Chapter 15 Chapter Thirteen

The petition and demonstration in 1947 won a complete victory because of the leadership of Zheng Shaobai and the "party organization" he created. The American inspectors of the "Rescue Agency" were very dissatisfied with the corruption and fraud in Dongfang Factory, and claimed that if this situation continued, the "Rescue Agency" would stop all relief supplies from Qingpu.As soon as the Americans got angry, the officials and masters of the Qingpu City Party Headquarters also got angry and ordered a thorough investigation.They arrested all the directors and vice-chairmen of the yellow labor union in Dongfang Factory, and distributed some of the flour, milk powder, and khaki cloth that had not been resold to the workers.

However, an independent trade union that truly represented the interests of workers was not established, and the Qingpu Social Bureau refused to approve it.On behalf of the Social Affairs Bureau, An Zhongliang made a public statement in the newspaper, saying: "...a small number of corrupt elements in the labor union of the Eastern Factory engage in self-interest and fraud. This is a personal corruption, and has nothing to do with the legal trade union representing the interests of workers. The law of the country should be brought to justice, and the Dongfang Factory trade union should be supervised and rectified, so there is no reason for the establishment of the new trade union, and there is no need to establish it..."

New legal and open trade unions have not been established, but illegal and secret trade unions have been established.It was established after the wave of petitions subsided, and by the end of the next year, more than 3,000 workers had been contacted.During this period, the "party organization" established by Zheng Shaobai also grew from the initial seven to twenty-three.The composition has also changed. It is no longer all the workers in the factory. A few progressive employees and two primary school teachers outside the factory also joined the party on the recommendation of Wang Yong and others.At this time, the person in charge of the party organization became Wang Yong. The practice of struggle proved that compared with young people like Wang Yong, Zheng Shaobai, an "old comrade", was indeed outdated.Zheng Shaobai didn't complain, let alone be jealous, and he didn't show his face in everything. Therefore, in March 1949, Shao Xiaogang and several party members were arrested, and when the Kuomintang military police arrested the Communist Party in the whole factory, no one suspected him.

Accumulating the experience of joining the revolution twice before, Zheng Shaobai feels that he has become more mature now. In March 1949, the defeat of the Kuomintang was confirmed. The Dongfang Factory was ordered by the relevant authorities of the Kuomintang to withdraw to Taiwan. The underground party organization presided over by Wang Yong decided to reverse the evacuation, organized workers to protect the factory, and formulated "protect the factory and welcome the liberation of Qingpu". work goals.Only then did the Kuomintang and the Communist Party notice the existence of the underground party in the Dongfang Locomotive Works.On the one hand, the Kuomintang military and police authorities strengthened the vigilance of the military factory, and on the other hand, they arrested people wantonly. It was at this most serious moment that Shao Xiaogang and other party members met secretly in the factory and were caught by the spies.The arrest of Shao Xiaogang and others attracted the attention of the Qingpu Underground Working Committee of the Communist Party of China, and they immediately sent people to connect through their connections.

The connector was a young woman in her thirties named Li Xiuwen, who claimed to be a music teacher at Qingpu Girls' Middle School.She did not know how to find Wang Yong in the factory first, and then found Zheng Shaobai through Wang Yong. She wanted to examine Zheng Shaobai's own party membership and the grassroots organization of the Communist Party that Zheng Shaobai had established. Zheng Shaobai panicked for a moment, and then suddenly remembered that when Gao Ming came to talk to him in the 27th year of the Republic of China, he wanted him to accept the party's test and rejoin the party, and he did not admit that he was still a member of the Communist Party after leaving the party.Therefore, it is very difficult for the party members introduced by him to join the party and his party organization to be recognized by the underground working committee. If this is the case, he will get into big trouble.The KMT treats the party he built as a genuine Communist Party. If the Communist Party’s working committee draws on the bottom line again, his two years of revolutionary achievements in the Dongfang Factory will be over, and Wang Yong and the others will also be cheated.

In March of that year, the Communist Party had already shown signs of being in power.A nagging old blacksmith pushed it out on the pushback map, saying that the change of dynasty was just around the corner.Now that the change of dynasty is imminent, Zheng Shaobai certainly cannot give up this revolution in vain.Therefore, Zheng Shaobai bit the bullet and insisted that he joined the party through the introduction of Mr. Gao Ming in 1925, and he was ordered to only have individual contact with Mr. Gao.Therefore, it is impossible for the Qingpu Working Committee to know about their activities.Now that the working committee thinks highly of Zheng Shaobai, he can accept the unified leadership of the underground working committee, and is willing to incorporate his party organization into the organizational system of the Qingpu working committee.

The first review was mainly to listen to his statement. Li Xiuwen from the working committee only took a pen and paper to record. After writing it down, Li Xiuwen asked him to sign. on paper. I don’t know if it was a week or ten days later, Li Xiuwen came again and said to Zheng Shaobai on behalf of the Work Committee: The Work Committee still cannot recognize the legality of the underground party organization of Dongfang Factory, so it cannot admit that the party organization of Dongfang Factory is a labor organization. A grassroots organization under the leadership of the committee.However, according to the current investigation and understanding, the quality of the existing party members in the Dongfang Factory is basically good, and they have achieved results in the struggle against the enemy. They are fundamentally different from the few complex groups that appeared in other factories that claimed to be the Communist Party.The working committee can maintain necessary contact with the underground party of Dongfang Factory and guide its work.As for the legitimacy of this party organization and its twenty-three party members, we will wait until objective conditions permit to make a conclusion.

Zheng Shaobai heaved a sigh of relief, it is not bad to win this step. Later, Li Xiuwen came and went frequently as the liaison between the working committee and Dongfang Factory.Zheng Shaobai, Wang Yong and others kept reporting to her the plans and progress of the anti-migration struggle, asking for clear instructions.Instructions from the working committee continued to be sent to Dongfang Factory through Li Xiuwen. At the beginning, the working committee asked the party organization of the Dongfang Factory to mobilize the masses of workers, using the slogan "Protecting the factory is to protect the rice bowl" as the slogan. While organizing the masses of workers to protect the factory, they paralyzed the enemy.Then he proposed that the factory guards should stand together with the workers, secretly arm the workers, and prepare to organize a general strike in the name of asking for relocation fees when the enemy forcibly relocated, and armed occupation of the factory.The Working Committee stated that the Working Committee will mobilize external support for this.

This is the most proud period in Zheng Shaobai's life.These years are closely connected with the fiery years of the 1925 General League strike, which made his resume full of red lights.The illegal party organization of Dongfang Factory and the party workers and colleagues are up to date, and he personally is doing his best.The anti-migration struggle, which lasted more than half a year, was carried out with great vigor and vitality.So much so that after Qingpu was liberated, even when the working committee made conclusions for them, they had to admit that the party organization in the Dongfang Factory, which was not approved by the working committee, was very effective and had a tough life. The grassroots organization of any party under the leadership of the working committee is poor.

In fact, after contacting the Qingpu Underground Working Committee, Dongfang Factory's anti-relocation struggle was carried out under the specific guidance of the Underground Working Committee.Due to the appropriate measures taken by the Work Committee, at first, the Kuomintang authorities did not realize that there were Communist Party activities in it. They arrested Shao Xiaogang and others from Dongfang Factory, thinking that the Communist Party organization in the factory had been destroyed.Later, when the dock workers, railway workers and Dongfang factory workers went on strike at the same time and refused to ship and load the equipment dismantled by the military factory, they realized that the underground working committee of the Communist Party had intervened. It's too late.On the third day after the joint strike of workers from all walks of life began, more than 7,000 workers of the Dongfang Factory and hundreds of factory police who won over armed and occupied the entire Dongfang Factory except the military factory. The police staff are given severance pay of ten months' wages each, and vow not to leave the factory.The military and police authorities in Qingpu panicked. While asking the workers and factory police to send representatives to negotiate, they threatened to send troops to suppress the incident.The Qingpu Security Command urgently ordered a regiment of soldiers to drive outside the Dongfang Factory, occupied the high-rise buildings around the factory, and was ready to attack the factory at any time.

When the situation was at its worst, it was the Qingpu Work Committee who rescued them.On the second day of the armed confrontation, the Work Committee issued a "Message to the People of the City", calling on the people of the city to mobilize urgently to carry out strikes, school strikes, and city strikes, resolutely protect the people's city and people's property, and welcome the liberation of Qingpu. Under the organization of the Work Committee, in just a few days, Qingpu became noisy, and a situation that was even more lively and spectacular than the 1925 General League strike quickly emerged.The Qingpu authorities were struggling to cope with the turbulent labor and student riots, and had no time to take care of the occupation of the Dongfang factory.However, the regiment of soldiers in the garrison headquarters did not withdraw, and the real threat was not eliminated.The Communist Party members of the Dongfang Factory and the leaders of the underground trade union decided to use offense as defense, using the armed forces of the factory police and weapons made by the workers to beat the soldiers away.After hearing the report from Wang Yong and Zheng Shaobai, the working committee did not agree and asked them to stay in the factory area and wait for the instructions of the working committee.They only found out later that at that time the Work Committee had sent people into the garrison headquarters and was planning an uprising of officers and soldiers of the Qingpu garrison.The garrison commander and some senior officers of the headquarters have made it clear that they will never shoot at the factory workers at the Dongfang Factory at any time and under any circumstances. Therefore, the spectacular scene of the confrontation between the two armies was actually unexpected dangerous. On October 3, 1949, when the People's Liberation Army was approaching the city, the Qingpu garrison finally announced the front line uprising.The struggle to protect the Dongfang factory was declared a victory at the same time as the whole city was declared liberated.The third regiment of a certain unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army marched into the factory area amidst the warm cheers of thousands of workers at the Dongfang Factory. A big and dusty regiment leader announced on behalf of the Qingpu Military Management Committee: Qingpu Dongfang Locomotive Factory has since returned to the hands of the people. Zheng Shaobai knew Gao Ming from the mouth of the big head.The head of the big man also learned about the historical relationship between Gao Ming and Zheng Shaobai from Zheng Shaobai.The head of the big man took the initiative to bring Zheng Shaobai to the Municipal Military Control Committee.At this time, Gao Ming, the director of the Qingpu Military Control Committee, was already very busy. Zheng Shaobai waited in the corridor of the city hall for no less than three hours before being brought to Gao Ming by the staff of the Military Control Committee. Gao Ming was very enthusiastic. He pushed Zheng Shaobai on the chair opposite him and sat down. He made him a cup of hot tea. Before he could speak, he talked eloquently: "Shaobai, I know all about your situation! You are not depressed. Go on, and finally join the torrent of the cause of proletarian liberation! This is very good! Most of the Dongfang Factory can be returned to the hands of the people intact. You and the workers and comrades of the Dongfang Factory have made great contributions! My old man My friend bows to you!" After finishing speaking, Gao Ming really took off his military cap carelessly, and bowed ninety degrees to Zheng Shaobai. Zheng Shaobai's face immediately turned red, and he desperately searched for revolutionary words, and said to Gao Ming: "Mr. Is it okay if you don’t make some contributions to the cause of liberation? In 1947, I joined forces with Wang Yong and the others. The Kuomintang reactionaries are reactionary and corrupt, and we workers must overthrow them. Hey, Director Gao, do you still remember Wang Yong?” Gao Ming asked, "Which Wang Yong?" "Hey, it's... the son of the martyr Wang Shousong who died! In 1938, you gave them a hundred dollars!" Then Gao Ming remembered: "It's him! Good! Good! He is worthy of being the son of a martyr. Like a father, like a son!" Gao Ming was obviously very busy, and he started looking at his watch just after saying a few words. Zheng Shaobai was very witty, knowing that now is not the time to chat, he hurriedly stood up and said, "Mr. Gao, you are busy! I...I have to go!" Only then did Gao Ming remember to ask: "Hey, Shaobai, you came to see me, is there something wrong?" Zheng Shaobai nodded hurriedly, hesitatingly said: "Director Gao, there is something really wrong, I...I want you to be a witness, you introduced me to join the party in 1925, and you came to see me again in 1938, right? ...But now the Qingpu Working Committee does not recognize me as a party member, nor...does it recognize Wang Yong and the others as party members!" Gao Ming smiled: "I've heard about this too. The working committee has reported it specifically. You Zheng Shaobai are really confused! How can you create a Communist Party just by talking about yourself! It's all like your brother, we What does the Communist Party look like? Seriously speaking, this is a big question of principle! Not only do we not recognize the progressive Communist Party, but we have to arrest it! Just yesterday, we arrested them all. !" Zheng Shaobai's face turned pale with fright: "What? Arrest? Also... arrest me too... us?" Gao Ming put his hand on Zheng Shaobai's shoulder: "You are so confused! You are not the same as them, why would you be arrested? To tell you the truth, I have already explained it to the comrades of the working committee, we must seek truth from facts, Respect historical facts! Since your comrades workers in Dongfang Factory have played the active role that Communist Party members should play in the severe struggle for liberation, you should re-join the party after careful inspection and formal procedures!" Zheng Shaobai breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly said to Gao Ming: "Director Gao, thank you! Thank you!" Only then did Zheng Shaobai really leave, and before leaving the house, Gao Ming patted him on the shoulder and made a joke: "Shaobai, you are not an easy guy, you built a Communist Party organization by yourself, my old Gao didn't You have such a great style!" Later, Zheng Shaobai's party membership was recognized.After the first Qingpu Municipal Party Committee after liberation went through a strict review, Zheng Shaobai and the party members who were recruited by him completed the party admission procedures, and approved the party membership of most of the comrades.Zheng Shaobai also served as the chairman of the Dongfang Locomotive Works trade union established later as a veteran worker and party member. At that time, the true face of Zheng Shaobai's betrayal of the revolution had not yet been revealed.