Chapter 56 Mao Zedong treated "opponents" kindly

On April 21, 1945, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a preparatory meeting for the Seventh National Congress.At the meeting, Mao Zedong made a speech "The Work Policy of the "Seventh National Congress"", which clearly stated that the work policy of the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China was: "Unite and strive for victory." He said that victory refers to our goals and unity refers to our team.We must have a united team to defeat our enemies and strive for victory, and the most important and leading member of the team is our Party.Without the Communist Party, it is impossible for the Chinese people to win.Therefore, all comrades must unite under the "Resolution Concerning Certain Historical Issues", as stated in the resolution, unite like a harmonious family, and regard comrades as brothers and sisters.As for making mistakes, it is not just one or two people. Everyone has made mistakes. Everyone has mistakes, and each person is different in size. Therefore, we must treat comrades who have made mistakes with a good attitude, and we must unite with those who have shortcomings. unanimous.The eyes of the conference must look forward, not backward, otherwise the success of the conference will be affected.The eyes of the assembly are to be upon 400,000,000 men to organize our ranks.Now we have not won, there are still difficulties ahead, and the enemy is still strong, so we must be cautious and humble, not arrogant and impatient.

This work policy set the tone for the Seventh Congress: organize a united team to strive for the victory of the revolution. The last item on the agenda of the congress was the election of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.In the election, fully reflect the purpose of unity. On May 24, Mao Zedong made a report on the election policy, pointing out that the criteria for the election are: Comrades who can guarantee the implementation of the congress line will organize the new Central Committee.This new Central Committee should neither be too small nor too large, it must be able to adapt to the current situation of the party, and more importantly, it must meet the needs of future development and international and domestic situations.According to this standard, Mao Zedong focused on three issues:

First, do you want to choose someone who has made a wrong route? Mao Zedong believed that the Seventh Congress should accept past experience, and should not push away those who have made mistakes.As long as he has admitted his mistakes and is determined to correct them, the congress can still choose, and he must be good at cooperating with comrades who have made mistakes. Second, should we take care of all aspects? The Chinese revolution has many hills, many parts, many base areas, and many armies in various places. This is due to historical reasons.Mao Zedong's solution is: "We must recognize the mountain and take care of it, so that the mountain can be reduced and eliminated." The new central government should reflect this situation, so that our party can reflect the revolutionary forces in all fields.

Third, is it necessary to select people with knowledge in all aspects? The new Central Committee should include all kinds of talents, but it is impossible for any one person to be proficient in all aspects of knowledge. One person only needs to be proficient in one aspect or a few more aspects. The Central Committee in all aspects seeks perfection from the collective, not from the individual. Based on this, Mao Zedong proposed that the new central leadership group should include the following comrades: a large number of comrades who have not made mistakes, a group of comrades who have made serious mistakes and corrected them; There may be comrades with nationwide influence; a group of comrades who are well versed in many aspects, and a large number of comrades who are well versed in relatively few aspects.

This reflects Mao Zedong's thought of appointing people on their own merits in terms of employing people from all corners of the world. Especially on the issue of how to deal with "opponents", Mao Zedong set an example. Wang Ming once made Mao Zedong suffer a lot.During the Yan'an rectification movement, Wang Ming became the number one target of criticism because of his serious mistakes, and there was great resistance.In this case, the central government strictly criticized his mistakes and patiently helped him; on the other hand, he took care of his life in every possible way.At the Seventh Congress, when Mao Zedong summed up the party's historical experience, he said sharply: "The crux of Wang Ming's mistakes is that he gave too little consideration to his own affairs (referring to the Chinese revolution issue) and paid little attention to other people's affairs. Worry too much." But during the election, Mao Zedong still proposed to elect Wang Ming to the Central Committee.After the delegates voted, the assembly announced that they would be able to move about freely. Worried that Wang Ming would not be elected, Mao Zedong sat on the rostrum without moving.

Bo Gu was another main person in charge of the "Left" error in the late ten-year civil war, and he served as the interim general secretary of the Central Committee.The Zunyi meeting adjusted the leadership team, and Bo Gu was still a member of the Politburo.Although Bogu made serious mistakes, he actively corrected them after recognizing them.Bogu is familiar with Marxist-Leninist theoretical works, can write good articles, has experience in running a newspaper, has a keen mind, and is full of talent. Mao Zedong used his expertise to successively arrange for him to serve as the director of the Central Party Newspaper Committee, the president of the Jiefang Daily, and the president of Xinhua News Agency.

During the rectification movement, the "Liberation Daily" was criticized, and some people criticized Bogu very severely.Bogu felt stressed and acted dull. Mao Zedong said to him, if you made mistakes, you should review them! Lu Dingyi, who was sent by the central government to serve as the editor-in-chief of the "Liberation Daily", took the initiative to approach him, care about him, and talk with him. With everyone's help, Bogu went through a fierce ideological struggle, carefully examined everything in his past, strictly analyzed himself, reviewed his mistakes, and bravely assumed responsibility.Bogu got the understanding of the whole party, and after Mao Zedong's proposal, he was re-elected as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at the Seventh National Congress.

Zhang Wentian, who recognized the "Left" error earlier, contributed to the success of the Zunyi Conference, and made important contributions to the party, was elected as a member of the Central Committee and a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at the Seventh National Congress. Unfortunately, Wang Jiaxiang.He had been ill for years after 1942 and had not participated in the central leadership work for a long time. When the Seventh National Congress elected a member of the Central Committee, he was not elected due to lack of understanding of many representatives and other reasons.

After Mao Zedong learned about it, he personally came forward to do the work.When the alternate members of the Central Committee were elected on June 10, Mao Zedong stood up and mobilized the representatives.He said: After the Fourth Plenary Session of the Central Committee, the Central Committee sent a delegation to the Central Soviet Area, consisting of three members, Comrades Ren Bishi, Wang Jiaxiang, and Gu Zuolin.Once the "encirclement and suppression" was over, they came. Comrade Wang Jiaxiang participated in the second, third, and fourth anti-"encirclement and suppression" wars.At that time, we felt that if there was no delegation, especially comrades Ren Bishi and Wang Jiaxiang, to support us in opposing the idea of ​​"cutting carrots", it would not be so smooth.The so-called "peeling radishes" means not to beat them, but to go for a walk, and to peel a small radish wherever you go.At that time we advocated fighting with the enemy, getting among the enemy, finding the enemy's weak point, and attacking the enemy.Those who advocate "peeling radishes" oppose us, saying that our method is just a dead end.At that time, without the delegation, especially Comrade Wang Jiaxiang, who sponsored us and trusted us, it would have been quite difficult for me and the commander-in-chief.

Mao Zedong continued: Comrade Wang Jiaxiang made mistakes, but he deserved credit. "I think he is able to carry out the line of the congress, and from the past, when the third 'left' line was on the rise after the Fourth Plenary Session, at the Zunyi Conference, and at the Sixth Plenary Session, this can be proved. He was not elected as a full-fledged member of the Central Committee yesterday, so the presidium made him the first candidate for the alternate Central Committee, and hoped that everyone would elect him.” At this point, Mao Zedong paused and said: "Of course this is just a suggestion, please consider it, comrades."

The result of the comrades' consideration was that Wang Jiaxiang became the second among the 33 alternate members of the Central Committee elected.In his letter to the Central Committee, Wang Jiaxiang expressed sincerely: Due to years of illness, I cannot participate in the past and present discussions, cannot review my past work well, and cannot make up for past mistakes with new work. sorry thing.He said, if the body can recover in the future, let's do this job again! Later in the long-term work, Wang Jiaxiang practiced his promise with actions. In the election, an almost forgotten figure was also nominated by Mao Zedong. He is Li Lisan, who used to be a powerful figure in the history of the party. He was forced to go to the Soviet Union for "inspection" because of the "Lisan line" error. This "inspection" lasted for 15 years!More than a year was spent in prison. At the beginning of 1945, Guo Moruo visited the Soviet Union and met Li Lisan. Mao Zedong ignored his previous accusations of criticizing himself as "rightist" when he was in power, and proposed that Li Lisan be elected as a member of the Central Committee. The election of this conference fully allowed the representatives to exercise their democratic rights. After free nomination, introduction, discussion, pre-selection, and formal elections, it reflected a highly democratic and highly centralized lively political life within the party, making the party an unprecedentedly united organization. party. The Seventh National Congress elected a total of 44 full members of the Central Committee and 33 alternate members of the Central Committee. On June 11, the conference closed. Mao Zedong made a closing speech entitled "The Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains".He spoke highly of this meeting, believing that it was a successful and united meeting. "This meeting is a model of unity, of self-criticism, and of inner-party democracy."The future task is to lead the whole party to realize the party line and strive for victory. He also told the story of Yugong Yishan.He said: Now there are also two big mountains pressing on the Chinese people, one is called imperialism and the other is called feudalism.The Communist Party of China is Yu Gong, who has long made up his mind to dig up these two mountains. If he persists and works continuously, he will definitely move God.This God is the masses of the people throughout the country.He firmly believed that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the line of the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people will achieve complete victory, while the counter-revolutionary line of the Kuomintang will inevitably fail. Four years later, Mao Zedong's assertion became a fact. The seven victories that opened for 50 days have come to an end.This is the largest and most complete national congress in the history of the Communist Party of China.