Chapter 12 political movement

The first large-scale political movement in the early days of liberation was the "three evils", "five evils" and thought reform movements.I took part in it with seriousness and piety.I will never embezzle a penny from the public in my life, and the "three antis" and "five antis" have nothing to do with me.But thought remolding, I think, my task is arduous and urgent.Generally speaking, it is bourgeois ideology; specifically, it can be divided into several items.First of all, before liberation, I came to a conclusion from my observation of the KMT: politics is dirty and filthy, and it is best to stay away from it.Secondly, I believe that Outer Mongolia was snatched by the former Soviet Union; the CCP was controlled by the Soviet Union.For thought remolding, I first examine and criticize these two ideas.At that time, checking one's thoughts in public was called "bathing", and there were three basins for "bathing", small, medium and large.I am the head of the department, and I have to wash the middle basin, that is, to conduct public inspections at the department-teacher-student meeting.Because I didn't have any public anger, I didn't get promoted to the "big basin", that is, I didn't check at the school-wide teacher-student meeting.

In the medium basin, the water is also hot enough.Everyone spoke very fiercely, some out of sincerity, some not necessarily.For the first time in my life, I passed through this formation, and every sentence was like a sharp arrow, shooting into my soul.However, because I seem to have become a Christian, with a pious sense of "original sin", it seems that the more intense the words, the more comfortable I feel. I am so comfortable that I am sweating, as if I am in a Turkish steam bath.After the conference finally allowed me to pass, I was so moved that I shed tears, felt light and healthy, and bourgeois thoughts seemed to be really cleared up.

There are still many devout believers like me, but there are also those who want to get away with it.There is a professor who washes large basins, small basins and medium basins. I don’t know how many times he has washed them.He broke the boat and wanted to pass the test in one fell swoop.The self-criticism was hearty, and he scolded himself bloody, and his bourgeois parents were affected. He said a lot of very nasty things to his parents.The crowd was greatly moved.However, by coincidence, the chairman caught a glimpse of his review draft written with a few big characters "crying" in red pen.Every time he came to this place, he cried loudly.As soon as the chairman made the announcement, the crowd went into an uproar.It goes without saying what the result is.

Then came the criticism of the movie "The Legend of Wu Xun", the criticism of "Early Spring and February", and the criticism of bourgeois academic thought. Hu Shi and Yu Pingbo were both on the list.The latter is to expose and criticize Hu Feng's "counter-revolutionary clique", which is a matter of conflict between the enemy and ourselves.Apart from Hu Feng himself, many people were involved, both in the art world and academia.Incidentally, a campaign to clean up historical counter-revolutionaries was carried out, and people who committed suicide were often heard.A car driver at Peking University told me that at such a time, one must be very vigilant when driving at night, lest someone jump out of the darkness and be willing to be a ghost under the wheel.

By 1957, the political movement reached its first climax.From the point of view of scale, from the point of view of momentum, from the point of view of the scope of involvement, and from the point of view of the duration, it is truly unprecedented. At first, it was only said that it was a rectification movement within the party, calling on everyone to give their opinions, "Speak everything you know, and talk endlessly."At that time, the prestige of the party was paramount.Many simple-minded people who love the party really expressed their opinions. Some of them said something that was not pleasant, but most of them did it out of sincerity, and they were caught by their braids and classified as rightists.According to the opinions of the "superior", the rightists deal with the contradiction between the enemy and ourselves as a contradiction among the people, and they vowed: the rightists will never reverse the case.

Some people who were caught by the braid suddenly realized: Didn’t it mean not to grab the braid, not to hit the stick, and not to wear a hat? Is this a conspiracy? The answer: No, this is not a conspiracy, but a conspiracy.At this time, it is too late to regret.Although those who wear the rightist hat are among the people, they are dissociated between the enemy and ourselves, and only rely on the gap between humans and ghosts. The taste is enough.Some people are not removed from their hats until twenty years later, but the old man is old.In any case, this proves that the Communist Party has the courage to correct its mistakes, and it is a manifestation of strength and confidence.

I don't know exactly how many rightists were drawn at that time.I heard that the rightists have quotas, and this quota reaches every grassroots unit. If it is not completed, it must be supplemented.Legend has it that many jokes have been made.Leave it alone.One thing opened my mind a little: this campaign, like the ones before it, was aimed at intellectuals.With a deep-rooted sense of "original sin", I wholeheartedly support this movement. By 1958, the vigorous counter-rightist movement was gradually coming to an end.However, the car could not stop, the horse could not stop, and a new movement was immediately launched, and this movement surpassed the previous ones in many ways.This time, both the spirit and the material must be grasped, not only to liberate the productive forces, but also to eliminate bourgeois ideology.The latter is mainly aimed at the professors in the school, and it is called "pulling the white flag" by the euphemistic name. "White" represents backwardness, retrogression, and bourgeois ideology, and is opposed to "red" which represents progress, revolution, and proletarian ideology.Some "bourgeois professors" in universities and the Chinese Academy of Sciences were ruthlessly raised the white flag.

The former is manifested in large-scale steelmaking.As for the people's communes, they seem to have both. "Communism is heaven, and the people's communes are bridges" was the most resounding slogan at that time, and the large-scale iron and steel smelting was actually a huge disaster.The people of the whole country responded to the call and searched for scrap iron everywhere and smelted it. There is nothing wrong with it.However, after picking up the scrap iron, in order to meet the quota, the complete ironware, including the cooking pot, was smashed into "scrap iron" and returned to the furnace for smelting.All over the country, the small furnaces for steelmaking are shining like stars, and they are always on day and night, making them a grand sight of the universe.However, what was smelted was a furnace of waste residue.

Everyone wants to go to heaven in the morning, so people's communes spread all over the country overnight, and when the grain harvest coincides, everyone eats with open belly.All personal stoves were removed, and they all ate together in the public canteen.Some grains rot in the ground and no one harvests them.The power of the mass movement is exaggerated to the limitless, and the power of man's victory over the sky is also exaggerated to the limitless.The sparrow was designated as one of the four evils, and people all over the country rose to fight it.The grain yield per mu is also infinitely exaggerated, from a few hundred catties, a few thousand catties, to tens of thousands of catties.Various places competed to cheat and release "satellites".Some people say that if the yield per mu is tens of thousands of catties, it is completely unbelievable that only wheat grains or grains in one mu of land will have to be spread thickly.

At that time, I was already forty-seven or eighteen years old, and I was no longer a child; I was a university professor with a higher education and had stayed abroad, but I firmly believed in all of this. "How bold a person is, how productive the land is", I firmly believe.In my heart, I still secretly laughed at those "cowards" who "have not liberated their minds", thinking that I am the only horse and the only one who can change. Three years of disaster followed.Is it really a "natural disaster"? From today's point of view, it may not be so.Anyway, everyone was starving.I suffered from starvation for five years in Germany, "there was too much water in the sea", and now I don't feel bad at all, and I haven't said a single strange thing.

From the perspective of the national situation, the policy at that time had already become so "left" that it could no longer be "left".It is said that the central government also intends to do so.However, at the Lushan meeting, Peng Dehuai suddenly appeared.He got into the "Wan Yan Shu" and said a few truths, which caused a catastrophe.So an anti-"Left" campaign turned into an anti-Right campaign.To this day, among the founding fathers, the one I most admire and respect is none other than General Peng.He is a rare tough guy who risked his life without flattery, representing the righteousness of the Chinese nation. Since the above calls for anti-rightism, then so be it.Intellectuals, after more than ten years of continuous exercise, have become "athletes", and have become experts in sports.This time I will punish you, next time you will punish me, everyone is used to this routine.So it was chaotic, sometimes loose and sometimes tight, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, all the way to the social education movement.