American Shen Ning's random talk about a figure in the Republic of China: Chen Duxiu

American Shen Ning's random talk about a figure in the Republic of China: Chen Duxiu. When I was a child, I often knocked down this and that in Beijing. There were really not many good people in modern China. The newspaper announced that the leaders were opening...

When I was a child, I often beat down this and that in Beijing. There are really not many good people in modern China. The newspaper announced that the leaders were scolding, the teachers were criticizing, and the students were shouting slogans. Chen Duxiu was one of them who was knocked down. It's different when you get home. You're not allowed to speak ill of Mr. Chen Duxiu. My mother said: He was my grandfather’s savior.

Around the time of the May 4th Movement, my grandfather was only fifteen years old and studying in the preparatory department of Peking University. At that time, Mr. Chen Duxiu was already the dean of liberal arts. My grandfather did not know him, let alone the first person to spread communist ideas in China. In the early 1920s, my grandfather went to Shanghai and worked as an editor at the Commercial Press. He made friends with Yun Daiying, an early member of the Communist Party of China, and began to participate in social and political activities. At that time, he must have heard of Chen Duxiu's name, but his grandfather never mentioned it to future generations.

When the Northern Expedition broke out, my grandfather went to Wuhan to participate in the Great Revolution and served as a political instructor at the Northern Expedition Military Academy. The principal of Wuhan Military Academy was Chiang Kai-shek, but the specific school affairs were presided over by Yun Daiying. At that time, the troops led by Ye Ting were stationed in Wuhan. The Peasant Movement Training Center led by Mao Zedong is also in Wuhan. Therefore, Wuhan was basically controlled by the CCP at that time. Please refer to the article "Northern Expedition" in this book. During that period, my grandfather was dissatisfied with many practices of the Wuhan Trade Union and Peasant Association, and several times prevented the secretary of the Peasant Association from killing innocent peasants in order to coerce people into obeying. My grandfather's actions naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the leaders of the Wuhan Peasant Movement, so they sent people to arrest my grandfather. My mother was less than six years old at the time, and she had two younger brothers.

Originally, the whole family thought that my grandfather would never return, but unexpectedly, two days later, my grandfather was released. It turned out that there was a fierce struggle between two factions within the CCP. The faction headed by Mr. Chen Duxiu believed that the peasant movement at that time had gone too far and needed to be corrected. Mr. Shi Cuntong, director of the Political Department of Wuhan Military Academy, is a senior cadre within the Chinese Communist Party and agreed with Mr. Chen Duxiu’s proposition. Therefore, when Mr. Shi learned that the leader of the Wuhan Peasant Movement ordered the arrest of his grandfather, he immediately reported to Mr. Chen Duxiu for approval and released his grandfather, leaving his life intact. From then on, my grandfather’s family will always respect Mr. Chen Duxiu as their lifesaver.

After Mr. Wang Jingwei split the Communist Party in Wuhan, the CCP was forced to go south to preserve its strength. My grandfather took the opportunity to escape from the military academy and went into hiding. From then on, he parted ways with the CCP. Later, when he met Mr. Shi Cuntong in Shanghai, he learned that Mr. Chen Duxiu had been purged within the Communist Party of China because of his opposition to the brutality of the peasant movement. Mr. Shi himself had also been purged. He had washed his hands and abandoned politics to pursue a career in education. In the early 1930s, my grandfather went to Peking University Law School to work as a professor, and worked with Mr. Shi, who was also a professor at Peking University.

The following year, news broke of the arrest of Mr. Chen Duxiu, the founding father of the Communist Party of China. At that time, it was said that Mr. Chen Duxiu had been hiding in Shanghai to avoid being pursued by the Kuomintang government after being purged by the CCP. Later, the opposition within his own party, in order to completely eliminate his influence, privately arrested Mr. Chen Duxiu and secretly sent him to the security organs of the Nationalist Government for imprisonment. Whether this theory is true or not cannot be confirmed. It was undoubtedly a rumor at the time. Based on what he saw and heard during the Northern Expedition, my grandfather believed that the leaders of the peasant movement must be able to do such despicable and cruel things.

There was a lot of excitement in various universities in Beijing because of the arrest of Mr. Chen Duxiu. Mr. Hu Shi and Mr. Chen Duxiu co-organized the magazine "New Youth". In the auditorium of the Third Hospital of Peking University, they held a lecture to praise Chen Duxiu during the literary revolution, with an audience of no less than 3,000 people. In order to dilute and counter Mr. Hu Shizhi's speech, the CCP also held a lecture at Chaoyang University at the same time, with Ma Zhemin giving a lecture to criticize Chen Duxiu. Ma Zhemin, who criticized Chen Duxiu, claimed to be the peasant minister during the Northern Expedition in Wuhan, and had firmly opposed Chen Duxiu's opportunism. But my grandfather had met Ma Zhemin in Wuhan. Both of them were instructors at the Northern Expeditionary Military Academy. My grandfather had the rank of lieutenant colonel, and Ma Zhemin was a major. In addition, Ma Zhemin was also an editor at the Republic of China Daily, chaired by Shen Yanbing, and had served as a peasant minister. His rank at that time was far from high enough to oppose General Secretary Chen Duxiu. How dare these politicians lie in public and fabricate history at will? It's really appalling. But there is an old Chinese saying: People are shameless, but ghosts are afraid. If you act like a gangster, regardless of face or life and death, no one can afford to offend him, so you have to give him three points, so the gangster can often win.

Leftist students at Peking University Law School also organized a lecture and invited Xu Deheng, Liu Kanyuan, Shi Cuntong, and several other CCP cadres to comment on Mr. Chen Duxiu. Xu Deheng, Liu Kanyuan, and Shi Cuntong were all acquainted with my grandfather during the Northern Expedition in Wuhan. Mr. Shi Cuntong was even my grandfather's savior. The day before the speech, Mr. Shi came to his grandfather's house and said that he would give a lecture about Mr. Chen Duxiu tomorrow. Grandfather advised him to cancel the appointment and not to talk about it. He told Mr. Shi that a few days ago someone came to ask grandpa to talk about Mr. Chen Duxiu, but he declined in person. My grandfather believed that only Mr. Hu Shizhi could talk about Mr. Chen Duxiu at that time, and no one else was qualified. Although Mr. Shi had a close relationship with Mr. Chen Duxiu, his speech under the circumstances at that time was bound to be attacked by the left and was not a crime.

After the lecture the next day, Mr. Shi came to see his grandfather again. His face was pale and he said that nearly three thousand students had gathered at that lecture. Police were deployed in large numbers to prevent accidents. Xu Deheng and Liu Kanyuan were temporarily absent, and only Shi Cun came on stage. He first talked about Mr. Chen Duxiu's important position in the literary revolution. Most students applauded, while a small group of leftist students stamped their feet and booed. Mr. Shi continued to talk about Mr. Chen Duxiu during the Northern Expedition in Wuhan. The leftist students caused a huge commotion. Mr. Shi was afraid and could only criticize Mr. Chen Duxiu's opportunism. Most of the students shouted that it would be better to drive him out of office.

Mr. Chen Duxiu was imprisoned in the Kuomintang prison for five years, and he never changed his materialist beliefs and was unyielding. It was not until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War that the Nationalist Government issued an amnesty in order to unite the people of all parties to participate in the Anti-Japanese War and released Mr. Chen Duxiu. At that time, the war situation was critical. Shanghai fell first, then Nanjing fell, and the Nationalist government moved inward to Wuhan. My grandfather founded the Art and Literature Research Association in Wuhan, and Mr. Chen Duxiu also came to Wuhan at the same time, and the two got together.

After he was released from prison, Mr. Chen Duxiu received no care from the CCP and suffered from poverty and illness, making it difficult to survive. Out of respect for Mr. Chen Duxiu, and in order to repay Mr. Chen Duxiu’s life-saving grace, my grandfather hired Mr. Chen Duxiu to write articles for the Art and Literature Research Association’s publications, and used the royalties to fund his living needs.

So the weekly magazine of the Art and Literature Research Association published an article by Mr. Chen Duxiu. At that time, Zhou Enlai, the representative of the Eighth Route Army Office in Wuhan, saw this and immediately made a public speech, criticizing Mr. Chen Duxiu for receiving a Japanese subsidy of 300 yuan per month for five years. Upon hearing this, my grandfather quickly came forward and clarified in public, refuting Zhou Enlai's rumors, explaining that Mr. Chen Duxiu was invited by the Art and Literature Research Association to write the article, and he was paid the regular publishing fee. The Art and Literature Research Association is a cultural institution of the Kuomintang and not a Japanese secret service. Therefore, Mr. Chen Duxiu accepts royalties from the Art and Literature Research Association and is definitely not accepting Japanese subsidies. This open debate between the two sides suddenly became a hot topic, and newspapers in Wuhan became a sensation. According to her mother, she was fourteen or fifteen years old at the time. She remembers that large groups of reporters often gathered in front of her home. My grandfather was always blocked when he went home and went out. Sometimes he would stand on the road and get into heated arguments with reporters from Xinhua News Agency.

One night when my grandfather came home, it was dark and windy. As soon as he arrived at the door, a tall and strong man in a gray military uniform appeared next to him. He put his hands in his pockets and had a bulging hard object inside. Grandfather asked: Do you want to see me for anything? The strong man said: I want to ask about Chen Duxiu. When my grandfather heard this, he looked at the hard object in his pocket and thought: This time is over. The man said: He was originally an officer of the Red Army of the Communist Party of China in Jiangxi Province. After being captured by the Chinese army, he was imprisoned in Kaifeng Prison for seven years. Recently released, he went to Wuhan to look for the Eighth Route Army. After reading the news in the newspaper, I learned that Mr. Chen Duxiu had been arrested. Based on the newspaper reports, he specifically came to see his grandfather to inquire about the matter. My grandfather briefly told how Mr. Chen Duxiu was imprisoned, how he was released, and how he made a living in Wuhan. After hearing this, the strong man pondered for a long time, sighed, and walked away.

During that period, my grandfather visited Mr. Chen Duxiu once or twice a week. In addition to sending money and food, he also talked about everything. My grandfather once asked Mr. Chen Duxiu if he intended to form another Communist Party. Mr. Chen Duxiu replied: A society cannot have two communist parties coexisting, one good and one bad. Today’s Communist Party commits murder, arson, and all kinds of evil. He will not be able to form another real communist party. My grandfather asked him again if he was willing to return to the original Communist Party. Mr. Chen Duxiu replied: Some people have made many attempts to return him to the Party. Yan'an also asked him to repent, surrender, and then return to the party. However, Mr. Chen Duxiu has repeatedly stated that he will never return to the party.

Once my grandfather went to visit Mr. Chen Duxiu and saw Li Gongpu hurriedly walking out of the room at the door.外祖父进了屋子之后﹐谈及此状﹐原来方才陈独秀先生与李公朴聊天﹐对李公朴说﹕你们跟着莫斯科﹐反对国粹主义者。 One day in the future, Stalin and Hitler will cooperate to deal with Britain and France. What will you do? Li Gongpu said: That is possible.陈独秀先生又对李公朴说﹕你们最抗日﹐甚至最最抗日﹐可是如果将来有一天﹐苏俄与日本法西斯合作﹐对付英美﹐你们又怎么办﹖

Mr. Chen Duxiu said to his grandfather: When I said this, Gong Pu blushed, stood up and left. Grandfather asked: Will Li Gongpu’s face still be red? After saying this, he and Mr. Chen Duxiu laughed at each other. Li Gongpu's face is originally brown, and even if he blushes, he won't be able to tell. But it's a laugh. The sad thing is that Mr. Chen Duxiu was indeed farsighted, and he unfortunately failed to predict all the subsequent actions of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After my mother told us these stories, she would often add that my grandfather had a diary of those past events, so they were true. After I came to the United States, I read some essays written by my grandfather. Many of these conversations were in quotation marks. They must have been Mr. Chen Duxiu’s original words.