Chapter 46 45. Zhang Side——Death for the people is more important than Mount Tai

Zhang Side (1915-1944), a native of Yilong County, Sichuan Province.Communist Party members.Mao Zedong said in one of his articles: "He died for the benefit of the people, and his death is heavier than Mount Tai." Zhang Side was born in a poor peasant family in Yilong County, Sichuan Province in 1915. He joined the Red Army in 1933 and grew into a strong Red Army soldier in the smoke of gunfire. In the same year, he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League. In 1933, the Red Army came to his hometown and established a revolutionary regime.In December of the same year, Zhang Side joined the Red Army, and soon joined the Communist Youth League. In October 1937, Zhang Side joined the Communist Party of China.After arriving in northern Shaanxi with the Long March of the Red Army, he was transferred to the communications team of the Guard Battalion of the Central Military Commission as the squad leader. In the communications work for several years, Zhang Side was conscientious, hard-working, conscientious and responsible, and completed the tasks accurately.

In the Red Army, he was witty and brave in combat. He once created a record of one person winning two machine guns in one battle, and was wounded many times. In 1935, he participated in the Long March with the Red Fourth Front Army. After arriving in northern Shaanxi in 1936, he entered Yunyang Honor Military School to study and recuperate from injuries. Joined the Communist Party of China in 1937.From then on, he demanded himself more strictly, obeying the interests of the party and the people, and doing what the party asked him to do. Zhang Side is always serious and responsible for revolutionary work, always puts the interests of the party and the people above all else, and practices the purpose of serving the people as a Communist Party member in ordinary work. In the spring of 1938, he was transferred to the guard battalion of a certain unit of the Eighth Route Army in Yunyang as squad leader. In the spring of 1940, he was transferred to the Guard Battalion of the Central Military Commission as the communications squad leader.At work, he always takes on the most difficult and hard work.Under his leadership, the whole class of fighters accomplished various tasks brilliantly.

In November 1942, the troops were merged and reorganized, and the cadres were streamlined and dispatched. Some company and platoon cadres were going to be squad leaders, and most squad leaders and deputy squad leaders were going to be soldiers.Zhang Side was transferred to the 1st company of the Central Guard Regiment as a soldier. He had no complaints and happily obeyed the organization's assignment.Soon, he was transferred to Zaoyuan, Yan'an, where Mao Zedong and other central leadership comrades worked to perform security duties.He devoted all his heart and soul to the security work. In order to ensure that Mao Zedong and other central leaders had a good working and living environment, he often took the initiative to clean the resident, pave stones and pave roads, repair cave dwellings, and do every job conscientiously. .He also often helped his comrades wash clothes, weave straw sandals, feed war horses, carry water and fire, gather medicine to prevent diseases, stand guard, take the lead in helping the local people produce labor, and do every revolutionary work wholeheartedly.

At the beginning of 1944, Zhang Side responded to the call of the Party Central Committee's large-scale production movement, and voluntarily signed up to join the production team organized by the central government. He went to the production farm in Ansai County, more than 70 miles away from Yan'an, and was elected as the deputy captain of the farm.In July of the same year, he went to the mountains of Ansai County to burn charcoal.He plays an exemplary role in everything, not afraid of suffering or tiredness, he appears wherever the most difficult and tiring, and is always the first to drill into the kiln to work when it is time to produce charcoal. On September 5, it was raining, and Zhang Side led his commando comrades into the mountain to dig a new kiln as usual.At noon, the charcoal kiln collapsed in the rain.At a critical moment, Zhang Side pushed the soldier Xiaobai out of the kiln, but he was buried in the collapsed soil. His comrades were saved, but Zhang Side gave his life at the age of 29.

When the bad news came, all the comrades in the inner guard class burst into tears.Mao Zedong also said sadly: "Side is a good comrade, he sacrificed for the benefit of the people." The captain reported the news to Mao Zedong, and said that the man had been smashed in the kiln and had not been dug out.After hearing this, Chairman Mao said very angrily that there is no way to kill people in wars, but it is not right to kill people in production.He immediately gave three orders: there are many wolves in that area, and you should send someone to stand guard at night. If the corpse is eaten by wolves, you don't have to be the captain; dig out the corpse as soon as possible, wash it clean, and buy a coffin; hold a memorial service, I want to speak.He also instructed the confidential section chief Ye Zilong to use a car to pick up Zhang Side's body in Shixiayu Village, and instructed the Central Guard Corps to solemnly mourn Comrade Zhang Side.The fact that the party leaders care so much about an ordinary party member and soldier is far more than just out of personal feelings, but to show that everyone in the revolutionary ranks is equal and serves the people no matter what position they hold.

On September 8, more than 1,000 people from the organs directly under the Central Committee and the Central Security Corps held a memorial service for Zhang Side at the playground in Mizoguchi, Zaoyuan, under the Fenghuang Mountain in Yan'an.Mao Zedong personally attended the memorial service, laid a wreath, wrote the elegy "Salute to Comrade Zhang Side who died for the benefit of the people" in his own handwriting, and delivered a memorial speech, highly praising Zhang Side's revolutionary spirit and lofty realm of serving the people wholeheartedly.He said: "Our Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army led by the Communist Party are revolutionary teams. Our team is completely for the liberation of the people and works for the interests of the people. Comrade Zhang Side is a member of our team. A comrade." "People are always going to die, but the meaning of death is different. To die for the benefit of the people is more important than Mount Tai; to work hard for fascism and to die for those who exploit and oppress the people is lighter than a feather." Comrade Zhang Side died for the benefit of the people, and his death is heavier than Mount Tai."

This speech has been sorted out and included in "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", entitled.The theme of Mao Zedong's speech "serve the people" is the fundamental purpose of the Communist Party of China and the People's Army, and it is a distinctive symbol that distinguishes Communists from any other political party.Adhering to this purpose is the source of strength for our party and army to defeat all enemies and overcome all difficulties.