Chapter 34 Chapter 33 Anting Incident

The turmoil in Shanghai was also caused by "thoroughly criticizing the bourgeois reactionary line".At the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution", the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China also dispatched a large number of working groups according to Liu Shaoqi's deployment.Even after Mao Zedong returned to Beijing, the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China did not know the "market situation" in Beijing, and still sent a working group there.The students and workers in Shanghai rose up to expel the working group. The Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized: "It is wrong for Beijing to send a working group, but it is right for Shanghai to send a working group! Because the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China has always been correct!"

A wave of "thoroughly criticizing the bourgeois reactionary line" rose in Shanghai.The Red Guards and rebels in Shanghai bombarded Chen and Cao just as Beijing bombarded Liu and Deng.Chen, Chen Pixian, First Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China; Cao, Cao Diqiu, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and Mayor of Shanghai.Among Chen and Cao, Cao was the focus of bombardment.Because Chen Pixian was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma in March 1996, he was recuperating, and Cao Diqiu presided over his daily work.

The 29-year-old Wang Hongwen, the security officer of the Shanghai No. 17 Cotton Mill, became a prominent figure in Shanghai for "thoroughly criticizing the bourgeois reactionary line".He organized the rebels in various factories in Shanghai to prepare for the establishment of the "Shanghai Workers' Revolutionary Rebel Headquarters" (referred to as "General Directorate"), he was elected as the "commander". On the afternoon of November 9th, the "Industrial Directorate" held an inaugural meeting in Shanghai Cultural Square, asking Cao Diqiu to attend the meeting and "acknowledge" it.Cao Diqiu ignored it.After the meeting, Wang Hongwen led thousands of rebel workers to the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and asked to see Cao Diqiu.Cao Diqiu still ignored him, because Cao Diqiu called Tao Zhu, and Tao Zhu clearly replied that it was inappropriate to set up a city-wide "General Department of Industry" across industries and violated the relevant regulations of the central government.

Wang Hongwen led the rebel team members of the "General Department of Industry" to make a fuss all night, but they still couldn't see Cao Diqiu, so they encouraged the rebel team members to "go to Beijing to file a complaint"! In the early morning of November 10, Wang Hongwen led a team to rush into Shanghai North Railway Station and grab the train.The Shanghai North Railway Station was in chaos. According to Han Zheyi, who was the third secretary of the East China Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at the time, told the author: Considering that Shanghai North Railway Station is located in a busy city, the "General Department of Industry" will have a bad influence there, so Cao Diqiu discussed with him and decided to start the train.It was originally planned to stop the train at Kunshan Station near Suzhou to keep the troublemakers away from downtown Shanghai.But after the train started, the Shanghai Railway Bureau considered that it would be more appropriate to stop at Anting Station in Jiading County on the outskirts of Shanghai, so the train full of rebel members of the "General Department of Industry" drove into the fork near Anting and stopped. there.

"This is a conspiracy! This is a conspiracy by the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee!" How could Wang Hongwen give up? The "commander" deliberately expanded the situation, and at noon on November 10 stopped the 14 special express trains from Shanghai to Beijing.That section of the railway is monorail, and the No. 14 train stops there, and the Shanghai-Nanjing Line is blocked! The "Anting Incident" that shocked the whole country broke out.Before that, the "Cultural Revolution" rebellion was just posting big-character posters and fighting against "capitalist roaders". Starting from the "Anting Incident", the "Cultural Revolution" rebellion paralyzed the production of industry and transportation, and escalated the great turmoil.

An emergency call was made to Li Fuchun.Li Fuchun was a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council, and was in charge of Gongjiao at that time.If the traffic interruption accident in Anting is only due to natural reasons, such as derailment, collision, earthquake, flood, etc., Li Fuchun can handle it himself.However, this time it was caused by "thoroughly criticizing the bourgeois reactionary line", and Li Fuchun had to urgently appeal to Chen Boda, the leader of the "Central Cultural Revolution".

Chen Boda discussed with Li Fuchun, and immediately sent people to Anting to dissuade the workers from blocking the traffic.Who should I send?Chen Boda proposed to send Zhang Chunqiao, because Zhang Chunqiao was both a member of the "Central Cultural Revolution" and a secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.Li Fuchun agreed.According to Chen Boda's recollection, he did not realize the seriousness of the "Anting incident" at that time. He made a hasty decision to send Zhang Chunqiao there without consulting Mao Zedong. ". The matter was urgent, and Zhang Chunqiao had to fly to Shanghai.According to Wang Li's recollection, it was Chen Boda who asked him to call Wu Faxian, Commander of the Air Force, to dispatch a special military plane.Wang Li sent Zhang Chunqiao to the airport.Zhang Chunqiao boarded a special plane and left Beijing at 8:00 pm on November 11, flying to Shanghai.It was Han Zheyi who picked up Zhang Chunqiao at the Shanghai airport.

Before Zhang Chunqiao left, Chen Boda sent an urgent telegram to Anting.The tone of his telegram was similar to that of a letter to students who were making trouble in the Ministry of Defense. After all, Wang Hongwen is not as easy to deal with as those students who attacked the Ministry of Defense.After Zhang Chunqiao read Chen Boda's telegram in Anting, the "General Department of Industry" headed by Wang Hongwen put up big slogans saying that Chen Boda's telegram was a poisonous weed.The news quickly reached Lin Biao's ears.According to what Chen Boda told the author, Lin Biao sharply criticized him: "The big principles take care of the small ones. This is what Chairman Mao said, and of course it is correct. But, you regard production as the big principles, which is completely wrong. The big principles are What? The great truth is revolution! Revolution comes first. Revolution takes care of everything!"

Faced with Lin Biao's criticism, Chen Boda quickly admitted that his telegram was wrong.Chen Boda immediately turned to support Wang Hongwen and supported the five agreements Zhang Chunqiao negotiated with Wang Hongwen in Shanghai. Zhang Chunqiao also talked about this process in his talk on November 16, 1966: I reported to him the five agreements and my understanding of this issue (quote's note: referring to Chen Boda).In this way, the Central Cultural Revolution Group will discuss the five points I mentioned in the Cultural Square.In the evening, the Cultural Revolution Team called me. I made a judgment on this issue in the Cultural Square and thought that the handling of this issue was completely correct and should be done in this way.

At the beginning of Wang Hongwen's rebellion, it was with the support of Chen Boda, Jiang Qing, and Zhang Chunqiao, and the support of the "Central Cultural Revolution", that he gradually became the hegemony of Shanghai, and later became one of the "Gang of Four".Chen Boda went from sending the "big poisonous weed" telegram to making a quick "sharp turn" to supporting Wang Hongwen. In just two or three days, he once again demonstrated his political speculation skills. At this time, Chen Pixian, the first secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, came forward and called Chen Boda.Chen Pixian questioned Chen Boda on the phone: "Does one of your deputy leaders of the Cultural Revolution Group have the right to sign a decision against the East China Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Committee with mass organizations behind the back of the East China Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Committee? Do you still want national laws?"

Chen Boda replied slowly: "Don't lose your temper like that, just calm down! The paper has been signed and the central government is studying it." Chen Pixian called Tao Zhu again, and Tao Zhu made it clear that he disagreed with Zhang Chunqiao's approach. Chen Boda learned that Chen Pixian called Tao Zhu, worried that Tao Zhu would go to Mao Zedong.Chen Boda immediately took Wang Li to see Jiang Qing, and Jiang Qing said: "We must meet the chairman before Tao Zhu!" They knew that if Mao Zedong supported Tao Zhu, they would fall into a passive position. At 3 p.m. on November 16, Mao Zedong convened an enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on the twelfth floor of Diaoyutai, Beijing (but members of the Standing Committee Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Zhu De, and Chen Yun did not participate). Jiang Qing and Wang Li, the "Central Cultural Revolution" group, attended the meeting. Mao Zedong took out the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China", read the paragraph "Freedom of Association" in it, and said that the "General Department of Industry" in Shanghai complied with the "Freedom of Association" stipulated in the Constitution.Mao Zedong also talked about the five agreements Zhang Chunqiao signed with the "General Department of Industry" in Shanghai. He said: "You can cut it first and then play it. There are always facts before concepts." Mao Zedong was the highest authority in China at that time.His words were finalized.