Chapter 19 2. Face of Lushan Mountain

In the autumn of 1970, Mount Lu, Jiangxi.The mountains are emerald green, and the sea of ​​fog is vast. Around August 20th, Jiujiang Airport, located more than ten kilometers north of Lushan Mountain, was extremely busy. The motors roared day and night, and planes took off and landed frequently here.The central and local leaders who are going to attend the Lushan Conference are arriving here one after another. The Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will open in Lushan in late August.This is the third "Lushan Conference" held after the founding of the People's Republic of China, with a total of 253 people present.

Different from the previous two times, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, the former core leaders of the Party Central Committee, did not appear at this meeting.Among them, Liu died unjustly in Kaifeng, Henan in November 1969, while Deng lived a life of "exile" in the suburbs of Nanchang, not far from Lushan Mountain. On the afternoon of August 20, after receiving two batches of foreign guests, Zhou Enlai boarded the plane and flew directly to Jiujiang Airport.In the evening, arrive at Mount Lushan.Zhou Enlai was the last central leader to go to Mount Lushan. He lived in a small building where Marshall stayed.

The next day, Zhou Enlai reported in writing to Mao Zedong and Lin Biao on the agenda of the plenary session.Then, they went to talk with Lin Biao, Kang Sheng, Chen Boda and Jiang Qing respectively. At around 3 p.m. on the 22nd, Mao Zedong convened the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in Guling, where he lived, to agree on the duration, schedule, and grouping of the plenary session.When it came to the issue of setting up a state president, at the meeting, except for Mao Zedong, several members of the Standing Committee believed that according to the wishes and demands of the masses, the unity of the party chairman and the state president should be realized, that is, there should be a head of state and a state president in form.Zhou Enlai proposed that if there is a president of the country, the president can authorize diplomatic etiquette activities such as receiving foreign envoys in the future.Kang Sheng, Chen Boda, and Lin Biao also expressed successively that there should be a chairman of the country, and advocated that Mao Zedong should be the chairman of the country again.Mao Zedong was quite disapproving of this.He said: It is a formality to set up a national president.My proposal to amend the constitution is to consider that there should be no president of the country.If you intend to be the chairman of the country, you are welcome, anyway, I will not be the chairman.This is the fourth time Mao Zedong has expressed his views on this matter since the spring of 1970.Mao Zedong also seemed to warn that this plenary meeting should be held as a meeting of unity and victory, rather than a meeting of division and failure.

At 4 pm on the 23rd, the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China opened at the Lushan People's Theater.Mao Zedong presided over the opening ceremony.Zhou Enlai first announced the agenda of the plenary meeting: first, to discuss the revision of the constitution; second, to discuss the national economic plan; third, to discuss the issue of war readiness. Immediately, Lin Biao made a long speech.He said: "The draft amendment to the Constitution shows the following characteristics: it highlights the leading position of Chairman Mao and Mao Zedong Thought in the country. It affirms the status of Chairman Mao's great leader, the head of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the supreme commander; As the guiding ideology of the people of the country, ideology is the guiding principle of all work in the country. This is very important, very important. It is very good to fix these in the form of the constitution, very good!" "I am most interested in thinking that the most important thing is This point." Then he said, "We say that Chairman Mao is a genius, but I still insist on this point of view."

During his one-and-a-half-hour speech, Lin Biao also chattered and repeated many of the "famous quotes" he used to praise Mao Zedong.And these words are exactly the content that Mao Zedong deleted many times when reviewing and revising the article. For the "opening remarks" at the opening meeting, Lin Biao made preparations in advance.A copy of his speech was in his hand.And this statement was also made temporarily by him. After Lin Biao finished speaking, Kang Sheng made a statement, saying that he "completely agrees and fully supports" Lin Biao's speech.He also pointed out that "all opinions are unanimous" on the issue of Mao Zedong as the country's president and Lin Biao as the country's vice president. "If the chairman is not the (country) chairman, then please ask Vice Chairman Lim to be the (country) chairman. If neither the chairman nor Lim is the chairman, then the chapter (country) chairman will not be set up."

Zhou Enlai, who was originally scheduled to speak on the national economic plan, did not speak at the opening ceremony. That night, Zhou Enlai presided over an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee to study and discuss the draft constitution and planning issues in groups.At this time, Wu Faxian suggested that all groups of the plenary session should study Lin Biao's speech at the opening ceremony, and they could first listen to the recording of Lin Biao's speech.In this regard, Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao and others did not express their views.Zhou Enlai agreed and reported to Mao Zedong.

On that night, according to Lin Biao’s arrangements before the meeting, Chen Boda and Wu Faxian worked out a copy of Engels, Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Lin Biao’s quotations about being called “geniuses” overnight, and sent them to the meeting secretariat for printing the next day.Neither Mao Zedong nor Zhou Enlai knew about this. From the afternoon of the 24th, the various groups of the plenary meeting began to discuss Lin Biao's speech, severely cracking down on the arrogance of Lin Biao and his gang.Instructed by Lin Biao and arranged by Ye Qun, Chen Boda (North China Group), Wu Faxian (Southwest Group), Ye Qun (Central South Group), Li Zuopeng (Central South Group), Qiu Huizuo (Northwest Group) and others took the lead in preaching " Genius" issue, touting Lin Biao's speech, insisting on setting up a state president; at the same time, implying that some people "oppose" Chairman Mao.Among the six groups' discussions, the North China group was the most intense. Chen Boda's provocative speech deceived many people who did not know the truth.

On the 25th, the briefing of the North China Group was issued.The atmosphere of the whole plenary meeting became tense, and all groups unanimously demanded to "find out" the bad guys who opposed Chairman Mao. At noon, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan, who were already terrified, were brought by Jiang Qing to Mao Zedong to report the situation.Mao Zedong felt that the situation was serious. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Mao Zedong presided over an enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee with the participation of the leaders of various groups.Before the meeting, Mao Zedong talked with Lin Biao, Zhou Enlai, Chen Boda and Kang Sheng one by one.Later, Mao Zedong announced to other people present at the meeting: Just now, I discussed with several members of the Standing Committee and believed that the issues being discussed in each group did not meet the original three agenda items of the plenary meeting.Don't bring up the question about the president of the country.If you continue to do this, I will go down the mountain and let you make trouble; if not, I will resign as the chairman of the Party Central Committee.Mao Zedong also severely criticized the speeches made by Chen Boda and others at the group meeting for violating the principles of the Nine Congresses, and suggested that they should unite according to the spirit of the Nine Congresses, and not create divisions or "grab people".According to Mao Zedong's opinion, the meeting decided to adjourn the subgroup of the plenary session immediately, stop discussing Lin Biao's speech, and withdraw the second briefing of the North China group.

Mao Zedong's instructions dealt a blow to Lin Biao and his group, who were somewhat complacent.Lin Biao sent a message in private, telling them to stop insisting on having a president of the country, and stop mentioning "genius".But when Zhou Enlai asked Wu Faxian and others to review, Lin encouraged Wu: "You are not wrong, don't make a review!" Ye Qun even made it clear: "Don't be nervous, there are Lin Biao and Huang Yongsheng! As long as they don't get involved It’s easy to deal with them. There is food in the big pot, and it’s easy to deal with in the small pot.” From this, it can be seen that Lin Biao and his group did not give up.

During the few days when the group meeting was adjourned, Zhou Enlai attended the meeting called by Mao Zedong for several days, and frequently talked to people (including Lin Biao) to urge Chen Boda, Wu Faxian and others to review. On the 29th, despite his reluctance, Lin Biao presided over an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and listened to the review by Chen Boda and Wu Faxian.Zhou Enlai said at the meeting: From the group discussions at the beginning of the plenary session, Chen Boda, Wu Faxian and others made representative erroneous speeches, and the discussion on constitutional amendments led to a wrong direction, and the North China group was the most prominent.Chairman Mao reversed this wrong direction.Our work in the past few days is to persuade some comrades who have made mistakes to do a preliminary self-criticism.After self-dissection and criticism in connection with Wang Ming's "Left" adventurism mistakes in history, Zhou Enlai emphasized: Chairman Mao's attitude towards comrades who made mistakes is consistent, which is to allow mistakes to be made and to correct mistakes; The time for comrades to recognize and correct their mistakes depends on them, and there should be no rush.There are still two items on the agenda of the plenary session, which cannot be delayed for long.Therefore, everyone must make up their minds to follow Chairman Mao's instructions to the letter, and must make this meeting a success.

Although Chen Boda, Wu Faxian and others made self-criticisms at the meeting, their self-criticisms were not profound and were completely perfunctory. On August 31, Mao Zedong wrote the article "My Opinion" on the material "Several Quotations of Engels, Lenin, and Chairman Mao on Calling Geniuses" edited by Chen Boda, criticizing Chen Boda by name, pointing out: This call "genius ", "deceived many comrades." "I have worked with Chen Boda, a genius theorist, for more than 30 years. We have never cooperated on some major issues, let alone a good cooperation." "This time, he cooperated very well. Sudden attack, fanning the flames, lest the world will not be chaotic, and there is a tendency to blow up Lushan Mountain and stop the rotation of the earth." Regarding the issue of "genius", Mao Zedong pointed out: "We can only stand on the standpoint of Marxism-Leninism, and we must not follow Chen Boda's. Rumors and sophistry are mixed together." "I hope comrades will adopt this attitude with us, unite and strive for greater victories, and don't be fooled by people who claim to understand Marx, but actually don't understand Marx at all." Mao Zedong's several-hundred-word proclamation completely exposed Chen Boda's mask of "political theorist" that he had disguised for many years with his sharp writing style, and exposed him as an ambitious and conspirator to the public.Mao Zedong's exposure and criticism of Chen Boda was also a heavy blow and a stern warning to Lin Biao and his gang's sectarian activities.For various reasons, Mao Zedong did not involve Lin Biao while criticizing Chen, and actually took some protective measures against Lin Biao. After Mao Zedong's "A Little Opinion" was published and distributed to the plenary session, various groups began to expose and criticize Chen Boda.In a few days, Zhou Enlai participated in the discussions of the Northeast, North China, East China, Central South, and Southwest groups. The central core has not cooperated for a long time, and his problems will be exposed sooner or later. Although Chen Boda's problem was exposed, it was no longer possible for the plenary meeting to discuss the original agenda as planned.Before the end of the meeting, Zhou Enlai continued to work day and night, looking for people to interview, revising the report of the National Planning Conference and the 1970 National Economic Plan, as well as the Plenary Session Communiqué and other documents. On the afternoon of September 6, the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China closed.The Plenary Session basically passed the "Draft Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China" and the Plenary Session Communiqué, and approved the State Council's report on the National Planning Conference and the 1970 National Economic Plan and the Central Military Commission's report on strengthening combat readiness.At the same time, the Party Central Committee announced the review of Chen Boda.