Chapter 23 Ma Mingfang Xunye Zhao Qianqiu

Comrade Ma Mingfang was born in Yejiacha, Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province. He was born in a poor family. He studied hard since he was a child, with excellent grades and progressive thinking. He was admitted to Suide Provincial Fourth Normal School in 1925 and joined the Communist Party of China in the same year. He has been engaged in revolutionary activities and has done many important leadership tasks.When Comrade Ming Fang was the third secretary of the Northeast Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he was tortured by the Lin Biao and Jiang Qing counter-revolutionary cliques and died of an unjust illness.

Comrade Ma Wenrui once wrote a detailed commemorative article on Ming Fang's life story, which was published in "People's Daily".On the occasion of writing the biographies of revolutionary heroes organized by Shaanxi Province, I would like to describe some deep impressions of me and Comrade Mingfang who spent time together and talked with each other day and night, so as to express my memory of Comrade Mingfang. I have heard about Comrade Mingfang for a long time, but since the party was still underground at that time, it was inconvenient for us to meet, and we have never had the opportunity to meet.Until the winter of 1932, Zhao Boping, secretary of the Northern Shaanxi Special Committee, went to Xi'an to report to the Shaanxi Provincial Committee, and Ma Mingfang acted as the secretary of the special committee.Later, Comrade Mingfang came to our place to inspect and inspect the party work in Jia County, and it was only then that Comrade Mingfang and I really got to know each other.

At that time, the county committee of Jia County had not yet been established, but the district committee consisted of me, Gao Jiujiu, and Liu Guangxian, and I was the secretary.In order to facilitate the work, develop the party organization, educate and mobilize the masses, I deliberately set up a winter study in this village, and my public identity is a teacher. After inspecting the work of the district committee, Comrade Mingfang happily thought: This is a good place, with remote location, inconvenient transportation, good mass foundation, and relatively sound party and league organizations in the village and surrounding villages, which are convenient for activities.Therefore, it was decided to move the Northern Shaanxi Special Committee to our village.Comrade Mingfang lives in the winter study where I teach.

There are a total of two cave dwellings in the Winter Study Room, one for students, and one for Ma Mingfang and comrades from the Special Committee.Because Comrade Mingfang went deep into the masses and was good at publicizing the masses, he soon enjoyed a high reputation among the masses.Although Comrade Mingfang did not disclose his identity, most of the people actually knew that he was a Communist.People not only welcomed him, loved him, and cared for him, and sometimes gave him food.It is precisely because of the masses and the protection of the party organizations in the surrounding villages that Comrade Mingfang and the special committee lived in our village relatively safely.

In order to continue to develop the revolutionary situation in northern Shaanxi, Comrade Mingfang decided to hold an enlarged meeting of the special committee after careful consideration and careful planning. In July 1933, the meeting was finally held in Gaoqijiazhuo Village, Jia County.Comrade Ming Fang presided over it personally, and on behalf of the special committee, he made a report on the revolutionary situation and future tasks, clearly put forward the policy of launching guerrilla warfare in northern Shaanxi, and specified the areas where guerrilla warfare should be carried out.After full discussion at the enlarged meeting of the special committee, the comrades at the meeting unanimously supported and approved it.At this meeting, on the basis of the original members of the special committee, four new members of the special committee were elected, adding new blood, enriching and improving the leadership of the special committee, and ensuring the resolution of the enlarged meeting of the special committee of implementation.

This is a meeting of historic significance, which played a decisive role in the revolution in northern Shaanxi.The transformation from secret work to open armed struggle is also an extremely important turning point in the establishment of the northern Shaanxi revolutionary base. Shortly after the enlarged meeting of the Special Committee ended, members of the Special Committee Wang Zhaoqing and Bi Weizhou, traffic officer Gao Luxiao of the Special Committee, and leaders of Mizhi County Cui Mingdao, Gao Qingen, and Wang Shouyi were unfortunately arrested by the Kuomintang.Immediately afterwards, the enemy went to Jiangjiaxingzhuang, Mizhi County, to arrest Ma Mingfang, Ma Wenrui, and Chang Xuegong (who later turned himself in). They escaped under the cover of the local people, and scattered them in the homes of confidant comrades in various places to hide.Two or three days later, Chang Xuegong came to my house, and we agreed to send Liu Guangxian to Mizhi County to understand the situation. He learned that the six arrested comrades were brutally tortured by the enemy, and they were unyielding and heroic.The other two special committee members went to Beijing without permission, and the few remaining special committee members came to Gao Jiujiu's and my home one after another to discuss countermeasures.

At that time, because Comrade Ma Mingfang had not yet arrived, everyone sent me to look for Comrade Ma Mingfang at his home.That night, I found Comrade Mingfang. After dinner, the two of us rushed to Zhaizegou Village, Jia County, and held a night meeting at the home of Comrade Zhang Qinglu.Proposed by Ma Mingfang, it was decided: first, to send Chang Xuegong to the party’s northern representative to report on the work; Work harder to implement the spirit of the expanded meeting of the Special Committee and strive for unity and victory.Comrade Ma Mingfang was wanted by the enemy, not afraid of suffering or death, went deep into the masses in various places, and persisted in the revolutionary struggle.His spirit is admirable.

At the end of 1933, the northern representatives sent two comrades, Guo Hongtao and Li Tielun, to work in the Northern Shaanxi Special Committee.In January 1934, they held a joint meeting of the Party and Youth League in Nanzhuo Village, Jia County. In addition to conveying the instructions of the northern representatives to the Special Committee of Northern Shaanxi and emphasizing the importance of organizational work and military movement, they also focused on Criticized and accused the Northern Shaanxi Special Committee of committing the so-called "rich peasant line" and making the mistake of passively slowing down the development of guerrilla warfare in northern Shaanxi.At that time, the special committee members who attended the meeting firmly disagreed with this comrade's wrong criticism of the northern Shaanxi special committee, and Ma Mingfang even argued with reason.Because Comrade Mingfang insisted on the correct position, when the special committees divided the work afterwards, Comrade Ma Mingfang's former organization director was transferred to be the propaganda director, but the organization director was assumed by the comrade himself.This is a serious struggle, a struggle to resolutely implement Wang Ming's "Left" line and resolutely oppose Wang Ming's "Left" line.In this struggle, Comrade Mingfang is undoubtedly the defender of the party's correct line and the warrior who resolutely opposes the wrong line.

Comrade Mingfang's party spirit is very strong, he never worries about gains and losses, and cares about personal gains and losses.He originally had a lot of opinions on the wrong criticisms made by some comrades when they got off the train, but he never violated liberalism.The same is true on the issue of division of labor. Everyone thinks this is unreasonable and expresses deep injustice, but Comrade Mingfang still obeys the transfer of the organization and can still persist in active work.For another example, during the election of the enlarged meeting of the special committee in 1933, when the representatives were preparing to elect Ma Mingfang as the secretary of the special committee after full deliberation and discussion, Comrade Cui Fengyun suddenly proposed that the representative from the north had instructed that the secretary of the special committee must be a worker comrade.Comrade Ming Fang immediately expressed his support for Cui Fengyun's positive motion.Although there were no industrial workers in northern Shaanxi at that time, there were handicraft workers and hired labor.After repeated deliberations, it was agreed that Cui Tianfu was born as a hired worker, had a long history in the party, was resolute in revolution, and had a strong fighting spirit. What was lacking was his low level of education, but everyone believed that this could help.After Comrade Tian Fu was elected as the secretary of the special committee, Ma Mingfang, as the organization minister, actually still undertakes many important tasks.Even so, Comrade Ming Fang respected Cui Tianfu very much.He affectionately called Comrade Tian Fu the treasurer, and never expressed dissatisfaction or opinions.

Comrade Mingfang is very sincere and magnanimous to people.Comrades have shortcomings or mistakes, he always criticizes and helps with kindness and patience, does not lose his temper, and often reprimands; but for those comrades who violate the law and harm the interests of the masses, they are extremely severe.I remember that in the autumn of 1933, the Shenfu guerrillas confiscated two donkeys from local tyrants as funds for the activities of the special committee. As a result, a comrade surnamed Cao drove the donkeys to Shanxi to sell them and squandered part of them.After Comrade Mingfang found out about it, he found this comrade and severely criticized him face to face, and gave him disciplinary action.

Comrade Ma Mingfang is good at listening to the opinions of the masses with an open mind, and also has the courage to criticize himself. In 1934, also in the autumn, I returned from Jiawu area to Siyan Village, Qingjian County, where the Special Committee was stationed.One day, I chatted with many local people.Some fellow villagers asked me: We welcome you to take over the land of the landlords and rich peasants, but how will the grain harvested be distributed in the future after everyone has collected in such a swarm?That does not work.Some are hardworking, some are lazy, it's unfair, and the land isn't grown well, so you have to figure out a way?I understand what the villagers mean, that is, they want to distribute the land. After I reported the voices and opinions of the masses to Comrade Mingfang, Comrade Mingfang immediately consulted with members of the Special Committee and decided to hold a meeting in Siqian Village to discuss land distribution issues.At that time, due to the influence of Wang Ming's "Left" leaning line, the special committee still implemented a set of rules on the distribution of land: the landlords did not divide the land, the rich peasants distributed the bad land, and the good land was reserved for the Red Army as public land. Wrong policy of farm laborers and poor peasants.Nevertheless, from this incident, it can be seen that Comrade Mingfang attaches great importance to listening to the feedback and opinions of the masses. In addition, there is one more thing worth mentioning here. In 1951, the Northwest Military Region assigned the Shaanxi Military Region to buy a batch of mules and horses for the Volunteers.Because they overreported the price to their superiors, they were found out during the "Three Antis" and "Five Antis".Before the facts were clarified and the nature of the conflict was not determined, the Shaanxi Daily reported without discussion or approval by Ma Mingfang, secretary of the provincial party committee and political commissar of the military region, and only approved by the leader in charge.After it was published in the newspaper, Comrade Mingfang felt deeply inappropriate. Apart from investigating the cause of the incident, he personally went to the Shaanxi Military Region to apologize to Commander Liu Jinxuan.Comrade Mingfang told me afterwards that although he did not know about this matter in advance, as the secretary of the provincial party committee and political commissar of the military region, he should bear certain responsibilities. Push it all on someone else's head.It can be seen that the ideological realm and revolutionary morality of Comrade Mingfang are very noble. In the long and arduous revolutionary struggle, Comrade Mingfang has been living a self-denying and frugal life.During the Agrarian Revolution, our special committee had very little funds for activities, and could hardly even afford a much-needed mimeograph machine.Therefore, Comrade Mingfang was always penniless when he went out to inspect and inspect work. Save your money.In winter, he has no clothes or quilts, except for a towel and a pair of rotten cloth shoes, which is his shameless short leather jacket smeared with grease.At night, he and I often sleep together in a ragged sheepskin coat.For many years, Comrade Mingfang ate either pumpkins and yams, or millet and pickles.I remember one time when Comrade Ma Wenrui returned to the special committee from an inspection tour in Anding County. Because he was so hungry, he asked Comrade Mingfang to eat a meal of dried millet rice and fried pork, and Comrade Mingfang agreed.Everyone ate deliciously and said that it really seemed like a good year. The revolutionary life at that time was indeed very bitter, but everyone's enthusiasm was very high.Comrade Ming Fang maintained this style of work until after the liberation of the whole country.Whether he served as the secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, or worked in the Northwest Bureau, or even transferred to Beijing in the future, Comrade Mingfang always wore ordinary clothes and ate hometown meals. Comrade Mingfang is very strict with himself, never takes advantage of the public, and never uses his position and power to seek personal gain. In 1932, the funds of the special committee were extremely difficult. In order to help the special committee in northern Shaanxi, the 26th Army of the Shaanxi-Gansu Border Red Army sent two packages of special goods to my house. Comrade Ming Fang was worried about leaking secrets and attracting the attention of the enemy, so he would rather endure hunger Hungry, unwilling to take the risk of selling it, it was not until 1934, when the guerrilla warfare was in full swing, that it was sold. In 1936, I returned to Wayaobao to live in the first department of the Red Army University. At that time, Comrade Mingfang was already the chairman of the Soviet Government of Northern Shaanxi Province.One day, I went to see him where he lived, and Comrade Mingfang told me that his father came here to see him.His father had a bit of a hobby, and Comrade Mingfang didn't satisfy him, which aroused his father's anger and quarreled with him.Ming Fang had no choice but to send his father home. Another example, after the Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was abolished, Comrade Ming Fang was transferred to work in Beijing, and his mother followed him to Beijing.One year, Comrade Ming Fang's mother was seriously ill, and he did not affect his work because of this.Comrade Ming Fang went to Gansu to inspect the work within a few days, and he received a telegram asking him to go back quickly to deal with his mother's funeral.However, Comrade Mingfang did not return to Beijing in time. First, he considered that the work was not finished, and second, he was afraid that his own arrangements would not affect the impact.Therefore, Comrade Mingfang just took some money and asked his brothers to arrange the funeral of his mother.Judging from the above incidents, Comrade Mingfang paid great attention to strict demands on himself no matter how big or small it was. Comrade Ma Mingfang is one of the main founders of the Northern Shaanxi Revolutionary Base and an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China.He has always been loyal to the party and firmly believes in it.Even if our party is in a difficult moment, he is not afraid of hardships and dangers, and goes all out to complete the tasks assigned to him by the party. Comrade Mingfang is open-minded and upright. He always puts himself among the masses and does not specialize or put on official airs.He is careful in his work and diligent in learning. Whenever he receives a document from his superiors, he always thinks it over again, understands it deeply, and resolutely implements it.In short, Comrade Mingfang has many strengths, and it is impossible for me to list them all here.I only wrote down a few points that I remember deeply, as my commemoration of Comrade Mingfang. Comrade Ming Fang's life was a life of revolution and a life of fighting.His meritorious deeds will shine through the ages, and he will always be an example for us to learn from.