, on the whole, Feng Xuefeng's memoirs are the most trustworthy of all kinds of memoirs, and Feng Xuefeng's historian style that appears from the confession materials makes us even more impressed and lamented.