Chapter 40 The fourth section of the central working conference

The "closing" and "dismissal" of the central working conference are not the same thing, and the group meeting was held for two days after the closing.The closing date was December 13, 1978, and the closing date was December 15. Why is this so?I think there are three reasons, the first reason is to fully promote democracy.After the three Central Standing Committee members had spoken, they had to listen to the reflections of those who participated in the meeting. Only when everyone was satisfied could the meeting end successfully.The second reason is that in addition to the speeches of the three Standing Committee members, a written review by Wang Dongxing was issued at the end of the meeting.Those in attendance would also like to comment on this written review.The third reason is that at the closing meeting, Hua Guofeng said after talking about the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee:

"The opinions of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, the Central Work Conference and the spirit of the Third Plenary Session will be conveyed together. The specific method of conveying will be determined at the end of the Third Plenary Session. Comrades who will not attend the Third Plenary Session will go back first, and vice-chairmen Ye and Deng can speak today. Based on the three speeches I gave at this meeting, I communicated the main spirit of the meeting to the standing committee members of the party committees in all provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, major military regions, and members of the party committee standing committees or party group members of the central party, government, and military departments.”

Comrades who participated in the Central Work Conference and did not attend the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee will also need to study and digest the speech at the closing meeting before leaving, and exchange opinions with the comrades in the group. After the meeting was closed, two days of meetings were held, which is also a feature of this Central Work Conference. The speeches of each group were similar.Let me talk about what I remember about the situation of the Northwest Group on the 14th and 15th. On December 14th, the Northwest Group spoke very enthusiastically, and everyone rushed to speak.Wang Huide, Yu Guangyuan, and Yang Xiguang also won a chance to make a joint speech, which was given by Wang Huide.The contents of the speeches of the three Central Standing Committee members are very rich, especially the speech of Deng Xiaoping. We can only choose the passages we like and say what we especially support.The main content of this joint speech is to express strong dissatisfaction with Wang Dongxing's written speech.The content of the speech first expressed welcome to Wang Dongxing's statement: "The position I have taken is not commensurate with my ability, and it is not worthy of the name. For this reason, I sincerely request the central government to remove all the positions I have concurrently held. After the Central Committee decides, seriously hand it over to the comrades concerned." At the same time, he pointed out that whether his expression is sincere or not depends on his practice.Then we expressed dissatisfaction with his review.In this speech, we quoted the mistakes Comrade Wang Dongxing made from the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution" to this Central Work Conference revealed by Comrade Song Shilun of the Central South Group, and specifically pointed out that he was in charge of the propaganda work after he became the vice chairman, including Adhere to the "two whatevers" and suppress correct public opinion.On behalf of Yang Xiguang and me, Wang Huide cited many facts about Wang Dongxing's discussion of opposing the standard of truth that people didn't know or hadn't mentioned in the group meeting before, including how Wang Dongxing could not stand up The reason is to suppress the first issue of "China Youth" to resume publication, request to stop publishing, and receive strong opposition from the masses.In our speech, we suggested that Wang Dongxing do a preliminary inspection at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, and so on.The speeches of the Northwest Group and other comrades who have seen other groups from the briefings are roughly the same.

Our Northwest Group also unanimously approved a "Comprehensive Briefing of the Northwest Group's Discussion and Speech on the Morning of December 14" at the group meeting on the last day of the meeting.The nature of this briefing is very different from that of individual speeches. It is a bit like the "Twelve Points Suggestions" passed a few days ago, and it is a material to express the collective opinions of the entire Northwest Group.This briefing is also divided into twelve points.Its contents are: (1) Support Hua Guofeng, Ye Jianying, and Deng Xiaoping's speeches at the closing meeting.It means that we must resolutely implement it.

(2) Praise Hua Guofeng's speech on the "two whatevers" and the standard of truth, and his attitude of taking full responsibility.We think he sets an example for everyone by being realistic.He also said that this is also a sign of our party's prosperity. (3) Praise Hua Guofeng's speech on collective leadership and not to promote individuals, which completely changed the past abnormal state of many problems where only one or two people had the final say, and others could only follow orders. (4) Think Ye Jianying and Deng Xiaoping's opinions on promoting democracy and strengthening the legal system are extremely important, and fully agree with what Ye Jianying said: this Central Work Conference embodies democracy within our party.It is believed that these democratic spirits must be carried forward.

(5) Extremely dissatisfied with Wang Dongxing's written speech.The issue of discussing the standard of truth is not just that he said that he only has the responsibility of leadership, but a mistake in his ideological line. His attitude towards Comrade Deng Xiaoping is not a personal relationship, but an overall issue. (6) It is appropriate for Wang Dongxing to ask the central government to remove him from all the positions he holds concurrently. At the same time, he hopes that he will conduct a more decent inspection at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee. (7) Comrade Wang Dongxing contributed to the arrest of the "Gang of Four", but this cannot be used as capital.

(8) Support Deng Xiaoping's statement in his speech that "in the future, we must be strict in our promotion." (9) It is suggested that the mistakes made by Wang Dongxing and other Politburo comrades should be communicated to department-level cadres in various places. (10) Support the announcement of the revocation of the twelve documents in 1975 and 1976, and advocate that the various documents issued by the central government during the "Cultural Revolution" also need to be cleaned up, and some must be revoked. (11) It is strictly forbidden to use bugs, check letters, follow up, spy on private contacts, ransack homes and quarantine cadres, and impose fascist methods of extorting confessions.

(12) The state should help some poverty-stricken areas such as Northwest and Southwest from various aspects. These twelve articles were signed and submitted by the conveners of the Northwest Group, Wang Feng, Huo Shilian, Hu Yaobang, and Xiao Hua. through to the end of the meeting.