Chapter 23 firm and correct political direction

The students of the Anti-Japanese University come from all corners of the country. Because of their different class backgrounds, social experiences, political levels, and cultural levels, each person's ideological foundation and level of consciousness are also very different.As a "revolutionary melting pot", the primary task of the Anti-Japanese University is to educate and transform people, change students' thinking, and improve their military and political qualities.For this reason, when Comrade Mao Zedong put forward the educational policy of the Anti-Japanese University, he especially emphasized that young people should put a firm and correct political direction first.At the same time, according to the different characteristics of intellectual youth and worker-peasant cadres, he put forward the slogan of "intellectualization of worker-peasant cadres, intellectualization of industrial-peasant cadres", and proposed to the intellectual youth the task of combining with workers and peasants and carrying out ideological transformation.All of these pointed out the direction of the education work of Kangda University.

To change students' thinking, the most fundamental thing is to arm their minds with Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought and establish lofty revolutionary ideals.Although the educational content of each period of the Anti-Japanese University varies according to the central task and the composition of the students at that time, the basic political education content includes basic Marxist theoretical courses such as philosophy, social development history, political economy, and Chinese revolution issues. As well as the education of the situation, tasks, and the party's line, principles, and policies remain unchanged.Through education, some comrades from workers and peasants used to think that they were destined to be poor and suffer. After learning, they understand what is class and what is exploitation. People are not destined to be poor, but are caused by the system of exploitation. Only by overthrowing the entire system of exploitation can they be completely liberated .Many educated youth originally joined the Anti-Japanese University with the desire to find a way to resist Japan and save the country. When they realized that socialism and communism are the inevitable trend of social development, only socialism can save China, and communism must be realized. He assumed the responsibility of "liberating mankind and saving the nation", initially established a communist world outlook, and gradually transformed from a democrat to a communist.

Why is the political education of the Anti-Japanese University so effective?The most important one is to carry forward the excellent style of study of "connecting theory with practice". The "Anti-Great Study Law" clearly stated: "Our learning purpose is the opposite of that of the bourgeoisie. We do not regard learning as a 'gold-plating' or 'silver-plating' thing, but to improve the political awareness of every revolutionary youth. and theoretical level, so that every revolutionist can better dedicate himself to the great cause of national liberation and class liberation.” Due to the clear purpose of learning, everyone consciously connects with ideas, connects with reality, transforms the world outlook, and uses Marxist positions, viewpoints, Methods to observe, analyze the situation, and deal with problems. In the first ten days of October 1937, the Anti-Japanese University held its first party congress to implement the spirit of the "Yan'an Conference" and "Luochuan Conference" and to connect with the actual situation of the Anti-Japanese University. , to further criticize Zhang Guotao's escapism and separatist mistakes, and to eliminate their poison and influence.The Party Central Committee attached great importance to this. Later in the meeting, Comrade Mao Zedong and some leading comrades of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee also attended the meeting in person.Because I was the chief of the organization section of the Political Department of the Anti-Japanese University and concurrently the secretary of the party branch of the school, Comrade Luo Ruiqing asked me to chair a meeting to criticize Zhang Guozhu.On that day, Zhang Guotao made a self-criticism at the meeting. As soon as he opened his mouth, he murmured: "Comrades, I made a mistake, a big mistake." Then, he reviewed some words and deeds of his reluctance to go north and confront the central government.After his self-criticism, representatives of party members of the First, Second, and Fourth Front Armies who came to the Anti-Japanese University to study spoke one after another, criticizing Zhang Guotao's mistakes.

In the struggle against Zhang Guotao's mistakes, the Party Central Committee and Comrade Mao Zedong always strictly distinguished the commanders and fighters of the Fourth Red Army from Zhang Guotao.In the "Decision on Zhang Guotao's Mistake" by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he expressed his deep respect for "the cadres of the Fourth Army for their hard work, not afraid of sacrifice, fear of danger, bravery and hard work, and dedication to the cause of the Soviet Union." The evaluation deeply moved the cadres of the former Fourth Front Army.They unanimously agreed with the Central Committee's view that "the cadres of the Fourth Front Army are the cadres of the Central Committee, not Zhang Guotao's personal cadres", and resolutely responded to the central government's proposal that "all comrades in the Fourth Front Army and the entire Red Army should act like one person in the struggle against Zhang Guotao's line." , Unite around the Central Committee, to complete the great task of the party", with a large number of facts to expose and criticize Zhang Guotao's crimes of fleeing to the right, splitting the party, and splitting the Red Army, drawing a line with Zhang Guotao, and launching a face-to-face struggle.In this way, the unity of the whole party and the whole army was maintained, and the mutual understanding and trust between the cadres of the former first, second, and fourth front armies was further enhanced, which laid a good foundation for the cadres of the front armies to unite and fight in the future.Under the direct leadership and care of the Party Central Committee and Comrade Mao Zedong, this congress was held very successfully. It was a rally of unity and victory.However, Zhang Guotao himself always adopted a double-faced attitude towards the criticism of his mistakes made by the Party Central Committee and the majority of commanders and fighters. Xi'an joined the Kuomintang spy group and betrayed the revolution.Through the criticism of Zhang Guotao's mistakes, the faculty and students of the Anti-Japanese University further improved their political awareness, distinguished right from wrong, united more closely around the Party Central Committee, and remained consistent with the Party Central Committee politically and ideologically.

In the spring of 1939, Wang Ming went to the fifth period of the Anti-Japanese University to give a report on the situation of China's Anti-Japanese War.When he declared vigorously: "According to the law of previous wars in the world and China, the War of Resistance Against Japan will not last more than four years."Some people say that the War of Resistance Against Japan was a "protracted war." Why didn't it last more than four years?Some say that this is the idea of ​​"quick victory" and does not conform to China's actual situation.Coincidentally, at this moment, rapid anti-aircraft machine gunfire sounded from the tops of Baota Mountain, Qingliang Mountain and Fenghuang Mountain. Wang Ming thought that the enemy plane was in the air, and jumped off the ground regardless of the dignity of the "professor". The table ran to the direction of the air-raid shelter on the mountain side, and the comrades presiding over the meeting could not call him.Afterwards, he found out that this was an air defense exercise, and because of the negligence of the staff, he notified the Anti-Japanese University and forgot to notify him, which made this a joke.These incidents reflect that anti-anti-teachers and students have learned to use Marxist viewpoints to analyze the situation realistically and truly understand the strategic thinking of the Party Central Committee on protracted war. Able to remain firmly in line with the Party Central Committee.

The most important thing in connecting theory with practice is to connect with the reality of the revolutionary struggle, closely integrate the revolutionary ideal with the real struggle, learn in the struggle, and improve in the struggle.At that time, in addition to the heroic anti-"mopping up" and anti-"cannibalization" struggles against the Japanese and puppet troops, the Anti-Japanese University Headquarters and its branch schools often encountered friction incidents provoked by the diehards of the Kuomintang.To carry out a "reasonable, beneficial, and restrained" anti-friction struggle against the Kuomintang diehards, we must not only have a firm political stand, but also master the party's policies and use flexible struggle strategies. It was a good test and exercise.

In January 1939, the Kuomintang Anding County Government in Wayaobao, under the conspiracy of Tian Jiesheng, the county magistrate and "friction expert", illegally arrested and hijacked the anti-Japanese democratic government of Anding County in Wayaobao. The county magistrate and several staff members provoked serious friction.At that time, under the leadership of Su Zhenhua, Hu Yaobang, Wang Chijun and other comrades, the First Brigade of the Anti-Japanese War stationed in Wayaobao adhered to the party's united front policy of independence and the principle of unity and struggle, and fought tit-for-tat with Tian Jiesheng.They joined forces with the border guards to prepare for counterattacks, held demonstrations, and publicly exposed Tian Jiesheng's crimes through newspapers; Finally forced Tian Jiesheng to release our personnel and won the struggle.Soon, the third brigade switched defenses with the first brigade, and Tian Jiesheng took the opportunity to transfer a cavalry regiment from Yulin in an attempt to create more friction.In order to find out the situation, the leading cadres of the third brigade, at the invitation of Tian Jiesheng, sent Gong Peisheng (Shi Xing), the security officer of the brigade, under the pretext of participating in the "welcome" cavalry regiment from all walks of life in Wayaobao, to scout its strength and prepare countermeasures.Gong Peisheng was a student who only came to the Anti-Japanese University in August 1937. After graduation, he was assigned to do security work. Because anti-friction was related to security work, the brigade cadres did not think he was young and inexperienced, so they boldly used him and sent him to deal with them.He was only twenty years old at the time, and he was still inexperienced in dealing with things, but the trust of the organization and the specific instructions from the leader gave him courage and strength.As a representative of the Anti-Japanese Congress, he went out of the city to "greet" the Kuomintang cavalry regiment together with Tian Jiesheng and other local gentry. Treat each other with courtesy.He not only completed the dual tasks of united front and reconnaissance, but also increased his knowledge.After the third brigade grasped the situation, after asking their superiors for instructions, the Central Military Commission also responded tit-for-tat, and dispatched a cavalry regiment from the 359th brigade to support the third brigade around Wayaobao, restraining the Kuomintang cavalry regiment, so that Tian Jiesheng did not dare to act rashly.This is how the faculty and students of the Anti-Japanese University have increased their courage and talent through struggles.

A shift in worldview is a fundamental shift.The young educated students of the Anti-Japanese University have gradually matured politically after studying and participating in practical struggles and labor exercises, and they all submitted applications for joining the party to the party organization.The Party Central Committee and Comrade Mao Zedong were very concerned about the political progress of this large group of revolutionary youth.In the summer of 1938, not long after the fourth semester started, Comrade Mao Zedong went to the Anti-Japanese War to give a report. During the break, he asked me to find out about the situation of recruiting party members.I reported to him that many students had applied, and a group of activists from the "129 Movement" had been recruited into the party.Comrade Mao Zedong was very happy and instructed: It is not easy for this group of revolutionary youths to come to Yan'an from thousands of miles away!Walking 800 miles from Xi'an to Yan'an is a test, and it is impossible to walk without political firmness.You must educate and train them well, and develop them to join the party as soon as possible. "Develop boldly without allowing a bad element to invade" is our party's development policy.Now I entrust you with a task, to develop 70% to 80% of the party membership by the time of graduation in each term, can it be done?I thought about it for a while, and considering that the composition of the revolutionary youth is relatively pure, and there are many activists in the student movement, I gladly accepted this glorious task.

According to Comrade Mao Zedong's instructions, the Political Department of the Anti-Japanese University and cadres at all levels regard the work of developing party members as an important political task.The Propaganda Section has strengthened the education of Marxism-Leninism and Party knowledge, laying a solid ideological foundation for the development of party members; the Organization Section and various Party branches have paid close attention to the training and inspection of development targets, and cooperated with the Security Section to do a good job in political review.At that time, each period was only about half a year, and the work was intense enough.We all went to the team to talk individually during the day to understand the situation, and worked overtime at night to read the party application.Some development targets have relatively complicated political situations. It takes a large volume to write in the party application form, explaining personal history and social relations; ask him a few questions, and he will supplement the explanation and write another large volume. We all have to be patient. Looking at it, I often stay up late at night, making my eyes red.But always clarify the problem in time, make a conclusion, and those who meet the conditions will develop and join the party in time.The most deliberate issue in development work is political censorship.Because the Kuomintang desperately competed with us for young people, it adopted the Raff-like method of collectively joining the Kuomintang and the Three Youth League. Not only the Kuomintang military academies, troops, and civil servants had to join the party and the league collectively, but even middle and primary school teachers and college and middle school students also adopted collective registration. Those who join the party and the people's group.Therefore, the number of members of the Kuomintang and the Three Youth League is quite large.The revolutionary youth who were forced to join the Kuomintang and the Three Youth League were very distressed by this.In the fourth team of the first brigade of the fourth phase, a young man surnamed Liu wrote a letter to ask Comrade Mao Zedong: "I have joined the Kuomintang, can I ask to join the Communist Party?" Comrade Mao Zedong personally wrote back to him and said: As long as you join the Kuomintang The problem is clearly explained, and I meet the conditions for joining the party, and I can also join the party.He was overjoyed when he received a reply from Comrade Mao Zedong. The depression in his chest dissipated, and his frowning eyebrows relaxed. Since then, he has become more active in studying and working, and finally realized his long-awaited desire to join the party.

Comrade Mao Zedong has always taught us to "seek truth from facts" and "make a concrete analysis of specific situations." This materialistic attitude is especially needed in political review work.There was a comrade who served as the director of the political department for two or three months in the army of the diehard Zhang Yinwu of the Kuomintang in Dahang Mountain in the early days of the War of Resistance. Later, he saw that the Kuomintang army was dark and corrupt and could not resist Japan at all, so he defected to the Anti-Japanese University.Can such a person be trusted?Can it be absorbed into the party?It was controversial at the time.After investigation and analysis by political agencies, it is believed that Zhang Yinwu's troops also raised the banner of "anti-Japanese" in the early days of the War of Resistance. Seeing that the Eighth Route Army had a political department, they also established a political department to conduct anti-Japanese propaganda.But the Kuomintang was not good at anti-Japanese propaganda work, so it had to recruit some progressive students to the Political Department to put on a facade.Under such circumstances, this comrade became the director of the Political Department of Zhang Yinwu's army.However, Zhang Yinwu wanted to take advantage of these progressive students but was not at ease, so he wanted to use military spies to control the Political Department and drag him into the water;After investigation, understanding and objective analysis, our political organs believed his own account and had never joined the secret service organization, so they boldly recruited him into the party, and let him use him freely in their work to give full play to his talents.Later, under the long-term education and training of the party, this comrade became a very capable senior cadre.There are many examples like this. Zhou Xiangfan, a student of the Kuomintang Central Gendarmerie School mentioned earlier, Huang Lie, a lieutenant instructor at the Central Military Academy, and some officers of the Northeast Army and Northwest Army all joined the party in the Anti-Japanese University.There are even a few spies who have participated in the Kuomintang spy organization and received professional training from the Kuomintang Military and Political Department. After training and testing, he was also absorbed into the party, and later became a middle and senior cadre of our party and army.Now, when we look back at this period of history 40 or 50 years ago, we feel that the policies that the Party Central Committee and Comrade Mao Zedong used to boldly trust and boldly use intellectuals were completely correct.If we did not engage in all over the world, but practiced the closed-door doctrine of "lonely family and widowed people", rejecting all intellectual youths from the Kuomintang ruled areas, or young people with "dust" in political history, we would not be able to organize. The mighty revolutionary army cannot consolidate the anti-Japanese national united front, and it is impossible to win the anti-Japanese war.

It is precisely because the Anti-Japanese University resolutely implemented the principles and policies of the Party Central Committee and Comrade Mao Zedong to "unite, educate, and transform" intellectuals, cultivated them to establish a firm and correct political direction, and absorbed a large number of intellectuals into the party. Therefore, the party's development work has made great achievements. grades.The total number of party members accounted for more than 70% of the total number of students at the time of graduation. At that time, each party branch attached great importance to the education of party spirit for new party members. Every time a new party member was recruited, a grand party oath ceremony was held, and the leading comrades of the higher party organization were invited to preside over the oath.At that time, many leading comrades of the school personally did the work of recruiting party members, talked to the recruits, and presided over the oath ceremony for new party members to join the party.Until now, although many party members who graduated from the Anti-Japanese University are over sixty years old, they still keep in mind their oath of joining the party and are determined to be loyal to the cause of communism throughout their lives. Establishing a firm and correct political direction is the foundation for a communist to lay a lifelong revolutionary performance.We are gratified to see that for decades, the faculty and students of the Anti-Japanese University, whether in the battlefield raging with war, or in the hidden front of desperate struggle with class enemies; In the turbulent years when the two counter-revolutionary groups Lin Biao and Jiang Qing were rampant, despite the vicissitudes of the situation, the vast majority of comrades have withstood the test, and they are worthy of being staunch communist fighters.