Chapter 32 sunrise and sunset

From March to early June 1958, I visited several capitalist countries in Europe, such as Britain, Italy, and Switzerland; from early October to the end of November, I visited the Soviet Union.I saw an extremely sharp contrast - on one side is the afterglow of the setting sun, and the twilight is heavy; on the other hand, the rising sun is shining brightly!The two visits lasted only about two months.But the two different impressions give me completely different feelings.What I have seen and heard in capitalist countries proves that the capitalist system is declining and rotting day by day, which has aroused my hatred for imperialists and capitalists, and my sympathy for the suffering working people in those countries.The visit to the Soviet Union deepened my understanding of the superiority of the socialist system and the achievements and progress of the Soviet Union's construction.The two impressions of the two visits gave me profound inspiration and education!

The first thing I went to were capitalist countries. In the big cities of these countries, vehicles and pedestrians come and go, shop windows are colorful, and neon advertisements are dazzling, but there are many people wandering outside the windows to watch, but few buyers.People who have been to Shanghai before liberation and Hong Kong now can understand this situation a little bit.A little further away from the city, the scars of the Second World War still remain.In the east of London, England, you can see decadent and desolate streets, collapsed closed houses and desolate shops.Outside the city of Rome, Italy, the poor lived under the bridge holes of the ancient waterway, and in the city of Milan, there were still poor people living in half-collapsed buildings.

Friends in Italy showed us the newly built residential buildings on the street with closed doors and windows. They were all built by "tile-eating" capitalists. The rent is very high, and ordinary working people cannot live in them.Not only are the residences built by the city government extremely small in number, but they are also difficult to move in unless there is an "inner line".In London, we have also visited the residential buildings built by the city government, but the number is small and the rent is expensive, which is far from the requirements of the people. In the big cities of the West, American low culture is overflowing—a British professor called it "Coca-Colaification"—and bookstalls and drugstores are filled with pornography and comic drawings.In bourgeois newspapers, in addition to a large number of product advertisements, the headlines are either reports of murder and robbery, or articles slandering socialist countries.The large-scale movie advertisements on the street are all pornographic and scary narratives and descriptions, and there is no smell of health and art!

If literary and artistic works are the barometer of the people's spiritual life, then the play written by the young British writer Osborne that we saw in England - the so-called "angrily review" that was "dropped on the London stage like a bomb" , we can see the general gray outlook on life of modern British young intellectuals, the helpless nostalgia and regret for the gradual reduction of the colonies; the fear of nuclear weapons in the future war, and the unwillingness to be enslaved by the United States...all the sorrow Horror, depression, hesitation, and despair combine to form a fire of so-called "anger", which is crazily erupting, but it is also just a weak fire that can only be extinguished in depression, sorrow and decadence!I once asked these writers such a question: "The important thing is not to 'look back angrily', but how to 'look forward'?"It is said that there are about eleven or two "angry" young writers in this school. Their works mainly expose the filth and darkness of the intellectual world, with pessimistic and low tones.Some old writers have gradually disappeared from the literary world, and some have degenerated into mysterious and pornographic works.Poems and short stories had no market, but romances and detective stories were extremely popular.In the National Gallery in London, we also saw many modern art works, which seemed unhealthy and meaningless, and some deformed and distorted body paintings made people feel a kind of physical disgust.On the fireplace walls of some scholars and poets, I also saw "national flag-style" pattern paintings, or huge blurred lines. Behind all the works, I can only see boredom, confusion, depression and sadness, but not a little bit of beauty and inspiration.

As for the intellectuals in contact with us, many of them don't know much about China.They often hold an attitude of suspicion, envy, or a respectful distance towards us.Today, they cannot and dare not deny China's great achievements, but they always attribute these achievements to China's traditional civilization and national character, not to the superiority of China's socialist system under the leadership of the Communist Party today. sex. When it came to the question of China catching up with the UK, they said with a wry smile: "We are at this speed, and you will do the same if you overtake us, and you will do the same if you don't." The decadent system of capitalism tightly limits their speed. What else could they say?

Of course, there are also progressives among the intellectuals, who are devoted to the peace movement and have great affection and respect for the peaceful working people in New China.As for the workers and peasants we have come into contact with, they express the deepest concern and great encouragement for our achievements and progress.For example, the farmers in Sicily, Italy, the workers in Turin, and the miners in Scotland and South Wales, treated us with great enthusiasm.They asked about the living conditions of the Chinese people in detail and applauded our construction achievements. We were very moved by their sincere class feelings.

Visiting places of interest in these countries is really almost all "historic sites". What I saw twenty years ago is still the same today. If the old view can not be changed, it is a place that can attract more tourists. Not only the scenery This is the case in the famous Italy, and it has been the case recently in the Great Britain of the Great Empire.A British friend told me: In the past, the British traveled abroad, but now Britain uses historical sites to attract foreign tourists.But when we visit their large museums, luxurious palaces, or beautiful garden villas, we think that the antiquities and artworks there are all plundered from various colonies or semi-colonies in the past. The exotic trees and tall buildings are all watered and built with the blood and sweat of the working people in the colonies and their own countries, and hatred will well up like a fountain.

During my two-month visit to the Soviet Union this time, the Chinese delegation participated in the Asian-African Writers Conference, held a meeting in Tashkent, the capital of the Uzbek Republic in Central Asia, and visited several cities in Uzbekistan after the meeting.Later, I participated in the Chinese Working People's Observation Group to Celebrate the October Revolution. After the ceremony, I visited the two republics of Belarus and Ukraine.Here, there is vigor and enthusiasm everywhere, which makes people feel the breath of spring in early winter! I have passed through Moscow, no less than seven or eight times in four or five years. Just entering the city from the airport, my perception is different every time. In fact, it is not only Moscow, but also Irkutsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, etc. There are also new buildings and new equipment every year at the station where the plane stops.The life of the Soviet people, just from the basic necessities of life I have witnessed, has improved significantly every time.This time I have just been to a capitalist country, and my impression is even more vivid in comparison.When visiting the city, I personally experienced how the Soviet people under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union healed the wounds caused by the fascist aggression with an arduous spirit.In the cities of Moscow, Leningrad, Minsk, and Kyiv, not only were there no scars, but many new large streets, large buildings, and residential complexes were greatly expanded.

(The Soviet Union will completely solve the housing problem in ten to twelve years. In 1958, about 8 million people were moving into new homes, and 800,000 new houses were built in the suburbs.) Moscow is more magnificent and beautiful than before .The heroic city of Minsk, the capital of Belarus, has been rebuilt, reminiscent of the story of "Phoenix in Fire".During the war in Minsk, there was only one house left in the city, and now a glorious modern city has appeared on the ruins!The streets are wide, the tall houses are connected with clouds, and the trees are shady. The edge of the city is still expanding, extending gas pipes, and greening.As for the area around Central Asia, it used to be a hungry grassland with backward peoples, but today it is a modernized area where the ground is covered with platinum (cotton) and the ground is covered with black gold (oil).The city built from the desert is like a big park, with verdant trees and bright flowers.

There are gurgling water and majestic buildings on both sides of the street, including theaters and museums named after the writers and poets of the nation; there are also bookstores filled with various books printed in the language of the nation.There are a variety of exquisite products on display in the store, and the customers are crowded when they get off work.There are rest parks everywhere in every city, where old people read and knit on benches, and children run around on the grass and under the trees.The statues and monuments in the park are not like capitalist countries, which commemorate feudal emperors or generals who have made great achievements in aggression, but art works with revolutionary history or social education significance, such as Lenin, Stalin, Pushkin, Gorky, Ma The statues of Yakovsky, Shevchenko, Frunze, etc. are all figures loved and loved by the Soviet people.

The great achievements in Soviet literature and art are well known to us, so it goes without saying.Yixue's works are always full of optimism and bravery, creating images of heroes fighting for communism; the same is true for paintings and sculptures.The most prominent aspect of literature and art, which is rare in capitalist society, is the general development of amateur literature and art, which is an important symbol of the Soviet people's better life and higher cultural level.We saw the performances of many amateur groups of various ethnic groups, all of which were wonderful and moving. In the factories, farms, and schools we visited-almost everyone could dance and sing.Speaking of this, I also thought of the general love of the Soviet people for Chinese literature and art. In the cultural programs of the welcome ceremonies in various places, they recited Lu Xun's works, played Chinese tunes, sang Chinese songs, and danced to Chinese music. dance.The people of the Soviet Union love the works of Chinese writers. A Soviet writer told me that during the era of the Soviet regime, the Soviet Union published 443 works by Chinese writers, with a total of 22.613 million volumes.They attach great importance to our country's socialist construction and care about our country's struggle against US imperialism's invasion of our territory Taiwan and Penghu.Among the Soviet people, we will never forget the fiery friendship of flesh and blood that we have received anytime and anywhere. During our visit to the Soviet Union, we were extremely excited to read the "Control Figures for the Development of the Soviet Union's National Economy from 1959 to 1965" announced by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The completion of this plan will greatly strengthen the power of the entire socialist camp and the defense of world peace. strength.At the same time, our motherland is also moving towards a socialist society at a rapid speed.The capitalist society is rotting day by day amidst decadence, sorrow, and fear; while the socialist country, which is flying the bright red banner of Marxism-Leninism, is getting better day by day.The comparison of the two social systems that I saw during my travels in the past six months provided the most powerful testimony to me. We Woke Up Spring". )