Mao Zedong: Biography, Assessment, Reminiscences [1 ed.] 9780835118866, 083511886X

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MAO ZEDONG

Biography — Assessment — Reminiscences

Compiled by Zhong Wenxian

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FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS BEIJING

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First Edition

1986

ISBN 0-83 51-1886-X Copyright

1986 by Foreign

Languages

Press

Published by Féreign Languages Press

24 Baiwanzhuang Road, Beijing,

China

Printed by Foreign Languages Printing House

1g West Chegongzhuang Road, Beijing, China

Distributed by China International Book Trading Corporation

(Guoji Shudian), P.O. Box 399,

Beijing, China

Printed in the People's Republic of China

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PUBLISHER’S

.

NOTE

This book is published in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the death of Mao Zedong.

The twenty articles in the book are divided into three

parts: The first part contains a biography and an autobiographical sketch; the second part, assessments of Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought; the third part, reminiscences. Among the authors of the articles are his long-

time comrades-in-arms, subordinates and bodyguards, his son and daughter-in-law, a relative, a peasant, a stientist, a

writer, non-Party people and young people as well as foreign correspondents. Most of the articles appear for the first time in English. They reflect from different angles Mao Zedong’s thought, character and style as well as the revolutionary cause _ to which he devoted his entire life. Special thanks are due Mrs. Lois Wheeler Snow for permission to reprint the chapter “‘Genesis of a Communist” from Edgar Snow’s classic, Red Star over China, which has

been reptoduced as it appeared in the 1937 first edition except for the romanization of Chinese names, which has been changed according to the new pinyin system to make it consistent with rest of the book.

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_ Mao Zedong in Jiangxi, 1961.

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Contents A Brief Biography of Mao Zedong Zhong Wenxian Genesis of a Communist

16

Edgar Snow

Learn from Mao Zedong

Zhou Enlai

71

On Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought Deng Xiaoping On the Long March with Chairman Mao Chen Changfeng

97

Chairman Mao Makes Friends with Us Peasants Yang Buhao

141

Celebrating the Spring Festival He Qinghua

148

Mao Zedong During Negotiations in Chongqing Wang Bingnan

153

_ Comrade Mao Zedong Makes Amends for Me Hong Yu Reminiscences on Interview with Chairman Mao Zedong on the Paper Tiger

Anna Louise Strong

In His Mind a Million Bold Warriors Yan Changlin

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161 167 177

ii

MAO

- An Unforgettable Meeting

Lei Jiegiong

ZEDONG

193

Stories of Chairman Mao and Economic Construction Jiang Weiging

199

Mao Zedong’s Concern for Minority Nationalities Wang Lianfang

203

Mao Zedong’s Two Talks on Philosophy Zhou Peiyuan

208

Mao Zedong Cared for China’s Sports Rong Gaotang

214

Farewell to the “God of Plague” Wei Wenbo

218

Escorting Mao Zedong’s Sons to Shanghai

Li Chongde

Recollections of Our Father _ Mao Anging and Shao Hua

222 227

A Visit to His Hometown

Zhou Lipo

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233

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

OF MAO

ZEDONG

Zhong Wenxian Mao Zedong was born into a peasant family on December 26, 1893, in Shaoshan, a village in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province. As a child he attended a private school, and in the autumn of 1910 he went on to Dongshan Higher Primary School in Xiangxiang County and then on to Xiangxiang Middle School in Changsha, the provincial capital, the

following spring. After the 1911 Revolution which overthrew the feudal

monarchy he served half a yeat in the insurgent New Army. In 1913,

he won his admittance into Hunan Fourth Provincial Normal School

(which was merged with Hunan First Normal School the following year), from which he graduated in 1918. As a youth Mao Zedong studied both

the

Chinese

feudal

culture, which

was

then

called

“the

old

learning,” and the culture of Western bourgeois democracy, “the new learning.” The writings of Confucius, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Sun Yat-sen, Tolstoy and Kropotkin, and the philosophies of neoKantianism and neo-Hegelianism all influenced him to varying degrees and contributed to the development of his early thinking. Fired by a fervent love for his country, he sought untiringly for revolutionary truth. In April 1918, together with Cai Hesen and others, he set up the New People’s Society in Changsha, aimed at finding new ways and methods to transform China. Shortly after the establishment of the society, Mao Zedong organized its members and other progressive youth on a work-study programme to France for the study of - progressive ideas and revolutionary experience. It was around the time of the May Fourth Movement (1919) that Mao Zedong first came into contact with and began to embrace Marxism. In July 1919, he launched the Xiangjiang Review in Hunan, and the following year he organized the Cultural Reading Society for the 1

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MAO ZEDONG

spreading of revolutionary ideas. In the autumn of 1920 he set up communist groups in Changsha. Himself a founder of the Chinese

Communist Party, Mao Zedong attended the First National Congress

of the Party which marked the formal inauguration of the Communist Party of China in July 1921. He was later made Secretary of the Hunan Regional Party Committee of the CPC and put in charge of leading the workers’ movement in Changsha and Anyuan. In June 1923 he attended the Third National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which adopted the policy of cooperation with the Kuomintang, then led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, for the purpose of forming a national anti-imperialist and anti-feudal united front to include all democratic classes. The congress also decided that all members of the Communist Party were to join the Kuomintang as individuals. Elected a member of the Central Executive Committee by the congress, Mao Zedong began to play a role in the work of the central leadership. After the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation was brought about, he was elected an alternate member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang at its First and Second National Congresses, held in January 1924 and January 1926. He worked in Guangzhou as acting Head of the Central Propaganda Department of the Kuomintang, edited the Political Weekly and directed the Sixth Class at the Peasant Movement Institute. In November 1926, he was appointed Secretary of the Peasant Movement Commission of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. Published between the winter of 1925 and the spring of 1927, his works Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society and Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan, dealt with the fundamental problems relating to the Chinese

revolution and set forth some of Mao’s basic ideas on the New Democratic Revolution in China. In these treatises Mao Zedong

underlined the great significance of the peasant problem to the Chinese revolution and the paramount importance of the leadership of the proletariat over the peasant movement. Critical of Chen Duxiu, the Party’s principal leader at that time, for the compromises and concessions he made in dealing with the right wing of the Kuomintang, Mao denounced Chen’s Right deviation in denying the proletariat their rightful leadership of the Democratic Revolution. In 1927, the right wing of the Kuomintang controlled by Chiang

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BIOGRAPHY OF MAO ZEDONG

Kai-shek

and Wang

Jingwei

3

betrayed the Kuomintang-Communist

anti-imperialist and anti-feudal alliance decided on by Dr. Sun Yat-sen,

and staged successive counter-revolutionary coups which led to a complete break of Kuomintang-Communist cooperation. On August 7

in Hankou an emergency meeting was called by the Central Committee

of the Chinese Communist Party. The session put an end to the Right

capitulationism of Chen Duxiu and decided on an overall policy of carrying

out agrarian

revolution

and

armed

resistance against

the

Kuomintang’s campaign of organized slaughter, policies which were

designed to save the Chinese revolution at a critical moment. It was at this meeting that Mao Zedong put forward the idea that political power was to be seized with revolutionary armed force. This was of great importance in bringing the. Chinese Communists to a correct understanding of the characteristics and direction of the Chinesg

revolution. Elected an alternate member on the Central Political Bureau at the meeting, Mao Zedong was then sent back to Hunan by the Party

Central Committee. On September 9 he led the Autumn-Harvest Uprising on the Hunan-Jiangxi border. Shortly after, he led the insurgent troops up to the Jinggang Mountains, where he carried out an agrarian revolution and set up China’s first rural revolutionary base. In April 1928, he joined with the insurgent forces of Zhu De to form the Fourth Army of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army (later renamed the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army), with Mao Zedong as Party representative and. Secretary of the Front Committee, and Zhu De as Army Commander. In January 1929, he and Zhu De led the main body of the Fourth Red Army down the Jinggang Mountains to southern Jiangxi and western Fujian, where more revolutionary bases were set up (these were later to become the Central Revolutionary Base Area). With Mao Zedong as their chief representative, the Chinese Communists proceeded from the reality of China. Conducting armed struggles in rural areas where the forces of reactionary rule were weak, the Communists opened up China’s characteristic revolutionary road to the final seizure of the country’s political power by encircling cities from rural areas and then capturing them. These manoeuvres have been theoretically dealt with by Mao Zedong in such works as Why Is It That Red Political Power Can Exist

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MAO ZEDONG

in China?, The Struggle in the Jinggang Mountains and A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire, all written between 1928 and 1930. In December 1929, the Fourth Red Army called its Ninth Party Representative

Conference in Gutian of Shanghang County, Fujian Province at which

a resolution drafted by Mao was adopted. This resolution, which can be found in part as ““On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party” in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, stressed how a new type. of proletarian, people’s army, trained with strict discipline and in close alliance with the masses, could be formed from the predominantly peasant revolutionary army and on how to solidify the building of the Party. August 1930 saw the nascence of the First Front Army of the Red Army, in which Mao Zedong held the concurrent posts of Secrétary of the General Front Committee and General Political Commissar. In November 1931 the Central Provisional Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic was inaugurated in Ruijin of southeast Jiangxi and Mao Zedong was elected as its Chairman. In 1933, he was elected a member of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee. From the end of 1930 onwards, the First Front Red Army under the joint leadership of Mao Zedong and Zhu De defeated a number of “encirclement and suppression” campaigns launched by the Kuomintang troops against the Central Revolutionary Base Area. The agrarian revolution still in progress, Mao Zedong led the common people in developing agricultural production, handicraft industry, commerce, cooperatives and cultural and educational undertakings in the Central Revolutionary ©

Base Area in a sustained effort to smash the enemy’s blockade, guarantee

supplies for the Red Army, ameliorate the people’s living conditions and thus underpin the protracted revolutionary war. But due to the “Left” adventurism of Wang Ming, who opposed the correct guiding policy for China’s revolution and the Chinese revolutionary war as put forward by Mao Zedong, excluded Mao from the central leadership of both the Party and the Red Army and adopted erroneous strategy and policies, the struggle against the Kuomintang’s fifth “encirclement and suppression” campaign ended in failure. In October 1934, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the First Front Army embarked on the Long March. In January 1935, in Zunyi of Guizhou Province, the Chinese Communist Party held an enlarged meeting of the

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BIOGRAPHY OF MAO ZEDONG =

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Political Bureau of its Central Committee and put an end to Wang

Ming’s leadership of “Loft” adventurism -in the Party Central Committee, forming in its place a new central leadership headed by Mao Zedong, a move which rescued the Party and the Red Army from grave danger. This represented a vital turning point in the history ‘of the

Chinese Communist Party. After trudging over a total distance of 25,000 4; of mountains and rivers and experiencing extreme hardships and danger, the Party Central Committee and the First Front Red Army finally thwarted the enemy’s encirclement and interception campaign and

made

their way

to northern

Shaanxi

in October

1935.

As the

Japanese stepped up their aggression against China, the country was plunged into a national crisis of unprecedented gravity. Convening a ‘meeting at Wayaobao in northern Shaanxi in December 1935, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided on the policy and tactics the Party would adopt toward the national anti- Japanese united front. After the meeting, Mao Zedong delivered his report On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism at a conference of Party activists, in which he systematically expounded the theory and tactics of the national anti- Japanese united front. In October 1936, the Fourth Front Red Army led by Zhang Guotao (who was to defect and place himself at the service of the Kuomintang special agents in 1938) and Xu Xiangqian, and the Second Front.Red Army under the command of He Long and Ren Bishi reached Gansu after their long marches and joined forces with thé First Front Red Army. A

magnificent strategic shift, and one unprecedented in history, was thus

completed by the three main forces of the Red Army. A Central Revolutionary Military Commission was formed that December, with Mao Zedong as its Chairman. In December 1936, the Xian Incident occurred and Chiang Kai-shek was detained by force in Xian by the patriotic Kuomintang generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng for his non-resistance to Japanese aggression, his anti-Communist offensive and his policies in favour of civil war. The peaceful settlement of the Xian Incident promoted by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai played a crucial historical role in bringing about renewed cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and in achieving national unity for resistance against Japan. In 1936 to 1937, Mao Zedong drew

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MAO ZEDONG

from Marxism-Leninism to sum up the experience of the Chinese revolution. In December 1936, he wrote Problems of Strategy in China’s Revolutionary War in which he systematically expounded on the characteristics, laws, strategy arid tactics of the Chinese revolutionary war and criticized “Left” adventurism in military affairs. In the summer of 1937, he put his pen to philosophical works such as the famous On Practice

and

On

Contradiction,

in

which

he

summarized

the

basic

experience of the Chinese revolution from a philosophical point of view and applied the Marxist theory of cognition and dialectics to exposing and criticizing the errors of subjectivism. and particularly those of doctrinarism found in the Communist Party. Through these works Mao Zedong enriched and further developed the philosophical thinking of Marxism and Leninism. In August 1937, after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party convened an enlarged meeting in Luochuan in northern Shaanxi. Mao Zedong delivered an important speech at the meeting, in which he put forward the party line, programme and policies that would be adopted during the War of Resistance, and elaborated on both the long-term nature of the war and the essential principle of maintaining the Party’s independence and initiative within the united front. He also discussed other major issues, such as going all out to mobilize the masses to fight independent mountain guerrilla warfare and set up anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines. Mao Zedong’s Ten-Point Programme for Resisting Japan and Saving the Nation was carried at this meeting. In 1938, he wrote Problems of Strategy in Guerrilla War Against Japan, On Protracted War and other military works in which he systematically expounded the Party’s " overall policy on protracted war and criticized the erroneous theories of “national subjugation” and “quick victory”. By raising guerrilla war to a strategic plane, Mao Zedong countered the tendency to underestimate the importance of guerrilla warfare found both within and outside the Party. Taken together with Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War these two military works constitute the theoretical basis of Mao Zedong Thought and have proved valuable contributions to the military theory of Marxism. In the report and conclusions he made at the Sixth Enlarged Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee

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BIOGRAPHY OF MAO ZEDONG

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of the Chinese Communist Party held from September to November

1938, Mao Zedong reaffirmed the policy of maintaining the Party’s independence and initiative within the united front, reviewing it in the light of Wang Ming’s mistaken accomodation where by he had focused

exclusively on unity and had not acknowledged the importance of

struggle. Setting the whole Party.to the task of studying the theory of Marxism and Leninism, he urged for theory to be put into practice according to China’s conditions and not just learnt off pat as mere abstract dogma. From 1939 to 1940, he published his famous works Introducing

“The

Communist’,

The

Chinese

Revolution

and

the -Chinese

Communist Party and On New Democracy, in which he expounded in an all-round way upon the basic theories of New*Democracy and further developed the Marxist-Leninist theory on the leadership of the proletariat in the Democratic Revolution. Specifying the targets, tasks, motive force, character and future prospects of the New Democratic Revolution, Mao Zedong thus formulated the political, economic and

cultural programme for the New Democratic Revolution and pointed out the three major magic weapons of the Chinese revolution, namely the united front, armed struggle and Party building. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China headed by Mao Zedong adhered to the principle of independence and initiative within the united front, sparing no efforts to mobilize the masses to engage in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, and establishing a succession of large antiJapanese base areas. The majority of these base areas were scattered in mountainous regions, though a few of them lay in the plains. In October 1938, the war came to a stalemate when the enemy carried Wuhan. While the Japanese imperialist army gradually directed its major offensive actions towards the anti-Japanese base areas led by the Chinese Communist Party, the die-hard forces in the Kuomintang also stepped up their economic blockades against these base areas.. As a result, these base areas suffered serious economic difficulties around 1941. To combat this situation, Mao Zedong and the Central Committee called on the army and the people in the base areas to obtain ample food and clothing by working with their own hands and led them through a great production campaign. In this way, they developed the economy and

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MAO ZEDONG

ensured supplies, thereby surmounting serious economic and financial difficulties. In 1942, Mao Zedong led the Party in the rectification movement, during which efforts were made to conduct extensive Marxist-Leninist ideological education among Party members, combat subjectivism, sectarianism and stereotyped Party writing and stfess the ideological principle of seeking truth from facts, proceeding from realities in everything and uniting theory with practice. The rectification movement eradicated the influence of Wang Ming’s Left doctranarism in the Party and fostered an unprecedented ideological, political and organizational unity in the Party. The great production campaign and the rectification movement laid the material and ideological foundation for the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. In March 1943, Mao Zedong was elected Chairman of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee. In April-June, 1945, Mao Zedong presided over the Seventh National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and delivered On Coalition Government and other reports, in which he summarized the experience of the Anti-Japanese War and formulated the political line of boldly mobilizing the masses, expanding the people’s forces and, under the leadership of the Party, defeating the Japanese aggressors, liberating the people of the whole country and building a new-democratic China. Furthermore he outlined the basic policy of the

Party and expounded the Chinese Communist Party’s three important

styles of work — namely, integrating theory with practice, forging close links with the people and practising self-criticism. At the congress, Mao Zedong Thought, which combined the basic principles of MarxismLeninism

with

the

actual

realities

of the

Chinese

revolution,

was

established as the guiding ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. In the First Plenary Session of the Party’s Seventh Central Committee, he was elected Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, a position to which he was elected in all subsequent Party congresses until his death in 1976. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Mao Zedong put forward the guiding principle of waging a “tit for tat” struggle against Chiang Kai-shek’s peace negotiations fraud and his plot to launch a civil war. In August 1945, he flew to Chongqing with Zhou Enlai and others to conduct negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek in the hope of bringing

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BIOGRAPHY OF MAO ZEDONG

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about domestic peace. On October 10, the “October roth Agreement”

of

peace

and

national

reconstruction

was

signed

between

the

Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party. In the summer of 1946, however, Chiang Kai-shek breached the agreement and started a civil

war for which he had been long prepared. In response, Mao Zedong

issued a call to smash the offensives of the Kuomintang through a war

of self-defence and formulated the principle of concentrating a superior

force to destroy the enemy’s forces one by one,.and other military principles. In August of the same year, he made his famous statement “all reactionaries are paper tigers” in an interview with the American journalist Anna Louise Strong. When the Kuomintang forces commanded

by Hu

Zongnan,

attacked Yanan

in March

1947, Mao,

together with Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi, led the offices of the Party Central Committee and the general headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army out of Yanan, and onto northern Shaanxi from where they continued to organize and direct the national liberation war. Meanwhile, under the command of Peng Dehuai and others, the People’s Liberation Army achieved a series of major victories in the Northwest theatre of war and their campaign gradually turned from one "of defencé into one of attack. After a year of arduous fighting, the People’s Liberation Army smashed the strategic offensives of the Chiang Kai-shek’s troops and started to organize its own strategic offensives. In December 1947, Mao Zedong chairéd a meeting of the Party Central Committee at Yangjiagou in Mizhi County, northern’ Shaanxi and delivered a report entitled The Present Situation and Our Tasks. Pointing out that the revolutionary war of the Chinese people had ’ reached a turning point, this report set out the Party’s tasks and policies in the political, economic and military fields and put forward Mao’s famous ten principles of military operation. During the decisive phase “of !‘Strategic battles in the People’s Liberation War, Mao outlined the principles of operations for a number of major campaigns. Together with Zhou Enlai and Zhu De,,he took command over the various field

armies of the People’s Liberation Army, combining strategic encirclements with campaigns to fragment enemy troops, large-scale positional warfare with large-scale mobile warfare, the seizure of large and medium cities with the annihilation of large numbers.of enemy

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MAO ZEDONG

troops and military action with political offensive. Between September 1948 and January 1949, the People’s Liberation Army won victories in three major campaigns — Liaoxi-Shenyang, Huai-Hai and BeipingTianjin and wiped out the main force of the Kuomintang troops. In

April 1949, the People’s Liberation Army fought a victorious battle

across the Yangtze

Kuomintang.

While

River and toppled directing

the

the reactionary

People’s

Liberation

rule of the War,

Mao

Zedong also worked with Liu Shaoqi, Ren Bishi and others to lead land reform and economic construction in liberated areas, thus ensuring the liberation war continous support in terms of both manpower and resources. On the eve of the collapse of the Kuomintang regime, he presided over the Second Plenary Session of the Party’s Seventh Central Committee. In an important report he made at the session, Mao put

forward policies which would speed up the nationwide victory of the

revolution and prepare for such victory, decided on shifting the focal point of the Party’s work from rural areas to cities, and formulated the basic policies which were to be carried out after nationwide victory was

won.

In September 1949, Mao Zedong chaired the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In his opening speech and in the manifesto he had drafted for the conference, Mao declared: The Chinese people have stood up. He also pointed out that the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China would lead the people of the whole country in overcoming all difficulties, engaging in large-scale economic and cultural construction, eliminating the poverty and ignorance that were the legacy of the old China and making steady improvements to the material and cultural life of the people. At the ‘conference, which adopted the Common Programme of the Chinese People’s Political Cogsultative Conference, he was elected Chairman of the Central People’s Government. On October 1 the same year, he solemnly proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China on the Tiananmen rostrum. After the founding of the People’s Republic, he worked with Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai,

Zhu

De,

Chen

Yun,

Deng

Xiaoping

and

others

to lead the

Chinese people in their socialist revolution and national construction and achieved tremendous successes.

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BIOGRAPHY OF MAO ZEDONG

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In the first three years of the People’s Republic, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the Central People’s Government, headed by Mao Zedong, directed and successfully completed the colossal task of enforcing nationwide agrarian reform and other democratic reforms; undertook the Was to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea; and rapidly rehabilitated the country’s economy which the old China had left in ruins. In December 1949 Mao Zedong visited

the Soviet Union. Together with Premier Zhou Enlai, he held talks with Stalin and signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and

Mutual Assistance before returning to China in February 1950. On the proposal of Mao Zedong in 1953, the Central Committee of the Party advanced the Party’s general line for the transition period and thus began the country’s socialist industrialization and the socialist transformation of private ownership of the means of production. The First National People’s Congress was convened in September 1954. It adopted the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, and elected Mao Zedong the first Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, a post he held until 1959. After 1953, when China shifted its work to planned, large-scale economic construction, Mao Zedong began to pay more attention to the study of economic theory, economic policy and the economic situation, and put forward some valuable opinions. He called upon all the cadres of the Party, and high-ranking cadres in particular, to study economy and technology arid strive hard to become experts in both political and economic spheres so that the demands of economic construction could be met. In April 1953, he made a speech at the

enlarged Political Bureau meeting entitled On Ten Major Relationships.

Ie summed up the preliminary experience of China’s socialist construction and probed the road for socialist construction specifically suited to China. By September that year, the socialist transformation of the private ownership of the means of production had been basically completed. It was pointed out at the Eighth National Congress of the Party that the main task facing the Chinese people was to concentrate all efforts on developing social productive forces. (This principle was not, however, implemented conscientiously, and as a result engendered a series of errors in guidance.) In February 1957, he made a speech entitled On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People.

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MAO ZEDONG

Providing a profound

analysis of the contradictions occurring in a

socialist society after the basic completion of the socialist transformation

of the ownership of the means of production, Mao’s speech advanced a doctrine of correctly differentiating and handling two types of contradictions of different nature — those existing among the people themselves ‘and those between the enemy and the people—and explicitly stressed the question of correctly-handling the contradictions

among the people, which had become a major issue in China’s political

development. He held that in ‘the sphere of politics, the Chinese. Communist Party should exist side by side with the other democratic _Parties for a long. time to come and pursue a course of mutual supervision so as to meet the needs of the new society; in the fields of .science and the arts, the Party should follow the policy of “letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend” to promote the progress.of the arts and sciences'and the flowering of a rich socialist culture. Later on, he advocated the creation of a political “situation in which there were both centralism and democracy, both

discipline and freedom, both mass unity of will and individual ease of mind and liveliness, beneficial to the socialist revolution and socialist

construction. Unfortunately, however, this theory of the two different ‘types of contradictions was, in fact, never carried out by Mao Zedong, as can be seen from his later actions. In the summer of 1957, a handful

of bourgeois Rightists mounted a vehement attack against the new

socialist system and the Party in an attempt to replace the leadership of the Communist Party. Over-reacting to the situation, the Party launched a disproportionately large-scale “anti-Rightist struggle,” reiterating and

re-emphasizing that the contradiction between the proletariat and the

bourgeoisie, between the socialist road and the capitalist road was the principal contradiction then existing in Chinese society. In November 1957, Mao Zedong headed a Chinese delegation to the Soviet Union where he attended a meeting in celebration of the 4oth anniversary of the October Revolution, the meeting of representatives of the Communist and Workers’ Parties of socialist countries, and the meeting of representatives of the sixty-four Communist and Workers’ Parties, and signed the two declarations of the meetings. In early 1958, he suggested that the focus of Party and government work be shifted to

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BIOGRAPHY OF MAO ZEDONG

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technical revolution and socialist construction. Later in the summer and autumn of that same year he rashly initiated the “Great Leap Forward” and the movement to organize rural people’s communes, giving rise to a flood of “Leftist” errors. Soon’ afterwards, on realizing these errors,

it was Mao himself who led the work of amending for his mistakes. Mao Zedong stressed that there must be no expropriation of the peasants, and that the law of value must be observed. Countering the erroneous view in favour of the abolition of commodity production that had appeared at the time, he pointed out that the socialist society must strive to develop commodity production. In 1959 he erred in initiating criticism of Peng Dehuai and then in launching a Party-wide struggle against “Right deviation,” which interrupted the effort made by himself and the Party

Central

Committee

to rectify

“Leftist”

errors,

allowing

such

errors to linger on unchecked and develop further, and thereby severely crippling socialist construction. Over the winter of 1960 to 1965, the Central Committee and Mao Zedong took measures to further correct the errors of the “Great Leap Forward” and the movement to organize people’s communes, and set the national economy back on the road to fairly smooth recovery and development. However, it was not long before Mao once again turned his attention to the new class struggle which he viewed as the major domestic conflict.

After the founding of the new China, spurred on by Mao Zedong’s own guidance, the People’s Liberation Army of China made headway in revolutionalization and modernization, fortifying national defence and helping to develop the most advanced branches of science. In the field of foreign affairs, Mao Zedong made great contributions to formulating general as well as specific policies. Together with Zhou Enlai and others, he drew up a foreign policy in favour of independence and self reliance, and against foreign intervention and domination. He upheld the dual principle of patriotism and internationalism, supported the movements for national independence and liberation, peace movements and various other just struggles, opposed imperialism and old and new colonialism, " . strengthened friendly contact and mutual support with peoples of other countries and promoted the progressive causes of mankind. From the

late 19508, he led the Chinese Communist Party in a resolute fight against

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MAO ZEDONG

the leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union who pursued great-nation chauvinism and attempted interference with and control of China. In the arena of international affairs, he stressed that China must

fight against all manifestations of great-nation chauvinism and oppose all forms of hegemonism. In 1970s, he advanced the strategic idea on differentiaing the first, second and third worlds and opened up new horizons in foreign affairs by normalizing China’s relations with the United States and Japan, thus creating a favourable international

‘situation for the realization of China’s modernization. In

1966,

due to his inaccurate appraisal of the domestic

and

international situation, Mao Zedong started the “cultural revolution,”

‘which became an unbridled political turmoil far exceeding his expectations and control as a result of manipulation by the two counterrevolutionary cliques of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing. The “cultural revolution” lasted for ten years and caused serious damages and losses in many quarters in China. During the “cultural revolution,” Mao led the struggle to smash Lin Biao’s counter-revolutionary clique, and exposed and denounced the “gang of four” in an effort to prevent them from usurping supreme Party and state leadership. His actions laid important ground for the later toppling of this counter-revolutionary clique. Mao Zedong passed away on September 9, 1976. Mao Zedong committed grave errors in his later years, but he is still revered and remembered in the hearts of the Chinese people for the indelible, tremendous contributions he made to the Chinese revolution.

A great Marxist and a great revolutionary dedicated to the proletarian cause, Mao Zedong was also a strategist and theorist, as was pointed out by the Central Committe of the Chinese Communist Party in June 1981 in its Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, which contains a comprehensive appraisal of Mao Zedong’s historical role and Mao Zedong Thought. A crystallization of the collective wisdom of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong Thought is Marxism-Leninism as applied and developed in China. Wide-ranging in content, Mao Zedong Thought is an original contribution to Marxism-Leninism in the following respects: the New Democratic Revolution, socialist

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BIOGRAPHY OF MAO ZEDONG

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revolution and socialist construction, the building of the revolutionary army and military strategy, policy and tactics, ideological, political and cultural work, and Party building. Mao Zedong Thought provides the Chinese people with valuable guidance now and will continue to do so

in the future of the Chinese revolution and construction.

Mao Zedong’s main writings are collected in-the Selected Works of Mao Zedong. His other works can be found in the Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Zedong, Selected Military Writings,Mao Zedong’s Writings on Rural Survey, Selected Writings of Mao Zedong on Journalistic Work, Selected Correspondence of Mao Zedong and Poems of Mao Zedong, his Selected Works, Selected Readings, Selected Military Writings and Poems being available in English.

Mao Zedong was married three times: first to Yang Kaihui (killed by the Kuomintang in 1930); secondly to He Zizhen and lastly to Jiang Qing, and was the father of two sons and two daughters.

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GENESIS

OF A COMMUNIST* Edgar Snow

1.

Childhood

Ihad given to Mao a long list of questions to answer about himself, and I felt almost as embarrassed for my inquisitiveness as a Japanese immigration official ought to feel for his impertinence, but doesn’t. On the five or six sets of questions 1 had submitted on different matters, Mao had talked for a dozen nights, hardly ever referring to himself or " his own role in some of the events described. I was beginning to think it was hopeless to expect him to give me such details: he obviously ° considered the individual of very little importance. Like other RedsJ met he tended to talk only about committees, organizations, armies, resolutions, battles, tactics, “measures” and so on, but seldom in terms

of personal experience. .For a while 1 thought this reluctance to expand on subjective matters, or even the exploits of their comrades as individuals, might derive from modesty, or a fear or suspicion of me, or a consciousness

of the price so many of these men had on their heads. Later on I discovered that this was not so much the case as was the fact that most of them actually did not remember these personal details. As I began collecting biographies I found repeatedly that thé Communist would be *This is a chapter from Edgar Snow’s book Red Star over China. The chapter was the outcome of a number of interviews with Mao Zedong in 1936. The original manuscript was translated into Chinese and read and approved by Mao himself at the

time.

. A Chinese edition of Snow’s book was published in 1979. This Chinese edition included some corrections, based on careful research by Wu Liangping, who interpreted

for Snow during the interviews. These corrections have been included in the present

book in the form of editor’s notes.

16

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

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able to tell everything that had happened in his early youth, but once he had become identified with the Red Army he lost himself somewhere, and without repeated questioning you could hear nothing more about him,

but

only

stories

Party — capitalized. circumstances

They

of battles,

of

the

could

and

Army,

talk

or

the

indefinitely

movements

to and

Soviets,

about

from

or

dates

the

and

a thousand

unheard-of places, but those events seemed to have had significance for them only collectively, not because they as individuals had made history there, but because the Red Army had been there, and behind it the whole

organic force of an ideology for which they were fighting. It was an interesting discovery, but it made difficult reporting. One night when all other questions had been satisfied, Mao turned to this list I had headed ‘Personal History.” He smiled at a question, “How many times have you been married?” —and the rumour later spread that I had asked Mao, a monogamist if nothing else, how many wives he had. He was sceptical, anyway, about the necessity for supplying an autobiography. But I argued that in a way this was more important than information on other matters. ‘People want to know what sort of man you are,” I said, “when they read what you say. Then you ought also to correct some of the false rumours circulated.” I reminded him of various reports of his death; how some people believed he spoke fluent French, while others said he was an ignorant peasant, how one report described him as a half-dead tubercular, while others maintained that he was a mad fanatic. He was mildly surprised that people should spend their time speculating about him. He agreed that such reports ought to be corrected. Then he looked over the items again, as I had written them down. “Suppose,” he said at last, “that I just disregard your questions, and instead givé you a general sketch of my life? I think it will be more

understandable, and in the end all of your questions will be answered

just the same.” “But that’s exactly what I want!” I exclaimed. During the several nightly interviews that followed — we were like conspirators indeed, huddled in that cave over that red-covered table, with sputtering candles between us-—I wrote until 1 was ready to fall asleep. Wu Liangping sat next to me and interpreted Mao’s soft

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18

MAO ZEDONG

southern dialect, in which a chicken, instead of being a good substantial northern

chi became

a romantic ghii, and

Hunan

became

Funan, and a

bowl of ¢4’a turned into ¢s’a, and many much stranger variations occurred. Mao related everything from memory, and I put it down as

he talked. It was, as I have said, re-translated and corrected, and this is

the result, with no attempt to give it literary excellence, beyond some necessary corrections in the syntax of the patient Mr. Wu: “I was born in the village of Shaoshan, in Xiangtan Xian, Hunan

province, in 1893. My father’s name was Mao Shunsheng, and my mother’s maiden name was Wen Qimei, “My father was a poor peasant and while still young was obliged to join the Army because of heavy debts. He was a soldier for many years. Later on he returned to the village where I was born, and by saving carefully and gathering together a little money through small trading and other enterprise he managed to buy back his land. “As middle peasants then my family owned fifteen ws of land. On this they could raise sixty dan! of rice a year. The five members of the family consumed a total of thirty-five das—that is, about seven each — which left an annual surplus of twenty-five dan. Using this surplus, my father accumulated a little capital and in time purchased seven more mx, which gave the family the status of ‘rich’ peasants. We

could then raise eighty-four dan of rice a year. “When I was ten years of age and the family owned only fifteen mu of land, the five members of the family consisted of my father, mother, grandfather, younger brother and myself. After we had acquired the additional seven ms, my grandfather died, but there came another younger brother. However, we still had a surplus of forty-nine dan of rice each year, and on this my father steadily prospered. “At the time my father was a middle peasant he began to deal in grain transport and selling, by which he made a little money. After he became a ‘rich’ peasant, he devoted most of his time to that business. He hired a full-time farm labourer, and put his children to work on the farm, as well as his wife. I began to work at farming tasks when I was six years old. My father had no shop for his business. He simply

1One dan is a pical,or 1331; Ib.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

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purchased grain from the poor farmers and then transported it to the city merchants, where he got a higher price. In the winter, when the rice was being ground, he hired an extra labourer to work on the farm, so that at that time there were seven mouths to feed. My family ate frugally, but had enough always. “I began studying in a local primary school when I was eight and remained there until I was thirteen years old. In the early morning and at night I worked on the farm. During the day I read the Confucian Analects and the Four Classics. My Chinese teacher belonged to the stern-treatment school. He was harsh and severe, frequently beating his students. Because of this I ran away from the school when I was ten. I was afraid to return home, for fear of receiving a beating there, and

set out in the general direction of the city, which I believed to be in a valley somewhere. I wandered for three days before I was finally found by my family. Then I learned that I had circled around and around in my travels, and in all my walking had got only about eight /! from my home. “After

my

return

to

the

family,

however,

to

my

surprise,

conditions somewhat improved. My father was slightly more considerate dnd the teacher was more inclined to moderation. The result of my act of protest impressed me very much. It was a successful ‘strike.’ “My father wanted me to begin keeping the family books as soon as I had learned a few characters. He wanted me to learn to use’ the abacus. As my father insisted upon this I began to work at those accounts at night. He was a severe taskmaster. He hated to see me idle, and if there were no books to be kept he put me to work at farm tasks. He was a hot-tempered man and frequently beat both me and my brothers. He gave us no money whatever, and the most meagre food. On the 15th of every month he made a concession to his labourers and

gave them eggs with their rice, but never meat. To me he gave neither

eggs nor meat.

“My mother wasa kind woman, generous and sympathetic, and ever ready to share what she had. She pitied the poor and often gave them rice when they came to ask for it during famines. But she could 1One Chinese & is about a third of an English mile.

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MAO ZEDONG

not do so when my father was present. He disapproved of charity. We had many quarrels in my home over this question. “There were two ‘parties’ in the family. One was my father, the Ruling Power. The Opposition was made up of myself, my mother, my brother and sometimes even the labourer. In the ‘United Front’ of the Opposition, however, there was a difference of opinion. My mother advocated a policy of indirect attack. She criticized any overt display of emotion and attempts at open rebellion against the Ruling Power. She said it was not the Chinese way.

“But when I was thirteen I discovered a powerful argument of my

own for debating with my father on his own ground, by quoting the Classics. My father’s favourite accusations against me were of unfilial conduct and laziness. 1 quoted, in exchange, passages from the Classics saying that the elder must be kind and affectionate. Against his charge that I was lazy, I used the rebuttal that older people should do morework than younger, that my father was over three times as old as myself, and therefore should do more work. And 1 declared that when I was his age I would be much mote energetic. “The old man continued to ‘amass wealth,’ or what was considered

to be a great fortune in that little village. He did not buy more land himself, but he bought many mortgages on other people’s land. His capital grew to $2,000 or $3,000. “My dissatisfaction increased. The dialectical struggle in our family was constantly developing.! One incident I especially remember. When I was about thirteen my father invited many guests to his home, and while they were present a dispute arose between the two of us. My father denounced me before the whole group, calling me lazy and useless. This -infuriated me. I cursed him and left the house. My mother ran after me and tried to persuade me to return. My father also pursued me, cursing at the same time that he demanded me to come back. I reached the edge

of a pond and threatened to jump in if he came any nearer. In this situation demands and counter-demands were presented for cessation of

the civil war. My father insisted that I apologize and kox-ton as a sign

1 Mao uscd all these political terms humorously in his explanations, laughing as he

recalled such incidents.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

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of submission. I agreed to give a one-knee kow-ton if he would promise not to beat me. Thus the war ended, and from it I learned that when

I defended my rights by open rebellion my father relented, but when I remained meek and submissive he only cursed and beat me the more. “Reflecting on this, I think that in the end the strictness of my

father defeated him. I learned to hate him, and we created a real United

Front against him. At the same time it probably benefited me. It made me most diligent in my work; it made me keep my books carefully, so that he should have no basis for criticizing me. “My father had had two years of schooling and he could read enough to keep books. My mother was wholly illiterate. Both were from peasant families. I was the family ‘scholar.’ I knew the Classics, but disliked them. What I enjoyed were the romances of old China, and especially stories of rebellions. I read the Yue Fei Zhuan (Jing Zhong Zhuan), Shui Hu Zhuan, Fan Tang, San Guo, and Xi You Ji, while still very young, and despite the vigilance of my old teacher, who hated these outlawed books and called them wicked. I used to read them in school,

covering them up with a Classic when the teacher walked past. So also did most of my schoolmates. We learned many of the stories almost by heart, and discussed and re-discussed them many times. We knew more of them than the old men of the village, who also loved them and used to exchange stories with us. I believe that perhaps I was much influenced by such books, read at an impressionable age. “I finally left the primary school when I was thirteen and began to work long hours on the farm, helping the hired labourer, doing the full labour of a man during the day and at night keeping books for my father. Nevertheless, I succeeded in continuing my reading, devouring everything I could find except the Classics. This annoyed my father, who wanted me to master the Classics, especially after he was defeated in a lawsuit due to an apt Classical quotation used by his adversary in the Chinese court. I used to cover up the window of my room late at night so that my father would not see the light. In this way I read a book called Words of Warning (Sheng Shi Wei Yan), which I liked very much. The

authors, a number of old reformist scholars, thought that the weakness

of China lay in her lack of Western appliances —- railways, telephones, telegraphs, and steamships — and wanted to have them introduced into

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22

MAO ZEDONG

the country. My father considered such books a waste of time. He wanted me to read something practical like the Classics, which could help him in winning lawsuits.

“I continued to read the old romances and tales of Chinese

literature. It occurred to me one day that there was one thing peculiar about these stories, and that was the absence of peasants who tilled the

land. All the characters were warriors, officials or scholars; there was never a peasant hero. I wondered about this for two years, and then I analysed the content of the stories. I found that they all glorified men of arms, rulers of the people, who did not have to work the land, because they owned and controlled it and evidently made the peasants work it for them. “My father, Mao Shunsheng, was in his early days, and in middle age, a sceptic, but my mother devoutly worshipped Buddha. She gave her children religious instruction, and we were all saddened that our father was an unbeliever. When I was nine years old I seriously discussed the problem of my father’s lack of piety with my mother. We made many attempts then and later on to convert him, but without success. He only cursed us and, overwhelmed by his attacks, we withdrew to devise new

plans. But he would have nothing to do with the gods. “My reading gradually began to influence me, however; I myself became more and more sceptical. My mother became concerned about me, and scolded me for my indifference to the requirements of the faith, but my father made no comment. Then one day he went out on the road to collect some money, and on his way he met a tiger. The tiger was surprised at the encounter and fled at once, but my father was even more

astonished and afterwards reflected a good deal on his miraculous escape. He began to wonder if he had not offended the gods. From then on he showed more respect to Buddhism and burned incense now and then. Yet, when my own backsliding grew worse, the old man did not interfere. He only prayed to the gods when he was in difficulties. “Words of Warning stimulated in me a desire to resume my studies. I had also become disgusted with my labour on the farm. My father naturally opposed this. We quarrelled about it, and finally I ran away from home. I went to the home of an unemployed law student, and there I studied for half a year. After that I studied more of the Classics under

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

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an old Chinese scholar, and also read many contemporary articles and a few books. “At this time an incident occurred in Hunan which influenced my whole life. Outside the little Chinese school where I was studying, we students noticed many bean merchants, coming back from Changsha. We asked them why they were all leaving. They told us about a big uprising in the city. “There had been a severe famine that year, and in Changsha thousands were without food. The starving sent a delegation to the civil governor, to beg for relief, but he replied to them haughtily, “Why haven’t you food? There is plenty in the city. 1 always have enough.’ When the people were told the governor’s reply, they became very angry. They held mass meetings and organized a demonstration. They attacked the Manchu yamen, cut down the flagpole, the symbol of office, and drove out the governor. Following this, the Commissioner of

Internal Affairs, a man named Zhuang , came out on his horse and told

the people that the Government would take measures to help them. Zhuang was evidently sincere in his promise, but the Emperor disliked him and accused him of having intimate connections with ‘the mob.’ He was removed. A new governor arrived, and at once ordered the arrest of the leaders of the uprising. Many of them were beheaded and their heads displayed on poles as a warning to future ‘rebels.’ “This incident was discussed in my school for many days. It made a deep impression on me. Most of the other students sympathized with the ‘insurrectionists,’ but only from an observer’s point of view. They did not understand that it had any relation to their own lives. They were merely interested in it as an exciting incident. I never forgot it. I felt that there with the rebels were ordinary people like my own family and I deeply resented the injustice of the treatment given to them.

“Not long afterward, in Shaoshan, there was a conflict between members of the Ge Lao Hui,! a secret society, and a local landlord. He

sued them in court, and as he was a powerful landlord he easily bought a decision favourable to himself. The Ge Lao Hui members were defeated. But, instead of submitting, they rebelled against the landlord

1 The same society to which He Long belonged.

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MAO ZEDONG

and the Government and withdrew to a local mountain called Liu Shan,

where they built a stronghold. Troops were sent against them and the landlord spread a story that they had sacrificed a child when they raised the banner of revolt. The leader of the rebels was called Pang the Millstone-maker. They were finally suppressed and Pang was forced to flee. He was eventually captured and beheaded. In the eyes of the students, however, he was a hero, for all sympathized with the revolt. “Next year, when the new rice was not yet harvested and the winter rice was exhausted, there was a food shortage in our district. The poor demanded help from the rich farmers and they began a movement called ‘Eat Rice Without Charge.’ My father was a rice merchant and was exporting much grain to the city from our district, despite the shortage. One of his consignments was seized by the poor villagers and his wrath was boundless. I did not sympathize with him. At the same time I thought the villagers’ method was wrong also. “Another influence on me at this time was the presence in a local primary school of a ‘radical’ teacher. He was ‘radical’ because he was opposed to Buddhism, and wanted to get rid of the gods. He urged people to convert their temples into schools. He was a widely discussed personality. I admired him and agreed with his views. . “These incidents, occurring close together, made lasting impressions on my young mind, already rebellious. In this period also I began to have a certain amount of political consciousness, especially after I read a pamphlet telling of the dismemberment of China. I remember even now that this pamphlet opened with the sentence: ‘Alas, China will be subjugated!’ It told of Japan’s occupation of Korea and Formosa, of the loss of suzerainty in Indo-China, Burma and elsewhere.

After I read this I felt depressed about the future of my country and began to realize that it was the duty of all the people to help save it. “My father had decided to apprentice me to a rice shop in Xiangtan, with which he had connections. I was not opposed to it at first, thinking it might be interesting. But about this time I heard of an unusual new school and made up my mind to go there, despité my father’s opposition. This school was in Xiangxiang Xian (county), where my mother’s family lived. A cousin of mine was a student there and he told me of the new school and of the changing conditions in

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

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‘modern education.’ There was less emphasis on the Classics, and more was taught of the ‘new knowledge’ of the West. The educational methods, also, were quite ‘radical.’

“I went to be a Xiangxiang only to natives Xiangtan native

the school with my cousin and registered. I claimed to man, because I understood that the school was open of Xiangxiang. Later on I took my true status as a when I discovered that the place was open to all. I paid

1,400 coppers here for five months’ board, lodging, and all materials

necessary for study. My father finally agreed to let me enter, after friends had argued to him that this ‘advanced’ education would increase my earning powers. This was the first time I had been as far away from home as fifty 4. I was sixteen years old. “In the new school I could study natural science and new subjects of Western learning. Another notable thing was that one of the teachers was a returned student from Japan, and he wore a false queue. It was quite easy to tell that his queue was false. Everyone laughed at him and called him the ‘False Foreign Devil.’ “I had never before seen so many children together. Most of them were sons of landlords, wearing expensive clothes; very few peasants could afford to send their children to such a school. I was more poorly dressed than the others. I owned only one decent coat-and-trousers suit. Gowns were not worn by students, but only by the teachers, and none but ‘foreign devils’ wore foreign clothes. Many of the richer students despised me because usually I was wearing my ragged coat and trousers. However, among them I had friends, and two especially were my good comrades. One of those is now a writer, living in Soviet Russia. “I was also disliked because I was not a native of Xiangxiang. It ‘was very important to be a native of Xiangxiang and also important to be from a certain district of Xiangxiang. There was an upper, lower and middle district, and lower and upper were continually fighting, purely on a regional basis. Neither could become reconciled to the existence of the other. I took a neutral position in this war, because I was not a native at all. Consequently all three factions despised me. I felt spiritually very depressed. “I made good progress at this school. The teachers liked me, especially those who taught the Classics, because I wrote good essays

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MAO ZEDONG

in the Classical manner. But my mind was not on the Classics. I was reading two books sent to me by my cousin, telling of the Reform movement of Kang Youwei. One was called the Journal of the New People (Xin Min Cong Bao), and was edited by Liang Qichao.! I read and reread these until I knew them by heart. I worshipped Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, and was very grateful to my cousin, whom I then thought very progressive, but who later became a counter-revolutionary, a

member of the gentry, and joined the reactionaries in the period of the Great Révolution of 1925-27.

“Many of the students disliked the ‘False Foreign Devil’ because of his inhuman queue, but I liked hearing him talk about Japan. He. taught music and English. One of his songs was Japanese and was called ‘The Battle on the Yellow Sea.’ I still remember some charming words from it: : The sparrow sings, The nightingale dances, And the green fields are lovely in the spring. The pomegranate flowers crimson, The willows are green-leaved, And there is a new picture. At that time I knew and felt the beauty of Japan, and felt something of her pride and might, in this song of her victory over Rugsia.? I did not think there was also a barbarous Japan—the Japan we know today. “This is all I learned from the ‘False Foreign Devil.’

“T recall also that at this time I first heard that the Emperor and

Ci Xi, the Empress Dowager, were both dead, although the new Emperor, Xuan Tong [the present Pu Yi], had already been ruling for two years. I was not yet an anti-monarchist, indeed, I considered the Emperor as well as most officials to be honest, good and clever men. 1 Liang Qichao, a talented essayist at the end of the Manchu dynasty, was the leader of a reform movement which resulted in his exile. Kang Youwei and he were the “intellectual godfathers” of the first revolution, in 1911. Lin Yutang calls Liang Qichao “the greatest personality in the history of Chinese journalism.”

2 The poem evidently referred to the spring festival and tremendous rejoicing in Japan following the Treaty of Portsmouth and the end of the Russo-Japanese War.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

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They only needed the help of Kang Youwei’s reforms. I was fascinated by accounts of the rulers of ancient China: Yao, Shun, Qin Shi Huangdi, and Han Wu-di, and read many books about them. I also learned something of foreign history at this time, and of geography. I had first heard of America in an article which told of the American Revolution and contained a sentence like this: ‘After eight years of difficult war, Washington won victory and built up his nation.’ In a book called Great Heroes of the World, 1 read also of Napoleon, Catherine of Russia, Peter

the

Great,

Lincoln.”

Wellington,

2.

Gladstone,

Rousseau,

Montesquieu

and

Days in Changsha

Mao Zedong continued: “I began to long to go to Changsha, the great city, the capital of the province, which was 120 / from my home. It was said that this city was very big, contained many, many people, numerous schools, and the yamen of the governor. It was a magnificent place altogether! I wanted very much to go there at this time, and enter the middle school for Xiangxiang people. That winter I asked one of my teachers in the higher primary school to introduce me there. The teacher agreed, and I walked to Changsha, exceedingly excited, half-fearing that I would be refused entrance, hardly daring to hope that I could actually become a student in this great school. To my astonishment,-.I was admitted without difficulty. But political events were moving rapidly and I was to remain there only half a year. “In Changsha I read my first newspaper, the People’s Strength (Min Li Bao), a nationalist. revolutionary journal which told of the Guangzhou Uprising against the Manchu dynasty and the death of the Seventy-two Heroes, under the leadership of a Hunanese, named Huang Xing. I was most impressed with this story and found the Min Li Bao full of stimulating material. It was edited by Yu Youren, who later became a famous leader of the Kuomintang. I learned also of Sun Yatsen at this time, and of the programme of the Tong Meng Hui. The * country was on the eve of the First Revolution. I was agitated so much

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MAO ZEDONG

that I wrote an article, which I posted on the school wall. It was my first expression of a political opinion, and it was somewhat muddled. I had not yet given up my admiration of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. I did not clearly understand the differences between them. Therefore in my article I advocated that Sun Yat-sen must be called back from Japan to become President of a new Government, that Kang Youwei be made Premier,

and Liang Qichao

Minister of Foreign

Affairs!

“The anti-foreign capital movement began in connection with the

building of the Sichuan-Hankou railway and a popular demand for a

parliament became widespread. In reply to it the Emperor decreed merely that an Advisory Council be created. The students in my school became more and more agitated. They demonstrated their anti-Manchu sentiments by a rebellion against the pigtail. One friend and I clipped off our pigtails, but others, who had promised to do so, afterward failed to keep their word. My friend and I therefore assaulted them in secret and forcibly removed their queues, a total of more than ten falling victim

to our shears. Thus in a short space of time I had progressed from

ridiculing the False Foreign Devil’s imitation queue to demanding the general abolition of queues. How a political idea can change a point of view! “T got into a dispute with a friend in a law school over the pigtail episode, and we each advanced opposing theories on the subject. The

law student held that the body, skin, hair and nails are heritages from

one’s parents and must not be destroyed, quoting the Classics to clinch his argument. But I myself and the anti-pigtailers developed a countertheory, on an anti-Manchu political basis, and thoroughly silenced him. “After the Wuhan Uprising occurred, led by Li Yuanhong, martial law was declared in Hunan. The political scene rapidly altered. One day a revolutionary appeared in the middle school and made a stirring speech, with the permission of the principal. Seven or eight students arose in the assembly and supported him with vigorous denunciations

of the Manchus, and calls for action to establish the Republic. Everyone

listened with complete attention. Not a sound was heard as the orator of the revolution, one of the officials of Li Yuanhong, spoke before the

excited students.

“Four or five days after hearing this speech, I determined to join

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

29

the revolutionary army of Li Yuanhong. I decided to go to Hankou with several other friends, and we collected some money from our classmates. Having heard that the streets of Hankou were very wet, and that it was necessary to wear rain-shoes, I went to borrow some from a friend in the army, who was quartered outside the city. I was stopped by the

garrison guards. The place had become very active, the soldiers had for the first time been furnished with bullets; and they were pouring into

the streets.

“Rebels were approaching the city along the Guangzhou-Hankou railway, and fighting had begun. A big battle occurred outside the city walls of Changsha. There was at the same time an iasurrection within the city, and the gates were stormed and taken by Chinese labourers. Through one of them I re-entered the city. Then I stood on a high place

and watched the battle, until at last I saw the Han! flag raised over the yamen. It was a white banner with the character Haz in it. I returned to my school, to find it under military guard. “On the following day, a dudw? Government was organized. Two

prominent members of the Ge Lao Hui were made dudw and vice-duds.

These were Jiao Dafeng and Chen Zuoxin, respectively. The new Government was established in the former buildings of the Provincial Advisory Council, chief of which was Tan Yankai, who was dismissed.

The Council itself was abolished. Among the Manchu documents found by the revolutionaries were some copies of a petition begging for the opening of parliament. The original had been written in blood by Xu Teli,

who

is

now

Commissioner

of

Education

in

the

Soviet

Government. Xu had cut off the end of his finger, as a demonstration of sincerity and determination, and his petition began, ‘Begging that parliament be opened, I bid farewell [to the provincial delegates to Beijing] by cutting my finger.’ “The new duds and vice-dadu did not last long. They were not bad men, and had some revolutionary intentions, but they were poor and represented the interests of the oppressed. The landlords and merchants were dissatisfied with them. Not many days later, when I went to call

1Han, i.e. Chinese. 2A dadu was a military governor.

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MAO ZEDONG

30

on a friend, I saw their corpses lying in the street. Tan Yankai had organized a revolt against them, as representative of the Hunan landlords and militarists. “Many students were now joining the army. A student army had been organized and among these students was Tang Shengzhi.! I did not like the student army;

I considered the basis of it too confused. I

decided. to join the regular army instead, and help complete the revolution. The Qing Emperor had not yet abdicated, and there was a period of struggle. “My salary was seven dollars a month — which is more than I get in the Red

Army

now,

however —and

of this I spent two

dollars a

month on food. I also had to buy water. The soldiers had to carry water in from outside the city, but I, being a student, could not condescend

to carrying, and bought it from the water-pedlars. The rest of my wages were spent on newspapers, of which I became an avid reader. Among journals then dealing with the revolution was the Xiangjiang Daily News (Xiang Jiang Ri Bao). Socialism was discussed in it, and in these columns I first learned the term. I also discussed Socialism, really socialreformism,

with

other

students

and

soldiers.

I read

some

pamphlets

written by Jiang Kenghu about Socialism and its principles. I wrote enthusiastically to several of my classmates on this subject, but only one of them responded in agreement. “There was a Hunan miner in my squad, and an ironsmith, whom I liked very much. The rest were mediocre, and one was a rascal. I persuaded two more students to join the army, and became on friendly terms with the platoon commander and most of the soldiers. I could write, I knew something about books, and they respected my ‘Great Learning.’ I could help by writing letters for them or in other such ways. “The outcome of the revolution was not yet decided. The Qing had not wholly given up the power, and there was a struggle within the Kuomintang concerning the leadership. It was said in Hunan that further war was inevitable. Several armies were organized against the 'Tang Shengzhi later became commander of the Nationalist armies of the Wuhan

Government of Wang Jingwei, in 1927. He betrayed both Wang and the Reds and began the “peasant massacre” of Hunan.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

31

Manchus and against Yuan Shikai.! Among these was the Hunan army. But just as the Hunanese were preparing to move into action, Sun Yatsen and Yuan Shikai came to an agreement, the scheduled war was called off, North and South were ‘unified,’ and the Nanjing Government was dissolved. Thinking the revolution was over, I resigned from the army and decided to return to my books. I had been a soldier for halfa year. “I began to read advertisements in the papers. Many schools were then being opened and used this medium to attract new students. I had no special standard for judging schools; I did not know exactly what I wanted to do. An advertisement for a police school caught my eye and

I registered for entrance to it. Before I was examined, however, I read

an advertisement of a soap-making ‘school.’ No tuition was required, board was furnished and a small salary was promised. It was an attractive and inspiring advertisement. It told of the great social benefits of soapmaking, how it would enrich the country and enrich the people. I changed my mind about the police school and decided to become a soapmaker. I paid my dollar registration fee here also. “Meanwhile, a friend of mine had become a law student and he

urged me to enter his school. I also read an alluring advertisement of this law school, which promised many wonderful things. It promised to teach students all about law in three years-and guaranteed that at the end of this period they would instantly become mandarins. My friend kept praising the school to me, until finally I wrote to my family, repeated all the promises of the advertisement, and asked them to send me tuition money. I painted a bright picture for them of my future as a jurist and mandarin. Then I paid a dollar to register in the law school and waited to hear from my parents. “Fate again intervened in the form of an advertisement for a commercial school. Another friend counselled me that the country was in economic war, and that what was most needed were economists who

could build up the nation’s economy. His argument prevailed and I spent another dollar to register in this commercial middle school. I actually

enrolled

TYuan

Emperor.

there

later became

and

was

“President”

Google

accepted. of China,

and

Meanwhile, in

1915

however,

attempted

to become

I

32

MAO ZEDONG

continued to read advertisements, and one day I read one describing the charms of a higher commercial public school. It was operated by the Government,

it offered

a wide

curriculum,

and

I heard

that

its

instructors were very able men. I decided it would be better to become a commercial expert there, paid my dollar and registered, then wrote to my father of my decision. He was pleased. My father readily appreciated the advantages of commercial cleverness. I entered this school and remained — for one month.

“The trouble with my new school, I discovered, was that most of the courses were taught in English, and, in common with other students,

I knew little English; indeed, scarcely more than the alphabet. An additional handicap was that the school provided no English teacher. Disgusted with this situation, I withdrew from the institution at the end of the month and continued my perusal of the advertisements. “My next scholastic adventure was in the First Provincial Middle School. I registered for a dollar, took the entrance examination, and passed at the head of the list of candidates. It was a big school, with many * students, and its gtaduates were numerous.

A Chinese teacher there

helped me very much; he was attracted to me because of my literary tendency. This teacher loaned me a book called the Chronicles with Imperial Commentaries (Yu Pi Tong Jian), which contained imperial edicts and critiques by Qian Long. “About this time a Government magazine exploded in Changsha. There was a huge fire, and we students found it very interesting. Tons of bullets and shells exploded, and gunpowder made an intense blaze. It was better than fire-crackers. About a month later Tan Yankai was driven out by Yuan Shikai, who now had control of the political

machinery of the Republic. Tang Xiangming replaced Tan Yankai and he set about making arrangements for Yuan’s enthronement.

“I did not like the First Middle School. Its curriculum was limited

and its regulations were objectionable.

After reading Chronicles with

Imperial Commentaries, 1 had also come to the conclusion that it would

be better for me to read and study alone. After six months I left the school, and arranged a schedule of education of my own, which consisted of reading every day in the Hunan Provincial Library. I was very regular and conscientious about it, and the half-year I spent in this

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

33

way I consider to have been extremely valuable to me. I went to the library in the morning when it opened. At noon I paused only long enough to buy and consume two rice cakes, which were my daily lunch. I stayed in the library every day reading until it closed. ° “During this period of self-education I read many books, studied world geography and world history. There for the first time I saw and

studied with great interest a map of the world. I read Adam Smith’s The

Wealth of Nations, and Darwin’s Origin of Species, and a book on ethics by John Stuart Mill. I read the works of Rousseau, Spencer’s Logic, and

a book on law written by Montesquieu. I mixed poetry and romances,

and the tales of ancient Greece, with serious study of history and geography of Russia, America, England, France and other countries. “I was then living in a guild house for natives of Xiangxiang district. Many soldiers were there also— ‘retired’ or disbanded men from the district, who had no work to do and little money. Students and soldiers were always quarrelling in the guild house, and one night this hostility between them broke out in physical violence. The soldiers attacked and tried to kill the students. I escaped by fleeing to the toilet,

where I hid until the fight was over.

“I had no money then, my family refusing to support me unless

I entered school, and since I could no longer live in the guild house I

began looking for a new place to lodge. Meanwhile, I had been thinking seriously of my ‘career’ and had about decided that I was best suited for teaching. I had begun reading advertisements again. An attractive announcement of the Hunan Normal School now came to my attention, and I read with interest of its advantages: no tuition required, and cheap board and cheap lodging. Two of my friends were also urging me to enter. They wanted my help in preparing entrance essays. I wrote of my intention to my family and received their consent. I composed essays for my two friends, and wrote one of my own. All were accepted — in reality, therefore, 1 was accepted three times. I did not then think my act of substituting for my friends an immoral one; it was merely a matter of friendship. “I was a student in the Normal School for five years, and managed to resist the appeals of all future advertising. Finally I actually got my degree. Incidents in my life here, in the Hunan Provincial First Normal

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34

MAO ZEDONG

School, were many, and during this period my political ideas began to take shape. Here also I acquired my first experiences in social action. “There were many regulations in the new school and I agreed with

very few of them. For one thing, I was opposed to the required courses

in natural science. I wanted to specialize in social sciences. Natural sciences did not especially interest me, and I did not study them, so I got poor marks in most of these courses. Most of all I hated a compulsory course in still-life drawing. I thought it extremely stupid. I used to think. of the simplest subjects possible to draw, finish up quickly and leave the class. I remember once drawing a picture of the ‘half-sun, half-rock,”! which I represented by a straight line with a-semi-

circle over it. Another time during an examination in drawing I contented myself with making an oval. I called it an egg. I got qo in drawing, and failed. Fortunately my marks in social sciences were all excellent, and they balanced my poor grades in these other classes. “A Chinese teacher here, whom the students nicknamed ‘Yuan the

Big Beard,’ ridiculed my writing and called it the work of a journalist. He despised Liang Qichao, who had been my model, and considered him half-literate. I was obliged to alter my style. I studied the writings of Han Yu, and mastered the old Classical phraseology. Thanks to Yuan the Big Beard, therefore, I can today still turn out a passable Classical essay if required. “The teacher who made the strongest impression on me was Yang Changji, a returned student from England, with whose life I was later to become intimately related. He taught ethics, he was an idealist, and aman ofhigh moral character. He believed in his ethics very strongly and tried to imbue his students with the desire to become just, moral, virtuous men, useful in society. Under his influence, I read a book on

ethics translated by Cai Yuanpei and was inspired to write an essay which I entitled “The Energy of the Mind.’ I was then an idealist and my essay was highly praised by Professor Yang Changji, from his idealist viewpoint. He gave me a mark of roo for it. “A teacher named Tang used to give me old copies of the People’s Paper (Min Bao), and I read them with keen interest. I learned from them 'The reference is to a line in a famous poem by Li Taibai.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

35

about the activities and programme of the Tong Meng Hui.! One day I read a copy of the Min Bao containing a story about two Chinese students who were travelling across China and had reached Dajianlu, on the edge of Tibet. This inspired me very much. I wanted to follow their example; but I had no money, and thought I should first try out travelling in Hunan. , - “The next summer I set out across the province by foot, and journeyed through five counties. I was accompanied by a student named Xiao Yu. We walked through these five counties without using a single copper. The peasants fed us and gave us a place to sleep; wherever we went we were kindly treated and welcomed. This fellow, Xiao Yu, with

whom I travelled, later became a Kuomintang official in Nanjing, under Yi Peiji, who was then president of Hunan Normal College. Yi Peiji became a high official at Nanjing and got Xiao Yu appointed to the office of custodian of the Beijing Palace Museum. Xiao sold some of the

most valuable treasures in the museum and absconded with the funds

in 1934.

“Feeling expansive and the need for a few intimate companions, Ione day inserted an advertisement in a Changsha paper, inviting young men interested in patriotic work to make a contact with me. I specified youths who were hardened and determined, and ready to make sacrifices for their country. To this advertisement I received three and one-half replies. One was from Luo Zhanglong, who later was to join the Communist Party and afterward to betray it. Two others were from young men who later were to become ultra-reactionaries. The ‘half? reply came from a non-committal youth named Li Lisan.? Li listened to all I had to say, and then went away without making any definite proposals himself, and our friendship never developed. “But gradually I did build up a group of students around myself, 'The Tong Meng Hui, a revolutionary secret society, was founded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and was forerunner of the Kuomintang, which now has power in Nanjing. Most of its members were exiles in Japan, where they carried on a vigorous “brushwar” against Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei, leaders of the “reformed monarchist” Party. 2Li Lisan later became responsible for the famous “Li Lisan line,” which Mao

Zedong bitterly opposed. Further on Mao tells of Li’s struggle with the Red Army, and

of its results.

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36

MAO ZEDONG

and the nucleus was formed of what later was to become a society! that

was to have widespread influence on the affairs and destiny of China.

It was a serious-minded little group of men and they had no time to discuss trivialities. Everything they did or said must have purpose. They had no time for love or ‘romance’ and considered the times too critical and the need for knowledge too urgent to discuss women or personal matter. I was not interested in women. My parents had married me when I was fourteen to a girl of twenty, but I had never lived with her— and never subsequently did. I did not consider her my wife and at this time

gave little thought to her. Quite aside from the discussions of feminine charm, which usually play an important role in the lives of young men

of this age, my companions even rejected talk of ordinary matters of

daily life. I remember once being in the house of a youth who began to talk to me about buying some meat, and in my presence called in his

servant and discussed the matter with him, then ordering him to buy

a piece. I was annoyed and did. not see this fellow again. My friends and I preferred to talk only of large matters — the nature of men, of human society, of China, the world, and the universe!

“We also became ardent physical culturists. In the winter holidays we tramped through the fields, up and down mountains, along city

walls, and across the streams and rivers. If it rained we took off our shirts

and called it a rain bath. When the sun was hot we also doffed shirts and called it a sun-bath. In the spring winds we shouted that this was

a new sport called ‘wind bathing.’ We slept in the open when frost was

already falling and even in November swam in the cold rivers. All this went on under the title of ‘body-training.’ Perhaps it helped much to build the physique which I was to need so badly later on in my many marches back and forth across South China, and on the Long March

from Jiangxi to the North-west.

“T built up a wide correspondence with many students and friends

in other towns and cities. Gradually I began to realize a more closely knit organization. In 1917, with some helped to found the Xin Min Xue Hui (‘New People’s It had from seventy to eighty members, and of these 'The Xin Min Xue Hui.

Google

the necessity for other friends, I Study Society’). many were later

GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

37

to become famous names in Chinese Communism, and in the history of the Chinese Revolution. Among the better-known Communists who were in the Xin Min Xue Hui were: Luo Mai, now secretary of the Party Organization Committee; Xia Xi, now in the znd Front Red Army; He

Shuheng, who became high judge of the Supreme Court in the Central Soviet regions and was later killed by Chiang Kai-shek; Guo Liang, a famous labour-organizer, killed by General He Jian in 1930; Xiao

Zizhang, a writer now in Soviet Russia; Cai Hesen, a member of the

Central Committee of the Communist Party, killed by Chiang Kai-shek in 1927;* Yi Lirong, who became a member of the Central Committee,

and later ‘betrayed’ to the Kuomintang, and became a capitalist tradeunion organizer; and Xiao Zheng, a prominent Party leader, one of the six signers of the original agreement for the formation of the Party, but who died not long ago from illness. The majority of the members of the Xin Min Xue Hui were killed in the counter-revolution of 1927. “Another society that was formed about that time, and resembled the Xin Min Xue Hui, was the ‘Social Welfare Society’ of Hubei. Many of its members also later became Communists. Among them was Yun Daiying, its leader, who was killed during the counter-revolution by

Chiang Kai-shek. Lin Biao, now president of the Red Army Academy,

was a member.** So was Zhang Hao, now in charge of work among White troops. In Beijing there was a society called Fu She, some of whose members later became Reds. Elsewhere in China, notably in Shanghai,

Hangzhou,

Hankou

and

Tianjin,'

radical

societies

were

organized by the militant youth then beginning to assert an influence on Chinese politics. “Most of these societies were ‘organized more or less under the

influence of New

Youth (Xin Qing Nian), the famous magazine of the

*The correct date: 1931 —ed.

**Lin Biao was, in fact, not a member of the “Social Welfare Society”, which was founded on October 8, 1917— ed. ‘In Tianjin it was the Jue Wu

Xue Hui, or “Awakening

Society,” which

led in

organization of radical youth. Zhou Enlai was one of the founders. Others included: Miss Deng Yingchao (now Mrs. Zhou

in 1927; and Sun Kuomintang.

Xiaoging,

now

Google

Enlai); Ma Jun, who was executed in Beijing

secretary of the Guangzhou

Committee

of the

38

MAO ZEDONG

Literary Renaissance, edited by Chen Duxiu. I began to read this magazine while I was a student in the normal college and admired the ‘articles of Hu Shi and Chen Duxiu very much. They became for a while my models, replacing Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei, whom I had already discarded. “At this time my mind was a curious mixture of ideas of liberalism, democratic reformism, and Utopian Socialism. I had somewhat vague passions about ‘nineteenth-century democracy,’ Utopianism and oldfashioned liberalism, and I was definitely anti-militarist and antiimperialist.

“T had entered the normal college in 1912.* I graduated in 1918.”

3.

Prelude to Revolution

During Mao’s recollections of his past I noticed that an auditor at least as interested as myself was He Zizhen — his wife. Many of the facts he‘told about himself and the Communist movement she had evidently never heard before, and this was true of most of Mao’s comrades in

Baoan. Later on, when I gathered biographical notes from other Red leaders, their colleagues often crowded around interestedly to listen to the stories for the first time. Although they had all fought together fot years, very often they knew nothing of each other’s pre-Communist days, which they had tended to regard as a kind of Dark Ages period, one’s real life beginning only when one became a Communist. It was another night, and Mao sat cross-legged, leaning against two dispatch-boxes. He lit a cigarette, and took up the thread of the story where he had left off the day before: “During my years in normal school in Changsha I had spent, altogether, only $160 — including my numerous registration fees! Of this amount I must have used a third for newspapers, because regular subscriptions cost me about a dollar a month, and I often bought books and journals on the news-stands. My father cursed me for this extravagance. He called it wasted money on wasted paper. But I had *The correct date: 1913 —ed.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

acquired climbed Beijing, “In

39

the newspaper-reading habit,! and from 1911 to 1927, when I up Jinggangshan, I never stopped reading the daily papers of Shanghai and Hunan. my last year in school my mother died, and more than ever I

lost interest in returning

home.*

I decided,

that summer,

to go to

Beiping — then Beijing. Many students from Hunan were planning trips

to France, to study under the ‘work and learn’ scheme, which France

used to recruit young Chinese in her cause during the World War. Before leaving China these students planned to study French in Beiping. I helped organize the movement, and in the groups who went abroad were many students from the Hunan Normal School, most of whom were later to become: famous radicals. Xu Teli was influenced by the movement also, and when he was over forty he left his professorship at Hunan Normal College and went to France. He did not become a Communist,

however, till 1927.

“I accompanied some of the Hunanese students to Beijing. However, although I had helped organize the movement, and it had the support of the Xin Min Xue Hui, I did not want to go to Europe. I felt that I did not know enough about my own country, and that my time

could be more profitably spent in China. Those students who had

decided to go to France studied French then from Li Shizeng, who is now president of the Zhong-fa (Sino-French) University, but I did not. I had other plans. “Beiping seemed very expensive to me. I had reached the capital by borrowing from friends, and when I arrived I had to look for work at once. Yang Changji, my former ethics teacher at the normal school, had become a professor at Beijing National University. I appealed to him for help in finding a job, and he introduced me to the university librarian.

This

Communist

was

Li Dazhao,

who

later became

a founder

of the

Party of China, and was afterwards executed by Zhang

Zuolin. Li Dazhao gave me work, as assistant librarian, for which I was

paid the generous sum of eight dollars a month.

‘Modern newspapers were then still a novelty in China, and many people, particularly officials, looked upon them with extreme repugnance, as indeed they do today! *Mao Zedong’s mother died on October 5, 1919 —ed.

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40

MAO ZEDONG

“My office was so low that people avoided me. One of my tasks was to register the names of people who came to read newspapers, but to most of them I didn’t exist as a human beirig. Among those who came to read I recognized the names of famous leaders of the renaissance movement, men like Fu Sinian, Luo Jialun, and others, in whom I was

intensely interested. I tried to begin conversations with them on political and cultural subjects, but they were very busy men. They had no time.

to listen to an assistant librarian speaking southern dialect.

“But I wasn’t discouraged. I joined the Society of Philosophy, and

the Journalism Society, in order to be able to attend classes in the

university. In the Journalism Society I met fellow-students like Chen Gongbo, who is now a high official at Nanjing; Tan Pingshan, who later became a Communist and still later-a member of the so-caHed “Third Party’; and Shao Piaoping. Shao, especially, helped me very much. He was a lecturer in the Journalism Society, a liberal, and a man of fervent idealism and fine character. He was killed by Zhang Zuolin in 1926. “While I was working in the library I also met Zhang Guotao, now vice-chairman

of the Soviet

Government;*

Kang

Baiqing,

who

later

joined the Ku Klux Klan in California [!!!— E. S.]; and Tuan Xipeng, now Vice-Minister of Education in Nanjing. And here also I met and fell in love with Yang Kaihui. She was the daughter of my former ethics teacher, Yang Changji, who had made a great impression on me in my youth, and who

afterwards

was a genuine friend in Beijing.

“My interest in politics continued to increase, and my mind turned more and more radical. I have told you of the background for this. But just now I was still confused, looking for a road, as we say. I read some pamphlets on anarchy, and was much influenced by them. With a student named Chu Qianzhi, who used to visit me, I often discussed

anarchism and its possibilities in China. At that time I favoured many of its proposals. “My own living conditions in Beijing were quite miserable, and in contrast the beauty of the old capital was a vivid and living compensation. I stayed in a place called ‘Three-Eyes Well’ (San Yanjing), in a little room which held seven other people. When we were all packed fast on the kang there was scarcely room enough for any of us *Zhang Guotao defected to Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang in 1938 —ed.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

41

to breathe. I used to have to warn people on each side of me when I wanted to turn over. But in the parks and the old palace grounds I saw

the early northern spring, I saw the white plum blossoms flower while

the ice still held solid over the North Sea. I saw the willows over Bei Hai with the ice crystals hanging from them and remembered the description of the scene by the Tang poet Chen Can, who wrote about Bei Hai’s winter-jewelled trees, looking ‘like 10,000 peach-trees blossoming.’ The innumerable trees of Beijing aroused my wonder and

admiration.

“Early in 1919 I went to Shanghai, with the students bound for Franee. I had a ticket only to Tianjin, and I did not know how I was to get any farther. But, as the Chinese proverb says, ‘Heaven will not

delay a traveller,’ and a fortunate loan of $10 from a fellow-student, who

had got some money from the Compte School in Beiping, enabled me to buy a ticket as far as Pukou. Ex route to Nanjing I stopped at Qufu and visited Confucius’s grave. I saw the small stream where Confucius’s disciples bathed their feet and the little town where the sage lived as a child. He is supposed to have planted a famous tree near the historic temple dedicated to him, and I saw that. I also stopped by the river where Yan Hui, one of Confucius’s famous disciples, had once lived,

and I saw the birthplace of Mencius. On this trip I climbed Tai Shan, the sacred mountain of Shandong, where General Feng Yuxiang retired and wrote his patriotic scrolls.* “But when I reached Pukou I was again without a copper, and without a ticket. Nobody had any money to lend me; I did not know how I was to get out of town. But the worst of the tragedy happened when a thief stole my only pair of shoes! Ai-ya! What was I to do? But again, ‘Heaven will not delay a traveller,’ and I had a very good piece of luck. Outside the railway station I met an old friend from Hunan, and he proved to be my ‘good angel.’ He lent me money for a pair of shoes, and enough to buy a ticket to Shanghai. Thus I safely completed my journey — keeping an eye on my new shoes. At Shanghai I found that a good sum had been raised to help send the students to France, and an allowance had been provided to help me return to Hunan. I saw *Mao Zedong’s stops at Tianjin and Pukou and his visit to Confucius’ grave and Tai Shan took place in 1920 on his second trip from Beijing to Shanghai — ed.

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MAO ZEDONG

a2 my friends off on “High marks these excursions: “I walked on lake of Dongting,

the steamer and then set off for Changsha. of my first trip to the North, as I remember it, were the ice of the Gulf of Bei Hai. I-walked around the and I circled the wall of Baodingfu. I walked around

the wall of Xuzhou, famous in the Three Kingdoms (San Guo), and around

Nanjing’s wall, also famous in history. Finally, I climbed Tai Shan and visited Confucius’s grave. These seemed to me then achievements worth adding to my adventures and walking tours in Hunan. “When I returned to Changsha I took a more direct role in politics. After the May Fourth Movement I had devoted most of my time to student political activities, and I was editor of the Xiangjiang Review, the Hunan student’s paper, which had a great influence on the student movement in South China. In Changsha I helped found the Wen Hua Shu Hui (Cultural Book Society), an association for study of modern cultural and political tendencies. This society, and more especially the Xin Min Xue Hui, were violently opposed to Zhang Jingyao, then dujun of Hunan, and a vicious character. We led a general student-strike against Zhang, demanding his removal, and sent delegations to Beiping and

the South-west,

where

Sun

Yat-sen

was

then active, to agitate

against him. In retaliation to the students’ opposition, Zhang Jingyao suppressed the Xiangjiang Review. “After this I went to Beijing, to represent the Xin Min Xue Hui, and organize an anti-militarist movement there. The Xin Min Xue Hui broadened its fight against Zhang Jingyao into a general anti-militarist agitation, and I became head of a news agency, to promote this work. In Hunan the movement was rewarded with some success. Zhang Jingyao was overthrown by Tan Yankai, and a new régime was established in Changsha. About this time the Xin Min Xue Hui began to divide into two groups, a Right and Left wing—the Left wing insisting on a programme of far-reaching social and economic and political changes. “IT went to Shanghai for the second time in 1919.* There once more I saw Chen Duxiu.' I had first met him in Beijing, when I was at Beijing

and

*The correct date: 1920—ed. ‘Chen Duxiu was born in Anhui, in 1879, became a noted scholar and essayist

for

years

headed

the

department

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of literature

at Beijing

National

Univer-

43

GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

National University, and he had influenced me perhaps more than anyone else. I also met Hu Shi at that time, having called on him to try to win his support for the Hunanese students’ struggle. In Shanghai I discussed with Chen Duxiu our plans for a League for Reconstruction of Hunan. Then I returned to Changsha, and began to organize it. I took a place as a teacher there, meanwhile continuing my activity in the Xin Min Xue Hui. The society had a programme then for the ‘independence’ of Hunan,

meaning,

really, autonomy.

Disgusted

with the Northern

Government, and believing that Hunan could modernize more rapidly if freed from connections with Beijing, our group agitated for separation. I was then a strong supporter of America’s Monroe Doctrine and the Open Door. “Tan Yankai was driven out of Hunan by a militarist called Zhao Hengti, who utilized the ‘Hunan independence’ movement for his own ends. He pretended to support it, advocating the idea of a United Autonomous States of China, but as soon as he got power he suppressed the democratic movement with great energy. Our group had demanded equal rights for men and women, and representative government, and in general approved of a platform for a bourgeois democracy. We openly advocated these reforms in our paper, the New Hunan. We led an attack on the provincial parliament, the majority of whose members were landlords and gentry appointed by the militarists. This struggle ended up in our pulling down the scrolls and banners, which were full of nonsensical and extravagant phrases. “The attack on the parliament was considered a big incident in Hunan, and frightened the rulers. However, when Zhao Hengti seized control he betrayed all the ideas he had supported, and especially he violently suppressed all demands for democracy. Our society therefore turned the struggle against him. I remember an episode in 1920, when the Xin Min Xue Hui organized a demonstration to celebrate the third sity — “cradle of the Literary Renaissance” — of which Chen was the leader. His Xin Qing Nian (New Youth) magazine began the movement for adoption of the bai-bua or vernacular Chinese as the national language to replace the “dead” wen-yan or Classical language. He was founder and chief promoter of the Communist Party in China, later became a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. He was arrested in Shanghai in 1933 by the Kuomintang authorities, given a farcical “trial,” and is now serving a long sentence at Nanjing. With Lu Xun he ranks as a most important literary figure of his time.

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44

MAO ZEDONG

anniversary of the Russian October Revolution. It was suppressed by the police. Some of the demonstrators had attempted to‘raise the Red

Flag at that meeting, but were prohibited from doing so by the police.

They

then pointed

out that, according to Article

12 of the (then)

Constitution, the people had the right to assemble, organize, and speak,

but the police were not impressed. They replied that they were not there to be taught the Constitution, but to carry out the orders of the governor, Zhao Hengti. From this time on I became more and more convinced that only mass political power, secured through mass action, could guarantee the realization of dynamic reforms. “In the winter of 1920, I organized workers politically, for the first time, and began to be guided in this by the influence of Marxist theory and the history of the Russian Revolution. During my second visit to Beijing I had read much about the events in Russia, and had eagerly sought out what little Communist literature was then available in Chinese. Three books especially deeply carved my mind, and built up in me a faith in Marxism,

from which, once I had accepted it as the

correct interpretation of history, I did not afterwards waver. These books were the Communist Manifesto, translated by Chen Wangdao, and

the first Marxist book ever published in Chinese; Class Struggle, by Kautsky; and a History of Socialism, by Kirkupp. By the summer of 1920 I had become, in theory and to some extent in action, a Marxist, and

from this time on I considered myself a Marxist. In the same year I married Yang Kaihui.”!

4.

The Nationalist Period

Mao was now a Marxist, but not a Communist — simply because

as yet there did not exist in China such an organization as the Communist Party. Chen Duxiu had established contact with the Comintern as early ‘Mao made no further reference to his life with Yang Kaihui. She was from all accounts a brilliant woman, a student of Beijing National University, later a leader of youth during the Great Revolution, and one of the most active women Communists. Their marriage was celebrated as an “ideal romance” among radical youths in Hunan. It seems to have begun as a trial marriage; and they were evidently very devoted. She was killed by He Qian-—in

1930, I believe.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

45

as 1919. In 1920, M. Marlin, an energetic and persuasive representative of the Third International — the Di San Guo Ji, as the Chinese call it — came to Shanghai and arranged for connections to be made with a Chinese Party. Shortly afterwards Chen summoned a conference in Shanghai, while almost simultaneously a group of Chinese students

conferred in Paris and proposed to form a Communist organization there.

When one remembers that the Chinese Communist Party is still an adolescent of sixteen years, its achievements may be regarded as not inconsiderable. It is the strongest Communist Party in the world, outside of Russia, and the only one, with the same exception, that can

boast a mighty army of its own. Another night, and Mao carried on his narrative: “In May of 1921,* I went to Shanghai to attend the foundation meeting of the Communist Party. In its organization the leading roles were played by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, both of whom were among

the most brilliant intellectual leaders of China. Under

assistant

librarian

at

Beijing

National

University,

Li Dazhao,

1 had

as

rapidly

developed towards Marxism, and Chen Duxiu had been instrumental in

my interests in that direction too. I had discussed with Chen, on my

second visit to Shanghai, the Marxist books that I had read, and Chen’s

own assertions of belief had deeply impressed me at what was probably a critical period in my life. “There was only one other Hunanese at the historic first meeting in Shanghai. Others present were Zhang Guotao, Bao Huizeng and Zhou Fuhai. Altogether there were twelve of us. The following October the first provincial branch of the Communist Party was organized in Hunan, and I became a member of it. Organizations were also established then in other provinces and cities. In Shanghai the Central Party Committee included Chen Duxiu, Zhang Guotao (now with the 4th Front Red Army), Chen Gongbo (now a Kuomintang official), Shi

Cuntong

(now a Nanjing official), Shen Xuanlu, Li Hanjun (killed in

Wuhan in 1927), Li Da (later executed), and Li Qihan. Members in Hubei included Dong Biwu (now chairman of the Communist Party *The correct date: June 1921 — ed.

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46

MAO ZEDONG

School in Baoan), Xu Baihao, and Shi Yang. In the Shaanxi party were Gao Gang and some famous student leaders. In Beiping were Li Dazhao (later executed), Deng Zhongxja, Zhang Guotao (now. vice-chairman of the Red military council), Luo Zhanglong, Liu Renjing (now a Trotskyite), and others. In Guangzhou were Lin Boqu (now Commissioner of Finance in the Soviet Government) and Peng Pai (executed in 1927). Wang Jinmei and Deng Enming were among the founders of the Shandong branch. “Meanwhile,

in France,

a Chinese

Communist

Party

had

been

organized by many of the worker-students there, and its founding was almost simultaneous with the beginning of the organization in China. Among the founders of the party there were Zhou Enlai, Li Lisan, and Xiang Jingyu, the wife of Cai Hesen, and the only Chinese woman among the founders. Luo Mai and Cai Hesen were also founders of the French branch. A Chinese party was organized in Germany, but this was somewhat later: among its members were Gao Yuhan, Zhu De (now Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army), and Zhang Shenfu (now a professor at Qinghua University). In Moscow the founders of the branch were Qu Qiubai and others, and in Japan there was Zhou Fuhai. “In May 1922 the Hunan Party, of which I was then secretary, had

already organized more than twenty trade unions, among miners, railway workers, municipal employees, printers, and workers in the Government Mint. A vigorous labour movement began that winter. The work of the Communist Party was then concentrated mainly on students and workers, and very little was done among the peasants. Most of the big mines were organized and virtually all the students. There were numerous struggles on both the students’ and workers’ fronts. In the winter of 1922,* Zhao Hengti, civil governor of Hunan, ordered the execution of two Hunanese workers, Huang Ai and Pang Renquan, and as a result a widespread agitation began against him. Huang Ai, one of the two workers killed, was a leader of the Right wing labour movement,

which had its base in the industrial school students

and was opposed to us, but we supported them in this case, and in many other struggles. Anarchists were also influential in the trade unions, *January 1922—ed.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

47

which were then organized into an All-Hunan Labour Syndicate. But we compromised with them, and through negotiation prevented many hasty and useless actions by them. “I was sent to Shanghai to help organize the movement against Zhao Hengti. The Second Congress of the Party was convened in Shanghai that winter (1922),* and I intended to attend. However, I forgot the name of the place where it was to be held, could not find any comrades, and missed it. I returned to Hunan and vigorously pushed the work among the labour unions. That spring there were many strikes for better wages and better treatment and recognition of the labour unions. Most of these were successful. On May 1 a general strike was called in Hunan, and this marked the achievement of unprecedented strength in the labour movement of China. “The Third Congress of the Communist Party was held in Guangzhou in 1923 and the historic decision was reached to enter the Kuomintang, co-operate with it, and create a United Front against the northern militarists. I went to Shanghai and worked in the Central Committee.of the Party. Next spring (1924) I went to Guangzhou and attended the First National Congress of the Kuomintang. In March I returned to Shanghai and combined my work in the executive bureau of the Communist Party with membership in the executive bureau of the Kuomintang of Shanghai. The other members of this bureau then were Wang Jingwei (later Premier at Nanjing), and Hu Hanmin, with whom I worked in co-ordinating the measures of the Communist Party and the Kuomintang. That summer the Huangpu Military Academy was set up. Galen became its adviser, other Soviet advisers arrived from Russia, and the Kuomintang-Communist Party entenfe began to assume the proportions of a nation-wide revolutionary movement. The following winter I returned to Hunan for a rest. I had become ill in Shanghai, but while in Hunan I organized the nucleus of the great peasant movement of that province. “Formerly I had not fully realized the degree of class struggle among the peasantry, but after the May 30 Incident (1925), and during the great wave of political activity which followed it, the Hunanese *The correct date: July 1922 — ed.

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48

MAO ZEDONG

peasantry became very militant. I left my home, where I had been resting, and began a rural organizational campaign. Ina few months we

had formed more than twenty peasant unions, and had aroused the

wrath of the landlords, who demanded my arrest. Zhao Hengti sent

troops after me, and I fled to Guangzhou! | reached there just at the time

militarist, the Huangpu students had defeated Yang Ximin, the Yunnan

and Liv Zhenhuan, the Guangxi militarist, and an air of great optimism

pervaded the city and the Kuomintang. Chiang Kai-shek had been made

commander of the 1st Army and Wang Jingwei chairman of the Government, following the death of Sun Yat-sen in Beijing. “I became editor of the Political Weekly, a publication of the political department of the Kuomintang. It later played a very active role in attacking and discrediting the Right wing of the Kuomintang, led by Dai Jitao. 1,was also put in charge of training organizers for the peasant movement, and established a course for this purpose which was attended by representatives from twenty-one different provinces, and included students from Inner Mongolia. Not long after my arrival in Guangzhou 1 became chief of the Agitprop department of the Kuomintang, and candidate for the Central Committee. Lin Boqu was then chief of the peasant department of the Kuomintang, and Tan Pingshan, another Communist, was chief of the workers’ department.* “I was writing more and more, and assuming special responsibilities in peasant work in the Communist Party. On the basis of my study and of my work in organizing the Hunan peasants, I wrote two pamphlets, one called An Analysis of the Different Classes of Chinese Society, and the other called The Class Basis of Zhao Hengti, and the Tasks Before Us. Chen Duxiu opposed the opinions expressed in the first one, which advocated a radical land policy and vigorous organization of the peasantry, under the Communist Party, and he refused its publication in the Communist central organs. It was later published in the Peasant Monthly, of Guangzhou, and in the magazine Zhong Guo Qing-nian (Chinese Youth). The second thesis was published as a pamphlet in Hunan. | began to disagree with Chen’s Right opportunist policy about this time, and we gradually drew further apart, although the struggle between us did not come to a climax until 1927. *Tan Pingshan was chief of the Organization Department — ed.

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Mao Zedong (first from right) with his mother, his brothers Mao Zemin (second from lef?) and Mao Zetan (both died in the revolution) in Changsha, 1919.

Google

x

Mao Zedong in Shanghai, 1924 Mao Zedong in Guangzhou, 1925

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gle

Original from

NV

naelma ules (Ul

\ddressing

Congress

of

the

base,

1933

Poor

Peasants’ Corps of Fight Counties in Jiangxi revolutionary

With comrades who

part in the

\utumn Harvest Uprising (September 1927) in Yanan, 1937. Mao is third from

left, back row

Mao

Zedong

Shaanxi,

=

1936.

in

Baoan,

northern

Photo by Ldear Snow.

Left

to

right:

Vin

Boqu,

Mao Zedong, Zhu De and Zhou Enlai in Yanan,

1937

With Xu Teli in 1937. Xu was Mao Zedong’s

Provincial

teacher

Normal

at

Hunan

School

and

First

joined

the Chinese Communist Party in 1927.

Addressing Chinese People’s AntiJapanese Military and Political University in Yanan, 1938.

» Google

e

Talking with peasants in Yangjialing, Yanan, 1939

Google

‘Talking with young, soldiers anan, 1939.

With Zhu De, 1945

Mao (second from left) with Patrick Hurley (¢hird from right) at Yanan airport. Patrick Hurley was sent by the U.S. government to negotiate with Mao Zedong in November 1944.

lao Zedong flew to Chong ing

to

negotiate

with

suomintang government kugust 28, 1945

’

the

on

During neg ions in Chongqing. From left to right: Patrick Hurl Ching-kuo, Cl iang Kai-shek, Zhang Qun, Wang Shijie, and Mao

e

Mao Zedong with the

American soldiers fr headquarters of tt

Fourteenth

U.S.

Force in Chonj

With

Zhu

De

and

American

envoy

General

George

C. Marshall

in Yanan

Marshall was one of the “Committee of Three” who, according to the Chongqing negotiation agreement, were to supervise implementation of the truce agreement.

With Zhou

Finlai in Zhuguanzhai,

Google

Jiaxian County, northern

Shaanxi,

1947.

Mao Zedong reviews a tank unit of the

Chinese People’s Liberation

Niyuan airport, Beiping, March 1949

\rmy z

Mao Zedong reading news of the liberation of Nanjing, capital of the KMT government, in April 1949.

Google

yinal fron

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

49

“I continued to work in the Kuomintang in Guangzhou until about the time Chiang Kai-shek attempted his first coup d’état there in March 1926. After the reconciliation of Left and Right wing Kuomintang and the reaffirmation of the Kuomintang-Communist solidarity, I went to Shanghai, in the spring of 1926. The Second Congress of the Kuomintang* was held in May of that year, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek. In Shanghai I directed the peasant department of the Communist Party, and from there was sent to Hunan,

as inspector of the peasant movement. Meanwhile, under the United Front of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the historic Northern Expedition began in the autumn of 1926. “In Hunan I inspected peasant organization and political conditions in five xian— Changsha, Liling, Xiangtan, Hengshan and Xiangxiang — and made my report to the Central Committee, urging the adoption of a new line in the peasant movement. Early next spring, when I reached Wuhan, an inter-provincial meeting of peasants was held, and I attended it and discussed the proposals of my thesis, which carried recommendations for a widespread redistribution of land. At this meeting were Peng Pai, Fang Zhimin and two Russian Communists, York and Volen, among others. A resolution was passed adopting my proposal for submission to the Fifth Conference of the Communist Party. The Central Committee,

however,

rejected it.

“When the Fifth Conference was convened in Wuhan in May 1927 the Party was still under the domination of Chen Duxiu. Although Chiang Kai-shek had already led the counter-revolution and begun his attacks on the Communist Party in Shanghai and Nanjing, Chen was still for moderation and concessions to the Wuhan Kuomintang. Overriding all opposition, he followed a Right opportunist petty-bourgeois policy. I was very dissatisfied with the Party policy then, especially toward the peasant movement. I think to-day that if the peasant movement had been more thoroughly organized and armed for a class struggle against the landlords, the Soviets would have had an earlier and far more powerful development throughout the whole country. “But Chen Duxiu violently disagreed. He did not understand the *This was, in fact, the Second Session of the Second Central Executive Committee

of the Kuomintang — ed.

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MAO ZEDONG

50

role of the peasantry in the revolution and greatly underestimated its possibilities at this time. Consequently, the Fifth Conference, held on

the eve of the crisis of the Great Revolution, failed to pass an adequate land programme. My opinions, which called for rapid intensification of the agrarian struggle, were not even discussed, for the Central Committee, also dominated by Chen Duxiu, refused to bring them up for consideration. The Conference dismissed the land problem by defining a landlord as ‘a peasant who owned over 500 mx of land’ —a wholly inadequate and unpractical basis on which to develop the class struggle, and quite without consideration of the special character of land economy in China. Following the Conference, however, an All-China

Peasants’ Union was organized and I became first president of it. “By the spring of 1927 the peasant movement in Hubei, Jiangxi and Fujian, and especially in Hunan, had developed a startling militancy, despite the lukewarm attitude of the Communist Party to it, and the definite alarm of the Kuomintang. High officials and army commanders began to demand its suppression, describing the Peasants’ Union as a ‘vagabond union,’ and its actions and demands as excessive. Chen Duxiu had withdrawn me from Hunan, holding me responsible for certain happenings there, and violently opposing my ideas. “In April the counter-revolutionary movement had begun in Nanjing and Shanghai, and a general massacre of organized workers had taken place under Chiang Kai-shek. The same measures were carried out in Guangzhou. On May 21 the Xu Kexiang Uprising occurred in Hunan. Scores of peasants and workers were killed by the reactionaries. Shortly afterward the ‘Left’ Kuomintang at Wuhan annulled its agreement with the Communists and ‘expelled’ them from the’ Kuomintang and from a Government which quickly ceased to exist. “Many Communist leaders were now ordered by the Party to leave the country, go to Russia or Shanghai or places of safety. I was ordered to go to Sichuan. I persuaded Chen Duxiu to send me to Hunan instead, as secretary of the Provincial Committee, but after ten days he ordered me hastily to return, accusing me of organizing an uprising against Tang Shengzhi, then in command at Wuhan. The affairs of the Party were now in a chaotic state. Nearly everyone was opposed to Chen Duxiu’s leadership and his opportunist line. The collapse of the entente at Wuhan soon afterward brought about his downfall.”

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

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5.

51

The Soviet Movement

A conversation I had with Mao Zedong, concerning the much disputed events of the spring of 1927 seems to me of sufficient interest to mention here. It was not part of his autobiography, as he told it to me; but, as a personal reflection on what was a turning-point experience in the life of every Chinese Communist, it is important to note. I asked Mao whom he considered most responsible for the failure of the Communist Party in 1927, the defeat of the Wuhan Coalition Government, and the whole triumph of the Nanjing dictatorship. Mao placed the greatest blame on Chen Duxiu, whose “wavering opportunism deprived the Party of decisive leadership and a direct line of its own at 2 moment when further compromise clearly meant catastrophe.” After Chen, the man mest responsible for the defeat was Borodin,

chief Russian political adviser. Mao explained that Borodin had completely reversed his position, favouring a radical land redistribution in 1926, but strongly opposing it in 1927, without any logical support for his vacillations. “Borodin stood just a little to the right of Chen Duxiu,” Mao said, “and was ready to do everything to please the bourgeoisie, even to the disarming of the workers, which he finally ordered.” Roy, the Indian delegate of the Comintern, “‘stood a little to the left of both Chen and Borodin, but he only stood.” He “‘could talk,”

according to Mao, “and he talked too much, without offering any method of realization.” Mao thought that, objectively, Roy had been a fool, Borodin a blunderer, and Chen an unconscious traitor.

“Chen was really frightened of the workers and especially of the armed peasants. Confronted at last with the reality of armed insurrection he completely lost his senses. He could no longer see clearly what was

happening, and his petty-bourgeois instincts betrayed him into panic

and defeat.” Chen was at that time complete dictator of the Chinese Party, and took vital decisions without even consulting the Central Committee. “He did not show other Party leaders the orders of the Comintern, nor even discuss them with us.”’But in the end it was Roy who forced the break with the Kuomintang. The Comintern sent a message to Borodin,

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52

MAO ZEDONG

ordering the Party to begin confiscation of the landlords’ land. Roy got hold of a copy of it, and promptly showed it to Wang Jingwei, then chairman of the Leftist Wuhan Government. The result of this caprice! is well known. The Communists were expelled from the Kuomintang by, the Wuhan régime, its strength collapsed, and soon afterwards Chiang Kai-shek destroyed Wuhan itself. It appears that in 1927 the Comintern was not giving “advice,” but flat orders, to the Chinese Communist Party, which was apparently not

even empowered to reject them. The fiasco of Wuhan became, of course,

a pivot of the struggle in Russia over the nature of the world revolution. It was following this period that the Opposition in Russia was crushed, Trotsky’s theory of “permanent revolution” was discredited, and the Soviet Union set out in earnest to “build Socialism in one country” — from which point it has now arrived at the position of bulwark of world peace. Mao does not think that the counter-revolution would have been defeated in 1927, however, even if the Communist Party had carried out a mote aggressive policy, and created Communist armies from the workers and peasants before the split with the Kuomintang. “But the Soviets could have got an immense start in the South, and a base in which, afterwards, they would never have been destroyed. ...” In his narrative of himself Mao had now reached the beginning of the Soviets, which arose from the wreckage of the revolution and struggled with bare hands even yet to build a new victory out of defeat. He continued: “On August 1,1927, the zoth Army, under He Long and Ye Ting,* and in co-operation with Zhu De, led the historic Nanchang Uprising, ** and the beginning of what was to become the Red Army was organized, A week later, on August 7, an extraordinary meeting of the Central ‘An interesting account of this incident, and the whole period, from the Left Kuomintang point of view, is given in The Inner History of the Chinese Revolution, by Tang Leang-li (London,

1930).

*The zoth Army under He Long and the 24th Division of the 11th Army under

Ye Ting —ed. **Zhou Enlai was the principal leader of the Nanchang Uprising. He was at the time secretary of the Front Committee — ed.

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.

GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

53

Committee of the Party deposed Chen Duxiu as secretary. I had been a member of the political bureau of the Party since the Third Conference at Guangzhou in 1924,* and was active in this decision, and among the ten other members present at the meeting were: Cai Hesen, Peng Gongda and Qu Qiubai. A new line was adopted by the Party, and all hope of co-operation with the Kuomintang was given up for the present, as it had already become hopelessly the tool of imperialism and could not carry out the responsibilities of a democratic revolution. The long open struggle for power now began. “T was sent to Changsha to organize the movement which later became known as the Autumn Crop Uprising. My programme there called for the realization of five points: (1) complete severance of the Provincial Party from the Kuomintang, (2) organization of a peasantworker revolutionary army, (3) confiscation of the property of small and middle, as well as great, landlords, (4) setting up the power of the Communist Party in Hunan, independent of the Kuomintang, and (5) organization of Soviets. The fifth point at that time was opposed by the Comintern, and not till later did it advance it as a slogan. “In September we had already succeeded in organizing a widespread uprising, through the peasant unions of Hunan, and the first units of a peasant-worker army were formed. Recruits were drawn from three principal sources — the peasantry itself, the Hanyang miners, and the insurrectionist troops of the Kuomintang. This early military force of the revolution was called the ‘1st Division of the 1st Peasants’ and Workers’ Army.’ The first regiment was formed ftom the Hanyang miners. A second was created among the peasant guards in Pingxiang, Liuyang, Liling and two other xian of Hunan, anda third from part of the garrison forces of Wuhan, which had revolted against Wang Jingwei.** This army was organized with the sanction of the Hunan Provincial Committee, but the general programme of the Hunan Committee and of our army was opposed by the Central Committee of the Party, which seemed, however, to have adopted a policy ofwait-andsee rather than of active opposition. *The correct date: 1923 —ed.

**The first regiment should be the third regiment; the second, the first; and the third, the second — ed.

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MAO ZEDONG

“While I was organizing the army and travelling between the Hanyang miners and the peasant guards, I was captured by some #intuan, working with the Kuomintang. The Kuomintang terror was then at its height and hundreds of suspected Reds were being shot. I was ordered to be taken to the min-tuan headquarters, where I was to be

killed. Borrowing several tens of dollars from a comrade, however, I

attempted to bribe the escort to free me. The ordinary soldiers were mercenaries, with no special interest in seeing me killed, and they agreed to release me, but the subaltern in charge refused to permit it. I therefore decided to attempt to escape, but had no opportunity to do so until I was within about two hundred yards of the min-tuan headquarters. At that point I broke loose and ran into the fields. “I reached a high place, above a pond, with some tall grass surrounding it, and there I hid until sunset. The soldiers pursued me, and forced some peasants to help them search for me. Many times they

came very near, once or twice so close that I could almost have touched

them, but somehow I escaped discovery, although half a dozen times I gave up hope, feeling certain I would be recaptured. At last, when it was dusk, they abandoned the search. At once I set off across the mountains, travelling all night. I had no shoes and my feet were badly bruised. On the road I met a peasant who befriended me, gave me shelter and later guided me to the next district. I had seven dollars with me,

and used this to buy some shoes, an umbrella and food. When at last I reached the peasant guards safely, I had only two coppers in my pocket. “With the establishment of the new division, I became

chairman

of its Party Front Committee, and Yu Sadu, a commander of the garrison troops at Wuhan, became commander of the rst Army.* Yu,

however, had been more or less forced to take the position by the

attitude

of

his

men;

soon

afterwards

he

deserted

and

joined

the

Kuomintang. He is now working for Chiang Kai-shek at Nanjing. “The little army, leading the peasant uprising, moved southward through Hunan. It had to break its way through thousands of Kuomintang troops and fought many battles, with many reverses. Discipline was poor, political training was at a low level, and many *The 1st Army should be the 1st Division — ed.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

55

wavering elements were among the men and officers. There were many desertions. After Yu Sadu fled, the army was reorganized when it reached Ninggang. Chen Hao was made commander of the remaining troops, about one regiment; he, too, later on ‘betrayed.’ But many in

that first group remained loyal to the end, and are to-day still in the Red Army —men such as Luo Ronghuan, political commissar of the tst Army Corps, and Yang Lisan, now an army commander. When the little band finally climbed up Jinggangshan! they numbered in all only about one thousand. “Because the programme of the Autumn Crop Uprising had not been sanctioned by the Central Committee, because also the 1st Army had suffered some severe losses, and from the angle of the cities the movement appeared doomed to failure, the Central Committee now definitely repudiated me. I was dismissed from the Politbureau, and also from the Party Front Committee. The Hunan Provincial Committee also attacked us, calling us ‘the rifle movement.’ We nevertheless held our army together at Jinggangshan, feeling certain that we were following the correct line, and subsequent events were to vindicate us fully. New recruits were added and the division filled out again. I. became its commander. . “From the winter of 1927 to the autumn of 1928, the 1st Division

held its base at Jinggangshan. In November 1927 the first Soviet was

set up in Chaling, on the Hunan border, and the first Soviet Government was elected. Its. chairman was Tan Zhenlin. In this Soviet, and

subsequently, we promoted a democratic programme, with a moderate policy, based on slow but regular development. This earned Jinggangshan the recriminations of putschists in the Party, who were demanding a terrorist policy of raiding, and burning and killing of landlords, in order fo destroy their morale. The 1st Army Front Committee refused to adopt such tactics, and were therefore branded by the hotheads as ‘reformists.’ I was bitterly attacked by them for not carrying out a more ‘radical’ policy. 'Jinggangshan was a nearly impregnable mountain stronghold, formerly held by bandits, on the Hunan-Jiangxi border. An account of the Communists’ seizure of this

mountain, and theic subsequent experiences there, will be found in China’s Red Army Marches, by Agnes Smedley (New York, 1933).

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56

MAO ZEDONG

“Two former bandit leaders near Jinggangshan, named Wang Zuo and Yuan Wencai, joined the Red Army in the winter of 1927. This increased the strength to about three regiments. Wang and Yuan were each made regimental commanders and I was army commander. These

two men, although former bandits, had thrown in their forces with the

Nationalist Revolution, and were now ready to fight against the reaction. While I remained on Jinggangshan they were faithful

Communists, and carried out the orders of the Party. Later on, when

they were left alone at Jinggangshan, they returned to’ their bandit habits. Subsequently they were killed by the peasants, by then organized and Sovietized and able to defend themselves. “In May of 1928,* Zhu De arrived at Jinggangshan, and our forces were combined. Together we drew up a plan to establish a six-xian Soviet area, to stabilize and consolidate gradually the Communist power in the Hunan-Jiangxi-Guangdong border districts, and, with that as a base, to expand over greater areas. This strategy was in opposition to, recommendations of the Party, which had grandiose ideas of rapid «xpansion. In the army itself Zhu De and I had to fight against two

tendencies: first, a desire to advance on Changsha at once, which we considered adventurism; secondly, a desire to withdraw to the south of

the Guangdong border, which we regarded as ‘retreatism.’ Our main

tasks, as we saw them then, were two: to divide the land, and to establish

Soviets. We wanted to arm the masses to hasten those processes. Our policy called for free trade, generous treatment of captured enemy troops, and, in general, democratic

moderation.

“A representative meeting was called at Jinggangshah in the autumn of 1928,** and was attended by delegates from Soviet districts north of Jinggangshan. Some division of opinion still existed among Party men in the Soviet districts concerning fhe points mentioned above, and at this meeting differences were thoroughly aired. A minority argued that our future on this basis was narrowly limited, but the majority had faith in the policy, and, when a resolution was proposed, declaring that the Soviet movement would be victorious, it was easily passed. The Party Central Committee, however, had not yet *The correct date: April 1928 —ed. **The correct date: May 1928 —ed.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

57

given the movement its sanction. This was not received till the winter of 1928, when the report of proceedings at the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party, held in Moscow, reached Jinggangshan. “With the new line adopted at that Congress, Zhu De and I were in complete agreement. From that time on, the differences between the leaders of the Party and the leaders of the Soviet movement in the agrarian districts disappeared. Party harmony was re-established. “Resolutions at the Sixth Conference summarized the experience of the 1925-7 revolution, the Nanchang, Guangzhou and Autumn Crop Uprisings, and concluded with approval of the emphasis on the agrarian movement. About this time Red armies began to appear elsewhere in China. Uprisings had occurred in western and eastern Hubei, in the winter of 1927, and these furnished the basis for new Soviet districts. He Long in the west and Xu Haidong in the east began to form their own worker-peasant armies. The latter’s area of operations became the nucleus of the Eyuwan Soviet, to which, later on, went Xu Xiangqian and Zhang Guotao. Fang Zhimin and Shao Shiping had also begun a movement along the north-eastern frontier of Jiangxi, adjacent to Fujian, in the winter of 1927, and out of this later developed a powerful Soviet base. After the failure of the Guangzhou Uprising,* Peng Pai had led part of the loyal troops to Hailufeng, and there formed a Soviet, which, following a policy of putschism, was soon destroyed. Part of the army, however, emerged from the district under the command of Gu Dacun,

and

made

connections

with

Zhu

De

and

myself,

later on

becoming the nucleus of the 11th Red Army. . “In the spring of 1928, partisans became active in Xingguo and Donggu in Jiangxi, led by Li Wenlin and Li Shaojiu. This movement had its base around Jian, and these partisans later became the core of the 3rd Army, while the district itself became the base of the Central Soviet Government. In western Fujian Soviets were established by Zhang Dingcheng, Deng Zihui (later killed), and Fu Bocui, who

afterward became a Social-Democrat.

“During the ‘struggle ». adventurism’ period at Jinggangshan, the 1st Army had defeated two attempts by White troops to retake the *The correct name: Nanchang Uprising — ed.

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MAO ZEDONG

58

mountain. Jinggangshan proved to be an excellent base for a mobile army such as we were building. It had good natural defences, and grew enough crops to supply a small army. It had a circuit of five hundred 4 and was about eighty 4 in diameter. Locally it was known otherwise, as Da Xiao Wu Jing (the real Jinggangshan being a near-by mountain, long deserted), and got its name from five main wells on its sides — da,

xiao, shang, xia, and zhong, or big, small, upper, lower, and middle wells.

The five villages on the mountain were named after these wells. “After the forces of our army combined at Jinggangshan there was

a reorganization, the famous 4th Red Army

was created, and Zhu De

was made commander, while I became political commissar. More troops arrived at Jinggangshan, after uprisings and mutinies in He Jian’s army, in the winter of 1928, and out of these emerged the sth Red Army, commander of which was Peng Dehuai. In addition to Peng there were Deng Ping (killed at Zunyi, Guizhou, during the Long March), Huang Gonglue (killed in Guangxi in 1931), and Teng Taiyuan. “Conditions on the mountain, with the arrival of so many troops, were becoming very bad. The troops had no winter uniforms, and food was extremely scarce. For months we lived practically on squash. The soldiers shouted a slogan of their own: ‘Down with capitalism, and eat squash!’ — for to them capitalism meant landlords and the landlords’ squash. Leaving Peng Dehuai at Jinggangshan, Zhu De broke through

the blockade established by the White troops, and in January 1929 our

first sojourn on the embattled mountain ended. “The 4th Army now began a campaign through the south of Jiangxi which rapidly developed successfully. We established a Soviet in Donggu, and there met and united with local Red troops. Dividing forces, we continued into Yongding, Shanghang and Longyan, and established Soviets in all those counties. The existence of militant mass movements prior to the arrival of the Red Army assured our success, and helped to consolidate Soviet power on a stable basis very quickly. The influence of the Red Army now extended, through the agrarian mass

movement

and

partisans,

to

several

other

xan,

but

the

Communists did not fully take power there until later on. “Conditions in the Red Army began to improve, both materially © and politically, but there were still many bad tendencies. ‘Partisanism,’

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

59

for example, was a weakness reflected in lack of discipline, exaggerated ideas of democracy, and looseness of organization. Another tendency that had to be fought was ‘vagabondage’—a disinclination to settle

down to the serious tasks of government, a love of movement, change,

new experience and incident. There were also remnants of militarism, with some of the commanders maltreating or even beating the men, and

discriminating against those they disliked personally, while showing

favouritism to others.

“Many of these weaknesses were overcome after the convening of the Ninth Party Conference of the 4th Red Army,* held in west Fujian in December 1929. Ideas for improvements were discussed, many misunderstandings levelled out, and new plans were adopted, which laid the foundations for a high type of ideological leadership in the Red Army. Prior to this the tendencies already described were very serious, and were utilized by a Trotskyist faction in the Party and military leadership to undermine the strength of the movement. A vigorous struggle was now begun against them, and several were deprived of their Party positions and army command. Of these Liu Di, an army commander, was typical. It was found that they intended to destroy the Red Army by leading it into difficult positions in battles with the enemy, and after several unsuccessful encounters their plans became quite evident. They bitterly attacked our programme and everything we advocated. Experience having shown their errors, they were eliminated from responsible positions and after the Fujian Conference lost their influence. “This conference prepared the way for the establishment of the Soviet power in Jiangxi. The following year was marked with some brilliant successes. Nearly the whole of southern Jiangxi fell to the Red Army. The base of the Central Soviet regions had been established. “On

February

7,1930,

an important local Party conference

was

called in south Jiangxi, to discuss the future programme of the Soviets. It was attended by local representatives from the Party, the Army and the Government. Here the question of the land policy was argued at great length, and the struggle against ‘opportunism,’ led by those *The Gutian Conference — ed.

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60

MAO ZEDONG

opposed to redistribution, was overcome. It was resolved to carry out

land redistribution and quicken the formation of Soviets. Until then the

Red Army had formed only local and district Soviets. At this conference it was decided to establish the Jiangxi Provincial Soviet Government. To the new programme the peasants responded with a warm, enthusiastic support which helped, in the months ahead, to defeat the extermination campaigns of the Kuomintang armies.”

6.

Growth of the Red Army

©

Mao Zedong’s account had begun to pass out of the category of “personal history,” and to sublimate itself somehow intangibly in the career of a great movement in which, though he retained a dominant role, you could not see him clearly as a personality. It was no longer “I” but “we”; no longer Mao Zedong, but the Red Army; no longer a subjective impression of the experiences of a single life, but an objective record by a bystander concerned with the mutations of collective human destiny as the material of history. As his story drew to a close it became more and more necessary for me to interrogate him about himself. What was de doing at that time? What office did 4e hold then? What was Ais attitude in this or that situation? And my questioning, generally, evoked such references as there are to himself in this last chapter of the narrative: “Gradually the Red Army’s work with the masses improved, discipline strengthened, and a new technique in organization developed. The peasantry everywhere began to volunteer to help the revolution. As early as Jinggangshan the Red Army had imposed three simple rules of discipline upon its fighters, and these were: prompt obedience to orders; no confiscations whatever from the poor peasantry; and prompt

delivery directly to the Government, for its disposal, of all goods confiscated from the landlords. After the 1928 Conference emphatic efforts to enlist the support of the peasantry were made, and eight rules were added to the three listed above. These were as follows: “1, Replace all doors when you leave a house;! 'This order is not so enigmatic as it sounds. The wooden doors of a Chinese house are easily detachable, and are often taken down at night, put across wooden blocks and used for an improvised bed.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

61

“2, Return and roll up the straw matting on which you sleep; “3, Be courteous and polite to the people and help them when you “4.

“5. “6. “7, “8,

can;

Return all borrowed articles;

Replace all damaged articles; Be honest in all transactions with the peasants; Pay for all articles purchased; Be sanitary, and especially establish latrines a safe distance from people’s houses.

“The last two rules.were added by Lin Biao. These eight points were enforced with better and better success, and to-day are still the code of the Red soldier, are memorized and frequently repeated by him.! Three other duties were taught to the Red Army as its primary purpose: first, to struggle to the death against the enemy; second, to arm the masses; third, to raise money to support the struggle. “Early in 1929 several groups of partisans under Li Wenlong and Li Shaojiu were reorganized into the 3rd Red Army, commanded by Huang Gonglue, and with Chen Yi as political commissar. During the same period, part of Zhu Peite’s min-tuan mutinied and joined the Red Army. They were led to the Communist camp by a Kuomintang commander, Luo Binghui, who was disillusioned about the Kuomintang and wanted to join the Red Army. He is now commander of the 32nd Red Army of the znd Front Army. From the Fujian partisans and nucleus of regular Red troops the 12th Red Army was created under the command of Wu Zhonghao, with Tan Zhenlin as political commissar. Wu was later killed in battle and replaced by Luo Binghui. “It was at this time that the rst Army Corps was organized, with Zhu De as commander and I as political commissar. It was composed of the 3rd Army, the 4th Army commanded by Lin Biao, and the 12th Army, under Luo Binghui. Party leadership was vested in a Front Committee, of which I was chairman. There were already more than 10,000 men in the 1st Army Corps then, organized into ten divisions. Besides this main force, there were many local and independent regiments, Red guards and partisans.

1Also sung daily in a Red Army song.

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62

MAO ZEDONG

“Red tactics, apart from the political basis of the movement, explained much of the successful military development. At Jinggangshan four slogans had been adopted, and these give the clue

to the methods of partisan warfare used, out of which the Red Army grew. The slogans were: “1, “2, “3. “4.

When When When When

the the the the

enemy enemy enemy enemy

advances, we retreat! halts and encamps, we trouble them! seeks to avoid a battle, we attack! retreats, we pursue!

“These slogans [of four characters each in Chinese] were at first opposed by many experienced military men, who did not agree with the type of tactics advocated. But much experience proved that the tactics were correct. Whenever the Red Army departed from them, in general, it did. not succeed. Our forces were small, exceeded from ten to twenty times by the enemy; our resources and fighting materials were limited, and only by skilfully combining the tactics of manoeuvring and guerillawarfare could we hope to succeed in our struggle against the Kuomintang, fighting from vastly richer and superior bases. “The most important single tactic of the Red Army was, and

remains, in its ability to concentrate its main forces in the attack, and

swiftly divide and separate them afterwards. This implied that positional warfare was to be avoided, and every effort made to meet the living forces of the enemy while in movement, and destroy them. On the basis of these tactics the wonderful mobility and the swift powerful ‘short attack’ of the Red Army was developed. “In expanding Soviet areas in general the programme of the Red Army favoured a wave-like or tidal development, rather than an uneven advance, gained by ‘leaps’ or ‘jumps,’ and without deep consolidation in the territories gained. The policy was pragmatical, just as were the tactics already described, and grew out of many years of collective military and political experience. These tactics were severely criticized by Li Lisan, who advocated the concentration of all weapons in the hands of the Red Army, and the absorption of all partisan groups. He wanted attacks rather than consolidation; advances without securing the

rear; sensational assaults on big cities, accompanied by uprisings and extremism. The Li Lisan line dominated the Party then, outside Soviet

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST areas,

and

was

sufficiently

63 influential

to force

acceptance,

to some

extent, in the Red Army, against the judgment of its field command. One result of it was the attack on Changsha and another was the advance on Nanchang. But the Red Army refused to immobilize its partisan groups and open up its rear to the enemy during these adventures. “In the autumn of 1929 the Red Army moved into northern Jiangxi, attacking and occupying many cities, and inflicting numerous defeats on Kuomintang armies. When within striking distance of Nanchang the 1st Atmy Corps turned sharply west and moved on Changsha. In this drive it met and joined forces with Peng Dehuai, who had already occupied Changsha once, but had been forced to withdraw to avoid being surrounded by vastly superior enemy troops. Peng had been obliged to leave Jinggangshan in April 1929, and had carried out operations in southern Jiangxi, resulting in greatly increasing his troops. He rejoined Zhu De and the main forces of the Red Army at Ruijin in April 1930, and after a conference it was decided that Peng’s 3rd Army should operate on the Jiangxi-Hunan border, while Zhu De and I moved into Fujian. It was in June 1930* that the 3rd Army and the 1st Army Corps re-established a junction and began the second attack on Changsha. The 1st and 3rd Army Corps were combined into the 1st Front Army, with Zhu De as Commander-in-Chief and myself as political commissar. Under this leadership we arrived outside the walls of Changsha. . “The Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Committee was organized about this time, and I was elected chairman. The Red Army’s influence in Hunan was widespread, almost as much so as in Jiangxi. My name was known among the Hunanese peasants, for big rewards were offered for my capture, dead or alive, as well as for Zhu De and other Reds. My land! in Xiangtan was confiscated by the Kuomintang. My wife and my sister, as well as the wives of my two brothers, Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan, and my own son, were all arrested

by He Jian. My wife and younger sister** were executed. The others *The correct date: August

1930-

ed.

'The rent from which Mao used during the Great Revolution for the peasant movement in Hunan. **The

younger

sister was

in fact his cousin,

distinction is made between a sister and a cousin-

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ed.

for

in Chinese

somctimes

no

64

.

MAO ZEDONG

were later released. The prestige of the Red Army even extended to my own village, Xiangtan, for I heard the tale that the local peasants believed that I would be soon returning to my native home. When one day an aeroplane passed overhead, they decided it was I. They warned the man who was then tilling my land thatI had come back to look over my old farm, to see whether or not any trees had been cut. If so, I would surely demand compensation from Chiang Kai-shek, they said. “But the second attack on Changsha proved to be a failure. Great reinforcements had been sent to the city and it was heavily garrisoned; besides, new troops were pouring into Hunan in September to attack the Red Army. Only one important battle occurred during the siege, and in it the Red Army eliminated two brigades of enemy troops. It could not, however, take the city of Changsha, and after a few weeks withdrew

to Jiangxi. “This failure helped to destroy the Li Lisan line, and saved the Red Army from what would probably have been a catastrophic attack on Wuhan, which Li was demanding. The main tasks of the Red Army then were the recruiting of new troops, the Sovietization of new rural areas, and, above all, the consolidation under thorough Soviet power of such areas as already had fallen to the Red Army. For such a programme the

attacks

on

Changsha

were

not

necessary

and

had

an

element

of

adventure in them. Had the first occupation been undertaken as a * temporary action, however, and not with the idea of attempting to hold the city and set up a State power there, its effects might have been considered beneficial, for the reaction produced on the national revolutionary movement was very great. The error was a strategic and tactical one, in attempting to make a base of Changsha while the Soviet power was still not consolidated behind it.” If it is permissible rudely to interrupt Mao’s narrative for a moment, further interesting comment may be offered about Li Lisan. A Hunanese and a returned student from France, he divided his time

in. Shanghai and Hankou, where the Communist Party had “underground” headquarters — only after 1931 transferring the Central Committee to the Soviet districts. Li was one of the most brilliant (if also erratic) of Chinese Communists, and perhaps the nearest to a Trotsky that China produced.

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He dominated

the Party from

1929 to

GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

65

1931,* when he was removed from the Politburo and sent to Moscow

for “study,” where he still remains. Like Chen Duxiu, Li Lisan lacked

faith in the rural Soviets, and urged that strong aggressive tactics be adopted against strategic big capitals like Changsha, Wuhan, and Nanchang. He wanted a “terror” in the villages to demoralize the gentry, a “mighty offensive” by the workers, risingseand strikes to paralyse the enemy in his bases, and “flank attacks” in the north, from Outer Mongolia and Manchuria, backed by the U.S.S.R. Perhaps his

greatest “sin,” in Moscow’s eyes, was that in 1930 he held China to be

the “centre” of the world revolution, thus denying that role to the

Soviet Union.

To continue: “But Li Lisan over-estimated both the military strength of the Red Army at that time and the revolutionary factors in the national political scene. He believed that the revolution was nearing success and would shortly have power over the entire country. This belief was encouraged " by the long and exhausting civil war then proceeding between Feng Yuxiang and Chiang Kai-shek, which made the outlook seem highly favourable to Li Lisan. But in the opinion of the Red Army the enemy

was making preparations for a great drive against the Soviets as soon

as the civil war putschism and “With the especially after army;

and

was concluded, and it was no time adventures. This estimate proved events in Hunan, the Red Army’s the capture of Jian, ‘Lilisanism’

Li himself,

proved

to have

been

for possibly disastrous to be entirely correct. return to Jiangxi, and was overcome in the

in error,

soon

lost his

influence in the Party. There was, however, a critical period in the army before ‘Lilisanism’ was definitely buried. Part of the 3rd Corps favoured following out Li’s line, and demanded the separation of the 3rd Corps from the rest of the army. Peng Dehuai fought vigorously against this tendency, however, and succeeded in maintaining the unity of the forces under his command and their loyalty to the high command. But the zoth Army, led by Liu Tiechao, rose in open revolt, arrested the chairman of the Jiangxi Soviet, arrested many officers and officials, and attacked us politically, on the basis of the Li Lisan line. This occurred at Futian *The correct date: from

1929 to 1930

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ed.

66

MAO ZEDONG

and is known as the Futian Incident. Futian being near Jian, then the heart of the Soviet districts, the events produced a sensation, and to

many it must have seemed that the fate of the revolution depended on the outcome of this struggle. However, the revolt was quickly suppressed, due to the loyalty of the 3rd Army, to the general solidarity of the Party and the Red troops, and to the support of the peasantry.

Liu Tiechao was arrested, and other rebels disarmed and liquidated. Our line was re-affirmed,.‘Lilisanism’ was definitely result the Soviet movement subsequently scored “But Nanjing was now thoroughly aroused potentialities of the Soviets in Jiangxi, and at the First Extermination Campaign! against the Red totalling over

100,000 men

suppressed, and as a great gains. to the revolutionary end of 1930 began its Army. Enemy forces

began an encirclement of the Red

areas,

penetrating by five routes, under the chief command of Lu Diping. Against these troops the Red Army was then able to mobilize a total of about 40,000 men. By skilful use of manoeuvring warfare we met and overcame this First Campaign, with great victories. Following out the tactics of swift concentration and swift dispersal; we attacked each unit separately, using our main forces. Admitting the enemy troops deeply into Soviet territory, we staged sudden concentrated attacks, in superior numbers, on isolated units of the Kuomintang troops, achieving positions of manoeuvre in which, momentarily, we could encircle them,

thus reversing the general strategic advantage enjoyed by a numerically

greatly superior enemy.

“By January 1931 this First Campaign had been completely defeated. I believe that this would not have been possible except for thr¢e conditions achieved by the Red Army just before its commencement. First, the consolidation of the 1st and 3rd Army Corps -under a centralized command; second, the liquidation of the Li Lisan line; and, third, the triumph of the Party over the anti-Bolshevik (Liu Tiechao) faction and other active counter-revolutionaries within the Red Army and in the Soviet districts. “After a respite of only four months, Nanjing launched its Second Campaign, under the supreme command of He Yinggin, now Minister 'This campaign is described in interesting detail in The Communist Situation in China by Yang Chien (Nanjing, 1931).

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

67

of War. His forces exceeded 200,000 men, who moved into the Red areas

by seven routes. The situation for the Red Army was then thought to be very critical. The area of Soviet power was very small, resources were limited, equipment scanty, and enemy material strength vastly exceeded that of the Red Army in every respect. To meet this offensive, however,

the Red Army still clung to the same tactics that had thus far won success. Admitting the enemy columns well into Red territory, our main forces suddenly concentrated against the second route of the enemy, defeated several regiments, and destroyed their offensive power. Immediately afterwards we attacked in quick succession the third route, the sixth and the seventh, defeating each of them in turn. The fourth route retreated without giving battle, and the fifth route was partly destroyed. Within fourteen days the Red Army had fought six battles,* and marched eight days, ending with a decisive victory. With the breakup or retreat of the other six routes, the first route army, commanded by Jiang Guangnai and Cai Tingkai, withdrew without any serious fighting. : “One month later, Chiang Kai-shek took command of an army of 300,000 men ‘for the final extermination of the “Red-bandits.” ’ He was assisted by his ablest commanders: Chen Mingshu, He Yingqin and Zhu_ Shaoliang, each of whom had charge of a main route of advance. Chiang hoped to take the Red areas by storm—a rapid ‘wiping-up’ of the ‘Red-bandits.’ He began by moving his armies 80 / a day into the heart of Soviet ‘territory. This supplied the very conditions under which the Red Army fights best, and it soon proved the serious mistake of

Chiang’s tactics. With a main force of only 30,000 men, by a series of brilliant manoeuvres, our army attacked five different columns in five days. In the first battle the Red Army captured many enemy troops, and large amounts of ammunition, guns and equipment. By September the Third Campaign had been admitted to be a failure and Chiang Kai-shek in October withdrew his troops. “The Red Army now entered a period of comparative peace and growth. Expansion was very rapid. The First Soviet Congress was called on

December

11,

1931,**

and

*Five battles in fifteen days— ed.

the Central

**The correct date: November 7, 1931 —ed.

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Soviet Government

was

MAO

68

ZEDONG

established, with myself as chairman. Zhu De was elected Commander-

in-Chief of the Red Army. In the same month there occurred the great Ningdu Uprising, when over 20,000 troops of the 28th Route Army* of the Kuomintang revolted and joined the Red Army. They were led by Dong Zhentang and Zhao Bosheng. Zhao was later killed in battle in Jiangxi, but Dong is to-day still commander of the 5th Red Army —the sth Army Corps having been created out of the troops taken in from the Ningdu Uprising. “The Red Army now began offensives of its own. In 1932 it fought a great battle at Zhangzhou, in Fujian, and captured the city. In the South it attacked Chen Jitang at Nanxiong, and on Chiang Kai-shek’s front it stormed Lean, Lichuan, Jianning and Taining. It attacked but

did not occupy Ganzhou. From October 1932 onward, and until the beginning of the Long March to the North-west, I myself devoted my time almost exclusively to work with the Soviet Government, leaving the military command to Zhu De and others. “In April 1933** began the Fourth, and, for Nanjing, perhaps the most disastrous, of its Extermination Campaigns. In the first battle of this period two divisions were disarmed and two divisional commanders were captured. The 59th Division was partly destroyed and the 5 2nd was completely destroyed. Thirteen thousand men were captured in this one battle at Dalongping and Qiaohui in Lean Xian.*** The Kuomintang’s *Over 10,000 troops of the 28th Route Army — ed. **The correct date: Febrary

1933 —ed.

‘There is considerable confusion, in many accounts written of the anti-Red wars,

concerning the number of major expeditions sent against the Soviet districts. Some writers have totalled up as many as eight different “annihilation drives,” but several of these big mobilizations by Nanjing were purely defensive. Red Army commanders speak of only five main anti-Red campaigns. These are, with the approximate number of Nanjing troops directly involved in each, as follows: First, December 1930 to January 1931, 100,000; Second, May to June 1931, 200,000; Third, July to October 1931, 300,000; Fourth, April to October 1933, 250,000; Fifth, October 1933 to October 1934, 400,000 (Over 900,000 troops were mobilized against the three main Soviet districts). No major expedition was launched by Nanjing during 1932, when Chiang Kai-shek was

using approximately 500,000 troops in defensive positions around the Red districts. It

was, on the contrary, a year of big Red

offensives.

Evidently

Nanjing’s

defensive

operations in 1932, which were, of course, propagandized as “anti-Red campaigns,” were misunderstood by many writers as major expeditions. The Reds do not so discuss them, nor Chiang Kai-shek. ***The battl€é was fought at Dongpi and Huangpi between Lean and

Yihuang -~ed.

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GENESIS OF A COMMUNIST

69

11th Division, then Chiang Kai-shek’s best, was next eliminated, being

almost totally disarmed, and its commander seriously wounded. These engagements proved decisive turning-points and the Fourth Campaign soon afterwards ended. Chiang Kai-shek at this time wrote to Chen Cheng, his field commander, that he considered this defeat ‘the greatest humiliation’ in his life. Chen Cheng did not favour pushing the campaign. He told people then that in his opinion fighting the Reds was a ‘lifetime job’ and a ‘life sentence.’ Reports of this coming to Chiang Kai-shek, he removed Chen Cheng from the high command. * “For his Fifth and Last Campaign, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized nearly one million men and adopted new tactics and strategy. Already, in the Fourth Campaign, Chiang had, on the recommendation of his “ German advisers, begun the use of the blockhouse and fortifications system. In the Fifth Campaign he placed his entire reliance upon it. “In this period we made two important errors. The first was the failure to unite with Cai Tingkai’s army in 1933 during the Fujian Rebellion. The second was the adoption of the erroneous strategy of simple defence, abandoning our former tactics of manceuvre. It was a serious mistake to meet the vastly superior Nanjing forces in positional warfare, at which the Red Army was neither technically nor spiritually at its best. “As a result of these mistakes, and the new tactics and strategy of China’s campaign, combined with the overwhelming numerical and technical superiority of the Kuomintang forces, the Red Army was obliged, in 1934, to seek to change the conditions of its existence in Jiangxi, which were rapidly becoming more unfavourable. Secondly, the national political situation influenced the decision to move the scene of main operations to the North-west. Following Japan’s invasion of Manchuria

February

and

Shanghai,

1932,* formally

the

Soviet

Government

declared war on Japan.

had,

as early

as

This declaration,

which could not, of course, be made effective, owing to the blockade

and encirclement of Soviet China by the Kuomintang troops, had been

followed by the issuance of a manifesto calling for a United Front of

ail armed forces in China to resist Japanese imperialism. Early in 1933 *The correct date: April 1932 —ed.

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70

MAO ZEDONG

the Soviet Government announced that it would co-operate with any White army on the basis of cessation of civil war and attacks on the Soviets and the Red Army, guarantee of civil liberties and democratic rights to the masses, and arming of the people for an anti- Japanese war. “The Fifth Extermination Campaign began in October 1933. In January 1934 the Second All-China Soviet Congress of Soviets was convened in Ruijin, the Soviet capital, and a survey of the achievements of the Revolution took place. Here I gave a long report, and here the Central Soviet Government, as its personnel exists to-day, was elected.

Preparations soon afterwards were made for the Long March: It was begun in October 1934, just a year after Chiang Kai-shek launched his last Campaign—a year of almost constant fighting, struggle and enormous losses on both sides. “By January 1935 the main forces of the Red Army reached Zunyi, in Guizhou. For the next four months the army was almost constaintly moving and the most energetic combat and fighting took place. Through many, many difficulties, across the longest and deepest and most dangerous rivers of China, across some of its highest and most hazardous mountain passes, through the country of fierce aborigines, through the empty grasslands, through cold and through intense heat, through wind and snow and rainstorm, pursued by half the White armies of China, through all these natural barriers, and fighting its way past the local troops of Guangdong, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan,

Xikang, Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi, the Red Army

at last

reached northern Shaanxi in October 1935, and enlarged the present base in China’s great North-west. “The victorious march of the Red Army, and its triumphant arrival in Gansu and Shaanxi with its living forces still intact, was due first to the correct leadership of the Communist Party, and secondly to the great skill, courage, determination and almost superhuman endurance and revolutionary ardour of the basic cadres of our Soviet people. The Communist Party of China was, is, and will ever be, faithful to Marxist-

Leninism, and it will continue its struggles against every opportunist tendency. In this determination lies one explanation of its invincibility and the certainty of its final victory.”

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LEARN

FROM

MAO

ZEDONG*

Zhou Enlai

The Chinese people’s great revolution is on its way to nationwide victory, The young people of our country must press ahead, taking part in building a new China. We must have a leader recognized by us all, for such a leader. can guide us in our advance. The practice of the revolutionary movement of the last thirty years has given the Chinese people that leader, namely, Mao Zedong. And our slogan at this National Youth Congress is: “Advance under the banner of Mao Zedong!” We are determined to hold this banner high and forge ahead. Today, at this congress, I wish to explain several major points to show why Comrade Mao Zedong deserves our respect and how we should learn from him. . Learning from Mao Zedong is not just a slogan, the words are rich in content. When you delegates go back after this congress, you should tell all our young people — in the villages, factories and cities, in the Liberated Areas and in areas under Kuomintang rule— what this

congress advocates, so as to mobilize and win aver to our side millions

of them who will advance together with us. The best way for us to do that is to call upon them to follow the banner of Mao Zedong. Ini calling on all our young people to march forward behind this banner, we must know how it has become the banner it is today. Mao Zedong is a great man sprung from our own Chinese soil. When doing propaganda work

among the young people of the country, or when learning from " yourselves, you must not regard Mao Zedong as a chance leader, leader, a demi-god or a leader impossible to emulate. If you see that way, it will become empty talk to accept him as our leader.

him by a born things If one

*An excerpt from the third part of a report made at the First National Youth

Congress. It was published in the People’s Daily on October 8, 1978. 1

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72

MAO ZEDONG

couldn’t learn from him, he would be isolated from us, wouldn’t he?

Wouldn’t we be making Mao Zedong into a deity apart? That’s the kind of leader publicized. in feudal and capitalist societies. Our leader is born of the Chinese people, has flesh-and-blood ties with them and is deeply rooted in the land and society of China. He is a people’s leader born of China’s revolutionary movements in the past hundred years and, since the May 4th Movement, of the long years of accumulated revolutionary experience. In learning from Mao Zedong, we must therefore learn from him in a comprehensive way, in the light of his historical development — not just by looking at his great achievements today and neglecting the process of his growth. Chairman Mao often says that he was born and bred in the countryside and that when he was young he, too, was superstitious and backward in some aspects of his thinking. He was most unhappy about a textbook published in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border area, which said that even at the age of ten he had opposed superstition and that from the time he was a child he had not believed in gods. He says that, quite the contrary, when he was a little boy, he did believe in gods and, what’s

more, was very pious. When his mother was ill, he prayed to Buddha for help. Wasn’t that superstitious? The story about Chairman Mao in that textbook turned things the other way round when it said that he wasn’t superstitious as a child and that he was born with innate wisdom and had broken with superstition. Chairman Mao says that doesn’t accord with the facts. Besides, generally speaking, in the feudal society of that period, it was impossible for anyone, whether from a peasant or a worker’s family, to break with superstition all at once. Chairman Mao was born ina village at the end of the 19th century, so it was impossible for him not to be a little superstitious. Why is it necessary to explain this? Because we must not think that since some of our youth are still superstitious, they cannot be educated and should be excluded. Yesterday’s superstitious child was able to become today’s Chairman Mao (of course, I’m not saying that every child can become a Chairman Mao). Superstition can be done away with. Weren’t you also superstitious a few years ago? You can’t deny that you snivelled when you were kids! You must not refuse to acknowledge the weaknesses of childhood just because you’ve made progress.

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Chairman Mao often says that he is also a reader of ancient classics.

Everything hinges on whether you know how to read them. Chairman Mao was very fond of reading such books. in his younger days. Now, when writing and speaking, he often draws on historical experience and lessons and is very skilful in doing so. Reading classics broadened and enriched his knowledge and made him all the greater. On May 4, I read an article by Comrade Fan Wenlan in which he said that around the time of the May 4th Movement he devoted himself to the study of Chinese classics and ancient things. But once he began to acquire a correct perspective, things of the past became a help to him in the compiling and writing of Chinese history, and he has made use of them with great skill. So we should not think that some of our young people who like to read ancient books and study things of the past cannot be progressive. We should not refuse to: unite with people and educate them simply because they have old ideas. We should not give them the cold shoulder because they’re a little backward. As long as they’re willing to make progress, they can remould themselves. As Chairman Mao has said, this is how he himself was remoulded. Chairman Mao also often says that when he starts studying something, he first tackles one aspect of it, and if he doesn’t understand it, he keeps boring. into it until he’s got it clear. When Chairman Mao joined the revolution after the May 4th Movement, he first lived in the city and devoted himself to the workers’ movement. At that time, Mr. Tao Xingzhi was advocating a movement for rural development. Comrade Yun Daiying wrote a letter to Chairman Mao, saying that they might follow Tao Xingzhi’s example and go to work in the countryside. Chairman Mao replied: ““We’ve got more work than we can handle in the cities; how can we possibly go to wark in the countryside?” This shows that he hadn’t given his attention to that aspect of the problem at the time. But he did so soon after and he learned all about the peasant " movement, linking it with the revolutionary movement in the towns. Still later he studied military affairs. He mastered them all and acquired a comprehensive knowledge. This should tell us that if some young - people like to concentrate on one aspect of a problem before grasping it in its entirety, we should not discourage their interest. If they are reluctant to participate in political activities, we should take time to educate them and not shut them out.

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I have cited these three examples to show that being a child of a

peasant

family

in

feudal

society,

Chairman

Mao

too

was

once

superstitious, read books written in ancient times and, when studying a problem, paid attention only to one aspect at first. His greatness lies in the fact that he awakened from superstition and rejected what was outdated; it lies even more in the fact’ that he dared to face up to the past. We can see that in societies ruled by the people, to say nothing of old society, there are those who, once they’ve made progress, think that they were just fine all along, that they were “‘born sages”, and they speak of themselves as if they were perfect, with no shortcomings at all. Others also speak of them in that way, and they like to listen to such praise. This is very dangerous. So we must not abandon those young people who ate superstitious and backward, who see things only from one side instead of seeing them whole. Rather, we should educate them. We should help them learn from us and, at the same time, we should learn

from them; our young people must.learn from each other. Chairman

Mao is a people’s leader born of the experience and lessons of a history

of several thousand years, of the revolutionary movements of the last hundred years, and of direct struggle over the last thirty years. This is the way we should look at Chairman Mao’s development. And this view will help comrades to overcome any arrogance they may feel. If such was

the

case

even

with

Chairman

Mao,

what

is there

for us

to be

conceited about? Which of us does not make mistakes? Which of us has no shortcomings? Is there anything to be complacent about? We are all far, far behind Chairman

Mao.

We must learn from Mao Zedong because he is a leader who is very good at adhering to principles while applying them in a flexible way. Since he became one of its leaders, the Chinese revolution has gradually found the right orientation. Chairman Mao has been correct in all the four stages of the Chinese revolution and he represents the correct orientation for the Chinese people. At the beginning, both the Central Committee of the Party and sections of the revolutionary masses often made mistakes in orientation and lost their bearings. But Chairman Mao has always had the right orientation. Chairman Mao’s views during the Great Revolution (1924-27) were correct, but they were not accepted

by the leadership of the time. He was right during the ten-year civil war

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(1927-37), but some comrades made mistakes and didn’t fully agree with” him. During the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-45), the whole Party recognized Comrade Mao Zedong’s leadership, and we won victory. In the present War of Liberation (1946-49), he has further proved to be correct. Therefore, Chairman Mao’s orientation is the correct orientation for the Chinese people. He has time and again pointed out the truth and upheld the truth. And that is why we often say that Chairman Mao has applied the truth of world revolution — the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism — to China and has integrated it with China’s revolutionary practice to create Mao Zedong Thought. Mao Zedong is a man wha points out the truth and upholds and develops it. His orientation has been correct at the many crucial historical junctures of the Chinese revolution over the past thirty years. There

are

two

things

we

must

learn

from

Chairman

Mao

in

connection with upholding principle. One is to persist in an orientation and the other is to concretize it. Its concretization is impossible if only One person understands it, or if only a few people accept it; this must depend on the masses. For principles to be put into practice, they must be given substance and be approved and implemented by the majority. There are difficulties in adhering to the truth. Not only has Chairman Mao pointed out what the principles are, he has also formulated concrete policies and tactics to put them into practice, and his policies for a given historical stage are suited to that stage.

Our young people will realize this when they study the Selected Works of Mao Zedong. During the Great Revolution, it was imperative to develop the peasant movement in depth so as to meet the demand of the peasants for land. This truth was made clear by Chairman Mao in his Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan, in which he supported and elaborated upon the methods put forward by the peasants, offering not only theory, but also the ways to apply it in practice. The trouble was that it was rejected by the leading body of the Communist Party of the time, and the Great Revolution ended in failure. During the civil war, Chairman Mao wanted to promote political work in the army. If you study the draft resolution he proposed at the Ninth Party Congress of the Fourth Army of the Red Army, you’ll find that

the political work now conducted in the People’s Liberation Army can

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be traced all the way back to then. But it took many years to implement Chairman Mao’s ideas step by step, and there were many twists and turns

along the way. Although these ideas were generally accepted in form, their power was felt in actual practice only after a long time. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, we needed to unite with Chiang Kaishek’s government in order to fight Japanese aggression, and though we knew very well that he was wavering and half-heartd, still we had to push him to fight, for only thus could the strength of the whole nation be mobilized. We had to unite with him, and we also had to be watchful

and struggle against his reactionary “unity as well as struggle.” In order War of Resistance and to expand the convince many people. Within the Front,

there

were

people

who

said:

tendency. This is what to use this tactic to carry people’s own forces, we Anti-Japanese National Since

you

want

unity,

we call on the had to United there

shouldn’t be any criticism. Some people inside our Party shared this view. So there were many complicated struggles. before this principle was really applied. The War of Liberation has been going on relatively well, but there have been minor setbacks and errors too. For instance,

“Left” mistakes were made during the agrarian reform, and they were not fully rectified until the publication of Chairman Mao’s report on December

25, 1947.

All this points up the fact that it requires great effort and much concrete work to put a principle, a truth, or a policy into practice. Besides ‘upholding the truth and pointing out the correct orientation, Chairman Mao has worked out many specific policies and tactics for applying a truth or a principle. Otherwise we could not bring the revolution to victory. Chairman Mao does not indulge in empty talk about truth but integrates truth with practice and gives it substance. That is how we have won our present victories. In learning from Mao Zedong, our young people must study his specific policies and tactics as well.as the orientation, principles and truths he points out; only thus can our work be closely linked with reality. Young people must not indulge in empty talk but should go into action. Lenin, the great revolutionary leader of the world’s proletariat, called for “fewer pompous phrases, more plain, everyday work.” This is a precious teaching for our young people. Mao Zedong Thought has the

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distinctive feature of giving concrete expression to universal truth and applying it on Chinese soil. Our young people should learn to do likewise. When Chairman Mao gives universal truth concrete expression and applies it to China, he doesn’t just confine himself to working out the measures. Nor is it a case of a few individuals carrying those measures out by themselvés, regardless of whether they are understandable or acceptable to others. No, it’s not like that at all. Chairman Mao explains a truth tirelessly, going over it again and again, until it’s accepted by . everyone and turned into strength. So in order to transform the leaders’ ” understanding and wisdom into the strength of the masses, it is necessary to go through a process of education and persuasion and sometimes even a period of waiting, waiting for the masses to come to an awakening. When Chairman Mao’s views have not yet been accepted by everybody, he waits. He explains his views whenever there is an opportunity, doing more educating and persuading. He has run into this

situation inside the Party too, when

his opinion

wasn’t accepted

by

others. As I said earlier, that was the case during the ten-year civil war. We wanted to attack big cities, but Chairman Mao saw that our forces were inadequate. He maintained that we should concentrate our efforts on building base areas, not on striking at the cities. But his views weren’t accepted by the majority who wanted such attacks, and he had no

alternative but to follow the majority.

The result was that we were

defeated. Then he promptly said at a meeting: ‘Well, we’ve lost; this proves that our method is wrong. Let’s change it.” When the others still wouldn’t go along, he had to wait again and follow the majority. Take the Long March which I’ve mentioned. We were defeated in Jiangxi, having blindly fought a war of attrition; in the end we couldn’t hold out and were forced to evacuate. But in the course of the Long March,

Chairman Mao again put. forward his correct views, rectified the erroneous line at the Zunyi Meeting and led the Red Army out of danger by taking it across the snow-capped mountains and the marshland into northern Shaanxi. His views finally proved to be correct, while those of the majority were wrong. All this shows us what must be done when correct ideas are not accepted by other people. We must wait and we must persuade. But, organizationally, we must submit to the decisions

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taken by the majority. When the masses are deceived, it isn’t easy for them to accept the truth, but they will support the correct views after they have gradually become awakened. Thus very often correct views will triumph and become acceptable only after many twists and turns and a period of waiting. Of course, this period of waiting is a painful one. If the Party’s leading organs had accepted Chairman Mao’s views earlier, the revolution would not have

sustained such great losses and we would have become much stronger. -Since the influence of our backward Chinese society is felt inside the Party and the revolutionary organizations, it often happens that correct opinions are not easily understood at once. Thus, we have to wait and do some persuading, and go through a painful process. However, there will be less of that in our future work. This is because the Central Committee of our Communist Party today is not the same as it was in those days. The overwhelming majority of our comrades accept Mao Zedong as their leader and have real faith in him, and he enjoys the * support of the people. But this is true only as regards the general orientation. For instance, all agree with the general principle of carrying the revolution through to the end and engaging in new-democratic construction. But there will still be much controversy over specific policies and specific work. Hence the need to learn, to learn from Chairman Mao’s persistence in upholding the truth, clarifying principles and orientation, and giving them concrete expression so as to turn them into the people’s strength. These things cannot be accomplished in haste. To push the revolution forward we must have great perseverance, patience and indomitable will. Only then will we win final victory. We must not think that it’s enough just to raise a simple slogan. We should not be discouraged when a slogan fails of its effect, or be complacent and tempted to rest on our oars when it succeeds. If we did that, we wouldn’t be worthy students of Chairman Mao. He has persisted in giving the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism concrete expression on

Chinese soil and turning it into the strength of the masses, and this accounts for our great victories in the Chinese revolution. Today, not only does the Chinese Communist Party respect him, but all the people who are enjoying the fruits of victory of the revolution will have faith in him and trust him wholeheartedly.

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Another thing we must learn from Chairman Mao in upholding truth and making it prevail is that the principles he puts forward always take the majority of people into consideration and are in their interests. It’s true that he is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, but at the same time it is generally acknowledged that he is the leader of the whole nation. As far as the Communist Party is concerned, he represents

the proletariat. Numerically, the Chinese proletariat consists of only

several million people, less than one per cent of the population. How is the Communist Party, which represents this class, to win victory in the Chinese revolution? Chairman Mao makes it his central objective to apply the proletarian Marxist ideology to Chinese reality, win over the overwhelming majority of the people and rally them around the proletariat to bring the revolution to victory. He does not confine himself to a tiny circle and indulge in empty talk about revolution. Chairman Mao understands.that in order to wipe out the fiercely reactionary enemy, it is necessary to muster all the forces available and not just rely on the vanguard to do everything. The proletariat is the vanguard, but we can’t rely on the vanguard alone. During the Great Revolution, Chairman Mao was already aware that the peasants were the largest ally and that the people’s revolution could not triumph without them. And sure enough, the revolution suffered defeat because his views weren’t listened to. Later, when we got to the countryside, Chairman Mao saw that in order to carry out the revolution it is necessary not only to rely on the peasants, but also

to win over the middle and petty bourgeoisie. As Chiang Kai-shek’s counter-revolutionary treachery became further exposed, only the comprador-bureaucrat and feudal landlord classes supported him. But a group of people inside the Communist Party made “‘Left” deviationist mistakes and were very narrow in their outlook, holding that the middle and petty bourgeoisie were unreliable. They didn’t listen to Chairman Mao, and the result was that the revolution suffered another setback and

we had to match 25,000 /7. Then Chairman Mao proposed that we unite with Chiang Kai-shek and other members of the upper strata to resist Japanese aggression. But some people said that if we wanted unity, there

shouldn’t be any struggle. Chairman Mao replied that Chiang and the others

were our domestic enemy; we were uniting with them in order

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to fight the national enemy. But they were not reliable partners or allies, and we must guard against them; otherwise, they might turn on us. We took measures to avert Right deviations and to prevent unqualified compromises. During the present War of Liberation, “Left” deviationist mistakes. were made in agrarian reform in the countryside: In order to eliminate the landlord class, landlords were given poor land or no land at all so that they could not eke out a living; or too many people were classified as feudal rich peasants or landlords. Moreover, on the question of executions, it was stipulated that no one should be executed except for those who had committed serious crimes, refused to mend their ways’and were bitterly hated by the people. But, sometimes, when the people were filled with wrath, these distinctions were not made, and the leadership did not attempt to persuade the masses, so too many people were put to death. This had an adverse effect on our united front with the peasantry, and particularly with the middle peasants. This mistake was also corrected by Chairman Mao. From these four revolutionary stages we can see that Chairman Mao’s view on the united front is that we should bring together the broadest possible army of allies and defeat our enemies one by one. During the War of Resistance, our aim was to defeat Japanese imperialism. Since the Japanese imperialists were driven out of our country, we have gone on to defeat the Kuomintang reactionaries and topple the reactionary regime in China. In the countryside, overthrow the feudal landlord class — the foundation of the reactionary regime. Internationally, oppose U.S. imperialist aggression against China. ° Under these slogans we have united more than go per cent of the people, including large numbers of peasants. So Chairman Mao tells many cadres in our Party that when they write their diaries every day, if they just jot down “unite the 90 per cent” and nothing else, that will be enough. I think that our biggest achievement under his leadership is that we

have

won

over

the

vast

overthrowing reactionary rule. apply the universal truth of country, we must combine it concrete, arduous tasks, forge time and get the vast majority

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majority

to

the

common

cause

of

This our young people should learn. To, Marxism-Leninism successfully in our with Chinese realities, undertake many ahead unflinchingly, struggle for a long of the people, including large numbers

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81

of-young people,-te follow us in our march forward. We cannot rely only on this small contingent of ours. The most important role of the Youth Federation is to organize young people throughout the country and inspire and educate them, so that they will study, progress and march forward with us. Among the young people we unite with we do not include reactionaries; we must not allow them to sneak in. But we must embrace all young people who are ready to fight for the cause of New Democracy. Though different in ideology, they are now ready to study Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Some of them still have superstitious and backward ideas, place technological expertise above all else and are one-sided in their approach, but we should include them nevertheless. We can educate and remould them. That is why we have put forward the slogan

which

is also

our

objective:

“Learn

from

Mao

Zedong!”

This

is

acceptable to all young people, not only progressives but others as well. Naturally, to unite with and educate young people doesn’t mean that we tell them only about the merits of the Communist Party, and not about its mistakes. At this youth conference, instead of trying to cover

up the mistakes of the Communist Party, we have made many of them

known. Some of the things about the Party that I have discussed today were not known to you before, and they may still be unknown to some

comrades within the Party, but now you know them. Today you are representing not just several million young people but tens of millions or even a hundred million. You are, therefore, asked to note that the

Communist Party must not be rash and force its ideas upon so many young people. It is the Kuomintang’s way to force people to accept what they don’t want to, imposing restraints upon people, just like the Goddess of Mercy throwing the magic tightening ring onto the head of the Monkey‘ King. In teaching people to learn from Mao Zedong, we shall not resort to coercion. What we have put forward is just a slogan, a resounding slogan to which young people in their millions will respond. For today Chairman Mao is the leader not only of the Chinese youth but also of the whole Chinese people and of the Chinese Communist

Party. He is a banner for us to follow.

Here, a word of explanation is needed regarding the question of freedom of thought. Reactionaries, including Chiang Kai-shek, often

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MAO ZEDONG

claim that they are for freedom of thought. As everybody knows, that is nonsense, for what freedom is there under Chiang Kai-shek’s rule? The people are suffering oppression and exploitation. Only the small handful of reactionary landlords and bureaucrat-capitalists are free—free to exploit, oppress and slaughter the people. In the bourgeois-democratic countries, only the bourgeoisie have freedom of thought, which is denied to the workers and peasants. In our newdemocratic country, the people will enjoy full freedom of thought. Aside from reactionary ideology, all other kinds will be allowed to exist. Not only progressive, socialist or communist but also religious ideas may exist. The propagation of reactionary ideas is not allowed, but apart from that, there is freedom of speech, the press, assembly and association. The Communist Party holds that historical materialism is

correct and that Mao Zedong Thought is correct. These ideas, of course,

should be propagated. But it does not mean that other ideologies are not allowed to exist. We educate people in our ideology, but they are

free to choose whether to listen or not, whether

to accept or not. This

is the only approach that is truly educational and appropriate to leadership — an approach of working together with other people, a cooperative approach. , Our slogan is “Learn from Mao Zedong!”, but we need not confine ourselves to the’ study of Mao Zedong Thought. Under this slogan, our young people must study various subjects, such as newdemocratic construction, economics, politics and culture and the many

different specialized fields in the sciences and technology. All these should be studied. Dedication to study — that is one of Chairman Mao’s characteristics. He studies day in, day out, and never feels satisfied. He often says that he doesn’t understand this or that subject and needs to study it. To be his pupils, we must learn this spirit from him. In making these remarks, of course I have not introduced to you all of Chairman Mao’s merits or all of his principal doctrines. I’ve only taken up a very small part of Mao Zedong Thought. Chairman Mao’s achievements in founding a people’s army, his military strategy and tactics; his political writings On New Democracy and On Coalition Government, his articles on economics; in culture, his Tales at the Yanan Forum on Literature and Art, his new contributions to philosophy and

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his Marxist ideological system; and all the rest — his achievements are enormous. They ate not only wide-ranging, but specialized, profound. I don’t intend to say more about them here. As for Chairman Mao’s attitude towards study, his own motto is “seek truth from facts.” He is most honest, unequivocal about what is

right and what is wrong. He is strongly opposed to conceit and impetuosity. In the thirty years of the revolutionary movement, he has matured through the struggle against conceit and impetuosity. He has a modest and prudent style of work. He has both the revolutionary sweep and the efficiency Stalin spoke of in the book The Foundations of Leninism. So in order to learn from him to seek truth from facts, we

should have an honest attitude and style of work and should not acquire habits of superficiality, conceit or impetuosity. The Chinese Communist Party has learned this lesson through the people’s revolutionary movement. I too have been impatient in the past. Of course it’s not easy for the younger generation to learn this. We must be careful and conscientious and make as few mistakes as possible. Mistakes are unavoidable, but we must not repeat them. There is no young person who won’t stumble or suffer setbacks. But you should not lose heart when you meet with setbacks. In our revolutionary struggle, no one knows how much blood has been shed, how many reverses have been suffered, or how many people have fallen. But we should not lose heart even in the most difficult times. As Chairman Mao said, we should pick ourselves up, wipe off the blood, bury our fallen comrades and go into battle again. This is the kind of willpower and courage we must have, Today we’re about to win nationwide victory, and a great new day is dawning for us. But we must not become arrogant because we are winning;

we

must

not

think

that

we

are

all-powerful

and

can

be

oblivious to the lessons of the past. Chairman Mao says that winning nationwide victory is only the first step in a long march of ten thousand 4, and there is much arduous work waiting to be done. Here two lessons merit our attention. One is that we must not look down on others and become

alienated

from

the

masses;

the

other

is that

we

must

not

degenerate politically. These are the enemies, so to speak, of our young people. We must rid ourselves of impetuosity, arrogance, dejection, discouragement and demoralization; we must learn from Mao Zedong’s

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style of study and style of work, be honest, seek truth from facts, work conscientiously and advance steadily and courageously. Only thus can we get millions upon millions of young people to march forward with us. Only thus can we bring about the democratic emancipation of the people of the whole country, achieve national independence, build a new-democratic new China and strive for a lasting world peace. Our slogan is: “Young people of the whole country, unite and march forward under the banner of Mao Zedong!”

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ON

MAO

ZEDONG AND MAO THOUGHT*

ZEDONG :

Deng Xiaoping

(1) How should we hold high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought? This is a really big question. Many people, both inside and outside the Party, and both at home and abroad, want the banner to be held high. What does that mean? How are we to do so? As you all know, there is a doctrine known as the “two whatevers.” Hasn’t it become famous? According to this doctrine, whatever documents Comrade Mao Zedong

read and endorsed and whatever he did and said must always determine our actions, without the slightest deviation. Can this be called holding

high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought? Certainly not! If this goes on, it will debase Mao Zedong Thought. The fundamental point of Mao Zedong Thought is seeking truth from facts and integrating the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution. Comrade Mao Zedong wrote a four-word motto for the Central Party School in Yanan: “Seek truth from facts.” These four *This article is made up of passages from the Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping (19751982). Part (1) is an excerpt from remarks made on hearing a work report by members of the Standing Committee of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Communist Party

of China on September 16, 1978, published in the Selected Works under. the title “Hold

High the Banner of Mao Zedong Thought and Adhere to the Principle of Secking Truth from Facts”; Part (2) is an excerpt from a speech at a forum on the principles for the Party’s theoretical work, published under the title “Uphold the Four Cardinal Principles”; Part (3) consists of excerpts from “Answers to the Italian Journalist Oriana

Fallaci” on August 21 and 23, 1980; Part (4) is made up of excerpts from “Remarks on Successive Drafts of the ‘Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party

Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China,’”” March 1980-June 1981. 85

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words are the quintessence of Mao Zedong Thought. In the final analysis, Comrade Mao’s greatness and his success in guiding the Chinese revolution to victory rest on just this approach. Marx and Lenin _ Never mentioned the encirclement of the cities from the countryside — a strategic principle that had not been formulated anywhere in the world in their lifetime. Nonetheless, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed it out as the specific road for the revolution in China’s concrete conditions. At a time when the country was split up into separatist warlord domains,

he led the people in the fight to establish revolutionary bases in areas

where the enemy’s control was weak, to encircle the cities from the countryside and ultimately to seize political power. Just as the Bolshevik Party led by Lenin made its revolution at a weak link in the chain of the imperialist world, we made our revolution in areas where the enemy was weak. In principle, the two courses were the same. But instead of trying to take the cities first, we began with the rural areas, then gtadually encircled the cities. If we had not applied the fundamental principle of-:seeking truth from facts, how could we have raised and solved this problem of strategy? How could the Chinese revolution have been victorious? After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Comrade Mao Zedong continued to lead us forward by applying the principle of seeking truth from facts. Of course, at that time many questions could not be raised because the necessary conditions were absent. If we are to

hold high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought, we must always proceed from current reality when handling questions of principle and policy. Today,

as we

work

to achieve

China’s

four modernizations,

many

conditions are present which were absent in Comrade’ Mao’s time. Unless the Central Committee of the Party is prepared to rethink issues and is determined to act in the light of present conditions, many questions will never be posed or resolved. For example, while Comrade

Mao was still living we thought about expanding economic and technical exchanges with other countries. We wanted to develop economic and trade relations with certain capitalist countries and even to absorb foreign capital and undertake joint ventures. But the necessary conditions were not present, because at the time an embargo was being imposed on China. And later, the Gang of Four branded any attempt

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at economic relations with other countries as “worshipping things foreign and fawning on foreigners” or as “national betrayal,” and so sealed China off from the outside world. Comrade Mao Zedong’s strategic idea of differentiating the three worlds opened up a road for us. We have gone on opposing imperialism, hegemonism, colonialism and racism, working to safeguard world peace, and actively developing relations, including economic and cultural exchanges, with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. After several years of effort, we have secured international conditions

that are far better than before; they enable us to make use of capital from foreign countries and of their advanced technology and experience in business management. These conditions did not exist during Comrade

Mao Zedong’s lifetime. Yes, foreigners may still deceive us or take advantage of our backwardness. For instance, when we import complete plants, they may edge up the price or pass off inferior goods as highgrade ones. But generally speaking, we now have favourable conditions which weren’t there before. If we were never supposed to do anything that Comrade Mao hadn’t suggested, we could never have decided on our present course of action. What does holding high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought mean here? It means proceeding from present realities and making full use of all favourable conditions to attain the objective of the four modernizations as defined by Comrade Mao Zedong and proclaimed by Comrade Zhou Enlai. If we could only act as Comrade Mao suggested, what could we do now? We have to develop Marxism and also Mao Zedong Thought. Otherwise, they will become ossified. When we say that theory must be tested in practice, this is what we are talking about. That the issue is still being argued shows how rigid some people’s thinking has become. The basic problem is still the one I’ve mentioned — that these people’s thinking violates Comrade Mao Zedong’s principle of secking truth from facts and the principles of dialectical and historical materialism. We have here, in fact, a reflection

of idealism and metaphysics. The world is changing every day, new things are constantly emerging and new problems continually arising. We can’t afford to lock our doors, refuse to use our brains and remain

forever backward. In today’s world, our country is counted as poor. Even within the third world, China still rates as relatively

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underdeveloped. We are a socialist country. The basic expression of the superiority of our socialist system is that it allows the productive forces of our society to grow at a rapid rate unknown in old China, and that it permits us gradually to satisfy our people’s constantly growing material and cultural needs.

After all, from

the historical materialist

point of view correct political leadership should result in the growth of the productive forces and the improvement of the material and cultural life of the people. If the rate of growth of the productive forces in a socialist country lags behind that in capitalist countries over an extendéd historical period, how can we talk about the superiority of the socialist system? We should ponder the question: What have we really done for the people? We must make use of the favourable conditions we now enjoy to accelerate the growth of our productive forces, improve the people’s material and cultural life and broaden their outlook.

(2) We must uphold Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. One of the key points of our struggle against Lin Biao and the Gang of Four was opposition to their falsification, doctoring and fragmenting of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Since the smashing of the Gang, we have restored the scientific character of MarxismLeninism and Mao Zedong Thought and have guided ourselves by them. This is a resounding victory for the whole Party and people. But a few individuals think otherwise. Either they openly oppose the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism, or else they uphold Marxism-Leninism in word only while in deed opposing Mao Zedong Thought, which represents the integration of the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the practice of the Chinese revolution. We must oppose these erroneous trends of thought. Some comrades say that we should uphold “correct Mao Zedong Thought,” but not “erroneous Mao Zedong Thought.” This kind of statement is also wrong. What we consistently take as our guide to action are the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought or, to put it another way, the scientific system formed by these tenets. When it comes to individual theses, neither Marx and Lenin nor Comrade Mao could be immune from misjudgements of

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one sort or another. But these do not belong to the scientific system formed by the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong

Thought.

Now I want to talk at some length about Mao Zedong Thought. China’s anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolution went through innumerable cruel defeats. Was it not Mao Zedong Thought which enabled the Chinese people—about a quarter of the world’s population —to find the correct road for their revolution, achieve nationwide liberation in 1949, and basically accomplish socialist transformation by 1956? This succession of splendid victories changed not only China’s destiny but the world situation as well. From the international point of view, Mao Zedong Thought is inseparably linked with the struggle against hegemonism; and the practice of hegemonism under the banner of socialism is a most obvious betrayal of socialist principles on the part of a Marxist-Leninist party after it has come to power. As I have already mentioned, in the evening of his life Comrade Mao Zedong formulated the strategy of differentiating the three worlds and personally ushered in a new stage in Sino-American and SinoJapanese relations. By so doing he created new conditions for the development of the worldwide struggle against hegemonism and for the future of world politics. While conducting our modernization programme in the present international environment, we cannot help recalling Comrade Mao’s contributions. Comrade Mao, like any other man, had his defects and made errors. But how can these errors in his

illustrious life be put on a par with his immortal contributions to the people? In analysing his defects and errors, we certainly should recognize his personal responsibility, but what is more important is to analyse their complicated historical background. That is the only just and scientific — that is, Marxist — way to assess history and historical figures. Anyone who departs from Marxism on so serious a question will be censured by the Party and the masses. Isn’t that natural? Mao Zedong Thought has been the banner of the Chinese revolution. It is and always will be the banner of China’s socialist cause and of the anti-hegemonist cause. In our forward march we will always

hold the banner of Mao Zedong Thought high.

The cause and the thought of Comrade Mao Zedong are not his alone: they are likewise those of his comrades-in-arms, the Party and the

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people. His thought is the crystallization of the experience of the Chinese people’s revolutionary struggle over half a century. The case of Karl

Marx was similar. In his estimation of Marx, Frederick Engels said that

it was only thanks to Marx that the contemporary proletariat became conscious for the first time of its own position and demands and of the conditions necessary for its own liberation. Does this mean that history is made by any one individual? History is made by the people, but this does not preclude the people from respecting an outstanding individual. Of course, this respect must not turn into blind worship. No man should

be looked upon as a demigod.

.

(3) Oriana Fallaci: Will Chairman Mao’s portrait above Tiananmen Gate be kept there? Deng Xiaoping: \t will, forever. In the past there were too many portraits of Chairman Mao. They were hung everywhere. That was not proper and it didn’t really show respect for Chairman Mao. It’s true that he made mistakes in a certain period, but he was after all a principal founder of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China. In evaluating his merits and mistakes, we hold that his mistakes were only secondary. What he did for the Chinese people can never be erased. In our hearts we Chinese will always cherish him as a founder of our Party and our state. Question: We Westerners find a lot of things hard to understand. The Gang of Four are blamed for all the faults. I’m told that when the Chinese talk about the Gang of Four, many of them hold up five fingers. Answer: We must make a clear distinction between the nature of Chairman Mao’s mistakes and the crimes of Lin Biao and the Gang of Four. For most of his life, Chairman Mao did very good things. Many times he saved the Party and the state from crises. Without him the Chinese people would, at the very least, have spent much more time groping in the dark. Chairman Mao’s greatest contribution was that he applied the principles of Marxism-Leninism to the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution, pointing the way to victory. It should be said that before the sixties or the late fifties many of his ideas brought us victories, and the fundamental principles he advanced were quite

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correct. He creatively applied Marxism-Leninism to every aspect of the Chinese revolution, and he had creative views on philosophy, political

science, military science, literature and art, and so on. Unfortunately, in

the evening of his life, particularly during the “Cultural Revolution,” he made mistakes — and they were not minor ones — which brought many misfortunes upon our Party, our state and our people. As you know, during the Yanan days our Party summed up Chairman Mao’s thinking in various fields as Mao Zedong Thought, and we made it our guiding ideology. We won great victories for the revolution precisely because we adhered to Mao Zedong Thought. Of course, Mao Zedong Thought was not created by Comrade Mao alone— other revolutionaries of the older generation played a part in forming and developing it——but primarily it embodies Comrade Mao’s thinking. Nevertheless, victory made him less prudent, so that in his later years some unsound features and unsound ideas, chiefly “Left” ones, began to emerge. In quite a number of instances he went counter to his own ideas, counter to the fine and correct propositions he had previously put forward, and counter to the style of work he himself had advocated. At this time he increasingly lost touch with reality. He didn’t maintain a good style of work. He did not consistently practise democratic

centralism and the mass line, for instance, and he failed to institutionalize

them during his lifetime. This was not the fault of Comrade Mao Zedong alone. Other revolutionaries of the older generation, including me, should also be held responsible. Some abnormalities appeared in the political life of our Party and state— patriarchal ways or styles of work developed, and glorification of the individual was rife; political life in general wasn’t too healthy. Eventually these things led to the “Cultural Revolution,” which was a mistake.

Question: You mentioned that in his last years, Chairman Mao was in poor health. But at the time of Liu Shaogqi’s arrest and his subsequent death in prison Mao’s health wasn’t so bad. And there are other mistakes to be accounted for. Wasn’t the Great Leap Forward a mistake? Wasn’t copying the Soviet model a mistake? How far back should the past mistakes be traced? And what did Chairman Mao really want with the “Cultural Revolution”? Answer: Mistakes began to occur in the late fifties —the Great Leap Forward, for instance. But that wasn’t solely Chairman Mao’s fault

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either. The people around him got carried away too. We acted in direct contravention of objective laws, attempting to boost the economy all at once. As our subjective wishes went against objective laws, losses

were inevitable. Still, it is Chairman Mao who should be held primarily responsible for the Great Leap Forward. But it didn’t take him long — just a few months—to recognize his mistake, and he did so before the rest of us and proposed corrections. And in 1962, when because of some other factors those corrections had not been fully carried out, he made a self-criticism. But the lessons were not fully drawn, and as a result the “Cultural Revolution” erupted. So far as Chairman Mao’s own hopes were concerned, he initiated the “Cultural Revolution” in order to avert the restoration of capitalism, but he had

made an erroneous assessment of China’s actual situation. In the first place, the targets of the revolution were wrongly defined, which led to the effort to ferret out “capitalist roaders in power in the Party.” Blows were dealt at leading cadres at all levels who had made contributions to the revolution and had practical experience, including Comrade Liu Shaogi. In the last couple of years before Chairman Mao’s death he said that the “Cultural Revolution” had been wrong on two counts: one was “overthrowing all,” and the other was waging a “full-scale civil war.” These two counts alone show that the “Cultural Revolution” cannot be called correct. Chairman Mao’s mistake was a political mistake, and not a small one. On

the other hand, it was taken advantage of by the two

countet-revolutionary cliques headed by Lin Biao and the Gang

of

Four, who schemed to usurp power. Therefore, we should draw a line

between Chairman Mao’s mistakes and the crimes of Lin Biao and the Gang of Four. Question.

But we all know that it was Chairman Mao himself who

Answer:

This is what I’ve just referred to as an incorrect way of

chose Lin Biao as his successor, much in the same way as an emperor chooses his heir.

doing things. For a leader to pick his own successor is a feudal practice. It is an illustration of the imperfections in our institutions which I referred to a moment ago.

Question. To what extent will Chairman Mao be involved when you hold your next Party congress? Answer:

We will make an objective assessment of Chairman Mao’s

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contributions and his mistakes. We will reaffirm that his contributions are primary and his mistakes secondary. We will adopt a realistic approach towards the mistakes he made late in life. We will continue to adhere to Mao Zedong Thought, which represents the correct part of Chairman Mao’s life. Not only did Mao Zedong Thought lead us to victory in the revolution in the past; it is — and will continue to be —a treasured possession of the Chinese Communist Party and of our country. That is why we will forever keep Chairman Mao’s portrait on Tiananmen Gate as a symbol of our country, and we will always remember him as a founder of our Party and state. Moreover, we will

adhere to Mao Zedong Thought. We will not do to Chairman Mao what Khrushchov did to Stalin.

(4) One most important question is whether the resolution should include an appraisal of the merits and demerits of Comrade Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought. If so, how should they be appraised? I talked to some comrades from the Guards Bureau under the General Office of the Central Committee; they told me they had read to their soldiers

the transcript of my recent interview with the Italian journalist Oriana

Fallaci and had organized some discussions on it. All the officers and men felt that what I had said was appropriate and acceptable. If we don’t mention Mao Zedong Thought and don’t make an appropriate

evaluation of Comrade Mao’s merits and demerits, the old workers will

not feel satisfied, nor will the poor and lower-middle peasants of the period of land reform, nor the many cadres who have close ties with them. On no account can we discard the banner of Mao Zedong Thought. To do so would, in fact, be to negate the glorious history of our Party. On the whole, the Party’s history is glorious. Our Party has also made big mistakes in the course of its history, including some in the three decades since the founding of New China, not least, so gross a mistake as the “Cultural Revolution.” But after all, we did triumph in the revolution. It is since the birth of the People’s Republic that China’s status in the world has been so greatly enhanced. It is since the founding of the People’s Republic that our great country, with nearly a quarter of the world’s population, has stood up — and stood firm — in

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the community of nations. That’s how Comrade Mao Zedong put it: The Chinese people have now stood up. Our people at home and Chinese nationals abroad all felt this change deeply and strongly. It is also since the founding of the People’s Republic that the country (excepting Taiwan) has been truly reunified. In old China, there was no national reunification in the true sense under the rule of the Kuomintang, much less in the previous years of constant fighting among warlords. Provinces like Shanxi, Guangdong, Guangxi and

Sichuan could not be considered as being really united with the rest of

China. Our country would still be in its old plight were it not for our Communist

Party,

our

new-democratic

revolution,

our

socialist

revolution and the establishment of our socialist system. What we have achieved cannot be separated from the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and Comrade Mao Zedong. It is precisely this point that many of our young people don’t sufficiently appreciate. The appraisal of Comrade Mao Zedong and the exposition of Mao Zedong Thought relate not only to Comrade Mao personally but also to the entire history of our Party and our country. We must keep this overall judgement in mind. We have emphasized it repeatedly ever since we started drafting this resolution. It must contain a section expounding Mao Zedong Thought. It’s not merely a theoretical question that is involved but also and especially a political question of great domestic and international significance. If we don’t have this section, or if it is badly written, it would be better to have no resolution at all. As to how to write it, we should of course give serious consideration to the suggestions made by the comrades. It is right not to say that Mao Zedong Thought is a development of Marxism-Leninism in all its aspects or that it represents a new stage of Marxism. But we ought to recognize that Mao Zedong Thought is the application and development of Marxism-Leninism in China. In the course of applying it to the solution of China’s practical problems, our Party has indeed developed Marxism-Leninism in many respects. That is an objective reality and a historical fact. The draft resolution, however it is written, should also contain a clear exposition of the merits and demerits of Comrade Mao, the content of Mao Zedong Thought and its guiding role in-our work both at present and for the future. Since the Third Plenary Session, we have been restoring the correct things

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advocated by Comrade Mao Zedong; we have been studying and applying Mao Zedong Thought correctly and as an integral whole. The basic points of Mao Zedong Thought are still those we have enumerated. In many respects, we are doing things Comrade Mao suggested but failed to do himself, setting right his erroneous opposition to certain things and accomplishing some things that he did not. All this we shall continue to do for a fairly long time. Of course, we have developed Mao Zedong Thought and will go on developing

it.

Mao Zedong Thought was set as the guiding thought for our whole Party at its Seventh National Congress. The Party educated an entire generation in Mao Zedong Thought, and that is what enabled us to win the revolutionary war and found the People’s Republic of China. The “Cultural Revolution” was really a gross error. However, our Party was able to smash the counter-revolutionary cliques of Lin Biao and the Gang of Four and put an end to the “Cultural Revolution” and it has continued to advance ever since. Who achieved all this? Is it not the generation educated in Mao Zedong Thought? Now, when we speak of setting things right, we mean that we should undo the damage done by Lin Biao and the Gang of Four, criticize the mistakes Comrade Mao Zedong made in his later years, and put things back on the right track of Mao Zedong Thought. In short, if we fail to include in the resolution a section concerning Mao Zedong Thought, which, since it has been proved correct in practice, ought to serve as the guideline for our future work, we will diminish the practical and historical significance of the revolution and construction we have engaged in and will continue to engage in. It would be a grave historical mistake not to expound Mao Zedong Thought in the resolution or to cease to adhere to it. Today, some comrades attribute many problems to the personal qualities of Comrade Mao Zedong. As a matter of fact, there are quite a few problems that cannot be explained in that way. Mistakes are * unavoidable under some circumstances even for people of fine quality. During the period of the Red Army, a campaign was mounted against the A-B [“Anti-Bolshevik”] Group in the Central Revolutionary Base Area. Can it be said that all the participants in the campaign were bad people? At first, Comrade Mao Zedong also took part in this struggle, but he came to see what was wrong with it earlier than others and drew

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the necessary lessons. Later, in Yanan, he put forward the principle of “killing none and arresting few.” In the exceptionally tense wartime conditions that then prevailed, when bad elements were discovered within our ranks, it was necessary to heighten our vigilance. However, when we failed to act soberly and make clear analyses but simply

believed in confessions by the accused, it was hard to avoid mistakes.

Objectively, the situation then was really tense but subjectively, of course, there was also the problem of our lack of experience. And, in the “Cultural Revolution,” Comrade Mao Zedong did not

intend to overthrow all the veteran cadres. For instance, from the very beginning Lin Biao was bent on persecuting Comrade He Long, but Comrade Mao Zedong wanted to protect him. Despite the fact that Comrade Mao wanted to “rectify” anyone who disobeyed him, he still gave some consideration to how far he should go. We cannot say that he bore no responsibility for the intensified persecution of veteran cadres that occurred later, but he was not the only one to blame. In some instances, persecutions had already been carried out by Lin Biao and the Gang of Four, while in others they took place behind Comrade Mao’s back. This notwithstanding, it must be said that the overthrow of a large number of cadres was one of the biggest tragedies of Comrade Mao Zedong’s later years. In those years, Comrade Mao Zedong was in fact not so consistent in his thinking as he previously had been, and some of his statements were mutually contradictory. For instance, in appraising the “Cultural Revolution,” he said that its mistakes amounted to only 30 per cent and its achievements to 70 per cent. And when he referred to the 30 per cent of mistakes, he meant “overthrowing all” and waging a “full-scale civil war.” How can anyone reconcile this with the idea of 70 per cent achievements?

.

We should unequivocally criticize mistakes, including those by Comrade Mao Zedong. But we must seek truth from facts and analyse the different situations —and not attribute everything to the personal qualities of particular individuals. Comrade Mao Zedong was not an isolated individual, he was the leader of our Party until the moment of his death. When we write about his mistakes, we should not exaggerate, for otherwise we shall be discrediting Comrade

Mao

Zedong, and this

would mean discrediting our Party and state. Any exaggeration of his mistakes would be at variance with the historical facts.

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ON

THE LONG MARCH WITH CHAIRMAN MAO* Chen Changfeng

1.

I Became an Orderly

I became a member of our glorious people’s army in 1929. I was posted as a bugler with the headquarters of the Fourth Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, under the command of Comrade Zhu De. Later I became an orderly. One afternoon at the end of March 1930, when the headquarters was in Baisha Village, Yongfeng County, Jiangxi, Adjutant Officer Liu told me that I would be transferred. At that time I did not fully understand the meaning of the word “transferred:’ So I asked him what it meant. “Transferred means that you’ll change your place of work,” said Liu, looking at me intently as if there were something important which he could not tell me at once. “Where’ll I be transferred to?” I asked Liu again. I wasn’t too pleased because I was well satisfied where I was. “You'll go to the Front Committee as orderly for Commissar Mao,” ~-,

he said with a smile.

[knew the Front Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, but

who Commissar Mao was, I wasn’t quite clear. He must be a leading

officer, I reckoned, otherwise he couldn’t have an orderly. But what sort

of man was he? Was he good tempered? Adjutant Liu, seeing my hesitation, patted me on the shoulder and said encouragingly: “You’re a lucky little devil. Commissar Mao is a wonderful man. You’ll certainly have a wonderful future if you work

*Written in 1973. The author was formerly Mao Zedong’s orderly. 97

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with him!” Then he handed me a letter of introduction, told me to pack up my things and be off. [had little to carry. All] had weighed just about three jin* all told.

The Front-Committee was in the same village, sol was soon there.

I was a bit nervous. A comrade named Wu took me to the Commissar. He lived in a typical Jiangxi wooden house with two rooms, one a bedroom and the other an office. We entered through the bedroom. In it was an ordinary wooden bed covered with a cotton sheet. It didn’t even have a pillow. I grew less nervous. Judging from the room, the Commissar must he living as simply as all of us, I thought. Two men were talking together in the office. Comrade Wu indicated the man in the chair and whispered: “That’s Commissar Mao.” I looked at him curiously. His grey uniform was the same as ours. The only difference was that the pockets on his coat seemed to be especially large. His black hair contrasted sharply with his fair complexion. Maybe he was a bit too thin. His eyes seemed to be very big and keen. He seemed to be about forty at most. Talking to a man opposite him, he gesticulated with his hands; his voice was gentle. Although I didn’t understand what he was

talking about, I felt he was very sincere. A little time later, his visitor stood up to go. He too stood up. It was orily then that I saw he was quite tall. As soon as the visitor went out, Comrade Wu said to Commissar Mao, pointing at me, “I have found an orderly for you.” Although I felt a bit shy, I didn’t forget the manners which I had learned at army headquarters. I advanced a step, saluted and said “Report!” in a loud voice. Commissar Mao looked at me and smiled kindly. That smile swept away all my reservations. “What’s your surname?” he asked. “Chen,”

I replied loudly, like a real soldier.

“What are you called?”

“Changfeng.”

“How old are you?” “Sixteen.” By this time my voice sounded a bit more natural. “Why did you join the Red Army?” Commissar Mao asked me like a school teacher questioning a pupil.

*A jin is equal to 1/2 kilogramme or about 1.1 Ib.

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“The Red Army is good. It fights the local despots!” I was still standing straight at attention. Commissar Mao made me sit down and asked with interest, “Are there local despots in your home village?” “Yes,” I said, “I was driven away by them myself.” _And I told him in detail how I had lived with my family and how our house was tansacked and every thing in it taken away by a local despot because we owed him some money. How I had run away and joined the Red Army. He listened to me attentively, sometimes nodding and smiling slightly. This put me at ease, and I felt I could get along with this man very well; so I talked on at great length. It was only when Comrade Wu nudged me that I realized I had talked too long. I felt a bit embarrassed and stopped. “Well,” said Commissar Mao. “Now you'll have to work and study hard.” After a pause, he asked, “Can you write your name?” I stood up and twisted the edge of my jacket in embarrassment.

“I’ve never been to school. I don’t know how to write,” I replied. Commissar Mao smiled and stood up. “Then

you'll have to learn to write— your own

names of other people. You'll like that, won’t you?”

name

and the

“Yes, I will,” I replied in a low voice.

He turned and addressed Comrade Wu. “This is anew comrade, you must do.your best to help him.” Then he turned back to me, “If there is anything you’re not clear about, just ask them.”

As I went down the stairs with Comrade Wu, he said to me:

“Why did you gabble on so? Don’t you know how busy he is?” I shook my head. “He’s a busy man,” Wu

continued.

“Remember

not to make

noise when he’s reading. Besides he always works late into the night. You must get him his breakfast, but not too early, mind!”

“Yes,” I replied. I was very happy and so excited that I didn’t sleep a wink the whole night. . The next morning I took a wooden

bucket to fetch water which

I took to be my daily routine. I was stopped by Comrade Wu. “What are you doing?”

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“Fetching water for Commissar Mao,” I said confidently. “Didn’t I tell you Commissar Mao slept late?” Wu was impatient. “You're not to wake him up!” I nodded and put down the bucket. For some days after that I would set Commissar Mao’s washing water for him by his door early in the morning without making a sound and then sit in a small hammock

near the landing waiting there for his

orders. But Commissar Mao rarely called me and I sat in this way for several days. One day after washing, however, he asked me: “Chen Changfeng, why do you always sit there without stirring?” T held the hammock still and answered, “I am afraid ifI go away you'll not find me if you want me.”

He smiled as if talking to a child. “From now on you must not just

sit there doing nothing. When there is nothing for you to do here, you

go and study with the others. There isn’t much for you to do here.” At that time battles were being fought every day. We were constantly on the move. We’d seldom stay at a place for more than a month. Commissar Mao’s life was very simple and I soon got to know his habits. His personal possessions included only two blankets, one cotton sheet, two grey uniforms, just as we privates wore, a worn overcoat, and

one grey woollen sweater. Then he had a broken eating and a knapsack with nine compartments for and books. When we were campaigning or on the knapsack and umbrella himself. 1 would carry the to our camp site, I would

find two wooden

umbrella, a bowl for his maps, documents march, he carried the rest. When we came

boards, put them together

and spread the blankets and sheet on them, folding up his uniforms to make a pillow. This was his bed. He slept very little. We had a small lamp; during the march this was used as a torch to light the way, but when in camp it was set on a brick or stone for use in his office. After supper he would light this lamp, open up his knapsack and take out his maps, documents and books, papers, and writing brush and sometimes work till dawn, At that time I was a youngster and couldn’t sit up all night without sleep. When Commissar Mao was reading or writing, I would sit beside

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him, but very soon I’d doze off snoring away with my head on his desk. We would both smile whenever he woke me up and told me to go to

bed.

On summer nights he would ask me to fetch some water. Then I’d take the little wooden dipper and bring some cold water. Because we didn’t have a basin, he would soak the towel in the dipper and rub his face and sometimes his body to freshen himself up. Then he’d feel hungry, and I’d warm up the “‘rice sandwich” (two layers of rice with cooked vegetables in between) left in the bowl since the afternoon for him to eat. Sometimes he couldn’t finish his bowl of rice so I would cover it up with a piece of paper for him to eat at the next meal. Once I threw away the rice he had left and the next day he asked: “Chen Changfeng, where is the rice I left yesterday?” I told him what I had done and he criticized me. “There is a struggle for every grain of rice that the people grow. In future you mustn’t throw away what I leave. Keep it for the next meal.” At one time we were marching and fighting every day. Commissar Mao did not even have time to get a sip of hot water. I grew worried. So I was always trying to get a thermos bottle for him. Often we captured a place and war booty came to us, but Commissar Mao never kept anything. He would always send what he got to his subordinates or the hospital. In the winter of 1931, when we captured Jian in Jiangxi, I found a thermos bottle there in the house of a local despot who had run away. I was overjoyed at this stroke of luck but I was afraid the Commissar would find out about it. On the march I used to get someone else to carry it for me so that he would not know about it. With that bottle I was always able to keep some hot water ready for him, but it was still difficult to prepare him a quick meal. His small bowl could not hold very much rice. It was enough for a supper, but on the march it was not of much use. Often we would be on the march again immediately after a battle. Then when we took a rest and ate our meal,

Commissar Mao would still have to eat his cold “sandwich.” In November 1931, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic was founded in Ruijin and he was elected

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Chairman of the Republic. That’s when we bagan to call him Chairman instead of Commissar Mao. But he still used his little bow! at meals. It was only in February 1934, when we captured Zhangzhou, Fujian, that I managed to find a real three-decker enamel container for his food.

z.

Chairman Mao

Wrote a Letter Home

for Me

Whenever we captured a county seat or town, Chairman Mao would send people or go himself to the local government office to get enemy documents and archives, and then to the local post-office to buy newspapers and magazines. Often we’d go with empty hands and come back loaded with packages of books and magazines. In the evening, Chairman Mao would mark them with red pencil so that we could clip and keep what was needed. One day we came to Xinfeng County, Jiangxi. We had been there several times before, so the local people knew the Red Army. All the

shops were open and many people came out to welcome us. As soon

as we settled down in our billet, Chairman Mao called me: “Come, Chen

Changfeng!

To the post-office!”

To my mind at that time a post-office was and selling books. When we got there Chairman Mao began piles of books and papers. Sometimes he would it to me. We had paid for what we wanted and up our purchases I asked him: “Chairman Mao,

do?”

just a shop for buying to browse through the pick one up and hand when I was packaging what does a post-office

“Oh, they do a lot of things,” he answered. “They deliver letters and newspapers; handle telegrams and telephone calls. If you want to send a letter home, they’ll send it for you.” IfI write a letter, could they really take it all the way home for me? I wondered. As we left the post-office, the thought of this preoccupied my mind. I thought it was a wonderful thing. I hadn’t been home for two or three years now; I didn’t know how my father was or even if he were

still alive.... Many questions flashed through my mind. It would be fine ifI could send a letter home!

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When we came back to our billet it was already dusk. I put down the books and papers and. lit the lamp for Chairman Mao, who immediately began to read. It was time for me to get the supper but I couldn’t get the post-office out of my head. I stood there day-dreaming. “What’s wrong?” Chairman Mao asked me, noticing my worried look. . , “Chairman Mao,” I said, “can they really send a letter home?” “Whom do you mean?” he asked. “The post-office.” “Certainly they can. Your home is in the Soviet areas.*” He guessed what was on my mind. “Do you want to send a letter home?” he asked. 1 nodded and said in a low voice, “‘I want to write a letter home,

but....”

“You still can’t write it!” Chairman Mao completed my sentence for me. “Come, I’ll write it for you.” I was overjoyed at this suggestion. On second thoughts I was ill at ease because I knew he was so busy and this would be taking up his precious time. But he went on encouragingly:

“What do you want to tell your father?” As he spoke he pushed the newspapers aside and took out some letter paper and a writing brush. “I....”” What should I tell my father? I hadn’t the slightest idea, so I said: : “Chairman Mao, you write what you think best. Anyway all I want to say is that things are fine in the Red Army. I feel all right with you. Very, very fine. That’s all!” He took down the address of my home and my father’s name. Then I left to get the meal. When I came back with the food, Chairman Mao sat deep in thought, with his cheek cupped in one hand and a brush in the other. I knew it wasn’t proper to ask him to eat at that moment, so I lightly placed the rice container on the table and went out. I lay myself down on the soft straw bed. I felt too overwhelmed with gratitude to sleep. I turned over from side to side, thinking of his kindness. I, the son of an ordinary peasant, had joined our own army *Liberated areas at that time were called Soviet areas.

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and become the bodyguard of the Chairman of the Republic. (At that time I was no longer his orderly, but his bodyguard.) And now our Chairman Mao himself was writing a letter for me. In these past few years Chairman Mao had become like a father to me, concerning himself with my daily life and training. 1 would never forget this kind teacher. As I thought of these things tears trickled down my cheeks and dropped onto the straw pallet. The night was very still. I went out. A light shone in Chairman Mao’s room. He was still working. The next morning when I brought breakfast in, the Chairman gave me the letter he had written for me. “‘Here’s the letter. Will you see if it’s all right?” In great embarrassment, I put down the food container, took the

letter with both hands and muttered, “Of course it’ll be all right!”

“Go to the post-office and post it,” the Chairman said. “Your breakfast is ready,” 1 reminded him. “Leave it here. Go quickly!” Instinctively I saluted him and left his office, hardly knowing what

I was doing.

When I returned, the Chairman looked at me. “Now, do you feel

relieved?” he said. “Still thinking of home?”

“No,” I smiled. “I In the autumn of changfu, Chairman Mao arrived in Guangchang.

wouldn’t go even if you ordered me!” 1933, when our troops were attacking Jianand some other Central Committee members This was quite near my home county, Ningdu,

and suddenly the idea of going home popped up in my head. That very

day I said to Chairman Mao: “I know Guangchang well. IfI were to go back and visit my home, I'd know how to get there!” Chairman Mao grinned. “Don’t be in such a hurry. Easy does it! The further we go, the nearer we'll be to your home.” “Really?” I exclaimed. I was so glad that my heart leaped to my throat. Two or three days later we arrived at the county that I had left so long ago. It was around two o’clock in the afternoon. Chairman Mao

was staying with Comrade Li Fuchun, then the Provincial Party Secretary of Jiangxi. When we had settled down, he sent for me and asked, “‘Want to go home?”

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“... Yes!”

“Good!”’ he replied. “‘Pll be attending several meetings these few days. You go home and take a look at things.” He paused and looked at me quizzically: “How many days do you want?” My head grew hot. I couldn’t very well answer his question. Spreading his big hands, he asked: “Ten days? How’s that?” “Good,” I said, and wanted to be off immediately. But just as I was

about to go I and drinking “What’s “If 1 go

suddenly thought: ifI go, who will take care of his meals water? ‘No, Chairman. I’ll not go!” I declared. up?” Chairman Mao looked at me curiously. home, who’ll prepare your meals?”

He smiled, and coming to me, put both hands on my shoulders,

then said kindly, “Go and see your folks and then you'll work better when you come back. Your family is in the Soviet area now.” He paused and then contiftued: “Don’t come back here. Go straight to Changding and you'll find me there.” I nodded, but I was still reluctant to go. There was a conflict in my heart.

Then I was off on my way home in great excitement. Home ... Chairman ... Chairman ... home. The rice fields were as beautiful as flowers under the setting sun. Home, my home was now in the Soviet area. Was there any place better than this? It was already very dark when I arrived at the small stream where once I used to herd cattle. Lingnao, the village where I was born, could be seen on the opposite bank. I got into the crowded ferry boat. My army uniform and the revolver I carried must have attracted the attention of the country folk who kept looking at me, whispering to one another. “Excuse me,” I spoke up, “do you know Chen Taixiang (my father’s name) in the village?” For a moment all fell silent. I began to feel anxious. Then a voice

came:

name.

“Yes, there’s a man called Chen Taixiang.” “Oh, you are...!” a middle-aged man called me by my childhood

“Yes,

yes,

that’s

me!”

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I

cried

excitedly.

Here

was

an

old

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MAO ZEDONG

acquaintance. I would have jumped upif I had not been in a boat. As soon as the ice was broken the whole boat grew animated. Everybody was talking at once, all eager to tell me the news: how the village went Red, how the landlords and local despots were thrown down, how the

land was distributed and my father had got his share.... When we reached the opposite bank, the whole crowd accompanied me home. That evening there seemed to be a mass meeting at my house. All the village was there, including the chairman of the village Soviet. They asked me to tell them what it was like in the Red Army. As I spoke my father sat and smiled. It was the first time I had ever seen him smile so contentedly. When they heard that I was Chairman Mao’s bodyguard, they became still more interested and insisted I tell them more about our Chairman. “Chairman Mao is just the same as we common

folk,” I said.

They were not satisfied with this and insisted that I tell them more about him. That night we talked until the cock crowed twice. On the ninth day I set off for Changding to find Chairman Mao. 3.

First Step in the Long March

After presiding over a conference on financial and economic questions held in Shazhouba in the early summer of 1934, Chairman Mao went to the town of Wuyang in Ruijin County, Jiangxi Province — then a model district for production in the central Soviet area — to undertake investigations into rural conditions. From there he went on to Huichang County, the seat of the Guangdong- Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, where he stayed for some time. Then he left for Yudu. In August he returned to Gaobinao near Ruijin — the place where he was posted at that time. For several months, he was very busy, calling meetings of the responsible cadres in the localities he visited or making investigations in the villages. The situation was becoming critical as the enemy launched the fifth encirclement campaign. Enemy planes roared overhead at all hours of the day, dropping bombs and strafing indiscriminately.

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During those days, Chairman Mao was even busier. He lived in a big temple on a hillside together with Comrade Xie Juezai. In the daytime he walked about three 4* down the hill to attend meetings of the Military Council. When he came back he stayed up late writing. Many’s the time he sent me down late at night to deliver the things he had written to Vice-Chairman Zhou Enlai and other leaders. I did not know what these manuscripts were until later when they appeared as booklets printed on red and green paper. They were on questions of tactics in guerrilla warfare. About that time, we received orders from Chairman Mao to equip ourselves lightly in preparation to go to the front (we did not know that this was going to be the Long March to northern Shaanxi). We bodyguards felt it rather odd. Why was the order for light equipment so strict this time? Even the Chairman did not take his ninecompartment knapsack with him. His entire equipment consisted of two blankets, a cotton sheet, an oilcloth, a worn overcoat, a broken umbrella

and a bundle of books.

.

“We're going to the front to fight!” This was the theme of

animated discussion on all sides. At the end of September we left Gaobinao for Yudu with Chairman Mao. October 18, 1934 was an unforgettable date in the history of the Chinese revolution. At a little after five that afternoon, some twenty of us left Yudu in the company of Chairman Mao. It was the first step on the Long March. Passing the northern gate of Yudu in a westerly direction, we came to a broad river along which we made our way upstream. The muddy water foamed and roared. Sunset brought cold breezes. The Chairman wore no overcoat. He was wearing only his grey uniform and Red Army

cap. Taking the lead he strode firmly ahead.

When we reached a point 20 # from Yudu, we heard shouting and saw the gleam of lights in the distance. Medical orderly Zhong Fuchang and I were at a loss to know what to make of it. *A Hi is equal to 1/2 kilometre or about 1/3 mile.

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MAO ZEDONG

“They’re our troops,” said Chairman Mao. -Our troops? I thought. We hadn’t seen a single soldier when we left Yudu. How could there be so many in this place all of a sudden?

I was puzzled.

As we neared the shore, we found large numbers of Red troops on both sides of the river. The whole place was in a hubbub, with thousands of torches moving to and fro, and singing, laughing and shouting from one end to the other. Pontoons were thrown across the wide river to make a bridge and the troops were marching across in a continuous

stream.

I was delighted and rushed up to the Chairman. “How’s it that we’ve so many troops?” I asked in a loud voice. He smiled. “That’s not all,” he said quietly. “Many more have gone on ahead of these!” We followed Chairman Mao onto the pontoon. A great throng of soldiers on horseback, on foot, carriers and country folk sending the troops off were moving across in a steady stream. The Chairman stopped now and then to make way for others. At about midnight we met a stretcher carrying a wounded soldier coming in the opposite direction. The country folk on the road were in great excitement. “Gupi and Xintian will soon be captured!” they told us. Chairman Mao walked up to the stretcher and pulled the coverlet up a little to cover the wounded man. “Is your wound very bad, comrade?” he asked gently. The man on the stretcher stared at Chairman Mao under the light ofa torch. He was obviously moved. “No, not too bad!” he replied. “Ill be back at the front very soon!” As the stretcher passed on, the Chairman stood gazing after it, absorbed in thought. Just before daybreak, a party of country folk crossed our path,

almost every one of them carrying a heavy sack. “Where are you from?” I went up to ask them. “Gupi and Xintian have been captured!” they spoke in one voice. “What have you got there?” “Salt! It’s as precious as gold!” They were guides from the old Soviet area and they were carrying

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back salt from Gupi and Xintian. There was a crying need for salt in the Soviet area just then. Chairman Mao waved to them. “This time you won’t have to

worry over salt, eh?” he said.

At dawn, crowds of people appeared on the road, surging back and forth. On the walls, on the trees and everywhere in the villages posters announced the news of our victory: “Our troops have captured Gupi and Xintian!” and “Celebrate our first great victory!”

4. Passing the Miao Region Having broken through the enemy’s fourth blockade line — the Xiang River, the Red Army reached a main road on the border of Guangxi and Hunan in November 1934. It was pitch-dark when our little party arrived there, as we had travelled mostly at night to avoid being discovered by enemy planes. At dawn we found ourselves in a tiny mountain village. We had been marching and fighting all the way. Chairman Mao had not had a single square meal. As soon as the troops took a rest, Comrade Zeng Xianji, a fellow-bodyguard, and I went to look for something to eat. It was a small village and the inhabitants were very poor. The only thing we were able to buy was some 20 catties of sweet potato. I had

them cooked and brought in to the Chairman. He was sitting on a small stool, chatting with the bodyguards and groom around him. “The crossing of the Xiang River was a very great success!” he was saying. Indeed, our crossing of the Xiang River the previous night had been no mean feat. Zeng Xianji and I, holding the earthen pots, announced that dinner was ready. We went up to Chairman Mao and asked him to have his meal. Taking a sweet potato, he began to eat. Then he said: “We'll soon reach the region inhabited by the Miao people!” The Miao region! This was something new. I remembered a teacher at some classes on political study once telling us that the Miao people were a national minority, rather backward in their culture and economy,

that their customs and ways were quite different from ours, and that they

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were even more ruthlessly persecuted by the White Army.* But what they looked like remained something of a mystery. “They are like us, the Han people,” the Chairman went on. “They also want to carry on a revolutionary movement against the oppression of the White Army. So they are our good brothers.” Chairman Mao told us in great detail about the oppression of the Miao people at the hands of the White Army,

their customs,

habits,

religious beliefs, and so on. He called on us to keep to our rules of among the masses even more strictly once we had entered the region. He cautioned us against wandering about and tampering things that didn’t belong to us. He told us that the Miao women

work Miao with were

also different from the women in the Soviet area, who treated the Red soldiers as brothers and, indeed, addressed them as such. The Miao

women were not used to this kind of relationship. They still had feudal

ideas.

Listening to the Chairman’s talk, we felt in something of a dilemma. Was this a “forbidden zone” we were going into? How were we going to get on when we put up our tents and needed to borrow things? I asked Chairman Mao if it would be all right to take down a door board** for him to sleep on, as we usually did wherever we stopped for the night. “No, it won’t do!” he said firmly. Then smiling he asked, “‘Didn’t I warn you not to take things that do not belong to us?” “What will you sleep on, then?” “Anything will do except their doors!” That same evening we resumed our march. The November nights were bitterly cold and there was no moon. All through the night, we trekked over the mountains, going up hill one moment and down dale the next. Sometimes we clambered up steep slopes and slid down the other side. When we reached the top of a peak, the sky seemed to be right over us. Then the Chairman would look around and make sure everyone was there before going ahead

again.

*The Kuomintang and warlord armies. **It was the custom of the peasants to allow the Red Army to take down their door boards to use as beds, and put them back again next morning.

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ON THE LONG MARCH

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Wl

The next dawn found us coming down a mountain. Opposite us on the side of a small mountain were some strange-looking wooden houses of a type we had never seen before. They were neither onestoried nor two-storied, but like baskets hung in the air. Chairman Mao told us that we were in the Miao region. The sun was rising when we reached the mountain village. With the morning mist thinning out, we could see the houses more clearly. The mountain formed their back walls, so they were, actually, an extension of the slopes. Under them were the pigsties or sheepfolds. A tiny stream ran down from the mountain, forming a small pond here and there as it passed below the windows. The windows of the house in which the Chairman stayed gave onta a large pond with many big-headed carp. “Let’s get some fish for the Chairman,” suggested Wu Jieqing, one of the Chairman’s bodyguards. Of course, this was a bright idea. But how could we dare, after what the Chairman had told us the day before? We all remained silent. “After all, the owner of this house may be a local despot,” Wu

Jieqing pressed his point. “J think p’raps we'd better ask the Chairman first,” said Huang Yinghe slowly. When I took some water into Chairman Mao’s room, I found him

about to take a rest. I put the water on a bamboo table, and stood for a while, wondering how to begin. “Chairman,” I found a way out at last, “‘are you hungry?” “Is there anything to eat?”

“Oh, yes!” I said quickly. “What is there?” the Chairman turned to look at me. I poured out some water, and said as casually as I could, “Fish,

some big fish!” “Where are you going to get them from?” the Chairman asked. “Right here!” I pointed at the pond outside the window. The Chairman walked to the window and looked. Then he turned to me. “Have you forgotten so quickly what I told you yesterday?” he said sternly. I hung my head and said softly, “We'll pay money.”

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“That won’t do either.” “Just buy a few,” I insisted. The Chairman came and sat down beside me, and patiently explained the characteristics of the national minorities and our policy towards them. “No matter how big their sheep or fish are, you should not touch them,” he said. “They may be keeping them to use as sacrifices to their gods.” Then he finished up by telling me to explain to all the others that we should never tamper with the things belonging the these people, not even we paid money to buy them. I said I would, and came out. Wu Jieqing was apparently waiting for news from me outside, for I ran straight into him. Immediately he asked what was the result. “The Chairman doesn’t approve!” I said bluntly. “We'll pay money!” “Not even we pay money!” I shouted into his ear. “This is discipline, understand?” Then I was off. In the afternoon, a party. of about a dozen men turned up, dressed in Han clothes and carrying rifles. They asked to see the Chairman. Hastily buttoning up my jacket, I asked them where they were from. They were very well-mannered — contrary to what I had expected. One of them spoke up. “We are local people!” he said in the Guangxi dialect. His accent was difficult to understand. Local people? I thought. Then they must be Miaos. What do they want to see the Chairman for —and carrying rifles? “Have you a letter of introduction?” I asked them. “Yes, yes,” a big fellow pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket. I took it to the Chairman.

He was studying a map.

“Chairman,

there’s somebody to see you.” I reported. “Who is it?” asked he. “Some local people,” I handed over the piece of paper. ‘““They’re carrying rifles!” -Having read what was on the piece of paper, the Chairman turned to me, delight written all over his face. ““Ask them to come in at once.” Then

he walked out to meet his guests.

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People’s

Republic of Chin:

the First

Plenary Session of the Chinese People’s Pol onsultative Conference in September 1949.

Proclaiming the founding of the People’s Republic of China on the Tiananmen rostrum, Beijing, October 1, 1949.

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Google

Mao

Anying

7 var), (killed in¢ the : Korean war

1949. 9 4:

With his daughter,

Li Min, 1951.

Mao Zedong, Zhu De and Zhou Finlai attend

the

First

Liberation

People’s Army

Sports Meet in 1952.

.

Digitized

Mao

Zedong

signs autographs

representatives of Chinese

Go

ate

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People’s Voluinteersping 52.

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Inspecting the Yellow River, Zhengzhou, 1952.

Inspecting the new port Xingang in Tanggu,

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1952.

With He Xiangning Kuomintang, and Ma

(first from right), a prominent figure Xulun, a democratic personage, at a

a boat with Cheng Qian, incial People’s Government, in

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in the revolutionary fa New Year’s party, 1953.

member

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On

the Tiananmen rostrum,

National Day,

1951.

With Zhou Enlai at a meeting of the Central People’s Government Council, 1953

Visiting

Purple

Mountain

Observatory in Nanjing, 195 3.

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UNIVERSITY

OF

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Mao Zedong casts his ballot in the

election

of

District,

Beijing,

People’s

1953.

deputies

Congress

of

the

Xidan

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Talking with Tan Kah Kee (cenfre) and Zhuang Mingli (right),

Go gle snoted overseas Chinese, 1995

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8,

Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De with scientists working on long-term

national plan for science, June 14, 1956.

With

members

Defence

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Committee

Republic

of

of

the

China

its first session, October

18, 1954. First row, left to right: Long Yun, Zhang Zhizhong, Ye

Jianying,

Xu Xiangqian, Deng

Xiaoping, Liu Bocheng, Zhu De,

Mao Zedong, Peng Dehuai, He Long,

Luo

Ronghuan,

Nie

Rongzhen, Cheng Qian and Fu

Zuoyi.

Talking with distinguis deft), and Tong Dizhou second session iefdth

ntists Fei Xiaotong (first from left), Hua Luogeng (second from rth from left) and famous journalist Hu Yuzhi (¢hird from left) during Tad se People’s Political Consultative Conference, 1956.

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1957.

ON THE LONG MARCH WITH CHAIRMAN MAO

13

1 accompanied the strangers into the Chairman’s room and retired. I was a bit puzzled. What was their business? Why was the Chairman so friendly to them? The strangers remained in the Chairman’s room for a long time. It was nearly sunset when they left. When I brought dinner in, the Chairman was still standing before the map which was now covered with red circles. “Will you take your dinner, Chairman?” I said, putting the dishes down quietly. He turned and laid down his pencil. “You haven’t taken other people’s fish, have you?” he asked with a smile. I smiled back and shook my head. “Chairman,” I asked, “what do these people do?” “They’re Miao comrades!” he said elatedly. “The Miao people also have rifles?” I was curious. The Chairman glanced at me. “They are Miao guerrillas -— our

comrades!” he said.

“We have comrades among the Miao people?” I exclaimed.

“We

have

comrades

everywhere

and

there

are

Communists

_ everywhere!” Then his eyes twinkled. “‘Do you think we monopolize the revolution?” he said humorously. I smiled.

5.

New Year by the Wu River

It was the last day of 1934 when the Central Red Army reached Hauchang near Huangping County, Guizhou Province. We were to camp here over the year’s end.

Houchang was a town where country fairs were held. It had a busy market. It was the largest place we had come to since leaving Ruijin. - As soon as we arrived, Chairman Mao went to a meetig at the headquarters of the Military Council. According to our bodyguard rota, Zeng Xianji and I were on the first shift that day to accompany the Chairman to the meeting, while Jue Guilan and Lin Yuzai were to look out for living quarters for him. Before sunset, Jue came to relieve me so that I could go and get

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something to eat. He told me to come back quickly so that I could take

the Chairman home early. “Have you got everything shipshape?” I asked. “You go there and see,” he winked at me, looking mysterious. I came to the troops’ camping ground. It looked quite different to any of our earlier camps. Everyone was in high spirits. Some soldiers in thin army uniform were sweeping snow on the streets, others -were carrying door boards to put up beds, still others were practising songs. I learned that we were preparing to pass the New Year’s Eve and there was going to be a New Year party in the evening with a variety of entertainments. I was tremendously excited. The fatigue of our several days’ march vanished with the snowflakes. I quickened my steps, dragging fellow-bodyguard Zeng Xianji by the hand. “Let’s go to see

how they’ve fixed things. As soon as the Chairman comes back, we'll

see in the New Year and have some fun!”’ I said. The house provided for the Chairman was of Beijing style, with rooms on four sides and a large courtyard in the centre. Two big imposing snow-men stood facing the gate. The brick path across the courtyard was as clean as if it had just been washed. The three spacious and bright rooms facing south were to be the Chairman’s living quarters. The one in the middle was to be the sitting room. A kerosene lamp was hung from the ceiling. Against one wall was a long narrow tea table — antique style. In front of this was a large square table with heavy arm-chairs on two sides. On the wall facing the entrance was a large painting of a laughing arhat, hands folded on the chest, as if in welcome. The room on the left was to be the Chairman’s bedroom. One glance at it told us that Jue and Lin had taken great pains in arranging everything. They had put so much straw on the bed that it was as soft as any sofa could be. The room on the right was to be the Chairman’s office. Two tables placed together made a desk on which were stationery

and telephone. “Beautiful!” Zeng Xianji and I exclaimed in delight as we walked round the room. Never before had the Chairman had such

a good house to live in, not even in the old Soviet area, let alone during the Long March. What a treat it was to know that he would have such a fine place as this to rest up in! It meant more to us bodyguards than anything else, especially for New Year’s Eve.

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Something was still wanting in these rooms. Yes, the stools! Let’s get them quickly! Zeng and I rushed out and returned with some thirty square wooden stools which we placed round the desk as if a banquet were going to begin. Zeng wanted to know why we needed so many seats.

I told him

Committee

that since this was

members

and

the

headquarters would certainly come

New

leading

Year’s

comrades

Eve,

to join the Chairman

the Central

from

general

for the New

Year celebrations. What would they do if there was nothing to sit on? -

Zeng Xianji kept nodding as he listened.

Then I consulted him about what food we should prepare for the

Chairman. “Well, this is New Year,” he said. “We should prepare the things he likes best.” So I recited a list of the Chairman’s favourites:

beef, chilli, fried bean-curd. ...

“And don’t forget sweet fermented rice!”” Zeng shouted at the top

of his voice as if he had hit on a wonderful idea.

It was already dark when we had everything prepared. Zeng and I went to meet the Chairman, carrying a lamp with us.

very

We found that the meeting was still going on. Jue Guilan looked pleased

with

himself.

“Well,”

he

said,

“are

you

satisfied,

comrades?” Now I knew why he had acted so mysteriously. He had wanted to give us a surprise. I held out my fist, thumb upwards, to indicate my admiration and he gave me a satisfied smile. It was ten o’clock before the meeting was over. As the Chairman was putting on his overcoat, I went up to meet him with the lamp. We had walked a little way when he asked us how far it was to the place where he was to spend the night. I answered that it was about two or three 4 away. ; , It was snowing and the wind was sharp. The clothes the Chairman had on were not warm enough. As I walked behind him, lamp in hand,

a sudden emotion seized me. It was over two months since we had left the Soviet area, and the Chairman had been go busy that he had hardly had any time for rest. During the march, he would often give his horse to the weak or sick comrades while he himself would walk. While in camp, he attended meetings, and would be reading telegrams, drafting documents, and so on when most of the others had gone to sleep. How could he keep on like this? How splendid it would be if he could stay

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ina nice place like this for a few more days, pass the New Year pleasantly and enjoy a good rest! I could not bottle it up any longer. “Chairman,” I said, “this is New Year. We should take a good rest here. We’ve prepared everything!” The Chairman halted. He turned and faced me, straightening my cap and speaking very gently: “What? You have arranged everything to pass the New Year?” “Yes, everything’s been arranged!” said Zeng Xianji. The Chairman looked at me, then at Zeng. He said nothing. He seemed absorbed in thought. What was the matter? Perhaps he had not heard what we’d said. He might still be thinking of the questions discussed at the meeting. After a long suspense, the Chairman spoke, “We can’t stay here; we’ve much more important things to do than pass the time of the New Year!” . “What is it we have to do?” I was puzzled. ““We’ve to race against time to cross the barrier of the Wu River,”

the Chairman began, stopping to pat us on the shoulder. “We're the Red

Army. What’s the most important thing for the Red Army to do at present? To fight the enemy. To cross the Wu River is very important. You think Houchang is a big place. No. There are many big places in China, much bigger than this one. Zunyi for instance. And there are still bigger ones than Zunyi. When

we’ve crossed the Wu

River and taken

Zunyi, it’ll be more interesting to spend the New Year then and there.” He told us briefly about the general situation. Chiang Kai-shek was sending several detachments under Xue Yue and Zhou Hunyuan to follow us closely. We must get across the Wu River as fast as possible to avoid contact with the enemy. It is difficult to describe my feelings when I heard what the Chairman had to say. Nevertheless, the idea of racing across the Wu River was a stimulating one and my excitement began to mount. Arriving at the house, we found it brilliantly lighted by the big lamp in the centre room. The Chairman smiled at us. “It’s really like New Year!” So saying, he took out some documents and settled down to work up late. He told us that he had had his dinner at headquarters and that we needn’t prepare anything for him.

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“But we have something good for you!” Zeng was quick to say. “What do you have?” he raised his head. “Sweet fermented rice, your favourite!”

“Very well,” said the Chairman, standing up and waving his hand towards the circle of stools, “let’s spend the New Year’s Eve together here!”

After taking some food, he told_us to go to bed while he went on

with his work. About four o’clock next morning,

information came

that our

vanguard unit had reached the Wu River, whereupon we set out in the

same direction.

6.

On the Bank of the Golden Sand River

It was on an evening in April 1935, I remember, that the 9th, 1st

and sth Red Army Corps — all belonging to the First Front Red Army (the Central Red Army) — and the Central Committee staff reached the

Golden Sand River. The Golden Sand River was the first big river to

face us after the crossing of the Wu River. It was in spate, with angry dragon-headed waves confronting us. All the leading comrades were taken up with the problem of crossing, as we had only a few boats at our command.

Chairman

Mao,

of course, was in the thick of these

discussions. Just before dawn I crossed with him in a boat. We had hardly

landed when he was off with Comrade Liu Bocheng, the Chief of Staff,

to plan the next stage of the march. I set about looking for somewhere for him to use as a temporary office and living quarters. It didn’t look hopeful. The river bank was nothing but bare rocks, with a few holes in the cliffs, dripping with moisture, hardly big enough to be called caves. I sought in vain for planks or even straw to use for a bed. In the end I had to lay out a piece of oilcloth on the ground and put the blanket on it, feeling that that would at least give him something to lie down on —he hadn’t rested at all the whole night. Come to that, he’d had no rest for the last few days.

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My next task was to lay out his documents, maps and papers.

Usually I did it with his secretary, Comrade Huang Yufeng, whenever we made camp. We used to rig up some kind of a table or desk. But now there was nothing at all to use even as a makeshift, and ComradeHuang was still on the other side of the river. How could the Chairman do his work? I tried pinning one map up on the wall of the cave, but it was no good — it was just sand and wouldn’t hold the nail, and there wasn’t room to spread the documents out. Already I had wasted enough time; I was expecting Chairman Mao back from his conference any minute, and I hadn’t even got a drop of boiled water ready. I knew he would need it, after his night’s work. I put aside the problem of finding a desk and hurried out to see what I could do about the water. It was broad daylight when Chairman Mao came back and sent for me. When I reached the cave I saw him standing there, deep in thought. “You’ve come back,” I said.

“M’m ... everything ready?” “T’ve done what I can,” I said, pointing at the “bed.” “There are no boards to be found, so I’ve made this up. Will you lie down for a bit? The water will be boiled any minute.” I turned to go to see how the water was getting on, but he called me back. “Haven’t you found me a place to work?” he asked. “Comrade Huang hasn’t come over yet,” I said without thinking. “F couldn’t find anything to use as a desk — not even a small table. Will you have some water first?” He took a step towards me, as though he had not heard what I told

him, and said, very seriously, but not at all angrily, “The work’s the all-

important thing at a moment like this. Food and drink are trifles.

Twenty to thirty thousand of our comrades are still waiting to cross the river there. It’s a matter of thirty thousand lives!” I didn’t know what to say, but stood there gazing at him. I could feel my heart pounding. He came right up to me. “Go on,” he said. “Find me a board or something to use as a desk before you do anything else.” I pulled myself together and ran off, and by hunting high and low

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found a small board which must have been used as a door for a cave mouth. Chairman Mao helped me set it up, spreading out his maps and documents. Then I remembered the water; it must have boiled by now.

I got up to fetch it, when the Chairman spoke to me again.

“Chen Changfeng!” “Yes?”

“Come back!”

I went back right into the cave, standing before the “desk.” “Tl have to give you some punishment, you know,” he said. Although the tone of his voice was mild as usual, I felt the air very tense. I realized how I had failed in my job, and stood looking at him, very miserable. “I want you to stay by me and keep awake.” I felt an uneasy smile come over my face and sat down opposite

“Right,” I said.

He had got telegrams telephone was transmitting immersed in work. He had I found it hard to keep the

and documents all over the desk. The field messages all the time, and he was absolutely not allowed a minute for his own comfort. tears back as I realized that I had wasted his

time over the desk, and if I had understood my job, I would have had

it ready before.

I was awfully drowsy, and had a habit anyway of dropping off beside him when he was working. I knew what he meant when he said he would “punish” me by asking me to keep awake, although he had spoken half in jest. But that day when I saw him heart and soul in his work, I had not the least desire to sleep. From time to time he looked at me with a cheerful smile. I felt terribly uneasy. I got up and fetched the boiled water, and pured some out to cool. Time enough to eat two meals passed before Chairman Mao stopped and stood up to stretch himself. “You’ve been with me several years now,” he said. “How is it that you still don’t understand what comes first? The first thing you have to do when we make a stop is to find some place for me to work. Food and rest are quite secondary to that. You must realize that to us work is and will be the most important thing under all circumstances.” He

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stopped a minute and then rubbed his hand over my head. “Now go and get some sleep,” he said. “You can hardly keep your eyes open.” After what the Chairman had just said, of course I didn’t want to

go. He urged me again. I was nearly in tears—I couldn’t help it. It wasn’t because I had been criticized. It was a mixed feeling of regret and joy, the sort of feeling you have when-you have done something wrong and your parents speak seriously but not harshly to you in warning: “My child, don’t do it again! Now go and play!” , For three days and nights while some 30,000 troops continued crossing the Golden Sand River, Chairman Mao never left his “desk.”

7.

The Yi People Welcome Chairman Mao

Soon after the crossing we reached Mianning in southeast Xikang. There we received orders to get ready to enter the region inhabited by the Yi people, and to cross the Dadu River. Two days later we left Mianning. We reached the Yi region at noon. It was May. In my native Jiangxi, the fields would already be green with rice, but here the land was deserted and untilled. There were no rice fields, no farm houses, only some rough low shacks in the forests. But soon after we entered a mountainous area a group of men and women in strange clothes suddenly appeared before us. They shouted as they approached. I and Zeng Xianji were frankly alarmed. It was only when they came near to us that I saw clearly that they come not to fight but to welcome us. Five tall women came out from the group, each carrying a big red cock in her arms. They approached Chairman Mao and surrounded him. They said something that we could not understand. But Chairman Mao nodded his head and imitating their gestures, put his hands before his breast to show his gratitude. I, Zeng Xianji and other comrades imitated him in turn to thank them. Then Chairman Mao, closely followed by the women with the cocks, walked on. By this time there were Yi people everywhere, on the slopes, in the valley, and on the top of the mountain. Some of them raised their hands high in welcome, some bowed, others sang gaily. It was a strange and moving sight that brought tears to our eyes.

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8. .From Anshunchang to the Luding Bridge After leaving the mountains of the Yi people we marched about two hundred 4 with Chairman Mao until we came to Anshunchang on the Dadu River. From there, we continued north along the bank. We heard we would pass through a market town called Moximian and proceed to Luding where we would cross a bridge to the other side. It was a mountainous region, a trackless wilderness of heavy grass and stiff brush. Though Chairman Mao had a horse (which he seldom rode even where the road was not rough, but would offer to the wounded or weak comrades), it was useless, and he walked along with

us.

The higher we climbed up the steep path, the tougher the going became and the denser grew the vegetation. From time to time we had ‘to stop to let the engineer units hack a trail through. But regardless of the road, Chairman Mao walked briskly. He frequently turned around to talk with us or tell us stories. Seeing the Chairman like this, we perked up. Our weariness vanished into the clouds. At dusk we reached a mountain top. Anshunchang was far behind. The unit travelling with us stopped to rest. I talked it over with Zeng Xianji and the others, then walked up to the Chairman and asked, “Shall we rest too?” .

The Chairman halted and looked at me. “Tired?”

“Oh, no. But you see, they’ve started cooking.” “Ah.” The Chairman laughed. “Tell the others that we’ll rest and eat too.” . When they saw that the Chairman had stopped, the bodyguards, porters and grooms all gathered around. We sat down besidea stream and ate our dry rations. The Chairman ate with us. “It would be better for us to get some water to drink,” a young

comrade cried. His mentioning of water made us more thirsty. All of us wanted a drink. The Chairman

looked at us, smiling.

“A lot of water here,” he

pointed at the flowing stream. He scooped up the water with his hands and took a big mouthful, saying. ““Good. Very cool and sweet.” We all bent down to have a good drink.

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Suddenly we heard snoring. We didn’t have to look to know it was Huang. He certainly fell asleep quickly. We grinned. Wu Jieqing couldn’t resist. He scooped some water from the stream and tiptoed over to Huang. “He’s worn out, let him rest a while.” At the sound of the voice

we turned to see the Chairman. He stooped down beside Huang, gently

raised his head from the grassy tussock, and slipped his own folded tunic

under for a pillow. Huang stirred, smiled faintly and sank back into

slumber.

We stood and watched, entranced. The Chairman turned to us and

smiled. “You get some rest, too. We’ve more matching to do tomorrow.” Without a word, we bedded down right there. I stretched out on a flat rock.: Dusk is cool in early summer. Though I was very tired, I couldn’t fall asleep. Huang was sound asleep on the Chairman’s tunic. The Chairman was pacing the mountain top, obviously deep in thought. I could hear the roaring of the Dadu River far below us. The last light of the setting sun tured the entire sky red, and changed Chairman Mao’s uniform from grey to orange. The next day we set out early in the morning. As we neared Moximian we came to a broad, deep river. We couldn’t wade across, and

the only bridge was a mere two metres wide. : Troops were already crossing when we got there and it was

crowded with men. When they saw the Chairman, they immediately

cleared a way for him. Before the Chairman could say anything, the groom led his horse onto the pridge. As it set foot on the rickety structure, the animal shied and whinnied in terror, adding to the general confusion. The Chairman hurried to the bridge. “Don’t take him over yet,” he called to the groom. “Let the comrades cross first.” “He’s carrying your clothes and luggage,” the groom shouted

back.

We knew that was the case. Unless the horse was taken over, the

Chairman would have no bedding that night. So we chimed in with the

groom by saying, “Let them lead him over gradually, Chairman.”

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“It will be awkward if we don’t get him across.” The Chairman gave us a kindly and yet reproving glance. “Help the groom bring that horse back, Chen Changfeng,” he said. “Let the troops pass first.” The soldiers had been aiding the groom coax the horse along. I had to run to the middle of the bridge to bring the animal back. When we returned him to the bank, the Chairman urged the soldiers to cross over quickly. Only when the-last of them had reached the opposite shore did we follow the Chairman across. _ That night we reached Moximian. The Chairman said to us, “Remember,

we must think of our troops, think of others, no matter

where or when. If we held up the march of all those comrades just for the sake of our single horse, that would be pretty bad, wouldn’t it?” After leaving there, we went with the Chairman to Luding. The river was narrower than at Anshunchang, but the current was swifter,

and both sides were lined with cliffs. The bridge consisted of thirteen thick steel chains fixed to big iron spikes driven into the rock at either end. Chains running along each side of the bridge served as railings. At Luding we met Comrade Liu Yalou and other leaders. They took the Chairman to a place in front of a large church, where they took a good view of the surroundings. Then we went with the Chairman to the bridge. Originally, there had been planks spread across the cables. The enemy had set fire to them and destroyed them before our advance unit captured the bridge. I walked up and looked at those cables, each as thick as a bowl, at the charred planks and the seething river below. I

felt nervous.

The Chairman noticed this. He pointed his finger at me and asked,

“Scared?” “No.”

:

.

He started across, with all of us right behind. I watched him carefully. He walked so lightly, so naturally. He looked up at the cliffs towering into the clouds on either shore. The roaring of the water was unable to disrupt his thoughts. Because there were so many people on the bridge, when we reached the middle it began to sway. I grabbed the

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chain railing and stopped. The Chairman turned his head and said

something to me. But I couldn’t hear a thing. The thunder of the river obliterated all other sound. Obviously he was asking whether I was having trouble. I shook my head. He halted and took my hand. Then we walked on together. I stared downward for a moment. Huge boiling waves seemed to thrust up like long swords stabbing at the bridge. It made me dizzy. I

raised my eyes and looked at my comrades on the bridge. Some were

advancing cautiously step by step, some were crawling prone along the steel cables. Others were walking in a line, hand in hand, chatting and laughing. Still leading me by the hand, the Chairman kept looking back at the men following. Sometimes he stopped and wayed at them, or said a few words. At last we left the bridge behind us. “Chairman,” I said when we reached the shore, “with one squad

we could hold a bridge like that indefinitely. But the enemy....” The Chairman laughed. “The enemy are the enemy. We can’t compare them with an army led by our Communist Party. Right?” “Right!” We chorused.

9.

On the Road to Shuizidi

We stayed a few days in Hualingping after crossing the Dadu River. Then we set out for Shuizidi. People. said we could reach it in a day’s march. We started in the morning. Chairman Mao was busy, so he didn’t go with the Central Committee organizations but travelled instead with the medical units, which left later. Comrade Hu Changbao, leader of the

guard squad, and I went with him.

When we came to a mountain which was about six // to the summit,

three enemy planes started diving towards us. We spread out ‘but continued marching. Hu was walking ahead of the Chairman, I behind. The Chairman marched with his eyes on the road, as if pondering some question. Only occasionally did he look up at the planes. The rest of us

were very tense.

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The planes swung around and went off in the direction from which we had come. Just as we were feeling a bit relieved, from above and behind us we heard two piercing whistles. I knew at once they were bombs. “Chairman,” I yelled, rushing towards him. Thad run only a few steps when a cluster of bombs exploded ahead

and to one side of me. The blast knocked me down. The Chairman was

engulfed in smoke. I crawled to my feet and looked towards the Chairman. He was squatting beside Hu Changbao, who had been hit. The Chairman hadn’t been hurt. My heart, which had been in my mouth, settled back into its normal place. I automatically wiped the sweat and dust from my brow and ran over to the Chairman. He was stroking Hu’s head. Hu was lying with his hands pressed against his belly. Big beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. But he wasn’t uttering a sound. I didn’t know what to do. The medical orderly came hurrying towards us. “Quick,” the Chairman urged him, “take care of him.” Hu waved his hand in refusal. “Chairman, I’m finished,” he said.

“Keep the medicine. The rest of you still have to go on.” His ruddy face had become a waxy yellow. . “It’s not serious. You'll be all right,” the Chairman said comfortingly. He swiftly helped the medical orderly bind Hu’s wounds. Then he sat down and cradled Hu in his arms like a sleepy child. “You'll

be all right. Hang on a little longer,” he said softly. “We'll carry you

to Shuizidi. We'll find a doctor and have you back in shape in no time.” Hu gazed up fondly at the Chairman with dimming eyes. But he became quite upset when he heard that we were going to carry him.

Labouring to get the words out, he said, “Chairman, it’s no use. The

blood’s all flowing into my stomach. I don’t mind dying. My only regret is that I can’t go with you to our new base.” Two glistening tears rolled from the corners of his eyes. He gasped for a while as if he felt a lump in his throat, then added, “My parents live in Jian, Jiangxi. Please tell them of my death, if possible.” The Chairman didn’t say anything, but only held him closer. “You'll get well,” the medical orderly and I said encouragingly. Hu shook his head. ‘Comrade Chen,” he said to me, his words

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coming slowly, “I can no longer protect the Chairman. You must guard

him and the other Central Committee leaders well.”

His voice was so low I could barely hear him. Finally, with a great effort, he raised his head and stared fixedly at the Chairman and us. His lips trembled as he forced out the words, “Victory...to...the... revolution!” Then he closed his eyes. The medical orderly and I frantically called to him, but he was gone. Tears streamed down our faces. Slowly the Chairman extracted his arm from beneath Hu’s neck, lowered him gently to the ground and stood up. In a low voice he said

to me, “Coverlet.”

,

I handed him the coverlet I had been carrying. He opened it and covered Comrade Hu carefully. There wasn’t a breath of wind that day. The trees and grass on the mountain were motionless. They seemed to be paying their last respects to the departed hero. We wiped away our tears and buried him. Then, following the Chairman, we marched on.

10.

Climbing Jiajin Mountain

In June 1935, after crossing the Dadu River, we came to the foot of Jiajin Mountain, a towering, snowcovered peak. The June sun had not yet set but its heat had lost its power in the face of this great icy

mass.

We paused for a day at its foot. Chairman Mao had advised us to collect ginger and chilli to fortify ourselves against the bitter cold as we climbed the pass over the mountain. We started the climb in the early morning of the next day.

The peak of Jiajin Mountain pierced the sky like a sword point

glittering in the sunlight. Its whole mass sparkled as if decorated with a myriad glittering mirrors. Its brightness dazzled your eyes. Every now and again clouds of snow swirled around the peak like a vast umbrella. It was an unearthly, fairyland sight. , At the start the snow was not so deep and we could walk on it fairly easily. But after twenty minutes or so the drifts became deeper and

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deeper. A single careless step could throw you into a crevasse and then it might take hours to extricate you. If you walked where the mantle of snow was lighter, it was slippery; for every step you took, you slid back three! Chairman Mao was walking ahead of us, his shoulders hunched, climbing with difficulty. Sometimes he would slip back several steps. Then we gave him a hand; but we too had difficulty in keeping our foothold and then it was he who caught our arms in a firm grip and pulled us up. He wore no padded clothes. Soon his thin grey trousers were wet through and his black cotton shoes were shiny with

frost.

The climb was taking it out of us. I clambered up to him and said: “Chairman! It’s too hard for you, better let us support you!” I stood firm beside him. But he onlyanswered shortly: “No, you’ re just as tired

as I am!” and went on.

Half way up the mountain a sudden, sharp wind blew up. Thick, dark clouds drifted along the top of the range. The gusts blew up the snow which swirled around us viciously. I hurried a few steps forward and pulled at his jacket. ““Snow’s coming, Chairman!” I yelled.

He looked ahead against the wind. “Yes, it’ll be on us almost at

once. Let’s get ready!” No sooner had he spoken than hailstones, as big as small eggs, whistled and splashed down on us. Umbrellas were uselss against this gusty sea of snow and ice. We held an oilskin sheet up and huddled together under it with Chairman Mao in the centre. The storm raged around us as if the very sky were falling. All we could hear were

the confused shouts of people, neighing of horses and deafening thunder

claps. Then.came a hoarse voice from above us. “Comrades! Hold on! Don’t give up! Persistence means victory!” I lifted my head and looked up. Red flags were flying from the top of the pass. I looked enquiringly at Chairman.Mao. “Who's that shouting there?” “Comrades from the propaganda team,” the Chairman replied. ““We must learn from them. They’ve got a stubborn spirit!”

The snowstorm dropped as suddenly as it had started, and the

warm, red sun came out again. Chairman Mao left the oilskin shelter and stood up on the snowy mountainside. The last snowflakes still whirled

around him.

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“Well, how did we come out of that battle?” he asked. “Anyone wounded?” No one reported any hurts. As we went up higher, the going grew more difficult. When we were still at the foot of the mountain, the local people had told us: “When you get to the top of the mountain, don’t talk nor laugh, otherwise the god of the mountain will choke you to death.” We weren’t superstitious, but there was some harsh truth in what they said. Now I could hardly breathe. It seemed as if my chest was being pressed between two millstones. My heartbeats were fast and I had difficulty in talking, let alone laughing. I felt as if my heart would pop out of my mouth if I opened it. Then I looked at Chairman Mao again. He was walking ahead, stepping firmly against the wind and snow. At the top of the mountain the propaganda team shouted again: “Comrades, step up! Look forward! Keep going!” Finally we gained the summit of the mountain pass. White snow blanketed everything. People sat in groups of three or five. Some were so exhausted that they lay down. When they saw Chairman Mao, several comrades came up calling: “Chairman, come and take a rest!” When Chairman Mao saw all this he immediately went up to them and said gently: “Comrades, we can’t rest here! The air is too. rarefied. Make another effort and we'll meet the Fourth Front Army down on the other side.” With this, our spirits rose again, and we began to scramble down the slope. I don’t know whether it was because of joy for the victory of reaching the top or for some other reason, but suddenly I grew dizzy. It seemed that the mountain shook beneath my feet. I lost control of my limbs and began to shiver violently. I stumbled up to Chairman Mao, cried out: “Chairman...!’? and collapsed. But I was not wholly unconscious. I felt Chairman Mao supporting me with his arm and calling me by name. It was as if | was swimming in air. I had difficulty in breathing and could not speak. But a sudden strong wind lashed the snowflakes in my face. It brought me to and my eyes cleared. Comrades crowded around me wondering what was the matter. I heard Chairman Mao asking me: “What’s wrong? Are you all right now?” I struggled to my feet and on we went.

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Chairman Mao’s feet plunged deep in the snow at every step. He turned his head to look at the comrades who still hadn’t made it to the top. They walked slowly and the column looked like a snake winding its way to the summit. He waved them‘on encouragingly. The wind was getting stronger and dark clouds were again gathering. As if urged on by an unknown power, I rushed to the Chairman and shouted, “Chairman, you can’t stop here! Please go on

quickly!”

.

Going down was easier than going up, but since there was no sunshine on this side of the mountain it was colder. We were all wearing the same thin cotton clothes, and we shivered with cold. I tied a blanket

round my waist and so went walking, slipping and rolling down the snowy slopes. , ‘ Not long afterwards, we met comrades of the Fourth Front Army. We felt new strength come into our limbs. We felt for them as we would for brothers we had parted from long ago. As we came down the last slopes, I turned back and looked upwards. The red flags were still fluttering on the top of the snowcovered mountain. The untiring voice of the propaganda comrades was still ringing in my ears. Having made our way down Jiajin Mountain, we rested for a few days in Maogong. Then we climbed over another big snow mountain — Mengbi Mountain. We reached Zhuokeji in northwestern Sichuan, where we busied ourselves with preparations for crossing the

grasslands. This done, we resumed our journey.

11.

Camping in the Wilderness on a Raining Night

It was a cloudless morning when we left Zhuokeji. But before we were twenty / out, dark clouds came over and soon there was a fine

drizzle coming down. We were passing a deserted mountain area full of strangely formed rocks. There was not even a small footpath to be seen among the sharp cliffs and pits of fallen leaves. A few moments later, a clap of thunder resounded and down came the rain. Big drops and falling twigs lashed us mercilessly. The Chairman’s clothes and ours were soaked through.

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By four o’clock in the afternoon it was dark. The downpour continued unabated. We were miles from any lodging place. The Chairman’s riding lamp ran out of kerosene. We could not move a.step in the pitch-dark. How urgently we needed light at this moment! As the Chairman made his way along with difficulty, looking very tired, I felt terribly uneasy. Just think! While others fell to sleep as soon as they reached a camping place, he would get busy attending meetings, reading telegrams, drafting documents, and so on. How energetic he was indeed! “Let’s stop here, Chairman,” I proposed. He stopped. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Very well, tell

everybody.” But now we were in trouble. All around us were water pits, rocks and darkness. Where could we fix up somewhere for him to sleep? But using our wits and putting forth some hard effort, we succeeded in improvising a “hammock” which we hung from two small trees. Touching the wet hammock, the Chairman said humorously, “Pll be sleeping on a Jiangxi cooling bed!” The Chairman’s sense of humour cheered us up. Whenever we were beset with difficulties, a few light words from him invariably changed the atmosphere completely. His cheerful joking made us forget our weariness and injected us with new strength. We felt ready to face

anything. When the Chairman had lain down, we began to look for somewhere for ourselves. It was still raining. I felt around and touched a cliff. As my hand moved along it, I found a hole! A cave! I thought delightedly. Without further thought, I dived into it. Bang! My head hit something hard. It wasn’t a cave, but merely a small hollow. But even this was something to be grateful for. Disregarding the pain, I lay down on my side with my head inside the opening. But why so much water on the ground? Feeling around with my hand, I found I was lying across a small pool of water. Oh, it didn’t matter. I laid my small bundle across the mouth of the pool and used the Chairman’s broken umbrella to keep the rain off my body. Though my head was exposed to the rain, I fell

asleep as soon as it touched a rock. When I woke up, the sun was out, shining through the dense

foliage, although the morning mists were still lingering in the valleys.

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The rain had stopped and big drops were falling from the trees. No sooner had I opened my eyes than I felt a pain in my-neck. It was a strange pain, which came only when I looked down. As the water dripped onto my face, all I could do was to let it run up my nostrils if I wanted to avoid the pain. I didn’t take this too seriously as I thought it was nothing to fuss about. So I didn’t say anything about it. We continued our march. Chairman Mao was always very observant. He was the first to see that something was wrong, and spoke to me in jest, ““What’s matter with you, Chen Changfeng, looking up at the sky all the time? Are you looking out for planes?” Gazing at the leaves above, 1 replied, “We’ve two skies over us here. Enemy planes can’t find us no matter how clever they are.’ “Then, what is it in the sky that holds so much interest for ou?" was his next question. I walked up to him. “‘There’s something wrong with my neck,” said I. “I can’t look down. Each time I try to move my head I get a terrible pain.” The Chairman stopped at once. “It’s nothing serious,” I went on. “It'll be all right after a while.” I didn’t want to worry him. Ignoring my last remarks, he touched my neck gently and turned to call Zhong Fuchang, the medical orderly, to come at once and attend.

to me.

Now everybody was aroused. I was surrounded. Zeng Xianji and the porter Zhong Yonghe took a particular interest in my ailment. They pressed my neck and felt my head, bothering me so much that I was agitated beyond words. Zhong Fuchang examined me very carefully. Then he turned to the Chairman with a smile. “I can’t do anything for this patient,” he said, “he must’ve cricked his neck in the night!”

The Chairman looked somewhat relieved. “Still, we have to do

something for him. doctor to come and Before I could To prevent me turned upwards, the

Zeng Xianji, go to the medical corps and ask the see Chen Changfeng.” say “not necessary,” Zeng Xianji was off. from falling while walking along with my face Chairman took me by the hand like a father leading

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a child just learning to walk. ““Don’t worry,” -he said, trying to comfort me. “You'll be all right!” The doctor came hurrying up, asked me a lot of detailed questions, tried my neck and rubbed in some ointment. In a short time the neck was feeling easier. . “Age you all right now?” asked the Chairman, when he saw I could bend my head again. I nodded and told him that I was all right, whereupon he said, “You’re a wonder! For the sake of sleep, you’re willing to give up your

head!”

.

Leaving the forests and mountains behind us, we arrived in Maoergai. Here we made a stop to complete preparations for crossing the grasslands on the Qinghai-Xikang border. I began to suffer badly from malaria. I had contracted it before we crossed Jiajin Mountain, but had no attacks while crossing the mountain. Then I got a drenching and now, exhausted by the long march, I was down with a sharp attack just as we made ready to overcome one of the most difficult obstacles in our path—the grasslands with their treacherous quagmires. To be sick at such a time was not only a personal misfortune; I would be a burden and a worry to all my comrades and especially Chairman Mao. He too was weaker now and his slim figure appeared to be taller than ever.

He was attending many meetings at this time. Sometimes they lasted till late at night and then without any rest he went on discussing problems with leading comrades until far into the small hours. Busy though he was, he often came to see me. When he saw I was in low spirits he would encourage me by explaining why we had to cross these grasslands and énliven me by recounting interesting stories that he knew. I felt in him the love of a father. I felt a warm and deep gratitude to him and I bitterly reproached myself. How could I go and get sick at such a time? I had added to my comrades’ burdens and distracted the attention of our Chairman. 12,

Crossing the Great Grasslands

We spent about a month at Maoergai. Then finally in mid-August

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of 1935, we started out for the great grasslands that had never before been crossed by human being’. We hadn’t gone forty /i before we came to a huge primeval forest. Its trees, with immensely thick trunks,

towered above us. When we stopped for the night we would sling

Chairman Mao’s hammock between two trees, but he would rarely rest in it. He would be off at meetings or visiting the men. So Zhong Fuchang, the medical orderly, let me rest in it. I was lying there one night when it was already dark. The troops had lit many bonfires. Neither birds nor animals had probably ever seen fire before in this ancient forest. They were scared, made strange noises and flew or prowled around in panic. My comrades were sleeping around a nearby fire. I had Chairman Mao’s blanket over me and wore a new suit that he had given to me at Maoergai, but suddenly I felt a bout of uncontrollable shivering coming on. As shivered violently, I told myself not to groan so as not to wake the others. I was specially afraid of disturbing Zhong Fuchang, the medical orderly, because if he knew I had a malarial attack he would immediately tell Chairman Mao who would then refuse to use his own hammock. I held my breath, doubled my knees up to my chin and kept silent. Suddenly I noticed a tall shadow in front of me. Chairman Mao had come back! I struggled to stretch out my legs but they were numbed and refused to move. I couldn’t control my limbs. My teeth chattered. I was shivering like a man in a fit. The Chairman came up to the hammock and bent over me. “What’s wrong, Chen Changfeng?” He put his hand on me and cried out, “Zhong Fuchang! Chen Changfeng is sick again!” He didn’t speak very loud, but everyone around the fire woke up and they all crowded round me. When

I saw Chairman Mao

and the other comrades around me

looking at me with such concern, strength seemed to return to my body and I was able to sit up. . “You lie down,” ordered the Chairman gently and used his two hands to press me back into the hammock. I struggled to sit upright, but that pair of powerful hands forced me back. I lost my strength to resist. When he saw that I was quiet again he told Zhong Fuchang to give me some medicine. Then he and the other comrades went back to the fireside to sleep.

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The next morning as soon as I woke up, I jumped off the hammock.

I didn’t know where my strength came from — perhaps from the night’s

good sleep or perhaps from the inspiration of the Chairman’s fatherly care. The first thing I did was to run to see him. “Are you feeling better?” he asked, putting his hands on my arms. I couldn’t speak a word. I was in tears.

We continued our march. The ancient forest was left behind and

we entered the grasslands. A vast stretch of desolate marsh confronted us. Not a single human being lived here. There were no houses. Wild grasses grew in profusion in the stagnant water. There seemed to be no

end to it. The sodden earth squelched monotonously ps-chi, pu-chi, as

we laboured over it. A careless step could send you to a fearful death in its muddy depths, trap your feet in a morass. Once caught it was difficult to pull your legs out of the quagmire without the help‘of your comrades. More than once the Chairman helped some of us with his strong hands. The weather was cold and changeable. Now it rained, now it snowed. Sometimes it hailed. Every step was an effort. Chairman Mao was walking ahead of us. He would stop for a moment now and again, look back with great concern and call our names until we all answered him. Then he would go on. Sometimes when he saw we were tired he would tell us stories and jokes and make us burst out laughing. And we forgot our tiredness. No one grumbled or complained. We were determined to pull through and we were confident we could do it. Indeed, we were always optimistic in the company of Chairman Mao.

13.

On Mount Liupan

At dusk in the middle of September, we arrived at a village close

to Lazikou. I spread the Chairman’s pallet so that he could get some rest. But when I went into the next room, he was already in conference with Nie Rongzhen, Liu Yalou and other leaders. The table was spread with

maps.

Lazikou,

known

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as a strategic pass, connects the provinces of

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Sichuan and Gansu, and was one of the major passes we had to get through to reach northern Shaanxi. I was sure this was what the Chairman and the others were discussing, so I withdrew without a word. The Chairman didn’t get to sleep until very late that night. But we attacked the pass the next morning at dawn. After taking it we didn’t linger, But pushed on. At the end of September, we crossed the Weishui River blockade line and headed for Mount Liupan. Mount Liupan, a spur of the Longshan Range, is the highest peak in western Gansu. It was also the last big mountain we had to cross to get to northern Shaanxi. When the men heard they were to cross the mountain, their spirits rose. The sky was cloudy and a cold wind blew the day we set out to climb it. Soon it started to rain. But although we were soaked by the time we reached the foothills nothing could dampen our determination. Mount Liupan couldn’t be compared with snow-covered Jiajin Mountain, which we had already crossed. But when we stood at its base and peered up, it looked dangerous enough. The trail twisted and turned. At the start of the climb there were small trees we could grab. But as we neared the summit, there was nothing, only clumps of withered grass. It was very tough going. I was still weak from the malaria. The trail was about thirty 4 to the top and very uneven. By the time we were halfway up, I was gasping for breath. My heart was pumping hard and I was drenched with sweat. Chairman Mao quickly noticed the shape I was in. Whenever we came to a difficult stretch, he extended his big strong hand and pulled me along. As we neared the top, I couldn’t go another step. My head swam, my body seemed to float and I suddenly collapsed in a heap. I was vaguely aware of two large hands helping me to my feet, and I heard Chairman Mao’s kindly voice say to Zeng, “Get the medical orderly to give him some medicine in a hurry. His malaria has come

back.”

Soon someone put two bitter tablets into my mouth, and I was given a drink of water. I gradually recovered. Chairman Mao was supporting me, and Zeng and the medical orderly were watching. My

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heart sank. “It’s not malaria, Chairman,” I cried. “It’s just that I have

no strength. I’m afraid I’ll never get to northern Shaanxi.” “You will, definitely. Don’t worry,” the Chairman said encouragingly. ‘““There’s nothing frightening about difficulties. The only thing to worry about is being afraid of them. They’re pretty frightening if you are. But they’re not the least bit if you don’t let them scare you. Stick it out. Once we get over this mountain you'll be all right.” The Chairman’s words gave me confidence. But I didn’t want to be a burden to-him. “You go on ahead, Chairman,” I said. “I'll follow

as soon as I’ve had a little rest.” “Nothing doing,” the Chairman said firmly. “The air is very thin up here, and it’s raining. You can’t rest here. You’ve got to hold out until we get over this mountain, no matter what.” He and Zeng carried me and continued on. The Chairman was so concerned, I wanted to walk, but I was shivering all over. I couldn’t

move a step.

“Are you cold?” the Chairman asked.

“Chilled to the bone.”

“Here, put this coat on and drink some more better when you warm up a bit.” The Chairman All he had on underneath was a grey cotton had been made for him when we were in Zunyi.

hot water. You'll feel took off his overcoat. army uniform which What’s more, he had

worked until very late the night before and had marched for hours today

in the rain. Not only hadn’t I taken good care of the Chairman, in fact I had added to his burdens. How could I accept his coat? I pushed it back. “I don’t need it. I can march.” I refused to put it on, and struggled to walk. But I was too weak. I took one step and collapsed in a faint. : When I opened my eyes again, I was wearing the Chairman’s coat. The Chairman stood in the rain, the autumn wind ruffling his thin grey army tunic. He was still looking rather worried about me, but a smile had begun to brighten his expression.

Zeng brought me a bow! of drinking water and stoed by my side. Warmth flooded through me. My strength seemed to return. 1 rose to my feet and stared at the Chairman. My throat was constricted.

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The Chairman was delighted. “Feeling better?” “Fine. Let’s go.” There was so much I wanted to say, but this was all I could manage. “Good. You’re a real Red Army, soldier.” Chairman Mao fondly patted me on the shoulder. “Let’s go.” By dusk we finally crossed Mount Liupan and reached the foot of

the other side. I looked back up.

.

“You see, you made it,” said the Chairman. “That’s the way to deal with difficulties.”

, 14.

We Are Home!

After crossing Mount Liupan, we entered the Hui region of Gansu. The Hui people were very warm to us. Wherever we went they streamed

out to welcome us along the roadside, handing us bowls of hot water

and saying, “Where did you come from? You must be tired, comrades. Please drink some hot water.”” We had seldom heard ‘people talk to us in the Han language since we entered the Tibetan region, so we felt especially at home here in the Hui region when we were addressed as “comrades.” We gathered from them that our Red 25th Army, which had passed through here in July, had left them avery

good impression

with its rigorous discipline. As we were getting nearer to northern Shaanxi, our excitement made us forget all our fatigue and ailments. We wished we could step onto the soil of Shaanxi at once to see our future “home.” , . One day soon after we started out from Huanxian County in Gansu, we found ourselves on a small path skirting a mountain. Suddenly we saw-five men on horseback galloping towards us. Clearly | friends, they carried Mausers on their hips and wore white towels on their heads. When they came up, we saw they were sturdy, young chaps in their twenties. When they reached the foot of the mountain, they alighted and walked towards us. “Where’s Chairman Mao?” they asked us loudly. ‘ I went to meet them and asked them what they wanted. An older man among them, breathing heavily and with sweat all

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over his face, said in a warm voice: “We’re sent by the Red Army of northern Shaanxi to deliver a letter to Chairman Mao. Where is he?” He handed me the letter. I hurried with it to the Chairman. When the Chairman read it he smiled and said, “Comrades, you’ve done good

work!” They crowded round, struggling to shake hands with him. The Chairman walked up to where the troops were resting.

Standing in their midst, he spoke loudly, “Comrades, we are about to reach the Soviet area in northern Shaanxi! Our 25th and 26th Armies

have sent men to meet us!” Tumultuous cheers broke out at this announcement. Everyone was shouting, laughing and flinging his arms around another. The five comrades who had come to meet us acted as our guides, leading us into a village called Sanchazhen. That evening the Chairman talked with them for a long while and wrote a letter for them. He did not even have time to eat. : The following day we stopped at a small village whose name we did not know. There was no rice to be bought, only golden-coloured millet. We bodyguards being all southerners had never seen millet before, let alone cook it. What to do? Since there were plenty of goats, we bought a big one and prepared a mutton dinner. “Why only meat?” the Chairman wanted to know, when the leg of mutton we had reserved for him was brought in. “We couldn’t get any rice in this village nor any flour,” said Zeng Xianji quickly. “There’s only millet but we don’t know how to cook

it.”

“Learn to do it; it isn’t difficult,” said the Chairman. “We’ve to learn new ways of living when we come to a new place. Otherwise, we'll starve to death.” We made as though to go and cook the millet on the spot. ““There’s no hurry for it,” said the Chairman. “Let’s have the mutton on its own this time!” During the 80-// journey between Quzhi and the dividing ridge on the Gansu-Shaanxi border, we fought some 18 battles with the cavalry under Kuomintang warlord Ma Hongkui. But as soon as we contacted Ma’s horsemen, they would gallop away. We used to laugh at them saying that they couldn’t even measure up to the “bean-curd” troops

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(meaning, as soft as bean-curd) under Guizhou warlord Wang Jialie; they were only the refuse from the beans after making the curd! The Chairman’s wry comments on these troops tickled our sense of humour. “They wouldn’t dare to fight when they know it’s the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army,” he remarked. “They are Only ‘expert’ in running away!” On the top of the ridge stood a large tablet with bold characters “Dividing Ridge”, marking the border between Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. We sat down for a rest under a chestnut tree near the tablet. The Chairman was reading the characters on the back of the tablet. “We have crossed ten provinces already,” he told us elatedly. “When we go down this mountain, we’ll be in the eleventh province — Shaanxi. That’s our base area— our home!” A day and a half’s march from the dividing ridge brought us to Wugqi Town where we stayed in the cave rooms cut in the side of the

loess hills. It was the first time in our lives we had seen such caves. We were now in the Soviet area.

The Chairman got busy conferring with leading comrades on how to dispose of Ma Hongkui’s cavalry. Our soldiers were excited at the thought of the coming battle.

“We're getting near home,” they said. “‘Let’s present the people of

northern Shaanxi with a gift in the form of a victory!”

.

The big day came. We stood with the Chairman on a mountain top which was bare of all vegetation. As the battle began, our machine-guns rattled. The frightened horses bolted in all directions neighing and attempting to escape the hail of bullets, throwing their riders and rolling down the slopes with them. Those who survived ran for their lives. It was a real treat to watch the battle from the “grand stand.” “Chairman!” we exclaimed. “‘We’ve only got two legs and they’ve got four, but we’ve made them run all over the mountain!” He joined in our general burst of laughter. While the troops were taking a rest in Wuqi Town, we accompanied the Chairman to Xiasiwan, the seat of the Shaanxi-Gansu Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Soviet. Large snowflakes were falling when we set out. Although we weren’t wearing too many clothes, nobody felt the cold as we trudged

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over the rough mountain paths. It was dusk when we reached Xiasiwan. We heard the beating of gongs and drums and the noise of a crowd of people. From a distance we could see a large gathering on a spacious ground at the entrance to the village. The people were waiting to welcome the Chairman. As soon as they caught sight of him, they cheered madly. Amidst a tremendous din of gongs and drums, the crowd rushed up, waving small red and green banners bearing the words: Welcome Chairman Mao! Welcome the Central Red Army! Expand the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Soviet Area! Long live the Chinese Communist Party! In his worn overcoat which he had brought along from Jiangxi, and his old cap, the Chairman nodded and waved at the crowd again and again. Then the people cleared a way for a score of leading comrades to come up and shake hands with the Chairman. They included Comrades Liu Zhidan and Xu Haidong, Commander of the 25th Red

Army. Standing with Chairman Mao to receive the welcomers were Comrades Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Xu Teli, Lin Boqu and Xie Juezai. They shook hands all around and introduced one another. “Welcome to Chairman Mao!” the crowd cheered. Shouts rose .

from every corner, shaking the very earth.

“We've won through! We’ve won through!” Zeng Xianji and I also shouted.

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CHAIRMAN

MAO

MAKES FRIENDS PEASANTS*

WITH

US

“Yang Bubao I was

born

in Hengshan

County,

Shaanxi ‘Province,

and from

childhood was a farmhand for a landlord. We lived in dire poverty. Because of the constant warfare under Kuomintang rule my family fled to Zhanzhuang in Yanan in 1928. In the famine that occurred the next year my father and daughter died of hunger. We buried them in a plot - of land owned by a landlord, thus we owed him one and a half yuan. The landlord came to my house constantly to demand that we pay the debt. We could hardly live under such circumstances.

Fortunately, Chairman Mao and the Communist Party of China came and our fate was changed. The people’s government was " established and distributed land to the poor people. My family received

a cave dwelling and land. In this way we poor people stood up.

After coming to Yanan, Chairman Mao launched the Great Production Campaign. The people of the liberated areas reclaimed wasteland to grow crops for food and clothing, support the front, and break the economic. blockade of the KMT reactionaries. In December 1942 I was cited as a labour hero to participate in the labour heroes’ conference of Yanan County. Delegates from the 359th Brigade, which was opening up the wasteland in Nanniwan, were also présent at the conference. In his speech Wang Zhen, commander of the 359th Brigade, said that since they were all southerners, they could not cultivate crops well in Nanniwan and would

like to invite the labour

heroes from Yanan County to give production points and exchange experience. On the tenth of the first lunar month in 1943 twenty-nine of us visited the army units stationed in Nanniwan and Jinpenwan.

*Written in 1976. The author was a labour hero of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia

Border Region.

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In Jinpenwan the army commanders told us that we should work hard in the production campaign. “Even Chairman Mao tills the land and hands in his share of public grain to the state,” they said. Their remark was a great enlightenment to me, because I did not expect

Chairman Mao, who was busy day and night with state affairs, leading

the people’s revolutionary cause, would be handing in his share of public grain. I said to them, “Let me till the land for Chairman Mao!” We stayed there twenty-seven days. On my way home I went to the office of the Chinese Communist Party Committee of Yanan County and said to the people in the office, “I want to till the land for Chairman

Mao!” They agreed and wrote a letter to Chairman Mao about my plan. Chairman Mao replied very quickly. In the letter he said that he was very glad to read our letter and appreciated very much my offer to till the land for him. Soon after the wheat crop was harvested the next year, I sent two hundred sia of wheat to Yangjialing, where Chairman Mao lived. A staff member of the General Office of the Party Central

Committee led me into the yard where Chairman Mao lived. He greeted

me in high spirits and invited me to try his cigarettes. In our talk he

expressed his appreciation time and again. “Why do you want to till the

land for me?” he asked. I told him the whole story of my family, saying, “Now I have stood up and shall always be grateful to Chairman Mao and the Chinese Communist Party. Once I learned from some army commanders that you till the land to grow public grain despite your busy work. I just could not rest at ease on learning this news and decided to till the land for you.” “It’s nice of you,” Chairman Mao said in great delight. “‘How can you grow such a good wheat crop?” hé asked. I told him about a proverb we followed in growing wheat: There will be a bowlful of water in the soil when it is turned up at the beginning of the dog days. There will be half a bowlful of water when it is turned up ten days later, and there will be only a little water in the bow! when it is turned twenty days later. If it is turned up at the beginning of autumn, there will be no water at all. The seeds should be sown in the white dew season. I explained to him the strict demands in timing in crop cultivation. “If we want to get a bumper harvest of wheat, we must turn up the land at the beginning of the dog days and sow in the white dew season,” I said. Chairman Mao listened to me with great interest. and

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suggested that I pass my experience on to others at meetings. He wrote a letter and asked me to take it to the head of the county government. He explained to me the policy of keeping half or two thirds of the grain we grew for reserves. He showed me the plot of land he cultivated where red beans, corn, tomatoes and hot peppers grew well. When we said good-bye to each other, Chairman Mao gave me two cardboard boxes of tomatoes. I loaded them onto the donkey and had them carried home. On my way I presented some of the tomatoes to the people at the county

government. After arriving home, I distributed the tomatoes among the

villagers. People were immensely happy to eat the tomatoes Chairman Mao had grown. I tilled the land for Chairman Mao from 1943 to 1947, until he left

Yanan.

In 1945 Chairman Mao went to Chongqing to hold talks with Chiang Kai-shek. People in Yanan and the liberated areas worried about his safety. After Chairman Mao left Yanan, I did not say a word to others,

but I said to myself,

“Be

careful! Chiang

Kai-shek

is most

unscrupulous.” I worried about Chairman Mao’s safety so much that I frequently went to the township and county governments to inquire

about news of Chairman Mao and the time of his return. They would

say to me, “Please be at ease. Our Chairman’s safety is guaranteed.” But I was not at ease, because Chairman Mao had not come back.

On the seventh day of the ninth lunar month Chairman Mao came back to Yanan. I learned the news at a township meeting two days later. After returning home, I told my wife the great news. She was very happy, saying, “Now Chairman Mao is home, we feel much relieved.”

That evening we were too excited to fall asleep. I told my wife, “Chairman Mao stayed in Chongqing for more than a month. He worked hard for the people of the country. Let us send him the chickens we raised to express our gratitude.” Before dawn the next morning I

loaded two basketfuls of eggs and chickens on a donkey and went to

‘the Date Orchard to pay a visit to Chairman Mao. The villagers were happy to see me go and asked me to convey their regards to him. When I was approaching the Date Orchard, I met Chairman Mao, who was on his way to a meeting. “Labour Hero Yang, please wait for me,”

Chairman Mao said, greeting me. “Let’s talk in the evening when I come

back.”

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MAO ZEDONG

‘That evening after Chairman Mao came = back, we had a long talk

in his office. “How is the crop this year?”’ Chairman Mao asked me the moment he saw me. “Quite all right. How is your health?” I asked him. “People in my village asked me to convey their regards to you.” “Thank you very much for your concern,” Chairman Mao said. “After you went to Chongqing, people in Yanan worried about your safety. We all looked forward to your early homecoming.” “I went to Chongqing in the interest of the people. My trip to Chongqing was also a form of combat. Chiang Kai-shek made a fake motion of peace: We should expose him. After our talk we signed an * ‘agreement.’ However, Chiang Kai-shek never keeps his promises and will never give peace to the people. Even if we talked with him for twenty years, nothing would come of it. We should be prepared for fighting! You see, while he was talking with me at the conference table he was launching an onslaught on our liberated areas,” Chairman Mao

said.”

On learning that the crop that year was not good, he showed deep concern and asked if people would suffer from hunger the next year. He asked me to tell the villagers to prepare well against possible natural

calamities and

to overcome

difficulties. When

I bid. farewell to him,

Chairman Mao presented me with two baskets of apples, two boxes of biscuits and some bacon. When I returned to the village, I said to the people, “Chairman Mao is very concerned about us. When he learned that the crop isn’t growing well this year, he advised us to get ready for

possible calamity and to make.an effort to overcome difficulties.” The villagers were touched to learn this. . In the winter of 1946, after civil war had broken out, Hu Zongnan was making preparations to invade Yanan. One day in November an orderly was dispatched by Chairman Mao -to invite me to the Date Orchard. I stayed there for.three days and talked with Chairman Mao in the operations research office. “We have ample food and clothing, and we have now stored such a great amount of grain. Hu Zongnan is plotting to invade Yanan. What do you think we should do?” he asked me. “Don’t worry; we can dig cellars to hide the grain, then flatten the surface so that nobody can discover it.” I explained in great detail while Chairman Mao listened attentively.

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*“Can you dig a cellar?” he asked. “Yes, I can. We usually store our grain that way,” I answered. “Can you show me how to do it?” he asked. Then he asked me what was needed to dig cellars. I told him that a pick, a spade. and some dry grass would be enough. After our talk I quickly dug a test cellar under a pear tree in the Date Orchard. It was oval shaped and scraped smooth. I put handfuls of twisted dry grass around the inside of the cellar and put dry millet leaves on the bottom, covered it with dry grass and earth and added some camouflage. This kind of cellar cannot be discovered and can store grain for years without its going bad. While I was digging the cellar, Chairman Mao watched carefully, strolling to and fro. After I had finished, Chairman Mao

touched it and said with delight, “It’s wonderful! It’s wonderful!”

The cellar was for experimental purposes and was big enough for only one person to manoeuvre in. “Could you introduce your experience at the conference on security work of the liberated areas?” he asked me. I agreed. The next day I made a speech in the auditorium in Yanan. Chairman Mao asked me to convey to the local officials instructions concerning evacuation of noncombatants and hiding provisions.

After the meeting ended, the comrades in the General Office of the Party Central Committee told me that Chairman Mao wanted me to meet journalists from the U.S. Military Observation Group outside the northern entrance and answer their questions. I went there immediately. “Chiang Kai-shek and Hu Zongnan want to invade Yanan. What will you do?” they asked me. “Chiang Kai-shek and Hu Zongnan are leaders of transport contingents. It is easy for them to come in, but it will be difficult for them to get out. We can mobilize all the people, young and old, men

and women,

and use whatever

weapons

we have, such as

swords and spears, to fight them. It will not be difficult to wipe them out!” The journalists listened to the interpreters and showed signs of disappointment. Later I repeated what I had answered to Chairman Mao, who laughed and praised me for my remarkable answer. That evening I was invited to a traditional opera performance in the auditorium with Chairman Mao.

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On the seventh day of the first lunar month in 1947 I visited Chairman Mao. He asked me, “Now we are going. Will you go with us or with the guerrilla forces?” I told him that my wife had died and left me with three children to take care of, so I could not leave them.

I would have to join the guerrilla forces. In March Chairman Mao left

Yanan and I shouldered a rifle and joined the guerrilla forces.

After Liberation I met Chairman Mao twice. In December 1952 I participated in the Shaanxi Provincial Agricultural Congress and visited state farms in Beijing, where I stayed at the Ministry of Agriculture. 1 wanted very much to meet Chairman Mao, since we had not seen each other for several years. I wrote him a letter and very soon Chairman Mao sent someone to take me to his house. We sat together and chatted. “How is your health?” he asked. “Fine!” I answered while someone flashed a camera to take a picture. “Did Hu Zongnan manage to find the grain you hid in 1947?”

“No. It was safe and sound underground.”

“How seriously was Yanan destroyed? What is the situation now?”

he asked.

“Everything has been rehabilitated,” I answered. Then Chairman Mao went on to ask how many mutual-aid teams had been organized in my township and explained the necessity of founding agricultural cooperatives, pointing out to me the brilliant future of following the socialist road. He asked me if I had brought any,written material with me. I took it out of my pocket. While I was showing it to him, someone flashed a camera again (this picture is now on the wall of my cave dwelling). After reading the material, Chairman Mao invited me to a meal in his home and toasted me. I toasted in return, saying, “I toast your health.” “Thank you,” Chairman Mao said. He treated me warmly during the meal. On my departure Chairman Mao asked if I felt cold and ordered an orderly to give me a padded grey suit. In April and May 1961 I received bags of sugar and two bottles of wine said to have been sent by Chairman Mao from Beijing through the governments at the provincial, prefectural and county levels. I was speechless at the concern shown by Chairman Mao. I wanted to see him.

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MAKING

FRIENDS WITH PEASANTS,

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I wrote him a letter first, saying that I missed him and wanted very much to see him. In reply he agreed to meet me but asked me to consult the local governments for their approval. I talked with the people in the county government and obtained their approval. I made a cloth sack and filled it with all kinds of special local produce, such as millet, parched flour, melon seeds, mung beans,

dried vegetables. At the end of September I put the sack on my shoulder and went to Beijing. On National Day I went up to the rostrum at Tiananmen Square to meet Chairman Mao. He shook hands with me warmly, talked with me and introduced me to foreign guests standing around. Chairman Mao asked me to wait for him and talk sometime later. Several days later I was received by Chairman Mao. At our meeting he said, “Labour Hero Yang, you stay long in Beijing this time. How many days’ leave have you asked for?” I told him I had asked for twenty days’ leave. When I gave him the sack of special produce, Chairman Mao said, “Thank you. Thank the people in Yanan. My best regards to them!” Then he asked me, “How is the production in Yanan this year?” “We have reaped a bumper harvest,” I replied. Chairman Mao asked if the people now had eggs and pork to eat. He was also concerned about my own work. I told him that I had trouble with my arm and could no longer work in the fields so I was. working at the county’s seed station. “Good! It is also an important job. To develop new crop strains is part of the work at the production frontline.” Then he asked me about construction in Yanan. “We-have built two avenues and the Yanan Bridge and dug Yanhui Canal,” I said. “People in Yanan miss you very much. Please come back to Yanan,” I added. Chairman Mao said kindly, “Yes, I left Yanan in 1947. I hope I can go back sometime.” On September 9, 1976, Chairman Mao breathed his last. The shocking news sank me in great grief. My heart seemed to be torn to pieces. I could not eat or sleep for many days and the thought of Chairman Mao filled my eyes with tears. He could never return to Yanan, but he would live in the hearts of the people forever.

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CELEBRATING

THE SPRING FESTIVAL* He Qinghua

Spring Festival, 1943, had come. Representatives of the people and cadres of Date Orchard district and its subsidiary township came to offer Chairman Mao festival greetings, beating gongs and drums, playing the swona, bearing a red flag with the words “Working for the people’s benefit” and laden with native cakes and rice wine. Chairman Mao greeted them at the door, shaking hands with each. Then he asked them to sit down, and they began talking. When the head of Date Orchard district introduced the leader of the township of the same name, Chairman Mao amused him by saying, ““You are the head of this township. I’m its inhabitant. You must let me attend any meeting

you hold from now on.” This made everyone laugh. Listening to their reports, Chairman Mao beckoned to them to take tea and cigarettes, a smile of satisfaction on his face. When they had finished,

he asked

in a consultative

tone,

“This

year is the Great

Production Campaign. Will you succeed in producing one part of surplus out of every three parts?” “Sure,” they replied confidently. “We pledge to make it, and well strive to produce one part of surplus out of every two.” “But how? What methods do you have?” “Cultivating more land, ploughing deep, using more fertilizer and weeding more often.” “Good!” Chairman Mao nodded. “They are all methods for increasing output, but they’re not enough unless you organize *Written in 1977. The author was formerly Mao Zedong’s bodyguard.

148

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CELEBRATING SPRING FESTIVAL

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manpower and help one another in exchanging work. Otherwise your methods will fail, and the increase in output will be mere words.” After their conversation Chairman Mao invited everyone to eat, and while they were eating said, “Our army and the people are all one family. Today we ate eating together to celebrate the festival. Please make yourselves at home.” He helped them to food and wine and encouraged them to achieve good production to support the army at the front. After the meal he saw them off, waving good-bye. Shortly after Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival arrived. In the afternoon on the eve we followed Chairman Mao outside Yanyuan village for a stroll. Noticing several old peasants taking a break in fields, he went up and chatted with them. He asked their age and how many persons in the area were as old as they. Two of them replied they were the same age and the next day, the fifteenth of the first lunar month, was their birthday. They told Chairman Mao twenty-four people in the area were roughly the same

age.

Chairman Mao smiled and said, “Wonderful! You are all aged and

respectable persons. We ought to celebrate your birthdays.” One of them, however, heaved a long sigh and said, ‘For longsuffering folks like us such a thing is impossible,” and he shook his head. Chairman Mao said earnestly, “Now that our life has changed and production is better, don’t we call it ‘longevity and bumper harvest’?” Then he continued, “Tomorrow is the Lantetn Festival; please drop in for a birthday party, all of you!” Before departing, he added, “You must come. No one may refuse!”

The next afternoon he told us to invite all twenty-four aged persons

in the township to the small auditorium. He greeted each of them. One

aged man clasped his hand, tears in his eyes, and said excitedly,

“Chairman Mao, for three generations we have never celebrated any birthday, yet you remember everything in our households, large and small!” Kindly Chairman Mao comforted him. .“Old man, don’t be sad. Now

we

live a different life; we have

become

masters.

Our

life is

improved and will be even better in the future.” The man wiped away his tears with his hand, smiled and said,

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MAO ZEDONG

“Now the world has changed, I won’t feel sad anymore. With you guiding our way and the Communist Party working for our benefit, we have plenty to eat and wear. We feel happy in our hearts!” His words

aroused laughter from all present.

Following the custom for such an occasion, Chairman Mao treated them to noodles and proposed a toast. Cup in hand, he wished them a long life and good health. After the meal he gave them all presents — a cake of soap and a towel. Then he invited them to a movie, Lenin in October. On

leaving, they said with emotion,

“In the past we never

experienced such good treatment, or even heard of it. Under KMT rule we were either taxed or pressganged and extorted for money or grain. We were beaten and cursed; who cared whether we lived or died? Only Chairman Mao and the Communist Party are our good friends. We shall listen to what Chairman Mao says and respond to the call of the government with good production to support the front.” 2

After the spring that year no rain fell. The soil was dry and seedlings shrivelled. One day after supper Chairman Mao saw several © old peasants hoeing in the fields, so he went there. He felt the soil, inspected the withered seedlings and said concernedly, “We must relieve the drought and preserve the seedlings.” The old men stopped working. Their faces wrapped in sadness,

they looked at Chairman Mao, then raised their heads to the sky, hearts

heavy. One said, “Without rain the seedlings will all dry up.” “Old friend, is there anything that can be done?” asked Chairman Mao.

The old man put down his hoe, paused and said, “With no rain and

no irrigation what can we do except hoe more often and wait?” Chairman Mao nodded in approval. “Right, hoeing is the way to relieve the drought and preserve seedlings. The saying goes, ‘Under the hoe there is rain.” Now you must hoe frequently, and when the clouds turn to rain, the seedlings will soon recover.” The old man nodded and, murmuring to himself about rain, resumed his hoeing.

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The crops needed rain, the peasants were hoping for it, and so was Chairman Mao. Whenever he went out, we found, he would raise his

head to inspect the sky. Before long, one day a sudden rain did come. Standing by the door, Chairman Mao heaved a long sigh of relief. “Raining at last! The crops are saved.” One year the autumn crops had grown exceptionally well, People were excited, looking forward to a good harvest. Unexpectedly, one afternoon in the beginning of August the weather changed abruptly. Dark clouds gathered, a chill wind blew, lightning and thunder struck, and a hailstorm lashed against the ground. When it was over, people rushed to the fields and were distressed at the sight — the crops had been stripped and levelled. Sadness spread ‘to every face, and the peasants sighed over the lost harvest. Learning of the critical situation, Chairman Mao instantly said to the local people, “‘We must remedy. the disaster by our own hands and grow more winter wheat to make up for the loss.” The people responded actively, throwing themselves at once into the work. Chairman Mao helped them get enough seed by personally arranging an immediate dispatch and sent cadres from the government and army men to assist in a quick resowing. As a result, the winter wheat was plentiful and good, yielding a bumper harvest the next year. 3

The second day of Spring Festival in 1945, when Chairman Mao had finished his breakfast, he sent for the secretary of Date Orchard township’s administration and asked him to take us around to give

season’s greetings to the local people. We followed Chairman Mao, threading through Yanyuan, heading for the administration offices. When we were near, the secretary hurried ahead to spread the news. The cadres stepped out to greet Chairman Mao just as he was entering. ‘“‘Happy New Year! I hope you are well and successful in work,” Chairman Mao said, and everyone excitedly returned his greetings. ““Good, you are all fine,” he said, then entered the office and began chatting warmheartedly. “How many households in this village?” he asked.

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“Twenty-four all together.” “How’s the production this year?” “After the Great Production Campaign we cultivated more land and increased the output. After paying the grain tax, we still have some left and have enough to eat and wear.” “What about the life of the people? How many pigs were

slaughtered for the festival?”

“Eighteen in the whole village.” “Not bad,” Chairman Mao said, chuckling, “but still not enough. If you raise more pigs, you can collect more fertilizer to increase the output. How about raising enough so you can slaughter one for each family? What do you say to that?” They all laughed delightedly. Suddenly Chairman Mao noticed a boy of eight or nine standing beside him. He gently rubbed his head, asking, “Do you go to school?” “Not yet,” the boy replied, childishly wagging his head. Turning

to the cadres present,

Chairman

Mao

said, “Culture

is

backward in northern Shaanxi; there are few schools and few teachers.

This is a real problem.” After a pause he went on earnestly, ‘It’s important to educate children, and we must do a good job. Our bases will be expanded; the Party Central Committee will not necessarily remain here. When we leave, the work there will be left entirely to you.” When the conversation was over, Chairman Mao planned to give greetings to the people from door to door but was urged not to do so . by the local cadres, who knew how busy he was. After thinking a moment, Chairman Mao gave in. “Well, I won’t insist. But do remember me to each household.” On leaving, Chairman ‘Mao was accompanied a long way by the cadres, who seemed still to have much to say. Before long Chairman Mao sent a teacher to the township, where a primary school was soon established, enrolling all the children of school age.

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MAO

ZEDONG

DURING NEGOTIATIONS CHONGQING*

IN

Wang Bingnan August 28, 1945, is an unforgettable date. The city of Chongqing, usually shrouded in mist and cloud, suddenly brightened under a clear sky. Stirring news quickly reached every corner of the mountain town: “Chairman Mao, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, is coming to the city today to discuss matters of vital importance for the national peaceful construction with the Kuomintang government!” At Jiulongpo Airport the waiting crowd kept looking up at the blue sky in great excitement, hoping to see Chairman Mao as soon as possible. In order to meet Chairman Mao, comrades from the Eighth Route Army stationed in the city and Xinhua Ribao (Xinhua Daily) went to the airport early in the morning. I was especially excited, repeatedly telling myself not to make any mistakes in my work, because the leadership of the Party had informed me not long before that I was assigned to be

Chairman Mao’s secretary during his participation in the negotiations.

At 3:30 p.m., with the nearing of the engine’s roar, a olive-green airplane slowly landed. Instantly warm applause burst from the crowd when the cabin door opened. I went aboard first to report the names of the welcoming party to Chairman Mao and lead the way for him. Big, tall, glowing with health and radiating vigour, Chairman Mao was in a topi and gray cotton suit. Accompanied by Vice-Chairman Zhou Enlai, he slowly walked down the steps, waving greetings to the welcoming people with a smile on his face. I had originally thought that such a great man as Chairman Mao would

have a solemn, dignified manner, and I would

feel awkward

*Written in 1976. The author was formerly President of the Chinese People’s

Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.153

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MAO ZEDONG

working beside him, but events proved otherwise. From my contact with him I came to find that Chairman Mao was so kind, so amiable,

and 80 easy of approach that all my worries disappeared. On the way

from the airport to his residence he asked me where I was from. When

told I was from Shaanxi Province, he smiled, saying, ““We’ve been in

north Shaanxi for ten years. The millet grown there has fed us, and the people there have contributed very much to the revolution.” Chairman Mao was always warm to comrades, always concerned about them. Afterwards, whenever I went to report to him about work, he invariably

asked me to sit down and speak slowly. Having listened carefully to what I had to report, he often asked for my views or opinions. At that time Xinhua Daily carried a lot of news about Chairman Mao’s activities in the city every day. Once he said to me, “Tell the newspaper office Not to report about me too much; I don’t want so much prominence given to one individual. Some activities need not be reported, but more letters from the people should be published.” Chairman Mao’s personally flying to Chongqing to take part in negotiations with the KMT government was a great event, attracting worldwide attention, following China’s victory over Japan. After Japan’s surrender Chiang Kai-shek deliberately planned to provoke civil war, but the strong political pressure of demands for peace and democracy at home and abroad and, at.the same time, the necessity to gain time to move his troops from rear areas for civil war forced him, with American support, to play a trick of false peace, sending three telegrams in a row, from August

Chongqing

for negotiations.

reactionary

terror,

many

14 to 23, to invite Chairman Mao

Since the city was then enveloped

comrades,

out

of love

for Chairman

to

in

Mao,

were worried about his safety. Some revolutionary bases even telegraphed to advise him not to go. But Chairman Mao, taking the interests of the whole into account, resolutely flew to Chongqing. This decision was highly praised by progressive opinion at home and abroad, because it showed that the Chinese Communist Party truly represented the desire of the people of the whole country for peace and no civil war.

Negotiations

started at Lin Yuan,

Chiang

Kai-shek’s

official

residence, the day after Chairman Mao’s arrival in the city, but Chiang had actually made no preparations at all. In an attempt to negate the

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DURING NEGOTIATIONS IN CHONGQING

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necessity for negotiations he went so far as to claim there was no civil war. Immediately Chairman Mao refuted his sophistry with numerous historical facts and pointed out to the KMT representatives that the

declaration of no civil war was only a swindle. Right from the beginning of negotiations Chairman Mao told the comrades in the Eighth Route Army office that we should never cherish any illusions about the

negotiations and also should not expect any benevolence from the KMT government. We should be prepared to wage a tit-for-tat struggle against them. The future would certainly be bright, but the path tortuous, he added.

.

During his days in Chongqing Chairman Mao also met with various KMT figures, including some old dichards. “KMT is a political entity. We should do concrete analysis of it,” said Chairman Mao. “Its members can be classified into left, middle and right elemerits. They can not be regarded as a monolithic bloc.” Chairman Mao not only visited KMT leftists, such as Feng Yuxiang, who was for Sun Yat-sen’s three

major policies, but also wanted to see KMT

rightists, such as Chen

Lifu and Dai Jitao. This was a surprise to us at first, because we thought these anti-Communist experts were our enemy. What good would it do to visit them? Chairman Mao explained: “It’s true. These people are anti-Communist, but is my coming to Chongqing this time just for negotiating with the anti-Communist chief Chiang Kai-shek? Today the power is in the hands of the KMT rightists. If we want to solve problems, seeking help only from leftists is far from enough. Leftists are for cooperating with us, but they are not in power. In order to settle problems, we have to have dealings with the rightists and should not give up any opportunities of making contact with them.” One day when IT went with Chairman Mao to visit Chen Lifu, I wondered what could be discussed with such a man, but Chairman Mao first recalled the times

of cooperation between the KMT

and the Chinese Communist Party

before the Great Revolution, then turned to criticize the KMT’s betrayal

of the revolution and its carrying out of erroneous policies of suppressing Communists. Chairman Mao said, “The ten-year civil war

led to the growth of the Communist Party instead of its elimination,

while the Kuomintang’s suppression of the Communist Party brought the Japanese invasion, nearly subjugating the nation. Isn’t this a

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MAO ZEDONG

profound lesson to set people thinking?” In speaking of why we waged guerrilla warfare in the mountains, Chairman Mao said, This was the

outcome of the KMT’s suppression. We were driven to revolt, just like Sun Wukong, the Monkey King*, making havoc in the Heavenly Palace. Dissatisfied with the lowly position of Protector of the Horses given by the Jade Emperor, he proclaimed himself the Great Sage Equalling Heaven. But you refused to offer us even such a small title, so we were obliged to fight as guerrillas. In this way Chairman Mao skilfully criticized the KMT’s policies, which had caused disaster to the

state and the people. Meanwhile he also introduced our Party’s propositions regarding the domestic situation, reminding the KMT what the people were for and what they were against, and not to follow the old, disastrous road. Chairman Mao’s frank, sharp and quick-witted comments made Chen Lifu feel a bit awkward but did not embarrass him. He was obliged to say he would try his best for the negotiations. Another time I accompanied Chairman Mao to visit Yu Youren. When told by the doorkeeper that Chiang Kai-shek was a guest there, Chairman

Mao

proposed

to see Dai

Jitao,

who

lived

in the

same

courtyard. Dai, a faithful follower and “brain truster”’ of Chiang’s, had never expected Chairman Mao’s visit. He looked ill at ease, as if feeling

too ashamed to show his face. This sight made me admire very much Chairman Mao’s broadness of mind and superb art of struggle. When we left Dai’s house, we met Chiang on the pathway. Asked where he wanted to go, Chairman Mao responded that we had just visited Dai. Hearing this, Chiang was first struck dumb, then pretended to smile. “That’s

good,

that’s

good,”

he said.

Chairman

Mao’s

activities

in

Chongqing set an example for us of how to integrate revolutionary principles with strategics. During his days in Chongqing Chairman Mao, accompanied by Vice-Chairman Zhou, had wide contacts with people of various circles, including democratic personages, such as Zhang Lan, Shen Junru and Huang Yanpei, representatives of women and youth, and people from

industry,

the fundamental *Sun

commerce,

Wukong

literature

and

the

arts.

He

expounded

policies of our Party on the realization of peace, is the

infinitely

mythological novel Jourmty to the West.

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resourceful

hero

of the

famous

Chinese

DURING NEGOTIATIONS IN CHONGQING

157

democracy and unity, promoting the progress of the fevolutionary united front. I was especially impressed on the occasion when Chairman Mao received a group of leaders of ““Xiaominge” (the abbreviation of the Democratic Revolutionary League). In high spirits, Chairman Mao spoke freely, quoting copiously from many sources, about the abuses of the current political situation and the KMT’s rule, which were against the will of the people. Everyone there was fascinated by his wonderful lecture, which lasted ten hours.

Making use of intervals between negotiation sessions Chairman Mao worked effectively with Vice-Chairman Zhou on uniting with foreign friends. He received American airmen and Japanese progressive antiwar writers and gave banquets for representatives of aid-China groups or teams from various countries as well as foreign friends in Chongqing, thanking them for their help to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and other liberated areas. Chairman Mao also received many ambassadors from different countries and had talks with them. Through these activities Chairman Mao, on the one hand, destroyed the

KMT reactionaries’ blockade of the truth about the Chinese Communist

Party and the liberated areas, speeding up development of the political situation toward one more favourable to the people; on the other hand, he obtained firsthand data about the ideological trends of public figures of various circles at home and abroad. After returning to Yanan, in his feport to a cadres’ meeting he pointed out, “When I was in Chongqing, I felt deeply the warm support for us of vast numbers of people. They are dissatisfied with the KMT government and are placing their hopes in us.” Then he added, “The broad masses of the people of various countries dislike the Chinese reactionary forces. They sympathize with the forces of the Chinese people.... We have many friends over the country and the world. We’re not isolated.” Chairman Mao was very busy with work and activities in Chongging. I still remember the scene in a small room upstairs at Red Crag Village with Chairman Mao hard at work every midnight. Sometimes he was discussing problems with Vice-Chairman Zhou, sometimes drafting documents, sometimes walking back and forth in the room, pondering deeply the future of the nation. Out of concern for his health we always hoped he would have a little more rest.

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Once when I found he was asleep, I didn’t report something to him. He criticized me for this, saying, “Our coming here is simply for negotiations. We have to be aware of the current situation in time to make decisions. From now on, ina similar situation you must wake me.” Later on, we got news from the American military personnel that KMT troops stationed in Kunming were at wat with Long Yun’s forces (Long was the governor of Yunnan Province). I hurried to awaken Chairman Mao and tell him the news. He took this matter.seriously and said it would be good if Long Yun could hold out against them. He asked us to keep close watch on developments and keep him informed of any problems that arose. Many old friends came to visit him, and there were also lots of personal letters for him. Some people suggested that because Chairman Mao was so busy, it was not necessary for him to read every letter. Therefore, I took several letters to him and asked if I could handle them

for him. Chairman Mao replied, “‘No, they can’t be taken as personal letters. They are the voice of the people in rear areas.” He instructed that all the letters be sent to him. He replied to some himself and asked

us to deal with others.

:

Chairman Mao never gave up any chance to be with the masses. In the city of Chongqing at that time there were many KMT special agents, so all revolutionaries were worried about his safety. ViceChairman Zhou, especially, followed him closely. But Chairman Mao

behaved with perfect composure and often appeared amid the masses.

On September 2 Chairman Mao, accompanied by Vice-Chairman Zhou, attended a banquet hosted by the Chinese-Soviet Cultural Association. As he entered the assembly hall, all the participants immediately came over and surrounded him. Many of his old friends, with tears in théir eyes, held the Chairman’s hands and said, “Now you’ve come, there is

hope for China!” The news about Chairman Mao’s attendance at the party spread rapidly. Countless workers, residents and students poured into the streets, eager to see Chairman Mao. When Chairman Mao went out and waved to the masses, people on both sides of the street burst into cheers. The atmosphere was very lively. Chairman Mao always remembered his old friends. In Chongqing he gave me a list of names of his old acquaintances — members of the

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DURING NEGOTIATIONS IN CHONGQING

159

Xin Min Xue Hui (New People’s Study Society) —and asked me to inquire about how they were getting on. One of them was a professor who had left his post and was idle at home and poverty-stricken. Chairman Mao decided to visit him and asked us not to tell him in advance. As we entered the low, damp, small room and told him

Chairman Mao had come he stared at him at first, tears rolling down his cheeks, uttering no sound for a long time. The room was too small and too dark to entertain guests, so he and Chairman Mao took several

old bamboo chairs outside and they sat down together in the open. As

they happily chatted and recalled their experiences as students their hearty laughter was heard frequently. Another time Chairman Mao, still accompanied by Vice-Chairman

Zhou, went to visit one of his old classmates, a professor at the Central

University. As the car stopped at the entrance of the school, I first entered the campus to make sure the professor was at home. Upon

learning that Chairman Mao had come to see him, he was overjoyed and

hurriedto welcome him. Before long the news reached every part of the school. More and more students came, assembling around the professor’s house, all looking forward to seeing Chairman Mao. A guard told me that this university’s political situation was very complicated. For the sake of Chairman Mao’s safety, better not stay long. ViceChairman Zhou agreed. As Chairman Mao came out of the house, the students surged toward him. Vice-Chairman Zhou waved at them, asking them to get out of the way. The students stepped aside, applauding and shouting, “‘Welcome to Mr. Mao! Please give us a talk.” Afterwards Chairman Mao repeatedly mentioned this experience, saying, ““You always told me that in the areas under Chiang Kai-shek’s rule there were dangers here and there, but I’ve found the masses are reasonable. Twice you’ve seen me meeting the masses. This shows what the people are for and what they are against.” Chairman Mao spent forty-three days and nights in Chongqing, from August 28, 1945, to October 11. Whether at or away from the negotiating table, he never missed a chance to work in the interests of revolution. Faced with the grave political situation, he had a wellthought-out plan, leading our Party to make use of talk against talk and fight against fight. He firmly protected the vital interests of the people

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in negotiations, resolutely counterattacking the KMT. In the course of negotiation Chiang Kai-shek proposed unifying military and political orders, attempting to use this as a pretext for eliminating the people’s forces and the democratic power of the liberated areas. Some people of the media also demanded that we “should not set up a separate kitchen.” In reply to Chiang’s scheme Chairman Mao declared, “I agree to the idea of not setting up a separate kitchen, but Chiang Kai-shek should be responsible for the supply of our food. Otherwise, how can we cook without setting up a separate kitchen?” He clearly pointed out, “The fact is not that we want to set up a separate.kitchen, but that we are not

allowed to cook in the KMT’s kitchen.” Defeated

in negotiations, Chiang

‘

turned to military risks.

He

instigated Yan Xishan, warlord of Shanxi Province, to launch a new

large-scale attack against the liberated area of Shangdang in Shanxi. Under the vigorous counterblow of the army and people there, all the KMT invading troops, totalling thirteen divisions, were completely ' wiped out. The failure of political tricks and military attacks, plus the strong pressure against civil war by public opinion at home and abroad, drove Chiang Kai-shek to sign the summary of talks between the Chinese Communist Party and the KMT government on October 10, namely the “Double-Tenth Agreement.” Its publication gave our Party a great initiative in politics and led the KMT to an extrémely passive position. It marked a tremendous success for the revolution of the Chinese people. On October 11 Chairman Mao finished his task in Chongqing and, accompanied by Zhang Zhizhong, flew back to Yanan.

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COMRADE MAO ZEDONG MAKES AMENDS FOR ME* Hong Yu The Selected Correspondence of Mao Zedong, published in 1983, contains a letter in reply to me by Comrade Mao Zedong on March 12, 1946. It is as follows: March Comrade Hong

12

Yu,

I’ve had your letter of January 25 for a long time. Although I’ve been ill the past few months, still deeply apologize for the delay in replying to you. After carefully reading your letter, I felt I must. agree with your views. With regard to your specific problems, of course, yours is only one side, and so far I haven’t heard from the other side. I think, however, our Party organizations should and

must pay attention to your views. Today, one and a half months have already passed since you sent your letter to me. I wonder whether your problems have been solved during this period. If not, would you go to An Ziwen, the deputy head of the organization .department, and discuss your case with him. I’ve already sent him your letter. When your problems are settled, please write and tell me about their solution. I want to know the result. In short, I feel

compunction toward you and many other comrades, for in our work there are too many things not well done. Comradely salute! Mao Zedong *Written

in 1986.

The author is Secretary-General of the State

Restructuring Economic System.

161

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Commssion for

162

‘MAO ZEDONG

I felt this letter by Comrade Mao Zedong was not only to me but also to many other comrades who had been wrongly labelled enemy

agents. It was a redress for us politically. . I remember it was in spring 1943 when I and some other comrades

had just come back to the Lu Xun Art Academy in Yanan from its branch in southeastern Shanxi Province — a base area of resistance

against Japan. I was then a Communist in my early twenties, working

on literary research in the department of literature. Not long after, the

movement called “‘Rescuing Those Who Took a Wrong Step in Life” was launched, signalled by Kang Sheng’s booklet bearing the same title. By not following strictly the policies formulated by the Party Central

Committee quite a few units committed ultra-Left errors and wrongly labelled many comrades Kuomintang spies. I was one of the victims. It was right to rescue young people who had been fooled into becoming KMT special agents, but it was a tragedy to take a comrade who had experienced the trials of a long journey and risked his life passing through the KMT’s blockade to Yanan for revolution. In the

course of being separated from others and interrogated I made a detailed account of my personal history. In 1933 I joined a reading society, the

Far East Anti-Imperialist League and the Communist Youth League when

I was

Studying

in the

middle

school

attached

to

Xiamen

University. Later on, our local organizations were sabotaged and two members who had had direct contact with me were arrested separately

in 1934 and 1935. Thus I lost connections with them. Under the reign of White Terror I had to leave Xiamen. In 1936 I re-established contact with an underground comrade in Guangxi and then joined the Chinese National Liberation League, a peripheral organization of the local Party unit. In 1938, through an introduction by an underground comrade and the Eighth Route Army Office in Wuhan, I went to study at the Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese Military and Political College and the Lu Xun Art Academy, and soon after that I was assigned to work in the base areas behind enemy lines. In 1943 I was instructed to return to Yanan with some other comrades. In short, lots of facts could prove my personal history was clear, without political problems.

But all this was of no use. The comrades responsible for my

interrogation went so far as to regard my revolutionary experiences in

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MAO ZEDONG MAKES

AMENDS

FOR ME

163

in the grim as false. They took my behaviour the areas under KMT rule struggles and vigorous trials in enemy rear areas as a KMT ruse of masquerading as a revolutionary in order to sneak into the revolutionary ranks. Again and again they told me that they represented the Party organization. They took turns interrogating me to tire me out and compel me to confess my “crimes” as a spy. In this way they concluded subjectively that I was a counter-revolutionary. Up to 1945, after the Japanese surrender, when the Party Central Committee ordered our troops to hasten to the vast enemy-occupied areas, my case was still pending. In January 1946 I wrote a letter to Chairman Mao, exphining in detail why and how I had been unjustly treated and pointing out that my interrogators’ views and deeds were wrong. In. this letter I stated that I thought one’s greatest bitterness in the world was not to be captured by the enemy but ‘to be wrongly treated as a counter-revolutionary by one’s comrades. I was not counterrevolutionary but just like the soldier in a Soviet novel who became the captive of his own general. What my interrogators did was similar to Don Quixote fighting a windmill. How could they stand for our Party? In my opinion the most dreadful enemy was nothing other than subjectivism and metaphysics in those comfades’ minds. They took friends of mine working in areas under KMT rule but sympathizing with the revolution as untrustworthy. They even suspected the underground Party members who had introduced me to Yanan. In their

eyes none of them was qualified to serve as a witness for me, In addition,

they labelled a friend of mine a bad guy because he had once been arrested and forced to write a statement of repentance. On this basis they came to the conclusion that I was a jackal from the same lair. Such groundless judgment and inference were completely unreasonable. Even if my friend had really turned bad, how could I be made his equal? Whether I was a Communist Party member or a KMT special agent was a serious political matter. The correct solution to the problem could be based only on a thorough analysis of my entire history, ideology, words and deeds; only this could lead to a just judgment. But they didn’t act this way. They took all good deeds as disguises of agents masquerading as revolutionaries and all errors or shortcomings as counter-revolutionaries’ sabotage activities. If one followed their views and criteria, there

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MAO ZEDONG

would be no good people. Using pressure to force the accused to confess his wrongdoings or confronting the accused with another accused to pass judgment was even more questionable. If the other accused yielded + under pressure and concocted a charge against the accused, which was then taken as the basis for judgment, one can imagine the result! T added that it seemed I became free after the movement, because

1 was no longer watched day and night, but I still felt 1 was controlled by an invisible hand. They neither declared me a counter-revolutionary nor announced my case should be reexamined and redressed. They adopted long-term delaying tactics. I thought this practice could bring no benefit to individuals or the Party. It could only ruin innocent people and create confusion and could never help a Party organization clear my problems. I expected the Party Central Committee to instruct Party organizations at all levels to pay attention to such matters and never allow the idea that since the revolution was approaching victory step by step, one person more or less was now not important and the accused could be treated at will or neglected. I held the work of the Party was meticulous organizational work closely linked to the will of the people. How the accused were treated was not only an individual matter but a matter of vital importance in gaining or losing the support of the people and to the success or failure of the revolution. . I delivered the letter directly to Chairman Mao’s residence at Wangjiaping. At that time I wondered how it would be handled. In the letter I said that I knew he was very busy and perhaps would be unable to deal with this problem. I hoped only that he would listen to my voice and learn that in our Party there were still many cases similar to mine, which were unendurable. Beyond thy expectation my letter was neither like a stone thrown into the sea nor sent back to my work unit. Chairman Mao knew that a person treated as a counter-revolutionary could never receive his letter in reply through ordinary channels, so he sent a guard to deliver it to

me. me

With great excitement | read it over and over again. His letter freed from

depression,

sorrow,

and

tension.

My

enthusiasm

was

rekindled. From this letter I experienced Chairman Mao’s sincerity, modesty, trust and respect toward comrades and realized he was really

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MAO ZEDONG MAKES AMENDS FOR ME

165

against subjectivism and for seeking truth from facts. His letter fully revealed he believed most of the young people leaving the areas under KMT rule for Yanan were throwing themselves into revolution and working for communist ideals, Just as Comrade Zhou Enlai said, if there

were so many enemy agents, our work in KMT

ruled areas would be

unimaginable, and if there were so many enemy agents, their being in Yanan would also be unimaginable. I was warmly received by An Ziwen, the leader of the organization department under the Party Central Committee, when I took Comrade Mao’s letter to him. He told me that Comrade Mao Zedong had written to him about solving my problem. After my case was reexamined and redressed, I wrote to Comrade Mao, reporting and saying that because the comrades responsible for my rehabilitation had sought truth from facts, my problems had been solved. From then on, my days of. being treated as a counter-revolutionary were at an end. | was transferred to literary and art research in the Central Party School. Soon afterwards I was assigned to work on land reform with An Ziwen. At the end of 1948 the leadership asked me to take an examination for the MarxismLeninism Academy. After graduation I was assigned to theoretical work in the Propaganda Department of the Party Central Committee. Comrade Mao Zedong not only settled my political problem but

openly expressed his apologies to those who had been wronged. Once,

in the auditorium of Yanan University, Comrade Mao took off his cap and bowed deeply to the audience to apologize to those who had suffered an injustice, saying, “You're right. It was our fault on this matter.” His frankness and spirit of self-criticism deeply moved me and many other comrades. ‘ For me and many other comrades the revolutionary road has not been a smooth one. During the ten years of turmoil a number of people still wanted to perform the old tragedy. They pasted up big-character posters to attack me, declaring that I was a special agent released by somebody in Yanan. I argued I had a letter from Chairman Mao that would confirm the facts but some still insisted on their views. “It would have been impossible for Hong Yu to write to Chairman Mao at that time. Even if he had done so, Chairman Mao would not have written

in reply. Even if Chairman Mao really responded, it would be impossible

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MAO ZEDONG

to have kept it until now,” they said. But fact is fact. All their slanders showed only that the persistent ailment of subjectivism and metaphysics

was still deeply rooted in some people’s minds.

I was an ordinary Party member ia a low position, but when I

suffered an injustice, Chairman Mao was concerned about me politically.

I shall remember his kindness all my life. Compared to many events that took place in the process of the Chinese revolution, my personal matter was a very

small thing, but Chairman

Mao,

proceeding

from

the

interests of the revolution, did not neglect my problem and handled it

properly. He not only solved my problems but set an example for the entire Party of how to treat people and settle problems correctly. This

was Chairman Mao I saw for myself in Yanan. I deeply felt that the decisive factor in why hundreds and thousands of people were willing

to risk their lives to follow the Communist Party in revolution, in why the Chinese revolution could win the great victories of the Long March,

the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the Liberation War in fewer than thirty years was the role played by the leader in Chairman Mao.

But when Chairman Mao committed mistakes in his last years, the whole

Party and the whole country suffered a lot. This is a profound historical lesson. If the organization of the Party is further improved and if more and more people master Marxism and reduce or even get rid of subjectivism and metaphysics, it will be possible to reduce or even avoid great losses in case the leaders commit mistakes. Personal problems can also be solved properly in time without the top leader’s interference. I think, so long as this kind of great leap in quality takes place, our Party will become more vigorous and win greater support from the people.

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REMINISCENCES ON INTERVIEW WITH CHAIRMAN MAO ZEDONG ON THE PAPER TIGER* Anna Louise Si trong

The statement by Chairman Mao Zedong that imperialism and all reactionaries are paper tigers, made to me fourteen years ago in Yanan, is now both famous and historic. It has illumined the course of world events in these fourteen years. It is therefore of interest to recall some of the details of the conditions under which the statement was made. . When I went to Yanan in the summer of 1946, the Anti- Japanese War, and the Second World War of which it was a part, had been over

for just-a year. Most people in America still thought of the U.S.S.R. and of China as allies, but reactionary elements had already begun the “cold war” and were even threatening to make it a hot war. Their hostility to the U.S.S.R. had not stopped for a moment even during the war against Hitler in which the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. were allies. They had shown this undying hostility in many ways, especially by the statement that Hitler was the “wrong enemy” and that after he should be beaten, the U.S.S.R. would still have to be fought. When the World War therefore ended, and the U.S.A. had for the time a monopoly of the A-Bomb, propaganda became open for using this power to compel the Soviet Union to accept any American demands. In China a condition of formal truce continued between Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist-led forces but it was being: frequently violated by Chiang, whose armed assaults against the Communists had continued even during the Anti-Japanese War. America’s official * position was that China should be unified under Chiang, and that the *Written in 1960.

167

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MAO ZEDONG

Communists should give up their separate armies and be legalized as a

minority party. A truce had been signed that was known as the Marshalt Truce, because General George C. Marshall also signed it and set up in

Beijing an “Executive Headquarters,” with participation of Chiang and

the Chinese Communists

under American

chairmanship.

Its alleged

purpose was to settle the armed clashes that arose. For this purpose

“truce teams” were set up in almost forty cities of North and Northeast

China, connected with Executive Headquarters ‘by American military

planes. Washington’s purpose in all this was to gain control of all China through treaties with Chiang Kai-shek. They used the truce to transport Chiang’s soldiers by ship and plane into North and Northeast China, to

places from which they could most easily attack the Liberated Areas of the North. Their connections by plane to forty Chinese cities were not controlled by any Chinese supervision; they were able to photograph

from their planes all China as far as Qiqihar. The purpose of the

American reactionaries was not only to gain control of China’s wealth, which they hoped to exploit and grow rich on for another fifty years. But also, as revealed by General Wedemeyer, they hoped for military bases in the Northeast and in Xinjiang to use against the U.S.S.R.; they also expected the use of millions of Chinese soldiers as cannon-fodder in this future anti-Soviet war.

Meantime in early 1946 a truce officially existed and Executive

Headquarters planes were open to use by newspaper correspondents. It was therefore possible for me to fly from San Francisco to Shanghai and thence to Beijing, and from Beijing to the different Liberated Areas of the north, most of which had not been visited by any outsider. This opportunity would clearly not long exist. Chiang launched war against the Central Plains Liberated Area and occupied its capital in midsummer of 1946. Negotiation still went on about other Liberated Areas, and General Marshall still claimed the intention of settling the questions peacefully. As long as this formula continued it was possible to fly every week from Beijing to Yanan or to any of the other Liberated Areas. These facilities were open even to writers from the working-class press. I therefore flew to Yanan in late summer of 1946 and spent a few weeks there, and then returned to Beijing from which I visited three

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REMINISCENCES ON INTERVIEW

169

other Liberated Areas, spending a week each in Zhangjiakou, the capital of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region, and in the Taihang Mountains where Liu Bocheng had headquarters in a large Liberated Area containing parts of four provinces, and then in Harbin and Qigihar, where a strong Northeastern Liberated Area flourished, protected by Lin Biao’s troops. After visiting these areas, I returned in October to Yanan and remained there through the winter of 1946-47 until Yanan was evacuated in March

1947.

In Yanan during my visit all the activities still continued which had been built up over a decade. Yanan was headquarters of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the residence of Chairman Mao and Zhu De and many other members of the Central Committee. It was also the capital of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and a centre of culture where Yanda (Yanan University) was maintained, and an International Peace Hospital named for the Canadian surgeon Bethune. Yanan published the Liberation Daily and maintained a Central Radio Station and had a theatre where good Beijing opera, both classic and modern, was presented. These facilities went on under very primitive conditions. The only electric light came from a dynamo at the American Military. Liaison Group which was set up during the Anti- Japanese War and had not yet closed down; this served only the Americans and a few other nearby dwellings. Most people, including the members of the Central Committee,

used kerosene or candles for

light. Yanan was under military threat from Hu Zongnan, Chiang’s general in Xian. During my stay Hu’s planes often flew over the area for observation and sometimes dropped small bombs but these attacks were not at first serious. How primitive the transport was is shown by the fact that my first interview with Chairman Mao had to be postponed because of a shower of rain in the upper valleys which caused the Yan River to rise. This river is usually a small stream, so shallow that children splash easily across it, but a sudden rain could make a torrent deep and strong erfough to overturn an auto-truck. Since Chairman Mao lived on the other side of the river from where I was staying and there was no bridge suitable for autos, I had to wait for the following day. Then I went to Mao’s home by truck, bumping over the boulders in the river, climbing the

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MAO ZEDONG

far side with much grunting of the motor, and entering a gate into Yang Family Village, the ravine where the Central Committee’s headquarters was. A short distance further, the truck halted next to a steep hill path. We climbed between corn-stalks and tomato-vines, to a wide clay terrace from which a long row of caves opened into the steep hillside. Four of these were the home of Chairman Mao. We sat on the flat clay terrace under an apple tree with a view of distant hills through the afternoon hours until sunset. Mao’s beautiful dark haired wife sat beside us for a time and then went into a cave to prepare a meal. Their small daughter, in a dress of bright figured cotton, played around her father’s knees, climbed into his lap, received his caresses and then came over.to give her hand to the visitor. Early in the talk I noticed a movement in the grass higher up the hill about twenty metres above the top of Chairman Mao’s cave. Since Hu Zongnan’s planes had dropped a small bomb near the cave where Mao had lived somewhat earlier I wondered if a sentry was stationed to watch the Chairman’s home. So I asked: “Who is up there?” “Just another family,” replied Mao. “Their children are curious about my foreign guest.” I thus had a lesson in the relativity of human curiosity. It was myself whom the people on the hill were watching. Chairman Mao was to them the neighbour with whom they shared the vegetable garden on the hill. Seldom have I seen a man who fitted so simply into his environment. He did not seem to demand the isolation that some intellectuals think necessary for their work. What privacy he needed was given by the respect his neighbours felt for him. The children above peered down but made no noise. His little daughter, while inviting his caresses, made no attempt to divert his attention from our talk. He wore the usual suit of dark blue cotton, but it was neater and

better cared for than with others. There was no haste or restlessness in his manner but a poised friendliness. His comments were full of imagery and his face lit often into vivid humour when he smiled, but he had eyes that nothing escaped. The conversation went easily. The interpreter did a good job and Chairman Mao’s own manner was so expressive that I was not conscious of any barrier of speech. His mind swept easily over the world, including

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REMINISCENCES ON INTERVIEW

.

71

many lands and epochs. He first questioned me about America. On many American events he was better informed than I. This was surprising for I had left America only a few weeks earlier while for twenty years Mao had not even had a postal connection with the outside world. But he planned the smuggling of knowledge as carefully as the strategy of war. The Radio Centre in Yanan monitored the world’s news

services and made digests for the Central Committee’s use. The brief

connection with Beijing which the planes of Executive Headquarters gave, was used to bring in books and journals from many lands. The Chairman’s knowledge of world events was very complete. It was afterI had answered to the best of my ability his questions" “about America that I raised the question about the threat of war between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. with which the interview now published

in the 4th volume of Mao’s selected works began. The Chairman said

that the talk of war was at present largely a smoke-screen which the reactionaries created to cover up the many immediate contradictions facing U.S. imperialism. American monopoly capital of course dreamed of destroying the U.S.S.R. but this aim was not so immediate. They must first wear down the American people’s opposition to war, and then they must bring other capitalist countries under American control. Any war against the U.S.S.R. had to be done through other countries’ territory, through Britain, France and China. So the American reactionaries used all this talk about fighting the U.S.S.R. to give excuse for attacking the American people’s civil rights and living standards and for bringing the other capitalist lands under American control. He pointed out how, under this pretext, the U.S.A. was setting up military bases in many places and had already taken a very large area under American control. Chairman Mao laughingly illustrated his point with the tea-cups and little white wine cups on the table, placing a big cup for American imperialism and surrounding it with a circle of little wine cups for the American people, with a long zigzag line filled up with match-boxes and cigarettes to represent other countries all separating American imperialism

from

the Soviet Union, a big cup at the other side.

The cooperation of the people, he said, was strong enough, if properly aroused, to prevent a third world war. But this cooperation against world war must be aroused, otherwise the war would come.

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172

MAO ZEDONG

It was

a simple but delicious meal that Mrs.

Mao

set before us,

much of it from the ripe tomatoes, onions, beans and peppers from their

hillside garden. For dessert there was “eight treasures rice,” but in this case the rice was flavoured with four things: peanuts, walnuts, plums from the Chairman’s garden and dates from Date Garden further up the Yan River where Zhu De resided. “This rice is not grown in Yanan County but we grow it in this Border Region near the Yellow River,” commented Mao. He added: “We southerners found the millet diet of the north difficult when we arrived in Yanan. Finally we found a place where rice could be grown.” We talked on over fresh tea while Mrs. Mao put the small daughter to bed in one of the caves. Mao’s direct speech, wide range of knowledge, sharp analysis and poetic imagery made his conversation the most stimulating I have ever known. In speaking of American weapons captured from Chiang’s troops he called them “a blood transfusion, from America to Chiang, from Chiang to us”....In speaking of American imperialism he used many metaphors. ... At one time he said: “It is the strongest in history and also the weakest in history. The skyscraper is highest but the foundation is shakiest.” At another moment he said: “‘American imperialism grows lonely; so many of its friends are dead or ill. Even penicillin will not cure them. It is only now that so many reactionaries grow sick with mortal illness.” The metaphor of “‘paper-tiger”” was used during this talk and I was especially impressed, not only by the metaphor but by the way in which Chairman Mao, without knowing English, was able to correct the exact translation of his words. When he first said that reactionary rulers are paper-tigers, the word~was translated “scare-crow.” Chairman Mao immediately stopped the talk and asked me to tell him just what a “‘scarecrow” is. When I replied that it is a figure like a man which peasants put up ina field to scare away crows, he at once expressed dissatisfaction, and said that this was not his meaning. A paper tiger, he said, is not something dead to scare crows. It scares children. It looks like a terrible tiger but actually, being made of pressed paper, it softens when damp and is washed away in a heavy rain. After

this

Chairman

Mao

used

the

“paper-tiger”

in

English,

laughing at the sound of English words in a sentence, the rest of which

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REMINISCENCES ON INTERVIEW

173

was Chinese. Before the February Revolution in Russia, he said, the tsar

looked very strong and terrible. But a February rain washed him away. Hitler also was washed away by the storms of history. So were the Japanese imperialists. They were paper-tigers all. The same thing would happen to all imperialists and reactionaries. Their strength lay only in © the unconsciousness of the people. The consciousness of the people is the basic question. Not explosives of atom bombs but the man who handles them. He is still to be educated. ... After a moment, he added:

Communist Parties have real power, because they awaken the people’s consciousness. It was nearly midnight when the Chairman and his wife accompanied me down the hillside with a kerosene lantern to light the path to the waiting truck. Goodbyes were said. He stood on the hill watching as my truck jolted downward and splashed into the Yan River. Bright, very bright were the stars over the wild, dark Yanan hills. The paper-tiger metaphor, thus introduced, was used by Chairman Mao more than once during my stay in Yanan. Since I remained through

the winter months I saw the Chairman many times on different occasions, such as an anniversary dinner-party or a performance of the Beijing opera, which he liked to attend, or at the Saturday night dances, which brought together the cadres in many parts of Yanan for social contact every week.

One of the dark days in Yanan was the day when the news came that General Marshall had given an estimated two billion dollars’ worth of ‘“war-surplus” to Chiang Kai-shek. This broke all pretence that America

wished

encouragement

to

avoid

to Chiang

civil

war

in

China;

it

was

a

to continue all-out attack. Chairman

direct

Mao

himself gave me the news. It was at this time that he said: “In the end we depend on Chiang’s soldiers. We lose men, but also we capture men and some come over to us. Thus we advance.” I made some stupid remark about the United Nations mediating the civil war, but Mao shook his head. ““They are not dependable. Only Chiang’s soldiers are dependable.” With a swift smile he added: “Chiang’s soldiers are very good soldiers. They need only a little political training....” Mao’s strategy was confident because, in the invading armies he saw the long-oppressed peasantry of China, which

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174

,

MAO ZEDONG

could not remain his foe, but which he must win. It that at this time he also spoke again of the paper-tiger i have, however, a very sharp recollection of Chairman Mao in Yanan, at which the paper-tiger was It was early March

is my impression but I am not sure. my last talk with mentioned again.

1947 and Yanan was almost evacuated. For three

months the troops of Hu Zongnan had been raiding the frontier of the Border Region of which Yanan was capital. During that time most of Yanan’s activities were “dispersed,” a tactics in which the Communists were experienced and which they often used. The writers, musicians, and other members of the Cultural Association went to organize winter classes and land reform in different areas. The Yanda students went into the villages, to correlate the peasants’ evacuation with the news from the front. Half of the newspaper and radio station left to set up another base. The state bank moved away, and even the big plate glass windows of the bank were taken out and buried under the earth so that the enemy would not destroy them but they would one day be recovered and used again. In the same way the big wooden table tops of the Central Committee dining-room were buried, to save for later use. The women and children moved north into the deeper hills. The famous International Peace Hospital, named for Bethune, had

just celebrated its seventh anniversary. who had just given birth were carried terraces of caves, with the doctors and lay in sheepskin-lined baskets balanced

Now the sick and the mothers in litters down the nine high nurses following. Small babies on the sides of donkeys, ready

for their journey into the winter night. Magdalen Robitzer, the UNRRA

dentist, a Czech who had told me of “the chaos in Czechoslovakia when Hitler marched in,” marvelled now at what she called “this most orderly

evacuation of any capital.”

“All day I worked in the dental clinic,” she said, “on the children

whose teeth most needed treatment. The next morning there was nothing left; they had moved in the night. In the evening as they packed they were laughing and singing. I talked with a kindergarten child whose mother left on the same night. He was going with the kindergarten; I asked why he did not go with his mother. He replied ‘She is not in my group.’ Such understanding among children I have never seen.” She added: “But there are doctors who have worked here

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REMINISCENCES ON INTERVIEW

seven years, a surgeon,

175

an eye specialist, a bacteriologist, important

specialists. And they take nothing but the clothes on their backs and a small parcel in a handkerchief and set off on foot to the hills.” Finally for a week, the American planes of Hu Zongnan came over, watching, sweeping low. The Central Committee had already dismantled its caves and moved some fifteen kilometres northward into steeper hills. I knew that I must soon be leaving, on one of the last American planes. On the night before my plane’s departure, the Central Committee members returned to Yanan for the evening — travel by day had stopped because of the enemy planes — to see a new play about the land reform, in the theatre which would soon be destroyed. Zhou Enlai sent for me and I went for the last time to the theatre but I remember nothing at all about the play. I only remember that Chairman Mao and

the other leaders sat in the front row, and warmed

their hands over

charcoal braziers for the house was unheated and it was very cold. Afterwards I was taken into one of the empty caves — and one was now as good as another — with Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai and Lu Dingyi. Young orderlies brought stools and a table and tea, melon seeds and candied peanuts for a farewell feast. Chairman Mao told me that I must quickly leave Yanan now on the plane which would leave in the morning, for if I remained any longer I might find myself isolated for a long time. I could got go to the hills where they would go. But I had now all the information about Yanan and the Liberated Areas and the strategy by which the People’s Liberation Army would win against

Chiang Kai-shek. I must carry this news to the world. “Then when we

again have contact with the world you will return.” It would be in about two years, he thought. It proved to the somewhat less. I showed him a letter that had come that day from New York by the plane on which I myself would next day leave. It was full of tension and

worry.

“The

progressives

make

no

dent

in American

foreign

policy,” wrote my friend. “They must fight to save even their own skins. I hope the Chinese Communists have no illusions about what the American government may do.” Mao Zedong smiled. No,'he had no illusions. But he thought the American progressives overestimated the power of the American reactionaries and underestimated the power of the democratic forces. It is a psychological weakness among American progressives, he said.

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176

MAO ZEDONG The American reactionary, he continued, has a heavy burden. He

must sustain the reactionaries of the whole world. And if he cannot

sustain them, their house will fall down. It is a house with one pillar. Like all reactionaries in history, the American reactionaries will prove to be only paper-tigers. It is the American people who are strong, who

have lasting power....

At midnight the friendly orderlies brought fresh tea and new

candles to the cave which for halt on the march. I thought heated apartment, not yet in worried about the activities thought

how

Chairman

Mao Zedong was now only an evening’s of my friend in New York, in a steamdanger of jail, much less of death, who of the American reactionaries. And I

Mao,

with

his

Central

Committee,

were

receiving the full force of Chiang Kai-shek’s four million armed men with their new American weapons, against which the Communists had not even anti-aircraft guns; and were now leaving their last capital, and going out into the winter night of the north Shaanxi hills, so confident in the strength of the Chinese people and in their own analysis of how to release and organize that strength that they talked easily of their probable date of return, and sent a message of comfort to the progressive friend in New York that the American reactionaries should not be too greatly feared.

I watched Mao’s face, relaxed and confident, as he discussed the

future of the world. This was the picture I took with me next morning on the plane to Beijing, and in later years across the world.

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‘Taking part in physical labour at the Ming Tombs Reservoir, Beijing, 1958.

Shaking hands with Uygur

peasant Kurbon Trum,

1958.

With Marshal He Long, 1959,

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Talking

with peasants in his

hometown, Shaoshan, Province, 1959.

Hunan

With teachers and students of

Shaoshan School, 1959.

With American educator sociologist W.E.B. Du

and

American

p

writer Anna Louise Wuhan,

With

1959.

noted

wrii

(first from right)

Opera

actor

Mei

(second from right), 1960.

yf

‘ith table tennis 162.

During second session of the Second National People’s Congress Mao Zedong met leading members from Tibet Ngapoi

Ngawang Jigme (second from right) and Pebala Cholichnamje

right), 1960.

players,

ovgle

(fourth from

ao Zedong shaking hands with famous scientist Li Siguang during first sion of the Fourth Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, 1964.

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Swimming in the Yangtze River, Wuhan, 1961.

—

With Mao Anging (first from left), his second son, Shao Hua (second from right), his daughter-in-law, and others in 1962.

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Mao Zedong with Soong Ching Ling, Sun Yat-sen’s widow,

in Sun Yat-sen’s former residence in Shanghai, May

.

Distized by GO

gle

11, 1961.

UNIVERSITY¢

om MICHIGAN

Shaking hands with Kim II Sung, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Korean Workers’

Party

With

the

and

President

Nicolae

Ceausescu,

of

the

General

Democratic

Secretary

People’s

of the Central

Republic

Committee

of

of

Romanian Communist Party and Chairman of the State Council, 1971.

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Korea.

Watching fireworks with Kampuchean leader Samdech Norodom Sihanouk on the Tiananmen rostrum, May 1, International Labour Day, 1970.

With Edgar Snow and his wife on the Tiananmen rostrum, National Day, 1970.

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ebruary 21, 1972

Go

with Japanese Prime Minister Kakuci in Zhongnanhai, September 27, 19

gle

Meeting with Nobel prizewinner Chinese-American physicist Dr. Chen-ning Yang, 1973.

Meeting with Nobel prizewinner Chinese-American physicist Dr. Tsung-dao Lee, 1974-

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IN HIS MIND

A MILLION

BOLD

WARRIORS*

Yan Changlin More than a month had passed since the northern Shaanxi campaign had started and the organizations of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party had left Yanan. During this period, by making frequent and sudden changes in our direction, we the guards units following the central leadership had led the enemy a dizzy chase. Every place we came to, we stayed only a few days, then moved on. The plan of the Kuomintang’s Hu Zongnan army to “demolish” the nerve centre of our Party was foiled time and again, and defeat pressed closer to Hu Zongnan step by step! .

Sharing Through Thick and Thin In April 1947, the organizations of the Central Committee moved

* to Wangjiawan in Jingbian County. Nestling halfway up the side of a mountain, this little village had less than a score of families. Chairman Mao Zedong, Vice-Chairman Zhou Enlai, and Comrades Ren Bishi and

Lu Dingyi were all living in three small cave rooms which a poor peasant known as Old Man Wang had loaned to them. Dark and dilapidated, the place was full of pickled vegetable vats. You could smell the sour odour even standing out in the courtyard. Chairman Mao ‘stayed in the innermost room. After we put in a rickety willow-wood table, there was no space left for any other furniture. Vice-Chairman Zhou and Comrade Lu Dingyi slept on an earthen kang bed near the door *Written in 1983. The author was a platoon leader of the Guards at the time of the northern Shaanxi campaign and later worked at the Ministry of Nuclear Industy. He is now retired. 177

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and shared a little &ang table. But the table was much too small for both of them to work on at the same time, so Vice-Chairman Zhou found

a tree stump section which he cushioned with his padded jacket and sat on that, resting his elbows on the earthen stove as he read and signed memoranda and documents. To the right was the smallest room which was occupied entirely by an earthen £ang bed. When you stepped inside, you could not straighten up. Comrade Bishi worked and slept in there. This three small rooms were connected, and you used one entrance.

In spite of the fact that our leaders lived in such cramped quarters, except when there was a meeting going on, you never heard a sound. The Chairman always went in and out softly, careful not to disturb the others. Late at night, tired from too much work, he might occasionally go out for a stroll. If another leader happened to be resting at the time,

Chairman Mao would not even turn on his flashlight. It was the same

with the others. Vice-Chairman Zhou, who got up early in the morning, would go outside when he wanted to cough. Comrades Bishi and

Dingyi, who used to get up carly too, would take their breakfast in the shed where the guards were billeted, rather than let the clink of crockery disturb other people’s rest. At

mealtimes,

the

leaders

were

even

more

considerate,

each

insisting on cating only the coarsest grain. The Chairman firmly dcmanded gruet made of flour and elm leaves. Each time Vice-Chairman Zhou picked up an elm-leaf muffin, he would say with a chuckle: “Delicious!” Planning and thinking for the people of the whole nation

day and night under such difficult conditions, our leaders were always

calm,

confident,

unruffled

and

full of the

spirit of revolutionary

optimism.

The People Are a Wall of Bronze For ten years or more, the people of northern Shaanxi Province had been living a peaceful settled life. At first they took things rather casually. Whenever our march came to a new place Chairman Mao would call the village cadres to a meeting. Sometimes he would also summon the secretary of the district Communist Party committee to

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check what preparations were being made for battle, and would mobilize the people to conceal any implements or crops that could be used by the enemy. He also gave the guards’ squad a task. No matter where we stopped, the first thing we had to do after removing the saddle-bags from the horses was to go out and do propaganda among the people, get to know the conditions of their production and livelihood, as well as the size of the population and the number of families, how much land was cultivated and what taxes were paid — and report it all back. Because Chairman Mao kept after us, this had already become a customary part of our work. There had been a drought that year, with no rain to speak of since the beginning of spring. All the young men in the village had gone off to the front with their pack animals. Only the women and children were

left. The sowing season would soon be over, but the only thing they

could do was look at their ploughs and worry. Seeing this situation, the Central Committee organizations immediately called an emergency meeting. Chairman Mao mobilized every man in our organizations to go out in the fields and lend a hand with the sowing and hitch our horses to the ploughs. He also told us to assign some people to go into the mountains with the country folk and help them cut brushwood, which they needed for boiling water and for cooking. The cadres and other people of the village cheered up at once. It was then that we received more good news from the front. Our field army had wiped out an enemy brigade at Yangmahe and captured an enemy vice-brigadier. This victory encouraged us greatly. Everyone threw himself into his work more vigorously than ever. When Chairman Mao was not working, he often went out and about. He had been used to taking walks in Yanan, but now his habits were a bit different. Sometimes

he climbed mountains, sometimes he

walked along the stone road, sometimes he rode on horseback. Each

- time he went out, he would cover a score of /. All this was to accustom himself to our marches. As there was much work to do in the fields,

Chairman Mao never let more than two of us accompany him. We were only seventy or so /i from Wayaobao, and enemy spies were often active in the neighbourhood. We always worried whenever Chairman Mao wandered a bit far. So usually we sent a few men on ahead secretly. One

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day Chairman Mao happened to see them, and he asked: “Are those your guards on that hill up there?” I was taken aback. But I could not lie. After a long pause I could only say: “I was afraid—-” “Afraid of what?” Chairman Mao interrupted. Then he continued: “The enemy won’t come this way at present. Their armed forces can’t come, and it’s not easy for their plainclothes men to come either. We have the people on our side! Everyone’s so busy in the fields now, you ought to send a few more men to help with production. Why must they all go with me?” When he saw that we were stumped for an answer, the Chairman said pleasantly: “You must have faith in the people. Although the enemy may not have ‘counter-revolutionary’ written on his forehead, the country folk can spot a bad character immediately. We -don’t have to make a move. These neighbours will nab him! You men should do more mass work!” At this point Chairman Mao gave me a meaningful glance and asked: “Have you heard of our organizations’ ‘Six Manys’?” I said: “The country folk say we have many men carrying pistols, many who ride horseback, many rolls of telephone wire, many women (radio operators), many flashlights and many pack animals.” Chairman Mao smiled. “Those are the ‘characteristics of this detachment of ours! You can see what good analytical powers the country folk have. I’m afraid our own comrades may not be aware of these characteristics yet! But we must tell the people to observe secrecy. If the enemy gets hold of this kind of information, we won’t be able to stay here long!” The Chairman told us time and again to believe in the people, to rely on the people. As long as we really did this, the people would stand with us for ever, be our wall of bronze. They would never leave us even if faced with a mountain of knives or a sea of flames! At the time, there was a primary school teacher in a village near where our Fourth Detachment was quartered who was a member of the Kuomintang. Although ordinarily he said nothing but “progressive” things, his thinking was actually quite reactionary. The country folk are

very sharp, and they had been keeping an eye on him for some time. Afraid that since we were a big organization our presence might easily

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be detected, they imposed a news blockade of their own accord and did not let him learn a thing. Later, after we had left Wangjiawan, sure enough he went over to the enemy. They. grilled him: Where has Mao Zedong gone? He was tongue-tied. He had not the faintest idea. The enemy hung him up and beat him. Then they tied him up and took him to Yanan. Now,

after Chairman

Mao’s reminder, we changed our methods.

We sent several more comrades out to plant the fields and to cut brushwood in the mountains. This helped the local folks with production and enabled us to do our guard duty at the same time. It was like killing two birds with one stone. After that, whenever one of our

comrades in the guards’ squad would return from the mountains with a bundle of firewood on his back and walk with the Chairman back to the village, Chairman Mao would ask him with a smile: “Doing sentry duty again?” Everyone would laugh.

“Chairman

Mao is Still in Northern

Shaanxi”

But those days did not continue for long. After the battle of Yangmahe, the main forces of the enemy concentrated in the Wayaobao area, hoping to find our main force in order to fight a decisive battle. To puncture the enemy’s arrogance, our leaders worked more intensively than ever. Day and night they held meetings to analyse and discuss the situation. We guessed that another big campaign was probably being planned. At times like this, the leaders rarely came out of the cave. Only the secretaries ran in and out with radio messages. Once in a great while, Chairman Mao came out but then it was only to pace back and forth alone, deep in thought. He seemed to be pondering some important problem. One afternoon, just as Chairman Mao and Vice-Chairman Zhou were emerging from the cave, the confidential secretary rushed up with a telegram which he handed to Vice-Chairman Zhou. After reading it, Vice-Chairman Zhou immediately gave it to Chairman Mao. The Chairman took it and read it. Then he said: “Lure the enemy away, then it will be all right.” So saying he promptly went back into the cave and continued with the meeting.

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On May 1, the Chairman again held a meeting in his cave that lasted all night. It was not until nearly daybreak that our leaders — still wearing their clothes—went to bed. Suddenly the thundering of artillery sounded to the southeast of where we were living. We hastily got up. The Chairman came out of his cave with that patched and repatched grey padded jacket of his draped over his shoulders. “Is that artillery fire?” he asked the sentry, Yue Chengbang. “Yes, it’s artillery! They’ve been firing for quite a while now,” the sentry replied. The Chairman did not say anything else. But as he returned to his

cave, there was an animated expression on his face. In a little while, everyone in the compound

had

risen. The

Chairman and the Vice-Chairman again went back to working busily.

A secretary with a telegram in his hand flew into the Chairman’s cave. We heard Vice-Chairman Zhou say: ““Good! Now that we’ve taken the commanding height, we’ve got the situation under control!” We were infected by the leaders’ cheerful laughter, which immediately followed. Everyone tried to guess where we had struck. For two days and two nights the artillery boomed. People could not repress

their excitement.

Whenever

we

had

a free moment,

we

hurried to the top of the caves and looked. But we could not see a thing. We all had one belief: Once we started a battle, victory was ninety per cent assured. Sure enough, not long after, news of victory came from the front. Our army had retaken Panlong, completely wiped out the over seven thousand enemy defenders, and captured the enemy brigadier Li Kungang. We had also brought down an enemy plane with rifle fire. Panlong was the enemy’s strategic supply depot. Munitions, materials, uniforms and white wheat flour were piled mountain high. As a quartermaster-general, Hu Zongnan was not at all bad. He delivered to us everything we needed. All clouds of doubt were dispelled. What had happened was that while the enemy was seeking out our main army for a show-down, the Chairman had ordered our field army to use one brigade to lure nine of the enemy brigades from the Panlong-Wayaobao line to Suide. Then our main force was ordered to circle around and attack the enemy’s rear. If the enemy had tried to get back from Suide, it would have taken them

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six or seven days at least. By then it would have been too late. After Hu Zongnan attacked Yanan, we had only a little more than twenty-two thousand troops on all battlefields of the northwest, while the enemy had more than two hundred thousand. For the small to defeat the large it was necessary to destroy the enemy’s effective strength and continually strengthen our own forces in the course of the fighting. With his thorough grasp of the enemy’s ways, Chairman Mao not only commanded our troops, but he also directed the actions of the enemy. Thus, for two months, the enemy could only move according to our plan. Because our army correctly put Chairman Mao’s concept of military strategy into effect, it was able to be mobile and flexible, quick and powerful, fight consecutive battles without shirking dangers or difficulties, spot and make use of the enemy’s weak points, and hit hard mortal blows, not letting a single enemy escape the net. As a result, in two months the whole aspect of the northwest battlefield changed completely.

On May 14, a mass victory meeting of ten thousand people was held at Zhenwudong to celebrate our army’s victorious retaking of Panlong and the turn in the northwest military situation. Vice-Chairman Zhou had hastened there before the meeting opened. On behalf of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman Mao, he congratulated the heroic commanders and fighters of the Northwest Field Army. And he announced at the meeting: The Central Committee and Chairman Mao are still in northern Shaanxi! “Chairman Mao is still in northern Shaanxi!”” What enormous encouragement this news brought. Cheering and jumping for joy, people threw their caps into the air. After Vice-Chairman Zhou returned,

several

leaders

sat in the

courtyard and talked about the impressive meeting at Zhenwudong. Their laughter filled the little yard. Finally, Vice-Chairman Zhou said: **Chairman, our brigadiers are concerned about you. They say you don’t have enough armed men around you. Every one of them asks permission to come and guard your safety!” Chairman Mao laughed. Rising to his feet he said: “I’m certainly not going to divert any of their strength! Let them concentrate it to use

against the enemy. We’re quite safe here!”

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The other leaders all smiled and nodded.

Old Man Wang The weather gradually turned sultry. Chairman Mao, in a cave where the air barely circulated, perspired as he worked. We felt rather bad about this. Outside the door, we built an arbour of branches so that

Chairman Mao could enjoy the cool shade. Sometimes he ate his meals there. Every day at dusk, the Chairman would bring out a small stool and sit a while beneath the arbour; he would either study a foreign language, or correct the writing in the guards’ diaries. Ever since we had left Yanan, even though life was unsettled and he was very busy, Chairman Mao had persisted in teaching himselfa foreign language; he never dropped it. What was more, he frequently reminded us to study whenever we had a spare moment. If we could not study systematically, we could read some novels. And

for each of us to read Whenever the Chairman asked about our studies. supervision. It was a scorching Zhou both went to the

so, when

we set out we made

a plan

five novels on the march and keep a diary. had time he always looked over our diaries or In this informal manner, he gave us very helpful afternoon. Chairman Mao and Vice-Chairman little arbour to enjoy the cool shade. Comrade

Lu Dingyi turned on a battery radio which was resting on an overturned

vat. The Xinhua broadcasting station happened to be reporting and commenting on the news of our big victory at Panlong and the mass

victory celebration in Zhenwudong. The girl announcer spoke with much emotion. When she told of how Chiang Kai-shek broke his word and started the civil war, she criticized him severely with great indignation, in stirring tones. When she told of the joyous victory celebration at Zhenwudong, the unrestrained enthusiasm in her voice was inspiring to hear. Chairman Mao stood up and walked a few steps, then halted by the doorway and listened attentively.

“That girl comrade is terrific!” Chairman Mao said approvingly. “She indeed blasts the enemy with stern righteousness! And she’s very

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stimulating when she talks about our victory. What a clear distinction between hate and love! We ought to train more announcers like her.” As he was speaking, the host of the compound we were living in, Old Man Wang, bare-armed and smiling, came hurrying over. Though past sixty, he was of hard robust build and was a skilled farmer. What with three sons and their wives and a whole troop of kids, there were

nearly a score in his family. The three sons had all gone off to help at the front. At spring ploughing time families whose men were in the army or had been killed in battle lacked labour power. The old man volunteered his services and helped them plant first. Only after that did he tend his own land. His spirit of “looking after others before tending to self’ was known and praised by all. He had been a member of the Red Guards when Liu Zhidan was leading the revolutionary struggle of the people of northern Shaanxi, and he often told Chairman Mao stories of fighting under Liu Zhidan. Chairman Mao was always the first to hail Old Man Wang whenever they met, and would pull up a stool and invite him to be seated. The old man had never seen a radio before. Hearing such impressive sounds coming out of the square box, he was amazed. He leaned forward, his hands on his knees, examining the radio

from all sides. After a long silence, he asked curiously: “What is this? Is there someone inside?” We all roared with laughter. “Don’t laugh,” said Chairman Mao. “If any of you understand the principle of the thing, explain it to old uncle.” Radios were pretty rare in those days. The other guards and I had heard them a few times, but none of us could say what made them work. We looked at each other in embarrassment. Chairman Mao brought over a small stool and invited Old Man Wang to have a seat. Then, in a casual chatty way, he began to explain what a radio was all about. He talked of the echoes in the mountain valleys, of the vibrations in the air, and finally of the various principles governing electro-magnetic waves. The more we heard, the more interested we became. . ‘“Aiya! There’s certainly a lot of deep learning involved here!” Old Man Wang

said in surprise. “Today

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some knowledge! If you folks weren’t stopping here I’d never get to see such a thing! Even if I’d fallen over one on the road and brought such a gadget home, I’d probably have broken it up for firewood!” We all burst into laughter. Chairman Mao Idughed too. “Fine,” he said. “Be sure you don’t make kindling of it if you happen to find one in the future.” Old Man Wang nodded vigorously. “I won’t burn it, I won’t burn it. ll keep it to hear our Chairman Mao speak!” Again we wanted to laugh, but no one did. In wartime, the movements of our leaders were

kept secret. The old man knew the leader who was talking to him only as “Li Desheng.”! He had no idea that this was Chairman Mao! After that, Old Man Wang always tried to get close to the Chairman. He felt this high-ranking leader was truly warmhearted and friendly, modest and easy to approach. Every day he went into Chairman Mao’s cave dwelling a couple of times. If it was not for pickled vegetables, then it was for grain, or to shift the pickling vats — and at the same time, to say a few words to the Chairman. He knew from the broadcast that Chairman Mao had not left northern Shaanxi. Every time he met us, he would announce:

“Have you heard? Chairman Mao is still in northern Shaanxi! Hu Zongnan’s troops won’t last long!” It was not until after we left Wangjiawan that the old man finally learned that the leader who had been living in his cave dwelling was Chairman Mao. The old fellow’s heart blossomed with joy. “Chairman Mao is still in northern Shaanxi,” he would tell people. “He won’t go until Hu Zongnan is beaten.” Later,

Hu

Zongnan’s

troops

occupied

Wangjiawan,

and

it so

happened that the cave the Chairman had lived in caught the fancy of Liu Kan, Commander of the 29th Corps. There, Liu had orgies of feasting and turned the place irito a shambles. One day when Old Man Wang came down from the mountains to scout out the enemy’s activities, he was caught and brought back to the village. They hung him up and beat him, demanding that he tell them where Chairman Mao had gone. In a voice as hard as nails, the old man snapped: 'The name Chairman Mao used during the time of the northern Shaanxi battles.

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“You want to know where Chairman Mao is, do you? He’s right here in northern Shaanxi!” Then he closed his eyes and would not say another word, no matter how the enemy whipped and kicked him. Crazy with rage, the enemies chopped off two of his fingers. Old Man Wang fainted several times. But each time he revived, it was always the same

retort:

“Chairman Mao is still right here in northern Shaanxi!”

In His Mind a Million Bold Warriors In the blink of an eye it was June. The corn we had planted was more than a foot high. All the country folk were busy spreading fertilizer and weeding. Goaded by the disgrace of successive defeats, Hu Zongnan,

in a fury, again sent Liu Kan, with more than four brigades,

to attack the Wangjiawan sector. Command headquarters ordered us to make all necessary preparations for battle. The comrades who had been dispatched to do propaganda work among the people also came back, one after another.

Knowing that our troops were getting ready to leave, the local people hastily concealed or removed everything that might be of use to the enemy. Chairman Mao, with particular concern, said that the enemy was coming from the east and that we should organize the withdrawal of the local people systematically, not let them run around blindly. He said we should tell the village cadres the direction we would be taking, so that they could lead the people the same way. Some of our men were afraid this might reveal our direction to the enemy. They suggested that the

people move in a different direction. When Chairman Mao heard about this, he seriously criticized the idea. He ordered that the people must definitely be allowed to withdraw with their own army; this would diminish their losses. Men were dispatched to call back those who had already gone off towards the east. When the people learned that our forces were moving west, they felt completely assured. Supporting the old folks and holding the babes, driving their sheep and carrying their chickens, they hurried towards the west.

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All the country folk in the neighbourhood were gone before dark. We received orders to depart that night. Quickly we put our things in order, got our animals ready, and waited for the order to march.

Thunder rumbled. The western sky filled with black clouds. It was going to rain very soon. The Chairman and several of the other leaders were still at a meeting in the cave. We were extremely anxious. Although there had not been much rain to speak of yet that summer, we hoped those dark clouds would quickly scatter. Otherwise, during the march our leaders might get soaked. At long last Chairman Mao came out of the cave. We hastily led up his horse. The Chairman looked up at the sky, unbuttoned his jacket and said happily: “This is going to be a good rain!” He calmly sat down on a stool, not showing the least inclination to leave. Seeing the Chairman was not ready to leave, we became even more worried. We remembered the time we were leaving Yanan. Guns and artillery were roaring in unison, planes were bombing, but the Chairman was quite undisturbed. Today our main force was far away. We had only four companies of men, and not’ even a small field piece or a heavy machine-gun. A few hundred rifles would have to hold off four and a half enemy brigades equipped with American arms — the responsibility was too heavy. We kept urging: “It’s better to start a little early, Chairman. The road is hard to travel in the dark.” The Chairman smiled. “I’ve crossed the snowy mountains and I’ve crossed

the marshy

grasslands.

But

I’ve never been across the desert.

Don’t worry. We’ll never do what the enemy expects. They want to

drive

us across

the

Yellow

River,

but

we’re

going

to do

just

the

opposite — travel west. There are plenty of roads! What’s so special about crossing the desert! Let’s wait and have a look. There’ll still be time enough to leave after Hu Zongnan’s troops get here!” We could understand the Chairman’s feelings. He was not in a hurry to leave because he was thinking of how to beat the enemy so that we could cover the withdrawal of the people and mislead the enemy. In the end, it was decided that a platoon from the Guards Regiment would stay behind to intercept the enemy. Chairman Mao twice paced the length of the courtyard, back and forth. It seemed that he was unwilling to leave the cave dwelling he had lived in for nearly two months. He turned back to us and said:

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“Sweep the cave clean and check everything in it carefully again.” The sky was darkly overcast. When the leaders were ready and mounted, scattered drops began to fall. Sure enough we were running into rain. : Just before leaving the compound, Chairman Mao stood outside the door of Old Man Wang’s cave dwelling and asked: “Is our host still here?” I replied: “The village cadres have already led the people away.” Only then did the Chairman get on his horse. - We went along the rear of the village, then climbed through the drizzle towards the ridge of a mountain to the west. Although it was June, the weather was rather cold late at night in that fine murky drizzle. The nearer we got to the top, the stronger the wind and rain became. At daybreak we reached Xiaohe. Enveloped in thin mist after the rain, the village looked exceptionally lovely. We were now forty /i from Wangjiawan. Our detachment halted and rested. Some time before noon we heard heavy rifle and artillery fire to our rear. Planes began circling

overhead.

According to our scouts’ reports, enemy outflanking units were moving in the same direction as we. At dark, we continued our march. The sky, which had just cleared, again changed, and it started to pour. Travelling upwards along the ridge, suddenly we heard scattered rifle fire down below. At the same time we noticed in the valley to the left a long row of flames. There seemed to be no beginning or end to them. This succession of bonfires stretched on and on, turning the whole valley red with their glow. It was the enemy, and they were right below us. Comrade Bishi issued an order: No one was to turn on his flashlight or smoke. We travelled a bit further, then the men ahead suddenly halted and word was passed back: Rest where you are. We were sweating with anxiety, worried about our leaders’ safety. The situation was so critical — how could we stop here? We sent a man to inquire. What had happened was that the peasant guiding us had lost the path. Our troops had no way of going on. All we could do was to send toa nearby village for another guide. To prepare for anything that might happen, our guards’ detachment dispatched a platoon with three machine-guns to set up a position commanding the valley which was down the slope to the left.

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It was raining harder and harder. The water streamed down our faces into our collars. We thought: Wouldn’t it be fine if we could build a shelter so the Chairman could get out of the rain! Unfortunately there was not a tree in sight. Then the men got an idea. Several men crowded together around the Chairman. In that way the wind could not do much,

and when we held an old greatcoat over our heads, even the rain was kept off. The Chairman laughed. “A real wall of bronze! Neither wind nor rain can get through! But you men will be cold!” “We're young and healthy, the cold doesn’t bother us!”” we replied in practically one voice. Crowding together, we really did not feel too cold. Battered by wind and rain, we were in a very difficult situation. At any time the enemy might charge up the mountain. The firing was sometimes heavy, sometimes light, sometimes far, sometimes near. Our

hearts were in our throats. The Chairman said quietly: “This is a good rain. In another half month the wheat will be ready for harvesting!” Hearing those calm words, we at once grew steady.

After about an hour, Comrade Bishi came over. He reported the situation to the Chairman and said: “‘A guide’s been found. Let’s go on. We’re only twenty 4 from Tianciwan!”

“Let’s go!” said the Chairman. The detachment resumed its march. We asked the Chairman to ride on a stretcher, but he refused. “I told you long ago I won’t sit on that thing!” he said. “If you want to carry it, that’s up to you! Thanks to Hu Zongnan’s attack, I’ve had exercise which has made me quite strong. I really ought to thank him!” We all laughed. The rain seemed to lessen a bit. At dawn we teached a little village about five /i from Tianciwan. The Chairman had not drunk a mouthful of hot water during the night march. We made a temporary halt and found a narrow little cave that was pitch dark, where we prepared to dry our clothes over a fire and boil some drinking water. The comrades quickly piled up some brushwood and stripped off their upper garments to dry them by the fire. Smoke filled the whole cave, choking us and making our eyes water. We asked the Chairman to remove his shoes so that we could dry them.

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“They'll only get wet again after you toast them dry,” he said with a smile. “I’d better just wear them this way.” After daybreak, we crossed the ridge and entered Tianciwan. The detachment and its pack animals found shelter from the rain under the trees at the edge of the village, and waited there for orders. The country folk here had all withdrawn. Of the twenty-odd original households all that remained were empty cave dwellings. Comrade Bishi said: “The enemy has also set out. They’re only twenty or thirty 4 from us.” “Let’s rest here,” said the Chairman, “‘and make preparations for fighting on the march! Organize the security detachment well. If the enemy comes, we’ll leave immediately. If they move on through the valley,

we'll remain

here.”

Then

he looked

down

the

mountain

and

added: ‘‘The enemy is probably heading for Baoan.” Sure enough, scouts kept coming in with reports: “The enemy is

passing through the valley!” “The enemy is all gone!” “Good,”

said Chairman Mao. ‘“‘We’ll stay here.”

The pack animals were unloaded, living quarters were found, and

our troops began to rest.

The village was too small. The leaders had to sleep crowdedly in two caves. Chairman Mao and Vice-Chairman Zhou told us to get some straw so that we could also sleep in the caves. We could see the leaders were very tired. If we also moved in, they would not be able to rest well. So we began to sweep the courtyard and get ready to sleep in the open. “It’s too wet outside after the rain. You’ll fall ill,” said the Chairman. We said it didn’t matter. The Chairman smiled and said, “‘If you fall ill,

it'll be my job to look after you. Come and sleep in the caves. Though it’s a bit crowded, it’s all right.”” We had to drag the dry straw into the caves.

No sooner had we moved in than the unit that had been blocking

the enemy returned. The Chairman praised them and said affectionately: “Well fought! If one of our platoons can hold off the attack of three enemy

brigades, it proves they’re in no way formidable.”

He then decided to send a company of the Guards Regiment to tail the enemy all the way to Yanan. The company was to accomplish two tasks: Go to the section around Date Orchard and find out what the

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enemy is doing. Where are they living? How are they treating the people? The other is to visit the people in that neighbourhood. See whether any of them have come back. How do they live? Do they have food to eat? Help them solve whatever difficulties they’re having. He also told the company to be alert and resourceful on the road. They were to move on if they ran into a large enemy detachment. If they met a small enemy detachment, they were to resolutely wipe it out. The company was to carry a radio and stay in direct contact with the central leadership. The Chairman then said to them, “We may not be here when you come back. I can’t tell definitely where we will be. But one thing is sure -— we won’t leave northern Shaanxi!” The Central Committee organizations stayed at Tianciwan

for a

few days and then returned to Xiaohe. During this period, only four companies of troops protected the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao. There were not enough men to do sentry duty, to say

nothing of fighting a battle. But the war tempered us and our leaders educated us. With Chairman Mao among us, we never felt fluttered. Seeing the Chairman calmly and confidently issuing directives for battle, we felt as secure as a rock. I remember a line inscribed on the Yanan city wall: In his mind a million bold warriors. How well those words fit Chairman Mao!

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AN

UNFORGETTABLE

MEETING*

Lei Jieqiong In the winter of 1948, when the Beiping-Tianjin Campaign had started in the wake of the Liaoxi-Shenyang and Huai-Hai campaigns, the Chinese People’s War of Liberation was drawing ever closer to final victory. I was then teaching at the American missionary Yanjing University in Beiping and looked forward to early liberation of the city. One day in the middle of December, People’s Liberation Armymenentered the northwestern part of Beiping and appeared in the strongholds on either side of the highway. Qinghua University, Yanjing

University, the Summer Palace and the area around Fragrant Hill were all liberated. When people were happily celebrating the victory, teachers and students of the two universities poured out of their campuses to welcome and salute the PLA men. The Party Central Committee sent Zhang Guangnian, Zhang Zonglin and others to our university to

explain the Party’s policies and make preparations for the liberation of

Beiping. After PLA men arrived in Haidian, they pasted a poster on the wall across the road from the main gate of Yanjing University whose huge Chinese characters read, “Protect the interests of the foreign residents.” The foreign teachers all beamed when they went out the gate with their Chinese colleagues and saw the soldiers, fur caps on their heads, observing strict discipline and speaking to the people kindly and amicably. Christmas on the Yanjing campus that year was much more festive than any

previous

year as Chinese

and

foreign

teachers and

students exchanged visits to extend holiday greetings to each other.

*Written in 1983. The author is a Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese

People’s

Political Consultative

Conference,

Vice-Chairman

of the China

Association for Promoting Democracy and a professor of the Sociology Department, Peking University.

193

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194

MAO

In

this

Association

jubilant for

atmosphere

Promoting

Ma

Democracy,

Xulun, wrote

leader: of the to us

from

ZEDONG

China Harbin,

asking my husband, Yan Jingyao, to go to the North China Liberated Area on behalf of the association to attend a conference of the democratic parties to be convened under the auspices of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. Not long after, Liu Daosheng, leader of the vanguard unit of the PLA Fourth Field Army, invited me also as a representative of the association to visit the North China Liberated Area. I had wished to go there to see things for myself, so I was naturally beside myself with joy at the prospect of realizing my long-cherished

dream. We set out in a truck in mid January 1949, escorted by eight PLA men. There were four of us—Fei Xiaotong, Zhang Dongsun, Yan Jingyao and myself—all professors of Qinghua and Yanjing universities, Fei and Zhang being representatives of the China Democratic League, Yan and I of the China Association for Promoting Democracy. On our way we saw peasants carrying food supplies in support of the PLA, moving along in an endless stream. The soldiers told us about the life of the people in the liberated area and stories of the victorious battles they had fought with the support of the people. We talked and laughed, forgetting fatigue on the trip. The following evening we arrived. at Shijiazhuang, the seat of the North China People’s Government.

The local leaders met with us and

arranged for us to look around the city. Wu Han, the noted historian, and his wife also came to see us. We met many students from Yanjing and Qinghua universities as well as friends from Beiping and Tianjin. We saw, for the first time, the new atmosphere in the liberated area and

felt keenly the vitality of the cadres and people, who were determined to carry the revolution through to the end. We were thrilled when word came that we would be going to Xibaipo Village, Pingshan County. A jeep drove us past many fields and villages, and it was already dusk when we finally arrived at Xibaipo. Xibaipo was then the seat of the Party centre. From May 1948 to March

1949 Mao Zedong stayed at Xibaipo, where he directed the final, decisive battles for the liberation of the Chinese mainland and presided over the Second Plenum of the Seventh Party Central Committee — a

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AN UNFORGETTABLE MEETING

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195

meeting that drew up a magnificent plan for leading the Chinese people to seize victory in the new-democratic revolution and build up a new China. Upon arrival we were led by several guards into a neat, plain-

looking dining room. A moment later Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou

Enlai, Zhu De, Ren Bishi and Deng Yingchao came in. Mao was in his

fifties, sparkling with spirit and health. When Zhou Enlai introduced

the four of us to him, Mao shook hands with each of us cordially. 1 was

also very glad to see Zhou Enlai and his wife, Deng Yingchao, at Xibaipo. Two years previously, when I had been wounded by Kuomintang secret agents in the Xiaguan Massacre at Nanjing, they had come to the hospital to see me. Zhou Enlai had said to me, “You will not have shed your blood in vain!” That I was now received by.Mao Zedong and other leaders of the Party centre in the liberated area meant that Zhou Enlai’s prediction had come true. When supper was served, the Party leaders sat with us at two ordinary tables. Mao talked cheerfully and humorously, his easygoing manner gradually dispelling the reserve we felt at our first meeting with these leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. Supper over, we followed Mao into his office. It was just like any peasant house, furnished with only a desk and several chairs, all of wood. On the desk were a square copper ink box and a holder with several writing brushes, and on the wall was a map of China. There was a kerosene lamp — obviously for emergency use, for the house was lit by electric lamps. Mao talked with us cordially around the desk. Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De and Ren Bishi were also present. Mao’s talk, I remember, was wide-ranging, briefly covering four topics: first, the domestic situation and requirements of China’s democratic parties. He pointed out that the Liberation War had scored a decisive, countrywide victory, but the enemy would not perish of themselves. They were using dual counterrevolutionary tactics: They continued to organize remnants of the Kuomintang’s armed forces south of the Yangtze River to resist the People’s Liberation Army, and they were scheming to use certain persons having connections with both them and the revolutionary camp to organize an opposition faction within the revolutionary camp to strive to halt the revolution. At that

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time there were persons within the democratic parties and intellectual circles who maintained that the country should be administered by dividing it into two parts, with the Yangtze River as the boundary, thus forming a Southern and Northern Dynasties situation. To counter this wrong advocation of a “middle road,” Mao Zedong gave an in-depth analysis of the situation at that time and pointed out that the question then facing the Chinese people, every democratic party and people’s organization was whether to carry the revolution through to the end or abandon it halfway. If the revolution was to be carried through to the end, we must wipe out reactionary forces resolutely, thoroughly, and completely. We must unswervingly persist in overthrowing the three big mountains of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism and set up a republic that was a people’s democratic dictatorship under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party with the worker-peasant alliance as its main body. If the revolution were abandoned halfway, it

would mean going against the will of the people. This would give the Kuomintang a chance to heal its wounds. One morning it would pounce suddenly to strangle the revolution and again plunge the whole country into darkness. Quoting a fable about a farmer and a snake, he told us never to take pity on snakelike scoundrels. He asked that democratic parties choose a correct road to follow. Mao Zedong explained penetratingly the reason for carrying the revolution to its end and told us that after victory a new Political Consultative Conference would be convened and a People’s Republic of China would be established. He hoped that the democratic parties would stand with the broad masses, take concerted steps and sincerely cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party without parting company halfway. Setting up an “opposition faction” to take the “middle road” was even more intolerable. Mao’s vivid words gave me a profound lesson. They strengthened my confidence in rapidly achieving final nationwide revolutionary victory. It made me even more determined to participate fully in the patriotic democratic movement. Second,

his talk

showed

his extreme

concern

for intellectuals,

especially senior ones. He inquired in detail about intellectuals’ ideologies, work and life after the liberation of Beiping’s northwestern suburbs.

He asked

if there were still 4anlin,

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members

of the Imperial

AN

UNFORGETTABLE

MEETING

197

Academy, and jinshi, successful candidates in the highest imperial examination in the Qing Dynasty. He hoped that we would recommend talented people. He also wanted to know how things were with Zhang Lan, Luo Longji and other patriotic democratic figures in Shanghai. Speaking very little, Mao carefully listened to our report. He only chipped in with important remarks when our talk came to some crucial points. We told him how miserable the life of the teachers of the two universities was as a result of inflation and soaring prices brought about by the KMT

corrupt rule, yet they stuck to their teaching posts and

waited for Liberation. Some refused to depart when the Kuomintang sent planes to take them to Nanjing. Guarding Qinghua and Yanjing universities was organized by the students on the eve of Liberation. Mao Zedong was all ears. He recognized that the majority of intellectuals were patriotic and supported revolution. Third,

Mao

dealt with economic

science, education,

and

culture, and

construction,

the bright

development

prospects

of

of the new

society. Our most profound impression was his emphasis on the importance of developing communications. He said that China was a vast country. Its hinterland and border areas were backward. A railway network extending in all directions must be set up. He also talked about the issue of different academic ideologies and schools, saying that a unified ideology should be reached through free discussion so as to stimulate the development of art, progress of science and flourishing of culture. As we were then still at war, Mao was foreseeing the issues in economic and cultural construction and the improvement in people’s lives after victory. His great learning and foresight made me feel that he was a great man. Fourth, Mao told us that we should differentiate between the rulers

of the U.S. Government and the American people. He pointed out that the U.S. imperialists supplied money and guns to the Kuomintang to fight the civil war. The nature of imperialism would never change. We should guard against the U.S. imperialists, who

would

sow dissension

between intellectuals and the Chinese Communist Party. We should cast away illusions. Nevertheless, the American people were friendly. They had a traditional friendship with the Chinese people. Mao’s talk had far-reaching significance for intellectuals such as us, who

had

received

European

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and

American

bourgeois

education.

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ZEDONG

We stayed long after supper. It was very late when we departed that evening. This meeting was memorable in my lifetime.

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STORIES

OF CHAIRMAN MAO AND CONSTRUCTION* |

ECONOMIC

Jiang, Weiging I worked fora jong time directly under the leadership of Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee in the army and several localities and had many chances to report work to him, attend meetings he summoned and accompany him on visits. His thoughts, style of work and even way of talking left deep impressions on me. In March 1949 the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Party Central Committee adopted a strategic decision to shift the Party’s focus of work from the countryside to the cities. When the mighty Liberation Army captured Nanjing, capital of the Kuomintang government, the

war was about to end. The Party immediately started to rehabilitate and

develop the country’s economy. Chairman Mao was very much concerned with the reconstruction of Nanjing. He went personally several times to the city to inspect the work and give guidance. He pointed out Nanjing was a big super-consumer city built to serve bureaucratic apparatus. The little assembly and repair industries Chiang

Kai-shek

had established there were only for show.

To transform

Nanjing into a productive city, its existing industries could be utilized. In addition the government should unite the national bourgeoisie and employ all capitalist factors beneficial to the people in both cities and countryside for economic construction, including establishing some

light industries.

In the spirit of the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Party

*Written in 1983. The author is a member of the Central Advisory Commission. Since the founding of the People’s Republic, he has served as Deputy Secretary of the Nanjing municipal Party committee and Secretary and First Secretary of the Jiangsu provincial Party committee. 199

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Central Committee and the Chairman’s teachings we worked out a policy of rehabilitation, reform and development for the city’s industry. We took the Yongli Argon Plant as a base for developing the chemical

industry,

Zhongguo

and

Jiangnan

cement

factories

as

a base

textile

and

for

developing the building-materials industry. We used the repair and assembly industries that had served the Kuomintang army to develop telecommunications and machine-making industry. At the same time we set

up

new

branches,

such

as cotton

and

woollen

food

industries. After three years of economic rehabilitation and later the

socialist transformation of capitalist commerce along with initial economic construction,

and handicraft trades, Nanjing’s industrial

production saw rapid development. In February 1956, in a talk with the responsible comrades of the Nanjing municipal Party committee, Chairman Mao inquired in detail

about Nanjing’s economic construction. He was told transformed from a super-consumer city serving bourgeoisie to a socialist production city, from assembly, repair and very little other industry comprehensively

developed

industries

of

the city had been the bureaucratic a city with only to a city with

chemicals,

electronics,

machinery, automobiles, textiles, food and building materials. Chairman

Mao

was happy

about

the achievements.

“Nanjing

had only eight

thousand

industrial workers

at the time of Liberation,”

he said. ‘“‘For

Province.

“China is a big country,” he told me, ‘“‘a ‘United Nations.’

this Chiang Kai-shek should be defeated. He did not develop production, so how could he improve the life of the people? Now the city has 150,000 industrial workers. If one worker supports four people, they can all together support 600,000.” Chairman Mao had many brilliant ideas on how to develop an economy suitable to China’s specific conditions and how to adhere to these methods firmly, clearly and solidly. Today they are still of great value to us. Towards the end of 1952 Chairman Mao came to Shanghai and asked me to report to him on the future development of Jiangsu Each province should exploit its advantages in economic construction.

The Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou

delta is the country’s economically

advanced area and it also has a higher cultural, scientific and educational level. It should be built into a base of socialist industry and agricultural commodities.”

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CHAIRMAN MAO AND ECONOMIC CONSTRUCTION

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201

Chairman Mao’s words greatly enlightened us. We should develop the economy according to our own characteristics. That meant to concentrate our efforts on first developing industrial and agricultural production

in southern Jiangsu, then, based on this, developing the

province as a whole. Our efforts after a number of years showed results. The rapid agricultural and industrial development in southern. Jiangsu influenced and spurred on development of the province. Yancheng area in northern Jiangsu took the slogan “Catch up with the districts south of the Yangtze.” The provincial Party committee publicized the experience, calling on the people of northern Jiangsu to build a home rich and beautiful as the area south of the Yangtze River. Chairman Mao greatly admired the creativity of the masses. He was happy to hear our reports on how the Yancheng people fought bravely to combat nature and remake their land. ““The people in northern Jiangsu have been fully mobilized,” he said.. “They. are dynamic and vigorous.” He asked comrades of Xinhua News Agency to report on the deeds of the Yancheng people. Chairman Mao stressed that a painstaking, down-toearth work style was required for economic work and impetuosity and superficiality should be guarded against. His teachings were a great help to us. With the experience gained in Yancheng, the Jiangsu provincial Party committee made a further descision to change the backwardness of the Xuhuai area. In November 1965 we boarded Chairman Mao’s train to report to him as he was passing through Nanjing. He was pleased when we informed him we had continued to improve production in high-yielding areas, and at the same time paid special attention to the low-producing areas in the way of water, fertilizer, forests, seed and field management.

We told him we were then concentrating on changing the basic outlook of the Binhai-Funing-Lianshui-Guanyun area. Chairman Mao asked us whether we could succeed. We answered yes with convincing reasons. He nodded and said, “That’s good.” He instructed us to send some secretaries from prefectural or county Party committees of the highyielding areas to support the poorer places. Following the Chairman’s instruction, the Jiangsu provincial Party committee assigned a number of experienced cadres from the high-yielding Suzhou area to Xuhuai area. After more than a decade of hard work the northern Jiangsu

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MAO ZEDONG

people’s slogan, “Catch up with the areas south of the Yangtze” which Chairman Mao had appreciated, became a reality. The area’s industrial, agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline and fishery production had doubled or even tripled that of the 1960s. The scenery in some places looked just like that south of the Yangtze River. Chairman Mao considered afforestation of strategic importance. When climbing Yonglong Mountain in Xuzhou in 1952, Chairman Mao asked the local leaders why the nearby Jiuli and other mountains were

bare. A responsible comrade from the Xuzkou municipal Party committee explained it was because the soil was too poor for any plants to grow.

Emperor

Qianlong

of the Qing

Dynasty

(1644-1911)

once

visited this place and commented that its soil and water were poor, the men mean and the women vixenish. “They were sheer insults to the working people,” Chairman Mao said. “The masses are heroes. By

mobilizing and relying on them, we can remake poor mountains and rivers.” He told us a ten-metre tall tree, forty-four centimetres in diameter, in one year could preserve one ton of water. Chairman Mao’s words spurred us on to rely on the masses to combat barren mountains and other unfavourable natural conditions. In January 1956 Chairman Mao inspected the October Agricultural Cooperative in Nanjing’s suburbs. He briskly climbed a hill with the coop’s leaders. When

he found the hills were not well forested, he told

the leaders to grow fruit trees there. “We must change barren hills into orchards and wild fields into farmland,” he said. He especially emphasized the need to work for practical results and not superficial : things. Acting upon Chairman Mao’s instructions, the people of Jiangsu have achieved much in greening both cities and countryside, mountainous areas and plains. Nanjing is now outstanding among China’s cities in its plantings. The former barren Yunlong Mountain in Xuzhou has become a vast expanse of green.

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MAO

ZEDONG’S CONCERN FOR NATIONALITIES*

MINORITY

Wang Lianfang Chairman Mao showed great concern for minority nationalities. Below 4re just a few incidents I witnessed in this regard. 1. Uniting the people of various nationalities to resist Japanese aggression. During the War of Resistance, fighting against Japanese invaders became a matter of primary importance. Never before had the interests of China’s nationalities and their target of struggle been so identical. As they were fighting bloody battles together, in his report at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Comrade Mao Zedong clearly set forth four policies concerning minority nationalities. The administrative programme for the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border area specified that, following the principle of equality among nationalities, the Mongolians and Huis (Moslems) enjoy the same rights as the Hans in the political, economic

and cultural fields; that autonomous regions for the Mongolians and Huis be established, and that their religious beliefs and customs be respected. Even more important, although requiring the government to put all the stipulations into effect, Chairman Mao encouraged minority peoples to unite and strive for their enforcement. In Yanan an institute for nationalities was set up to train fine sons and daughters of ethnic groups from various parts of the country. There was in Yanan a research organization of nationalities and religions under the direction of Comrade Li Weihan, which published books such as The Long-Oppressed *Written in 1983. The author is Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the

Yunnan Provincial People’s Congress.

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Hui Nationality Puts Up a Protracted Struggle and What Is Islam? that expounded in a systematic way the correct road the Hui people should take to win complete emancipation. Autonomy was exercised in areas where the Hui people lived in compact communities. Chairman Mao wrote a three-character inscription, Qing Zhen Si (‘‘Mosque”’) for the mosque of a Hui village in the Yanan district. Comrade Zhang Jie from our hometown became an imam there. All this inspired the soldiers and people of Hui nationality in the enemy’s rear area to contribute more to the War of Resistance. Comrade Ma Benzhai in central Hebei Province formed a Hui people’s detachment there in 1938. In the same year preparations were made for the setting up of a Hui people’s federation for resisting Japanese aggression and saving the country in the Hebei-Shandong border area, and two years later a Hui people’s battalion was officially founded. The army units, their names with “Hui,” were very popular with the local people of this nationality. As many young people vied with each other to join the army, within only half a year a considerably strong Hui people’s detachment of the Hebei-Shandong border area came into being like a miracle, opening a new chapter in the annals of the Hui people. Tempered in the eight-year anti- Japanese war, this Hui detachment became a field army unit. It valiantly and spiritedly marched into the northeast and fought -successively in Rehe, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, winning victories one after another. In June 1946 it suddenly received an order from higher authorities dividing the detachment into two contingents, one consisting of Huis and the other of Hans.

The latter would continue in their march to the frontlines,

fighting the enemy, whereas the former would leave for Harbin in the northeast to work as a railway corps. The comrades-in-arms of the two nationalities were reluctant to part. The Hui officers and men could not understand why they should be assigned such a job; some even jumped to the conclusion that it was “because the Huis are looked down upon.” Only afterwards did they find out that the decision was made by the Party’s Central Committee and Chairman Mao to take good care of and conserve the revolutionary force of the Huis. Field forces would fight frequently and suffer heavier casualties than the railway corps. If the Hui

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CONCERN

FOR MINORITY NATIONALITIES

.

205

soldiers rather limited in number, fought in a field army, they might be totally eliminated. 2. Sending a central delegation, of which I was a member, to minority nationality areas in China’s southwest in 1950. In early post-Liberation days the government had to undertake all sorts of neglected tasks. Remnants of bandit forces still ran wild in southwest China. Severe economic difficulties and complex political problems kept the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao working day and night. At a time when it seemed almost impossible to pay attention to nationality affairs, the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao made a timely decision to send a delegation to minority areas in the southwest. In May 1950 Chairman Mao received all the members of the delegation and had a photograph taken with us. Healso wrote an inscription: “All the nationalities.of the People’s Republic of China unite!”’ and asked us to present it as a gift to our fraternal nationalities. , Entrusted by the Party Central Committee and Chairman’ Mao, Premier Zhou discussed-with us what to take along and how to act. He instructed us to carry the inscriptions of the Party and state leaders and badges.

A

medical

team,

art

troupe,

film

projection

team

and

photography group, experts in nationality languages, archaeology, art

and literature, writers, and people engaged in nationality work in different fields would be sent with us. He also wanted us to carry large quantities of piece goods, needles, thread, and small mirrors, popular among minority nationality women. When found insufficient, he said, the supplies should be replenished in various localities. (After our arrival in Yunnan, the provincial government supplied us with a large amount of salt.) : Discussing the principles guiding our visit, Premier Zhou said, “The coming visit was proposed and decided upon by Chairman Mao himself. In view of the deep-seated national estrangement resulting from the policy of national oppression long pursued by the Kuomintang, you may not be understood or welcomed by minority peoples. You must first, therefore, get prepared to be cold-shouldered; second, you must be determined to apologize for the disservices to minority peoples done by our forefathers and the Kuomintang; third, during your visit you

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must do your hosts’ bidding; don’t do anything they don’t want to; and fourth, if you or local army and government cadres are at loggerheads with people of minority nationalities, you should be the first to make self-criticism.” “It was the reactionary ruling class who oppressed the minority peoples. in the past. Why should we apologize for them?” we asked, puzzled. “Now that we have taken over the “property” of this country,” Premier Zhou answered humorously, “why should we not take on its debt as well?” Bearing Chairman Mao’s concern and Premier Zhou’s instructions, we left Beijing for the southwest. In Chengdu comrades Deng Xiaoping and Liu Bocheng received us and gave us a talk. On our arrival in Yunnan the happy news that “Chairman Mao has sent our

kinsmen to visit us” spread among people of various nationalities. They came from several dozen, several hundred and even a thousand / away to participate in celebration get-togethers, at which they sang and danced to the beat of drums and gongs. 3. Enlightening the minority peoples to reform their old customs by themselves. That was in the early 1950s. Some villages in the Ximeng area inhabited by the Va people still stuck to the old custom of offering sacrifices of human heads to the god of grain. We did a lot of talking, but because of the limitations of their social development, for a time

their tribal chiefs and a portion of the masses could not take our advice to change. Once Chairman Mao asked a senior tribal chief named Yankan at a banquet, “Is it true that today the Va people still decapitate humans to offer as sacrifices to the god of grain?” “Yes,” Yankan replied. “This is a traditional practice handed down by our forefathers.”

Instead of explaining why it was a bad thing, Chairman Mao asked gently, “Could humans be replaced by something else, such as a monkey? Since the animal looks like a human being, how about using it as a substitute?” “That really won’t do. The ‘ghosts’ of the monkeys will ruin our corn,” Yankan replied, upset. ‘One / equals half a kilometre.

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CONCERN

FOR MINORITY NATIONALITIES

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207

“What else do you think can be used, then?” “A tiger is the only alternative, but it is not easy to catch one.” Chairman

Mao

smiled

and

said, ‘Let

the

matter

be discussed

among the people of your own nationality.” Through extensive discussion and consultation among the Va people the unfortunate custom was finally abolished. This deepened our understanding of the far-reaching significance of Chairman Mao’s counsel. 4. Securing social changes in minority nationality areas through peaceful negotiations. In the midfifties people in minority nationality border areas in Yunnan Province had entered.a period of feudal-lord economy and urgently demanded

that “official rent” be abolished and land reforms

be started. At the time national estragement was profound, and remaining bandits and secret agents were active in sabotage. More important, however, were the class relationships within a nationality. Though antagonistic to the masses of the people, the upper stratum had nationality links with them; though patriotic, this stratum had doubts and misgivings about the Chinese Communist Party. Under such circumstances Chairman Mao and Comrade Liu Shaogqi put forward the principle of “allying with the feudal forces to oppose feudalism” for land reform in minority nationality border areas, on which a policy of redemption toward the upper stratum was carried out through peaceful negotiations.

As

a result,

the

masses

obtained

their share

of land,

abolished the prerogatives of feudal lords and landlords, liquidated debts and exorbitant taxes and levies, and won the right to be masters of their own affairs. Meanwhile appropriate arrangements were made for the upper stratum. Such a sharp social change was smoothly negotiated to the satisfaction of all quarters and no one took flight. In this way not only was the feudal system eliminated, but national unity was strengthened and stability in the border areas guaranteed.

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MAO

ZEDONG’S

TWO

TALKS

ON

PHILOSOPHY*

Zhou Peiyuan After 1949 I talked with Chairman Mao many times. Most impressive were two long talks in 1964 and 1973. On both occasions’ Chairman Mao talked a great deal about philosophy and science. In his study of problems and analysis of matters he adopted a scientific approach. Chairman Mao once said, ““We must believe in science and nothing else; that is to say, we must not have blind faith in anything. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong, whether it concerns the Chinese or foreigners, whether it concerns the dead or the living. To believe otherwise is blind faith. We must do away with blind faith. We should believe in what is correct and not in what.is incorrect, be

it ancient or modern. Not only that, we should criticize what is incorrect. This is the scientific approach.” 1

The afternoon of August 23, 1964, Chairman Mao met with heads of delegations from various countries participating in the Beijing Science Symposium. When I introduced the Japanese physicist Masaichi

Sakada to him, he spoke highly of an article written by Professor Sakada.

The next day Comrade Yu Guangyuan andI received a notice that

Chairman Mao would meet us. We guessed he might talk about Sakada’s article. Just as we expected, when we got to his bedroom at 1:00 p.m., the first thing he told us was that we were going to discuss Sakada’s article. According to Sakada, elementary particles were not inseparable

——a conclusion identical to that of dialectical materialism.

*Written in 1978. The author is a Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Honorary Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology. 208

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TWO TALKS ON PHILOSOPHY

209

While talking, Chairman Mao was lying down, sitting or pacing toand fro. He talked cheerfully, humorously and fascinatingly. His tone of discussing, probing and explaining made us relax, as if we were

visiting an old friend in his home. The talk lasted three hours.

Beginning with Sakada’s article, entitled “New Concepts of Elementary Particles,” Chairman Mao gave a detailed exposition of many problems. He said, “What is philosophy? Philosophy is the theory of knowledge, nothing else.” He paid particular attention to the theory of knowledge. Some basic views of the Marxist theory of knowledge, as elaborated by Chairman Mao, are very important in‘guiding scientific research. : First, Chairman Mao said, “The world is infinite. It is infinite in both time and space. Outside the solar system there ate millions of planets. They foryn the galaxy, and outside the galaxy there are also millions of galaxies. From both the large view and the small view the universe is infinite. Not only can an atom be divided, the atomic nucleus can also be divided, and so can the electron; it can be divided again and again infinitely.” Chairman Mao also said, “Many things are not yet clear." We don’t know completely’ clearly about the sun, the space between the sun and the earth, and the changes of climate on the earth. " People are debating glaciers. What was a cell before it came into being? How did it become a cell from a noncell? We don’t know definitely about many things, so we need to probe and research. Science is honest learning. Admitting the existence of the outside world and basing everything on actual conditions are basic prerequisites of a materialist theory of knowledge.” In his On Practice Chairman Mao made a systematic exposition of the dialectical-materialist progress of knowledge according to changing reality. In our talk he developed this view further. Chairman Mao talked about telescopes and man-made satellites. Comrade Yu Guangyuan asked, “Can we put telescopes and man-made satellites in a concept as ‘tools of knowledge’?” Chairman Mao replied, “The ‘tool of knowledge’ concept is quite right, and this concept should extend to picks, machines and so on. People’s knowledge comes from practice. Tools are extensions of our organs. We use picks and machines to

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change the world, and our understanding decpens gradually. A pick is

an extension of the arms; a telescope, of the eyes. Our body and our five

senses can all be extended.”

Chairman Mao’s words gave us inspiration. Humans were separated from animals just because they made and used tools. People can’t come into contact with things, change the environment or transform the world without tools, and the tools used to transform the

world are also the tools to understand it. People’s understanding

deepens only when they use tools to change the world. This fully proves

the unity of knowledge ‘and practice, that knowledge can never be separated from practice. Stressing the role of tools in understanding can help to overcome the defects of a perceptual theory of reflection and

* forcefully criticize idealistic apriority. Chairman Mao carried his view of practice into every aspect of the theory of knowledge and stressed that the subject of knowledge was the

collective, the masses. During this talk he said class was a subject of knowledge. In the beginning the working class was a class-in-itself, and

it had no knowledge of capitalism. Later it gained knowledge of capitalism and developed into a class-for-itself. This was the process of the development of the understanding that class was the subject of knowledge.

Chairman Mao also told us warmly how his own knowledge had developed in the practice of the Chinese revolution and the people’s

revolutionary struggles. He said, “I got engaged in politics step by step. I read Confucius’ books for six years and went to school for seven years. Later I became a primary school teacher and a middle school teacher. At that time I knew nothing about Marxism. I had never even heard of Marx and Engels. I had heard only about Napoleon and Washington. I followed the same line further in military affairs. During the first KMT-Communist cooperation I was the acting chief of the Central

Propaganda Department of the Kuomintang. I talked about the importance of fighting in the Peasant Institute, but I never expected to take up military affairs myself, to fight a war. Later I led people into

battle

and

climbed

the

Jinggang

Mountains.

On

the Jinggang

Mountains I first won two small victories, then suffered two big defeats,

so we began to sum up our experience. The result was the sixteen-

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TWO TALKS ON PHILOSOPHY

2i1

character formula: “The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.’

Our thanks to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who taught us this lesson.” Chairman Mao emphasized particularly the development of knowledge based on practice and carried dialectics to the process of

understanding. He said, “Our understanding of the world is infinite.

Otherwise, physics could not develop. Everything in the world is changing; physics is changing and so is Newtonian mechanics. Originally there was no Newtonian mechanics. From nonexistence to emergence, from Newtonian mechanics to the theory of relativity, the process itself is dialectics. If our understanding has bounds and we already have a thorough understanding of everything, what is the need for us?” The Chairman cited many examples to describe the movernent, change and development of the natural world, from the sun to the earth

and from the synthesizing of water to the origination of cells. Chairman Mao

said,

“Each

individual,

particular

thing,

has

its origination,

development and extinction. Every man must die, because he was born. Man must die. Zhang the Third is a man, so he must die. We can’t see the Confucius of two thousand years ago because he was a man and had to die. Mankind

has birth, so it must also have death. The earth had

birth, so it must also die. But what we mean by the extinction of mankind and the earth is different from the ‘end of the world’ preached in Christian churches. We predict that after the extinction of mankind and the earth, more progressive things will replace mankind, that is, a higher stage of development.” Chairman Mao said, “Marxism also has its emergence, development and extinction. This may sound strange, but since Marxism holds that everything born must die, why shouldn’t this apply to Marxism itself? It is metaphysics to deny its extinction. Of course, after its extinction, more progressive things will replace it.” What Chairman Mao said was thoroughgoing dialectics. A scientific theory never fears its own conclusion. If it isn’t applicable to itself, it can’t be science. In expounding questions of philosophy and science, Chairman Mao’s profound learning led us into many fields. He said, “A few days

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MAO ZEDONG

ago an article published in Gwengming Daily said for oxygen and hydrogen to synthesize water required several million years. Professor

Fu Ying of Peking University said they needed several tens of millions

of years. I wonder whether the author of the article had discussed matter with Fu Ying.” Afterward I asked Professor Fu where he said this. He said he had mentioned it in his lecture notes. We can that Chairman Mao noticed even the teaching materials issued by Chemistry Department of Peking University.

this had see the

2

The afternoon of July 17, 1973, Chairman Mao met Dr. C.N. Yang, a Chinese-American physicist. Premier Zhou Enlai was present. I also participated in the meeting. When I accompanied Dr. Yang to Chairman Mao’s studio, Premier Zhou came forward to welcome him and introduced him to Chairman Mao. After the fashion of that time I said unwittingly, “I wish Chairman Mao eternal life.” .

Chairman Mao gave me a serious look and said, “That sentence is

incorrect and unscientific. No one can have eternal life.”

Then Chairman Mao, showing concern, asked me, “Did you suffer

a lot in the ‘cultural revolution’?” I didn’t hear him clearly and hastened to adjust my hearing aid. Premier Zhou repeated the question, then stood up to let me sit next to Chairman Mao; he himself sat beside me.

Talking about science, the Chairman was deeply concerned about basic research. He first asked Dr. Yang about the Copenhagen school, then asked about Masaichi Sakada. Chairman Mao discussed with Dr. Yang the problem of parity conservation and nonconservation. He praised Dr. Yang, saying, “You are a physicist; you have made contributions to physics and to the world.” I had a talk at the forum of comprehensive universities at the national education conference in 1971, advocating strengthening basic research. The Chairman was concerned about it and said, “Some people agreed with your talk and some didn’t.” Dr. Yang said that he had read my article in Guangming Daily. This was the article published in October

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TWO TALKS ON PHILOSOPHY

1972, entitled “Some Opinions Departments of Comprehensive by a Shanghai-based newspaper The Chairman asked Dr.

divided?”

213

on Educational Revolution in Science Universities.” The article was attacked for several months. Yang, “Can a light quantum now be

:

Dr. Yang replied that the problem had not been solved. Chairman Mao said, “Substance can be divided infinitely. If it is inseparable at a certain stage, after ten thousand years, what will

scientists do?”

Dr. Yang said, ““Chairman Mao, you are farsighted. You have seen the future of society. You mentioned scientific experiment along with class struggle and production struggle; it is very important.” Chairman Mao said, “Can we do without scientific experiment?”

Chairman Mao paid attention to both scientific experiment and basic theory of the natural sciences. This was the cardinal Marxist principle of unity of theory and practice always advocated by Chairman Mao. When Premier Zhou talked about combining Marxism-Leninism with China’s realities, Chairman Mao proved it from philosophy. He said, “In my On Practice | discussed the universality and particularity of contradiction. The universality of contradiction doesn’t exist alone. We can’t see the abstract. human being. We can see only a man named Yang or a man named Zhou, an adult or a child; we can’t see abstract human

beings.” a Premier Zhou urged scientific workers, “We must not copy if we want to develop. We can’t develop by copying.” From the beginning to the end of our talk Chairman Mao took a scientific attitude, opposing any unscientific wording on his own part.

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MAO

ZEDONG

CARED

FOR CHINA‘S

SPORTS*

Rong Gaotang In June 1952, I sent a request on behalf of the conference of the All China Sports Federation for an inscription by Chairman Mao Zedong. We wanted to give him some reference material, but before I could hand the material over, Chairman Mao had already delivered the inscription, which read, ‘‘Develop physical culture and sports and build

up the people’s physique.” He pointed out precisely the new task of

socialist sports. Satisfied with the inscription, we happily commented that Chairman Mao was an expert in physical culture and very concerned about it. In 1958 Comrade Chen Yi suggested we study an article entitled “A Study of Physical Culture” Chairman Mao had written in 1917. We learned Chairman Mao had been able to make a penetrating exposition in this field when he was only twenty-four years old. He had taken sports as not merely a personal interest but as a means to reinvigorate the country. In the article he pointed out that the role of physical training was to “strengthen physique, increase knowledge, regulate feelings and enforce will.” In his youth Chairman Mao promoted sports and participated in them vigorously. He learned swimming in a pond in front of his family house and often swam in the nearby Xiangjiang River. He took baths in cold water drawn from a well in all four seasons. Later, he did not give up physical training even during the difficult war years. During the period of peaceful construction he could always spare some time for physical exercise, such as playing table tennis, climbing *Written in 1983. The author, formerly Vice-Chairman of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission, is now Secretary-General of the Central Advisory Commission.

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MAO ZEDONG CARED FOR CHINA'S SPORTS

215

mountains, Chinese boxing and exercises. He swam many times in big rivers such as the Yongjiang, Pearl River, Ganjiang and Qiantang River.

When he was seventy-three years old, he swam fifteen kilometres in the

Yangtze River. At the age of eighty-one he swam in the Xiangjiang for

half an hour.

In November 1952 the Nineteenth Session of the Central People’s Government Council decided to set up a State Physical Culture and Sports Commission and appointed Comrade He Long as its chairman. At the end of the following year Chairman Mao presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party that adopted the first directive on physical culture work. _ I was present to report to the meeting. As I entered the meeting hall of the Western Building in Zhongnanhai, I saw all the central leaders there, seemingly having discussed other matters. As soon as Chairman Mao saw me, he said, “Eh, the one in charge of the big affair for six

hundred million people!” Of course, he didn’t mean me personally, but

the great cause of physical culture, which was a big affair concerning 600 million people. The meeting approved the work report of the Party’s leading group of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission on strengthening the work of people’s physical culture. The Central Committee’s comments pointed out, “It is.an important political task of the Party to improve people’s health and strengthen people’s constitution. ... Promotion of physical culture is the most active and efficient method, but this is not all. Physical culture can cultivate people’s bravery, persistence and collective spirit and is an important means of carrying out education on communism among the working people.” Chairman Mao was very concerned about the new socialist generation. In the early days of the People’s Republic’he proposed the educational principle “to develop morally, intellectually and physically.” Worried about the degenerating health of students, Chairman Mao stressed that youth was a period for body growth. It was very dangerous

not to attach importance

to young people’s physical

growth. He called on us to see that students “keep healthy, study well and work well.” Some people didn’t quite understand the significance of this call of Chairman Mao’s and doubted he had made

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MAO ZEDONG

it. At a conference of Youth League representatives I sat next to Chairman mao and told him, “Some people doubt that you said ‘keep healthy, study well and work well.’”’ Chairman Mao asked me, “Why?” I said, ‘““They say how can good health be put first?” Laughing, the Chairman said, ““Without good health how can one study and work?” Speaking at the Second Session of the Eighth National Party Congress on the promotion of physical culture as a positive factor in socialist construction, I quoted from Chairman Mao’s article “A Study of Physical Culture”: “The body is the vehicle for carrying knowledge and the house for storing morality and virtue.... Without the body there are no morality and intelligence.” Chairman Mao laughed heartily and the atmosphere in the meeting hall became very lively. To put good health in first place doesn’t mean that physical culture is above every thing else or good health is above every thing else. It means that good health is the capital of revolution, the material foundation; as Premier

Zhou Eaflai once said, physical culture is a material force as well as a spiritual force. Chairman Mao was very concerned about the maturing of sports people and the development of sports. In the 1950s, when New China had just built her first gymnasium in Beijing, the Chairman watched a volleyball match between China and India. After the game he visited the exercise hall and swimming pool and watched excellent displays of table tennis, badminton, gymnastics, weightlifting and swimming. Chairman Mao attended all the major sports meets including the first and second national games, national workers’ sports meets and army sports meets. He watched with great interest. At the opening ceremony of the Second National Games in 1965 Chairmian Mao was full of praise for the group callisthenics and asked me how the fast pattern changes in the background had been worked out. I explained that each student forming the background held a huge album. On the album’s corner were numbers. As the director gave an order all the students turned to a certain page. The pages were of different colours so the background composed changing patterns, the Chairman nodded approvingly. After the opening ceremony, members of the Political Bureau had a meeting and dinner in a room in the stadium. I was asked to report on the physical-culture situation. In the.evening Chairman Mao telephoned me to ask for a copy of the pattern album.

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MAO ZEDONG CARED FOR CHINA'S SPORTS

217

Chairman Mao received athletes many times. After the former Tibetan serf Gonpa ascended Qomolangma (Mount Everest), Chairman Mao met him. Such meetings gave tremendous encouragement to sports

workers.

On many occasions Chairman Mao met table tennis players. In the summer of 1962 the Chinese Table Tennis Team was training and resting at Beidaihe. Members of the Political Bureau were meeting there. Chairman Mao invited the players to put on a demonstration. That day Zhuang Zedong, Li Furong, Xu Yinsheng and others demonstrated singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Fascinated, the Chairman asked me

in detail how to handle a loop. I explained with words and guestures. He listened attentively. After the demonstration Chairman Mao, Comrade Liu Shaoqi and other central leaders posed with the athletes for a picture and had dinner with them. They talked until nearly eleven o’clock at night. At the 27th World Table Tennis Championships China won the men’s team event, the men’s singles and men’s doubles. Chairman Mao asked me to take the three championship cups to Zhongnanhai. He and other central leaders admired them and asked me how the young players did at the games. In the spring of 1965 Comrade He Long told me that he had met Chairman Mao in Wuhan on an inspection tour. The Chairman had learned that the Chinese table tennis team had won the men’s and women’s team events, men’s singles and mixed doubles at the 28th World Championships. The Chairman’s first remark

to He

Long

was,

“Congratulations

to you!

another victory!” He particularly praised the women great upswing. No more the “sick man of the East,” China has sports nation in Asia and is marching into the ranks countries. These achievements would not have been Chairman Mao’s concern.

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You

have

won

players for their become a strong of world sports possible without

FAREWELL

TO THE

“GOD

OF PLAGUE”*

Wei Wenbo

Schistosomiasis, or snail fever, was a plague left from old China,

infesting the nation for no less than 2,100 years. It was found in twelve provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions south of the Yangtze River (not including Taiwan). Sufferers once totalled over ten million.

Some became weak, unable to do manual work; some looked as thin as

a lath, but with a belly as big as a drum. Males could not develop physically and females could not bear children. Hundreds and thousands died. The disease caused many homes, villages and large tracts of farmland to be deserted. Through work on the prevention and cure of schistosomiasis since the founding of the People’s Republic and the common effort of hundreds of millions of people, nearly ten million patients have been treated and saved. Today this disease has basically been brought under control, and the plagued areas have put on new looks. Viewing these tremendous chahges, we cannot help thinking of Comrade Mao Zedong’s concern and contribution to this work. From the establishment in the 1950s of the nine-person group under the Party Central Committee for guiding the prevention and cure of schistosomiasis right up to the ten years of turmoil I was one of the leading members, so I had many occasions to listen to Comrade Mao Zedong’s instructions for this work. On learning of the disastrous situation caused by this plague, which destroyed people’s health, took their lives, and hindered the development of production, Comrade Mao Zedong put forward the task of eliminating this disease at the enlarged meeting of the Party Political Bureau held in Hangzhou in 1955. He pointed out: Schistosomiasis was most harmful to people’s health and

*Written in 1983. The author is a member of the Central Advisory Commission. 218

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FAREWELL TO THE “GOD OF PLAGUE”

was

.

219

closely related to the nation’s

destiny and

prosperity,

to the

development of production and rural construction, and to the healthy growth of the rising generation. We should realize its seriousness and importance. As Communist, we should help the masses wipe out this disease, get rid of suffering and bring this work into line with the rural

construction plan. Following his proposal, a decision was made to set up a nine-person group under the Party Central Committee for guiding the

prevention

and

cure

of

schistosomiasis:

and

to

establish

corresponding departments under local Party organizations at various levels in the plagued areas. This task was also listed in the plan for agricultural development worked out by the Central Committee of the

Party. After the meeting Comrade Mao Zedong came to Shanghai and instructed me: The prevention and cure of schistosomiasis is important

work to benefit people. You should grasp it concretely and go yourself to the localities to seek truth and sum up experience from practice.

Under his encouragement I went to do investigations in Kunshan in

Jiangsu Province, Qingpu on the outskirts of Shanghai, and other places

where the epidemic was very serious and patients in advanced stages could be seen everywhere. In some villages no babies’ cries had been

heard for many years. Tears rolling down their cheeks, people came to

tell us how much they had suffered from this plague and how their family members had been killed by it. This made us sad and at the same

time made us realize that the task of eliminating this disease was really a matter of vital importance related to national prosperity and social development. As the nationwide campaign against schistosomiasis got underway, administrations in various areas were busy setting up organizations, transferring cadres, doing investigations and taking effective measures. After a period of painstaking efforts, large numbers of patients were cured. Comrade Mao Zedong was very happy at this result. In an article he stated, “In the past many diseases that harmed people terribly, such as schistosomiasis, were regarded as incurable, but now we have found

ways to deal with them....The people already perceive their great

future.” On June 30, 1958, when Renmin Ribas (People’s Daily) published the news about the elimination of schistosomiasis in Yujiang County, Jiangxi Province, Chairman Mao was in Hangzhou. After reading the

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MAO ZEDONG

report that night, he was overjoyed and repeatedly remarked, “‘Good! Good! If every part of the country acts like this, how wonderful it will be.” Too excited to sleep, he wrote this magnificent poem, titled

“Farewell to the ‘God of Plague’”:

So many green streams and blue hills, but to what avail? This tiny creature left even Hua Tuo powerless! Hundreds of villages choked with weeds, men wasted away; Thousands of homes deserted, ghosts chanted mournfully. Motionless, by earth I travel eighty thousand /i a day; Surveying the sky, I see a myriad Milky Ways from afar. Should the Cowherd ask tidings of the God of Plague, Say the same griefs flow down the stream of time. Comrade Mao Zedong was very busy with work but still greatly concerned about the prevention and cure of schistosomiasis and often asked about the situation. In 1956 a leading comrade from the Ministry of Public Health wrote to Chairman Mao to report on this work. Having carefully read the report, he wrote instructions on the letter. He asked us to invite representatives from the provinces of Sichuan, Guangdong and Fujian to join the nine-person group. He also told us to meet twice a year to sum up experiences and discuss and study problems. In addition, he instructed us to make films, publish newspapers, and write

and compile popular readings on this subject to educate the masses as to the prevention and cure of this disease. Thus we produced films such as Spring Comes to the Withered Tree and Farewell to the God of Plague and showed them in plagued areas. In July 1957 Comrade Mao Zedong again came to Shanghai. Meeting representatives from various circles in the Shanghai Mansion, he asked Professor Su Delong, an epidemiologic expert from Shanghai First Medical College, many questions about the prevention and cure of the disease. One of them was, “‘Why are the snails found on the upper reaches of the Huangpu River and not on the lower reaches?” Professor Su replied, “I’m sorry, I don’t

know.” Chairman Mao warmly encouraged him: “I hope you'll do better research on this.” In September 1958, during an inspection tour in Anhui Province, Comrade.Mao Zedong made a special visit to the provincial museum and carefully viewed privincial pictures on the prevention and cure of schistosomiasis. Early in the 1960s, when he

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FAREWELL TO THE “GOD OF PLAGUE”

221

came to Shanghai, he again listened to my report on this work. Chairman Mao’s deep concern greatly encouraged the numerous cadres and masses to fight for the elimination of this “God of Plague.” Today I’m very happy to see that our efforts have had great results. In August 1983, when I went to Kunshan County, what I saw and heard was quite different from what I had seen and heard -twenty years ago. The

miserable

scenes described

as “Thousands

of homes

deserted,

ghosts chanted mournfully,” had gone forever. A vigorous atmosphere prevailed everywhere, people looked strong and healthy, and agricultural, industrial and sideline production had shown all-round growth. I was told that for many years in Kunshan no freshly infected peasants had been found. The original 160 million square metres of snail-infested land had dwindled to several hundred square metres, and the original 280,000 snail-fever sufferers had been reduced to no more than a thousand —all old people.

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ESCORTING

MAO ZEDONG’S SHANGHAI*

SONS TO

Li Chongde After burying Yang Kaihui with deep grief in late autumn 1930, the people of Bancang waited for Anying, who had been imprisoned with his mother, Yang Kaihui, to come home safe and sound. One day Anying managed to come back. After failing to get any information about the whereabouts of Mao Zedong from Anying, the enemy initiated the vicious plot of “releasing the small fish so as to catch the

big fish” on Anying, instead of “digging up the weeds by the roots.”

After Anying was released, strangers would appear at my door now and then, watching our family’s activities stealthily like vultures. It was under the “protection” of these unwanted strangers that we endured the difficult days of winter. One evening in early spring 1931, when families were busy preparing for the lunar New Year and the strangers had disappeared for a few days, another stranger suddenly came to our home. Finding nobody in the room, he whispered to me, ““You are Li Chongde, aren’t you? Here is a letter for you.” He took a small parcel from his pocket and handed it to me. I asked him who he was and where he had come from. He just said there was no need for me to ask him these questions, and he told me the letter had passed through the hands of several people. Then he left in a hurry. | unwrapped the parcel with a rapidly beating

heart under the oil lamp and was astonished to see Mao

Zemin’s

handwriting. He asked me to send Mao Zedong’s three sons to Shanghai, giving me a date, place and information on how to get in touch with people there. In the letter he said that if I failed to go to the *Written in 1977. The author is the sister-in-law of Yang Kaihui, Mao Zedong’s first wife.

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ESCORTING MAO'S SONS TO SHANGHAI

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place at the appointed time, I should never go there. This unexpected news was like a streak of light to us in a dark hell. We were happy that the children had renewed contact with their father, Mao Zedong, and

the Party organization, but at the same time we felt sad because nobody knew when we would see them again. Also, how could we accomplish this difficult task successfully under our special circumstances and with our limited financial power? We stayed up all night, discussing the matter. In order not to let the boys fall into the vicious hands of the enemy, we were determined to follow the instructions of the Party and send them to the Party organization. I was assigned the job of escorting them. Before leaving for Shanghai, I went’ to Changsha to look for financial help and inquire about the route to Shanghai and the situation along the route. I visited Yang Huaizhong’s old friends and progressive people sympathetic with the revolution, who rendered me warm support. After returning to Bancang, I told my plans for the trip to Shanghai to Miao Peiqiu, an old peasant guard, who promised to escort us to the railway station. The evening before our departure from Bancang I took Anying, Anging and'Anlong to their mother’s tomb to bid farewell. I told them what kind of person their mother was and how she had been murdered by the KMT. “Remember this deep hatred,” I said to them. “You should carry her memory and avenge her when you grow up.” I asked them not to call me Aunt on our way so that they would not be exposed. “What should we call you?” they asked. “Just Mom,” I replied. Anying and Angqing had the assumed names of Yang Yongfu and Yang Yongshou, as the villagers addressed them. Early the next morning, in the dawn’s glow, we left Bancang with heavy hearts. After passing Bancangchong, we met Miao Peiqiu, who was standing by the roadside with a hand cart, as we had planned “beforehand. The three boys sat on his cart while I followed, hurrying ‘my steps. That morning we covered forty /fand reached Baishui Railway Station on the Guangzhou-Hankou Railway. We said good-bye to Miao Peiqiu and quickly got on the train heading for Hankou. After reaching Hankou, I managed to buy steamer tickets with the help of a shop where Kaihui used to take cover when she was engaged in revolutionary

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MAO ZEDONG

activities and we boarded a ship for Shanghai. We sat in the cheapest passenger cabin on the lowest deck and unrolled the bedding we had rented

in a comer.

After the

steamer

set out,

it started snowing.

Snowflakes were blown into the cabin by the cold wind. The boys huddled together, but none of them made any complaint. To avoid the attention of the reactionary policemen and secret agents, Anying and Anging slept under the quilt all day, not daring to speak aloud, while the youngest, Anlong, hid in my bosom without uttering a sound. Little did people realize that their father had not long ago led the Red Army in the revolutionary base in Jiangxi and won the battle against the first encirclement by the enemy, which shook the whole country. After a voyage of several days we arrived in Shanghai safe and sound. Going ashore, I led the boys along the route obtained in Changsha and found the Tianshengxiang Liquor Shop. With an uneasy heart I knocked lightly three times on the window on the left side of the gate, as had been planned beforehand. The window opened and I quickly handed in the letter Mao Zemin had sent us. Soon a girl looking like an apprentice came out and looked at us carefully. She led us into

the house and into a room to rest. In the evening Mao Zemin and his wife, Qian Xijun, came back. Calling “Uncle” and “Aunt,” the boys

rushed into their bosoms while I stood by, tears streaming down my cheeks.

All of us wept.

I heard a noise of restraint from Mao

Zemin,

then he said with deep emotion, “Don’t feel sad. In revolution people

have to die.” That evening Mao Zemin took us to Taian Hotel, nearby,

to rest. Several days later he and his wife came to the hotel to take the boys, saying that they planned to send them toa kindergarten. The boys hugged me, crying, “Mom, I don’t want to go. Take me back with you, please.” Their crying was like a knife piercing my heart. After staying in Shanghai

for about

a week,

I decided to return to Hunan.

Before

leaving, I went to the kindergarten to see them. On departing, I controlled my deep grief and said, “Behave well. Heed what the grownups say. I will certainly come back to see you.” When he came to see me off, Mao Zemin said, “You should be prepared to suffer after you return to Hunan, but remember, the final victory will belong to us!”

I did not carry out my promise to go back to see the boys again,

because

soon

after

I returned

Google

to Hunan,

I lost contact with them

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ESCORTING

MAO’S SONS TO SHANGHAI

225

altogether. I tried hard to inquire about their whereabouts but failed. Only the year after the Anti-Japanese War broke out did I learn from a letter from my daughter, Yang Zhan, that Anying and Anqing had gone to the Soviet Union. Soon afterwards I received their photos, sent from the Soviet Union. On August 4, 1949, Hunan was liberated. We rushed into the street with great rapture to meet the People’s Liberation Army entering the city. I watched the scene with tears in my eyes. I recalled Kaihui, Zemin and numerous martyrs who had lived significantly and laid down their lives for the revolutionary cause. After the ceremomy- ended, my husband, Yang Kaizhi, was warmly received by the leaders of the armed forces in Changsha. One of them said to my husband, “Since today is the day of the liberation of Changsha, why not send a telegram to Chairman Mao?” At their suggestion my husband drafted a telegram, which was sent to Beijing via the military radio station. Five days later, August 10, Chairman Mao replied. In his telegram he first expressed his best regards to Kaihui’s mother, who was still in good health, and told us that Anying and Anging were both in Beijing. Anqing was going to school and Anying might go back to work in Hunan, since he missed his grandmother very much. . ..We were extremely excited at Chairman Mao’s telegram, for the long separation wrought by the KMT reactionaries had come to an end along with the victory of the people’s revolutionary forces.

In 1950 and 1951 Anying and Anqing came back to Hunan to visit their relatives and pay their respects to their mother at her tomb. We had our reunion after twenty years’ separation. Standing in front of Kaihui’s tomb, I felt as if I were in a dream, reliving the day when I had taken them there to say good-bye to their mother before going to Shanghai. When we were together in the old residence in Bancang Village, Anying told me what had happened after we saw each other for the last . time in Shanghai. In spring of 1931 they lived in Datong Kindergarten, a nursery run by the underground Party organization to accommodate children of many revolutionaries and martyrs. About summer the same year the underground Party organization was destroyed by the enemy and the staff members were arrested. The children had had a very hard

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time trying to find a livelihood by themselves. Anlong, the youngest of the three, died of a sudden disease which doctors failed to cure. In 1936

the Party organization found Anying and Anging and sent them to the Soviet Union, where they entered the International Children’s Nursery to live and study with children from many other countries. In this way they grew up. When Anying talked about the past, he did not show any regret.

He said he had learnt a lot of useful things living in the lowest stratum

of society in old China. Time and again he said he would never forget the past and would live up to the expectations of those who had died. Inspired with internationalism, Anying went to Korea in October 1950 to join the war against the American invation. Before setting out for the front, he wrote us a letter that said, ‘“‘Now I am leaving Beijing with a new work assignment. I am afraid that I will not be able to write you for quite a long time. Please be dt ease. I will be all right.” This was his last letter to us. Forty-eight days later, November 25, 1950, he shed

his last drop of blood on the battlefield in Korea for the liberation of

the Chinese and Korean peoples.

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RECOLLECTIONS

OF OUR

FATHER*

Mao Anging and Shao Hua To the Chinese people

Mao

Zedong

was a leader who

made

magnificent, contributions to the Chinese revolution, but to us he was

a kind father, a strict teacher, and a man very, close to us.

We know very well that Father was the Chinese people’s leader, whose heart was always filled with great affairs concerning the people in their millions, but we also know well that Father, like anyone else,

was a human being who cherished warm feelings for his family and love for his children. : . On August 4, 1949, the city of Changsha in Hunan was liberated and the exciting news came from our hometown that our grandmother was still alive and healthy. Father immediately sent a cable to congratulate her, expressing his sincere regards to her. On September 13 that year he sent a fur lining to her so she could make an overcoat

to ward off the cold. In 1950 Father asked brother Anying to go to

Hunan to see her in person and sent two ginsengs to her to help her build up her health. After the system of supplying personnel only their basic needs was changed into a wage system in the country, Father sent her money every month for living expenses and never ceased. So she wouldn’t be too lonely in her late years, he sent Anying and Anging to Hunan to see her, asking them to pay theif respects to their dead mother at her tomb and give regards to the local people. In the spring of 1962, when we returned to Beijing after getting married, Father looked at us with a smile and said humorously, “The

bride should go and have a look at our old home and show herself to

Grandmother and other relatives, eh?”. At that time we both worked at

*Written in 1983. The authors are Mao Zedong’s son and daughter-in-law. 227

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the Headquarters of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, so Father told us to ask leave of Luo Ruiqing first and then go back to Hunan together. So, following Father’s instructions, we went first to Bancang to pay respects to our mother at her tomb, then to Shaoshan to see our relatives. At the sight of us our ninety-two-year-old grandmother was so happy that her wrinkled face was piled with smiles and her eyes shone with affection. Amid peals of laughter she grinned from ear to ear. With one hand grasping Angqing and the other Shao Hua, she looked us up and down, reluctant to loosen her grip, her eyes filled with tears. Uncle Kaizhi and Aunt Chongde also kept asking us about this and that. Everyone was immersed in happiness. In November 1962, when the sad news of our grandmother’s death came from our hometown, Father was deeply grieved. He immediately took up his writing brush and wrote a letter of condolence and remitted five hundred yuan as her funeral expenses. In the letter he told Uncle

and Aunt that our grandmother “must be buried with my dear wife,

Comrade Yang Kaihui.” When our grandmother was still alive, she often said that Father was a great man with a kind heart. Father had very little time to spare, but he still always showed keen concern about our progress and interest. He personally wrote a list of books for us to read, carefully examined our school reports and our

teachers’ comments. We could get-satisfactory answers from him no

matter what questions we raised. When we had good news to tell him,

his face would be wreathed in smiles; when we came across difficulties,

he helped us overcome them. At times, when we were entangled in worries or vexations, he dispelled the gloom from our hearts with a few . enlightening words. No matter how far we were from him, Father always sent his loving care to us. In 1960, when Anqing was recuperating in Dalian, Father wrote him the following letter: Anqing, my son,

By now you must have received my previous letter. I am extremely glad to hear that you are much better, but still you must listen to your doctors and the comrades who help you and recuperate patiently, so as to get completely well. Never be impatient.... If you have any letters, give them to Siqi

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RECOLLECTIONS OF OUR FATHER

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[Songlin] and Shao Hua to take back. Do like this in future. Don’t ask anyone else to pass on any letters. As for the comrades from the Dalian Municipal Party Committee and the comrades in the medical.group who are helping you, you must express your gratitude to them. They have shown you their keen concern and done everything they can for you. Please show this letter to them. I hereby express my sincere thanks to them. Wishing you happiness, Father Father particularly adored brother Anying, who was a lieutenant in the Soviet Red Army much admired by Stalin and who was killed on the battlefield in Korea. After brother Anying died, for a long time Father alone endured the deep grief of an old man who had lost his dear son and hid the sad news from sister Songlin so as to let her keep her mind on her studies. During this period he several times counted on his fingers and told sister Songlin about the deeds of martyrs, relating to her how five members of our family had died heroically. At that time sister Songlin was completely in the dark, not knowing what he meant. Later, when she finally knew the sad news, she was extremely grieved; she and brother Anying were separated by death after just one year of marriage. In order not to arouse Father’s sadness, she hid herself in her own room to sob, but Father still discovered her two swollen red eyes when she sat at the table for supper. Chopsticks in hand, he was in deep thought for a long while, then, putting the chopsticks down, he left the dining room slowly without eating a thing. After that sister Songlin suppressed her grief in her heart and swallowed down her tears. However, Father understood her feelings well. Looking at her face becoming thinner each passing day, he consoled her by saying, “‘It’s war, and war will take people’s lives. Don’t think that Anying should not have died for the people of China and Korea because he was my son.” After the news of brother Anying’s death was made public, Father said to Songlin, “From now on you are my own eldest daughter.” From that time on, he showed special loving care for her, often’ personally inquiring about her clothing, food and other things and calling her “my own eldest daughter” in their correspondence. Once sister Songlin asked Father for permission to bring brother

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Anying’s remains back to China, but he shook his head and said, “Martyrs can be buried anywhere. Why should we bring their remains home? Aren’t there thousands and thousands of martyrs among the Chinese Volunteers who have been buried in Korea?” Father’s mind was as broad as the boundless ocean. He took the people’s interest as the criterion of his own love and hatred. The U.S. imperialists killed thousands of the best sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, including his own dear young son, but for the fundamental interest of the Chinese people and for friendship between the Chinese and American peoples he set aside old wrongs and opened the door with his own hands to establish diplomatic relations between China and the

United States.

To us Father was a leader as well as a kind father. Being a kind father, he was a rare strong man in confronting the grief brought to him. He deeply understood what a mental scar sister Songlin got when she suddenly lost her husband. In 1959, at Sister’s request, he provided her travel expenses from his own money and arranged for Shao Hua to go with her to Korea to pay her respects to brother Anying at his grave, so as to do her bit for him as his wife. In order not to bother the Korean government, Songlin and Shao Hua, led by Comrade Ren Rong, went to Korea as ordinary delegation members, stayed in our own embassy and returned in a few days. The Cemetery of the Martyrs of the Chinese People’s Volunteers in Huecang, Pyongan-Namdo, was among hills. It was surrounded by towering pines and cypresses, with a clear, slow-flowing stream running through the hills, which looked particularly solemn. When we climbed up the high steps and entered the graveyard, we saw round graves in straight rows. Before each grave was a gravestone on which was written the martyr’s name. All together more than one hundred of the best sons and daughters of the Chinese people rested in peace there — with their own blood they had built a proletarian international monument in a friendly neighbouring country. On the gravestone of brother Anying was written “Tomb of Comrade Mao Anying.” On the back was the inscription “Comrade Mao Anying from Shaoshan of Xiangtan County, Hunan

Province, was the eldest son of Comrade

Mao Zedong, leader

of the Chinese people. In 1950 he asked with resolution to join the

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RECOLLECTIONS OF OUR FATHER

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Chinese People’s Volunteers and died heroically on November 25, 1950,

in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. Comrade Mao

Anying’s patriotic and internationalist spirit will forever educate and

inspire the younger generation. Eternal glory to Martyr Mao Anying!”’ The Korean people all knew that Mao Anying, the eldest son of Chairman Mao Zedong, had died for their cause of national liberation. They paid their respects to the martyrs twice a year. Seeing that the graves of brother Anying and other martyrs were carefully tended by the Korean people, their next of kin felt comforted. After Songlin and Shao Hua took some photos in the cemetery, they returned to China and reported

to Father.

After’brother Anying’s death Father often talked about him, saying that he was a youngster who could analyse problems independently and who had ideas of his own. He asked us many times to learn from Anying and remember him. These affectionate words of our father’s are still fresh in our minds even today. - Father cherished the memory of everyone who died for the revolution. In 1930, after our mother was killed by the enemy, Father sent people to bury her and in the name of her three children established a gravestone in front of her tomb. In his poem “Reply to Li Shuyi” he © praised Mother as “proud Poplar” to express his deep love for her. He talked to us many times about Mother, admiring her for her loyalty and heroism. He said that Mother could resolutely leave her aged’ mother and three children and bravely walk to the execution ground; this was something no ordinary person could do. . Once we asked Father to copy his poem “Reply to Li Shuyi” in his own calligraphy for us to keep as a permanent souvenir. He sat at his table and slowly dipped his writing brush in ink, deep in thought. We stood silently beside the table, holding our breath for fear of disturbing him. After a long while he lightly unfolded a piece of xan paper, smoothed it slowly, then wrote, “I lost my Poplar flower.” We all thought he had made a mistake and said, “Father, it should be ‘FT lost

my proud Poplar.’” Father stopped to think for a while. We hastily handed another piece.of blank paper to him, thinking he would write it anew, but he did not take the paper and said slowly, “‘It’s more appropriate to call

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her Poplar flower.” This remark showed how much he loved our mother. When we heard his answer, tears welled up in our eyes. We deeply understood that when he called our mother “my proud Poplar,” it showed his admiration for her; when he called her “my Poplar flower,” it showed his closeness to her. Father wrote the poem at one go, then picked it up with both hands and handed it to us solemnly. We in turn took it with respect, held it in both hands and looked at it. We never thought that this powerful, unrestrained calligraphy would became a rare souvenir with a dual meaning.

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A VISIT TO HIS HOMETOWN* Zhou Lipo The evening of June 25, 1959, accompanied by Comrade Luo Ruiqing and others, Comrade Mao Zedong visited his hometown — Shaoshan in Xiangtan, Hunan Province. This was a red-letter day for the happily excited villagers, and tears of joy rolled down the cheeks of several children as everyone gathered on the fine sand outside the Shaoshan Guesthouse, cheering, applauding and talking with the naturalness of mountain people to welcome their beloved Comrade Mao

Zedong.

The following day was a day of sunshine, and Comrade

Mao

Zedong, in a clean white shirt, went to his old home, Shangwuchang.

The house was half brick, half straw, and I was told that this was the

way it was originally. Later the Kuomintang did great damage to it, following the May 21st Incident in 1927, when they started to slaughter Communists, workers and peasants in Changsha, Hunan. After Liberation the government repaired it according to the way the old villagers remembered it. Comrade Mao Zedong entered the centre room, followed by Comrade Luo Ruiqing and the others. In the past only half of this small room had belonged to Comrade Mao’s father, Mao Shunsheng. Like all peasant houses in Hunan, it had a shrine in a secluded place on the wooden wall. One of the comrades asked Comrade Mao Zedong, ‘“‘Was it like this before?” Comrade Mao smiled and replied, “It was.” From the centre room we walked through an inner room, a kitchen, a room in a wing and then came to the bedroom of Comrade Mao’s deceased parents. On the left wall were two enlarged framed *Written in 1965. The author was a well-known writer and President of the Hunan

Provincial Federation of Writers and Artists. 233

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:

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MAO ZEDONG

pictures of the old couple. Comrade Mao stood before the pictures and gazed silently at them for a while, then told the people beside him,

“They

wouldn’t

conditions,” nowadays.

have

meaning

died

that

so early if we

their

diseases

had

could

had

have

the present been

cured

Comrade Mao’s mother had died of lymphadenitis at the age of

fifty-two, while his father had died of typhoid at forty-nine. Both diseases could be cured now. We came to Comrade Mao’s bedroom, which was also his study. In his youth he had often burned the midnight oil in a tung-oil lamp ona bamboo stand. An old, simple lamp stood on a stool beside the bed. On the left wall hung a large picture of Comrade Mao with his mother and two younger brothers. He gazed at the picture with great interest and inquired with a smile, “Where did this picture ‘crop up’?” He used a local Hunan term to indicate “crop up.” Then he added, “This is perhaps one of my first pictures. Don’t you think the young man looks like me today?” People had found that this picture was taken when Comrade Mao was twenty-six and, returning to Changsha from Beijing via Shanghai, had run into his mother, who, accompanied by Mao Zemin, had gone

to Changsha to see a doctor. Comrade Mao wore a long white gown

and stood to the right of his mother, seated in the middle. Strong and imposing, his cheeks full, he looked handsome and determined. Beside the latticed window was the entrance to the attic. There was

no ladder to get to it, but on the wall below the entrance was a framed

note saying that in June 192; Comrade Mao had called the more advanced among the Shaoshan peasants together and set up the InsultAvenging Society. Later a small Communist Party group was formed. Comrade Mao pointed out, “It was a Party branch.” The small room behind this room was the bedroom of Mao Zemin,

the elder of Comrade Mao’s younger brothers. On the left wall beside the bed was a picture of the martyr wearing a Red Army cap and a grey uniform. Comrade Mao gazed at it and commented, “The picture is a good resemblance.” During the protracted, poignant and vigorous struggle between the revolutionaries and the reactionaries, six of Comrade

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Mao’s family

A VISIT TO HIS HOMETOWN

.

235

members were killed. Yang Kaihui, his wife, died in 1930 in Changsha at twenty-nine; Mao Zemin was killed in 1943 in Xinjiang at the age of

forty-seven brother,

by the bandit

was killed in 1935

Sheng

Shicai; Mao

Zetan, the youngest

at thirty on the border between

Ruijin,

Jiangxi, and Changding, Fujian, in a battle against the Kuomintang army; Mao Zejian, his cousin, was killed in 1929 at the age of only twenty-four at Hengshan, Hunan; his eldest son, Mao Anying, was killed at the front in the Korean

War at twenty-eight in 1950; Mao

Chuxiong, Mao Zetan’s son, was killed in 1946 at only eighteen on the

border between Hubei and Shaanxi.

Chairman Mao’s was a revolutionary family, great and loyal. This respected family reflected the intelligent, loyal, heroic and dauntless spirit of the Chinese people—the spirit that enabled our dear motherland to defeat the invaders, do away with oppression, wipe out all evildoers and stand towering like a giant in the world. The back door of the house led to ground where the owners had aired their grain. The mountains and fields around had all witnessed the days when Comrade Mao had worked here in-his youth. “On one side of the ground was a mud-walled thatched hut where straw was stacked after autumn harvest. In the vegetable plots a few steps down, bean and bitter-gourd vines and the leaves of purple perilla were all luxuriant. Passing by, Comrade Mao asked, “Who planted the vegetables?” “We did,” an old man looking after the house quickly answered. “For whom?” “For the people in the guesthouse.” On a nearby hill a placard on a loquat indicated that it was planted by Comrade Mao. Someone asked, “Did you plant it?” “I don’t remember, but I used to like to plant trees.” That night Comrade Mao stayed in a house in the shade of trees halfway up the mountain. Occupied with the liberation of the Chinese people, Comrade Mao had not returned to his hometown for thirty-two years. His return evoked countless youthful memories. The period he was away had seen a great transformation in history. Weak candlelight shone through the

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MAO ZEDONG

opening of the red velvet curtains covering his window until four in the morning. He had stayed up to write a poem: Like a dim dream recalled, I curse the long-fled past — My native soil two and thirty years gone by.

The red flag roused the serf, halberd in hand,

While the despot’s black talons held his whip aloft. Bitter sacrifice strengthens bold resolve, Which dares to make sun and moon shine in new skies. Happy, I see wave upon wave of paddy and beans, And all around heroes homebound in the evening mist. As Chairman Mao liked a hard bed, he was supplied with one, but

he did not use it very long before he got up, washed his face and went out without saying where he intended to go. Comrade Luo Ruiqing and others followed him. He entered a house opposite his old home, the home of a poor peasant called Mao Xiasheng, whom he had known as a child. The only one home was a middle-aged peasant woman, who recognized Comrade Mao from his pictures and was so surprised that he had come to her home with other government leaders that she was a little tense and ill at ease. Standing in the centre room, Comrade Mao inquired about her family, production and life, then left and walked up

the hill behind her house. As no one knew what he intended to do, Comrade Luo and the others went with him up the hill, so overgrown

that there was no footpath. Comrade Mao reached the top of the hill and halted before an overgrown grave. From the tombstone people knew this was the grave of his parents. The poor people of Shaoshan | had had to protect it from the Kuomintang. After the May 21th Incident Comrade Mao organized at Liuyang the well-known Autumn Uprising. Once again the red flag was

unfurled. He Jian, a warlord

in Hunan,

sent a company

of soldiers to

Shaoshan to open Comrade Mao’s parents’ grave and expose their bones. They ‘believed that this would damage the geomantic fortunes of the Red Army. None of the villagers revealed the whereabouts of the grave when pressed by the soldiers until one poor peasant said with a laugh,

“Come

with

me, officer.

I'll take you there.”

Each shouldering a pick, the soldiers climbed a hill with the peasant, who took them to two graves and told them, “These are the graves.”

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A VISIT TO HIS HOMETOWN

237

They started to dig and soon opened up the graves and the rotten coffins and scattered the bones all over the place. Then they clambered down the hill. The peasant was extremely pleased, for he had taken the soldiers to the graves of a landlord’s ancestors. The hill grave had no geomantic omens, but this story showed the deep feelings of the poor peasant for the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. As no one had known Comrade Mao was going there, no one had brought a wreath or even a paper flower. A bright youngster gathered some pine twigs and grass on the spot and tied them into a bundle, which he gave to Comrade Mao, who slowly placed it before the grave and bowed solemnly. Everybody bowed. After a while he turned to leave. Someone asked him on the way, “Shall we have the grave repaired?”

He answered as he walked along on the overgrown hill, “No, it’s

fine this way.”

Once down the hill Comrade Mao paid a visit to Shaoshan Middle and Primary School, halfway up another hill. Before a background of green pines stood a new building with red brick walls. When Comrade Mao crossed the bridge and entered the playground outside the school, students ran from the classrooms and all corners, shouting and clapping, to surround him. Everyone was jubilant. A small girl ran out from the crowd and walked solemnly and somewhat tensely towards Comrade Mao. She was called Peng Suqing, daughter of a poor peasant in Zhuji Brigade, Shaoshan Commune. She raised her hand in a respectful Young Pioneers’ salute, undid her red scarf and, on tiptoe, tied it around Comrade Mao’s collar.

“You don’t want it?” asked Comrade Mao with a smile. “J want to give it to you.” “Am I not too old to wear a red scarf?” Wearing the red scarf, Comrade Mao had a picture taken with the smiling faces of the children all around him. Shaoshan Commune’s reservoir water was deep and cold: Comrade Mao changed into his swimming trunks and dived into the water from the dam. He was a good swimmer and had swum across the Yangtze River many times. First he did sidestroke, then backstroke, then floated

on the water as comfortably as if on a bed. All the people on the banks laughed happily.

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‘MAO ZEDONG

When we returned to the guesthouse amid green trees, he had some lunch and took a nap. Comrade Luo Ruiqing went to see him when he was just getting

up and putting on his clothes.

.

:

Comrade Mao told him, “We Communists are thorough materialists and not superstitious. But my parents gave me life, and the Party, my comrades, teachers and friends educated me. Next time I return, I’ ll go to their grave again.” When

Comrade

Mao

was

in Shaoshan,

he inquired

about

the

production and plans of Shaoshan Commune and called the old revolutionaries together for a discussion. He stayed two days and a night, then went with Comrade Luo Ruiqing and others to Changsha. In Shaoshan one heard many stories about Comrade Mao in his youth. During one autumn harvest his family was sunning grain at the back of their house while another family was sunning theirs on the ground in front of Comrade Mao’s house. All of a sudden, dark clouds

converged and rain poured down. In the hilly south, rain always takes

people by surprise in summer. Instead of gathering his family’s grain Comrade Mao went to the front and helped the other family. Comrade Wang, a guide in the Shaoshan Exhibition Hall, told me, “People said that Comrade Mao showed his organizational talents as early as seven when he and some children in the village grazed their cows on a hill. He divided the children into three groups: one group kept an eye on the cows, the second group cut firewood and the third gathered wild fruit. Every day the cows were well fed and the children got a lot

of firewood and fruit, which he divided among them, often giving up

his share.” Comrade Mao had loved the working people and his friends since

childhood.

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ZEDONG

— Biography

— Assessment — Reminiscences

The book is in three parts:

The first part contains both a biography and an autobiographical sketch. The biography, written by

the compiler of the present book,

gives the the life published graphy is

most detailed account of of Mao Zedong ever in China. The autobioa reprint of the chapter

“Genesis of a Communist” from Edgar Snow's classic, Red Star over China, in which Mao Zedong recounted his life in 1936. The second part consists of

assessments of Mao Zedong made by Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. In “Learn from Mao Zedong,” published on the eve of the nationwide victory in 1949, Zhou

Enlai said that Mao was a leader

who emerged from among the people during the long years of the

revolutionary movement;

he was

not a deity, and his thought had undergone a process of historical development. Deng Xiaoping’s

comments were made after the Chinese Communist Party had (continued on back flap)

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(continued from front flap)

overcome the cult of personality and Mao Zedong was reinstated as a man instead of a deity. Deng’s

assessment proceeds from facts as he considers Mao's life and thought, his merits and demerits,

tights and wrongs. In the third part are reminiscences by some of Mao Zedong’s former subordinates, his bodyguards, his son and daughter-in-law, his relative, a scientist, a writer, a peasant, non-Party people and young people. Their reminiscences reflect from different angles Mao Zedong’s thought, character and style as well as his colourful experience.

Jacket Picture: Mao Zedong in Hubei, 1958. Design: ZHANG

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