At the Lushan Conference in 1959, Mr. Peng's "Book of Ten Thousand Words" opposed the Great Leap Forward, the People's Commune and other movements, and put forward many reasonable ideas about economic construction, but they were misunderstood, followed by severe criticism and a turning point in the military and political career of the old marshal. Mr. Peng submitted the letter of 10,000 words on July 14, 1959, and before July 23, he had not been formally criticized, and he had not characterized the letter, but it was only triggered in the form of an "opinion letter" for everyone to discuss freely. There are two marshals who basically agree with and even support Mr. Peng's views. Who are they?
Although Mr. Peng's letter is called a book of 10,000 words, the full text is actually less than 4,000 words. On the one hand, because of the large number of words and the more opinions, it is called the "Book of Ten Thousand Words"; In addition, Mr. Peng really wrote a letter of more than 80,000 words in the 60s to defend himself, and that one is the real book of 10,000 words. At the Lushan Conference in 59, the correct opinions of Mr. Peng were supported by Nie Shuai and Mr. Zhu. Since the beginning of the Red Army, Nie Shuai, Mr. Zhu and Mr. Peng have been getting along day and night in the first Red Army team, and they have a deep trust and understanding of each other, and their comrade-in-arms friendship is also very deep.
At the beginning of the meeting, the ten marshals did not all go up the mountain, Nie Shuai and Zhu Lao always saw the letter earlier, and their opinions on the economic situation were relatively consistent. Before July 23, the chairman's attitude was very calm, and he first let everyone discuss and put forward their views, and did not rush to characterize the 10,000-word letter. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Nie Shuai served as the acting chief of the general staff, and later was in charge of military production, so he was very concerned about the output of some important domestic resources, especially the iron and steel that is closely related to the military industry.
In view of the fact that in the Great Leap Forward Movement, only output was emphasized and quality was not emphasized, and there were many problems in steel production, so Nie Shuai, in a scientific and responsible attitude, believed that this kind of work should still be handed over to professional large factories, such as Wuhan Iron and Steel, Baotou Iron and Steel and other factories to produce, and did not support the non-governmental "small blast furnace", so he was very much in favor of Mr. Peng's proposal. However, Nie Shuai's speech was also very tactful, he did not deny the Great Leap Forward outright, but said that "the vitality of the small blast furnace is still there", which can be regarded as leaving room for relevant departments and fields, which shows the level of its work.
Mr. Zhu affirmed Mr. Peng's opinion from a macro perspective, and at this time Mr. Zhu did not even mention the fierce wording in the letter. Mr. Peng put forward his own views on the calculation of economic indicators, and Mr. Zhu also paid great attention to the planning of work, believing that it was more realistic to establish reasonable indicators and accounting methods. The trend of exaggeration is becoming more and more serious, and it is not possible to rely on unrealistic targets to enable the people to live a good life. Regarding the mention in Mr. Peng's letter, Mr. Zhu empathized and expressed his support more clearly. In the early military career, this was also very much in line with the way the chief and deputy commanders-in-chief of our army handled problems, and the Lushan Conference was no exception.
It is worth mentioning that the views and opinions of the two marshals were made before the official criticism of Mr. Peng began on July 23. After that, because of the change of the situation, few people dared to speak for Mr. Peng from the perspective of economic construction and the starting point of the letter. Despite this, Nie Shuai and Mr. Zhu did not criticize Mr. Peng in the real sense at the subsequent meeting, and some of Mr. Zhu's speeches were even criticized as "scratching the itch in the boots". Zhu and Nie undoubtedly hoped that Mr. Peng would be able to pass the test as soon as possible and resolve this crisis. During the Lushan Conference, there were only three marshals who visited him in the Finnish villa where Mr. Peng was located, including Nie Shuai and Mr. Peng, and the other was Ye Shuai, which shows the concern of several marshals for Mr. Peng.