Chapter 23 4. Red Judge He Shuheng

In the Central Soviet Area, there was an old man who was nearly sixty years old, with thinning hair and a thick beard setting off a mighty and kind face, a pair of piercing eyes full of rich emotions.Mao Zedong said that he was "a bunch of emotions", while Xiao San called him a "cow" who worked tirelessly.Stories about his strict law enforcement and accurate rulings are widely circulated among the masses in the Soviet area.He is He Shuheng, one of the founders of our party. In the autumn of 1931, He Shuheng, who was engaged in underground work in Shanghai, traveled through Hong Kong, Guangdong and other places to Ruijin, the center of the Central Revolutionary Base, according to the party's instructions.At the time when the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet was established, He Shuheng was appointed as the Minister of the Workers and Peasants Procuratorate of the Central Government. Soon, he also served as the Acting Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Chairman of the Supreme Court.Facing the overwhelming burden of major tasks, He Shuheng happily accepted them one by one without saying a word.He said that under the leadership of Mao Zedong, no matter how heavy the burden is, he can do well.

Among the many tasks, He Shuheng paid special attention to and attached great importance to the inspection of workers and peasants.He convened a meeting of all the staff and mobilized everyone to split up to find out the truth, prosecute all kinds of corruption and waste, violation of laws and regulations, tax evasion, dereliction of duty and dereliction of duty, and investigate and implement various reports and accusations.He himself carried the three treasures he carried with him: a cloth bag, a flashlight, and a notebook, and went deep into counties, districts, and townships to conduct investigations and research.During the day, he worked and talked with the masses; at night, he convened a symposium for cadres and the masses, mobilized everyone to report the situation, and reported and exposed corruption among cadres.

Once, people from all walks of life returned to the prosecutor's office to report the results of the grassroots investigation.According to his own knowledge and the reports of his staff, He Shuheng found that a considerable number of county and district Soviet governments had issues of commandism and coercion.He Shuheng believed that if these problems were not overcome in time, they would directly threaten the consolidation of the Soviet regime.Therefore, he immediately reported the situation to Mao Zedong, Xiang Ying and other leaders, which attracted their attention. On February 1, 1932, the People's Committee held its eighth executive meeting.At the meeting, He Shuheng made a comprehensive report on the situation he learned, with facts and evidence, and proposed that the central government should severely crack down on those who are negligent in implementing orders from superiors and national laws, and all corrupt elements.

This proposal was unanimously endorsed by the participants.Then, the People's Committee issued Order No. 5, requiring governments at all levels to conduct a strict inspection of the problems of coercion and corruption among cadres in their work, and promptly eliminate unhealthy phenomena in government work, and instruct the Workers and Peasants Procuratorate to specifically Grasp the supervision and implementation of this work, and deal with various problems that have been detected.After the People's Committee's order was issued, He Shuheng once again led people to go to counties and districts to check and implement it.For those first-time offenders or those whose circumstances were not serious, He Shuheng tried his best to fight for education, resolutely dismissed those incompetent cadres from their posts, and severely cracked down on corrupt criminals, so as to further enhance the prestige of the Soviet regime.

He Shuheng's work has become even busier after taking up the post of interim chairman of the Supreme Court.But no matter how busy he is at work, he always conducts careful investigation and understanding of every case he handles first, and then decides according to laws and regulations after mastering all aspects of the situation.At the same time, he also asked the staff to try their best to make the facts clear, the evidence solid, the law enforcement strict and the ruling accurate for each case they handled. At that time, Wang Ming's "Left" erroneous line had been gradually implemented in the Central Soviet Area. Under the influence of the "Left" anti-counterfeiting policy, some judicial officials believed that "Left" was better than Right, and more heavy sentences and death sentences were guaranteed.

He Shuheng was very dissatisfied with this approach. Once, the Ruijin County Soviet Judgment Department sent a verdict for He Shuheng's approval.He Shuheng took the verdict and read it, "The defendant Zhu Duoshen, a native of Rentian, Ruijin... Verdict: Zhu Duoshen shall be executed by shooting." As for Zhu Duoshen, He Shuheng had contacted and got to know Zhu Duoshen many times during his inspection work in Rentian. He knew that he was an old man who had joined the guerrillas and made contributions to the revolution. How could he commit a capital crime all of a sudden? ? He Shuheng is determined to find out.He carried the bag and came to Rentian for investigation and verification.It turned out that although old Zhutou was not young, he was outspoken and liked to point out and criticize things he was not used to, so he offended some district officials.After he committed a general criminal crime this time, the officials of a few districts were jealous and tried to retaliate, so they sentenced him to death.After He Shuheng learned about these circumstances, he immediately wrote down the instruction "Zhu Duoshen's execution was changed to two years' imprisonment" in the judgment of the County Su Judicial Department.

In fact, He Shuheng knew very well in his heart that due to the implementation of "Left" policies and the influence of sectarianism, the indiscriminate killings in the Soviet area were serious, and he couldn't stop them one by one.But he made up his mind: as long as he was a judge for a day, he would never wrong a good person or let a bad person go. On July 7, 1932, when he was reviewing the case of "Jiangxi Provincial Judgment Department No. 2 Concerning the Separate Sentences of Wen X, Yu X X and Other Six Offenders", he checked the case file and found that the judgment listed only some There was no other evidence of counter-revolutionary crimes in the matter of stealing cattle and fish, so he ordered that "the death penalty cannot be imposed."However, He Shuheng believes that there must be no mercy when dealing with genuine counter-revolutionaries.In the autumn of the same year, cadres and masses in Huangbai District of Ruijin County jointly exposed serious problems with Chen Jingkui, head of the Organization Department of the County Party Committee.After receiving the report letter, He Shuheng personally organized personnel to conduct an investigation, and the results confirmed that Chen was indeed a bully landlord and head of the "civilian group" who had been involved in the revolutionary ranks, committed many crimes, and caused great public anger.At this time, some leaders came out to intercede, and threatened them with the words "a certain leader said that Minister Chen cannot be killed".He Shuheng was very angry. If such a person was not shot, the people would not agree.He did not hesitate to overcome all kinds of resistance, arrested Chen Jingkui in accordance with the law, and executed him by shooting after a public trial. The masses all applauded.

Because He Shuheng adhered to the principle of seeking truth from facts in the trial and resisted the "Left" policy of suppressing counter-revolutionaries, the "Left" leaders accused him of being a "Right opportunist" and committed "political wavering". He made mistakes such as "replacing serious class struggle with legal thought" and "did not play an active role in eliminating counter-revolutionaries", and launched criticism against him in the winter of 1932.Facing the despotic power of "Left" errors, He Shuheng is not afraid.He publicly stated at the criticism meeting: "I have never wavered in politics."

In his future work, he still insisted on seeking truth from facts and acting in accordance with the law. Seeing that he was criticized, the "Left" leaders refused to accept him, and fought against him, and finally removed all of He Shuheng's leadership positions in the winter of 1933.On the eve of the Long March, he was not allowed to go with the army. After the Red Army's Long March, the base areas fell quickly. On February 24, 1935, when He Shuheng, Zhai Qiubai, and Deng Zihui moved from the Soviet Area to Xiaojing Village, Shuiri Town, Shanghang County, they were unfortunately surrounded by armed landlords. He Shuheng died a heroic death during the breakout.