Chapter 59 Chapter 58: "Big Tree, Special Tree" Disturbance

On November 3, 1967, the second page of the "People's Daily" published a striking and important article with a full-page length, and the title was extraordinary: "The Absolute Authority of Chairman Mao, the Great Tree, and the Absolute Authority of Mao Zedong Thought" ".This article was not written by Yang Chengwu at all, but published under Yang Chengwu's name!It was none other than Chen Boda who decided to borrow Yang Chengwu's name! ※ ※ ※ Beijing is troubled.Not long after Wang, Guan, and Qi were defeated, the sensational "Yang, Yu, and Fu incident" occurred again.

The "Yang" in "Yang, Yu, Fu" refers to General Yang Chengwu, who was the acting chief of staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army at that time. Yang Chengwu is a native of Changting County, Fujian Province. He was born in 1914. At the age of 15, he joined the Red Army of Chinese Workers and Peasants. Joined the Communist Party of China at the age of 16.He participated in the Long March and made outstanding military exploits in the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, and the War of Resisting US Aggression and Aiding Korea.Yang Chengwu was suddenly pushed into the list of "downed", and there were complicated reasons, mainly because Lin Biao and Jiang Qing wanted to overthrow him.One of the reasons is related to Chen Boda's passing on the misfortune...

It was November 3, 1967. The second page of the "People's Daily" published a striking and important article with a full-page length, and the title was extraordinary: "The Absolute Authority of Chairman Mao and the Truth of Mao Zedong Thought" Absolute Authority".In that special year, articles were rarely signed by individuals, and even the "theorist" Chen Boda rarely published signed articles in the past two years, but this article is impressively signed by Yang Chengwu's name! Yang Chengwu is a general, not a "scholar", so he doesn't publish many articles in the first place. Why did he suddenly release a full-page article this time?

In fact, this article was not written by Yang Chengwu at all, but published under Yang Chengwu's name!It was none other than Chen Boda who decided to borrow Yang Chengwu's name! This article was written by the Political Department of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, and was originally signed by the "Proletarian Revolutionary Faction of the General Staff".Yang Chengwu concurrently served as Secretary of the Party Committee of the General Staff Department. The Political Department finished writing this article and sent the typed version to Yang Chengwu for review.

Yang Chengwu is accompanying Mao Zedong to Wuhan. After the "July 20 Incident", he flew to Shanghai with Mao Zedong. Yang Chengwu sent the article to Mao Zedong for review. He thought that this article was about Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought, and he should listen to Mao Zedong's opinion. Mao Zedong flipped through it, "It's all about me", and wrote down the instructions casually: "I won't read it, I'll leave it to Comrades Bo Da and Wen Yuan for their discretion." Therefore, the article was transferred to Chen Boda and Yao Wenyuan. In Chen Boda's view, it is probably because this article "greatly cultivates" the "absolute authority" of Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought, making it inconvenient for Mao Zedong to express his position, which is an expression of Mao Zedong's "humility", so "send it to Comrade Boda and Wen Yuan for discretion" . After being criticized by Mao Zedong, the "theoretician" was looking for an opportunity to curry favor with Mao Zedong, so he decided to publish the full text.In order to strengthen the "authority" of this "important article", Chen Boda decided to sign Yang Chengwu's name.

"I didn't write the article, how can it be published in my name?" Yang Chengwu was surprised and shocked. Chen Boda explained to him that Yang Chengwu was much louder than the "Proletarian Revolutionary Faction of the General Staff". Yang Chengwu knew that the matter was of great importance, but he could no longer ask Mao Zedong for instructions, so he asked Lin Biao for instructions instead.Chen Boda and Lin Biao had communicated in advance, so Lin Biao's opinion was exactly the same as Chen Boda's. Since Lin Biao also agreed, Yang Chengwu had no choice but to obey.

On the third day after the article appeared in the newspaper, when Mao Zedong was discussing work with Kang Sheng and Yang Chengwu in the Great Hall of the People, he said: "I only read the title of that article. The title is wrong and metaphysical. This is Chen Boda's business !" Mao Zedong said to Yang Chengwu: "It's not your business." At the meeting of the "Central Cultural Revolution", Kang Sheng conveyed Mao Zedong's words.At this moment, Chen Boda was stunned: it turned out that he had guessed Mao Zedong's meaning completely wrong and made a wrong "discretion"!

Yang Chengwu made a self-criticism at the meeting sincerely. The "theoretician" also made a few self-criticisms. Chen Boda hoped that the matter would end here.Because of the "August 1st" editorial of "Red Flag", Wang Li and Guan Feng were resigned, so don't cause trouble now... However, this article was published in a prominent position in the authoritative "People's Daily", and the title of the article suddenly became the most popular "fashionable" slogan. More than a month later—on the evening of December 18, 1967, Mao Zedong mentioned that article again at a meeting held in the Great Hall of the People.This time, Mao Zedong's criticism was more sharp.

December 26, 1967 was Mao Zedong's 74th birthday.this day.The Revolutionary Committee of Hunan Province sent Mao Zedong the "Report to the Central Committee for Instructions on Celebrating the Completion of the Statue of Chairman Mao and the Opening of the Shaoshan Railway".In this report, the most popular "fashionable" slogan is used, and "big tree, special tree" and "absolute authority" are mentioned again and again. Mao Zedong picked up his pen in displeasure and wrote a famous comment: Absolute authority is incorrectly mentioned. There has never been a single absolute authority. All authority is relative. Absolute things only exist in relative things, just as absolute truth is the sum of countless relative truths. Absolute truth only exists in each same in relative truth.

Dashu Teshu's statement is also inappropriate.Authority and prestige can only be established naturally through the practice of struggle, and cannot be established artificially. The prestige established in this way will inevitably collapse. Although Mao Zedong said many wrong things during the "Cultural Revolution", he was clear-headed when he wrote this comment, and this comment is still correct so far. This instruction was quickly issued as a document and disseminated throughout the party and the whole country.