Forty-one Red Hearts Are with Chairman Mao for Ever

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N October io, 1966, fortyone young Chinese resid­ ing in Indonesia were un­ justifiably arrested by the Indonesian Right-wing military authorities because they up­ held the dignity and honour of their motherland and fought for the legal rights of the Chi­ nese nationals. While confined in the dark, noxious cells of the prison-house at the Medan base headquarters the young people studied and applied Chairman Mao’s works in a creative way. Inspired by the thought of Mao Tse-tung they braved violence and defied death and won brilliant vic­ tories in their heroic struggle against the reactionaries. Finally on November 18, 1966 the Indonesian reactionaries were forced to release them unconditionally. The book contains a letter, a poem and excerpts from a diary, written by the young­ sters, a report by a Hsinhua correspondent and an editorial specially published for the event by the People’s Daily — from which readers can get some idea of the fearless, in­ domitable spirit of the Chi­ nese people armed with the thought of Mao Tse-tung.

Forty-one Red Hearts Are

with Chairman Mao for Ever

FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS PEKING 1967

JLC 84-395

Printed in tbe Peoples Republic of China

Quotation from Chairman Mao Tse-tung All reactionaries are paper tigers. In ap­ pearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so powerful. From a long-term point of view, it is not the reactionaries but the people who are really powerful. “Talk with the American Cor­ respondent Anna Louise Strong” (August 1946)

The portrait of Chairman Mao Tse-tung and the red flag which the forty-one overseas Chinese youths took great pains to make while detained in the Indonesian prison. The portrait is surrounded by forty-one small red stars to signify that the forty-one red hearts of the youngsters are for ever with their great leader Chairman Mao, whom they look upon as their sun. Embroidered in bold glittering Chinese characters, on the flag are the words “Long Live Chairman Mao” which express the feelings of each and all of the young people.

The letter written by the young overseas Chinese to Chairman Mao.

forty-one young Chinese who fought bravely against the Indones ian reaction aries.

Singing a paean to Mao Tse-tung’s thought, the young people triumphantly board the S.S. Guang Hua sent by their motherland.

CONTENTS A LETTER TO OUR MOST RESPECTED AND BE­ LOVED LEADER CHAIRMAN MAO

FORTY-ONE RED HEARTS ARE WITH CHAIRMAN MAO FOR EVER OUR PLEDGE

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THE HEROIC OVERSEAS CHINESE YOUTHS NUR­ TURED BY THE THOUGHT OF MAO TSE-TUNG PAEAN TO MAO TSE-TUNG’S THOUGHT FROM OVERSEAS — Editorial of Renmin Ribao {People’s Daily) cf December 9, 1966 —■ 44

A Letter to Our Most Respected and Beloved Leader Chairman Mao —Written by Forty-one Young Overseas Chinese During Their Imprisonment in Indonesia

To Our Dear Motherland, Our Dear Party Central Committee and Our Most Re­ spected and Beloved Leader Chairman Mao: Our best greetings to you! We forty-one young overseas Chinese, who are imprisoned with no just reason in the Medan base headquarters in Indonesia, are writing a letter to you. We were arbitrarily arrested by Indonesian Right-wing militarists for upholding the dignity and honour of our motherland and for defending the legal rights and interests of the overseas Chinese. As we struggle against the enemy, we think of you — the red sun in our hearts. Your works have given us inexhaustible strength, i

the daring to wage a face-to-face struggle against all monsters and demons till we completely defeat them! Neither the enemy’s torture, intimidation nor their threat and enticement to betrayal have for a moment made any of us waver in our patriotic stand and militant determination, because we have seen through to the very essence of the enemy. Chairman Mao has taught us that “all reactionaries are paper tigers. In appearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so powerful”,’ and in the course of our struggle we have come to a thorough understanding of the great wisdom and absolute correctness of this thesis. We went on a hunger strike for six days in defence of the dignity of the motherland and in protest against the fascist outrages of the Indonesian Right-wing militarists. During this time, whenever we felt faint from hunger and though we ached in every limb, it seemed to us as though Chairman Mao was at our side gently encouraging us: “Be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every difficulty to win victory.”12 These words inspire us and give us boundless strength. We braced ourselves and gritted our teeth, fully determined to carry the struggle to the very end! 1 Mao Tse-tung, “Talk with the American Correspondent Anna Louise Strong”, Selected Works, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1961, Vol. IV, p. 100. 2 Mao Tse-tung, “The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains”, cited in the Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, FLP, Peking, 1966, p. 182.

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Let the enemy beat and injure us until our bodies are covered with blood, but they will not shake our faith and warm love for our motherland and Chairman Mao. Our motherland is our strongest support and Chairman Mao the very red sun in our hearts. When the struggle is most arduous, the thought of them fills us with confidence and helps us to go forward valiantly. From the moment we were arrested, we have used Chairman Mao’s teachings to encourage each other. And through our struggles we have felt the matchless power of Mao Tse-tung’s thought. In the dark prison cells with enemy patrols outside, we have time and again recited quotations from Chair­ man Mao. Although we are imprisoned in these terrible, bleak cells, the brilliant radiance of Mao Tse-tung’s thought illuminates our hearts. We thank you, the people of the motherland, the Central Committee of the Party and Chairman Mao, for your care and solicitude. Without fail, we shall put still greater effort into our study of Chairman Mao’s works, and will imprint Mao Tse-tung’s thought in our minds, infuse it in our blood and express it in our actions. Without fail, we shall emulate the proletarian revolutionary rebel spirit of the Red Guards — the vanguards of China’s great proletarian cultural revolution — their daring to think, to speak out, to act and to break through. Our struggle against the enemy still goes on. We pledge to Chairman Mao: We are determined to

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continue to take Mao Tse-tung’s thought as our weapon to win final victory in this international class struggle! Forty-one young overseas Chi­ nese in Indonesia in detention centre at the Medan base head­ quarters, Indonesia November 16, 1966

Forty-one Red Hearts Are with Chairman Mao for Ever — The Heroic Struggle Against Indonesian Reaction Waged by Young Overseas Chinese Under the Inspiration of the Great Thought of Mao Tse-tung From the barbed-wired windows of the prisonhouse at the Medan base headquarters in north Su­ matra, Indonesia, where dark clouds hung overhead, there often came a militant song brimming over with revolutionary heroism:

We, China’s sons and daughters overseas, Are youth of the era of Mao Tse-tung. Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the people of Indonesia, We now carry on the fight in gaol and will never give in. Chairman Mao! You are the red sun in our hearts; Your teachings we follow And solemnly we vow: 5

We in the springtime of life With our young blood Will uphold the honour of our motherland, Uphold the dignity of our motherland!

This was the battle song of forty-one young over­ seas Chinese, whose age averaged nineteen. A fight­ ing collective holding high the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung’s thought, for forty days they waged a heroic struggle in gaol against the Indonesian fascist military. By relying on Mao Tse-tung’s thought, which is the most powerful ideological weapon, they stood up to brutal enemy torture and secret interrogation, frustrated the Indonesian re­ actionaries’ political persecution plot and, with their blood, upheld the honour of the motherland and the national dignity of the Chinese people. Now, they have returned home singing in triumph of Mao Tse-tung’s thought. THEY FACED UP TO THE STRUGGLE SINGING

It began on October io, 1966, when the Indone­ sian reactionaries started a still bigger wave of antiChina hysteria and gunshots again rang out in Medan to suppress patriotic Chinese nationals. At around two o’clock in the afternoon, a group of Indonesian reactionary officers and plain-clothesmen sent by the Medan army authorities under the pretext of “inspecting sanitary conditions” came to the Medan Overseas Chinese Middle School, which

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had been turned into a “reception centre” for the victimized Chinese nationals. Their real purpose, however, was to take photographs meant to insult the Chinese nationals, as part of their plan to sabo­ tage the Chinese Government’s efforts to repatriate those persecuted nationals wishing to return to their motherland; to stifle the raging struggle of the vic­ tims against persecution and to collect deceptive propaganda material for their American masters. Prior to this, some Americans had come there five times to try to take these photographs but had all been driven away ignominiously. But no overseas Chinese in the era of Mao Tsetung is to be bullied by imperialists and their lackeys. Arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder, the victims form­ ed a circle around the two Indonesian army captains, Datuk Ahton Bay and Ramli Markan, and the two plain-clothesmen who had come “to inspect sanitary conditions”. They roared in anger: “No photo­ graphs!” “Leave the films!” “Lackeys of U.S. impe­ rialism, get out!” Trembling from head to foot, Captain Datuk pull­ ed out his pistol and yelled in a hoarse voice: “Dis­ perse, or I’ll fire!” Shots rang out. The reactionary armymen guarding the place had started firing. But no patriotic overseas Chinese armed with Mao Tse-tung’s thought is to be intimidated by gunfire. It was drowned in still louder angry shouts of “Down with Indonesian reaction!” and the singing of Unity Is Strength. Braving the whistling bullets flying overhead, the victimized Chinese nationals closed 7

their ranks. The four Indonesian officers and plainclothesmen broke out in a sweat and had to have the way cleared for them by the reactionary armymen with rifle butts before they could scuttle away. An hour later, two car-loads of armed and helmeted soldiers and police in dark or motley uniforms rushed to the scene and with frenzied yells dragged away eight Chinese young men. Another was beaten black and blue by a group of thugs near the students' quarters and then handed over to the soldiers. When the fascist bandits were leaving with the nine de­ tainees, they threatened to arrest all who had stopped them from taking photographs. Knowing that another attack would not be long coming, the cool-headed young overseas Chinese lost no time in washing themselves and changing their clothes. Then they sat down together and recited quotations from Chairman Mao: Be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every difficulty to win victory.

To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather.

At that point they heard trucks drive up outside, and then the tramp of army boots. A large con­ tingent of armed soldiers and police had come to the “reception centre”. These young Chinese who have always stood in the forefront of the struggle against persecution, strode to meet them and told them defiantly: “We are the ones who protested against

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your taking photographs! We protest against your insulting us overseas Chinese. We are doing what is right and you have no reason whatsoever to arrest us!” Waving their rifle butts and shaking their fists, these brutal fascist armymen broke into the crowd, yelling, and dragged out thirty-two young people whom they pushed into a prison van. Not even two youngsters of thirteen and fifteen were spared. But these two youngsters remembered the revolutionary stories they had been told, and gripping the hands of their elder brothers and sisters they solemnly declared: “Nothing can frighten us!” All the way to the Medan base headquarters, the thirty-two youths, like the other nine taken away previously, recited in unison a quotation from Chairman Mao: All reactionaries are paper tigers. In appear­ ance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in real­ ity they are not so powerful. From a long-term point of view, it is not the reactionaries but the people who are really powerful.

They followed this up by singing Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman, We Are Marching Along tbe Broad Road and other Chinese revolution­ ary songs. These young overseas Chinese, as a re­ actionary Medan newspaper had to admit later, were taken to the headquarters actually “like victors, singing marching songs and shouting the name of Mao Tse-tung again and again”. 9

Yes, our brave young overseas Chinese felt that they were not being taken to prison but marching to a battlefield of international class struggle, hold­ ing aloft the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung’s thought. STANDING FIRM

The Medan base headquarters spelt murder. Machine-guns bristled on all sides. Standing round were a gang of brutal murderers. But these daunt­ less youngsters were ready to lay down their lives unflinchingly, for Chairman Mao’s teachings were ringing in their ears. Their heads high and their backs straight, they shouted at the top of their lungs: “Long live Chairman Mao! Long live Chairman Mao!” The Indonesian reactionaries who had slaughtered countless Indonesian people now tried to bring these young overseas Chinese to their knees by fascist atrocities. A number of armed soldiers fell on them like wild beasts and, in turn, began pounding the skulls of the young victims with their helmets, hitting their knees with rifle butts, slashing their cheeks with cartridge belts and kicking them in the stomach and waist with their boots. After beating eighteen-year-old Li Chin-hsin senseless they tram­ pled on his loins while blood streamed down his face. Twenty-year-old Yu Ya-chou received such severe gashes on his temples that blood gushed from the wound. Cheng Hsien-tsai, a girl of nine­ teen, received blows which left her face badly bruised io

and swollen. Twenty-one-year-old Kuo Li-hua col­ lapsed with pain after being kicked in the belly. Wu Chao-an, Huang Hsun-tsai, Chiu Yueh-hao, Hsieh Wen-lin and Chang Liang-ming were slashed, beaten or kicked equally viciously. “Spit it out! Who tried to kill Captain Datuk?" The forty-one youngsters were tortured and inter­ rogated in turn with such preposterous questions. The indomitable young people gritted their teeth and clenched their fists in protest: “You shameless liars!” “Your beatings are against the law. We strongly protest!” Finding that vicious beatings had failed, one enemy chief named Samin Tarigan pulled out his revolver, pointed it at Yu Ya-chou and bawled: “Don’t tell me that' you don’t mind being killed!” All the soldiers with him cocked their rifles. Yu Ya-chou was a middle-school student born of poor parents. Orphaned when he was very young, he had worked in his spare time to support him­ self. He had listened regularly to quotations from Chairman Mao broadcast from China and taken them down in short-hand, then made copies of them for his schoolmates to study. He had entered in his diary only the day before his arrest: Chairman Mao says: “Everything reactionary is the same; if you don’t hit it, it won’t fall.” ... It is their [the reactionaries] nature to bully the timid and fear the brave. . . . But those reac­ tionaries can be completely overpowered provided we are determined, stand erect, throw out our

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chests and “coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers”1 of the enemy, and provided we wage a tit-for-tat struggle against them and persist in it at all costs. Now he tore open his shirt, thrust his chest against the muzzle of the enemy’s gun and shouted: “Go ahead and shoot, if you’ve got the guts!” Others linked arms, threw out their chests too and dared the enemy: “You rotten hoodlums! Go ahead and shoot!” Exposed as a paper tiger, Samin Tarigan stagger­ ed back so quickly that some cartridges dropped from his belt. Others also lowered their rifles one by one. But the enemy would not leave the matter there. The interrogation and torture went on after dark and the prison cells were shrouded in horror. In one narrow cell, the enemy tortured Chiu Yueh-hao and Cheng Hsien-tsai by turns. When they belaboured twenty-year-old Chiu Yueh-hao with their police batons, Cheng Hsien-tsai at once rushed to shield him with her own body. When the enemy kicked Cheng savagely in the belly, Chiu darted to her defence. In this way each shared the other’s sufferings. At midnight, a Rightist armyman named Samosir burst into the cell where Yu Ya-chou was being kept in solitary confinement. He swung his rifle butt murderously against the young man’s head. Yu Ya-chou, already seriously injured in the day­ 1 From a poem by Lu Hsun, the Chinese revolutionary writer.

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time, now found blood spurting from a new gash about two inches long on his head. But far from flinching, he remained standing erect and denounced the enemy. Later that night, when Yu Ya-chou was in too much pain to sleep, he seemed to hear his comradesin-arms urge him: “Ya-chou! If you think of Chair­ man Mao and our motherland, it will fill you with strength.” Despite the pain, he dipped his right hand in the blood that was still trickling down from his head and wrote on the wall: “LONG LIVE CHAIRMAN MAO!” FORTRESS OF MILITANT UNITY

Early in the morning of October n, the day after the arrest of the forty-one young people, armed soldiers forced eleven young overseas Chinese girls out of their cells. A tough-looking Indonesian plainclothesman, clicking his camera, was ready to take pictures. The girls immediately saw through this. Cheng Hsien-tsai shouted angrily: “Schoolmates! Drive the U.S. running dogs away! Don’t let them take pic­ tures!” The girls covered their faces and turned away, determined not to let the enemy take their pictures. One Rightist officer rushed forward and slapped Cheng Hsien-tsai’s face. Her comrades instantly formed a ring to shield her, refusing to budge an inch despite the thugs striking out with leather belts and rifle butts and kicking them with heavy boots.

‘'Stop beating the girls! Down with fascist atroc­ ities!” roared the Chinese boys from the windows of their cells. The enemy shoved the girls back into their cells and turned to the men’s cells. They beat up the boys in turn, but their savage attacks made no im­ pression on the angry youths who denounced the U.S. imperialist lackeys with shouts that rocked the whole headquarters. Once again, the enemy’s provocation was smash­ ed! The girls wrote in their diary that day, “A storm has just passed, bigger storms may follow. Come on, you reactionary brutes, the more of you the better. We will swallow you up one by one.” The next morning the forty-one moved on to the counter-offensive against the rabid Indonesian re­ actionaries. The girls composed a song, based on the music of the popular Chinese song We Are Marching Along the Broad Road, with the stress on militant unity:

We are not criminals, we have been thrown into prison for upholding our national dignity. No torture or beating can intimidate us. For­ ward! Forward! Forward to win the liberation of mankind. For­ ward to victory! Chairman Mao teaches us: Be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every difficulty to win victory. Victory will belong to us. Forward! Forward!

Forward to win the liberation of mankina. For­ ward to victory! As they were practising their new song, the representatives of the victimized Chinese nationals came to the Medan base headquarters to negotiate. The eleven girls rushed out of their cells, singing in high spirits Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helms­ man and the militant song that they had just com­ posed. They shouted to the overseas Chinese representa­ tives: “Uphold our national honour!’’ “We will not tolerate any insults to the mother­ land’s dignity!” “Truth is on our side!” “Our great motherland is behind us!” “The 700 million people of our motherland are behind us!” “Victory will be ours!” From their cells, the young men joined in sing­ ing and shouting slogans. This turned into a power­ ful demonstration against the Indonesian reaction­ aries. The representatives of the overseas Chinese nationals, impressed by the militant spirit of the young people, nodded appreciatively and gave the thumbs up sign. The commander of the Medan base headquarters took fright. He ordered more than fifty heavily armed men to surround the eleven girls and drag out Cheng Hsien-tsai. 15

Fists and whips rained on the girls. But they pressed around Cheng Hsien-tsai to protect her. When she saw how cruelly her comrades were being beaten, she stepped out of the circle and shouted to the enemy: “Stop! Here I am. What do you want?” The enemy condemned Cheng Hsien-tsai to soli­ tary confinement. This intrepid girl had formerly helped to start a literacy class in the “reception cen­ tre” for victimized overseas Chinese, and there she had told the children revolutionary stories and taught them revolutionary songs. She was a fine fearless girl with a strong sense of justice and warm love for the collective. Her heart swelled with rage as she confronted these fascists. Clenching her fists she lashed out at them: “Shameless dogs! Running dogs of the U.S. imperialists! Get out of here! Get out, all of you!” At the same time the other girls shouted from the next room: “U.S. imperialist running dogs! Get out!” In the end, they succeed­ ed in driving the U.S. lackeys away and rescued their comrade-in-arms from her cell.

SIX-DAY HUNGER STRIKE

On the day of their arrest, the forty-one overseas Chinese made up their minds to wage a Jife-anddeath struggle, in accordance with Chairman Mao’s teachings, against the cruel and barbarous Indone­ sian reactionaries. The next morning, having in­ geniously established contact, they simultaneously

started a fast. They sternly demanded that the Indonesian military authorities immediately stop tor­ turing and beating them, promptly transfer their wounded comrades to hospital and declare all the arrested innocent and set them free. The young people who had been so infamously manhandled and tortured were getting weaker with each passing day. Yet this militant collective armed with Mao Tse-tung’s thought became still more determined to fight it out with their assailants. From memory they recited quotation after quotation from Chairman Mao: In times of difficulty we must not lose sight of our achievements, must see the bright future and must pluck up our courage.

We hail from all corners of the country and have joined together for a common revolu­ tionary objective.... Our cadres must show concern for every soldier, and all people in the revolutionary ranks must care for each other, must love and help each other.

In the stuffy, dimly lit men’s prison, twentyyear-old Tsai Chiang-lin fanned his comrades-inarms to keep off the mosquitoes, and did not rest himself until they were all asleep. Sometimes he lit a candle during the night to catch the bedbugs that were biting them, so that they could sleep more soundly. Because most of them were lying on the cement floor without any matting, some of them developed dropsy; then Tsai made these comrades 17

sleep on the few wooden planks that were there, while he slept on the cement. This young man who came from a poor family and had had to work his way through junior middle school wrote on the wall Chairman Mao’s militant call: “Be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every dif­ ficulty to win victory.” These words of Chairman Mao’s lighted up the gloomy dungeon, guiding these heroic sons and daughters of China to win through the black night to bright day. The hunger strike had now lasted four days. Al­ though the young Chinese were growing weaker, they did all they could for their most gravely ill and wounded comrades, helping them when they had to go to the latrine. At dawn that day, with boundless revolutionary fervour they composed a militant poem, Our Pledge, and set it to music. During their struggle they sang this song countless times to express their boundless love for their most respected and beloved great leader Chairman Mao and their great motherland, and their boundless loyalty to the great thought of Mao Tse-tung. The song reads:

Oh, motherland! You are our most mighty support, In defence of your dignity, we are fearlessly staging a hunger strike. Whenever hunger torments us, We think of you, And all distress is gone. Oh, Chairman Mao! You are the red sun shining 18

in our hearts. Following your teachings, we are waging a faceto-face struggle with the enemy. Whenever we suffer from inhuman beatings, We think of you, And all our pain melts away.

During the most difficult days of the hunger strike, these young people felt increasing anxiety over their two youngest comrades-in-arms — thirteenyear-old Liao Sheng-chang and fifteen-year-old Cheng Tien-shu. In the “reception centre” these two had fearlessly driven away some Yanks and Chiang Kai-shek agents. Now, weak as they were from hunger and manhandling, they did not for an instant falter but fought on steadily with their older comrades. The Indonesian reactionaries were so dismayed by the young people’s hunger strike that time and again they sent officers and special agents to the gaol to intimidate or bribe them, in an attempt to break their fast. Every time they were answered with angry shouts: “Shameless running dogs! Get out!” The heroic struggle waged by these fearless young people defeated the Indonesian reactionaries. On October 16, after these Chinese boys and girls had been fasting for six days, the Medan army authorities had to promise to give medical treatment to the in­ jured and sick and stop the torturing and beatings. Seeing that they had won a decisive victor)’, the young heroes and heroines ended their fast on Octo-‘ ber 17, in preparation for a new struggle. 19

CONFUTING THE FASCIST BANDITS

The strong protest lodged by the Chinese Govern­ ment against the detention of the forty-one Chinese threw the Indonesian reactionaries into panic and confusion. The S.S. Guang Hua, the ship sent for the second time by the Chinese Government to bring back the persecuted Chinese nationals in Indonesia, was about to arrive in the port of Belawan. The reactionary army chieftains in Medan fumed and fretted. They held meetings day after day, in the vain hope of finding a way out. The enemy began to interrogate the young people one by one, trying to break down their iron-clad re­ sistance and force them into submission by a fascist “war of nerves”. But these young people had learned from Chair­ man Mao’s works how to wage a struggle: Strate­ gically, despise the enemy and tactically, take him seriously. They were fully prepared to smash every devilish enemy plot and knew how to cope with these secret interrogations. One day Yu Ya-chou was brought before an officer. Swollen with self-importance, this inquisitor banged his fist on the table and shouted: “You are the ringleader! We’ll sentence you to life imprison­ ment if you don’t talk!” Yu Ya-chou responded: “You have no right to try us! You can't sentence us to imprisonment. The * Indonesian people wron’t stand for it. What evi­ dence have you to prove that I am the ‘ringleader’?” 20

Yu Ya-chou had foreseen this charge and rebutted it forcefully. This took the wind out of the officer’s sails. In a fluster he tried soft tactics, offering Yu tea and cigarettes. Then he ran into another room to con­ sult his superiors. He came back with a “clever” question: “Tell me, are you here of your own accord or under arrest?” Yu Ya-chou could barely suppress a laugh at the clumsiness of this question. He seized the chance to attack. “You arrested us illegally. And you have tortured us.” “Why did you go on hunger strike? Who led that strike?” The enemy had given himself away. Yu Ya-chou retorted: “We have done nothing wrong. Our hunger strike was a protest against our illegal arrest and the way we were tortured. We didn’t need anyone to lead that strike.” This sharp retort silenced the officer. When Chiu Yueh-hao was questioned, the enemy resorted to deception and blackmail, the usual prac­ tice of fascists. An officer said to him: “Your friends have told us that you are the ringleader.” Our brave young people were a close-knit fighting collective. Chiu Yueh-hao faced up with absolute confidence to this crude form of political blackmail. He whipped back: “Let anyone who says so testify in my presence!” The officer was left speechless. Then the daring, quick-witted youth launched a counter-attack, saying: “You carried out provoca-

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tions against our people by taking pictures without our permission. This is an insult to our motherland and the persecuted Chinese nationals. It is a political plot. We will never tolerate this!” Nonplussed, the officer made a complete turn­ about, lamely asking Chiu if he had any requests to make. “Set us free immediately; compensate us for all our losses!” Chiu Yueh-hao demanded, dealing a still harder blow at the enemy. The enemy then questioned four other young people, but got nothing out of them. In the course of interrogating Cheng Hsien-tsai, an officer found her too hard a nut to crack and said in dismay: “You are really hard to deal with. China has Red Guards. Maybe there are Red Guards in Indonesia, even in Medan. Are you all Red Guards?” Proudly, Cheng Hsien-tsai told the man: “You are so afraid of the Red Guards! This shows that what our Red Guards have done is fine! I should be very, very happy if I could become a Red Guard some day.” So the illegal interrogations ended ignominiously.

THE SOURCE OF VICTORY

What was the motive force that enabled these young overseas Chinese, unarmed and far from their motherland, to dare wage unremitting struggles against the barbarous fascist enemy? What was the motive force that encouraged them to fear no sacri-

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fice in winning victory? The forty-one young Chi­ nese gave a firm answer by their heroic struggle: It was the great invincible thought of Mao Tse-tung. On November 16, 1966, two days before they were released from gaol, these young heroes and heroines together penned a letter to our great leader Chairman Mao expressing their infinite love and loyalty. From this letter it is clear that although these young people were overseas, because they had Mao Tse-tung’s thought to illuminate and educate them they could stand erect like pine trees braving a storm. They wrote to Chairman Mao:

From the moment we were arrested, we have used Chairman Mao’s teachings to encourage each other. And through our struggles we have felt the matchless power of Mao Tse-tung’s thought. In the dark prison cells with enemy patrols out­ side, we have time and again recited quotations from Chairman Mao. Although we are imprisoned in these terrible, bleak cells, the brilliant radiance of Mao Tse-tung’s thought illuminates our hearts. . . . We pledge to Chairman Mao: We are de­ termined to continue to take Mao Tse-tung’s thought as our weapofo to win final victory in this international class struggle! The following story best illustrates the young people’s boundless loyalty to Mao Tse-tung’s thought, and the boundless strength and inspiration they drew from it.

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One day a slip of paper was passed in from other victimized Chinese outside. This was at noon follow­ ing their winning out in the hunger strike. “What is it? A letter?” They carefully unfolded the sheet of paper. Their hearts suddenly beat faster then, and they exclaimed softly yet jubilantly: “It’s an article by Chairman Mao!” “It’s the spiritual weapon we need most.” On the paper, carefully copied out, was the full text of Chairman Mao’s brilliant article “Serve the People”.1 The young prisoners regarded this as a priceless gift. In a foreign prison, in round after round of sharp struggle, the young people had recited together quota­ tions from Chairman Mao sentence after sentence to guide their fight. Now that they had the full text of the article “Serve the People”, how could they not rejoice! To prevent this gift from being confiscated by the enemy and, above all, to imprint Chairman Mao’s teachings on their minds, Yu Ya-chou, Wang Chinming, Chiu Yueh-hao, Tsai Chiang-lin and Hsieh 1 This was a speech delivered by Comrade Mao Tse-tung at a memorial meeting for Comrade Chang Szu-teh, held by departments directly under the Central Committee of the Com­ munist Party of China. Chang 5>zu-teh was a soldier in the Guards Regiment of the Party’s Central Committee. A mem­ ber of the Communist Party who loyally served the interests of the people, he joined the revolution in 1933, took part in the Long March and was wounded in service. On September 5, 1944, when making charcoal in the mountains of Ansai County, northern Shensi, he was killed by the sudden collapse of a kiln.

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Chieh-fang were given the task of dividing “Serve the People” into five parts and each memorizing one section. Every word of Chairman Mao’s teachings was like sunlight and timely rain; every word was food for the spirit. Very soon the five young men had committed this article to memory. After that, they destroyed the paper and taught the full text part by part to the girls. Imprinting Chairman Mao’s teachings on their minds, they felt as if they were beside Chairman Mao. With their minds clear, their vision sharpened, they had enough energy and strength to vanquish the enemy. Their forty-day struggle brought home to the forty-one young overseas Chinese the infinite might of Mao Tse-tung’s thought, and deepened their love for Chairman Mao. They said: “It was Chairman Mao who gave us wisdom, Chairman Mao who gave us the strength to persist in our struggle.” RED HEARTS LONG FOR CHAIRMAN MAO

In early November the Chinese consul in Medan returned to Medan from Djakarta and the S.S. Guang Hua arrived at the nearby port of Belawan. From the panic of the officer on duty in the Medan base headquarters, the young people shrewdly fore­ saw that the light of dawn was going to shine into their black prison. They discussed what gift they could send to their most respected and beloved leader Chairman Mao if they were released. They decided that they would

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write a letter to him and prepare two gifts: the boys would make a five-point star with Chairman Mao’s portrait in the middle and forty-one small red stars around it and the girls would make a red flag embroidered with “Long live Chairman Mao”. Below that they would embroider in smaller script the words “forty-one young Chinese in Indonesia”. This splendid decision made, they lost no time in setting hard to work. Nineteen of the boys had the task of standing guard while nine others made the five-point red star. They made it out of the cardboard boxes and coloured wrapping paper of the sweets sent in by relatives outside. Among the Chinese books seized and thrown aw’ay by the enemy they managed to find a portrait of Chairman Mao, which they carefully put in the centre of the star. Then they cut out forty-one small red stars, to represent their boundless love for their great leader, and put these around the portrait. Their hearts beating fast, they worked for two nights on this labour of love. Late at night on November 15 it was finished. The eleven girls undertook to make the flag. This was fine work which, moreover, could only be done at night. Since their imprisonment, the girls had taken it in turn to stand guard at night. So now while keeping a watch on enemy movements those on night duty stitch by stitch embroidered the flag. The first night they embroidered the characters “Chairman Mao” — the most splendid, resounding name in the whole world. The next morning, howTever, everyone decided that the word “Chairman”

26

was not up to standard. They unpicked it and did it over again that night. While working on this embroidery, the first thing the girls did each morning was to gather round the red flag to handle it lovingly and subject it to a critical inspection. If a single stitch was crooked or a single thread too loose, they conscientiously unpicked and resewed it. Three days later, in the morning of November 17, they finished embroidering “Long live Chairman Mao” in lustrous gold thread. This red flag sym­ bolized the feelings of the forty-one heroic young overseas fighters, this was the red flag which was leading them to victory. Thanks to the repeated representations made by the Chinese Government and the courageous strug­ gle waged by the forty-one young fighters, and thanks to the support by the Indonesian masses and Chinese nationals in Indonesia, the plot for political persecu­ tion by the Indonesian reactionaries utterly failed and the Medan base headquarters was forced to release the forty-one young Chinese unconditionally on November 18, the day after the girls had finished embroidering the red flag. On that day in front of the “reception centre”, the forty-one young heroes and heroines and other victimized Chinese nationals were victoriously reunited. They embraced again and again, shouting “Long live Chairman Mao, long, long life to Chair­ man Mao!” “We’ve won!” and singing Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman. The Rightist reac­ tionary militarists, w’ho had persecuted them so vi­ ciously, stood by dejected and helpless. 27

The next evening just before the forty-one young fighters left for the motherland, more than 1,000 overseas Chinese, men and women, old and young, gathered in the square of the Overseas Chinese Middle School in Medan to celebrate the victory and give the young fighters a warm send-off. It started to pour with rain, but the youngsters ignored the downpour. They told their compatriots: “We have the invincible thought of Mao Tse-tung to guide us and the great socialist motherland and the 700 million Chinese people behind us, so final victory must be ours.” Now that the Rightist reactionary forces in Indo­ nesia have stirred up a yet bigger wave of anti-China hysteria, the patriotic overseas Chinese are taking these forty-one heroic young people as their models and are waging a fearless struggle to uphold the honour of their motherland and the dignity of the Chinese people. — Hsinbua Correspondent

Our Pledge We, Forty-one prisoners In a foreign prison Inscribe with our blood As it trickles from our veins This bold pledge. With our beautiful Young lives We pledge to uphold The dignity and honour Of our motherland! We are youth Of the Mao Tse-tung era! We are sons and daughters Of the Chinese nation Living overseas Who fought, Shoulder to shoulder With the people of Indonesia; A collective work written by the forty-one young overseas Chinese during their imprisonment in Indonesia. 29

■ Today we carry on the fight In prison. Never shall we give in!

Our all-consuming love For our great motherland A crime? Fighting For our legitimate human rights A crime, also? We shall never subscribe to this, Such being the maxim of the devil; The “humanitarian” logic of fascists! Let your leather whips Lash our bodies; Hard fists Rain blows on our faces; Rifle butts crash Over our heads; Muzzles point At our chests! But even if you pierce Our breasts You will see only Red hearts Boundlessly loyal To the motherland And our beloved Chairman Mao! Cruel torture May w7ound and scar

30

Our bodies; Brutal beatings May draw our blood; In no way Can they shake Our militant will! In no way Can they move us From our patriotic stand!

O motherland! You are our mighty anchor I In defence Of your dignity We are staging A hunger strike. Whenever the pangs of hunger Torment us We think of you; Then all distress fades away! O Chairman Mao, You are the red sun Shining in our hearts! Following your teachings We are waging A face-to-face struggle With the enemy; Whenever we suffer These brutal beatings We think of you; Then all bodily pain gives way!

Now, We are going through An international class struggle; Undergoing a bloody test of will! We become braver; More resolute; We stand on a higher plane; Our vision broadens!

Today, in a prison — Jailed in a foreign land, With all solemnity With our beautiful Young lives And with our blood We pledge to uphold The dignity and honour Of our motherland! In prison at the Medan base headquarters, Indonesia

October 13, 1966

The Heroic Overseas Chinese Youths Nurtured by the Thought of Mao Tse-tung —Excerpts from the Diary of Yu Ya-chou, a Returned Overseas Chinese Youth

The story of the valiant struggle waged behind prison bars in Indonesia by the forty-one young overseas Chi­ nese — a heroic fighting collective armed with the thought of Mao Tse-tung — has spread far and wide among the people at home and abroad. The follow­ ing excerpts from the diary written by Yu Ya-chou, one of the forty-one victims, prior to his arrest show how Chinese youths residing abroad have been nurtured and brought up by the great thought of Mao Tse-tung. Twenty-year-old Yu Ya-chou was born into a poor toiler’s family in Indonesia. Before his illegal arrest by the Indonesian reactionaries he studied in the Medan Overseas Chinese Middle School and worked in his spare time to support himself. He always took great pains to study Chairman Mao’s works together with many other patriotic Chinese youths. From his diary

55

one can see how the invincible thought of Mao Tsetung has inspired the overseas Chinese in their struggle.

Ma/ 9, 1966

It isn’t easy to remould your ideology. For you have to think a lot, struggle bitterly and read a great deal. First, you have to read Chairman Mao’s “In Memory of Norman Bethune”1 and “Serve the People”, and draw the sort of inspiration needed to spur yourself on. It’s very painful to change the way you think. Unhealthy ideas are likely to crop up again soon after you’ve corrected an error, and it requires another bitter struggle to overcome them.

May IO, 1966

“China has successfully conducted a nuclear ex­ plosion containing thermo-nuclear material!” Early this morning this great news spread like wildfire to every corner of the students’ quarters of 1 This article was written by Comrade Mao Tse-tung on December 21, 1959, as a tribute to Norman Bethune. Norman Bethune was an eminent surgeon and a member of the Cana­ dian Communist Party. When the Chinese people’s War of Resistance Against Japan broke out in 1937, he led a medical team of Canadians and Americans to China and arrived in the Liberated Areas in early 1938. He distinguished himself by his spirit of self-sacrifice, devotion to work and a high sense of responsibility. He contracted blood poisoning while operating on wounded soldiers and died in Tanghsien, Hopei Province, on November 12, 1939.

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the school. The boys and girls were tremendously exhilarated. They shouted at the top of their voices: “Long live Chairman Mao!” I, too, was overcome with joy. When I went out after breakfast, I passed on the good news to every friend I met. Little Chen’s joy knew no bounds when she heard it. Seeing how happy she was, I thought: “It’d be marvellous if all my other fellowstudents and compatriots could hear this news at once.” Oh, motherland! You’ve given us a feeling of confidence just when we’re being bullied by im­ perialist lackeys; you’ve given us strength when we’re having such a hard time. We’ll pull our full weight and prove ourselves worthy of the People’s Republic of China.

May 16, 1966 “To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai...

This teaching of Chairman Mao’s has enabled me to defy death, to stand firm in the face of the bayonets of the ghosts and monsters — the reaction­ aries. I’ll fight to the bitter end to safeguard the interests of our Chinese nationals and the dignity of our motherland. If necessary I’ll give my life with­ out a second’s thought. Even when we’re faced with bayonets we Chinese nationals abroad should, like the people back home,

35

hold high the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung’s thought, despise all those ghosts and monsters hos­ tile to the people, and fight them to the end. All imperialists and reactionaries are paper tigers. They appear to be powerful, but in reality they are weak. They will definitely be overthrown once we rise fear­ lessly against them. In a radio programme from Peking we heard an emancipated Tibetan serf condemning the anti-Party, anti-socialist elements. “Without the Communist Party the million Tibetan serfs couldn’t have won their liberation,” she said. “Without Chairman Mao we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our present life of happiness.” Her firm voice gave us strength to fight on. There is darkness here at the moment and we’re suffering as we’ve never suffered before. But whatever happens, we’ll follow Chairman Mao’s teachings and act in accordance with his instruc­ tions. We won’t let our great country and people down.

May 23, 1966

Whether you dare to despise the enemy, remain calm in the face of his bayonets and are willing to sacrifice yourself for the people and the dignity of your motherland — this is the criterion distinguish­ ing real revolutionaries from fake ones, devoted revolutionaries from shameless renegades. 36

The heroic deeds of Comrades Chao Hsiao-shou1 and Huang Mu-ho1 2 make us realize that we must never cherish any illusion about our enemy. Chair­ man Mao says, “Everything reactionary is the same; if you don’t hit it, it won’t fall.” He also teaches us that imperialism and all reactionaries are paper tigers. All reactionaries can be overthrown. It is their nature to bully the timid and fear the brave. The more you’re afraid of them and try to compromise with them, the more they will push you around. But those reactionaries can be completely overpowered provided we are determined, stand erect, throw out our chests and “coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers” of the enemy, and provided we wage a titfor-tat struggle against them and persist in it at all costs. That you may “temporarily surrender to the enemy in order to preserve your strength” as some 1 Chao Hsiao-shou is a heroic fighter on China’s diplomatic front. When more than 1,000 hooligans and fully armed sol­ diers — organized by the Indonesian Right-wing military re­ gime — raided the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia on April 15, 1966, the members of the embassy staff put up stiff resist­ ance against this barbarous act. Chao Hsiao-shou was wounded while fearlessly defending China’s five-star national flag from being insulted. 2 General Secretary of the Association of Overseas Chinese Organizations in Djakarta, Huang Mu-ho struggled un­ flinchingly against Indonesian Right-wing hooligans when they forced their way into the building of the association and oc­ cupied it by force on April 8, 1966. Later he was kidnapped by the hooligans. Although he was badly injured during six hours of torture, Huang Mu-ho refused to yield, bravely de­ fending the honour of the Chinese people. 37

people advocate, is a traitor’s philosophy of survival which only the faint-hearted will believe.

May 28-29, 1966

I am twenty years old. This is the age of intellec­ tual and physical growth when you’re in the bloom of life. Chairman Mao says, “You young people, full of vigour and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you.’’ In my youth I’ll set myself the high aim of serving my country and people. What should be uppermost in the minds of young people? Pleasure-seeking? Love? Marriage? No. These are decadent bourgeois ideas which are alien to us. We young people should have a broad vision. We should be like petrels braving the storm, rather than sparrows* hovering around roof-beams in search of nests. I’ll study Chairman Mao’s works diligently and foster the proletarian world outlook and the concept of service to the people.

August I, 1966

From today the Central People’s Broadcasting Station in Peking has begun to include quotations from Chairman Mao in its special programme for overseas Chinese. From now on I’ll write these quotations in my diary, the better to study Chair-

38

man Mao’s writings, grasp his thought and use it as the supreme guide to all my work. I’ll learn from Chairman Mao’s worthy pupils such as Lei Feng, Ouyang Hai, Wang Chieh, Chiao Yu-lu and Liu Ying-chun1 and constantly read their diaries to spur myself on.

August 5, 1966

Chairman Mao recently issued the great call that both the People’s Liberation Army and the whole country should become great schools for revolu­ tion! zation.

Holding high the great red banner of Mao Tsetung’s thought, the people back home have resolved to turn the whole country into a great school of Mao Tse-tung’s thought. They are determined to be able to take up a hammer and do factory work, push a plough and do farming, pick up a gun and fight the enemy, and use the pen to express them­ selves in w-riting. They are bent on training them­ selves — in the three great revolutionary movements 1 Popular heroes among the Chinese people. Chiao Yu-lu was the late secretary of the Communist Party Committee of Lankao County’, Honan Province, and the rest were soldiers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. All of them were models in the creative study and application of Chairman Mao’s works. Faithful to the teachings of Chairman Mao, they cherished a ’fervent love for the Party, for Chairman Mao, socialism and the working people. They lived and died for the people and their communist spirit of utter devotion to them without any thought of self has set a brilliant example for the whole nation. 39

of class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment — to become people of a new type, people who are imbued with a communist spirit, who have a high degree of political consciousness and are developed in an all-round way. This great directive of Chairman Mao’s is equally important for us who live under the reign of White terror. Although our environment doesn’t allow us to become skilled in every job, we should do our best to learn different skills so that like tiny screws wTe can fit in wherever we’re needed.

August 7, 1966

Chairman Mao has pointed out the right path for us to take when he says: Although the mass of revolutionary intel­ lectuals in China can play a vanguard role or serve as a link w ith the masses, not all of them will remain revolutionaries to the end. Some will drop out of the revolutionary ranks at crit­ ical moments and become passive, w’hile a few may even become enemies of the revolu­ tion. The intellectuals can overcome their shortcomings only in mass struggles over a long period.

“Chairman Mao seems to know w’hat’s going on here in Indonesia,” my fellow students said. In this “country of a thousand islands” where White terror strikes, the Indonesian reactionaries are 40

working hand in glove with the Chiang Kai-shek gangsters in a cold-blooded persecution of the patri­ otic Chinese nationals. Every patriotic overseas Chi­ nese student, every patriotic Chinese national, is now faced with a grim test. If you love your country, then you should take a firm stand and firmly pro­ tect her dignity; if you want to serve the people wholeheartedly, then you should have the courage to face up to the enemy’s bullying and the strength of mind to withstand his enticements; and you should dare to make self-sacrifices and fight to the end in the interests of the people.

August 9, 1966

An individual person is insignificant by himself; personal safety is a matter of small concern. But if he devotes his all to the service of the people and is ready to make every self-sacrifice for the good of the collective, then he ought to feel content even if he lives in obscurity.

August 19, 1966

I feel as if I’ve got inexhaustible strength in work and struggle. It isn’t because I have any special ability but because my strength is incorporated into that of the collective. I’m like a drop of water in the ocean, surging forward with the rolling waves

4i

August 23, 1966

A selfless person is one who works devotedly for the cause of the collective, with no thought of personal loss or gain, fame or reward. Because we serve the people, we must always proceed from their interests. As Chairman Mao teaches us, “in the interests of the people, we should persist in doing what is right and correct what is wrong”. We should be ready to give our youth and, if neces­ sary, our lives for the people and the collective.

September II, 1966

In working for my victimized fellow countrymen I have come to realize that my knowledge is far too limited, that I’ve been too ambitious and impractical. Chairman Mao says: If you want to know a certain thing or a certain class of things directly, you must personally participate in the practical struggle to change reality, to change that thing or class of things, for only thus can you come into contact with them as phenomena; only through personal participation in the practical struggle to change reality can you uncover the essence of that thing or class of things and comprehend them.

Drawing lessons from the past I’ve made up my mind to live up to this teaching of Chairman Mao’s. I’ll learn everything from the beginning. I’ll learn while 42

working among the masses and be a pupil of the masses.

September 27, 1966

There’s another side to the bad situation of living under the reign of White terror. Here before your eyes are ruthless class struggle, bloody racial discrim­ ination, and every type of ghost and monster. All these enable you to clearly see the ugly features of the reactionaries, help you to keep class hatred firm­ ly in mind and increase your vigilance against the enemy. The more experience we get here in Indonesia, the more keenly do we realize that Chairman Mao’s teachings are incomparably correct, brilliant and great. Full of confidence we’ll act according to his instructions: “Be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every difficulty to win victory.”

Paean to Mao Tse-tung’s Thought from Overseas — Editorial of Penmin Kibao {People's Daily) of December 9, 1966 — Stirring news has reached us from overseas. A valiant, fighting collective armed with the thought of Mao Tse-tung has sprung up in the storm and stress of the international class struggle. Forty-one overseas Chinese youths who were locked in a life-and-death struggle with the reaction­ aries in Indonesia have won a resounding victory. The story of their heroic feats in the fight has spread far and wide among the people of the homeland and Chinese residing abroad. This is another paean to the great thought of Mao Tse-tung. Chairman Mao has always taught us that rev­ olutionary fighters of the proletariat must have an indomitable spirit, determined to vanquish all enemies and never to yield. These forty-one Chinese youths are such revolutionary fighters with an indomitable spirit. 44

Behind the prison walls of the Indonesian reac­ tionaries they faced the guns and bayonets of the fascist military and police, fearing neither repression nor death, neither ghosts nor demons. Steadfast, staunch and unafraid, they preserved intact the honour of the Chinese nation and safeguarded the dignity of the great motherland. Before them, the blustering Indonesian reactionaries were mere paper tigers. These youngsters drew a sharp line between love and hate. For the enemy they showed a strong hate; for their comrades they cherished profound class fellow-feeling. They encouraged each other, cared for each other and supported each other in the strug­ gle, united as one man. Loyal to Chairman Mao, to Mao Tse-tung’s thought and the motherland, these Chinese youths deserve to be called Chairman Mao’s worthy fighters and fine sons and daughters of the Chinese people. Where did the fighting courage, conviction and strength of these forty-one youths in the face of the threats and White terror of the Indonesian fascists come from? It all came from the great and invincible thought of Mao Tse-tung, which is the most powerful and the sharpest ideological weapon for defeating all enemies. Armed with Mao Tse-tung’s thought, one will have a firm, correct political orientation, one will be full of fight and one will become courageous, intelligent and revolutionary to the highest degree. Whether in Black Marias, behind prison bars or in one round of struggle after another with the enemy, these forty-one Chinese youths at all times persevered 45

in creatively studying and applying Chairman Mao’s teachings and took them as the guide for all action. For them the thought of Mao Tse-tung has been an inexhaustible source from which they drew the strength to go forward, conquering every difficulty and triumphing over the enemy. Chairman Mao is the red sun in the hearts of the people of our country, and of all patriotic Chinese residing abroad. With boundless veneration, respect and love for the great leader Chairman Mao, these heroic Chinese youths wrote with their blood five big Chinese characters indicating “Long live Chair­ man Mao!” on the wall of the Indonesian reaction­ aries’ prison. Inscribed in blood, these words symbolize not only the love for Chairman Mao in forty-one hearts but also the ardent love in the hearts of millions of patriotic Chinese residing in Indonesia. At critical moments when they were being subjected to unrestrained torture by the Indonesian reaction­ aries the words of their respected and beloved leader Chairman Mao became audible in their ears and tingled in their hearts. This gave them reserves of warmth and strength, inspiring them to fight on until victory. Under the radiance of Mao Tse-tung’s thought China has become a great, strong and prosperous socialist country. Socialist revolution and socialist construction have scored magnificent achievements in our country. The great proletarian cultural revolu­ tion personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao is profoundly changing the spiritual make-up of the 46

people and the face of society. A generation of new people is growing up and there is no end to the miracles being performed in this vast land of ours. All this has tremendously inspired our countrymen abroad and evoked in them a still deeper love for our great leader Chairman Mao, for the Chinese Communist Party and for the motherland. Their hearts are linked closely with those of the 7°° million people at home. The heroic feats of the forty-one overseas Chinese youths have set a glorious example for all Chinese abroad and for the whole nation. We should learn from these heroes and heroines of the Mao Tse-tung era. These forty-one youths and some of the patriotic overseas Chinese who suffered through those days of persecution vzith them have triumphantly returned to the fold of the motherland. We extend to them our proud greetings and warm regards. Let us hold higher and higher the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung’s thought and fight together for the great cause of socialist revolution and socialist construction in our motherland!

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