Chapter 19 Section 1: Ideological Conflicts in the Literary and Art Circles Before and after the "Double Hundred Policy"

The policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend" was first conceived at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in late April 1956. When discussing Mao Zedong's report "On the Ten Major Relationships", Lu Dingyi and Chen Boda proposed that in science and literature and art, The policy of separating political issues from academic and technical issues should be implemented. Among the latter’s proposals were the phrases “let a hundred flowers bloom” and “a hundred schools of thought contend”, which were affirmed by Mao Zedong. 1. Held on May 2 of the same year At the Supreme State Council of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong formally put forward this policy publicly, declaring that "the policy of letting a hundred flowers bloom in art and the policy of a hundred schools of thought contending in academics are necessary", and that "within the scope of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, all kinds of academic Thoughts, right or wrong, let them talk and don’t interfere with them.” On May 26, at a conference held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Huairen Hall, Zhongnanhai, attended by well-known scientists, writers, and artists in Beijing, the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Minister Lu Dingyi made a report entitled "Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom, A Hundred Schools of Thought Contend",3 on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. freedom of independent thinking, freedom of debate, freedom of creation and criticism, freedom of expressing one's own opinions, insisting on one's own opinions, and withholding one's own opinions." Internal freedom", "This is a political boundary: We must distinguish between ourselves and the enemy in politics". Lu Dingyi's report also marked the beginning of the official implementation of the "Double Hundred Policy".

The proposal of this major policy has a specific domestic and international historical background.From a domestic point of view, the estimation of the state of class struggle, the understanding of the historical tasks of economic and cultural construction facing China, and the evaluation of the changes in the political attitude and ideological status of intellectuals are the important basis for the "Double Hundred Policy" and conditions.In the second half of 1955, the struggle against the "Hu Feng counter-revolutionary clique" and the nationwide campaign to "eliminate counter-revolutionaries" created a tense political atmosphere of class struggle. The "victory" of the socialist transformation of industry and commerce was relieved to a considerable extent, which changed the estimation of the political situation by the top decision-makers. Chairman Mao Zedong made the conclusion that the large-scale class struggle had basically ended, and demanded that the The focus of national work has shifted to economic construction. 4. In this way, to discover and mobilize construction resources, "strive to mobilize all positive factors, direct and indirect positive factors, both inside and outside the party, at home and abroad"5, become As the top priority, the enthusiasm of intellectuals is naturally crucial.Among intellectuals, the psychological shadow of the 1955 "Hu Feng counter-revolutionary clique case" that replaced ideological and academic debates with political struggles and evolved into a widespread political tragedy has not dissipated. , the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a conference on intellectual issues. Premier Zhou Enlai made the "Report on Intellectual Issues" at the meeting, and made an important promise to improve the working conditions of intellectuals, including the conditions of material life and spiritual environment. After participating in social activities, political struggles, and ideological remolding since the founding of New China, the vast majority of them "has become part of the working class," and thus they can be trusted and relied on.

As far as the international situation is concerned, a series of major political events occurred in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the mid-1950s, which was also an important background for the emergence of the "Double Hundred Principles" policy.Especially when the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held in February 1956, Khrushchev's secret anti-Stalin report caused a huge shock in the world.The ensuing mass incidents in socialist countries such as Hungary and Poland further pushed Chinese decision makers to strengthen their existing position of breaking the Soviet model and accelerate the search for a Chinese model. Path of exploration.As a result, the ideological shackles against dogmatism were gradually formed, scientific and cultural undertakings were prospered with free discussion and independent thinking, and "contradictions among the people" were handled with criticism and self-criticism, so as to prevent such contradictions from developing into Confrontational level of thinking.Specifically in the field of literature and art, the adjustment of Soviet literature and art policies and changes in literary and artistic trends have also had an impact on China.After the end of the Stalin era, the ideological trend of "thawing literature" rose, and a group of writers who had been persecuted since the 1930s were "rehabilitated" and their reputations restored. , bureaucracy, the stereotype of literary creation and the questioning of the "false" style show an attempt by the Soviet literary world to "resurrect" another tradition of Russian and Soviet modern and modern literature that was buried and forgotten. It inspired Chinese writers to re-understand the enlightenment tradition of the "May Fourth" new literature. Together with the social changes in the domestic political situation, it constituted an important ideological and cultural background in the Chinese literary world during the period when the "Double Hundred Policy" was proposed.

The proposal of the "Double Hundred Policy" reflects a new attempt by the country's top decision-maker to implement a socialist cultural policy under the new system of the People's Republic and under the special international and domestic background. It is an effort to advocate freedom of creation, but its expression is "ambiguous and poetic". , The use of political propaganda to carry out, itself contains the ambiguity and hesitation of policy makers.The specific manifestations are as follows: 1. The "Double Hundred Policy" has included various explanations and self-defense elements from the very beginning.For example, when Mao Zedong put forward this policy, he stipulated the scope of its implementation: "Only counter-revolutionary opinions are not allowed to be published. This is the people's democratic dictatorship." The "Double Hundred Policy" is "freedom among the people" and points out that "this is a political boundary: we must distinguish between ourselves and the enemy in politics." In order to exercise the right of the "Double Hundred Policy", and their words and deeds will be identified as "rampant attacks" from the hostile camp, but there are no clear and specific legal provisions on the criteria for determining the boundary between the enemy camp and our camp.Second, in fact, from the beginning of the “Double Hundred Policy” advocacy, specific debates on academic issues were carried out under the intervention and control of the top decision-makers. The development of the situation soon showed that not all academic issues were It is free to debate, in addition to the most sensitive political issues, discussions in the academic field such as economics, sociology, demography, etc. are also quite sensitive.Third, the implementation process of the "Double Hundred Policy" has been vacillating.For intellectuals, the Hu Feng incident is still fresh in their memory, which makes them excited and still have a wait-and-see mentality at the beginning of this policy. Typical mentality of some intellectuals.Public opinion representing the will of the country has also been swaying from side to side. Especially during the period from the end of 1956 to the beginning of 1957, the situation was a bit unpredictable. It was regarded as a signal of "acceptance", but Mao Zedong denied this left tendency and further carried out the rectification movement. As a result, the challenge from the literary and art circles spread to the entire intellectual circle.But no matter what, the proposal of this policy still greatly encouraged the intellectuals, enabling them to gradually get rid of the haze and panic of the Hu Feng incident.

In the nearly one and a half years from the beginning of 1956 to the spring and summer of 1957, the "Double Hundred Policy" did have a significant and positive impact. The tension between intellectuals and traditional intellectuals has also eased, and intellectuals' enthusiasm for political participation and social criticism has also risen unprecedentedly.As far as the literary and art circles are concerned, the achievements of the "Double Hundred Policy" are mainly manifested in three aspects: first, it encouraged the creation of a large number of old writers from the new literary tradition of the "May Fourth Movement", thus making up for it to a certain extent. Since the first National Literary Congress, there has been an invisible gap between the May Fourth New Literary Tradition and the Liberated Area Literary Tradition under the norms of war culture.Many cross-age writers have published articles or works one after another, including Zhou Zuoren, Shen Congwen, Wang Jingzhi, Xu Yunuo, Rao Mengkan, Chen Mengjia, Sun Dayu, Mu Dan, Liang Zongdai, etc. The publishing department has also published (or plans to publish) Selected works by writers such as Xu Zhimo, Dai Wangshu, Shen Congwen, and Fei Ming, many old writers including modern popular writers such as Zhang Youluan and Zhang Henshui, and translation researchers of foreign literature such as Yuan Kejia, all interpret Chinese contemporary literary traditions in different ways. The relative narrowness of the resources raises questions and criticisms. 10. Second, in terms of theory, it puts forward a "broad road theory" that opposes dogmatism and advocates realism, advocates literature to write about human nature, and restores the tradition of humanitarianism.Around the concept and connotation of "socialist realism", He Qifang, Qin Zhaoyang, Zhou Bo, Liu Shaotang, Chen Yong and others have made their own thinking. Among them, the influence of Qin Zhaoyang's article entitled "Realism-Broad Road"11 The largest and most representative, the article believes that on the premise of adhering to the general principle of realism, which is the pursuit of truth in life and truth in art, there is no need to divide the various "realisms" into eras.This not only reflects the international background of Soviet literary circles revising this creative method, but also reflects the Chinese literary circle's doubts and reflections on the increasingly serious tendency of dogmatism embodied in the literary and art policy since the 1950s.These thoughts are to some extent the continuation and development of Hu Feng's literary theory in terms of emphasizing the authenticity of realism, actively intervening in social reality, and affirming the subjectivity in literary creation.On the other hand, Qian Gurong, Ba Ren, Wang Shuming and others elucidated the humanity and humanitarianism in literature, together with the discussion of typical and image thinking, they discussed dogmatism and formulaicism in literary creation from another angle. Tendency to criticize.

Third, a batch of creations that revealed the internal contradictions of socialist society appeared, which marked the maturity of socialist literature.This part of literary creation is mainly undertaken by a group of young new generations.Corresponding to literary theory and criticism, the novels and streams of young writers Wang Meng, Liu Binyan, Zong Pu, Li Guowen, Lu Wenfu, Cong Weixi and others can best demonstrate the great spiritual power of the "Double Hundred Policy" in literary creation. The poems of Shahe, Shao Yanxiang, Gong Liu and others are the rebirth of the Enlightenment tradition of Chinese intellectuals pleading for the people since the "May 4th Movement" in the new era.Novels such as "On the Bridge Construction Site" by Wang Meng and Liu Binyan, "Inside News of Our Newspaper," and "Reelection" by Li Guowen boldly intervene in life with a high sense of social responsibility, profoundly reflect the complex contradictions among the people, and expose and criticize Bureaucracy and other negative phenomena hindering the construction of socialism, as well as the shortcomings of the political and economic system, at the same time, in the process of revealing the dark side, it shows the power of the society to actively strengthen the gap. And symbolic poetic form embodies the same realistic fighting spirit.Another batch of works, such as Lu Wenfu's "Deep Alley" and Zong Pu's, deal with themes of love life that previous socialist literature did not dare to describe easily, revealing the rich emotional world of the characters, thus reflecting the history of the times. change.

If we analyze deeply, the emergence of this new atmosphere in the literary and art circles, on the one hand, comes from the revival of the spirit of the "May 4th Movement", the advocacy of the authenticity of realism, the active intervention in real life, and the advocacy of writing about human nature. "Literature for Life" and "Humanitarian Literature" are the new literary themes of the "May 4th Movement". It is the ideological continuation of some intellectuals such as Wang Shiwei and Ding Ling in the Yan'an era to reflect on and criticize the bad tendencies within the revolutionary camp.Therefore, since advocating "a hundred schools of thought contend and a hundred flowers bloom", writers have to criticize the aesthetic principles and dogmatism under the dominant war culture norms of the 1950s.

The first is a direct denunciation of dogmatism.In Yao Xueyin’s famous article “Open the Window and Tell the Truth”12, he sharply pointed out that the formula in literary creation “should be attributed to the rampant dogmatism”, and dogmatism has become an “atmosphere of the times”, and only by eradicating dogmatism Only by doing so can the writer get rid of the mentality of "trembling, as if facing an abyss, as if walking on thin ice".The second is the reflection and re-evaluation of the current situation and achievements of literature and art in the early 1950s.For example, Zhong Dianfei’s criticism of domestic film creation13 and Liu Binyan’s sharp criticism of literary and artistic creation, drama performance, and book publishing industry, and linked the backwardness of creation and the seriousness of formulaic conceptualization with literary norms and literary leadership14. The sharp topic is how to correctly understand the guiding role of "Speeches at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" under the new system. Liu Shaotang believes that the root of the formulaic conceptualization of literary creation "is the mechanical, old-fashioned, one-sided Exaggeratedly and exaggeratedly implementing and elucidating Chairman Mao’s strategic theories guiding the literary and artistic movement at that time (referring to the period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression——quote’s note)”15, his behavior manifested itself in requiring literary and artistic works to serve policy guidelines in a timely manner, and one-sidedly emphasizing popularization and so on.It can be seen from these challenges that the challenging writers come from various traditions, not only from the writers under the new literary tradition of the "May Fourth Movement", but also from the liberated areas, and even the new generation who grew up in New China , this is actually another challenge by the literary and art circles after Hu Feng to the dogmatism and formulaic phenomena in the field of literary and artistic creation and criticism. In a sense, this kind of challenge has also been suppressed politically. Hu Feng's point of view on literature and art is reiterated.

However, in the summer of 1957, the political situation suddenly reversed. An anti-rightist storm quickly ended this prosperous situation. There were 550,000 people in the country who were designated as "rightists", most of whom were intellectuals. A large number of writers, Critics such as Ding Ling, Feng Xuefeng, Ai Qing, Qin Zhaoyang, Yao Xueyin, Wu Zuguang, Wang Meng, Liu Binyan, Zong Pu, Liu Shaotang, Li Guowen, Cong Weixi, Lu Wenfu, Gao Xiaosheng, Zhong Dianfei, etc. are among them.The above-mentioned young writers who had just grown up during this period were almost without exception swept by the storm, their works were regarded as "poisonous weeds" and criticized, and the writers themselves were pushed into the bottom of life, not only lost their creativity Freedom, and lost the basic political rights, it was not until more than two decades later that they re-opened in the Chinese literary world as "replayed flowers".

The reversal of the political situation led to the vicious development of bureaucracy and the political ultra-left line that had just been resisted. In 1958, there was a "Great Leap Forward" in the field of economic construction that ignored the reality, and the so-called "communist wind" was blowing. , reflected in literary creation is the launch of the "New Folk Song Movement", tens of thousands of shoddy "Great Leap Forward folk songs", most of which are illustrations of the popular "Communist Utopia" political concept, which became the "revolutionary reality" at that time. A typical product of the combination of doctrine and revolutionary romanticism".By this time, the power of criticism from intellectuals outside the Communist Party had almost been lost.However, the repressive political pressure cannot stop the intellectuals from thinking. Faced with the contradictions of the emerging socialist society, those suffering intellectuals still express their thoughts in different ways and at their respective levels. Invaluable, though their voices may appear weak.

In the process of institutionalization and adjustment of socialist culture, writers chose different standpoints. In the literary creation of this period, different attitudes and different ways of expressing realistic contradictions were reflected.In addition to the carol-style poems of Guo Moruo, He Qifang, He Jingzhi, Liu Baiyu, Yang Shuo, etc., there are the following situations.One is to directly use literature as a weapon under specific historical conditions, actively participate in real politics through literary images, reflect the realistic contradictions of socialism, and try to interfere in the creation of real life.Liu Binyan's feature "On the Bridge Construction Site" and "This Newspaper's Inside News", Wang Meng's novel "A Young Man Came to the Organization Department" and other works are representatives of this type of creation.The other type of writing is mostly created by writers who have been ruthlessly placed in a hostile position and at the bottom of society by cruel political and ideological struggles, such as Lu Yuan, Zeng Zhuo, Zhang Zhongxiao and other victims of the "Hu Feng counter-revolutionary group case".They have lost the right to sing praises for New China and its people, and have no possibility to participate in politics and interfere with reality through literary creation activities. Therefore, they can only express their personal experiences and concerns through underground creation or private writing. Thoughts on the fate of the times.If Luyuan's "Another Columbus" is still a symbolic implication of the nation's personal experience of suffering, then Zeng Zhuo's poems such as "A Gift" are more about expressing a society with zero abnormalities. Sincere compliments on love.Zhang Zhongxiao even recorded his serious thinking about reality and life in the form of fragmented notes in the desperate situation of poverty and illness. But the situation is often not so clear-cut. Even the writers who are abandoned by the trend of the times cannot completely surpass the common names of the times. Not necessarily without anxiety and guilt.More often, it is the third type, that is, the writer wants to make his works echo the main theme of the times, but also strives to make his own voice in the chorus of the times. The confrontation between the two often leads to intellectuals Contradiction, this contradiction will also leave its imprint in literary works.Although the poet Mu Dan was listed as an object of censorship during the "anti-revolutionary" movement in the mid-1950s, he had not lost his right to publicly publish his poetry creations before he was labeled a "historical counter-revolutionary".In "Funeral Song" in 1957, he expressed his complex feelings about the times, "History has opened a huge page, / How many people wrote oaths in Tiananmen Square, / I also raised my hands there: / The flood submerges the lonely island", "but this time, I am afraid: / Is 'hope' lying to me? / How can I leave everything behind? / If 'I' is lost, / Where can I find warmth? family?” With this kind of contradiction and confusion, the poet naturally kept a certain distance from the contention movement at that time, and “Ninety-Nine Schools Controversy” starts from this standpoint, revealing and explaining the contradictory phenomena in the “Contestation of Hundred Schools”. The satirical poem of criticism, "Although my family has something to say, / Now I am suffering from a disease of humility", calling for "besides the contention of the ninety-nine schools, / I should also be a pawn of a family that does not speak." Poet Guo Xiaochuan even more is a typical example.Guo Xiaochuan, who claims to be a "warrior", his creations in the 1950s and 1960s have generally not exceeded the scope of the common name of the era. A typical embodiment of the spirit of the times.But unlike He Jingzhi, he was not satisfied with conveying the voice of the times and completely canceled his own personal voice.Although intellectually he did not doubt the individual's obedience and devotion to the historical trend, but based on his unique experience and thinking, he began to investigate the complex phenomenon of separation and separation between individual consciousness and the historical trend.The lyric poems "To the Sea", "Looking at the Starry Sky" and the epic poems "Snow White's Hymn", "Deep Valley", "One and Eight" express the same theme in different ways, that is, through the ephemeral personal feelings The contradiction and dissociation phenomenon with the torrent of history show the complexity of the relationship between the individual and the times.However, in the face of complex contradictions and contradictions between the individual and the external time and space, the author mainly expresses the weakness of personal thoughts, characters and emotions. The condemnation of the individual or self-reflection is the usual way for poets to solve contradictions and contradictions. Contradictions run through almost the entire creation of Guo Xiaochuan.This is a typical manifestation of the contradictions and conflicts between poetics and politics, the concept of the common name of the times and personal life feelings.