Chapter 44 Chapter Forty-Three Suicide Storm

Just when Mao Zedong snubbed Chen Boda and put him aside, suddenly there was explosive news from Wang Li: Chen Boda was going to commit suicide! The news is absolutely reliable, because it was what Chen Boda said to Wang Li himself: "I am very nervous and want to commit suicide." Wang Li immediately comforted him: "The chairman criticizes you because he loves you and is a good thing. The chairman said that people who have no hope should not criticize. It can be seen that the chairman regards you as a hopeful person, so he criticizes you." Chen Boda But he replied: "I checked the books and found that Lafargue committed suicide. Lenin still commemorates him, proving that communists can commit suicide!"

After all, "theorists" are different, even if you commit suicide, you need to check the books! Lafargue (Paullafargue1842-1911) was Marx's son-in-law—the husband of Marx's second daughter, Laura. Chen Boda's mental pressure was indeed heavy enough.Mao Zedong’s weighty words on February 10 rang in his ears from time to time: “You Chen Boda, you are a member of the Standing Committee who defeated a member of the Standing Committee. In the past you speculated between me and Shaoqi. I and You have been together for so many years, it doesn't involve you personally, you never look for me!"

At that meeting, Mao Zedong also said a very important sentence: "I think it is still the same as in the past. They do not report to me and impose a blockade on me. Except for the prime minister, all major problems are reported to me by the prime minister." Mao Zedong's words referred to both Lin Biao and Chen Boda.Overthrowing Tao Zhu, establishing the Shanghai People's Commune, etc., Chen Boda did not report to Mao Zedong. Chen Boda had worked beside Mao Zedong for many years, and he knew very well that Mao Zedong's words determined a person's fate—no matter how old you are or how high your status is, if Mao Zedong pushes you, you will fall.Peng Dehuai is like this, Liu Shaoqi is like this...

There are two roads before Chen Boda: either self-criticism or suicide. According to Mao Zedong's instructions, the "Central Cultural Revolution" decided to hold a meeting on the afternoon of February 24 to criticize Chen Boda and Jiang Qing. How did Chen Boda survive this political crisis, which was more severe than the Zhengzhou meeting? Chen Boda was clamoring to commit suicide, but Wang urged him to write a self-criticism. "I'm in a mess, how do I write a self-criticism?" Chen Boda said. Wang Li gave him an idea: "Then you just write a few words, register with the chairman and file a case. I will write a detailed review later."

Chen Boda still shook his head: "I can't write these simple sentences now. So, you write a few sentences for me, and I will copy them according to your instructions." For such a "theoretician", even a few words to "register" with Mao Zedong, Wang Li was required to catch the knife on his behalf! According to Wang Li's recollection: "Before the "Central Cultural Revolution" meeting on February 14, Zhou Enlai talked with Chen Boda on the 14th floor of Diaoyutai. They talked for several hours. Chen Boda gave up the idea of ​​suicide. Chen Boda also talked to Kang Sheng once, saying Before the meeting, Guan Feng and I went to invite Kang Sheng to the meeting. Kang Sheng patted the table and said, "This is all Jiang Qing's work. If we want to hold a meeting, we will criticize Jiang Qing. Boda forced her to commit suicide." At that time, I didn't Talk, if you think they want to quarrel, just quarrel! Guan Feng begged, "Mr. Kang, no matter what, you can't lose your temper like this. You have to hold back. If you go to the meeting and scold Comrade Jiang Qing, what's the matter?" Kang Sheng held back."

Kang Sheng, who had just survived the political crisis, now pretended to fight Chen Boda's injustice.In fact, he was just talking about Jiang Qing in private—he knew very well that the "First Lady" was absolutely untouchable. The criticism meeting was held at 3 pm on February 14, 1967. The venue of the meeting was the seat of the "Central Cultural Revolution" --- the 16th floor of Diaoyutai.Jiang Qing should have attended the meeting because she was the first deputy head of the "Central Cultural Revolution", not to mention the target of criticism this time, but she said she was "ill" and slipped away.

Thus, there was only one person to be criticized—Chen Boda.Although Jiang Qing did not come to the meeting, no one criticized her at the meeting. Kang Sheng, Wang Li, and Guan Feng criticized Chen Boda lightly, lightly.It is said that because they already knew that Chen Boda was going to commit suicide, they were afraid that it would be too serious. Chen Boda would really commit suicide if he couldn't bear it—whether they were afraid of Chen Boda's suicide or were they deliberately protecting Chen Boda is unknown! On the contrary, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan were "real" and criticized Chen Boda with a lot of firepower.

Obviously, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan are Jiang Qing's "direct line troops". Chen Boda made some inspections, saying that he "has a low awareness of the line struggle and does not have a deep understanding of Mao Zedong Thought", and so on. Kang Sheng smoothed things over: "Today's meeting is considered to be the first meeting. Comrade Jiang Qing was ill and did not come. Let's hold it again when Comrade Jiang Qing recovers." After Kang Sheng said this, the meeting ended.Since then, the "Central Cultural Revolution" has never held a meeting to criticize Chen Boda and Jiang Qing.

Later, Guan Feng had a conflict with Chen Boda, so he told Jiang Qing about Chen Boda's claim to commit suicide. When Jiang Qing saw Chen Boda, he pointed to his nose and cursed: "You commit suicide! You commit suicide! If you commit suicide, you will be expelled from the Party. You are a traitor. Do you have the courage to commit suicide?" In the face of Jiang Qing's insults, Chen Boda kept silent, and never brought up "suicide theories" such as "Lafargue committed suicide, and Lenin still commemorates him".Chen Boda's suicide farce has come to an end...