Chapter 34 Mao Zedong paid attention to Wang Meng's novels

In Beijing, another young writer who was three years younger than Liushahe was also up and down in "big winds and waves". This person is Wang Meng. Although Wang Meng is only twenty-three years old, there are quite a few backgrounds: He was born in Tantan, Beijing in 1934—and by fate, that is where the headquarters of the Chinese Writers Association is now located.In 1945, when 11-year-old Wang Meng skipped a grade and was admitted to junior high school, he was influenced by the CCP's underground organization.In 1948, at the age of fourteen, Wang Meng joined the Communist Party of China.It can be seen that he is a politically precocious person.

Wang Meng is also a precocious person in literary creation.In 1953, at the age of 19, he wrote his debut novel "Long Live Youth".This novel was published in "Beijing Daily" and "Wen Wei Po" in 1956. Wang Meng began to publish the short story "Little Douer" in 1955. At the beginning of 1957, Wang Meng unexpectedly attracted Mao Zedong's attention. It was on February 16. In a speech, Mao Zedong mentioned three young writers in one breath, namely Wang Meng, 23 years old, Li Xifan, 30 years old, and Yao Wenyuan, 24 years old. Mao Zedong said the most about Wang Meng:

Wang Meng recently wrote an article "A New Young Person in the Organization Department". This person is twenty-two years old (should be twenty-three years old). Check Wang Meng, he is a young man.This novel has shortcomings, we need to help him, and we should also help the uprising generals, so why not take a helpful attitude towards the young people?Many of our cultural people are different from Hu Feng.Criticize and protect them at the same time, and criticize under protection. Wang Meng is weak in writing positive characters, but more vivid in writing negative characters. The reason is that his life is not rich, he is not familiar with the living conditions, and there are also reasons for his views.Some comrades criticized Wang Meng for saying that his "New Young People from the Organization Department" was untrue and that there should be no bureaucracy near the center.I think this point of view is wrong, we have to ask in turn: Why is there no bureaucracy near the central government?There are also bad people inside the central government!If some comrades believe that bureaucracy will not emerge near the central government, then the flesh of those who write novels will be cut off.

In short, a large number of people have not figured out how to deal with the mistakes among the people. The policy we want to adopt for protection should start from the desire for unity, and after criticism, we should make progress on a new basis. to achieve a new unity. It is not convincing to say that Wang Meng's novel is at the wrong time and place (it should not be written in Beijing, it should not be written at this time).There are often abnormal things in our party, and under the great achievements and prestige of the country, some bad styles have been cultivated, which are called lawlessness and tyranny.Our country is a big kingdom of the petty bourgeoisie. It is said that there are less than 12 million real proletarians. Among the 12 million people, there are even lieutenant generals of the Kuomintang. Why do you say that the shortcomings of the Communist Party cannot be exposed?The party's united front is actually in favor of a minority. We have said that we must "make overall plans and take care of everything, and everyone gets what he deserves."

We should start from helping others both ideologically and at work. Some of our comrades do not start from helping others, but kick them down with one kick. The easiest way is to shoot. This is the style of the Kuomintang.There are still some landlords, rich peasants, and the bourgeoisie in society, but the largest number are petty bourgeoisie. This is our objective reality. The cooperative is mainly dissatisfied with some wealthy middle peasants. Eighty percent of the students are from the petty bourgeoisie and above. .Even so, most people do not engage in Hungary, and many of our comrades are afraid of the Hungarian incident.

Everything has two attributes. The Hungarian incident is both good and bad. It is a good thing to reverse the bad things. Some of our comrades like to use one-sidedness to oppose one-sidedness. This is a metaphysical method and a dogmatic method. Wang Meng's novel is an unfinished work, but we need help. Immediately afterwards, on March 12, 1957, Mao Zedong spoke at the National Propaganda Work Conference of the Communist Party of China, and once again talked about Wang Meng in detail. Mao Zedong's "Speech at the National Propaganda Work Conference of the Communist Party of China", included in the fifth volume of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", does not mention Wang Meng in it.In fact, this speech included in "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" was later abridged and revised.The author's elder brother was working in the Zhejiang Party department at that time. When he attended a meeting in Zhejiang Province, he received the "Speech of Chairman Mao at the National Propaganda Work Conference" issued by the Propaganda Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, which was the transcript at that time.Since it was issued as an official document by the Propaganda Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, it is much more reliable than the leaflets of the Red Guards during the "Cultural Revolution".

In this transcript, there is a passage about Wang Meng: There was a man named Wang Meng, and everyone surrounded him and wanted to destroy him. In short, it was unreasonable, and he violated military law and military law.I am also exaggerating, there are just a few people who have written so many articles.Now to rescue Wang Meng, we must teach this person. Although this person has shortcomings, he has corrected one problem, which is to criticize bureaucracy.We were used to it during the military period. In the past, this period was called revolution, and our party did it. It was called class struggle. There are indeed some knowledge and methods in this area, and some simplifications and administrative orders have also emerged.Because during the revolution, it is to lead the broad masses to fight against the enemy, and there is no hesitation. There are many things that cannot be discussed calmly and need to be done quickly, so a style of work has been developed. Many comrades only have that experience in new situations. There is a little way, especially for those who have worked in the army for a long time.

Now, the encirclement and suppression of Wang Meng was also encircled by the People's Liberation Army, which is to form a regiment to surround him.This is of course not good. The other kind of people negate everything and do nothing good. The cause of workers and peasants, socialist transformation, socialist construction, such a big cause, the great struggle of hundreds of millions of people, seems to have nothing good to say, a mass of darkness .This will make people lose confidence, and it is not in line with the facts.Everything is fine, this is not true, not everything is good, there are many flaws, many shortcomings, mistakes; not everything is bad, it needs to be analyzed.Recently, we had a comrade named Zhong Lianfu. To take him as an example, he talked about film issues. He did a good deed in this regard, causing many people to publish articles exposing the mistakes and shortcomings in the film industry.We who are in charge of the film business must pay attention to these people's articles, and all the bad things they exposed should be corrected.As for the critics, they are one-sided and have mistakes.What is wrong should be criticized, and what is right should be corrected.

On January 7th, "People's Daily" issued a statement saying that the article was not good, and it was misrepresented, saying that I was in favor of it.I don't agree that much, and today I say it again in front of all of you, I strongly disagree.As I said, what are these comrades motivated by?Is it right to say that they are loyal and loyal to the party and the country?I think it is also right, he wants to protect the party and the interests of the working class.He has such an emotion, which is the emotion of poisonous weeds. In fact, Wang Meng's things are not poisonous weeds.A hundred flowers bloom, after so many months, a hundred schools of thought contend for only a few months, according to their estimates, there are few achievements and many disadvantages, ghosts and snakes have come out, the general situation is not good, and there is a tendency to last forever.This estimate of the situation is wrong.Therefore, they are in such a hurry.They seem to agree with the policy, but in fact they seem to doubt the policy. They have problems with the policy.Their method is called short-term assault, without analysis, without explanatory power, people will not be satisfied after reading the article, but I am not convinced after reading the article criticizing Wang Meng.I don't know this person, and I'm not related to him, so (laughter) I'm not convinced.

As far as I can see, the methods of these two schools are both metaphysical and poisonous weeds, and they must be criticized.However, we must criticize with the attitude of curing diseases and teaching others.We should also apply this principle in dealing with these comrades and help them.There are such people in the Communist Party, they are just representatives, they represent many people, many members of the Communist Party, not just their personal problems.Are there none of the five million intellectuals outside the Communist Party?I think there are these two kinds of people, both are dogmatists and opportunists, there are rightists and there are "leftists".The "left" I am talking about is not the real left, but the left with quotation marks.It also affirms everything and denies everything.

Mao Zedong's two speeches spread quickly.Taiwan newspapers reported Mao Zedong's talk on Wang Meng's novels under the title "Mao Zedong also read novels". In fact, it was because Wang Meng's novel caused controversy, and Mao Zedong specially looked for it to read. The Wang Meng novel mentioned by Mao Zedong, that is, "New Young People from the Organization Department", was published in the September 1956 issue of "People's Literature" magazine. Before this novel was published, the editorial department of "People's Literature" carefully revised the novel of this "new young man" in the literary world, not only changing the original title, but also making many changes to the content of the work. change. Wang Meng was dissatisfied with the revision of "People's Literature".At the symposium on editorial work of Beijing literary journals held by the Chinese Writers Association in May 1957, Wang Meng expressed his opinion: "I deeply feel that for some newspapers and periodicals, before you submit a manuscript to the editorial department, you take the initiative. After the manuscript is given to him, you can only be at the mercy of others. However, which author can only write in order to maintain the initiative? The manuscript is not submitted, so in general, the author has no initiative. “I hope that editors will have a more socialist comradely attitude when handling manuscripts, and less businesslike and quack spirit. I hope that editors will treat authors as equals, and try their best to overcome the phenomenon of overwhelming customers or overwhelming customers.”① Wang Meng did not hide his dissatisfaction, although he understood that he was only "a novice writer" and originally "did not dare to compete with some accomplished editor comrades." When it was published in People's Literature, one-third was deleted, and he was only "slightly dissatisfied".This time, he was blunt: "The editorial department of "People's Literature" revised "New Young People from the Organization Department", except for some changes in the details of the text, I think it is mainly based on such a consideration: to make the meaning of the work clearer.  … … "Why are there so many 'ambiguities' in the original manuscript? On the one hand, it is due to the lack of experience in artistic expression, and there are some vague and wordy words. After these editors edited, the work is more refined and complete; on the other hand, it is It reflects some ambiguities and contradictions in the author's thinking. The modification in this aspect makes the unhealthy emotions of the work more 'clear', and there are some inappropriate places."② As soon as "New Young People from the Organization Department" was published, it attracted the attention of the literary world.The "unhealthy emotions" in the work have caused controversy.In the January 1957 issue of "Literary Learning", Li Changzhi published "About "New Young People from the Organization Department".Li Xifan also published an article "Comment on "New Young People from the Organization Department"" in "Wen Wei Po" on February 9, 1957... It was probably these debates that made Mao Zedong pay attention to Wang Meng and "New Young People from the Organization Department". Mao Zedong did not take Li Xifan's comments seriously, although he had warmly supported this "little man" in 1954 for his criticism of the expert Yu Pingbo.So in the talk on February 16, 1957, after talking about Wang Meng, Mao Zedong talked about Li Xifan like this: "Li Xifan wrote good things at the beginning, but the few articles he wrote later have no special characteristics. He should be allowed to live in practice. In the past, he was conscientious when he was a young daughter-in-law, but he turned his face when he became a mother-in-law. Use Criticizing other people's articles with dogmatism has no power." Afterwards, on April 24, 1957, Mao Zedong once again mentioned Li Xifan in a letter to the poet Yuan Shuipai: "It's better for Li Xifan to go back to school and teach and study at the same time. As soon as he arrives at the newspaper office, he's separated from the masses, and his attitude of fairness and reasoning is not enough. Please discuss it with him." The controversy over "New Young People from the Organization Department" attracted Mao Zedong's attention, and Mao Zedong's attention made this novel more and more popular in the literary world. On March 2, 1957, "Guangming Daily" specifically reported on the discussion of Wang Meng's novel "New Young People from the Organization Department". On May 8 of the same year, "People's Daily" published Wang Meng's article "On the "New Young People from the Organization Department"". Wang Meng wrote: "In the recent period, my novel "New Young People from the Organization Department" has caused controversy and received a lot of criticism; most of these criticisms have put forward correct and beneficial opinions and educated the author. I deeply understand The importance of criticism and self-criticism: Works need criticism, just like flowers and trees need sunshine and rain; I understand the kind care, strict requirements, and enthusiastic protection of the party and comrades for creation, and I want to help myself from going astray The predecessors and friends of the comrades expressed their gratitude." Wang Meng made a self-criticism: "The author didn't think about writing positive factors at all. He felt that the length of the novel was limited, and each had a division of labor. Let's divide the labor and write shortcomings in this article! As for the effect, he didn't think about it. The author also vaguely felt that if one Writing positive factors, because through the description of positive factors, it is necessary to contrast the correct, sober, and powerful analysis and criticism of various negative factors, the task will be much more difficult, and the author feels vaguely that he is "not competent". , so the positive factors are bypassed.” Wang Meng also stated that "petty bourgeois ideology and sentiment must be overcome".He said: "On the tortuous road of image thinking, any fork can lead you astray. I must study theory well, learn to understand life objectively, comprehensively and deeply; I must overcome petty bourgeois thoughts and emotions, not only 'rule Class interests' and all non-proletarian thoughts and emotions will 'consolidate' erroneous and one-sided understandings." Wang Meng said these words, perhaps because Mao Zedong called "New Young People from the Organization Department" "a work that was not well written."Mao Zedong's words were the final word, and seemed to draw a "conclusion" to "New Young People from the Organization Department". As for Mao Zedong's "high evaluation" of Yao Wenyuan in his speech, this will be discussed in detail later when he writes about this "new political star" who rose in 1957. Peking University students shouted "It's time": In Da Ming Da Fang, college students also became active. Peking University has always been the most sensitive place in China's political nerves.Because the Party Committee of Peking University called for speaking out and letting go, and held seminars for teachers at various levels, college students were encouraged to join the ranks of speaking out and letting go. "It's time! It's time!" Shen Zeyi and Zhang Yuanxun, students of the Chinese Department of Peking University, wrote a poem titled "It's Time", and it was quickly spread in Peking University and universities in the capital: For Peking University, May 19, 1957 is unforgettable.On this day, Peking University posted the first big-character poster.The students used big-character posters to release them.In just three days, the number of big-character posters suddenly increased to hundreds.Therefore, the students called it the "May 19th" Movement. On May 20, crowds crowded in front of the big-character poster entitled "A Poisonous Weed" signed by "a 'strong and malicious young man'".This big-character poster written by Tan Tianrong, a student of the Physics Department of Peking University, has attracted widespread attention: "Everything is fine, just don't be crazy, you should change your instinct to object to that conditioned or unconditioned reflex when you hear a word you are not used to, or I would say Xijiao Park (citer's note: refer to Beijing Zoo) is more suitable for you than Peking University." The "strong and malicious lad" declares: "I have thought about it painfully, read all the classic works I can find by Marx, Engels and other thinkers, and now I have sorted out a clue." What "brows" did he sort out?That is his long article "The Historical Inevitability of Dogmatism". He asked the Party Committee of Peking University to "give me a room and let me exhibit my works." He has an extraordinary bearing, and when he speaks, his tone is not small: "I discovered dialectics from physics itself, and soon I saw that philosophy is now in decline, and all sciences are facing destruction under the rule of metaphysics. Some famous scholars, such as Zhou Peiyuan, Qian Xuesen, Hua Luogeng, Guo Moruo, Ai Si Wait, what a terrible emptiness and confusion there is in the common sense of philosophy and science. Immediately afterwards, I realized that the world was facing an unprecedented transformation, and the two armies of anti-colonialism and anti-dogmatism showed themselves in different fields The student movement at Peking University is just the prelude to a world-scale democratic movement. The whole world is watching China, China is watching young students, and young students are watching us at Peking University, so we have no right to relax our fight.” At the end of his big-character poster, Tan Tianrong shouted five long lives: "Long live the Communist Party of China! Long live Chairman Mao! Long live socialist democracy! Long live Marxism! Long live freedom, democracy, rationality, and human rights!" As my alumnus, Tan Tianrong gave me the recent book "Copenhagen Misunderstanding" in early 1991.Although more than 30 springs and autumns have passed by, he still studies physics with a philosophical eye. He is from Hunan, born in 1935.In 1957, at the age of 22, he was a fourth-year student in the Physics Department of Peking University and a member of the Communist Youth League. I participated in the meeting to criticize him and Shen Zeyi.Naturally, he could not escape the fate of being wrongly classified as a "rightist". After that, he "worked" for twenty-two years.It was not until 1979 that he began to teach in the Physics Department of Xiangtan University in Hunan.Since 1983 began to publish papers in the journal.In 1986, he was transferred to Qingdao to work, where he devoted himself to the research of quantum mechanics, thermodynamics and statistical physics. Today, Shen Zeyi works in Zhejiang.In 1997, the Zhejiang literary monthly "Donghai" read a group of Shen Zeyi's new poems and his insights on contemporary poetry creation "Longing for Life". In the article "Longing for Life", Shen Zeyi still maintains the thoughts of worrying about the country and the people in his student days.He criticized the Chinese poetry circle in the 1990s: "Poetry is being ruined by beautiful friends, losing its tragic spirit in ostentatious, vassalistic elegance, squeezed into a corner and still trying to maintain its self-proclaimed noble status... "The loss of the tragic spirit, the loss of pain, that is, the loss of the life of poetry, is the most profound reason why poetry is no longer recognized by readers." His articles in the 1990s still echoed the anxiety, sadness, and anger of "It's Time" published in 1957. After the first edition was published, the author received a letter from Professor Liu Faqing, an alumnus of Peking University and Guangdong Youth Cadre Academy, mentioning that Liu Qidi should be supplemented. He said: "Among the student 'rightists' at Peking University, apart from Tan Tianrong, the number two figure should be Liu Qidi, a third-year physics student. "Liu Qidi was the first in China to put up a big-character poster saying 'Hu Feng is not a counter-revolutionary' (the title of the big-character poster seems to be "Restraining the White-haired Girl"). He was arrested as a 'counter-revolutionary' and died in prison unjustly." Professor Liu Faqing was a third-year student majoring in journalism in the Chinese Department of Peking University.In March 1958, it was added as "rightist".Then, he was sent to a labor camp in rural Gansu. After "correction", it was transferred back to Guangdong.He said that among nearly 100 students in the fifth and fourth grades majoring in journalism, 17 were labeled as "rightists."Among the sixty or so students in the fifth and fourth grades of the Department of Mathematics, there were twenty "rightists". Xiang Da, a professor of the History Department of Peking University, and Le Daiyun, secretary of the Labor Party Branch of the Chinese Department, were also branded as "rightists." There are more than 500 "rightists" in Peking University!