Chapter 36 Five, the "good thing" that the door panel can't stop

The second half of 1972 was a period in which Zhou Enlai led the struggle to criticize ultra-left ideological trends and developed in depth.Prior to this, the critique of the ultra-left ideological trend was mainly carried out in the economic field and the implementation of the cadre policy, and achieved considerable results in a short period of time.However, since mid-to-late July, when the struggle to criticize the ultra-left trend of thought got involved in the hardest-hit areas of the "Cultural Revolution" - the cultural, educational, and technological circles, it immediately encountered many resistances and suffered huge disturbances.

The reason for this situation is not only because these units and departments have borne the brunt of the "Cultural Revolution" since the beginning, and have been strictly controlled by Jiang Qing and others for a long time; difficulty of the struggle.For the majority of intellectuals who have suffered from years of turmoil, the concerns and obstacles in their ideological understanding cannot be resolved in a short period of time.For example, the "two estimates" proposed in the "National Education Work Conference Minutes" finalized by Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan in 1971 (that is, "17 years after liberation, Chairman Mao's proletarian education line has basically not been implemented"; "The original Most of the teaching staff, the world outlook is basically bourgeois"), like two huge spiritual shackles, making the majority of teachers breathless.

For this reason, in late July 1972, Zhou Peiyuan, then deputy director (vice president) of the Revolutionary Committee of Peking University, directly wrote to Premier Zhou Enlai, reporting to the central government the various ideological conditions among the teachers of the school, which aroused Zhou Enlai's great attention. At the beginning of August, Zhou Enlai proposed at a large meeting held in the Great Hall of the People: All units must thoroughly criticize the ultra-left trend of thought; "On this issue, if we do not do our work well, we will make mistakes." The department should liberate the veteran cadres."

Immediately, Zhou Enlai personally set out to personally start with education, science and technology, propaganda and other departments to specifically help the cadres and intellectuals to eliminate interference, remove obstacles, and promote the deepening of the struggle to criticize ultra-left ideological trends. Zhou Enlai personally led and promoted the actions of criticizing the ultra-left ideological trend in various fields and units, which aroused great panic and hatred among Jiang Qing and his group who had a stake in the fate of the "Cultural Revolution". In September of the same year, Yao Wenyuan repeatedly deleted the words "criticizing the ultra-left ideological trend" in the National Day editorial draft reviewed by Zhou Enlai with ulterior motives.

In October, Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan criticized the ultra-leftist articles published by the "People's Daily" and "Guangming Daily" according to Zhou Enlai's repeated instructions, calling them "a resurgence of revisionism." . At the end of November, in a report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao once again challenged the "criticism of the ultra-left ideological trend", and they even swiped their pens to question Zhou Enlai: "Is criticizing Lin (Biao) the same as criticizing the ultra-left and anarchism? ""While criticizing Lin Biao as a traitor, we should also focus on the victory of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution", etc.In fact, it clarifies the essence of this struggle, that is, to criticize the extreme left is not to defend the "Cultural Revolution", but to negate the "Cultural Revolution".

In mid-December, when the struggle between Zhou Enlai and Jiang Qing's gang on the issue of criticizing the ultra-left was at a stalemate, Mao Zedong personally came forward to make a ruling on the dispute, and proposed that "the ultra-left trend of thought should be criticized less", and that the main criticism should be at present. Lin Biao's "extreme right essence". At this point, Zhou Enlai led the struggle to criticize the ultra-left ideological trend that lasted for more than a year, and was forced to stop. From the point of view of the internal connection of the matter, Zhou Enlai led the struggle to criticize the ultra-left ideological trend and Deng Xiaoping's comeback are interactive and inseparable.As mentioned above, for Zhou Enlai, "liberating" the vast number of veteran cadres who were persecuted during the "Cultural Revolution" and implementing the party's cadre policy was one of the important aspects he proposed to criticize the ultra-left trend of thought; and Deng Xiaoping's comeback , will undoubtedly have an extremely beneficial and huge impact on this struggle.

For Jiang Qing and his group, they must resolutely oppose anything that is detrimental to the reputation of the "Cultural Revolution". This includes not only criticizing ultra-left ideological trends, but also "liberating" a large number of veteran cadres, especially the "No. Capitalist roader" Deng Xiaoping. With the ups and downs of the struggle to criticize the ultra-left ideological trend, on the issue of "liberating" Deng Xiaoping, various contradictions and conflicts in the party's understanding of the "Cultural Revolution" were quietly concentrated.In this way, although with the "supreme instructions" (that is, Mao Zedong's evaluation and comments on Deng Xiaoping), Zhou Enlai also hurriedly held a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee to discuss this issue, but in the end it was difficult to achieve a quick result due to the negative attitude of Jiang Qing and others.

Under the circumstance that criticizing the ultra-left trend of thought continued to be hindered, the "liberation" of Deng Xiaoping seemed to have passed without a sound. Just four months after Mao Zedong’s comments on Deng Xiaoping’s issue were “on hold” for four months, on December 18, 1972, Zhou Enlai wrote a letter to Ji Dengkui and Wang Dongxing, who were in charge of cadre review work in the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee: In this letter, Zhou Enlai mentioned that Mao Zedong talked about Tan Zhenlin "last night" (December 17) - the main representative of the 1967 "disturbance at Huairen Hall" was a "good comrade" who "should let the He came back", that is, to return to Beijing to arrange work.At the same time, Deng Xiaoping was deliberately mentioned.

Literally speaking, Mao Zedong did not necessarily mention Deng's question in his conversation "last night"; however, Zhou Enlai's letter emphasized that Mao "raised it several times" in the past. Comments up to 200 words.The reason why Zhou Enlai brought up the old matter at this time and asked to "consider" Deng Xiaoping's work problem just shows the tortuous and subtle connection between this matter and the criticism of ultra-left ideological trends. On the afternoon of the day when Zhou Enlai wrote this letter, he asked Ji and Wang to talk in detail about the issues discussed in the letter. On the 27th, Ji and Wang wrote a written report to Zhou Enlai on arranging the work of Deng Xiaoping and Tan Zhenlin, suggesting that Deng should still serve as the vice premier of the State Council after returning to Beijing.After Zhou En came to see, he said: Tan's arrangement can be done first, and Deng's work will be decided after consulting the chairman.He knew very well that Deng Xiaoping's reinstatement was a matter of great importance, and had been obstructed by Jiang Qing and others. Mao Zedong had to make a decision on this matter, otherwise it would be difficult to implement.

It was when Zhou Enlai wrote this letter that the words "criticize the ultra-left trend of thought" disappeared from his own words and writing.However, Zhou Enlai continued to persist in the work of eliminating the poison of the ultra-left line in terms of thought and action.He took a series of specific measures to release a large number of veteran cadres who were persecuted during the "Cultural Revolution" from the censorship and imprisonment, and to treat their diseases and restore their health.These have become the focus of Zhou Enlai's work during this period. With the efforts of Zhou Enlai and the approval of Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Chen Yun, Li Fuchun, Xu Xiangqian, Nie Rongzhen, Wu Lanfu, Tan Zhenlin, Li Jingquan, Wang Jiaxiang, Liao Chengzhi, Liao Zhigao, Zeng Xisheng, Ye Fei, Jiang Nanxiang, etc., who were repeatedly criticized during the "Cultural Revolution" A group of old comrades, who frequently appeared in some public places, or were released from long-term guardianship, were hospitalized for treatment.As a result, a large number of high and middle-level leading cadres in the central and local party, government and military departments have been reinstated and reinstated.

The progress of the above work has not been smooth sailing.Marshal Ye Jianying, who witnessed Zhou Enlai working day and night for the "liberation" of veteran cadres, once wrote a poem at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: "One horse after another, crossing the bridge is really laborious. former enemy." Regarding the "liberation" of veteran cadres, Zhou Enlai once made this explanation: "Implementing the cadre policy, the 'liberation' at the top, the policy will be clear; the "benchmark" will be implemented, and the implementation will follow. If it is difficult, start with the easy ones." The easy ones are solved, and the difficult ones become easy.” "From top to bottom", who is the most "top"?This is none other than Deng Xiaoping.After Mao Zedong made the "August 14th" instruction on Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai originally planned to set up the biggest "benchmark" first, so as to clarify policies and "liberate" a large area.However, when criticizing the ultra-left trend of thought was frustrated and encountered the "difficulty" of negating the "Cultural Revolution", he had to bypass the "difficult" and take the road of "easy before difficult"; Breakthrough, and then open the overall situation. Deng Xiaoping, who lived in exile in the suburbs of Nanchang, once said a saying in his hometown in Sichuan: "When a good thing comes, no door can stop it!" After Zhou Enlai's unremitting efforts, history finally opened the door to Deng Xiaoping's second comeback.