Chapter 38 Has Wang Ming really remembered Mao Zedong?

Wang Ming once pointed out: "China's political leaders can only be cultivated from Zhongda University, and soldiers can only be generals at best, and they cannot become political leaders." He looked down on Mao Zedong, who drilled mountains and fought guerrillas. character", "cannot be the leader of the party". Indeed, for a long time, the theoretical level of the Chinese Communist Party was not high. From the gestation to the establishment of the party, it was the result of the help of the Communist International and the export of revolution by the Soviet Union. A well-known saying is: "The gunfire of the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism." Theoretical preparations are not sufficient enough to shoulder the heavy burden of leading the practical struggle of the Chinese revolution.

After the failure of the Great Revolution, the focus of the party's work shifted to the countryside, and the difficult war environment had no time to carry out the research and popularization of Marxism.However, in the rural environment, many people who participated in the revolution were peasants who "divided the local tyrants and divided the land".Party cadres, even senior cadres with important responsibilities, do not have a high theoretical level and lack of theoretical training.The Central Committee once pointed out: "During the hard work, the Chinese Party deeply felt that the cadres' understanding of Leninism and Marxism was weak, which increased the difficulty of the Chinese Party's Bolshevikization."

Wang Ming was able to come to power at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee, to a large extent, thanks to his study of many Marxist-Leninist works. "When he was fighting against Li San, he moved a large pile of Marxist-Leninist books and put them in front of Li San, so he blocked Li San." Some leaders in the party also felt that the Chinese Party's theoretical level was poor. The theoretical level is high, and it is beneficial to the party to participate in the work of the Party Central Committee, so I accepted Miff's recommendation of Wang Ming as the leader.

In November 1937, after Wang Ming returned from Moscow, he was still full of ambitions to become king. For example, at the Politburo meeting in December, he not only dictated major policies, but according to Zhang Guotao's recollection, when discussing organizational issues, Wang Ming proposed a list of members and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee without consulting anyone in advance. A list of 16 people in total. After going to Wuhan, he was even more distracted, fighting against Yan'an. For example, without the consent of Yan'an, various declarations and statements were issued in the name of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and speeches were made in the name of Mao Zedong without authorization, causing bad influence.

Later, it developed to challenge the authority of the Yan'an CPC Central Committee Secretariat.For example, Wang Ming disagreed with Mao Zedong’s division of the stages of the War of Resistance, so he refused to publish Mao Zedong’s "On Protracted War" in Wuhan; he disagreed with the establishment of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Government in North China after the Yan’an beheaded first. To criticize; not to say hello to anyone, to personally summarize the Politburo meeting at the end of February 1938, and publish it publicly.The most intolerable thing is that Wang Ming, on the grounds that the number of political commissars in Wuhan exceeds Yan’an, proposed that the An’an Central Secretariat has no legitimacy, and Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong, etc. should not issue instructions and documents in the name of the Central Secretariat.

Mao Zedong later simply said: "After the December meeting, the Central Committee has existed in name only." But at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, according to Dimitrov's instructions, the meeting affirmed Mao Zedong's policy of independence and independence, and Wang Ming was criticized; and Dimitrov sent a message: "Comrade Mao Zedong should be recognized as the leader of China. Leaders who have emerged from the actual revolutionary struggle, please tell Wang Ming not to compete!" It was clearly stated: "The leadership must be resolved under the leadership of Mao Zedong, and there must be an atmosphere of closeness and unity in the leadership." At that time, Mif, Wang Ming's international backer, became a prisoner in the Soviet Union's suppression of counter-revolutionaries, and Wang Ming's international status plummeted.

As the saying goes: "He who understands current affairs is a hero." Wang Ming saw that the general trend was over, so he hurriedly steered the wind, and vowed at the meeting: From now on, he will guard Comrade Mao Zedong like the stars arching the moon. At the end of 1938, after Wang Ming returned to Yan'an, he strongly praised and flattered Mao Zedong.In Wang Ming's many reports, speeches and articles, he talked about Mao Zedong as "the leader of the Communist Party of China" and "our most respected and beloved comrade."For some unimportant issues, he also took the initiative to write to Mao Zedong for instructions.The pinnacle was the speech "Learning from Mao Zedong" on May 3, 1940.

Has Wang Ming really remembered Mao Zedong?The following facts will tell us the answer. On April 1, 1945, what Wang Ming said to Ren Bishi explained Wang Ming's behavior at this time: "After the Sixth Plenary Session, I felt that it was not good to be away, so I wanted to come back. When I came back, I wanted to do well. Therefore, in 1939 (should be 1940) when the young cadre class started, the manuscript was prepared and titled "Learning from Mao Zedong." This shows that Wang Ming's actions to praise Mao Zedong are just to gain the trust of cadres and the masses, to change his image, and to reverse his suffering. made out of the passive situation of criticism.

In fact, Wang Ming in Yan'an was unwilling.Although he can no longer be a "recognized leader", he still wants to keep his title as a great theorist. According to the resume written by Wang Ming when he was in Yan'an, from 1939 to October 1941, he served as "Central United Front Work Minister, Southern Committee, Eastern Committee, Party School Committee, Women and Women's University, etc." The "Southern Committee" refers to the Central South Working Committee, and the Eastern Committee refers to the Central Northeast Working Committee.In addition, he was elected as an executive member of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Cultural Association, a director of the Yan'an Constitutional Government Promotion Association, and a director of the Mongolian Culture Promotion Association.

During this period, Wang Ming frequently attended various conferences, made many reports and speeches, and published many articles, trying his best to shape his image as a "theoretician". He repeated his old tricks. Every time he gave a speech, he always put a large number of original works of Marxism-Leninism on the podium to show that he had read a lot of books and had profound theories.In his speeches, he did not mention the actual problems of the Chinese revolution at all, but followed the format of one international, two domestic, three whole regions, and four headquarters; for example, not England, France, but Greece, Rome, and Abyssinia ; To quote the words of the revolutionary teacher, always say the numbers of the volume, chapter, section, page, and line, and then memorize them in large sections.Many young people really opened their eyes and felt that Wang Ming was amazing.

Wang Ming's analysis of the problem is also very dogmatic. On July 7, 1939, he published an article in the "New China News" entitled "Persisting the National Policy of the Anti-Japanese War to Overcome the Danger of Surrender".The article says that the War of Resistance Against Japan will last only about 4 years.The reason is "because according to the experience of the First World War, no imperialist country can persist for more than 4 years without a socialist revolution or economic bankruptcy". At the end of 1939, Mao Zedong finished the first draft of "New Democracy" and asked everyone for their opinions.After reading it, Wang Ming wrote a colloquial five-law "On New Democracy—Comment on the Errors of Mao Zedong's Thesis", which said: The theory of New Democracy rests on its own theory; after the capital revolution is successful, capital banks will not work. I tried my best to persuade him to change, but the anger remained in the form; justice was corrected, and the future remained foggy. This is diametrically opposed to his evaluation in "Learning Mao Zedong" that New Democracy "is a new contribution to Marxism-Leninism on national issues". Decades later, Wang Ming wrote his memoir "Fifty Years of the Communist Party of China", saying that the theory of New Democracy "is actually an anti-Leninist and anti-socialist theory and program of action."Because neither Lenin nor the resolutions of the Comintern say that the revolution must pass through this stage. This shows Wang Ming's hypocrisy and dogma. Immediately after "On New Democracy" was published, Wang Ming lectured on the article "Struggle for the Bolshevization of the CCP" to his students. This is Wang Ming's proud work. It is a pamphlet of more than 100,000 words written by him to criticize Li Lisan. It was originally called "Two Routes". It was first published in Shanghai in February 1931. One of the weapons of struggle along this line". It should be said that some correct ideas of Marx and Lenin were also propagated in this pamphlet, such as the idea of ​​unbalanced revolutionary development, the idea that the climax of the revolution is a long process, and the climax does not equal the situation of a direct revolution, and the idea that the unfounded Soviet regime will Becoming a "fluid machine" or a "flash in the pan" thought.This is not without positive significance in the context of the CCP’s lack of theory in the 1930s.This is also the reason why some cadres in the party can accept Wang Ming or are temporarily confused by Wang Ming. But there are many serious mistakes among them. According to expert research, there are the following problems: ①He created a "criticism" model: what did Lenin or the Communist International say-Li Lisan's statement did not match-so Li Lisan was wrong, anti-Leninism, and anti-Comintern.It not only replaces the analysis of facts with quotations, but more importantly, it uses a certain sentence of Lenin or certain resolutions of the Communist International as the standard to measure the right and wrong of everything.This undermines the Marxist principle that practice is the only criterion for testing truth, and fundamentally suffocates the vitality of theoretical development.In Wang Ming's pamphlet, this pattern is pervasive throughout. ② Unlimited outlines for different opinions.As long as there are differences of opinion, no matter whether they are right or wrong, they will all be labeled as "anti-Marxism, anti-Leninism, anti-Comintern", "rich peasant line", etc.For example, Li Lisan once said that "the Communist International does not understand China's situation", "it is one thing to be loyal to the Communist International, but another thing to be loyal to the Chinese revolution" and so on.This is true, Wang Ming always called it "the words and phrases used by traitors". ③ Use the method of "cruel struggle, merciless strike" to resolve differences of opinion.For example, in the "Introduction" of "Two Lines", it is proposed to "carry out brutal struggle" and "resolutely and ruthlessly oppose" the "Li San Line".In the section "Assessing the Current Situation and the Party's Tasks", it is even pointed out that "within the Communist Party itself, the right and 'left' tendencies - even if they are small and unformed", are also given "disharmony" A merciless struggle".It stifles people's minds. In short, the article "Two Lines" trampled on the Marxist ideological line of seeking truth from facts. Its extreme dogmatism and its practice of using "books" as the standard for testing practice created a very bad precedent in the theoretical development of the Communist Party of China. The unhealthy trend in the application of theory is also the reason why he keeps making mistakes in practical work. Because Wang Ming put forward the slogan of "100% loyalty to the Communist International line" at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party, and believed that this "is the only way and guarantee to make the Party more Bolshevik and the Soviet revolution more victorious."He renamed the pamphlet "Struggling for the CCP to Be More Bolshevik" and printed a second edition in the Soviet Union. In March 1940, Wang Ming prefaced and republished it as a reference material for schools in Yan'an to study party building and the history of the Communist Party of China.He defended himself in the preface: "It is not possible to regard yesterday's right as today's wrong; or take today's wrong as yesterday's right." He sells his claims to confuse new party members who don't know the truth: "Our party has made great progress in recent years. Thousands of new party members and new cadres are not very clear about many facts in the historical development of our party. The facts recorded in this book are the development of the Chinese Communist Party. It is a very important stage, therefore, many people want to understand these historical facts, especially when schools in Yan’an are studying party building and the history of the Central Committee, they especially need the help of this kind of material.” These performances had some effect.Wang Ming's dogmatism has a certain influence among cadres, the masses, especially young intellectuals.In Yan'an Women's University where he worked, some people even called him "Mother Wang".Many young people appreciate his long speeches, thinking that they are "the most advanced and most exciting". In December 1940, Mao Zedong drafted the Inner-Party Directive "On Policies" for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. All the struggles in the later period of the Agrarian Revolution, the "Left" line that denied the union.When the Politburo discussed this draft, some people pointed out that Wang Ming's "Left" opportunism was not a wrong line, but a wrong strategy. This shows that until 1940, people did not fully understand Wang Ming's mistakes, and Wang Ming was still a beloved "theoretician".For quite a long period of time, it has become a common practice to quote classics in Yan'an's theoretical propaganda and education work.