Wake up（272）

 

272

 

When the taxi driver talked about "cleaning up the ranks", Hong Wenxuan and Shen Zhirui sat in the taxi and looked at each other before falling silent. But this silence does not mean that they have no ideas. The two old professors fell into deep thought at this time.

At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the "People's Daily" published an editorial calling for "sweeping all monsters and monsters". That's just newspaper propaganda, a figurative slogan. "Cleaning up the ranks of the class", referred to as "clearing the ranks", was a large-scale political movement carried out during the Cultural Revolution of the People's Republic of China. The movement started on May 25, 1968, and about 30 million people were denounced. Scholars estimate that 500,000 to 1.5 million people died. It is roughly estimated that it was the activity that caused the most deaths during the peak of the second wave of the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese government later acknowledged that many of these cases were wrongful convictions.

"Sweeping" and "cleaning up" have the same effect, and the "red typhoon" during the "clearing team" in 1968 was even worse than the "red terror" in August and September 1966. The "cleaning up of class ranks" under the command of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1968 was an important stage in the Cultural Revolution led by Mao Zedong himself and assisted by Zhou Enlai. The "Qing Brigade" not only made Mao Zedong's criticism of Liu Shaoqi's "bourgeois reactionary line" in 1966 pale by comparison, but it even outshone the Red Guards who shouted "Long Live the Red Terror" in the early days of the Cultural Revolution when they ransacked their homes, destroyed the Four Olds, and killed "bastards". Even more terrifying.

The team purge campaign aims to clean up "traitors, spies, unrepentant capitalist roaders, counter-revolutionaries, unreformed land, rich, anti-bad, right elements" and so on. Among the more than 2,000 counties that were affected, on average, about 100 people died in each county due to this activity. In some counties, more than 200 people died. In counties with particularly small populations, such as Aihui County on the Sino-Soviet border, more than 1,500 people were detained for this activity, of which 65 died, a relatively low proportion. In Yanji County, Jilin Province, 41 of the 110 households affected by the Huatian production team were killed or injured by fighting.

Hong Wenxuan turned on his mobile phone and found an article "The "Cleaning Up of Class Ranks" Movement During the Cultural Revolution". express.

Ding Shu wrote:

The Communist Party's constitution states that the people have freedom of assembly, association, and publication. But that's just for show. The CCP has been in power for 17 years, but it has never been implemented. As early as 1957, someone at Peking University posted such a big-character poster: "The Party monopolizes everything and arbitrates everything... The Party is the country, and the Party is the law. The so-called 'democracy' has actually been replaced by the party leader. The Constitution stipulates that The people have freedom of speech, but newspapers, radio, and radio stations are all monopolized by the party. Anyone who expresses speech that is not in harmony with the tune of the party will be considered a counter-revolutionary crime. The constitution stipulates that the people have freedom of assembly and association, but any association or assembly is not authorized by the party. Approval, and acceptance of its designated leaders, may be accused of counter-revolutionary crimes.” Of course, the person who wrote this poster was sent to a labor camp.

In 1966, in order to overthrow the enemies within the party, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, with the help of the Red Guards and the student movement, the people were given a limited amount of freedom written in the Constitution, and gave the people a little freedom of assembly and association. He allowed the people to form organizations and allowed private publications. That is not to implement the constitution and return power to the people, but an expedient measure to seize power.

Although the control over the people has only been loosened a little bit, the national newspapers, radio, and radio stations are still monopolized by the Communist Party. Mao Zedong also saw the consequences of allowing the people to form associations and organize organizations. Control over the people can only be relaxed for a while, and freedom of speech and the press cannot be implemented for a long time. As soon as the goal of defeating political opponents is achieved, he will take back the little freedom given to the people. Therefore, in January 1967, Mao Zedong was very sure of defeating the "bourgeois headquarters" of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, and he was about to take back the "public opinion" card. He began to shift the focus of the struggle. On January 2, Mao Zedong instructed: carry out a comprehensive class struggle across the country, focusing on Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and the Northeast. On January 30, he wrote a comment in a report on the situation of class struggle: "The party, the government, the military, the people's school, the factory, the countryside, and the business have all mixed in with a small number of counter-revolutionaries, rightists, and traitors. This time It is a great thing that most of these people jumped out of the movement themselves. The revolutionary masses should carefully investigate, thoroughly criticize, and then distinguish between serious and serious, and deal with them as appropriate."

This was an important turning point in the Cultural Revolution. He didn't mention "people in power," but only "counter-revolutionaries, rightists, and traitors." Moreover, his so-called "most of these people jumped out of the movement" clearly pointed out that they were not referring to the Communist Party cadres and those in power, but the activists in the cultural revolution.

Since then, ordinary people and ordinary people are no longer safe, and the spearhead of the movement will be aimed at them.

When they seized power in January, rebels from all over the country seized power, thinking that they could take power. Little did he know that Mao Zedong had other arrangements and asked the army to come out and take over the power. What he envisioned was: support mass organizations to seize power, but not allow mass organizations to take power. Military control is enforced throughout the country. The military leaders at all levels took away the big seal that the rebels had struggled for half a year to take away without any effort.

After the implementation of military control in February, the whole country rampantly "suppressed counter-revolutionaries" and arrested rebels, that is, activists who "jumped themselves out of the movement" as Mao Zedong said. the

In June, Mao Zedong sent his guards and staff around him to Beijing Xinhua Printing Factory, General Knitting Factory and other factories to implement military control. After the "Military Control Commission" took power, it launched the so-called "struggle against the enemy". Within two months of entering the factory, the military control committee of Xinhua Printing Factory uncovered 10 "counter-revolutionaries." Therefore, I summed up the "experience of mobilizing the masses to carry out the struggle against the enemy" and said: "For those current counter-revolutionaries who viciously attack the great leader Chairman Mao and Vice-Chairman Lin, viciously attack the Central Cultural Revolution, and oppose the proletarian headquarters, once discovered, they will be punished." Severe blows, no mercy." In addition, another main target of the struggle is the so-called "remnants of the Kuomintang reactionaries". In May 1968, Yao Wenyuan used the term "cleaning up the ranks" when he sent the articles of the Xinhua Printing Factory Military Control Committee to Mao Zedong for review. Mao Zedong commented: "It is recommended that this article be distributed nationwide....Among the similar materials I have read, this article is the best written."

Since then, the "cleaning up of class ranks" has been carried out throughout the country.

While looking at his mobile phone, Hong Wenxuan said to Shen Zhirui: "Team clearing" was actually an important part of the Cultural Revolution.

Mao Zedong said at the Twelfth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in October 1968: "Will the Cultural Revolution be brought to the end? We say that it must be brought to the end. What does it mean to be brought to the end? This is a question. It is estimated that it will take about three years. It will be almost the summer of next year. In the end, it includes mass criticism, cleaning up the class ranks, party consolidation, streamlining the army and streamlining administration, and reforming unreasonable rules and regulations.” “We are now conducting mass criticism and cleaning up the class ranks. It is to pay attention to the policy..."

Therefore, the Twelfth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a communiqué, saying: "We must continue to do a good job of cleaning up the ranks of the class in factories, people's communes, government agencies, schools, all enterprises, public institutions, streets, etc. A handful of counter-revolutionaries among the masses were dug out."

Since then, "clearing the team" has become the main content of the national Cultural Revolution. However, the initial target of the Cultural Revolution, "those in power taking the capitalist road," was not the main target of the "clearance".

Shen Zhirui said:

All factions of the Communist Party unite to exercise dictatorship over the people. Mao Zedong relied on the original system of Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai's party and government agencies. He himself is a member of that system, without the normal operation of that system, he would not be able to sit still in Zhongnanhai for a day.

Mao Zedong relied on party organizations and the military to control society. Everything is old. The only new things are the "Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Team of the People's Liberation Army" and "Working Class Propaganda Team".

The Red Guard movement died down. It was Yao Wenyuan's turn to explain Mao Zedong's thoughts again. His article was titled "The Working Class Must Lead Everything," but it was actually the Party that led everything. The party has won again. Workers are decorations. The workers are playing tricks in the "working class propaganda brigade". Chi Qun and Xie Jingyi, the main leaders of the "Military Propaganda Team" and "Worker Propaganda Team" stationed at Tsinghua University and Peking University, are not workers. The "Military Control Commissions" and "Military Propaganda Teams" in various places, as well as the "Revolutionary Committees" controlled by soldiers, are the direct leaders of this "Team Cleansing" movement.

Shen Zhirui also turned on the phone, retrieved the "red terror" information all over the country, and said:

The focus of the Cultural Revolution was originally to catch "capitalist roaders," but unless they were labeled "traitors" or "spies," capitalist roaders were not the main target of "cleaning up the class ranks." According to Mao Zedong, "to clean up the ranks of the class, we must recruit traitors, spies, unrepentant capitalist roaders, counter-revolutionaries, landowners, rich, counter-revolutionaries, bad, and rightists who have not been reformed."

In December 1967, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Opinions on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in Cities (Towns) Streets", specifying the task as: "Throughly criticize the largest group of people in power in the party who take the capitalist road and their work in various provinces and cities. (Town) agent", "to expose and crack down on the land, rich, counter-revolutionary, bad, and rightists who have not been reformed well in society, reactionary bourgeois intellectuals, and various hidden enemy elements." This shows that the focus of the attack is actually still The traditional "class enemy".

For example, in Simao County, Yunnan Province, the "clearing team" began in 1968 and lasted for two years. Half of the county's cadres were classified as various "elements": 72 traitors, 24 secret agents, 116 unrepentant capitalist roaders, landlords, etc. 86 people, 3 rich peasants, 72 bad elements, 31 rightists, 82 historical counter-revolutionaries, and 145 current counter-revolutionaries.

The objects to be "cleaned up" are not the same in different regions, but the five types of elements, "local, rich, anti-revolutionary, bad, and rightist," are indispensable. They are the so-called "veteran athletes". Fighting against these people is not new. What is new is the "XX type of people" summed up according to local conditions. There are all kinds of people who are classified as "XX people": "reactionary capitalists", "political liars", "KMT suspects", "class dissidents", "reactionary believers"...

Hong Wenxuan said: "Team clearing" is actually a nationwide "political and economic cleanup."

The biggest typhoon is category 12, but the slogan of the Wujin County Revolutionary Committee in Jiangsu is "Red Typhoon of Category 24". In May, more than 100 ready-made "ghosts and snake spirits" at the county level put up signs, held a rally to criticize them, and paraded the streets all over the city. In Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, all "landers, rich, counter-revolutionaries, bad actors, and rightists" and their children were gathered in designated places guarded by militiamen, and then searched house by house, calling it a "political search." The slogan of Youxian County, Hunan Province is "sweeping political garbage". In September 1968, a meeting was held in the county seat to criticize and parade through the streets; more than 5,000 households were ransacked in the county, and more than 9,000 people were arrested.

  "Red Typhoon" is the second raid on property.

The properties of the landlords and rich peasants had been confiscated during the "land reform", and they had only one or two shabby houses for shelter from the wind and rain, and they had lived in extreme poverty for 17 years. Now that the revolution is coming again, Tan Furen, director of the Revolutionary Committee of Yunnan Province, proposed: "A second revolution against the landlords and rich peasants." So the province confiscated the so-called "surplus property" of the land rich. "Land, rich, counter-revolutionary, bad, and rightist" once again allow themselves to be slaughtered.

The Revolutionary Committee of Zhengning County, Gansu Province believed that the "destruction of the four olds" in 1966 was not thorough enough, and announced a "political and economic cleanup". They sent investigation teams to forcibly demand and search for gold, silver, and silver dollars from local, rich, anti-, bad, right, and a small number of peasant households throughout the county. "The whole county cleared out 2,585 taels of silver, and 15,000 taels of silver..."

Rudong County, Jiangsu Province was hit by a "red typhoon". In Juegang Township with only 3,000 households, 60 people were detained, and 183 households were closed and searched. The gold and silver dollars that were not confiscated during the nationwide raid in 1966 were basically collected this time, and even the furniture was included in the confiscation.

Qingyang County, Gansu "digging deep for wealth" and "cleaning gold and silver". 5062 people were "struggled and implemented mass dictatorship".

In September 1968, in Shaodong County, Hunan Province, "the whole county took a unified action to abduct 9,243 so-called bad guys and confiscated 710,000 yuan of property in two nights."

During the "red typhoon" in Liling County, "a large-scale investigation, a large number of fights, and 7,824 households were ransacked."

Quangang Commune, Fengcheng County, Jiangxi Province, set up a revolutionary committee in April, and in May took action in the name of "catching bullfighting ghosts and snake gods" and "confiscated a large amount of gold, silver, and silver dollars, equivalent to 287,885 yuan. Confiscated the houses of rich people 92 building."

This nationwide "second search" lasted for more than a year. Until 1970, Yangshuo County, Guangxi organized a "big investigation" team of more than 23,000 people to investigate "26 types of people" and ransacked the homes of 4,683 people. The confiscated items include cash, gold, silver coins, silver pennies, silverware, precious stones and jade, watches, bicycles, and radios.

After this "big cleaning", the gold and silver dollars among the Chinese people were roughly collected.

The "red typhoon" in factories and cities is not weak. In Zaozhuang, a small city in Shandong, 5,014 households were ransacked during the "clearing team". Jiangxi Hongdu Machinery Factory is a large aircraft factory. More than 400 people's homes were ransacked, and 10 people died during the ransacking process.

While driving, the taxi driver listened to Hong Wenxuan and Shen Zhirui's discussion on "cleaning up the ranks". The old driver turned around and asked the two old professors: Who is the commander of this "clearing team" movement?

"The soldiers in charge of the party, government, and military power in the provinces and cities are the commanders of this movement." Hong Wenxuan said.

This time it was the old driver's turn to be silent.

Hong Wenxuan said to the old driver:

Why is it said that the soldier in power is the commander of the "clearing team"? Because the soldiers in charge of the party, government, and military power in each province and city are presiding over this large-scale persecution in almost every province and city. They took control of the "newborn" Revolutionary Committee, took over the slogan of "red terror" from the Red Guards, and changed it to "a red typhoon": "typhoon of category 12", "typhoon of category 24". They have gone through the baptism of power struggle, and take consolidating power as their top priority. They need to rely on the "red typhoon" to generate a deterrent force, suppress the opposition that once threatened their power, and intimidate ordinary people who may be more likely to go against the opposition, so as to consolidate the regime.

The slogan of Bu Zhanya in Hunan is "Smash old nests, cut black lines, and dig hidden dangers." Cheng Shiqing in Jiangxi "three investigations" in the whole province: check for traitors, check for secret agents, and check for active counter-revolutionaries. Cheng Shiqing said: "Killing a class enemy saves us a bullet."

In August 1968, Wang Huaixiang, director of the Revolutionary Committee of Jilin Province, organized a "provincial and municipal cultural system study class", detaining all literary and art workers in the provincial government and Changchun City, and restricting personal freedom for up to one year.

Daqing Oilfield has been under military control since March 1967. When the Revolutionary Committee was established, Zhu Chuanyu, deputy commander of the 16th Army of the Army, served as the director. At the beginning of 1968, the "clearance of the team" began, "suicides and beatings to death continued to occur, and gradually increased. From January to April, 15 people committed suicide, from May to June, 36 people committed suicide, and 7 people were killed."

Wang Lilong, deputy political commissar of the Armed Forces Department of Xinjin County, Liaoning Province, is a model of "learning and applying Chairman Mao's works". In April 1968, he took two assistants to the commune below to find new information about the class struggle. When he heard that a brigade party branch secretary was having an affair with a girl named Xu Lianrong, he immediately concluded, "This is the class struggle under the new situation!" Xu Lianrong was severely tortured, beaten to death and had to "confess", and was released home after "fingerprints". That night, seven members of Xu's family, the old couple, two sons and three daughters, hanged themselves to death. Afterwards, people saw two large characters written on the wall of his house: "Qu Si". Xu Lianrong had a suicide note pinned to her waist, requesting an examination of her body. The test result is: she is still a virgin.

There are 8 engineers in Tanggu Alkaline Noodle Factory in Tianjin who were designated as secret agents by the Military Control Commission. The army representative commanded the thugs, and soon after they were arrested, they were all killed by various tortures. The 56-year-old wife of an old engineer surnamed Liu was also detained. She was forced to hand over the radio station, and if she couldn't hand it over, she would play and not be given food. After two years of torture, when she returned home, the military representative threw her an urn to settle the matter.

Under the command of the military representative of the "Zhi Zuo", Anhui University "engaged in a fascist dictatorship and created a large number of unjust, false, and wrong cases. There were 809 faculty members in Anhui University, and 262 people were under investigation, of which 120 people were illegally dictatorship ...and 5 people were forced to commit suicide."

When Hong Wenxuan talked about these things, the old taxi driver was completely speechless.