On May 22, 1963, Chairman Mao met with a guest from afar at Great Hall of the People - General Secretary of the Communist Party of New Zealand Joe Wilcox .
In fact, these two met four years ago in 1959. This time the old friends reunite, they were all very happy. Suddenly, after a few greetings, Wilcox asked Chairman Mao if he still remembered what he said four years ago...
It turned out that when the two talked in 1959, Chairman Mao had said something very simple to the comrade New Zealand . But at that time, Wilcox did not fully understand the meaning behind that sentence. Not only that, in the past four years, he remembered that sentence many times, but he was puzzled...
Chairman Mao
At this moment, when Chairman Mao understood what Wilcox meant, he immediately stated that he remembered the sentence four years ago. Not only that, the leader of the New China also explained it in detail, which swept the confusion of New Zealand comrades.
So, what did Chairman Mao say to Wilcox in 1959? What are the deep meanings behind these seemingly ordinary words?
Conversation on Tiananmen City Tower
Time goes back to October 1, 1959. This day is the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Tiananmen Square in Beijing is decorated with lights and many people come here to celebrate the birthday of New China.
It was on this day that Chairman Mao met with Wilcox, General Secretary of the Communist Party of New Zealand who came to China to participate in the celebration on the Tiananmen Gate Tower.
Wilcox was born in England in November 1912 and later moved to New Zealand with his parents. He not only received higher education at the University of New Zealand Affiliated College, but also worked as a worker for many years.
Wilcox, who had both theoretical knowledge reserves and social practice experience, later joined the Communist Party of New Zealand. Not only that, when World War II broke out, he was also recruited into the army and entered the Air Force service. In the days that followed, Wilcox gradually gained a foothold within the Communist Party of New Zealand and became the General Secretary of the Central Committee.
So, on October 1, 1959, this New Zealand comrade traveled thousands of miles to China to participate in National Day-related activities and met Chairman Mao for the first time.
Wilcox was very happy to see Chairman Mao, the senior of the communist cause. Not only that, he was also met by Chairman Mao and listened to the teachings of the Chinese revolutionary up close.
Chairman Mao
In the conversation between the two, Chairman Mao implicitly expressed his views on the theory of " Peace Transition " proposed by the Soviet leader Khrushchev at the time.
Peace transition is one of the "three peace" theories proposed by Khrushchev. It refers to when the revolutionary forces can occupy an absolute dominant position, the domestic and international environment is greatly beneficial to the revolutionary class, and the ruling class's strength is greatly weakened, so it is not enough to confront the revolutionary forces, so it has to give up power, thereby realizing a political revolutionary method of non-violent alternation of political power.
At that time, because the Soviet Union adopted a policy of peaceful coexistence with Western countries, this peaceful transition was proposed. According to this theory, it is possible for the Communist Party of capitalist country to obtain a stable majority in the parliamentary road, thereby peacefully seizing power. After the theory of
was proposed, it was widely welcomed and supported by the Communists of Western European countries. , but in his conversation with Wilcox, Chairman Mao had quite a complaint about this proposition.
During the conversation, Chairman Mao once again proposed to make "two-hand preparations" for the revolutionary cause. He told Wilcox that the Communist Party of China led the people to carry out a long armed struggle and overthrew the "three mountains". Now that we have the regime and the army, we can carry out peaceful transformation of the national bourgeoisie.
The so-called peaceful transformation refers to the transformation of the capitalist economy into the socialist economy through peaceful means after proletarian gained power.After the founding of New China, the Communist Party of China adopted a policy of reforming both unity and struggle for unity against the national bourgeoisie, and achieved its own goals.
"If we only look at the current national bourgeoisie in China accepts peaceful transformation, we will forcefully say that the Chinese revolution is a peaceful transition. What is the difference between the blind man treating the elephant's trunk as the whole elephant?" Chairman Mao also used the Chinese allusion "the blind man touches the elephant" to explain it to Wilcox.
Chairman Mao and Zhu De
After discussing this issue, the great figure who is famous in modern military history said modestly: "I am not a genius military strategist and strategist. I just know three more truths than those who are tragic about dogma: people need to eat, use their feet to walk, and bullets can kill people ." After hearing this, Wilcox, who was next to
, couldn't help but feel confused: people need to eat, use their feet to walk, and bullets can kill people. isn't this common sense? is not a profound theory, why did Chairman Mao emphasize it so much...
However, in the environment at that time, this New Zealand comrade did not have the opportunity to further discuss this topic. So, he could only say goodbye to Chairman Mao with questions...
See you four years later. Chairman Mao explained in detail
Four years have passed in a flash. On May 22, 1963, Wilcox came to Beijing again. On this day, Chairman Mao went to another place for inspection as arranged. However, he still took time to meet the old New Zealand acquaintance.
Due to the tight time, Wilcox was taken to the Great Hall of the People by relevant parties as soon as he got off the plane. When he met Chairman Mao again, the New Zealand guest was very happy and greeted each other warmly.
After the greetings, Wilcox immediately asked Chairman Mao, still remember the words he said to himself on the Tiananmen Gate Tower four years ago...
In the past four years, Wilcox has recalled that sentence many times, but is still at a loss. This time he was lucky enough to meet Chairman Mao again, so he decided to ask the truth.
What made Wilcox happy was that the 70-year-old Chairman Mao said he remembered it. Not only that, the communist giant also explained it in detail.
Chairman Mao told Wilcox that the so-called "people need to eat" means that soldiers are also human beings. If they don't have food, they will not only not be able to fight, but they will not be able to survive at all. Therefore, as the commander of the army, we must pay attention to logistics.
However, during the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" of the Central Revolutionary Base , which began on September 25, 1933, the "left" opportunistic leadership of the Red Army , who was commanding the Red Army , did not understand such common sense. They only know that they want troops to fight, but they don’t know that they have to ensure that the soldiers in front have food and clothing. How can you not fail if such a leader is directed to the war?
Chairman Mao
And the sentence "you need to use your feet when walking" means that the Red Army at that time did not have cars or planes, and the troops were completely driven by walking . In the environment at that time, the Red Army often had to cross mountains and rush across ridges and brave the bombing and strafing of enemy planes.
However, the commander at that time did not understand this. They just looked at the map and pulled down the small flag representing the troops from one place and then inserted it to another, and felt that they had completed the task of mobilizing the troops. But they didn't know that they could easily "mobilize" a unit on the map for dozens or even hundreds of miles, but the troops transferred according to their orders needed to travel for several hours or even many days...
. When they finally arrived at their destination, the personnel were exhausted, but the enemy was ready to attack. In this way, how could the Red Army not defeat the battle?
As for the final "bullets can kill people", it is about these military commanders who are out of sight, who seem to think that the enemy's bullets cannot kill the Red Army soldiers...
Why do you say so? Because after a unit fought hard with the enemy on the front line for a long time, it needed to retreat for rest.But these commanders still use the troops as new forces and ordered them to continue to attack fiercely and pursue as a victory. With such a commander, how can the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" win?
After explaining his sentence four years ago in detail, Chairman Mao continued: "I have never entered a military school. Someone scolded me for 'carving a book " Sun Tzu Art of War " to command war'. In fact, I have never even read "Sun Tzu Art of War". I heard that someone scolded me like this, so I found a way to get a book to read..."
Chairman Mao and Xu Teli
"Those who believe in foreign dogmas are blindly commanding, and many comrades sacrificed for it. It is a bloody lesson! We had to do it because of the defeat and had to Long March . Today we praise the victory of the Long March, and we cannot forget the lesson of 300,000 fighting to only 26,700 left. " Chairman Mao said to Wilcox.
Face life and death calmly
Chairman Mao can deeply feel it. During his many years of military command career, he witnessed the heroic sacrifice of many soldiers and sacrificed his precious lives for the revolutionary cause.
In fact, Chairman Mao himself has also experienced many adventures on the battlefield. On January 9, 1965, when talking with an old friend and American reporter Edgar Snow , Chairman Mao answered whether there is hope for the improvement of Sino-US relations between the other party, and replied:
"I think there is hope, but it takes time. Maybe I have no hope in my life, I am about to see God, maybe you have hope. According to dialectics, life is always limited."
After hearing Chairman Mao's words, Snow said: "I think the Chairman is very healthy."
's words elicited Chairman Mao's memories of his life and death experience: "I have prepared many times, but I just don't die. What's the solution! How many times do you seem to be dying, including the dangers in the war you mentioned, blowing the guards around me to death, and blood splattered on me, but the bomb just didn't hit me..."
Hearing this, Snow asked nervously: "When I was in Yan'an?"
"Many times. There was also one time on the Long March, when I passed Dadu River , I encountered an airplane bombing, and my chief guard was killed. This time the blood did not splash on me..." Chairman Mao replied.
It turns out that Chairman Mao said it is indeed true. That was a day in June 1935. At that time, the Central Red Army Headquarters led the main force and the Central Organization set out from Hualinping, Luding. When Chairman Mao passed by Chahegang, Sanhe Township, Xingjing County, suddenly an enemy plane flew over and circled and fired in the sky...
At this time, Chairman Mao was marching on the small path to the left. Faced with such a critical situation, his guard squad leader Hu Changbao stood up.
Hu Changbao is from Ji'an, Jiangxi Province. He joined the Red Army in 1930 and began to serve as Chairman Mao's guard squad leader in early 1934. Since the beginning of the Long March, Hu Changbao has been doing his best to protect Chairman Mao’s safety.
Chairman Mao and the guards
At this moment, due to the critical situation, Chairman Mao had no time to hide. Hu Changbao hurriedly supported him and ran all the way to the woods on the right...
However, at this time, an enemy plane dived and dropped bombs. Hu Changbao was unfortunately hit by a shell and died bravely on the spot. Looking at the squad leader Hu who sacrificed his life to protect himself, Chairman Mao couldn't help but shed tears and cried...
In addition to this conversation with Snow, Chairman Mao also showed his glorious attitude towards life and death many times in his later years.
One day in 1964, at a meeting of military cadres, Chairman Mao talked about the issue of life and death. He said: "HTM1 Atomic bomb comes down, and you will meet Marx on the same road. People will die when they are old. If people have too heavy burdens, death is a good way to get rid of it."
In May of the following year, Chairman Mao met with Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh in Changsha. During the conversation between the two, Chairman Mao asked the other party that he hoped that he could visit Vietnam in secret...
Ho Chi Minh heard this and welcomed Chairman Mao, but was worried about his safety issues.It turned out that at this time, Vietnam War had been fighting for several years, and the United States' attacks were very fierce.
However, Chairman Mao did not care: "I just want to see the bombing, I want to go to the bombing place. I haven't seen the bombing for several years..."
"When the situation is better, please go." Ho Chi Minh said. "The situation improved and I won't go. I just want to go now. In the past, I was bombed dozens or hundreds of times by the Kuomintang, Japan, and the United States, but I didn't blow it up. Now, I want to go to you, even if I go to the place close. You can go secretly." Chairman Mao still did not give up.
Ho Chi Minh still refused to let go: "Your goal is too big, Vietnamese children can recognize you..." In response, Chairman Mao said half-jokingly: "You can just pretend to be a Chinese expert."
Chairman Mao and Ho Chi Minh
"You can recognize you no matter how you dress. When the time comes, I will invite you." Ho Chi Minh insisted. and we all know the result, Chairman Mao ultimately failed to set foot on Vietnamese land.
After entering the 1970s, Chairman Mao's body began to age significantly and his mentality also changed. During his conversation with foreign guests, he talked about life and death many times.
1973, in a conversation with the Australian Prime Minister, Chairman Mao said: "Both Zhou Enlai and I can't see that the Chinese revolution is over."
1975, while talking to the doctor, Chairman Mao mentioned an ancient poem - The strange ones are there under the tent of the tent, and there are many tears in front of the drum and horn lantern.
This poem was written by Yan Suicheng , a Jinshi of the Qing Dynasty, and represents the historical events of Li Keyong , during the Five Dynasties period. This poem is a masterpiece, not only depicting the characters, but also giving full play to the vicissitudes of life.
"This is how I feel at this moment." Chairman Mao said to the doctor.
