Chapter 54 3. Yang Xiguang at the working meeting before the Third Plenary Session

Yang Xiguang is an old friend of mine with close political views. Before the "Cultural Revolution", I was in the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee. He first worked as the editor-in-chief of Shanghai's "Liberation Daily", and then went to the municipal party committee to take charge of cultural education and party propaganda.Every time I go to Shanghai, I will exchange views with him.Almost every time he organizes some discussions for me, allowing me to contact comrades engaged in party propaganda and theoretical work in Shanghai, and sometimes organizes reports for me to give speeches. After the "Cultural Revolution", he was transferred to Beijing to serve as the editor-in-chief of "Guangming Daily".If two people are in the same city and meet at a meeting, there are fewer opportunities to talk freely.The close contact with each other was during the Central Work Conference that began in November 1978.

The Central Work Conference held before the Third Plenary Session was a very important meeting in the history of the Communist Party of China and in the history of contemporary China.It made full preparations for the Third Plenum, at which the decision to convene the Third Plenum was made, and the Third Plenum was held immediately following this meeting.Deng Xiaoping's speech at the closing meeting of this conference, "Emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts, and look forward in unity" became the theme report of the Third Plenary Session.The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party is inseparable from this Central Work Conference, and the commemoration of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party also includes the commemoration of this working conference.It's no ordinary work meeting.The scale of this meeting was very large. There were more than 200 people who participated in the meeting. The first and second leaders of the autonomous region and major military regions, the first and second leaders of central agencies, state agencies, military commissions, and directly affiliated agencies all attended the meeting. Among the more than 200 attendees, members and alternate members of the Central Committee accounted for 2/3, and accounted for more than 40% of those elected to the 11th National Congress.Among the attendees were more than 70 people who had not yet become members of the Central Committee at the time, such as old comrades such as Xi Zhongxun and Song Renqiong, who had not been completely rehabilitated at the time of the Eleventh National Congress, and of course Zeng Tao, Hu Jiwei, and Yang Xiguang , Wang Huide and me who are younger.The characteristics of this meeting are the emancipation of the mind, the full promotion of democracy, no limit on the number of speeches, and no limit on the scope of speeches.The meeting was held for 36 days from November 10 to December 15, 1978. During the meeting, many issues were discussed and resolved. Many guiding ideologies before the meeting were corrected. Finally, it was decided that the Members of the Central Committee who did not attend the working meeting called for a plenary meeting of the Central Committee to make a formal decision.A small number of non-CPC people who participated in the working conference also attended the Third Plenary Session.After the working meeting closed on December 13, the group discussed for another two days before disbanding.It was held for 5 days from December 18th to 22nd, and the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ended successfully.

When we were divided into groups, Yang Xiguang and I were both assigned to the Northwest Group, and the conveners of this group were Hu Yaobang, Xiao Hua, Wang Feng and Huo Shilian.In addition to Yang Xiguang, Wang Huide and Jiang Yizhen participated in this group.The reason why I mention Yang, Wang, and Jiang here is that they worked particularly closely with me in the group meeting.These three are now old friends, and I miss them very much. In this article, I mainly introduce the three joint speeches by Yang Xiguang, Wang Huide and myself on the standard of truth.The first time the three spoke jointly was on November 13.The content of this speech is to use the "Tiananmen Incident" as an example to explain the necessity of fully promoting democracy.This speech is given by me, in which we said:

"In order to realize the four modernizations, it is necessary to make corresponding changes in the relations of production and the superstructure. Fully developing socialist democracy is one of the most important issues. Lenin said, 'If the victorious socialism does not implement full democracy, It cannot maintain the victories it has achieved and lead mankind to the demise of the country'. Here, there is a point that should be made clear within the party, that is, after our party has become the ruling party, it should still stand among the people and lead The masses of the people should fight for democracy. The victory of the proletariat does not mean that the task of fighting for democracy has been completed. On the contrary, there are still remnants of feudalism in our country, and today our state power is still the kind that Lenin pointed out. A workers' state with bureaucratic ills. The democratic rights of the people are often violated in one way or another, so the struggle for democracy should still continue. And democracy should not be a gift, a gifted 'democracy' is not secure , Only the democracy won by the people themselves can be consolidated. The struggle of the people for democracy can only be won under the correct leadership of the party, otherwise it is impossible.

"From the revolutionary standpoint of leading the masses to fight for democracy, the party should have a clear attitude towards the 'Tiananmen Incident', pointing out that it is a great revolutionary event. At the critical moment when the 'Gang of Four' is about to usurp the leadership of the party and the country, the masses are desperate Standing up to defend the dictatorship of the proletariat and socialism should be highly appraised and fully affirmed by our party. "The ruling Communist Party must, on the one hand, stand among the masses and continue to lead the masses in the struggle for democracy; Struggle for democracy, and combine these two aspects of struggle. Improving the socialist legal system is a major event that the proletarian party must do to use state power to protect socialist democracy. In this way, we must strengthen socialist legislative work, Moreover, judicial work must be strengthened so that there are laws to abide by and laws to abide by. However, it should be pointed out that the foundation of the socialist legal system is still democracy. If laws are not produced among the people and formulated through democratic procedures, they will be Not fully valued and fully trusted by the masses of the people. If the law is not formulated on a democratic basis and does not fully reflect democracy, it is not likely to be truly enforced and can be easily undermined.”

Before we made this joint speech, on November 2, Comrade Chen Yun talked about rehabilitating the "Tiananmen Incident" in his speech in the Northeast Group.He said these few words: "About the 'Tiananmen incident' has now been brought up again in Beijing, and the drama "In the Silent Place" has been released, and the radio station has also broadcast Tiananmen's revolutionary poems. This is how millions of people in Beijing commemorate Premier Zhou and oppose the 'Gang of Four' ', do not agree to criticize Comrade Deng Xiaoping's great mass movement, and there are similar movements in many big cities across the country. The central government should affirm this movement."

We made this joint speech to express our views on fully promoting democracy on this matter.Wang Huide made a systematic study of Lenin's remarks on the dictatorship of the proletariat and democracy. The phrase "Victorious socialism cannot maintain its victories if it does not implement full democracy" was recited by Wang Huide.Yang Xiguang and I think that what we said is in line with the reality of our country.The three of you spoke to each other and decided what to say in this speech.This speech is not limited to the part quoted above. We also quoted the criticism of a legal article drafted by the Central Politics and Law Group published by the People’s Daily by the Institute of Law of the Academy of Social Sciences. We also said that the election method of the People’s Congress must be changed. And the exposure and criticism of Kang Sheng.Yang Xiguang has a lot of news. When preparing for the joint speech, he talked about a lot of situations, which made our joint speech vivid and specific.

The second joint speech, Wang Huide did not participate, only Yang Xiguang and I spoke on November 26.At this time, the Xinhua News Agency's "The Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China Announces: The Tiananmen Square Incident Is Completely a Revolutionary Movement" has been issued, and national newspapers such as "People's Daily" and "Guangming Daily" have published it.Yang and I want to use this incident to criticize the "two whatevers" and promote the Marxist philosophical principle that "practice is the only criterion for testing truth".

Before this joint speech, Jiang Yizhen and I exchanged opinions. He first spoke to criticize Wang Dongxing, then vice chairman of the Party Central Committee, and I echoed him.He spoke on the morning of the 26th, and Yang Xiguang and I made a joint speech in the afternoon. This time, Yang Xiguang gave the speech, and I interjected some words in the middle. At the Central Working Conference, Jiang Yizhen was the first to name and criticize Wang Dongxing in his speech.He said that he had worked with Wang Dongxing from the Long March to Yan'an, and his overall impression was good. He hoped that he would listen more to his criticisms, and then criticize Wang Dongxing for saying wrong things and doing wrong things during the "Cultural Revolution" He cited some examples from the health sector.Yang Xiguang and I will make a joint speech in the afternoon.We speak:

"In recent months, the general public has made public opinion preparations for the redress of the nature of the 'Tiananmen Incident', and there have been quite extensive discussions among the public. Thanks to the efforts of the broad masses, great progress has been made in the recent period. For example, Beijing Tong Huaizhou of the Second Foreign Language Institute persevered in promoting the revolutionary action of Tiananmen poetry and prose, and workers wrote and performed the drama "In the Silent Place", and many "Tiananmen incident" victims and heroes reported their struggle experiences and encounters, etc. Our propaganda front, including newspapers and "China Youth" magazine, has also done what it should do in this regard. However, when the general public demanded the "Tiananmen Incident" be rehabilitated, some people were there to criticize it. We I would like to cite one thing here, which is the speech made by Comrade Zhang Yaoci at the petition work conference on October 3. We did not attend that petition work conference. There may be discrepancies in what we heard. If there are discrepancies, Zhang Comrade Yaoci (note: he participated in this work meeting, he was a person in charge of the General Office of the Central Committee, and was an alternate member of the Central Committee at that time) can prove it. We have a letter from the readers of "People's Daily" at hand, which is a letter from the Central Compilation Bureau. Written by Comrade. The letter quoted Zhang’s speech when he mentioned the “Tiananmen Incident” as follows: “There were quarrels, and the “Tiananmen Incident” must be overturned. There are bad people in the “Tiananmen Incident”, otherwise why would they burn cars and rush into the Great Hall What about it? The "Gang of Four" persecuted the masses to mourn Premier Zhou, but there were also bad people who took the opportunity to make trouble. Chairman Hua said that the central government has regulations that do not mention this matter again, but some people want to write articles to reverse the verdict on the "Tiananmen Incident" and erect a monument , Said it was a revolutionary action, what did you say.' Judging from this passage, the intention is very obvious, which is to obstruct the public opinion of the masses."

Yang Xiguang went on to say on behalf of him and me: "Speaking of the 'Tiananmen incident', we can say one more thing. On June 15 this year, Vice Chairman Wang spoke to comrades in the propaganda department. There was a passage in it: 'The Washington Post also published an article , said there was a dispute over Chairman Mao’s body. Hong Kong newspapers published Premier Zhou’s exhibition, and there was the big-character poster urging the Premier to rest. The first big-character posters published included Mr. Kang and Xie Fuzhi. This time, the national pictorial was gone The Hong Kong newspapers published both big-character posters, saying that Kang Xie was the "Gang of Four". People are picking. Yu Huanchun of "People's Daily" made a big speech on the "Tiananmen incident" on June 8 at the CPPCC. Counter-revolutionary incidents, didn’t they oppose Chairman Mao and whom? This issue still needs to be published in a briefing report, which has already solved the problem. You want to review, who are you going to review? Yu Huanchun said that the "People's Daily" revealed a lot of facts during the movement, which shows that The "Gang of Four" made a lot of troubles in the "Tiananmen Incident", which is right, but Yu Huanchun said that Chairman Mao and the Politburo were both deceived by the "Gang of Four", so it was wrong! Chairman Mao's instructions were in the , Can this be overturned? Yu Huanchun said that in April this year, on the second anniversary of the "Tiananmen Incident", "People's Daily" compiled a special page of Tiananmen Poems, but the leaders refused to allow it to be published. It was attacking Chairman Hua, how could it be published? He said that the two of us were not allowed to ascend. This is criticizing Ulanhu and me. Yu Huanchun also said that the Tiananmen incident must be resolved, otherwise the people will not be fair. Some people think that overturning the "Tiananmen incident" will damage the banner of the great leader Chairman Mao , we say that Chairman Mao’s banner is to seek truth from facts, where there is opposition must be suppressed, and where mistakes must be corrected, the true overturning will make Chairman Mao’s banner even more glorious. He is a reporter for the "People's Daily" and a party member, not like a non-party member That's ignorant. Can a party member say that?'” After quoting Wang Dongxing, Yang Xiguang said: "Preventing people from speaking will not solve the problem. The issue of rehabilitating the nature of the 'Tiananmen Incident' should be resolved like this meeting." Then Yang Xiguang said: "In addition to me, comrades such as Zhang Pinghua, Zhu Muzhi, Huang Zhen, Zeng Tao, Hu Jiwei, Xiong Fu, Zhang Xiangshan, etc. who participated in this meeting were all present. What I mean by this passage is also to hope that Comrade Wang Dongxing can summarize his views on these Problem experience." In the joint speech of Yang Xiguang and myself, a passage of Zhang Yaoci's article "Practice is the only criterion for testing truth" was also exposed: "Some people are writing articles now. There are problems and they are very serious. Some articles point to Chairman Mao. Some people disagree with publishing the article "Practice is the only criterion for testing truth", and some people disagree with publishing it at this time. But some people say it is very good. Some people use Chairman Mao's words to criticize Chairman Mao. Some are not only targeting Chairman Mao but also Chairman Hua. Some force the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee to express their views. This trend is very strong, and it is not easy to resist. I told Zhang Pinghua, you are Minister of Propaganda, you have to grasp the direction. Some people say that you must understand Mao Zedong Thought comprehensively and accurately, but doing it is different.” Yang Xiguang said: "Comrade Zhang Yaoci is a deputy director of the General Office of the Central Committee. He is not in charge of propaganda work, and the petition meeting is not a meeting to discuss propaganda work. Why did he speak in such a tone?" In the joint speech, we pointed out that Zhang Yaoci said in his speech: “Some people say that Mao Zedong Thought can be understood comprehensively and accurately, but it is different in practice.” Our joint speech is very long, and we cannot quote it all. In the speech, we also criticized the "Red Flag" magazine and Xiong Fu, talked about Peng Dehuai's problem, supported the Central Committee to ask the Central Organization Department to thoroughly review the problem of Kang Sheng, and asked Li Xin to correct the problem. Kang Sheng's attitude and so on. On December 14, Wang Huide, Yang Xiguang and I made a joint speech for the third time, after listening to Hua Guofeng, Ye Jianying, and Deng Xiaoping's speeches at the closing ceremony.This speech was given by Wang Huide.In addition to expressing our attitude towards the success of the meeting, we focused on these few paragraphs about the standard of truth.We speak: "Comrade Hua Guofeng took responsibility for the discussion of the two 'everything' and the standard of truth, and set an example for everyone to conduct self-criticism in a realistic manner. The chairman of our party has the courage to criticize himself, which is of great significance. Tradition and the promotion of inner-party democracy will have a good impact on emancipating the mind and starting the machine. It should be said that this is also a sign of the prosperity of our party. "We fully agree with what Comrade Deng Xiaoping said. Regarding the issue of the standard of truth, it is actually a debate on whether to emancipate the mind. This is indeed an issue of ideological line, a political issue, and an issue related to the future and destiny of the party and the country." In that speech, we expressed our attitude towards Wang Dongxing’s written speech. We quoted Song Shilun’s speech in the Central South Group, expressed our agreement with Wang Dongxing’s mistakes listed in the speech, and said: "In discussing the issue of the standard of truth, Comrade Wang Dongxing not only has the issue of leadership responsibility, but also has an error in his ideological line. He denied the article "Practice Is the Only Standard for Testing Truth". Last time we had Talked about part of his speech at the meeting of the heads of propaganda units directly under the Central Committee on June 15. He also said something like this about that article: "The party spirit is not strong, accept the lesson, and the next one is not an example." Also at that meeting , What else did Comrade Wang Dongxing say 'It is reported that Comrade Deng Xiaoping brilliantly expounded Mao Zedong Thought, isn't Chairman Hua and Vice Chairman Ye's speeches incisive?' "At that meeting, he was also particularly disgusted with the special commentator articles published by various newspapers this year. He said, 'There are still some special commentators who write bad things. Who are the special commentators? I don't know. I heard that some of them are from the society. Some are from the Academy of Sciences, some are from the Party School, and some are from the Organization Department. There are problems with the articles of these special commentators'. "According to comrades of the "Red Flag" magazine, Comrade Xiong Fu said at the post-editorial meeting of the first issue of "Red Flag" on October 4 that Vice Chairman Wang read the article "Revisiting "On Practice" twice. , thought it was well written." This joint speech also revealed that the first issue of "China Youth" was notified to stop publishing just after it was printed, saying that it was instructed by Vice Chairman Wang.In summary, the joint statement concluded by stating: "Facts show that Comrade Wang Dongxing's mistakes are serious. As far as his current consciousness is concerned, it seems impossible to ask him to clarify these issues now. But we are really worried that Comrade Wang Dongxing's attitude , It will damage the unified will of the core leadership of the Party Central Committee. We suggest that the Central Committee urge Comrade Wang Dongxing to conduct further in-depth inspections.” In addition to the above-mentioned three joint speeches with me at the Central Working Conference (including two joint speeches with me and Wang Huide), Yang Xiguang also made a joint speech with Wang Huide.In these four joint speeches, each time they talked about the standard of truth. Regarding the discussion on the standard of truth, Hu Yaobang is of course the first contributor, Sun Changjiang and other comrades in the party school's "Theoretical Trends", Hu Fuming in Nanjing is the second contributor, and Yang Xiguang is also a key figure.However, I see that the recently published books on the discussion of the standard of truth did not mention Yang Xiguang’s activities in the Northwest Group at the Central Work Conference, so I provide these few speeches here, one to commemorate the deceased, and the other to provide Researcher Reference.