Wake up（174）

 

174

 

Pan Guangfu once worked as a Hong Kong media reporter. He told Li Tiandao, Chai Jianmin, and He Jiafu, several seniors, that I had read some articles published in the "Hundred Years Tide" magazine, and learned about some little-known inside stories of the Cultural Revolution.

Shanghai was originally the birthplace of the "Cultural Revolution". The Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government did a lot of work in the preparation stage of the "Cultural Revolution", but for some reason it became the breakthrough point and the first choice for the "National Seizure of Power".

Guan Feng, a former member of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, said he didn't know, and he was also puzzled. Guan Feng said that during the Central Work Conference in October, Jiang Qing hosted a banquet for Chen Pixian, the first secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee at the time. Regarding Chen Pixian, Jiang Qing said this in his speech at the enlarged meeting of the Military Commission on April 12, 1967: "There was a leader who was a red kid in the past, and I never imagined that he would change like this. The last meeting At that time, I wholeheartedly hoped that he would grasp the job. Comrade Ye Qun can attest to this, and Comrade Boda also knows that. Chunqiao

Comrade He Wenyuan also knows. But he never looked back. The specific meaning of this passage is unknown. In fact, it still seems to be a mystery that has not been fully solved.

Speaking of the seizure of power in Shanghai in January 1967, there is one person that cannot be ignored. This is Xu Jingxian, the front desk commander of Shanghai's seizure of power. Xu Jingxian was born in 1933. When he was 17 years old, he was transferred to the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee in the early days of liberation and worked under the leadership of Zhang Chunqiao for a long time. In 1963, he served as the branch secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee's writing group established after the Tenth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, and was specifically responsible for critical matters in the field of ideology. Yao Wenyuan's "Comment on the Newly Edited Historical Drama "Hai Jui Dismissed from Office"", which opened the prelude to the "Cultural Revolution", was completed in this writing team. After the "Cultural Revolution" began in May 1966, Zhang Chunqiao, who served as the deputy head of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, and Yao Wenyuan, who was a member of the group, went to work in Beijing. In November of this year, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan entrusted someone to send a message to Xu Jingxian: the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee followed the wrong course after the Eleventh Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee in 1966, and asked him to take the lead in rebelling against the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. Xu Jingxian responded positively.

On December 18, 1966, "the backyard caught fire" and "the heart blossomed." Xu Jingxian led the writing team to artificially protest against the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and proposed "burn Chen Pixian! Find Cao Diqiu! Down with Yang Xiguang! Smash Chang Xiping!" slogan, and published the "Rebellion Statement of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Writing Team" declaring: "The end of a small group of Khrushchev-style scoundrels inside the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee has come! We—all the staff of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee's writing team and Xu Jingxian, a member of the Municipal Party Committee's Cultural Revolution Group Ding Xuelei's group leader) and Zhu Yongjia (Luo Siding's group leader) solemnly declare: We want to rebel!" This is the first of its kind in provincial and municipal agencies across the country. Because Xu Jingxian took the lead, rebels from various departments of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee rose up one after another. Together with Xu Jingxian's rebels, they formed the "Municipal Party Committee Revolutionary Rebel Liaison Station" (referred to as "Jilian Station"), and Xu Jingxian naturally became the leader of this liaison station. . The "Jilian Station" led by Xu Jingxian "issues orders, few people have great power", and they actively cooperate with the "Shanghai Workers' Revolutionary Rebellion General Headquarters" (referred to as "Workers General Division") and other Red Guard organizations led by Wang Hongwen and others. Rise up and attack the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government.

Xu Jingxian took the lead in the rebellion and was appreciated by Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong said: The situation in Shanghai is very good. The workers have risen, the students have risen, and now government officials have also risen. He also said, "Burn Chen Pixian! Find Cao Diqiu! Down with Yang Xiguang! Smash Chang Xiping!", "There are differences in the formulations of these slogans, good!"

On January 4, 1967, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan returned to Shanghai as investigators in military uniforms. When they met with Xu Jingxian and other rebels in the writing team of the Municipal Party Committee, Zhang Chunqiao said: The rebellion of the writing team had a relatively large influence in Shanghai and the whole country, and it pushed the party and government officials at the provincial and municipal levels across the country to rebel. Wen Yuan and I came to Shanghai this time, and we were sent by the Central Cultural Revolutionary Committee. Of course the two of us are here to stand with you, and the liaison station is our working organization. Our mission in Shanghai is to do research and then report to the central government; therefore, we do not want to get involved in specific activities in Shanghai, and at the same time, we do not want to disclose the news of our visit to Shanghai for the time being. Then, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan met with Wang Hongwen and others. Zhang said: "The two million industrial workers in Shanghai are our foundation. The working class in Shanghai must be able to control the situation in Shanghai, and the labor movement should not be influenced by the Red Guards, especially students from other places." This is why Wen Yuan and I first met you when we arrived in Shanghai.” Zhang especially emphasized: “Now there is no need to have any illusions about the municipal party committee. The most important issue at present is to control all key departments, including Seaports, railways, power plants, water works, gas, telephone, etc."

On January 6, 1967, rebel organizations such as the "Jilian Station" headed by Xu Jingxian and the "General Department of Industry" headed by Wang Hongwen held a "Down with the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee" meeting with about one million people. The documents and speeches were reviewed by Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan; when the meeting was held, Zhang and Yao watched the live broadcast from their secret residence. At this meeting, Chen Pixian and Cao Diqiu were dragged onto the stage, accompanied by hundreds of cadres above the Bureau in Shanghai.

The General Assembly issued three circulars:

1. Announce that Cao Diqiu will no longer be recognized as the Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Mayor of Shanghai from now on;

2. Order Chen Pixian, the first secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, to confess his crimes to the people of the city within seven days;

3. Request the central government to completely reorganize the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and order cadres at all levels to stick to their posts.

From this day on, Shanghai's party, government, financial, and cultural powers actually fell into the hands of Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and the leaders of several rebel organizations in Shanghai.

The central government affirmed and praised Shanghai's seizure of power. The commentator article "Proletarian Revolutionaries Unite" published in the second issue of "Red Flag" magazine in 1967 (reprinted by "People's Daily" on January 16, 1967) said: "Their experience is multi-faceted. These experiences are concentrated in One point is that the proletarian revolutionaries unite to seize power from a small group of people in power who are taking the capitalist road in the party, and firmly hold the political, economic, and cultural power of Shanghai in their own hands.” The Ninth National Congress The political report said: "The working class in Shanghai with a revolutionary tradition, under the leadership and support of Chairman Mao and the proletarian headquarters headed by Chairman Mao, stood up and united with the broad masses of revolutionary masses and revolutionary cadres. In January 1977, the capitalist roaders in the old municipal party committee and the old municipal people's committee were seized from bottom to top."

"Shanghai People's Commune" - the organizational form of the new regime in Shanghai. "All power belongs to the Shanghai People's Commune!"

Shanghai's seizure of power has not been "smooth sailing." At that time, there were many organizations and factions all over the country, and the power to be overthrown was often fought over and seized. The same is true for Shanghai. After Shanghai seized power on January 6, it went through many iterations, such as the seizure of power by the Shanghai Red Guard Third Command on January 15; The Red Leather Society’s seizure of power on the 24th—actually a “seizure of seal”—takes away the authority of 23 units, including the East China Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the Shanghai Municipal Government, and the District Committees and District People’s Committees of ten districts in Shanghai. big seal. "Seizing the seal" does not mean seizing power, but taking the seal is very dangerous. If someone puts a steel seal on the passport going abroad, he can go abroad in an open manner; Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan are very worried about this. They tried every means to do the work of the "Red Leather Society", asking them to hand over their seals to the Shanghai Garrison District, and then the Garrison District returned them to various units, and proposed to convene a joint meeting of the rebel factions in Shanghai to discuss how the rebel organizations in Shanghai could jointly seize power. As well as the form and composition of the new regime. After tortuous struggles, the "new" regime in Shanghai was initially stabilized.

After the seizure of power, the organizational form of the "new" regime became an urgent problem to be resolved. There was a lot of discussion and there was no consensus. Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan have repeatedly praised institutions such as the "Shanghai Headquarters for Grasping Revolution and Promoting Production" and "Shanghai Anti-Economism Liaison Headquarters", believing that they actually performed the functions of the government's economic departments. The congratulatory message from the Central Committee held on the 12th (referring to the congratulatory message jointly signed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, the Central Military Commission, and the Central Cultural Revolution Group to the revolutionary rebel groups in Shanghai on January 11, 1967) completely smashed the bourgeois reactionary line of the new counterattack. At the swearing-in meeting, an "Initiative on the Establishment of Liaison Stations of Shanghai Revolutionary Rebel Organizations" was passed. Its intention was to use the liaison stations of various mass organizations as the organizational form of the new Shanghai regime. At this time, the highest instruction came again, that the leading organization established after the seizure of power should have representatives from the army, revolutionary cadres, and mass organizations. cannot be the organizational form of the new regime.

what to do? At the end of January 1967, the rebels headed by Xu Jingxian thought of the Paris Commune when they were drafting the power-seizure declaration, and proposed to write the revolutionary spirit of the Paris Commune into the power-seizure declaration in Shanghai, advocating "thoroughly smashing the old state machine", " Commune committee members are directly elected by the masses”, “Commune committee members are public servants of the people, and their wage income should not exceed that of ordinary workers” and so on. After the first draft was written, it was named "Shanghai People's Commune Manifesto".

The drafting of this manifesto was obviously inspired by Mao Zedong's words and central documents. Mao Zedong once called the big-character posters of Nie Yuanzi and others the Declaration of the Beijing People's Commune in the 1960s. In the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" ("Sixteen Articles") adopted on August 8, 1966, Article 9 stated: "The members of the Cultural Revolution Group, the Cultural Revolution Committee, and the Cultural Revolution Congress For the selection of representatives, as in the Paris Commune, there must be a comprehensive electoral system". He also said: "Elected members of the Cultural Revolution Group, members of the Cultural Revolution Committee, and representatives of the Cultural Revolution Congress can be criticized by the masses at any time. If they are incompetent, they can be re-elected or removed after discussion by the masses." The 11th issue of "Red Flag" published on August 21, 1966 published a signed article entitled "Comprehensive Electoral System of the Paris Commune". Smashed the state machinery of the bourgeoisie and created the first state of the dictatorship of the proletariat - the Paris Commune". "The Paris Commune announced that all leaders are elected by the people", "it requires that those elected to public office must be servants who serve the people, not bourgeois bureaucrats who oppress the people." "The Paris Commune also stipulates that elected commune members, like all public officials, should only receive salaries equivalent to workers' wages", and so on.

The revolutionary spirit and principles of the Paris Commune mentioned in the Shanghai Power Seizure Declaration drafted by Xu Jingxian and others are exactly the same as the revolutionary spirit and principles of the Paris Commune quoted in the central documents and publications above.

In the early hours of February 3 (please pay attention to this date!), Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan held an emergency meeting of the principals of various mass organizations. As soon as Zhang Chunqiao arrived at the scene, he said straight to the point: "You are urgently invited here today to discuss the establishment of the Shanghai People's Commune. You are anxious to establish your own political institutions and hold an inaugural meeting immediately. Wen Yuan and I are in this mood. We all understand, and of course we support it. However, the establishment of a new regime is not an easy task! In this authority, it is not enough to have representatives of mass organizations like you, there should also be revolutionaries. Representatives of cadres. However, cadres at the first level in Shanghai have not been "liberated". So, even if Wen Yuan and I are representatives of revolutionary cadres, our organization must also have representatives of the army, the army, sea, and air forces stationed in Shanghai. Who should be sent to participate in the three-in-one power organization? The leading bodies of the three armed forces have to discuss it!" Yao Wenyuan continued: "We have to report to Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee on such a major event as the establishment of a new power organization. Besides, to hold such a large-scale inaugural meeting, there is a lot of preparatory work to be done..."

Zhang Chunqiao said: "Yes, we should issue a decent manifesto. Now that the first draft of the manifesto has been written, Wen Yuan and I haven't had time to read it. We want to revise it carefully... Also, at the inaugural meeting, various Representatives from the other side have to make speeches, and we also have to make speeches, all of which take time to prepare. So, may I suggest that the inaugural meeting be postponed for a few days?"

Wang Hongwen stood up impatiently and said: "We have already arranged for the inaugural meeting of the Shanghai People's Commune. My opinion is that the meeting should not be postponed for too long, or the mood of the masses will be affected." Many people advocated striking while the iron is hot, and finally Zhang Chunqiao made the final decision: On the afternoon of February 5, 1967, an inaugural meeting was held in People's Square, officially announcing the birth of Shanghai's new authority, the Shanghai People's Commune.

On the afternoon of February 5th, a million people in Shanghai attended the meeting, announcing the establishment of the Shanghai People's Commune. Zhang Chunqiao delivered a speech at the conference, saying: "Our January Revolution is indeed a great people's revolution.... This victory, like the liberation of Shanghai by the Chinese People's Liberation Army on May 27, 1949, will always be remembered in the hearts of the people of Shanghai .”

Yao Wenyuan delivered a speech, saying: "The Shanghai People's Commune is a new form of the dictatorship of the proletariat." The Shanghai People's Commune Order read out at the meeting stated: "All power belongs to the Provisional Committee of the Shanghai People's Commune." After the meeting, a grand celebration parade was held. The parade went through the streets and alleys to the Shanghai Municipal Government Building. The signboard of "Shanghai Municipal People's Committee" was removed, smashed with an iron hammer, thrown into the fire and burned, and then a new signboard of "Shanghai People's Commune" was hung up.

The "Shanghai People's Commune" was born! The streets of Shanghai are covered with large slogans supporting the establishment of the "Shanghai People's Commune" such as "All power belongs to the Shanghai People's Commune!"

Looking back now, we can see what the content of the declaration "carefully deliberated and revised" by Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan was. They changed the title used by Xu Jingxian and others from "From the "October Revolution" to the "January Revolution"" to "Long live the victory of the January Revolution!" ", the subtitle is still "Declaration of the Shanghai People's Commune". A few excerpts from its contents:

——"The four seas are churning with clouds and water, and the five continents are shaking with wind and thunder." We, the proletarian revolutionaries in Shanghai, solemnly declare to the whole of China and the world: In the great storm of the January Revolution, the old Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal People's Committee were destroyed. We smashed it, and the Shanghai People's Commune was born!

——The Shanghai People's Commune is a new form of organization that, under the guidance of Mao Zedong Thought, completely smashes the state institutions that have been usurped by the counter-revolutionary revisionists and recreates the local state institutions of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

——The establishment of the Provisional Committee of the Shanghai People's Commune is a new milestone in the socialist revolution in Shanghai.

——Long live the great Shanghai People's Commune!

Pan Guangfu told Li Tiandao, Chai Jianmin, and He Jiafu that Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan were the direct planners and leaders of Shanghai's seizure of power. From the articles published in the "Hundred Years Tide" magazine, I probably know some inside stories about the establishment of the Shanghai People's Commune. But the source of using the name "Shanghai People's Commune" is not in Shanghai, but in Beijing.