Chapter 6 The Great Union Sings: "Red Guards Group Song"

On April 3, 1967, Jiang Qing delivered a speech at the Capital Workers' Stadium, describing the Red Guard movement and organization in the early days of the "Cultural Revolution" as implementing a bourgeois reactionary line.Jiang Qing's speech immediately caused an uproar among the old Red Guards in Beijing.Because Jiang Qing's speech was a denial of all the historical achievements of the Red Guards during their founding period, including Mao Zedong's August 18 support for the Red Guards.Under the strong sentiment of resistance, the Old Red Guards in Beijing began planning to organize a large-scale commemorative performance on May 29, the first anniversary of the birth of the Red Guards.The old Red Guards from Beijing 101 Middle School began to compose and rehearse "Red Guards Songs".In less than two months, the horse was rushed and rehearsed urgently.

The author of "Group Songs": Guo Yongjun (a student of Class 10, Grade 2, No. 101 Middle School), is recognized as a talented person in the school.He wrote the lyrics, and the melody was completely adapted from the "Long March Suite".Guo Yongjun joined the army in 1969 and still writes poetry.In the Tibetan army, he once wrote old-style poems, which were circulated in the Northeast Corps, the third-line factory in Guizhou and other places through the internal channels of alumni. Previously, 101 also had experience in large-scale chorus. Before the "Cultural Revolution", the school organized "School History Singing" (No. 101 Middle School was a school for the children of cadres who moved from Zhangjiakou, a liberated area, to Beijing in 1949. It has a revolutionary school history), and there is a brass band.

In this performance, all participants were very involved.The Red Guards walked into the rehearsal field with sacred emotion.Lin Zhong, who participated in the group song performance that year and served as the female lead singer, said: "The atmosphere in the rehearsal field at that time was the same as the choir I saw in the cathedral in Canada later. Everyone had a solemn and holy attitude. Feelings, devotion to every rehearsal." As soon as the "Red Guards Group Song" was performed, it immediately caused a sensation in all middle schools.Propaganda teams from various schools asked for songbooks and librettos one after another, and handwritten copies and mimeographed copies appeared soon. While rehearsing the program in various schools in Beijing, "Songs of the Red Guards" quickly spread to Shanghai and other big cities and was staged , had a moderate impact across the country.

When Lin Zhong recalled the performance of "Red Guards Group Song", he said: "Every time there is a performance, the audience's emotions are enthusiastic, and soon many schools invite us to perform. At that time, the chorus was united as one, acting collectively Strictly disciplined, I remember going to a performance at the High School Attached to the Mining Institute, and the group walked back to school, like an army. When the "commander" gave an order, all the people sang together: "The drums sound, the flags are raised, the Red Guards, march forward...'"

The "May 29 Performance" to commemorate the first anniversary of the birth of the Red Guards was originally planned to be watched by tens of thousands of people at the Capital Stadium, and several large-scale programs were launched.But the Central Cultural Revolution did not approve, so this commemorative performance was changed to Tiananmen Square. "Songs of the Red Guards" was performed in Tiananmen Square by about 200 to 300 people, and there was also a band of dozens of people. The afternoon of May 29th was a cloudy day, the square was full of crowds, and there was no loudspeaker equipment at the performance site. The male and female lead singers had to work hard to make the sound spread farther.The entire performance was full of energy and achieved the expected success.

"Songs of the Red Guards" is a representative work of the old Red Guards in the literature and art of the Red Guards.All the choruses are based on the "Long March Suite", and the sentence structure remains unchanged.There are 14 songs in the set: Birth, Rebellion, Anti-Working Group, Meeting Chairman Mao, August Wind and Thunder, Series, Long March, Get Up and Go Forward, Anti-Liu Deng, Looking to the Future, etc. (1) Birth drums of war, fire bear, kill sound, The military flag is red. Soaring into the sky and crying ghosts and gods, Kill the heroic Red Guards. Smash the old stereotyped academic system,

Sweep the gangsters and make extraordinary achievements. The party gave a rebellious bone, There was a murderous look at each other. The chairman personally presented the battle flag, The young general sang Dongfanghong. Qi Chan: There are thousands of truths in Marxism, but in the final analysis, there is one sentence: Rebellion is justified.kill!kill!kill!Hey! ! This set of songs traces the deeds of the Red Guards: "The great tree rebels in the world, the 'Three Discourses' iron pen shakes the mountains and rivers." ""Thirsty to drink the clear spring water of Yanhe River, hungry to eat Jinggang pumpkin..."

Interestingly, there is also the content of "rebuking the linkage dog traitor" in the group song. In response to the mistakes made by the old Red Guards, a section was added to the group song: get up and move forward, expressing that "it is the first time to do it, and it is common to stumble". In the group songs, there are sentences with characteristics of the times: "Chairman Mao and I hold hands, "Passionate with tears." "Steel integrity, heroic courage, "Sprinkle blood and defend the country." "The revolution knows the burden is heavy,

"The rebellion feels more like the Chairman." "Red Square flags dance all over the sky, "There is a mournful sound from the breaking bell of the White House." The libretto of this "group of songs" was systematically copied, mimeographed, and sung by old Red Guards in many schools, often with as many as one or two hundred people.This kind of singing activity actually constitutes a loose circle of organizations between schools.At that time, the old Red Guards organized choirs in various urban areas, such as the Dongcheng District Chorus (formerly known as the China-Japan Youth Friendship Gala—the Chinese Red Guards Chorus) sang the "Long March Group Songs".It was under such an atmosphere that in the summer of 1967, the middle school attached to the foreign language school, supplemented by some old Red Guards from other middle schools, collectively created and performed the drama "Hope Is Pinned on You".

At the same time as the rehearsal of "Hope Is Pinned on You", the Old Red Guards also had a play of the same theme "A Page of History" rehearsing. "A Page of History" screenwriters: Lu Wei and Li Pingfen.The play puts the Red Guard movement in a big background to write.The style is similar to "political live newspaper drama", which is transformed by lighting.Later, the two plays were staged almost at the same time.