The two words at the beginning of the issue of "Unity" are Mao Zedong's handwriting. How did this come about? Speaking of which, it happened. As early as August 1938, Wang Ming, Zhou Enlai, Bogu , and Xu Teli returned to Yan'an to hold the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee. I was a entourage and brought a Japanese-made cotton paper to Yan'an to ask the central leaders to write the inscription. I first asked Chairman Mao to write an inscription, and he wrote the word "unity". Later, Commander-in-Chief Zhu asked the title, which was probably easier to write on this kind of paper, so he wrote many pictures such as "Persist in the War of Resistance" and "Defeat Japanese Imperialism". I took it to Chongqing and kept it.
When I was sending a telegram to Zhou Enlai, I saw that he was writing "The Purpose of Unity". I knew it was written for the special issue of "Unity". I suddenly remembered that there was still the inscription of Chairman Mao, so I immediately showed it to him. He was very happy and sent Chairman Mao's inscription and manuscript he wrote to the newspaper office, and the newspaper office published it in woodcut. Everyone was very happy to see Mao Zedong's inscription. Later, many comrades published articles in "Unity" based on the spirit of rectification. I also wrote a short article titled "Talking about Party Spirit and Personality". My point of view is: every Communist Party member has his own personality, but party spirit is the first priority, and personality should be subject to party spirit.
Under the leadership of Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu and others, the " Xinhua Daily " has a new look after rectification and revision. This newspaper has an increasingly important influence and guiding role on the cultural and ideological front of the Kuomintang-controlled area. The propaganda of the united front has made new developments, and international publicity has become more effective. It has fully realized the slogan of "well edited, early, printed clearly, and sold more", which has won the support and praise of the people in the Kuomintang-controlled area at that time. The innovation of the Mass magazine has also achieved certain results.
After the rectification study was basically over, the cadres were reviewed. Since the cadres managed by the Southern Bureau have been tested by two anti-communist climaxes, they have some understanding of their political thoughts and work performances, and they will be clearer after learning the rectification campaign. The review of cadres is uniformly arranged by the Organization Department of the Southern Bureau and carried out in a "three-in-one" manner. Leaders, backbones and themselves cooperate with each other to complete the review tasks together, so that the person being reviewed can actively and consciously cooperate with the organization to quickly complete the review tasks. This will maximize the enthusiasm and revolutionary responsibility of the person being examined. No unit is engaged in sports or mysterious. The review conclusion can be met with me and may give me opinions. The leaders of the Southern Bureau shall be responsible for the review of the heads of each unit. After the review conclusion is approved by the leaders, all telegram reports will be filed with Central Organization Department .
Zhou Enlai emphasized that the review of cadres must adhere to the attitude of seeking truth from facts. He said: Cadre review is an understanding of cadres, not a purge of the party. Therefore, you must be cautious in the conclusions and appraisal, and you should allow yourself to appeal without any trouble. When Yan'an launched the "rescue campaign", several cadres working in the Southern Bureau were accused of being ×× elements who sneaked into the party. After the materials were transferred to the Southern Bureau, Zhou Enlai and Dong Biwu talked to the relevant Gandu respectively and enlightened them in a gentle and drizzle manner. It allowed it to explain his past experiences in a historical and detailed manner, especially the Kuomintang reactionaries who were arrested and imprisoned by the Kuomintang reactionaries. In the early stage of the Second Cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the National Government was forced to release the cadres who were released unconditionally, and the guidance work was done more in-depth, so that they could put down their burdens and relieve their concerns.
For example: The responsible person of a certain department was revealed to be a person sent by the Kuomintang. Based on his understanding and investigation of this cadre, the leaders of the Southern Bureau completely denied the matter and made proper handling; for example, the Kuomintang secret agency used " Counter-Speech Scheme " to falsely accused a couple in the underground party. After being reviewed by the leaders of the Southern Bureau, they reached a conclusion without any problems. This is how Zhou Enlai and Dong Biwu handled the problem with a realistic and scientific attitude and friendship with cadres, which moved the parties involved and other comrades were also educated.
On May 22, 1943, Executive Committee of the Communist International issued the "Resolution to Disband the Communist International", which caused a huge response at home and abroad.This decision has solicited opinions from the Communist Party of many countries, including the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China stated that it "full agreement". However, since the Communist Party of China was established with the help of Communist International and is a branch of it, many Communist Party members regard the Communist International as a superior leader and have supreme authority. Therefore, this incident caused great fluctuations in the thoughts of party members.
Zhou Enlai had a deep understanding of the Communist International. He visited the Soviet Union many times from the 1920s to the 1940s and had contact with the leaders of the Communist International. On the fifth day of the international resolution, Zhou Enlai convened an expanded cadre meeting of the Southern Bureau to announce this decision, focusing on the decision making of the Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Communist International to adapt to the development of the anti-fascist war in , and to consider the development of the struggles of various countries and the complexity of the struggles of various countries, the Communist Party of each country needs to independently deal with the problems faced, and it is recommended to dissolve the Communist International. The Central Committee of our Party expressed its agreement with the Communist International’s suggestions. He also pointed out that the CCP has received help from the Communist International in its long-term revolutionary struggle, and the Chinese Communists have been able to decide their own political policies, policies and actions completely independently based on China's specific situation and special conditions. Zhou Enlai's speech gave us those of us who attended the meeting a correct understanding.
At this time, KMT diehards used the Communist International to disband and make a big fuss to launch the third anti-communist climax. Zhang Zhizhong told Zhou Enlai: After the dissolution of the Communist International, the Kuomintang had studied ways to deal with the Communist Party of China. There were two opinions: one was that the Communist Party of China handed over military power and regime, and the organization could be legal; the other was to merge with the Kuomintang. Some people clamor for the dissolution of the Communist International and the Communist Party of China should also be dissolution. Faced with this situation, the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee sent Zhou Enlai: "The Communist International has been dissolved, and the central government will hold a meeting to discuss China's policies. Please go back to Yan'an immediately."
On June 28, Zhou Enlai and Lin Biao, Deng Yingchao, Kong Yuan and more than 100 people left Chongqing in four trucks and returned to Yan'an on July 16.
On August 2, the General Office of the Central Committee held a welcome party. Zhou Enlai said enthusiastically at the meeting: "Our party has done a work that is greater in these three years and has more achievements than in the past twenty years." This "is obtained by uniting the whole party under the leadership of Comrade Mao Zedong." "Twenty-two years of the party's history proves that only Comrade Mao Zedong's opinions are running through the entire historical period and developing into a line of sinicization of Marxism-Leninism, that is, the line of Chinese communism." "Comrade Mao Zedong's direction is the direction of the Communist Party of China!"
Zhou Enlai has always been a leader with high prestige within the Communist Party of China, and his speech has had a huge impact inside and outside the party.
Zhou Enlai returned to Yan'an and immediately joined the rectification movement that is developing in depth. At that time, the work of reviewing cadres was in progress. Kang Sheng, who serves as deputy director of the General Academic Committee and minister of the Central Social Affairs Department, is engaged in the so-called "rescue of the wrongdoers." He exaggerated the enemy situation within the party and within the border areas, believing that there are so many spies that they should "rescue" these "stumblers".
Under the leadership of Kang Sheng, various agencies and schools in Yan'an generally carried out a "rescue campaign". Many cadres were suspected for no reason, and then they made a big move to "force confessions", which made everyone in danger. The terrifying atmosphere permeated many places in Yan'an and even the border areas. Underground party members in the Kuomintang-controlled areas have become the target of suspicion because Kang Sheng and others created the so-called " Red Flag Party " in some units of the central government (that is, the fake Communist Party disguised as "red flag"). It is said that the underground parties in more than ten provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Henan, Hubei, Yunnan, Guizhou, Zhejiang and Shaanxi are all "Red Flag Party" controlled by the Kuomintang spies.
Since most of the underground party organizations in these provinces are led by Zhou Enlai, this makes him in a very difficult situation. But he tried his best to protect some comrades. He asked the Organization Department of the Central Committee to write down the Southern Bureau's conclusion on the cadres' review and write certificates for some comrades himself. Su Aifen, who is from the Secretariat of the Southern Bureau, was transferred from the Sichuan underground party. When studying in Yan'an, he was falsely accused of being the "Red Flag Party" and detained in the Ministry of Social Affairs. The Organization Department of the Central Committee transferred the Southern Bureau's conclusions about her to the Ministry of Social Affairs, and Su was released.At that time, Li Weihan, the head of the border government rectification movement, asked Zhou Enlai: What is going on (referring to the so-called "Red Flag Party" issue)? Zhou Enlai answered clearly: It is being cleaned up, it is nothing.
However, the terrifying atmosphere and the phenomenon of "forced confession" continued for a long time. Later, Mao Zedong discovered that this approach deviated from the correct direction of the cadre review and immediately corrected this serious mistake.
When senior cadre entered the stage of learning the history of the party and the party's line, Zhou Enlai actively participated in this study and summary.
When I was in Chongqing, Zhou Enlai had talked about the party’s history experience and lessons learned many times in the advanced study group for rectification, or in mobilization and summary reports at each stage. However, due to the dangerous environment in Chongqing, the busy work and lack of information, it is difficult for him to concentrate his time, think about problems systematically, and organize his own thoughts. Back to Yan'an Stone, the conditions are met.
From August to November of this year, when Zhou Enlai participated in the study of senior cadres, he carefully studied the documents and read a large amount of historical materials. He summarized the experiences and lessons learned during the Second Civil Revolutionary War and the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, wrote 50,000 words of notes, and made speeches at some meetings.
