In 1943, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region held the first production exhibition, and many leaders such as Lin Baiqu did not find a record of the chairman's birthday in his youth according to the historical materials at hand. It is worth noting that since the founding of the CCP in 1921, the party has discouraged the holding of birthday celebrations for individuals. However, on January 31, 1937, there was an article in the "New China Daily" that mentioned that in the struggle against national disasters, all kinds of exemplary individuals, collectives, leaders, and masses, no matter how big or small, deserve to be rewarded in various ways, and birthday celebrations are one of the ways.
During the Yan'an period, ** once expressed his blessings to Wu Yuzhang, Lin Boqu, Xu Teli and others on their birthdays through letters, inscriptions or other forms. He also invited 24 elderly people over the age of 60 from Zaoyuan Village to a banquet, but resolutely rejected the proposal of others to celebrate his birthday. On December 26, 1943, the chairman's 50th birthday, some comrades in the party proposed to celebrate his birthday and use this to propagate the idea. It was in this year that Wang Jiaxiang put forward the concept of Kaifeng's thought.
On July 5, 1943, Wang Jiaxiang commemorated the 22nd birthday of the Communist Party of China and the 6th anniversary of the Anti-Japanese War in the article "The Communist Party of China and the Road to the Liberation of China", and put forward the concept of "** thought" for the first time. Wang Jiaxiang held that the 22-year history of the CPC is the history of China's national liberation struggle and the history of struggle to determine China's correct path. And this correct path is exactly what *** pointed out in his writings or practice, that is, *** thought. Prior to this, Kaifeng, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China, sent a letter to the chairman and reported on the birthday plan. Before this, some people have already begun to prepare, such as Ren Bishi asked the poet Xiao San to write a *** biography to celebrate his 50th birthday. This plan was supported by Hu Qiaomu, the secretary of ***, and Xiao San also began to interview old comrades and collect materials.
However, when *** saw Kaifeng's letter, he rejected the proposal to celebrate his birthday at the first time. In his reply, he said: "I decided not to do it on my birthday. Doing too many birthdays can have bad effects. It is a difficult time for internal and external times, and the timing is not good. On the question of "propagating *** thoughts", he said: "My thinking is not mature consciously, and it is still the time to learn Xi, not the time to preach."It is advisable to preach only in certain fragments, not as a system, because my system is not yet mature. ”
Due to the chairman's resolute refusal, on December 26, 1943, all walks of life in Yan'an did not hold birthday celebrations. As a result, Xiao San's biography project was postponed and was not published in Liberation ** until early July 1944. Although this article was warmly welcomed by readers as soon as it was published, *** sent a message to Xiao San many times after reading it, asking him to stop and persuading him to write more about the masses. At that time, many people didn't know what ***'s birthday was.
Until April 30, 1944, the chairman hosted a banquet for five or six senior cadres in the cave to celebrate the "May Day" International Labor Day. In the conversation after the meal, Xu Fanting, deputy commander of the Jinsui Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, asked the chairman's age, and the chairman replied that he was born in the 19th year of Guangxu. Xu Fan Ting asked about the moon and the day again, and Mao said that it was the nineteenth day of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar. Xu Fanting learned that November 19 last year was *** 50 years old, one month younger than himself. In addition to sighing, he wrote a poem on the spot: "Half a hundred years of Hua does not know how old, and people do not know the birthday of Mr." Huanglong drank a thousand shots, so that he could celebrate his birthday with Mr. After hearing this, everyone applauded, and ** also nodded in thanks.