In 1953, Zhang Guotao, who lived in Hong Kong, wrote a letter to Chairman Mao, Zhou Enlai and others.
In the letter, Zhang Guotao expressed his desire to return to the mainland and work for the party and the people again, hoping to obtain the party's approval.
After receiving Zhang Guotao's letter, the Party Central Committee took it very seriously and immediately began to discuss how to handle the matter.
Zhang Guotao
Zhang Guotao once also carried out revolutionary work under the leadership of the party, but later chose to betray the party and the revolution. Now he wants to return to the mainland to retire. Naturally, many people are strongly opposed.
However, after consideration, Chairman Mao, Liu Shaoqi and other national leaders decided to give Zhang Guotao another chance.
Zhang Guotao can return to the mainland for retirement, but he must agree to one condition.
Chairman Mao
So what were the conditions proposed by Chairman Mao? Why did Zhang Guotao refuse? What did he do to betray the party and the revolution?
Zhou Enlai slammed the table and roared Zhang Guotao
In fact, the reason why Chairman Mao gave Zhang Guotao the opportunity to return to China has a lot to do with some of the contributions Zhang Guotao had made.
Zhang Guotao was born in 1897 in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province. He was admitted to Peking University at the age of 19.
Zhang Guotao was very active in the New Culture Movement . During the May 4th Movement, he influenced many classmates with his speeches and became one of the leaders of the student movement at that time. He was deeply valued by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao.
Li Dazhao
It was during this period that Zhang Guotao and Chairman Mao met for the first time, at Peking University.
One day, Zhang Guotao went to visit Li Dazhao. Chairman Mao happened to be here, so Li Dazhao introduced Zhang Guotao to Chairman Mao.
After meeting Zhang Guotao, Chairman Mao shook hands with him very warmly and introduced himself.
But Zhang Guotao just nodded and talked to Li Dazhao as if no one else was around. It was obvious that he looked down on Chairman Mao at the time. After all, he was more famous than Chairman Mao at the time.
Chairman Mao
Many years later, when Chairman Mao talked about this matter, he once said with deep feeling, "He looks down on me, a countryman."
At that time, Zhang Guotao probably would not have thought that it was him The despised Chairman Mao led the people to victory in the revolution.
This has a lot to do with the "earth" in Chairman Mao. It was precisely because Chairman Mao always cared about the working people and insisted on taking charge of the country for the poor that New China was established, and this was something Zhang Guotao did not have. .
In Zhang Guotao's heart, he always thinks about himself. If anyone has different opinions from him, he will fight hard.
Li Dazhao
In 1920, Li Dazhao organized a Communist Party group in Beijing, and Zhang Guotao and others were the first to participate.
In July 1921, the First Congress of the Communist Party of China was held. Li Dazhao did not go. Zhang Guotao said that he was entrusted by Li Dazhao and should be the leader.
Therefore, this meeting was chaired by Zhang Guotao. At this time, Zhang Guotao was still a progressive young man who insisted on revolution, but from this incident, we can see his character traits of keen pursuit of power.
In 1924, Zhang Guotao was unfortunately arrested by Beiyang warlord in Beijing. Soon after, Feng Yuxiang launched a coup in Beijing, and Zhang Guotao was released.
After leaving prison, he has been claiming to the party organization and other comrades that he did not reveal any secrets of the party in the face of torture by the enemy.
Because of this incident, many comrades at that time admired Zhang Guotao very much. He was deeply trusted by the organization and entered the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in 1925.
However, this incident took a huge turn decades later. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, some comrades were sorting out old files and unexpectedly discovered that Zhang Guotao admitted that he was a member of the Communist Party and expressed "repentance" after his arrest.
The place where Li Dazhao died heroically - Jingshi Detention Center in Xijiaominxiang, Beijing
In addition, the file also records that after Zhang Guotao was arrested, he provided the enemy with many secrets of our party, including information on the activities of Comrade Li Dazhao .
From this point of view, Zhang Guotao's claim to be unyielding in prison is completely false. From this incident, it can be clearly seen that Zhang Guotao's revolutionary determination is extremely unstable and cannot be compared with Chairman Mao and others.
However, due to Zhang Guotao's concealment, no one knew about it at the time, so the party and most comrades still had great trust and respect for him.
But not long after, Zhang Guotao did something else that made Zhou Enlai, who had always been gentle and elegant, furious, and also caused many comrades to strongly condemn him. What was going on?
Zhou Enlai
In April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the revolution and brutally killed countless Communists. The revolutionary situation was very serious.
However, the Communists were not afraid and were prepared to fight bravely against the Kuomintang reactionaries.
In July 1927, Zhou Enlai arrived in Nanchang, and planned with He Long, Ye Ting and others to launch the Nanchang Uprising on August 1.
The main leader of the Nanchang Uprising,
Zhang Guotao, arrived in Nanchang on July 30 after receiving the relevant report, preparing to convey the instructions of the Communist International on the need to be cautious in the uprising.
However, after observing the situation and feeling that it was unfavorable, he actually added his own opinions when conveying the instructions, asking Zhou Enlai and others to stop the uprising.
But the uprising is about to start at this time, and all the troops are ready. Once the uprising is stopped, the consequences will be very serious.
But Zhang Guotao insisted on stopping the uprising and proposed to work with the Kuomintang Zhang Fakui.
Nanchang Uprising
After hearing this, Zhou Enlai, who had always had a good temper, slammed the table and yelled at Zhang Guotao very angrily.
"Whose idea are you talking about, yours or the Communist International?"
Other comrades were also very dissatisfied and asked Zhang Guotao why he should stop the uprising.
In the end, in the face of public anger, Zhang Guotao chose to obey and agreed to carry out the Nanchang Uprising.
Afterwards, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee punished Zhang Guotao, and many comrades lost trust in him, but he was always dissatisfied.
Perhaps in Zhang Guotao's mind, others cannot oppose his ideas.
Zhang Guotao
After that, Zhang Guotao studied in the Soviet Union for three years and returned to China in 1931. However, after these three years of study, he not only failed to realize his mistakes, but intensified them and even plotted to split our party.
After rebelling against the party, he was ignored in the military reunification
In November 1931, Zhang Guotao served as interim vice chairman, and then went to the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui base areas to participate in the establishment of the Red Fourth Front Army.
The Fourth Red Army developed rapidly and defeated enemy encirclement and suppression campaigns many times, becoming the fastest growing among the main Red Army forces.
Xu Xiangqian, commander-in-chief of the Fourth Red Army,
However, while developing, Zhang Guotao launched a campaign of "elimination of counterrevolutionaries", frantically attacked comrades who had different opinions from him, used torture to extract confessions, and killed countless Red Army soldiers.
After several months of "eliminating counterrevolutionaries" in this way, Zhang Guotao established his unshakable leadership position in the Fourth Red Army.
In April 1935, the Fourth Red Army began its Long March, and in June it successfully joined forces with the Central Red Army in Sichuan.
Sichuan Maogong Reunion Bridge
At this time, the Red Front Army suffered extremely heavy losses due to the enemy's encirclement and interception and the wrong leadership of Bogu and others, and the number of troops was far less than that of the Red Fourth Front Army.
Zhang Guotao believed that the Chinese revolution had reached a low ebb. He actually opposed the central government's decision to go north to resist Japan and insisted on retreating south to Tibetan areas. He even wanted to reorganize the central government because of the large number of troops.
Chairman Mao and other leaders tried their best to persuade Zhang Guotao and treated him with emotion and reason, but he always insisted on his own way.
In the end, Chairman Mao and others led the Central Red Army to go north alone, while Zhang Guotao insisted on leading his army south.
What is even more infuriating is that he actually established a new "central government" at Zhuomu Diao on October 5.
Afterwards, Chairman Mao sent an unknown number of telegrams to Zhang Guotao, educating him very sincerely and persuading him to cancel the "Second Central Committee".
Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Bogu
Chairman Mao did this not only to preserve the revolutionary team and save the Chinese revolution, but also to save Zhang Guotao who was trapped in the quagmire of mistakes. From this, we can see the greatness of Chairman Mao.
But Zhang Guotao was always stubborn and went further and further down the wrong road.
Facts have proved that Zhang Guotao's actions were completely wrong. The troops he led to move south soon suffered a failure. The troops also suffered an extremely serious blow, and their strength was reduced from 80,000 to 40,000.
In June 1936, Zhang Guotao had to cancel the "Second Central Committee" and agreed to lead the army northward. By the time he arrived in northern Shaanxi, there were only 10,000 troops left. After
arrived in Yan'an , Chairman Mao found him many times to talk and educated him very patiently, hoping that he would realize his mistakes.
In March 1937, the central government severely criticized Zhang Guotao's separatist behavior. At the meeting, he cried bitterly and reviewed himself.
In order to take the overall situation into consideration, the central government not only retained his position as a member of the Political Bureau, but also appointed him as the vice chairman of the Yongbyon District Government.
But these did not wake up Zhang Guotao. He had made self-examination before just to protect himself. He was still stubborn and even prepared to rebel against the party.
In 1937, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party began to cooperate in the anti-Japanese war, but Zhang Guotao was drunk every day and did nothing. At this time, he was already looking for another way out.
In April 1938, Zhang Guotao used to pay homage to the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum to defect and openly defected to the Kuomintang.
After joining the Kuomintang, Zhang Guotao joined the military at the request of Chiang Kai-shek and served as director of the research institute with the rank of major general.
In addition, Chiang Kai-shek also gave him the empty title of lieutenant general and committee member. This made Zhang Guotao very proud and felt that he would be highly valued within the Kuomintang.
Chiang Kai-shek
Since Zhang Guotao has worked in our party for nearly 18 years and knows the CCP very well, Dai Li attached great importance to him at the beginning, hoping to use him to carry out a series of actions to undermine our party.
It can be said that at that time, whatever plans Zhang Guotao proposed, Dai Li followed them truthfully, and tried every means to get him everything he wanted. He would be invited to every banquet, and Dai Li would proudly introduce Zhang Guotao to his friends.
Dai Li
However, Dai Li was also wary of Zhang Guotao. He never invited Zhang Guotao to important meetings of the military commander, and also sent people to secretly monitor Zhang Guotao.
Zhang Guotao was also very aware of this. In order to dispel Dai Li's wariness and show his 'loyalty', he never closed the door and often spoke loudly. Over time, he felt very painful.
In addition, several plans implemented by Zhang Guotao all failed. The personnel sent by the Kuomintang according to his plan not only failed to win over Communist Party members, but some people joined the Communist Party. This made Dai Li gradually lose patience with Zhang Guotao.
Upon seeing this, Zhang Guotao gave lectures to spies within the military command, but no one liked his class and they all hated him, so his class was discontinued after only two periods.
Slowly, Dai Li realized that Zhang Guotao was of no use at all, so he began to neglect him and even felt disgusted with him.
Military reunification agent Shen Zui once wrote in a book that after being ignored, it was difficult for Zhang Guotao to even see Dai Li, and even if he did, he would be scolded and scolded.
indulged
It can be said that after being snubbed by Dai Li, Zhang Guotao's life in the military was quite difficult. Originally, he had a special car, but later it was directly cancelled.
One rainy day, Zhang Guotao needed a car and called the attendant. After Shen Zui found out, he actually asked the attendant to send a tricycle to Zhang Guotao. Zhang Guotao was soaked in the rain.
However, when he learned the truth and questioned Shen Zui, he was humiliated and almost shed tears.
Cai Mengjian
Later, with the help of his fellow countryman Cai Mengjian, Zhang Guotao entered the Organization Department as secretary, but no one convinced him, and he was actually just a polished commander.
Zhang Guotao's miserable life in the Kuomintang made Zhang Guotao very painful. He thought he would be reused, but he did not expect to be so insulted, but he still did not wake up.
Life is miserable in his later years, and he wants to return to the mainland for retirement.
In 1948, the Kuomintang troops were retreating one after another, and failure had become inevitable.
So Chiang Kai-shek prepared to flee to Taiwan. Before leaving, he specifically instructed Mao Renfeng not to let Zhang Guotao follow him to Taiwan.
Mao Renfeng
At this time, Zhang Guotao was also very panicked and hoped to go to Taiwan with the Kuomintang. However, when he found Mao Renfeng, he was firmly asked to stay on the mainland.
Zhang Guotao had no choice but to find Chiang Kai-shek shamelessly. Chiang reluctantly agreed to his request, so Zhang Guotao arrived in Taiwan in November 1948.
But after he arrived, not only did no one care about him, but even the house he was looking forward to was occupied by others, making his situation even more difficult.
Disheartened, Zhang Guotao left Taiwan for Hong Kong with his wife and children in the winter of 1949.
But his life in Hong Kong is very difficult and he can't even pay his son's tuition.
Later, he co-founded a magazine and served as its president, and his life was relatively better.
But it wasn’t long before Zhang Guotao had a conflict with his partners and was kicked out. I think this may have a lot to do with his character.
After that, Zhang Guotao planned to make a fortune by speculating on gold in , but he did not expect that he would lose money instead. Unfortunately, his wife fell down and needed high medical expenses, making life more difficult than before.
At this time, Zhang Guotao saw the prosperity of New China, and he had the idea of returning to the mainland for retirement.
So in the spring of 1953, Zhang Guotao asked someone to contact the Hong Kong branch of Xinhua News Agency and expressed his desire to return to the mainland to participate in construction.
The Hong Kong branch attached great importance to this and quickly reported the matter to the Party Central Committee.
In addition, Zhang Guotao also wrote a letter to Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, Liu Shaoqi and others, in which he said this.
"After two or three years of thinking, I am determined to return to the party, accept the party's leadership, and do my best for the party and the people to atone for my past mistakes."
Liu Shaoqi
After Chairman Mao and other central leaders received the letter, After some serious thinking, it was decided to allow Zhang Guotao to return to the mainland, but the Party Central Committee also put forward a condition when replying to Zhang Guotao.
"The Central Committee welcomes Zhang Guotao's return, but he must first write a report to make a profound reflection on the mistakes he has made in the past such as splitting and betraying the party, and he must express his determination to change his ways."
This condition is for Zhang Guotao is definitely very tolerant. After all, he has made so many mistakes that even threatened the party and the Red Army.
However, although the Party Central Committee was so tolerant of Zhang Guotao, he refused to accept the condition of "public admission of mistakes."
It can be seen from this that Zhang Guotao is not truly remorseful at all, but simply wants to live a stable life in mainland China.
In 1955, Zhang Guotao proposed to the government that he could send his son to Guangzhou Zhongshan Medical College to study.
Premier Zhou agreed to his request after learning about it, which shows how tolerant our party is to him.
In 1958, Zhang Guotao proposed that he wanted to do something for New China in Hong Kong and asked for living subsidies.
In January 1959, Chairman Mao made a comment on relevant documents: If Zhang Guotao can cut off his relationship with the Americans, he may consider providing him with living subsidies.
Zhang Guotao also failed to meet this requirement. At this time, he was still unwilling to truly repent.
In 1961, some institutions in the United States felt that Zhang Guotao still had a lot of value, so they asked him to write his memoirs, and they would give him HK$2,000 a month.
Zhang Guotao, who is 64 years old, readily agreed. After all, 2,000 yuan was not a small amount of money at the time, and it would greatly improve his life. What he wrote was "My Memories", which was later published.
In addition, some official US governments also approached him and asked him to express some views on New China.
Since then, Zhang Guotao has never mentioned returning to the mainland, but his life is not rich and can only be said to be difficult.
In 1968, Zhang Guotao and his wife went to Canada to join their son. Due to limited funds, they had to live in a free nursing home and lived a moderately rough life.
But in 1976, Zhang Guotao suffered a stroke for some reason, and he could only live in a hospital in the suburbs.
However, the conditions of this hospital are very simple, there are not enough doctors and nurses at all, and the ward is also very small. This makes Zhang Guotao often uncomfortable, and his health is getting worse and worse.
But the most unbearable thing for him was that in winter the hospital was very cold due to insufficient heating. Zhang Guotao was shivering under the blanket he brought, looking very painful, but there was nothing he could do.
In December 1979, 82-year-old Zhang Guotao froze to death in the hospital. He vomited for two hours before his death, which was very miserable and painful.
Throughout Zhang Guotao's life, he was actually capable and made certain contributions to the party in the early days.
However, his revolutionary determination was too unsteady, and he was narrow-minded and never listened to the opinions of others. He pursued power wholeheartedly and even split the party and the army. In the end, he betrayed the party.
It was precisely because of these that he failed step by step. Even in his later years, he still refused to repent and eventually froze to death in the hospital.
How can it succeed if there is no people or country in its heart, but only power?
On the other hand, Chairman Mao sacrificed almost everything for the revolution, and many of his relatives died because of the revolution. However, Chairman Mao always cared about the people and the country and insisted on being the master of the country for the people.
That’s why we live a happy life today, so we must always remember the great Chairman Mao!
Reference:
Beijing Evening News: Zhang Guotao went from being a host to an anti-communist agent: confessing to Li Dazhao after being arrested
