Chapter 20 Shanghai's "good students" follow closely

Mao Zedong called for "letting go," the Party Central Committee called for "letting go," and the editorial of "People's Daily" called for "letting go."Entering April 1957, the whole country was immersed in an atmosphere of "liberation". In addition to frequently publishing editorials to encourage, "People's Daily" also reported extensively on the "new atmosphere" of large-scale "release" and special "release" in various places and all walks of life. The most closely followed is Shanghai.Ke Qingshi, the first secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, once had the reputation of "Chairman Mao's good student".Nowadays, when many critical articles refer to this man, it is inconvenient to give his name, and they often use "that 'good student' from Shanghai" instead—every reader knows who he is referring to.

Ke Qingshi has a big nose, known as "Ke Big Nose".He is also called "Ke Guai", "Ke Guaijun".This person has a lot of experience. As early as 1920, at the age of eighteen, he joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League in Shanghai.Joined the Communist Party of China in 1922.Since then, he has successively served as secretary of the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (he is from Shexian County, Anhui Province), secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, former secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, and deputy director of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.After the Chinese People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River and captured Nanjing in 1949, he became Secretary of the CPC Nanjing Municipal Committee and Mayor of Nanjing.Soon, he also served as secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.The first mayor of Shanghai after liberation was Chen Yi, who concurrently served as the first secretary of the Party Committee of the East China Military Region of the Communist Party of China and the second secretary of the East China Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.Later, Chen Yi was transferred to Beijing to serve as Vice Premier of the State Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Ke Qingshi was transferred to Shanghai to succeed Chen Yi.

Ke Qingshi is quite a "leftist".His "famous saying" was a sentence he said at the Chengdu Conference in March 1958 when discussing the issue of personality cult: "To believe in Chairman Mao, you must believe to the extent of superstition, and to obey Chairman Mao, you must obey to the extent of blind obedience." ①Ke Later, Qingshi became more "leftist". He made great efforts to write and publish "Comment on the Newly Edited Historical Drama "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office"" in Shanghai, and made great efforts to launch the "Cultural Revolution".It's just that he died suddenly of illness on April 9, 1965, on the eve of the "Cultural Revolution", so he was not involved in the great catastrophe in Chinese history, and he has not yet fallen deeper.

Ke Qingshi had a general under him named Zhang Chunqiao, who was his political secretary.Later, Zhang Chunqiao became a "person" in the "Gang of Four" and became notorious as "Zhang, the dog-headed army division".However, in 1957, he did not make much appearance on the Chinese political stage.In the 1930s, this person had been in the Shanghai literary world for a while.Later, he went to the Jinchaji border area and served as the deputy editor-in-chief of "Jinchaji Daily".When Ke Qingshi was transferred to Shanghai, he was quite congenial with Zhang Chunqiao, who "everything is 'left' and three-pointed", so he used this person as his political secretary.

Mao Zedong was in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in early April, and Ke Qingshi met him.Ke Qingshi, who is highly sensitive to politics, immediately caught Mao Zedong's latest intentions from his conversation. Therefore, starting from April 16th, Ke Qingshi held the "Shanghai Propaganda Work Conference Preparatory Meeting" in Shanghai, and generally conveyed Chairman Mao's report at the Supreme State Council and the speech at the National Propaganda Conference, and then widely spread Discussions on the correct handling of contradictions among the people were launched. ② The next day, Shanghai's "Wen Wei Po" reported Ke Qingshi's speech on the 16th: "'Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend' is a policy affirmed by the central government, and the municipal party committee will resolutely implement this policy. Today, there are conflicts in the minds of party members and cadres. The reason is that we are not used to using new methods to solve problems under new circumstances. In the past, we have been used to fighting the enemy for a long time, and it is not easy to deal with conflicts among the people. This requires a process and must be implemented.”

A report by Wen Wei Po described the atmosphere at the venue in this way: "Almost all the speakers mentioned that they were very excited after listening to Chairman Mao's speeches at the Supreme State Council and the Propaganda Work Conference. It is very correct to think that it is bold to 'release' and boldly 'sing'." "People's Daily" also immediately published a long report "Fierce Debates in a Democratic Atmosphere—Records of Shanghai Intellectuals Discussing Chairman Mao's Speech at the Supreme State Council" sent by "Our Shanghai Correspondent".The report said that the transmission of Mao Zedong's speech "became a major event in the ideological life of Shanghai's intellectual circles, adding vigorous vitality to Shanghai in the early spring." "The discussion on Chairman Mao's speech in the intellectual circles in Shanghai was very lively. Many people who were reluctant to speak or did not speak much in the past, relieved their worries and spoke freely this time. There were heated debates in many symposiums. It was a rare phenomenon in the past.”

What a "rare phenomenon in the past"!Intellectuals in Shanghai finally began to "let go" - this is exactly what Mao Zedong hoped. The report mentioned various situations of "release": "During this ideological change, some cadres still can't grasp it. They always feel that 'left' is better than 'right'..." "The Shanghai Writers Association's novel group discussion strictly criticized dogmatism. Some people said that dogmatism in Shanghai is very strong, and less than 10% of it is bold..." "When the business circles were discussing Chairman Mao's speech, some people still didn't have enough ideological understanding of the duality of the national bourgeoisie, thinking that such a mention would discourage the enthusiasm of capitalists..."

On April 18, 1957, "Wen Wei Po" reported that two "bosses" in the Shanghai poster industry supported "Fang": "Yang Yongzhi said: "Liberation Daily" will carry forward a democratic style in the future and encourage different opinions to be published in the newspaper. "Zhao Chaogou said: "Xinmin Evening News" will do in the future: let flowers be released, mistakes must be corrected, not afraid of poisonous weeds, and try (try to) release flowers." It seems that the "temperature" in Shanghai is rising day by day. Immediately afterwards, on April 19, "People's Daily" reported "The Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China Holds a Propaganda Work Conference to Discuss Correctly Handling Contradictions among the People".Following the practice of the CCP National Propaganda Work Conference, the CCP Beijing Municipal Committee Propaganda Work Conference also invited "more than 290 people from various democratic parties and independents to participate."

The report said: "Everyone is in favor of 'letting go', and thinks that Beijing is not 'letting go' enough." The report also said: "Some people still have concerns about 'releasing', fearing that the 'release' of poisonous weeds will poison the masses and cause ideological confusion"; "Some people also worry that they will be hit after they 'release' idealism. " On the same day, "People's Daily" also reported that the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China held a propaganda work meeting. The report said that Guangdong's "current situation is both 'letting go' and fearing 'letting go'."

Immediately afterwards, the "People's Daily" continuously reported the news that the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and other provincial and municipal committees held propaganda work conferences. "Release" became the center of discussion in China from south to north and from east to west at that time.