Wake up（332）

 

332

 

Liu Xiaosheng told the story of Zhao Ziyang's political reform to several young people including Lao Pantou and Nan Yangsheng. Lao Pantou sighed and said: Can China follow the example of the West in implementing "separation of powers"? Zhao Ziyang's political reform was too bold.

Liu Xiaosheng said: What made Zhao Ziyang fall into a deeper situation was the "anti-liberalization" movement with the largest background and the most violent momentum.

What is the "anti-liberalization" movement?

For young people like Nan Yangsheng, Pan Tianliang, Nan Liwa and Wanru, they knew almost nothing.

Liu Xiaosheng began to tell the story that has been forgotten by the people of the country:

When Hu Yaobang was in power, the differences among the top leaders of the CCP on political reform were mainly concentrated between Hu Yaobang and Deng Xiaoping; since Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang were consistent in preventing personality cults and opposing "cleaning up pollution", after Hu Yaobang stepped down, , the differences on political reform can only appear between Zhao Ziyang and Deng Xiaoping.

Hu Yaobang was forced to step down, and Zhao Ziyang took over as general secretary and head of the Central Finance and Economics Group. In essence, he was in charge of both party affairs and the economy. What he was facing was the complicated situation where the "anti-liberalization" movement was on the rise. However, he deftly withstood it, not only did not expand the "anti-liberalization" movement, but stopped it.

On the issue of suspending "anti-liberalization", Zhao Ziyang first persuaded Deng Xiaoping with the reason that "anti-liberalization ends up being anti-reform and opening up, and it will be against you", and then clearly expressed his opposition at the Huairentang meeting The expansion of "anti-liberalization".

At that time, the leftists had already put forward the slogan of "putting order out of chaos" and wanted to seize the opportunity to blow the wind of "anti-bourgeois liberalization" and blow away the reform and opening up.

Zhao Ziyang took the weight lightly, and on May 30, 1987, he held a meeting with about 1,000 cadres in charge of ideology, left, center, right, and various views in Huairentang. Zhao Ziyang made a report and asked everyone, "Who is responsible for messing up the economy?" After the discussion after the meeting, none of the leftists dared to take responsibility or answer. "Anti-bourgeois liberalization" ended without a problem, economic reform continued to develop, and political reform was put on the agenda instead.

  After the "anti-liberalization" movement, when Zhao Ziyang was in power, from when he acted as general secretary to when he stepped down, China's political atmosphere was relaxed, ideological confrontation was active, and the scale of speech was open, all reaching the highest level in the past 20 years of reform. The emergence of a pluralistic society cannot be overstated at all.

The "anti-liberalization" movement at that time did not spread to the whole country, did not affect economic reform, and the liberals and intellectuals in the party who were purged did not completely lose their personal freedom, and they were even very active among the people. The freedom of Fang Lizhi, Liu Binyan and others On the contrary, the rhetoric has been widely disseminated at home and abroad. All of this would be unthinkable without Zhao Ziyang's containment of the extreme left and his enlightenment of the liberals.

In the summer of 1987, some leftists in the name of the "Central Commission for Discipline Inspection" drafted a draft decision on the punishment of several party members, suggesting that some "liberalization elements" be expelled from the party and submitted to the Standing Committee for approval. Su Shaozhi, director of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism at the Academy of Social Sciences, was among those fired on charges that he "does not recognize Marxism-Leninism as a scientific science."

Zhao Ziyang asked the Minister of Propaganda of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China who was present: What views do classic writers hold on "science of science"?

The head of the Central Propaganda Department leaned back from his seat and stood up, hesitating and hawing; at the same time, there were two old theorists who were present at the same time, coincidentally, as if they didn't hear them by chance, they kept their mouths shut, and didn't help the young people out.

Zhao Ziyang said, "Since you haven't figured it out, how can the Standing Committee approve it? Don't make a joke. You will not discuss these decisions today."

Then, a person in charge of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection asked Bao Tong to tell Zhao Ziyang that the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection did not accept or draft these disciplinary decisions.

After this incident, there were no "theoretical cases" on the agenda of the Standing Committee arranged by the General Office of the Central Committee.

Deng Liqun once accused Zhao Ziyang in front of Deng Xiaoping of "protecting many bourgeois liberals, such as Yan Jiaqi, who actually served as the deputy head of a group in his political reform office."

Deng Xiaoping asked Zhao Ziyang: Does Comrade Ziyang have this matter?

Zhao Ziyang said: "I have worked very hard to oppose bourgeois liberalization. I insist on reform and opening up, and I also insist on opposing bourgeois liberalization. As for Comrade Yan Jiaqi, he is a very good comrade. He is definitely not bourgeois liberalization. He is loyal to the party, adheres to the four basic principles in political reform, and insists on reform and opening up, so he has no problems."

Liu Xiaosheng said: The most famous think tank within the system during the Zhao Ziyang period was the Three Institutes and One Council under the auspices of Mr. Bao Tong. This institution was the main architect not only of economic reforms but also of political reforms. Moreover, through this high-level decision-making think tank, the benign interaction between the inside and outside of the system, the participation of all sectors of society in political reform has reached a balance of mutual refutation, infiltration and mutual learning. Shortly after the end of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Zhao Ziyang ordered his think tanks to study how to deal with sudden social crises. In the report submitted to Zhao Ziyang, the think tanks put forward "establishing a regular dialogue mechanism between the government and all walks of life" as an important measure. . It was also from then on that dialogues, consultations, and cooperation within and outside the system had begun, and several dialogues during the 1989 Movement were obviously related to this.

Facts have proved that most of the main think tanks reused by Zhao Ziyang have an enlightened orientation and were deeply involved in the 1989 Movement. After June 4th, they were severely purged. People were imprisoned in Qincheng Prison, among them, Bao Tong, Gao Shan, Wu Jiaxiang and others were sentenced. The most representative figure is Bao Tong, a former member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The regime broke and unreservedly disclosed its liberal political stance.

Liu Xiaosheng said: In the severe situation of Hu Yaobang's resignation and the ferocious anti-liberalization movement, Zhao Ziyang, who took over as general secretary, shouldered the important task of stopping the ultra-left trend of thought and expanding the space for speech. After Zhao Ziyang met Deng Xiaoping in April 1987, he delivered the "May 31 Speech", which brought the "anti-liberalization" to an end. Basically, Zhao Ziyang was trying to turn the tide. Later, around the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, when Zhao Ziyang's power reached its peak, Zhao Ziyang's statements on a series of sensitive issues were mostly courageous and sharp.

In February 1987, Zhao Ziyang listened to Wen Jiabao's special report on "separation of the party and the government." It’s too absolute, every party secretary is the absolute authority, and every unit has one overlord.” The fundamental solution to this big problem is to “engage in direct democracy.”

  After the "anti-liberalization" movement fell by the wayside, under the support and protection of Zhao Ziyang, China's reforms took place in a more liberal political and ideological atmosphere.

Liu Xiaosheng said: When I was in charge of the review of books, newspapers and periodicals, the World Economic Herald was also within the scope of my review, and I had contacts with Qin Benli. I also attended press conferences with him.

At that time, Shanghai's "World Economic Herald" was the most open, and it became the main front for discussing political reform and press freedom. Its bold and sharp remarks, and the openness and enthusiasm of its discussions reached the highest level in the 50 years of the CCP's rule. However, ordinary grassroots people don't care about these things. The circulation of the "World Economic Herald" is very low. Many people don't know that there is such a newspaper. The newspaper is only a reading material for the elite.

At that time, the "Beijing Institute of Economic Sciences" and its "Economics Weekly", which were privately run in Beijing, also became the most active field of thought for the folk elites at that time, and had a strong cohesive force for the folk elites.

In March 1988, Zhao Ziyang proposed to change the name of "Red Flag", an organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, to "Seeking Truth". Even though this name change cleverly used Deng Xiaoping's emphasis on "seeking truth from facts", in the atmosphere at that time, people who did not have enough political courage dared not make the decision to change the name.

Since the mid-1990s, political feature films have become a reserved program of mainland TV media. At the same time, Zhao Ziyang also specially met with Friedman and Zhang Wuchang, representatives of western liberal economics. Through Zhao Ziyang's affirmative gesture, the two people's free economic thought became the leader of the government staff, intellectuals and private economic circles at that time. hot topic.

According to Mr. Bao Tong's recollection: "Anyone who cares about this period of history can check the historical records to see if China has added a political prisoner during this period, in the past two and a half years? Has a newspaper been closed? Have you banned a magazine? Closed a publishing house? Has any movie been banned? Which literary works are illegal? I don’t think Comrade Ziyang has any record in this regard.” Mr. Bao Tong also specifically mentioned Ziyang Attitude towards the movie "Furong Town": At that time, the movie sparked a heated debate within the party, and a member of the secretariat asked Zhao Ziyang to make a decision. "Ziyang said that we 'watch' movies and don't 'censor' them. If we are asked to 'instruct', we have no choice but to stop watching movies." Bao Tong commented: "So the trend started again: the Politburo, the Standing Committee, the Secretariat Regardless of the censorship of literary and artistic works."

After the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put political reform on the agenda, political reform has become a hot topic of public opinion, and the debate on Chinese and Western culture has also entered the mass media from professional publications. The broadcast of the show aroused huge repercussions at home and abroad, pushed the public opinion campaign for political reform to a peak, and also set a precedent for a political feature film on mainland TV media.

Through cases such as the "Hunan Military-Civilian Conflict Case", "Su Shaozhi Case", and "Furong Town Case", the central government established a culture of disregarding sentencing, a culture of not punishing people because of theories, and a culture of not censoring literary and artistic works. The exemplary role it plays is self-evident. From these fragments of history, we can see Zhao Ziyang's open-minded attitude towards thought, culture and art.

However, as a veteran of the CCP, the psychological background of Wang Zhen, vice chairman of the Republic, in 1988 can only be described by the word "anger".

In 1988, Wang Zhen was already 80 years old. This famous general in the history of the Chinese People's Liberation Army has long been known for his tough fighting style and fiery personality. Although Wang Zhen didn't have a long history of keeping a beard in his life, people still call him "Wang Beard" because of his tough and fiery character.

In 1988, where did the anger of "Wang Beard" come from? In a word, the miasma in the ideological field completely angered this heroic general of the Republic.

A TV political commentary film "River Elegy" that entered the mass media completely disrupted the Chinese ideological circle in 1988, and Zhao Ziyang, as the general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, vigorously promoted and actively supported "River Elegy", which undoubtedly further aggravated the situation. The chaotic state of Chinese intellectual circles. When many people chose to remain silent or wait and see, General Wang Zhen finally broke out!

On the afternoon of September 30, 1988, at the closing ceremony of the Third Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Zhao Ziyang, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was preparing to routinely ask the participants if they had anything to say, and was about to announce the closure of the meeting. Wang Zhen, who was attending the meeting under the rostrum, suddenly stood up and shouted: "Let me say a few words!"

Facing everyone's astonished gazes, Wang Zhen almost finished his speech with a roar.

He said excitedly:

"Watching "River Elegy" broke my heart...it broke the hearts of the Chinese nation. "River Elegy" slandered the Chinese nation to an intolerable level! "River Elegy" started with the dragon, saying that we yellow race Okay, let’s say that people of the yellow race are selfish and ignorant, with twelve yellow characters in a row. There is a scene in General Secretary Zhao Ziyang’s report at the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. But the latter is about reform, reform. Change like that, until the end, and later Fifty years, let’s go back to the era of the Opium War in 1840! Why can such a bad thing publish so many books?! I firmly oppose this and demand to report to the central government!”

For Wang Zhen's speech, Zhao Ziyang was clearly unprepared. After a few simple prevarications, he hastily announced the end of the meeting.

Afterwards, Chen Yun said with emotion: "At the formally held plenary meeting of the Party's Central Committee, individuals like 'Wang Beard' stepped forward, made generous statements, and reported their views on major issues to the Party Central Committee. From experience, it's never happened before."

Before this public statement, Wang Zhen had actually expressed his anger at "River Elegy" and other ideological chaos on many different occasions. For example, not long before this speech, on the afternoon of September 9, 1988, when Wang Zhen was discussing the TV series "River Elegy" with his staff in his residence, he said: "Now put everything on Mao Zedong for criticism, It is said that he said 'how bold the people are and how productive the land is', there is no such thing. This is what the people below said. When I reported to Chairman Mao in 1958, he still did not believe that someone would say such a thing. He said After four, five, and eight (grain outline, that is, to achieve 800 catties per mu in the south of the Yangtze River, 500 catties in the south of the Yellow River, and 400 catties in the north of the Yellow River) and surpassing Britain to catch up with the United States. Surpassing Britain to catch up with the United States refers to steel production. At that time, Britain It is more than 10 million tons of steel, and the United States has 60 million tons of steel. Chairman Mao said that it would take 15 years to catch up. What is wrong with this? Practice has proved that we will soon surpass it! It is said that Chairman Mao wants to cut the tail of capitalism. It was proposed by Comrade Chen Yonggui. Chairman Mao said, let’s save some! If you cut off the tail, it won’t hurt if you cut off the blood? This is what Chairman Mao said at a meeting of ten or twenty of us. Heard it myself."

Behind the anger, Wang Zhen's mood is actually very complicated. To some extent, his mood is even a little sad. In many of his talks in 1988, he very frankly expressed his nostalgia for Chairman Mao Zedong, expressing his new understanding and deeper understanding of Chairman Mao Zedong's deeds in his later years. For example, on October 27, 1988, when Wang Zhen talked to several theoretical workers in Zhongnanhai Office, he said: "Now that the trend of bourgeois liberalization is so strong, when I go to see Mao Zedong in the future, I will tell him that you can't do it." I really want to change the color, I didn’t understand it before, but now I understand it!”

The 80-year-old General Wang Zhen finally understood. In the face of the cruel reality of losing cities and lands in the economic and ideological fields, he finally understood Chairman Mao Zedong's painstaking efforts back then.

At the end of January 1993, Wang Zhen, who was seriously ill, told his secretary that he asked the Central Policy Research Office to come and talk about things. In this conversation similar to political last words, Wang Zhen once again mentioned Mao Zedong and reform. He said: Chairman Mao is absolutely not conservative, and he is absolutely not closed to the outside world. At the beginning of liberation, imperialism led by the United States blocked us politically, militarily, and economically, strangled us, and prevented us from opening up. We can only fall to the Soviet Union. Later, Khrushchev changed his face, and the United States and the Soviet Union blocked us and strangled us. We can only rely on self-reliance and hard work. Life is hard! Chairman Mao took a long-term view and decided to engage in ping-pong diplomacy. Many countries established diplomatic relations with us one after another, and we returned to the United Nations. This was the fundamental prerequisite and basis for our subsequent reform and opening up.” “Chairman Mao advocated that cadres’ wages should not be too high, that cadres should participate in labor, keep close contact with the masses, and accept the supervision of the masses. He wanted to use these methods to narrow the gap and prevent bureaucracy and Create new exploiting classes and strata. ...When the polarization becomes polarized, the nature of our socialist system will change, and there will inevitably be people who will rebel and make trouble, and the big country with a population of 1.2 billion will be in chaos."

Liu Xiaosheng said: These old people were educated by the harsh reality. Fortunately, everything seems not too late! Time is a closely connected ropeway. On the way to the future, there are always many logical fragments that silently spread tension hidden in the chain of time.

Was Zhao Ziyang right, or was General Wang Zhen right? Was Mao Zedong right or Deng Xiaoping right? For young people like Nan Yangsheng, Pan Tianliang, Nan Liwa and Wanru, they fell into confusion. Even those who have experienced it like Lao Pantou and Liu Xiaosheng can't find the correct answer. But Nan Yangsheng said something: I feel that the current China is probably the sequel of the second "anti-liberalization" movement.