Chapter 8 chapter eight

In mid-January 1979, the wave of strikes by educated youths showed a resurgent trend. On January 12, Menggang Farm passed the "Strike Declaration" and "Letter to the Educated Youth on Farms in the Whole Province", and elected a strike leading organization.On the 13th, more than 10,000 educated youths on the farm went on strike.The educated youth posted big-character posters in the field department and the county seat, publicly criticizing the review of the "educated youth petition group to Beijing".On the 14th, the strike educated youth asked to call the central government to reflect the five demands of the strike educated youth, but was rejected.On the 15th, the strike headquarters unilaterally issued an ultimatum, restricting all cadres of the farm office to withdraw from the farm office within 12 hours, and the strike headquarters would move in and take over.On the 16th, some educated youths on strike forcibly entered the farm office and took over the radio station and telephone switchboard of the farm...

At the same time, led by Menggang Farm, more than a dozen neighboring farms announced strikes one after another.Menggang Farm became the storm center of the "third wave" of the educated youth strike movement. The deputy secretary of the provincial party committee came to inspect the farm, but was detained in the jeep and deported.A provincial mission posing as a central investigation mission was also expelled. The strike headquarters decided to escalate the strike from now on, and to call the central and provincial committees. If the real central investigation team does not arrive at Menggang Farm within three days and responds to the request of the educated youth, the educated youth at Menggang Farm will hold an unprecedented 1,000-person congress in the history of the Republic. Hunger strike.The command is determined to fight to the death.Slogan: "Don't go back to the city, or give me death!"

At 7:00 p.m. on the 23rd of January, the deadline for electrification had come, and the Central Investigation Team was still missing. At 9:00 p.m., the first batch of male and female educated youths (death fighters) who participated in the hunger strike, a total of 311 people, assembled in the open-air venue of the headquarters. After a solemn oath, they filed into the hunger strike site.The way of taking the oath is very Chinese. Each person has a bowl of wine, and the blood is an alliance, and then they all kneel down, facing their hometown, clenched their fists with their right hands, and vowed sonorously.This creates a very tragic and simple atmosphere, arousing people's heroic emotions of "the wind is cool, the water is cold, and the strong man is gone forever".

More than 10,000 educated youth gathered outside the iron gate of the guest house to see off their warriors, crying like rain and crying.They set up simple tents or grass huts outside, lit bonfires, and set up campsites, so as to support the actions of the hunger strike comrades at any time. In any case, at 9 pm on January 23, 1979, history will record this unusual moment.The educated youth movement has finally come to the crossroads of society and the development of the times: either return to the city or die.There is by no means a middle way.