Wake up（170）

 

Chapter 33 The source of disaster

 

170

 

This is a beautiful grove. Not far from the grove, there is a large forest of purple flowers. The Ziwei tree is full of Ziwei flowers. Dozens of small purple flowers are crowded together, and clusters of flower balls are formed on the tree, like small purple lanterns, which make people linger and forget to return. Walking out of the grove, you will come to the world of flowers. There is a small pavilion in front of the sea of flowers, where many retired people gather. Some of them played cards, some chatted, and some practiced their wind instruments there. A few old people sang "Sailing the sea depends on the helmsman" accompanied by melodious music, and there may be many old people who are reminiscing about the period of the Cultural Revolution. It makes people feel that the Cultural Revolution is not far away.

Chai Jianmin told He Jiafu, Li Tiandao and Pan Guangfu about his old comrade-in-arms Pan Renshu's experience during the Shanghai Cultural Revolution along with the singing of "Sailing the Sea Relying on the Helmsman".

This story has to start with the "January Revolution" storm and Wang Hongwen.

Wang Hongwen was the head of the Shanghai Workers' Rebellion General Headquarters at the time. Later, he served as a leading member and deputy director of the Shanghai Revolutionary Committee, and director of the Revolutionary Committee of Shanghai National Cotton No. 17 Factory. In January and September 1971, he successively served as secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and political commissar of the Shanghai Garrison District of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. In August 1973, he was appointed vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. In February 1975, he served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China. Participated in Jiang Qing's conspiracy to seize the highest power of the party and the country during the "Cultural Revolution". In October 1976, he was quarantined for review. In July 1977, he was expelled from the party and revoked all positions inside and outside the party. In January 1981, the Special Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court confirmed Wang Hongwen as the principal culprit in the "Lin Biao and Jiang Qing counter-revolutionary clique case" and sentenced him to life imprisonment and deprivation of political rights for life.

After the "Cultural Revolution" began, the rebel leader Wang Hongwen and others created the "Anting Incident", "Jiefang Daily Incident" and "Kangping Road Incident" in Shanghai that directly pointed at the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee to interrupt railway transportation.

On November 10, 1966, the "Anting Incident" broke out in Shanghai. After Cao Diqiu of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee asked Tao Zhu for instructions, he decided to adopt the "three nos" policy of "not participating, not acknowledging, and not supporting" the establishment of the "General Department of Industry". Cao's decision was supported by Chen Pixian, who was recuperating at the time. The Shanghai Municipal Party Committee handled the inaugural meeting of the "General Department of Industry" according to the "three noes" policy, which angered the workers. So thousands of workers, led by Pan Guoping, Wang Hongwen and other rebel leaders, crowded onto the train and went to Beijing to file a complaint. He was ordered by the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee to stop at Anting Station, which is about 30 kilometers away from the city center. The workers were very angry and stopped their cars to protest, demanding that the Central Committee and the Central Cultural Revolutionary Committee express their stance and recognize and support their rebellious actions as revolutionary actions. This is the "Anting Incident" that shocked the whole country.

On November 6, 1966, workers from 17 units including Shanghai National Cotton No. 17 Factory, No. 31 National Cotton Factory, Glass Machinery Factory, Synthetic Fiber Research Institute, and Wuyi Electric Machinery Factory went south to the "Three Divisions" Red Guards in Beijing With the help of the Red Guards in Shanghai, they jointly established a city-wide workers' rebel organization "Shanghai Workers' Revolutionary Rebel Headquarters" (referred to as "General Directorate of Workers"). unreasonable demands. In this regard, the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, in accordance with the spirit of the "Decision on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" passed by the Eleventh Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the regulations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on not establishing cross-industry organizations, and after consulting the Central Cultural Revolution Group, decided to adopt "no Approve, do not support, do not participate" policy.

On the afternoon of the 9th, the "Industrial Directorate" held its inaugural meeting, and stated in its declaration: "We want to seize power, that is, we want to take back the people's power from those in power within the party who are taking the capitalist road, and firmly hold it in the hands of the proletariat!"

Since the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee insisted on not recognizing the "General Department of Industry", the "General Department of Industry" called it "suppressing the revolutionary rebellion" and "persecution of workers by the bourgeois reactionary line", and decided to file a lawsuit in Beijing.

In the early morning of November 10, members of the "General Department of Industry" rushed into Shanghai North Railway Station and boarded the train from Shanghai to Beijing. The train departed at 5 a.m. and was ordered to stop after arriving in Nanjing. Wang Hongwen led another group of people to forcibly board bus No. 65 bound for Zhengzhou, claiming to go to Beijing to sue the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee for cracking down on workers' rebels. The train leaves at 7 am. According to the instructions of the State Council, the Shanghai Railway Bureau ordered the train to stop at the branch of Anting Station in Jiading County, a suburb of Shanghai, at 8:17. Anting Railway Station is a station at the junction of Jiading County, Kunshan and Qingpu, 30 kilometers northwest of Shanghai.

Members of the "Shanghai Workers' Revolutionary Rebellion General Headquarters" who went to Beijing to sue were blocked at Anting Railway Station. At around 12:00 noon, Wang Hongwen and others led the crowd to stop the 14 express trains bound for Beijing. Interrupt more than one day. Twelve trains were forced to stop east of Anting Station, and 36 northbound trains at Shanghai Station were unable to leave. From Anting to Bengbu, nearly a hundred passenger and freight trains bound for Shanghai were forced to stop at various stations along the line. Seriously affect passenger and cargo transportation. This is the so-called "Anting Incident".

After the incident, the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee reported the situation to the central government in a timely manner. Zhou Enlai presided over the enlarged meeting of the Central Standing Committee.

Tao Zhu advocated that this kind of "disobedient" momentum of the workers should be resolutely suppressed. Several leaders of the State Council in charge of industry handed over difficult problems to the Central Cultural Revolution, and some of them seemed to be a bit of a joke about the Central Cultural Revolution. This could be felt from the phone calls they made. The Beijing-Shanghai Railway was the economic artery of the North and South at that time. In fact, Shanghai workers did not block the entire railway line at that time, but they blocked trains to protest and affected the frequency of many northbound trains, including several international trains. So the comrades in charge of the industry in the State Council mean that your Central Cultural Revolution supported the rebels, and you should deal with such a big incident. If we can't handle it, then they can go to the chairman to complain about the Central Cultural Revolution.

According to the original principles established by the central government, the meeting decided to invite Chen Boda to deal with it. Chen Boda was asked to call the East China Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee to decide not to recognize the "General Department of Industry", and at the same time send cadres to Anting Station to deliver clothes and food, and mobilize workers to return to the factory.

Chen Boda first sent a telegram to Han Zheyi of the East China Bureau in the name of the central government; then he drafted and sent a telegram to the workers. Although Chen Boda expressed sympathy for the workers in his telegram, he did not admit that they were revolutionary actions, nor did he admit that the "General Department of Industry" was a revolutionary organization. I just hope that the workers will start from the overall situation and go back to production. The telegram was sent in the name of Chen Boda alone.

After sending the telegram, Chen Boda planned to send someone to Shanghai. Zhang Chunqiao used to be the Propaganda Director of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the leader of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Secretariat, so he knows the situation in Shanghai best. In the end, the Central Cultural Revolution Group held a meeting and decided that Zhang Chunqiao should handle the "Anting Incident".

As soon as Zhang Chunqiao arrived in Shanghai, he rushed directly to the scene of Anting Station without going to the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee first. He first negotiated with the workers and persuaded them to give way to the railway to ensure smooth traffic. The workers graciously stepped aside from the railroad. By November 12, in less than two days, rail traffic was fully back to normal. Then he persuaded the workers to go back, but the workers insisted that Zhang Chunqiao agree to rehabilitate the wrongs they suffered during the anti-capitalist line and restore their political rights of the working class. The workers also complained in front of Zhang Chunqiao about the fact that the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee implemented the anti-capitalist line and suppressed and persecuted the workers. Zhang Chunqiao was greatly shaken by the complaints of the workers. However, he did not agree to the conditions put forward by the workers in Anting, but insisted that the workers go back to Shanghai to solve the problem. But he promised the workers that he would never return to Beijing if he did not handle this matter well.

At this time, Zhang Chunqiao was under great pressure. The task given to him by the Central Cultural Revolution was to persuade workers to return to the factory and resume railway transportation. In addition, no authorization was given to him. Moreover, the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee took a positive attitude in criticizing "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office", and the relationship with Jiang Qing was very harmonious. How to deal with this matter is related to the relationship between the Central Cultural Revolution and the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, and it takes a lot of hesitation.

After Zhang Chunqiao returned to Shanghai from Anting, he called Jiang Qing. Jiang Qing told him on the phone not to worry about it. You can do whatever is beneficial to the workers and the growth of the workers' rebels. the

In the end, Zhang Chunqiao signed and agreed to the "five-point requirements" put forward by the Shanghai "General Department of Industry", acknowledging that they were revolutionary actions and that the "General Department of Industry" was a revolutionary mass organization. This was the first time during the Cultural Revolution that the Central Cultural Revolutionary Party signed a revolutionary agreement with the working class in a large province to support the revolutionary rebellion of the workers. It is a major event of historical significance in the Cultural Revolution. the

After Zhang Chunqiao returned to Beijing, the Premier also praised him. The Prime Minister told those leaders in charge of production in the State Council that you can't handle this matter. Zhang Chunqiao went to solve the problem.

However, the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee had a very strong opinion on Zhang Chunqiao. Chen Pixian called from Shanghai and asked Chen Boda: Does Zhang Chunqiao have such great power as a member of the Central Cultural Revolution Group? The company signed and acknowledged the "five articles"? Some leaders of the central government, such as Tao Zhu, and even Chen Boda believed that Zhang Chunqiao's actions violated the relevant regulations of the central government on carrying out the Cultural Revolution in industrial and mining enterprises. Therefore, Zhang Chunqiao's signing took a great political risk. But this incident not only showed his courage and courage, but also showed that he was aware of Chairman Mao's thinking and that he wanted to spread the Cultural Revolution Movement to factories and villages, and he was mentally prepared. On November 8, when he met the fighters of Beihang Red Flag, he supported them to go to the factory to connect with the workers. Zhang Chunqiao also said: Building a factory is a matter of direction, and we plan to go this way in the next step.

Chai Jianmin said to He Jiafu and other old friends: Later, the lawsuit went all the way to Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao personally presided over the meeting of the Central Standing Committee. The chairman said that there are always facts before concepts. How can concepts be formed without facts? How can there be theory without practice? Sometimes theory and practice go hand in hand. Sometimes theory comes first, but practice always comes first. If the workers don't start a revolution first, where do the rules come from? Facts are always followed by policies. Zhang Chunqiao is right in this matter, and the past policies should be changed according to the reality. Some of the regulations that had restricted workers from participating in the Cultural Revolution had become alienated from the masses.