Chapter 62 "Dixie Mission" impression of Yan'an

In December 1941, the outbreak of the Pearl Harbor incident declared the complete bankruptcy of the "Far East Munich Policy" of the United States.From then on, the United States began to change its China policy.At the beginning of China's Anti-Japanese War, the United States only paid attention to the Kuomintang government out of consideration of its own interests, and ignored the anti-Japanese forces led by the Communist Party.However, with the passage of time, the vitality of the battlefield behind the enemy is in stark contrast to the retreat of the frontal battlefield.Under such circumstances, the U.S. government had to re-examine the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the Communist Party.

What's more, the American journalists Snow, Smedley, and Strong who had been to Yan'an all reported what they saw and heard in Yan'an with praise, which attracted the attention of the United States. Two young American diplomats, Xie Weisi and Davis, played an important role in facilitating direct contact between the United States and the CCP. Xie Weisi and Davis were both born in Sichuan, China, the sons of American missionaries, and they are relatively familiar with Chinese.Especially Xie Weisi, there is almost no difference between English and Chinese expressions, and he is called "China Hand".They are thoughtful, objective and fair.Later, they were all absorbed into Stilwell's headquarters and were responsible for collecting information about the CCP.The more they collect information about the CCP, the more their feelings tend towards Yan'an.

In a report to the U.S. State Department, Xie Weisi said: The Communist Party has won the support of the broad masses of the people in China, while the Kuomintang is a decadent and rigid reactionary regime.Therefore, they boldly suggested to the U.S. authorities that the U.S. should send a military observer team to investigate the actual situation in Yan'an and set up consulates in areas controlled by the Communist Party.Davis went a step further and said that the president should make the request directly to Chiang Kai-shek. Their suggestion was adopted. In February 1944, US President Roosevelt really formally proposed to Chiang Kai-shek that the US military observation team visit Yan'an.

The Kuomintang, as always, did everything possible to obstruct and delay the proposal to send a military delegation to Yan'an. The defeat of the Kuomintang in the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi made the United States more and more eager to send a military delegation to Yan'an, and the pressure on Chiang Kai-shek was also increasing.Chiang Kai-shek was afraid of falling out with the Americans and had to agree to the matter. Regarding the name of the delegation, Chongqing and Yan'an once again disagreed.The Kuomintang wanted to curry favor with the United States, believing that the United States was the leader of China's war of resistance, and advocated changing the name of the "military delegation" to the "military inspection team".It reflects a master-slave relationship, a relationship between master and slave.The Communist Party pursues a policy of independence and self-reliance, and does not believe that the United States is the superior leader of our army, and firmly disagrees with the KMT's request.In the end, after consultations among the three parties, the name was named "U.S. Army Observation Team."

Americans like to give their plans of action substitution numbers.They code-named the operation the "Dixie" mission. "Dixie" means rebel.Because in the eyes of Americans, the Communist Party is a traitor to Chiang Kai-shek. Although regarded as rebels, the Yan'an side attached great importance to the arrival of the US military observation team, because this was the first time that Yan'an received a delegation that came to Yan'an in an official name.The Party Central Committee pointed out in the "Instructions on Diplomatic Work": "The visit of foreign journalists and US military personnel to our region and the enemy's rear bases is the beginning of actual contact after a preliminary understanding of New Democratic China. Therefore, we should not regard their visits and observations as ordinary behaviors, but take these See it as the development of our international united front and the beginning of our diplomatic work."

For the visit of the US military observation team, Yan'an made careful preparations and clarified three principles.First, our relationship with the United States is not that of slaves and masters, but that of allies and allies. They are politically equal, and we do not make unprincipled concessions; second, we must serve them with enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. Third, any foreigner must respect the dignity and customs of our nation, and must not bring Western capitalism to China, let alone Yan'an, the holy land of Chinese revolution.Our party cadres and the masses must maintain the national dignity and personality, and in their interactions with them, they must not only show the mind and courage of the Chinese Communists, but also be neither humble nor overbearing, and grasp the appropriateness of communication.

Two groups of members of the observation team arrived in Yan'an on July 22 and August 7, 1944, with nine members in each group. The observation team was not led by the embassy in China, but belonged to Stilwell's military command. The team leader was Colonel Barrett, the second secretary of the US embassy in China who focuses on gathering political intelligence and is known as "China hand" in the observation team is Xie Weisi. During their stay in Yan'an, the U.S. military observation team listened to a large number of introductions from the leaders of Yan'an on the battlefield behind enemy lines.Chief of Staff Ye Jianying introduced the Eighth Route Army's struggle in 15 anti-Japanese base areas in North China, Central China, and South China in general.Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai made three consecutive reports to the observation team, detailing the situation on the North China battlefield.Chen Yi and Nie Rongzhen also introduced the history and general situation of the New Fourth Army and the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area respectively.

Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai often met and talked with them informally.Especially Mao Zedong, who had many long talks with Xie Weisi.Mao Zedong introduced to him in detail the position, principles and policies of the Communist Party of China.He pointed out that the Chinese Communist Party is a completely independent political party, not subject to any foreign powers, including the Soviet Union and the United States.He also hoped that the U.S. government could exert influence on the Kuomintang, let it implement democracy, give up its attempt to eliminate the Communist Party, and persist in the war of resistance to the end.

In addition to its activities in Yan'an, the observation team also sent personnel to visit the Shanxi-Sui and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base areas. During the actual contact and observation process with the Communist Party, the ideological understanding of most people in the observation group has undergone great changes.The Communist Party is not the Communist Party they imagined, nor is it the Communist Party promoted by the Kuomintang. They saw that the Eighth Route Army fought bravely on the front line with brilliant records, and it was by no means "swimming but not fighting" as slandered by the Kuomintang; In Chongqing, policemen and guards can be seen everywhere they go; they see that ordinary people are actively supporting the Eighth Route Army and actively responding to the orders of the anti-Japanese democratic government. They have never seen anyone tied up to serve as a soldier. They saw that the weapons used by the Eighth Route Army were mainly the 38-type rifles captured from the Japanese invaders, and the "Hanyang made" made in China, which did not have Soviet equipment, and found that the Communist Party was by no means Soviet. vassal.

... Although these young American military officers did not stand on the stand of the Communist Party and spoke for the Communist Party, they personally observed the Communist Party areas and wrote many investigation reports, which objectively and fairly reflected the political, economic, military and other aspects of the anti-Japanese democratic base areas. aspects of the situation. Xie Weisi, a young American diplomat, was shocked by what he saw with his own eyes during his three months in Yan'an. He wrote reports to his superiors almost every day, introducing the situation in Yan'an.He described Yan'an in this way:

"Yan'an people and officials are mixed together, there are no beggars on the roads, the families are poor, the clothes are simple, men and women are equal, women don't wear high heels, and they don't have lipstick. Review, another world with Chongqing." Looking at this novel scene in Yan'an, he analyzed: "There seems to be no stupid, weak or lazy people here. This vitality is not only physical, but also intellectual...Communism, in my opinion, especially In China, it was primarily a rational enterprise. Its development in China went through a period when it was not entirely governed by one or one creed." During the three months of contact with the Communist Party, the Communist Party gave him the impression of being clean, democratic, modest, strong, and optimistic: "Some people will say that the advantage of the Communist Party is that they have a 'career'. They use the landlord's The directly attractive actions of distributing land to farmers aroused the communism of the people at the bottom, or they found the kind of enthusiasm that promoted the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement or the Boxer Rebellion. In fact, no one has ever heard of such a Even the Kuomintang disdains to advance such an argument." "It seems plausible to draw the conclusion that the peasants support, join the Communist army, fight with them, the Communists are fighting for their interests, The Communist Party has brought some obvious benefits to the peasants, and thus established the belief. This benefit should be the improvement of the social, political and economic conditions of the peasants.” “Whatever the nature of this improvement, it should be towards democratic that serve the interests of the majority of the people." After observation and analysis, Xie Weisi came to a very predictable conclusion: "The Communist Party has already received broad and deep support from the masses, so it is impossible to eliminate them. From this basic fact, we should draw the following Conclusion: Unless the Kuomintang undertakes profound political and economic reforms like the Communist Party, or it proves itself capable of wresting this kind of leadership over the people, the Communist Party will become the ruling power in China in a relatively short period of time.” After Ray Luden and his four US military companions went to North China to perform observation missions, they came to the following conclusions: "In North China, the evidence of common people's support for the Communist Party abounds and is so obvious that it is impossible to believe that the stage is set to deceive foreign visitors. A government that governs such an extensive area and is run entirely by Chinese, It is the first time in the modern history of China that it can get the active support of the people and make the people participate in the development work..." Davis has been collecting information on the Chinese Communist Party for a long time. After comparing the two parties, he said: "Chiang Kai-shek's feudal China cannot coexist for a long time with the vigorous and modern people's government in northern China. The Communist Party will definitely take root in China." "The fate of China is not determined by Chiang Kai-shek, but by them." Although the trip to Yan'an by the U.S. military observation team did not change the attitude of the United States towards the Chinese Communist Party, this operation broke through the Kuomintang's blockade after all, revealed the truth of Yan'an to the world, and enhanced the U.S. government's specific understanding of the Chinese Communist Party.