Chapter 5 chapter Five

The strike headquarters played a gimmick of "building plank roads openly and crossing old warehouses secretly". While mobilizing the educated youths to go north to petition with great fanfare, they quietly ambushed the members of the petition group, and then scattered and detoured to Kunming.On December 21, 1978, the first group of 14 educated youth petitioners arrived in Kunming by car or train.In the next few days, members of the petition group detoured to Lincang, Yuanjiang, and Qujing to arrive in Kunming one after another, and on the 25th they officially entered the guest house (Educated Youth Building) of the Yunnan Agricultural Reclamation Administration.In the following week, several short and sharp educated youth squads appeared on the streets of Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Chongqing.In the form of the "Four Freedoms" allowed at that time, they widely publicized the program of the educated youth petition group to the fathers, elders, brothers and sisters in their hometown, calling for a return to the city and giving out the road policy, in order to arouse the emotional resonance of the general public and the parents of the educated youth, so as to achieve cooperation in supporting the petition going north the goal of.

The educated youth began to take the initiative in the second round since the strike. "Comrades, uh, when I arrived in Kunming, I was very tired and worked hard. If you have any opinions or ideas, you can talk to me, 'I know everything, and I can talk endlessly'. Uh, I am also very happy, listen to comrades What do you think... The work of the provincial party committee, in some aspects, has not been done, uh, very satisfactory, such as the work of educated youth, there are some, uh, problems... We understand the feelings of comrades.But battles have to be fought one by one, and meals have to be eaten bite by bite.If everyone ran to Beijing, wouldn't Beijing be in chaos?Comrades, you still have to trust organizations at all levels, trust provincial committees, and solve problems on the spot...Democratic centralism is the principle that our party has always advocated. Democracy is the means, and centralization is the goal.Young comrades, I hope you will start from the overall situation of governing the country, and stop doing things that make your loved ones hurt your enemies... The Provincial Party Committee believes that your actions should not be repeated again and again. You must return to the farm as soon as possible to grasp the revolution. Promote production.The provincial party committee will instruct the local party committee to study and resolve your reasonable demands..."

A representative of the educated youth presented the mimeographed "Petition" and "Going North Manifesto" with both hands. "Comrades, don't dwell on the details, and trust the party's policy on educated youth." "May I ask the leading comrades, has the Provincial Party Committee informed the Party Central Committee of our request to go north to petition on behalf of 100,000 farm educated youths?" "Can you represent the 100,000 farm educated youth? Or can you represent the fundamental aspirations and interests of the majority of educated youth?"

"I don't intend to discuss the issue of representation with you. We have only one purpose, which is to report the situation to the leaders of the Party Central Committee." "I would like to point out that your actions are wrong." "Every Chinese citizen has the right to report the situation to the Party Central Committee. Your suppression of democracy is 100% wrong." "Okay, now I will send a phone call to my comrades. The General Office of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee has transferred the petition group of educated youth representatives. The central government does not agree with you to come to Beijing in principle. I hope you will return to the farm immediately to grasp the revolution and promote production, and cooperate with the local party committee. Do a good job in implementing the educated youth policy. General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.”

"..." There was silence. "Comrades, you must immediately stop all wrong actions that are not conducive to stability and unity, go back to the farm unconditionally, grasp the revolution and promote production, otherwise you will make even bigger mistakes." "Leading comrades, please tell the central government that we are shouldering the important task of 100,000 educated youths from farms in the border areas of Yunnan to go to Beijing to petition. Our determination is that we will never give up until we achieve our goals." "You go and inform the Banna State Party Committee and ask them to check the class origin and background of these people." The leading comrade ordered the secretary.