From the end of July 1929, when he fell ill, to the end of November 1929, when he returned to work in the front committee of the Red Fourth Army, he counted about four months. In the past four months, ** has almost disappeared, there is no news, and the outside world has speculated, the Kuomintang newspapers have repeatedly published false news of ***'s death, and the Comintern has even published ***'s "obituary". We hope that by digging deep into historical materials, especially the memories of the parties involved, we can try to restore what we experienced during this period, what we did, and what kind of relationship it had with the Gutian Conference after that.
In fact, during these four months, ** was mainly recuperating. In June 1929, ** was elected secretary of the former party committee at the Seventh National Congress of the Red Fourth Army. After consulting the front committee of the Fourth Army of the Red Army and obtaining approval, he went to western Fujian in early July as a special commissioner to guide local work. Under the guidance of ***, the first congress of the Communist Party of China in western Fujian was held in Jiaoyang, Shanghang from July 20 to July 29. **Originally, in May and June, he contracted malaria, an epidemic disease of the time, and his body was weak, and he fell ill due to overwork at the end of the meeting. "His body has been weakened by years of arduous military journeys, and he needs to recuperate for a long time. And there is no Western medicine to heal when recuperating". Although everyone was in a hurry, they were helpless, and the result was that they were "deeply ill". He was successively sent to Sujiapo and Dayangba in Shanghang County and Niugupu, Hulei, Hexi and other places in Yongding County to recuperate**.
After the Red Fourth Army conquered Shanghang County, it presided over the Eighth National Congress of the Red Fourth Army in Taizhong Temple in late September. Before the meeting, he received a notice of the meeting, and he replied: "If the rights and wrongs within the party of the Red Fourth Army are not resolved, I can't come back casually; In addition, if he is not in good health, he will not attend the meeting. According to the opinions of many delegates, the congress sent a letter to him, hoping that he would come to the meeting and preside over the work of the Front Committee of the Red Fourth Army. At that time, malaria was attacking, and I could not ride a horse or walk, so I had to go on a stretcher after receiving the letter, and the meeting was over when I arrived. Everyone saw that he was indeed very sick, weak, and swollen, so they let him continue to recuperate in Shanghang Linjiang Building.
At that time, ** was in early October to Hexi, Yongding County. Around October 10, he was escorted to Shanghang County and met with ** and others.
According to the instructions, the main force of the Red Fourth Army drove from Shanghang to the Dongjiang River under the leadership of **. A few days later, on October 21, the special committee of the Communist Party of China in western Fujian learned that a regiment of the Jinhanding Division of the Jiangxi Army was approaching Shanghangcheng, and decided that the special committee, various organs, and the wounded and sick would all leave the city and transfer from the evening of the same day to the early morning of the next day. In this way, the special commission organs led by *** withdrew and went to Sujiapo, Shanghang County, where the special commission was stationed, to continue recuperation. Sujiapo is located deep in the mountains of Shanghang County, is a small mountain village composed of twenty or thirty She residents, the village is surrounded by mountains, a small stream runs through the valley and crosses the stream, and goes around the east of the village. For the sake of safety, he took a pseudonym, known as Mr. Yang or Yang Ziren (often mistakenly called Director Yang by the masses), and he lived in Sujiapo for more than 10 days for the first time from the end of July to the beginning of August, and this time stayed for more than a month until he returned to the front committee of the Red Fourth Army to re-preside over the work.
The above is the general recuperation process of ***. More than ten days in Shanghang Linjiang Tower were critical, when a doctor was invited from a western pharmacy in Shanghang County. After checking his condition, he diagnosed: "I have malaria, diarrhea and fever, and it does not heal." Over time, the physique gradually weakens, so the body appears swollen. So he prescribed a special medicine - cinchona cream pills to ***, and proposed to supplement the patient's nutrition. Sure enough, ***'s condition improved significantly after taking the medicine.
The Red Fourth Army captured "Tieshanghang" in one fell swoop, marking the complete breaking of the Kuomintang's "suppression" in the three provinces. Sprinkled to the world is resentment, and a pillow of yellow sorghum reappears. The red flag crossed the Tingjiang River and went straight down to Longyan and Shanghang. It's really busy to pack up a piece of gold and divide the fields. On October 11th, coinciding with the Double Ninth Festival of the Lunar Calendar, thinking of his turn from danger to safety, he saw the wild flowers blooming in the courtyard, on the opposite hill and on the field, and the autumn was high and refreshing. Now it is Chongyang, and the yellow flowers of the battlefield are extraordinarily fragrant. The annual autumn wind is strong, not like spring. It is better than spring, and the sky is frosty. These two poems are a true portrayal of ***'s improvement and good mood. **Later, it was specifically noted: the two words are "hummed on horseback." The writing is not good, but it reflects the happy mood of the revolutionary masses and revolutionary fighters in that period, and it is okay as a historical material." * also jokingly said to Zeng Zhi that it seems that he has a big life, and he has finally passed this "ghost gate".
Later, during a month in Sujiapo, although **'s body was still weak, he was able to gradually walk alone, often going to the creek to take a walk. This is inseparable from the help of the secretary of the special committee of western Fujian. Zeng Zhi pointed out in the article "Memories of Working with Comrade *** Three Times" that he was meticulously caring and considerate, sent people to find good Chinese and Western medicine for diagnosis and treatment, and entrusted people to make a special trip to buy milk and sugar to nourish the body. I also bought 2 catties of beef stew every day for ***, and then stewed a hen. Due to the meticulous medical treatment and the meticulous care of comrades such as ***, after more than 20 days, I recovered my health".
Of course, it also benefited from the care of his wife He Zizhen and the help of Zeng Zhi and others. According to Zeng Zhi's recollections, Shanghang County, where the Red regime was established, bought and sold fairly, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and commerce and trade were prosperous, with good quality and low prices. According to the doctor's instructions, he stewed a chicken for *** every day, roasted two catties of beef, and let him drink a bowl of beef soup at each meal. After more than 20 days of conditioning, the puffiness on the body disappeared. They had caught fish in the water of a cave, and they had eaten deliciously; I also learned that the locals used fishing nets to catch fish in the creek, and **often enthusiastically aside**. After recovering his health, he walked alone, often joking with the young people around him on the road. He also found two English books, called "Model English Readers", which were textbooks for the second grade of junior high school at that time, and insisted on reading a text aloud every day.
During recovery,** also focus on physical activity. According to the recollection, ** got up very early and often ran around on the sand by the stream. At that time, Lei Shibiao, who was responsible for taking care of his daily life and transmitting letters, asked: "Director Yang, why are you running around here?" He replied: You don't understand, walking in the sand, you will climb the mountain very quickly in the future.
Before the Eighth National Congress of the Red Fourth Army, **personally wrote a letter to invite *** to attend the meeting; According to the resolution made by the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, after the meeting, he signed the letter inviting the Red Fourth Army to preside over the work, and sent this letter out. **During the period of recuperation in Shanghang Linjiang Building, ** also often visited him. On October 18, a letter was submitted in the name of the former committee of the Red Fourth Army: The controversy within the party has come to an end since the Seventh Congress, and although a small number of comrades still have prejudices, they accept the correct instructions very sincerely, and eliminate all prejudices to deal with the enemy", "Due to the imperfection of cadres at all levels, ** has not yet returned, and although the long-ill *** has not yet gotten up, he has not yet been able to walk, and this time he has gone to the Dongjiang River, he has not yet been able to set off, and the responsible comrades feel even more difficult." It can be seen that ** has deeply realized the pressure and difficulties of *** after leaving the leadership position of the Red Fourth Army, and after the letters with *** and many face-to-face frank communication, the work differences between the two have been resolved to a certain extent.
**This time the illness was severe, urgent, and long-lasting, and he was ill for four months in western Fujian. However, while he was waiting for his return from Shanghai to report on the work of the Red Fourth Army, his mood became more relaxed as the day went by, and with his abundant spirit and astonishing perseverance, he was rethinking the major issues concerning the future of the Chinese revolution. According to Su Yu, the commander of the third company of the first column of the Red Fourth Army who was responsible for the defense task at that time, he worked while sick, "wrote things, and persisted in the struggle on the spot", and often "saw the lights in his house never go out at night". When in Sujiapo, ** first lived in the small attic on the second floor on the left side of the back hall of the "Shuhuai Hall" of the special committee of western Fujian, because the room was very small and noisy, and soon moved to a limestone cave in the south of the village, the hole was several feet deep, covered with green pine, and the water of the clear stream was very quiet. He was very happy and took the weeds off the road with his own hands. This Zhenbei Cave has become a place for resting and reading, and now the locals call it "Chairman Cave".
**During the period of living in the mountains and forests, information was closed and almost isolated from the world, so people constantly went to various places to collect information in order to grasp the revolutionary dynamics at home and abroad. According to *** recalled, "I remember one time *** criticized me. **Ask us to deliver him a newspaper at any time, and ask us to go to Longyan to get it. We didn't get it in time, criticized us for procrastinating, said that we didn't know the enemy situation without reading the newspaper, how could we lead the revolution? The enemy has come to you and you do not know it".
According to the requirements of the Red Army, the local party organizations in western Fujian and the units of the Red Fourth Army operating nearby collected newspapers and intelligence as widely as possible through various means, and sent them to the Red Army in a steady stream. For example, during his recuperation in Hexi, Yongding County, he borrowed various newspapers and periodicals from the local post office every day to learn about the dynamics of the enemy at home and abroad, which served as a basis for analyzing the situation and formulating policies.
**During the period of recuperation, he still paid great attention to the people's feelings and cared for the weal and woe of the military and civilians. He gave his military blanket to the cooks who were not covered with quilts. Once, four poor peasants were invited to carry a sedan chair to send the sick *** to Dayang Dam. As a result, he did not sit in the sedan chair, but gave the sedan chair driver two yuan each. When asked why he did this, ** said, "Two dollars is not much. I am human and they are human beings, so why do their shoulders have to walk on their shoulders? At that time, in order to take care of his body, the Fujian West Special Committee sent someone to Longyan to buy rock candy and milk for him to eat, but *** insisted on not to, and according to his request, it was sent to the Jiaoyang Red Army Hospital the next day for the wounded and sick to eat.
**Pay attention to investigation and research, grasp first-hand information, this is his long-term habit, but also an important way of working. During this period, there was plenty of time, so he worked tirelessly and lost no time in going deep among the masses, and even made a large number of rural surveys while he was sick. This is recorded in detail in Zeng Zhi's memoirs.
When I was in Sujiapo, I held several symposiums for several days. The number of people invited at each time was small, only seven or eight people, but all kinds of people were invited, including merchants and hawkers, hired farmers, middle farmers, old people, young people, and women. Depending on the object, we can understand different situations in a targeted manner.
**Hosting such a symposium is not a question-and-answer style, but a very lively and lively one, as if chattering, talking and laughing. **The questions to everyone are all social problems encountered in real life. Everyone saw that he was so approachable, without a little arrogance, and he was unrestrained, and you talked about it word by word. Sometimes they also ask some questions to ***, ** talk and laugh, and can tell a lot of words and is easy to understand.
He presided over several symposiums, Zeng Zhi listened to them on the side, and sometimes helped to do some chores such as moving tables and chairs, hanging blackboards, pouring boiling water, etc., ** each time he recorded in person, and he had to write down several pieces of paper at the end of each meeting.
During his time in Sujiapo, ** likes to go around the village in his spare time, chat with farmers, and listen to their voices and requirements. Early one morning, ** walked into Lei Xuanru's house, his family was relatively poor. ** asked how many people in the family eat, how many acres of land they cultivated, what was the policy of the Communist Party, and especially hoped that Lei Xuan would point out the shortcomings of the work of the Soviets. The other side mentioned the problem of fluctuations in grain prices, behind which landlords and profiteers control the market, and it is the peasants who suffer in the end. ** Said that this problem was raised well and a way to solve it as soon as possible. In the evening, a symposium of the Special Committee of Western Fujian was held, and the problem of collection was introduced, so that everyone could think of a way together. He pointed out that in order to consolidate the revolutionary base areas in western Fujian and expand the ranks of the Red Army, it is necessary to resolve the difficulties encountered by the masses. He proposed to stabilize grain prices and prohibit the free buying and selling of grain in the market. To this end, the special committee of western Fujian held an enlarged meeting to discuss this issue and adopted various measures, such as organizing consumer cooperatives, credit cooperatives, production cooperatives, and purchasing cooperatives, thus maintaining the stability and orderliness of grain prices and protecting the vital interests of the vast number of peasants.
Later, there was a song in the local area - "Commissar Mao Came to Sujiapo", which wrote: "Commissar Mao came to Sujiapo, the mountains laughed and sang in the water, visited the poor peasants to ask about their suffering, and took the helm for the poor." It reflects the gratitude of the people of Sujiapo to the people of Sujiapo for putting the affairs of the masses in their hearts and solving problems.
**I like to visit the poor and ask about the suffering, contact with the masses, and make friends with the three religions and nine streams, so as to understand all aspects of the bottom society in an all-round way. Through the lively form of investigation and study, he not only enlightened the peasants' ideological consciousness, spread the flame of revolution, but also helped the peasants solve problems in their daily lives, and accumulated valuable experience for the revolutionary work in the western Fujian Soviet region, thus ensuring the scientific nature of policy decisions.
On the whole, with the two entry of the Red Fourth Army into Fujian, the revolutionary situation in western Fujian was very good. ** Personally guided the work of the Special Committee of Western Fujian, and personally drafted a number of documents to help the Western Fujian Soviet Region formulate some legal documents." In late July, he directly guided the convening of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China in western Fujian, at which he made a political report and put forward many clear demands on the revolutionary work in western Fujian. During his long period of recuperation in western Fujian, on the basis of carrying out investigation and research to fully understand the actual situation, he also continued to provide assistance and advice to the work in western Fujian.
**During the period of recuperation in Hexi, Yongding County, he guided the work of the Hexi District Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Yongding County Party Committee, reviewed the documents and reports exchanged between the district committee and the superiors, as well as the instructions and decisions sent to the townships, put forward opinions or amendments, and directly promoted the local work in western Fujian. Through discussions with grassroots cadres and the masses, we can grasp the various problems that arise in the development process of the revolutionary struggle, so as to guide the Yongding County Party Committee to carry out the agrarian revolution. During his stay in Shanghang, he also met with the secretary of the Shanghang County CPC Committee and responsible comrades of the local armed forces, and gave clear instructions on the in-depth development of the revolutionary movement in Shanghang County. In view of the prevalence of dogmatism, during the period of Sujiapo, the special committee of western Fujian was particularly asked to improve its work style, conduct in-depth investigation and study, further mobilize the masses, establish soviets, set up Red Guards, rectify party organizations, and launch a vigorous agrarian revolutionary movement. For example, Sujiapo set up a 14-member Red Guard Corps to cooperate with the masses to defend the organs of the special committee and wage a resolute struggle against local tyrants and inferior gentry.
** It also helps the leaders of UNSCOM to raise their level of awareness and leadership. **He has always been very respectful and admired, and he is often impressed by his incisive analysis of the international and domestic situation, his ruthless criticism of the dark society, and his various ideas for reforming society. After the Red Fourth Army arrived in western Fujian, he had the opportunity to have direct contact with ***. ** He greatly admired his scientific analysis of the nature and path of the Chinese revolution, his incisive insights in carrying out the agrarian revolutionary war, and his command ability to use his troops like a god. In the days when Su Jiapo got along with *** day and night, there were more opportunities for contact, and ** got a lot of help and lessons.
According to ***'s recollection, once, when the two returned to the Sujiapo Special Committee from Shanghang, ** suddenly asked him a question: "What is the task of the leader?" * I don't know how to say it for a while. ** He continued: "In my opinion, the leader does not have any great ability, and his task is to act as a messenger for the masses, to convey the opinions of the majority of the masses to the Party committee, and the Party committee will summarize and analyze the opinions of the masses and make decisions according to them, and then convey them to the masses. ”
** Immediately understood the profound truth, party members and cadres should keep close contact with the masses, because the masses are our source of strength. Not long after, at the meeting of the special committee, he conveyed this instruction to the comrades, asking them to act in accordance with this spirit in their practical work. This will be of great help to the further cultivation of the party's fine work style in the mass work in western Fujian, and will also be of great benefit to the long-term persistence of the people's revolutionary struggle in western Fujian.
**Take the lead in living a hard and simple life, and drive the masses to save food. One day when he came back from the limestone cave, he opened the lid of the pot and ate the sweet potato leaves of the cook, and he praised it: "It's delicious, make some sweet potato leaves to eat later." "At that time, the organs of the special committee of western Fujian ate dry rice for three meals. Once, ** said: It is not okay to eat dry rice at such a meal, and in order to drive the masses to save food, first of all, the special committee must take the lead. He suggested, is it okay to eat porridge twice a day? The next day, everyone had a meeting, and according to the local living habits, it was decided to change to two dry rice and one porridge. After learning about it, he also said happily: "Okay! All right! It's okay to change it, but it's better to put some sweet potatoes and cook them together. ”
Since most of the local cadres are from workers and peasants and have a low level of education, they are very concerned about the training course for cadres in western Fujian held by the special committee. Therefore, in order to meet the needs of the development of the revolutionary situation in the whole country, with the assistance of the people, the Special Committee of Western Fujian held two cadre training courses in the "Hongyutang" in Sujiapo in October, one was a political and military training class, and the other was a peasant training class. The duration of the school is one week per term, and there are more than 20 students in each class, and the students are all transferred from the Soviet areas of Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Jiangxi. When asked if the number of students is too small, ** said to everyone: "The number of students doesn't care about the number, it is better to hold a symposium than to hold a conference, and a meeting of many people is not as good as a meeting of few people, because the number of people is small, everyone can understand the mental concentration, one person promotes ten people, ten people promote one hundred people, and so on, everyone will know." If there are many people, they may not be able to understand. He often inquired about the study of the training classes and specially taught the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism to the trainees in the light of reality, so as to improve the theoretical level of local party and government cadres and their ability to solve practical problems. In the space of one month, a group of outstanding backbone forces have been trained for western Fujian who can not only lead troops to fight wars but also take the mass line.
He also suggested that the Fujian Special Committee should establish a civilian primary school. The school site is in the back hall of the "Shuhuai Hall". During the day, children read books, and at night the peasants attend classes, which completely changes the backward appearance of "Sujiapo, three generations of blindness, and stones burned to turn into ashes". The curriculum consists of four courses: Chinese, arithmetic, singing, and labor. On the first day of school, ** gave a lesson to the children, inspiring everyone to work hard to learn culture for liberation. At that time, there were no teachers, and those who said they were literate were teachers, and they called on everyone to be teachers together. If there is no book, he instructed the cadres of the special committee to compile and print it on their own, with content such as "Local tyrants and inferior gentry, don't be the best to help the tiger, and defeat these local goblins, so as not to oppress people in the world......He asked the cadres of the special committee to buy some pencils, textbooks, and other study utensils from the city, and distributed them to the 16 or 7 children who were studying. It was not until 1933 that the Kuomintang came and the school was closed.
In the past few months, despite the constant attacks of the enemy, the revolutionary base areas in western Fujian have been further developed under the correct leadership of the special committee of western Fujian and through the unremitting struggle of the vast number of soldiers and people. "Between the six counties of Yanhang, Yongwuting, and Lian in western Fujian, hundreds of thousands of miles of red areas, hundreds of thousands of toiling masses have generally established Soviet power (four county Soviets, more than 50 district Soviets, and more than 400 township Soviets)." Although at present the city power cannot be conservative because of the offensive of the reactionary forces, the rural power does have a solid foundation. The consolidation and development of the revolutionary base areas in western Fujian provided a reliable guarantee for the successful convening of the Gutian Conference.
The former site of the Gutian Conference.
During the four months of recuperation in western Fujian before the Gutian Conference, he was generally in a state of recuperation and seclusion. **After the September letter was delivered, he returned to the main leadership post of the former committee of the Red Fourth Army, and his body had basically recovered by this time. On November 28, 1929, he sent a letter to the CCP, writing, "I am well ill." On the same day, he sent a letter to Li Lisan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, saying, "I have been seriously ill for three months, and although I am getting better, my spirit has not fully recovered."
These four months were a period of great development of the Soviet movement in China, and it was also a period in which the opportunities and challenges of the Red Fourth Army coexisted, but he did not directly participate in them, and his anxiety on the sickbed can be imagined. However, in the face of the double blow of defeat and illness, he did not lose heart and work passively, but continued to maintain a firm revolutionary will, while fighting against the disease, while calmly thinking and working hard for the construction of the Soviet area in western Fujian, the development of the party organization, and the exploration of the road of the Red Fourth Army to build the party and the Chinese revolution.
In the past four months, he not only mastered the first-hand materials for the construction of the local party, government and army in western Fujian, but also further improved his understanding of the Chinese revolution. After receiving the "September letter," he effectively prepared for and successfully convened the Gutian Conference, which will go down in history, in a short period of time in light of the spirit of the relevant instructions and the lessons and lessons of the Fourth Army of the Red Army, thus bringing the thinking of the Fourth Army of the Red Army to a high degree of unity and the Fourth Army of the Red Army and the entire Red Army to a new stage of development.
*: "Centennial Tide" 2022 Issue 01, author: Sun Wei (Jinggangshan Cadre College) and Zeng Hanhui (Gutian Cadre College).