Chapter 26 Section 2 Mysterious figures secretly manipulating the student movement

When the military and political officials in Yunnan performed a "public trial" of bombing criminals, at 9:00 am on the 4th, Ye Qisun, who was in charge of school affairs on behalf of Mei Yiqi, convened a meeting of professors at the Tsinghua Office to discuss the issue of student unrest.Ye Qisun served as the chairman of the meeting, and Wen Yiduo, a professor of the Chinese Department, was responsible for recording as a clerk.The professors debated fiercely on whether the student unrest should end as soon as possible, or continue to expand with embellishments.A faction of professors represented by Wen Yiduo, Pan Guangdan, Wu Han, etc. advocated to expand the student movement and compete with the authorities, causing him to turn his back on his back and change the color of the world.Another faction of professors, represented by Yao Congwu, the head of the Three Youth League, expressed strong opposition and urged an end to the student unrest as soon as possible and restoration of campus order.The views of the two factions are supported by the political backgrounds of the Communist Party and the Kuomintang respectively, so the entire professors conference has actually evolved into a competition and negotiation between the representatives of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party placed in the UN General Assembly.The two sides came and went, fighting with each other, not giving in to each other, and finally there was a situation where "the air was tense and on the verge of splitting".

Regarding the specific time when the Three Youth League and the Chinese Communist Party penetrated Southwest Associated University and formed a climate, according to available data, it originated in 1938.On July 9 of this year, the Youth League of the Three People's Principles was established in Chongqing, with Chiang Kai-shek as its head and Chen Cheng as its secretary. At the end of September, the Preparatory Office of the Party Headquarters of the Southwest United University of the Kuomintang and the Southwest United University Branch of the Three People's Principles Youth League was established, with Yao Congwu, a professor of history, as the director of the preparatory office.Not long after, Yao Congwu served as the Secretary-General of the Party Committee of the district directly under it, and Chen Xueping, director of the Education Department, served as the director of the Youth League Branch.In order to strengthen team building and play a role.The Party and Youth League departments led by Yao and Chen respectively set up special offices in the United Teachers College, and the Three Youth League also arranged a "Zhongzheng Room" in the new school building, displaying magazines such as "Central Weekly" and "Literary Pioneer". It is open every afternoon, and publishes the "Youth" poster at the same time, and publishes the posters such as "Group Voice" and "Twelfth Moon" sponsored by the student associations, as well as other posters that are tit-for-tat.Also in October of this year, the underground temporary branch of the Southwest Associated University of the Communist Party of China was established. In the spring of 1939, the Yunnan Provincial Working Committee of the Communist Party of China approved the formal establishment of the Underground Party Branch Committee of the Southwest Associated University of the Communist Party of China and started its activities.

As the nature of the two factions is different and the factions and groups with different doctrines rise up in the General Assembly, the purely academic atmosphere in the past has been broken, and an increasingly thick political atmosphere has shrouded the entire campus.The two forces are fighting openly and secretly, and they will always eliminate each other until they reach an inextricable stalemate.The rivalry between these two political forces not only played a vital role in the resurgence and extinction of the Southwest Associated University student movement, but also laid the groundwork for the "December 1" massacre that shocked China and the world.

According to the "Wen Yi's Years of History" edited by Sun Wenliming, the head of Wen Yiduo, when the Kunming Student Union decided to hold a lecture on the evening of December 25, it had invited Wen Yiduo, Wu Han, and others who were considered radical at the time. Professors sent or called "leftists" attended.After hearing the news, the Yunnan underground party organization of the Communist Party of China sent someone to instruct Wen and Wu: "In order to expand influence and personal safety, we should appropriately reduce public appearances and do more work below. More people stand up and speak out, which is beneficial to the struggle" and so on.Wen and Wu followed this instruction and did not attend the speech that night (Note from the South: Wen Yiduo was listed in Tang Zong's diary).However, when Yunnan University refused to lend the auditorium due to pressure, and the lecture was about to come to an end, Wen Yiduo strongly advocated changing it to the playground of the United Nations University, which eventually led to this matter.

The mysterious person who was in contact with Wen Yiduo, Pan Guangdan, Wu Han and other professors at that time was a sophomore student at Southwest Associated University named Hong Deming.This person is from Linli County, Hunan Province. He joined the Communist Party in his early years and served as the deputy director of the Political Department of a regiment of the New Fourth Army. When Chiang Kai-shek ordered the destruction of the base camp of the New Fourth Army in the Southern Anhui Incident, Hong was captured due to serious injuries and escaped successfully. In 1944, Hong was admitted to the Southwest Associated University and founded the Democratic Youth League. He was the main person in charge of the underground party of the Southwest Associated University, under the direct leadership of Hua Gang, the head of the Kunming side of the Southern Bureau of the Communist Party of China, and the underground Yunnan Provincial Working Committee.Later, the CCP established a general party branch and two subordinate branches at the United Nations General Assembly. Yuan Yongxi served as the secretary of the general branch (according to the south: in 1947, Yuan married Chen Lian, the daughter of Chen Bulei), and Hong Deming and Ma Shitu respectively served as branch secretaries. Students, against the KMT's rule in the school.Wen Yiduo, Wu Han and other professors took the initiative to draw closer to the CCP politically, and unconditionally obeyed the direct command and dispatch of Yuan, Hong and other underground CCP students.According to Hong Deming’s recollection: “Late at night on the night of the tragedy, after I arranged the work, I went to meet Wu Han and Wen Yiduo. As soon as the three of them met, they couldn’t help but burst into tears and choked up. Then we exchanged information and discussed work together. Wen , Mr. Wu said that the work of the Professors Association, the cooperation of the Democratic League, and the mobilization of the cultural and educational circles are in charge of the two of them. They introduce the situation to me every day. If you have any opinions and requests from the Democratic Youth League and the Strike Federation, you can entrust them to handle them. (Southern Press: According to the instructions of the CCP, Hong is also in charge of the union strike work.) According to the instructions of the Party, I reported to the two of them the deployment of how we will expand and persist in the struggle. They both expressed their full agreement and full support. Mr. Wen also said: "Don't discuss major matters with the Minqing first, and never casually express to the outside world." The faction that confronts Wen Yiduo and others is the backbone of the Kuomintang right-wing group headed by Yao Congwu, director of the History Department of the United Nations University.Although Yao's appearance resembles that of a Henan farmer, as Fu Sinian said, he "appears to be loyal on the outside, but in fact he is suspicious".It is such a humble and down-to-earth person who may have been influenced by the geographical environment in his childhood. Like many of his fellow countrymen, he is very interested in politics and the life of politicians, and he does his best to speculate. In 1940, Fu Sinian mentioned in a letter to Hu Shi, "Only Congwu is messing around. This person is close to running the Youth League, and he is self-satisfied...I really can't bear it, so I broke up with him", etc., referring to this person.Although Fu was very unimpressed with Yao's actions, Yao continued to work complacently, running the Youth League in a good and colorful way, which was highly valued by the Kuomintang Provincial Party Headquarters and the upper echelons.Yao Congwu, who was new to politics, saw that the group had made some gains, and began to take charge of the formation of the Kuomintang Party Headquarters of the Southwest Associated Congress in full swing. Politically, he was likely to break out of the Associated Assembly and skyrocket.

When the student unrest broke out on November 27, Yao began to send express letters to Minister of Education Zhu Jiahua to report the situation of the student unrest in Kunming and the countermeasures he took in the name of the head of the Kuomintang and the Three Youth Leagues of the Southwest Associated University.Neizhong said, "According to the comrades in the regiment: eight or nine hundred people from the neutral faction have signed the petition as of the 27th."According to Yao's observation and analysis at the time, as long as there is no excessive stimulation of students, things can still be done.Therefore, it is quite far-sighted to think: "We should contact Cixiu (Southern Press: Chen Cheng), the Minister of Cixiu (Southern Press: Chen Cheng), Comrade Qiu Zhu, Comrade Wang Zheng (Southern Press: Director of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Education) and the person in charge of the university youth league department. , separate 'end strike' from 'preventing reactionary', give priority to politics, military repression as secondary, do not act at will. Stimulating the masses at will is not beneficial to reality and will only increase difficulties. Do not interfere." He also said: "In addition to contacting the person in charge of the school for instructions, we should send a special letter to Zhou Meisun (South Press: Zhou Binglin) and Zhang Xiruo, and ask the two gentlemen to contribute their opinions and cooperate with them. Because Meisun really has some The ability to suppress, Mr. Zhang still has the faith of the students. As for Duansheng, there are many bad things, and it is easy to be used. Also, CP (Southern Press: The English abbreviation of the Communist Party) is desperate and will do its best to make trouble. If it is suppressed this time, it may be permanent. .”

To Yao Congwu's great disappointment, the local military and political officials did not act according to the "profound foresight" of his self-proclaimed Nanyang Zhuge Kongming. His warning may not have reached Zhu Jiahua's hands, and the tragedy came unexpectedly. Members of the UNGA party and caucus feel frustrated and dissatisfied.Despite this, Yao Congwu still proceeded from safeguarding the interests of the authorities and tried his best to prevent the spread of the student movement.From the series of letters he sent to Zhu Jiahua and others before and after the incident, we can clearly see the context of Yao's political orientation and the attitude of the Kuomintang organization in the university at that time.

Contrary to Yao's actions, according to the instructions of the CCP's underground party organization, Wen Yiduo and others want to expand and continue the strike struggle.Therefore, at the faculty meeting chaired by Ye Qisun on December 2, Wen Yiduo not only supported the student strike, but also urged all professors to strike in solidarity with the student demonstrations.This proposal was strongly resisted by Yao Congwu and others, and finally it was rejected by "delaying the discussion on the strikeout issue".This move made Wen Yiduo very unhappy. Both sides were furious, and they were gathering strength behind their backs, preparing to fight again.

At the professors' meeting held on the 4th, Wen Yiduo, Pan Guangdan, Wu Han and others brought up the old story again, and urged all the professors of the United Nations University to go on strike to support the student movement and put pressure on the government.This move was also strongly resisted by some professors from the Kuomintang, headed by Yao Congwu.As far as the situation at that time was concerned, due to the environment in which the professors lived, the vast majority of them obviously neither approved of Chiang Kai-shek's indiscriminate and severe measures, nor did they approve of the violent actions taken by Li Zonghuang, Guan Linzheng and others.They think that the school can temporarily suspend classes, but they cannot announce the suspension of teaching according to the opinions of Wen Yiduo and others. The reason is that a university is a university after all. Battle for geomantic treasures and strategic strongholds or what are called "fortresses".After 6 hours of verbal confrontation, the two sides were tied, and the discussion was still fruitless.There are a large number of Kuomintang professors in the UNGA, but there are obvious differences in how to deal with the student unrest.One faction is strongly anti-Communist, so it is believed that the occurrence of student riots is the result of the CCP’s secret instigation or instigation, and advocates dividing students and isolating "alternative" elements, so that they have no chance to take advantage of.The other faction is generally on the side of the Nationalist government. Because they hate the Kuomintang, they have some sympathy for the students. They believe that the root cause of the student riots is the arbitrariness and barbarism of the local authorities. Therefore, it is not advocated to confront the authorities in a violent way.In view of the uncompromising and self-righteous tough attitudes of various factions, Ye Qisun, the chairman of the meeting, finally proposed to decide the winner by voting.The result was a total of 82 people who joined the meeting that day, 61 voted in favor of class suspension, and only 19 voted in favor of school strike.The resolution reached at the final meeting was: from now on, the school will suspend classes for seven days, express condolences to the students who died, condolences to the injured teachers and students, and protest against the illegal and violent measures of the local authorities.

This decision means that Wen Yiduo and others have lost consecutive battles on the issue of school strikes, while Yao Congwu and others have finally escaped danger and won in the end.In this regard, Yao was complacent, and his excitement began on the 11th of the same month when he sent a letter to Chen Xueping, the director of the Education Department of the United Nations University, who was handling the demobilization of Peking University, Chen Xueping, the director of the Southwest United University Branch directly under the Central Committee of the Three Youth League of the Kuomintang, and the General Secretary of the United Nations University. , Zheng Tianting, a professor of history, can see it in the letter.The letter said:

Brother Xueping: Yisheng's wish for "the chaos in the United Nations General Assembly" suddenly came true on November 25th, and it was extremely painful!The details cannot be detailed without ten papers.Here is an outline first, to comfort my hope.On the 25th, the students held a symposium on current affairs, and invited Duansheng, Qiyuan, Ximeng, Yiduo, Fei Xiaotong, etc.He also pushed Ximeng as the guide and Qiyuan as the lecturer, with two intentions, one is to show strength, and he hopes to make trouble in the rear, divert the garrison from the north, and complete C. p.A conspiracy to separate the Northeast.The second is to change the views of the students in an attempt to continue to control the student union (since the publication of the article in Dagong Pao criticizing the CCP, the whole situation may indeed change). On the afternoon of the 25th, Hua Chi participated in a joint meeting held by the Garrison Command.He came back and said they advocated severe intervention.I immediately went to find Ximeng, but Ximeng was not present that night. He heard gunshots at 9:00 p.m., and Hua Chi said, "Oops! I hope I'm not at the United Nations University!" .At that time, the classmates and professors were very angry. Not only could we not save the strike, but we could only support it along the way.On the 26th, Cheng Tao, Gao Naixin, Zhang Xizhi and others came.It was decided to adopt a strategy of differentiation, and only added the words "Soviet non-interference in China's internal affairs" to the second requirement, the withdrawal of U.S. troops, to see the reaction of the whole school.Separate activities, hoping to gain something.By the morning of the 27th, more than 960 people had signed and agreed.In the afternoon, a general meeting was held to discuss, but because the organization was not strict, it was destroyed by troublemakers.But the forces of neutral elements are still increasing.The school also decided to use the name of the general assembly to advise everyone to attend classes.Even more unfortunate at this time, Li Zonghuang, Guan Linzheng (more than enthusiastic, but poor knowledge!) and Qiu Qingquan organized an anti-strike committee (chaired by the branch and party headquarters, backed by the Fifth Army), and Students tear up.On December 1st, they actually broke into the school (the new school building, the Teachers College, the Engineering College, Yunda), and threw grenades. The tragedy that the troublemakers hoped for, they actually caused it for others!From one day on, the students who didn't care about the work also got up, and the teaching assistants and teachers, in conjunction with the teachers of the attached high school, organized a lecturer and teaching assistant union to participate in the activities.The six coffins were parked in the library. On the one hand, they were collecting donations (the engraved amounted to more than 7 million yuan, and Mrs. Long donated 500,000 yuan).Fortunately, on the 4th, the professors' association made a general decision to reject the strike and instead suspend classes for 7 days. It can be seen that the professors are on the side of the government, and the students' arrogance has improved slightly (the meeting started at 9:00 on the 4th and ended at 3:00 p.m. , 82 people attended, 61 votes were in favor of suspension, and 19 votes were in favor of strike. The original text of the resolution: 1. Suspend classes for seven days, express condolences to the students who died, express condolences to the injured professors and students, and express sympathy to the violent local authorities. Second, continue to persuade students to attend classes. Third, organize a legal committee to punish murderers and other accusations).The professor will be wonderful and tense, which can be described as unprecedented.Yiduo claimed to be against the government.Meisun's speech also greatly increased in strength, and was supported by almost all the audience.Duansheng performed the worst.Xi Ruo is still swearing.They actually made Meisun a righteous faction. ... After the school strike broke out, I called Hua Chicao and reported to the Central League Headquarters. At the same time, I directed Cheng Tao and others to carry out the division work. After the tragedy happened, He Huachi ordered his comrades to stop their activities. More than a dozen people including Cheng, Sun, and Zhang advocated canceling the branch group and changing it to secret activities in order to save it.Cai Linbi's behavior is quite absurd, and he has already warned Hua Chite.Gao Yunshang and Zhou Shen led the participation and were accused of being the culprits.Afterwards, the party promoted the group, and the group promoted the party, full of ugly appearances, extremely ridiculous!Qiu Qingquan was very natural.I have a relationship with Lao Zheng who stayed in Germany, and tried to dissuade him again and again, but to no avail.His righteous indignation is admirable (they say that students put up slogans, let soldiers go home, make people not pay food, the Communist Party blocked the railway, and prevented Commander Du from taking over the Northeast. Isn’t it a rebellion? We have the obligation to stop or sanction! We Can't listen to their nonsense!).But killing a neutral student, isn't that a trick of the enemy?They don't know this.The expansion of the storm is all due to the blind venting of anger by the soldiers. If the storm can be resolved, it will all depend on the president's heroic decision.The so-called party and regiment, as far as Yunnan is concerned, the command is not unified, and the knowledge is very humble. There is really no party organization and no ability for political struggle.As far as this student movement is concerned, C. p.Possibly a total victory!The younger brother has witnessed it himself, and he is very angry!Hua Chi and I plan to have a special talk with Ni Wenya to conduct a detailed review, and we really don't want to ask anything from now on! This fad is so bizarre.If we can stop here and maintain the three schools, the attitude of the professors' association is really an important key.Professors are virtually divided into two systems.One is the left wing of the Kuomintang, represented by Meisun, Ximeng, and Zizhao.One is C. p. , represented by Yiduo (Yiduo is not C.P., but he stands on the far left side, openly opposes the government, and says he can command the student union).Wu Chenbo can only arouse everyone's resentment, but is actually powerless (for example, he said: "If a person is beaten to death, if we don't take action, we will be inhuman!" But at the same time, some people said that if we don't sacrifice ourselves, let the young people do it. That's really not human!).Eighty percent of colleagues, even if they don't say anything, are able to distinguish right from wrong.Yiduo lobbied everywhere before the meeting to strike, and the result was 61 to 19 votes.He should have suddenly realized (his running around is not fruitless. Liu Jinnian raised his hand in favor of the strike, that is, they are too miserable and ugly! I have to vote for them! The Ta Kung Pao said that the suspension of classes is a strike, Maybe someone is playing tricks, and I have sent a letter to correct it). At the time when Yao Congwu wrote this letter, the political situation at home and abroad was undergoing a new turning point. The tide of Southwest Associated University gradually evolved from domestic affairs to a hot spot that attracted worldwide attention and endangered the US policy toward China. On November 27, the White House announced that Marshall, the former Army Chief of Staff, would succeed Hurley as ambassador to China, and that he would go to China as President Truman's special envoy and lead the rank of ambassador to carry out special missions.This appointment means that Hurley, who had been unfavorable in mediating the conflict between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, will move out like a disgraceful dung beetle. Marshall, a veteran known for his strong skills, will go to China to mediate in person, so as to complete the task of "uniting the Kuomintang and the Communist Party" that the White House hopes for.The ups and downs of Hurley and Marshall made the political situation in China more serious and confusing.Hurley, who feels that he has worked hard in mediation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and that there is fatigue without hard work, believes that the five diplomats in the US Embassy in China-Ai Qisen, Xie Weien, Davis, Freeman, Lin Ward, either openly or covertly supported the CCP’s rebellion against the central government, Chairman Chiang, thus ruining his policy toward China—the Roosevelt policy (according to the South: Hurley publicly blamed five of them).But the five people's excuses and public opinion reports were that they sympathized with the Communist Party and hated the Nationalist Government, but what they hated was internal affairs and personnel corruption, not Chiang Kai-shek himself. In the face of the turmoil in the American political arena and the accusations of the KMT’s internal affairs and corruption by the Chinese and foreign media, the KMT’s top officials are busy with covering up, while preparing various rhetoric to accuse the CCP, trying to improve the outside world’s perception of the government and officials.Unexpectedly, at this critical moment, a grenade rang out on the ground, and the Kunming tragedy broke out, which further deteriorated the already extremely bad image of the Kuomintang in the world.Chiang Kai-shek was very annoyed when he heard the news, and he was eager to put out the fire quickly to calm public opinion and criticism at home and abroad.However, the students and teachers of various schools in Kunming did not accept the explanation and punishment of the Yunnan authorities. They established a "United Strike Committee of All Schools in Kunming" and issued a "Declaration of Strike" to "severely punish the murderer and remove the mastermind of the tragedy" to fight against the authorities. .Faced with four bloody corpses, one leg and raging public opinion, Li Zonghuang, Guan Linzheng, Qiu Qingquan and others were forced to stop and did not dare to take further violent actions.Students not only continued to strike, but also took to the streets to carry out protest and publicity activities, and echoed with colleges and universities across the country, and their momentum became more and more powerful.Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing called the Minister of Education, Zhu Jiahua, and severely cursed him with curses such as "Niang Xipi", ordering him to try to calm the incident immediately, otherwise he will be punished severely.Zhu Jiahua has been engaged in education for many years. He himself is a politician who started as a professor, and has maintained a good relationship with the professors since he entered politics. He knows the school's internal affairs better than Chiang Kai-shek.Therefore, as soon as the tragedy happened, he believed that the role of the Communist Party was secondary, and the overreaction of the local authorities was the key, and the matter was broken in the hands of local military and political officials.Because of this fact, Zhu Jiahua knew that it was not easy to deal with this matter, but he couldn't avoid it, which meant that the two aunts were difficult to be married.After receiving the order, Zhu hurriedly found Fu Sinian, who was preparing to go to Peking University in Chongqing to handle Peking University affairs, and ordered him to take the opportunity to rush to Kunming for mediation, so as to calm the surging student tide.At the same time, a telegram was sent to Beiping, urging Mei Yiqi, who was receiving Tsinghua University's property, to return to Chongqing to give an opportunity to face-to-face.Fu Sinian felt that the matter was of great importance and did not dare to neglect, so he arrived in Kunming by plane on the afternoon of December 4th.