Chapter 23 The Sixth Confrontation on the Question of the Standard of Truth

This meeting has a characteristic. The proposer, initiator, and organizer of the discussion on the standard of truth, as well as the main figures who proposed and insisted on the "two whatevers" and insisted on opposing the discussion on the standard of truth were all present at the meeting. After the "Guangming Daily" published an article on the standard of truth in May, the discussion on the standard of truth has penetrated into all regions and departments of the country.Many of the participants in this meeting have participated in discussions and expressed opinions in their own regions and departments, and many of them are quite familiar with this aspect. Shortly after the opening of the meeting on November 10, in the group meeting, many people spoke about this discussion. The group meeting after the conference on the 25th discussed this issue more lively than before.This is caused by the following three reasons: First, major unjust, false and wrongly decided cases such as the rehabilitation of the "Tiananmen Incident" have been resolved at the 25th General Assembly, but the discussion on the standard of truth is an unresolved issue, which will naturally Make people feel the need to concentrate time to discuss.2. Criticizing Wang Dongxing by name made people less concerned about speaking.3. Before the 25th, comrades such as Li Xin, Wu Lengxi, Xiong Fu, and Hu Sheng kept silent.Many of the attendees at the meeting had a strong opinion on this.For example, after the article "Practice is the only criterion for testing truth" was published in Guangming Daily, everyone has been waiting to see how these comrades express their views, or you can say they are staring at them.However, after the 25th, all the people suddenly came out to express their views, some spoke orally, and some made written speeches.

Li Xin spoke very simply about the standard of truth, abstractly saying that his consciousness is not high.Since Li Xin owed a lot of debts, people asked him more questions about his attitude towards Kang Sheng, especially because he participated in the drafting of Kang Sheng's "eulogy".After the "Gang of Four" was smashed, he revealed that Kang Sheng had exposed Jiang Qing's historical problems, etc., and smeared Kang Sheng.People's speeches focused on these aspects, and did not focus on asking the question of the standard of truth. Wu Lengxi argued that Hu Jiwei had misheard his opinion.However, after questioning at the group meeting, he stated his point of view. After reading the briefing, the people in each group believed that his explanation just proved that Hu Jiwei's phone call was credible.

The attitude of the "Red Flag" magazine under the chairmanship of Xiong Fu not only aroused the dissatisfaction of the participants of the Central Work Conference, but on November 22, two comrades from the "Red Flag" magazine posted big-character posters in their units to expose Xiong Fu.After the article on the standard of truth was published, People's Daily and Liberation Army Daily immediately reprinted it, while "Red Flag" never published the article on "Practice is the only criterion for testing truth".The people at the Central Work Conference already had great opinions on him.In the early days of the Central Work Conference, Xiong Fu refused to publish Tan Zhenlin's article commemorating Mao Zedong.He wrote to the central government saying that the guiding ideology of Tan Zhenlin's article is that practice is the criterion for testing truth, and that if "Red Flag" is published, "Red Flag" will be involved in this controversy.He insisted on a policy of not getting involved.

After Xiong Fu's letter was sent to the Central Committee, Deng Xiaoping issued an order: "I think this article is good, at least there are no mistakes. I changed it a bit. If "Red Flag" doesn't want to publish it, you can send it to "People's Daily." Deng Xiaoping asked: "Why is "Red Flag" not involved? It should be involved, Articles of differing views can be published, and it appears that non-involvement may itself be involvement." He didn't know about the editorial that Hu Sheng said "Two Whatevers".On the issue of the standard of truth, people don't know what kind of opinions he has expressed, and people didn't have many opinions on him.When he spoke to the Northeast Group on November 25, he seemed to express his disapproval of describing the issue of truth standards as related to our ideological line, political line, and also related to the future and destiny of the party and the country.This view was put forward by Zhou Yang in his speech at a seminar on the relationship between theory and practice held by the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the editorial department of Philosophical Research from July 17 to 24, 1978.

After the article "Practice is the only criterion for testing truth" was reprinted in the "People's Daily", Wu Lengxi immediately called Hu Jiwei and accused him of "cutting the flag".Many people have heard about this incident, and now Wu Lengxi's speech at the work meeting is not good, which also caused dissatisfaction among the participants in each group.In short, the statements of several comrades including Li Xin triggered speeches in the sub-groups of the Central Work Conference, forming a climax of speeches in this regard. Why did these comrades remain silent before the 25th, but quickly came out to express their views after the 25th?Some comrades at the Central Work Conference said that their speeches during the discussion of economic issues in the meeting are to divert the direction of the meeting. I do not agree with this statement.My opinion is that before November 25, they still count on the central government's statement not necessarily to support the discussion that practice is the only criterion for testing truth. After the third meeting on the afternoon of the 25th, especially after the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee made a formal statement to the leaders of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and the Youth League Central Committee on the afternoon of the 25th. out of nowhere.However, this will also enable the participants to learn more about the situation and deepen their own understanding.

The discussion on the standard of truth has a strong political nature from the beginning, that is, it has a strong political pertinence. It is a philosophical discussion raised and launched to criticize the "two whatevers".This discussion at the Central Working Conference is different from discussions in academic conferences and newspapers.This feature seems to be summed up in the following lines: (1) Discussions on this issue at the Central Working Conference took a long time and were particularly concentrated. In the 30-day group meeting, almost every day's meeting directly and indirectly touched on this issue, and the speeches that participated in the discussion on this issue were numerous and common.

(2) Because the Central Work Conference is a high-level party meeting, relevant matters can be exposed thoroughly, and speeches can be candid and sharp, without ambiguity or concealment. (3) The main figures on both sides of the debate are at the high-level meeting of the party, and they can confront each other face to face.People in the same group confront each other, even if they don't see the briefings of other groups in one group, they also confront each other.I remember watching the Southwest Group’s briefing at that time, and saw the dialogue between Hu Jiwei and Xiong Fu. Xiong Fu defended himself against the discussion on the standard of truth. Hu Jiwei listed the facts and threw out a lot of written materials to prove Xiong Fu’s dishonesty. , using strict logic to debate, so that Xiong Fu finally had nothing to say.This can make the discussion more in-depth and lively and specific. Yang Xiguang, editor-in-chief of "Guangming Daily", was one of the moderators of the discussion on the standard of truth. He knew a lot about the situation and experienced it deeply. He made many speeches in the Northwest Group.I work in the Research Office of the State Council, and I am colleagues with Li Xin, Wu Lengxi, Hu Sheng, and Xiong Fu. I once opposed the "Gang of Four" together with Wu, Hu, and Xiong, and were criticized and fought together in the "Criticism of Deng". After the "Gang of Four" was crushed, I was firmly opposed to the "Two Whatevers," and I also had many opinions. In the Northwest Group, I also made many speeches to confront those few.

(4) At this meeting, Wang Dongxing and other people who supported and opposed the discussion on the standard of truth were also pointed out, so that the issues related to this discussion were made more thorough and profound. This is the most important point in academic discussions. It is inconvenient to specify. (5) In addition to the two sides in the debate, there were also leaders from various regions and departments across the country present, as well as many members of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee. They were not only impartial referees, but also speakers who actively participated in the discussion.

(6) There are also members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee at this meeting. They have to express their position on this discussion at the meeting and make political conclusions for this discussion. Recently published a book "The Discussion on the Standard of Truth" written by Shen Baoxiang.The author of this book pointed out that the discussion at the Central Working Conference is the stage where the decisive battle of the discussion on the standard of truth is won.I think this statement is in line with historical facts.