Wake up（88）

 

88

 

No matter how beautiful the memories are, they are just memories after all. We must clearly understand that personal memories are just one person's memories, and only belong to our own memories. But for the memory of history, time will pass away quietly, and when I think of the past, that era, and those great men of that era, I can only cry in the memory. Because the dreams that had been entrusted to me were scattered, I suddenly felt that everything was empty, and suddenly everything around me became unbelievable. This is what I feel when I recall the meeting of seven thousand people.

Mao Zedong proposed before the 7,000-person meeting that every member of the Politburo Standing Committee should give a speech at the meeting. However, the speeches of several Standing Committee members were arranged at the later stage of the conference. For Mao Zedong, what the Standing Committee members said in their speeches, whether they were true or false, and what positions, viewpoints, and ideas they expressed were of great importance to him. Therefore, he does not advocate the method of preaching according to the scriptures, but speaks extemporaneously, speaks casually, speaks the truth, and expresses one's own point of view.

In the speeches of the members of the Standing Committee, there were three "bright spots" that attracted Mao Zedong's great attention. One is Liu Shaoqi's speech; the other is Lin Biao's speech; the last highlight is that Chen Yun, an "expert" in economic work who should have spoken at the conference, refused to speak at the invitation of Mao Zedong.

Let's look at Liu Shaoqi's speech first. To sum up, many of Liu Shaoqi's speeches touched Mao Zedong's most sensitive nerves, but what Mao Zedong found most unacceptable and intolerable was his sharp evaluation of the wrong nature of the "three red flags". "Three parts are natural disasters, seven parts are man-made disasters." This kind of evaluation was not made by Liu Shaoqi directly, but by borrowing the words of ordinary people.

From Liu Shaoqi's statement below, it can be seen that he agrees with the common people's evaluation: "...in some places, the main reason for production reduction is not natural disasters, but shortcomings and mistakes in work. I went back to a place in Hunan last year. Go, great difficulties have also occurred there. I asked the farmers, what is the reason for your difficulties? Are there any natural disasters? They said: Natural disasters exist, but they are small. Then I investigated. There are several ponds in that place, and I asked them: Did the pond dry up in 1960? They said, no, there was water in the pond. It can be seen that the natural disasters there are indeed not that serious. As far as the whole country Generally speaking, I put it this way in my written report: the reason why we have encountered considerable difficulties is, on the one hand, the impact of three consecutive years of natural disasters, and on the other hand, to a large extent, due to our It is caused by shortcomings and mistakes in work and work style. As for what is going on in a certain province, a certain region, or a county, you can discuss it according to the situation and make a judgment based on facts." A "to a large extent", plus The above verification of "there is water in the pond" basically shows that Liu Shaoqi agrees with the judgment of "three parts of natural disasters and seven parts of man-made disasters". This is obviously contrary to Mao Zedong's use of fingers to describe achievements and mistakes.

The other "as for a certain province..." seemed to Mao Zedong to be playing the usual trick of "full affirmation, partial negation; abstract affirmation, specific negation". However, Liu Shaoqi's impassioned speech seemed to be out of control, and he was no longer satisfied with "singing the opposite tune implicitly", but wanted to "express his heart directly". Let’s see how he directly pointed the finger at Mao Zedong’s “finger theory”: “In the past, we often compared our shortcomings, mistakes, and achievements to the relationship between one finger and nine fingers. Now I’m afraid we can’t do it everywhere.  … Speaking up, the relationship between shortcomings and achievements cannot be said to be the relationship between one finger and nine fingers, but probably the relationship between three fingers and seven fingers."

In short, the series of views presented by Liu Shaoqi enabled Mao Zedong to see at a glance the true face of this partner who had followed him for many years and his intended successor: the two had discussed since the founding of the People's Republic of China about whether to adhere to the new democratic stage or to directly transition The ideological differences on socialism have not been healed over the years, but the rift has become wider and wider. It is time to consider whether to break up.

And Lin Biao's speech happened to be the opposite of Liu Shaoqi. Different from Liu Shaoqi's ambiguous attitude towards the three red flags, Lin Biao clearly emphasized the correctness of the three red flags, the correctness of Mao Zedong's ideological line, and the unshakable authority of Mao Zedong in the party. Even the wording made people feel abrupt and abnormal, but in The meeting sparked almost as strong a reaction as Liu Shaoqi's speech. Please see how he flattered Mao Zedong to the point of nausea: "It turns out that these difficulties, in some respects, to a certain extent, are precisely because we did not follow Chairman Mao's instructions, Chairman Mao If you listen to Chairman Mao's words and understand Chairman Mao's spirit, then you will take much less detours, and today's difficulties will be much smaller....I deeply feel that our When the work is done better, it is the time when Chairman Mao's thoughts can be implemented smoothly, and when Chairman Mao's thoughts are not disturbed. If Chairman Mao's opinions are not respected, or when they are greatly disturbed, things will go wrong. Something went wrong. The history of our party for decades is just such a history.”

This kind of flattery that reverses black and white and turns a deer into a horse is not uncommon in the history of Chinese imperial power. But at this moment, Mao Zedong, who was already facing "dark clouds overwhelming the city and wanted to destroy it", desperately needed someone to support him. Lin Biao's speech undoubtedly gave him an unexpected surprise. After the speeches of other members of the Standing Committee, Mao Zedong did not make any comments. Only after Lin Biao spoke, Mao Zedong praised: "Comrade Lin Biao gave a very good speech, about the party's line, about the party's military policy. I hope to sort it out Let’s give you a week or half a month to figure it out.”

Lin Biao saw the best opportunity for Liu Shaoqi to expose his deep-rooted differences with Mao Zedong due to his emotional impulsiveness, and aroused Mao Zedong's vigilance and dissatisfaction. He jumped out to sing against Liu Shaoqi. Of course he knew that if there was a crack in the alliance between Mao and Liu for nearly 20 years, then someone would always replace Liu as a result of the split. It can be said that at the meeting of 7,000 people, Mao Zedong faced unprecedented isolation because he had to bear the responsibility for a national disaster. This kind of isolation is not because some people deliberately want to exclude or deny him, but because most people cannot bypass Mao Zedong's serious mistakes and the historical responsibility he must bear because of conscience. At that time, only those who ignored the facts, turned black and white, had no conscience, and talked nonsense could use flattery to push Mao Zedong's guilt away, and could describe abscesses as brilliant. But as long as we can do this at that time, we can achieve miraculous results in gaining Mao Zedong's trust.

Mao Zedong finally replaced Liu Shaoqi's "successor" position with Lin Biao. Lin Biao's speech at the meeting of 7,000 people should have played a considerable role. Of course, Lin Biao's praise of Mao Zedong did not start from this meeting. Mao Zedong's appreciation of Lin Biao began in the 1950s. In short, Lin Biao's speech was like adding a heavy weight to Mao Zedong's side on the balance that was beginning to tilt.

Before the meeting, Mao Zedong arranged for several members of the Standing Committee to speak. During the meeting, Mao Zedong personally asked Chen Yun to speak, but Chen Yun politely refused and did not speak on the grounds that "the industrial investigation has not been completed and he is not sure". Chen Yun is an expert in the party's economics. He was in charge of the country's economic work for many years. In terms of economic construction, Mao Zedong claimed that he did not understand Chen Yun. He also said that Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping did not understand Chen Yun. The No. 1 "authority" of domestic economic work. Since the 7,000-person meeting is an economic work meeting to discuss urgent national economic difficulties, Chen Yun, as the No. 1 authority on economic work at the core of the party, should of course speak the most. However, it is somewhat strange that the person who should have spoken the most did not speak. Chen Yun's refusal to speak was nothing to the other Standing Committee members or participants, at most it was a bit of a pity, but to Mao Zedong, it was not a matter of regret, and there was something to it.

Zhang Suhua analyzed three reasons why Chen Yun did not speak, namely, Chen Yun had a different view from Mao Zedong in his judgment of the economic situation at that time and in the way of solving difficulties; Having survived Mao Zedong's rectification, plus the lessons learned by Peng Dehuai at the Lushan Conference, it is reasonable to fear that Mao Zedong will settle accounts after the fall. However, these thoughts of Chen Yun were completely considered from his own point of view. He did not figure out or understand Mao Zedong's thoughts. In fact, since Chen Yun is the authority on economic work within the party, and he made a long-term investigation on industry and agriculture in 1961, if he speaks, it will play a decisive role in finalizing the assessment of the situation and the tone of ideas for solving difficulties set by the conference. .

Mao Zedong wanted Chen Yun to speak, and hoped that he would express his complete opinions, at least because of the following psychological factors:

First, although he was under a lot of pressure at the meeting, the tone set by the meeting did not depart from his general idea, that is, the economic situation has receded to the bottom and started to pick up. The most difficult period has passed, and the next We should formulate a 10-year plan and work hard. Although Mao Zedong was very confident about this basic estimate and general idea, he was not sure and was actually very unsteady. Therefore, he hoped that Chen Yun would speak and support his judgment and views. With the approval of the number one economic expert in the party, it was like a reassurance that he would be much more confident. At the same time, the more important thing is to be able to calm down those who disapprove or support him in the party and convince them;

Second, did Mao Zedong ever think that Chen Yun would disapprove of his judgment and ideas? Of course I have thought about it, and I must have sufficient mental preparation. Even so, Mao Zedong hoped that Chen Yun would express his objections without reservation. In fact, Liu Shaoqi, the number two figure in the party, had already embarrassed Mao Zedong with his speech, and another Chen Yun was nothing. If Chen Yun's objection was really justified, Mao Zedong could still adjust his thinking, correct his judgment, and take the initiative. In the past few years, Mao Zedong walked Maicheng on the general line of national economic work and left many lessons. He will never continue to be obsessed and follow Maicheng to the end.

Therefore, if Chen Yun really confides his true thoughts at the meeting, it is estimated that Mao Zedong will listen to his opinions and make some adjustments to the original general thinking on the premise of sticking to his own bottom line, instead of developing as later. Chen Yun didn't speak at the meeting, but actually revealed his thoughts at the Xilou meeting half a month later, and the tone was quite different from Mao Zedong's tone at the meeting of 7,000 people. As a result, Mao Zedong was very passive and very annoyed.

Third, no matter whether Chen Yun sings praises or sings an anti-tune, among the core, high-level and middle-level party cadres present at the meeting, some people will resonate and some people will oppose it. The division of lines and the balance of power between the two lines of thinking, two points of view, and two judgments within the party will appear in Mao Zedong's vision at a glance. This point is crucial to how Mao Zedong sticks to his bottom line, how to maintain his authority, how to adjust his strategy, and how to start the struggle within the party. However, Chen Yun refused to speak, which made Mao Zedong very surprised and uneasy. In the premonition that a new power game within the party is coming in the depths of his consciousness, Chen Yun's reticence to speak is a disturbing, confusing and even unpredictable blind spot and unknown.

Recalling this period of history, I suddenly felt a dream and burst into tears. Memories can only make people heartbroken, sad and drunk. The past cannot be traced, memories are like cold wind blowing. The friendship in battle is gone, the fragrance is gone, the smoke is gone, and the ashes are gone.