Chapter 51 Mao Zedong launched a counterattack against "Wen Wei Po" and "Guangming Daily"

At the busiest moment, when Mao Zedong frequently issued anti-rightist instructions to the whole party, he pointed the sharp edge of criticism at Wen Wei Po in Shanghai. Mao Zedong had long been dissatisfied with the "bourgeois orientation" of Shanghai's "Wen Wei Po".Therefore, in that special year, Mao Zedong read "Wen Wei Po" almost every day. Here, I want to disclose a small episode. On the eve of Mao Zedong's general attack on the rightists, "Wen Wei Po" was sensitive to the possibility of a change in the situation, so on that "eventful day" - June 6, 1957, it published Da Yijin The article "How Intellectuals Should Treat the Rectification Movement" was used to whitewash the facade.

Da Yijin's article pointed out that intellectuals must realize that the Party has a great spirit.The party formulates policies based on the opinions of the people of the whole country, is impartial, and dares to publicly admit and correct mistakes.Bureaucratism, sectarianism, and subjectivism are not inherent in the nature of the party, but are the result of some party members with impure party spirit who are divorced from the masses, divorced from reality, and do not start from uniting the people when carrying out the party's policies.Rectification means that the party demonstrates its determination to overcome shortcomings with practical actions.

For this reason, Da Yijin believes that in helping the party rectify the movement, intellectuals should: One is "study the rectification documents"; The second is "to master the spirit of gentle wind and light rain"; The third is "to distinguish right from wrong"; The fourth is "to propose solutions to conflicts"; The fifth is "to transform oneself by helping the rectification movement"; The sixth is "to understand the essence of the rectification movement." The next day, Mao Zedong read Da Yijin's article.Sure enough, Mao Zedong appreciated this article very much, and wrote a comment to his secretary Hu Qiaomu:

It should be said that Mao Zedong's evaluation of this article is quite high. It was also when Mao Zedong wrote this instruction - on June 7th, Da Yijin was violently attacked in Shanghai. Da Yijin is a professor of political economy at Fudan University in Shanghai. Since he published the article in Wen Wei Po on June 6, and because he made a similar article at the Fudan University Teachers Symposium on June 7, The speech of the article was immediately attacked by some teachers at the meeting. According to the "People's Daily" report on June 9, 1957, Da Yijin said at the symposium on that day: "Now the party is rectifying the movement, and inviting comrades from outside the party to help the party rectify the movement, this just shows the selflessness of the party. , It shows that the party attaches great importance to the opinions of the masses." Da Yijin then asked the teachers to adopt a gentle method to help the party committee of Fudan University to rectify.

"People's Daily" reported that Da Yijin's speech was interrupted by some teachers.They said: "We don't listen to your lessons!" "Don't teach us!" "Don't waste time!" Some people called him "boring" and "shameless"... Since Mao Zedong gave instructions to "reprint in a prominent position" Da Yijin's article, and Da Yijin was attacked at the symposium, it is only natural that People's Daily quickly reprinted it in a prominent position. Strangely, the "People's Daily" did not reprint it!

This seems incredible.In fact, that was because Mao Zedong had started to target the "Wen Wei Po" in his counterattack.Since "Wen Wei Po" is "bourgeois direction", then "People's Daily" reproduced Da Yijin's article published in "Wen Wei Po", isn't it supporting and affirming "Wen Wei Po"? At this time - on June 10, Mao Zedong read an article criticizing "Wen Wei Po" on the third page of "Wen Wei Po", and immediately instructed "People's Daily" to reprint it on June 14. This article is Yao Wenyuan's "Recording for Examination--A Chance on Reading Newspapers" mentioned in the previous article.

Once again, Mao Zedong carefully chose a breakthrough point, using an article criticizing "Wen Wei Po" published in "Wen Wei Po" as a "starter" to launch a counterattack against "Wen Wei Po". Even more ingeniously, Yao Wenyuan also criticized Guangming Daily in his article.With the help of Yao Wenyuan's article, Mao Zedong killed two birds with one stone and launched a counterattack against Guangming Daily at the same time. At that time, "Wen Wei Po" and "Guangming Daily" were the two major non-Party newspapers in China.Mao Zedong chose such a rare "reason" to put these two major non-Party newspapers in a dense firepower network at once, and these two newspapers are precisely the bases of the "rightists".

This time, Mao Zedong not only asked the "People's Daily" to reprint Yao Wenyuan's article, but wrote an important article in the name of "People's Daily Editorial Department", which was published simultaneously with Yao Wenyuan's article on June 6. Published in People's Daily on April 14. What Mao Zedong wrote was "Wen Wei Po's Bourgeois Direction in a Time Period".This is the first time that Mao Zedong publicly published an article criticizing the rightists since he started the fight against the rightists. Shu Yu is a playwright, film and theater critic.His original name was Mao Xiaoyong.In 1957, by chance, he saw the manuscript of "Wen Wei Po's Bourgeois Orientation in a Period" written by Mao Zedong, and met Mao Zedong when he was writing this article.

Shu Yan once recalled: In the summer of 1957, an accidental factor made me meet Mao Zedong again in Zhongnanhai.The incident was triggered by my father Mao Guangsheng (Heting)'s article "Some Opinions on the Current Rectification Movement" in the "People's Daily"... One late night in June, Zhongnanhai sent a car to pick up my father.I was ordered to accompany this old man over eighty years old to meet the party and state chairman Mao Zedong.The car drove towards Fuyou Street at high speed in the quiet night, passed through Huairen Hall, turned north and entered District A of Zhongnanhai, and stopped abruptly by the swimming pool in an instant.Turning in from the corridor, you can see a huge tent covering the poolside, a desk, a table of eight immortals, several rattan chairs, a small iron bed, and a soft canvas couch. This is Chairman Mao's temporary office and rest in summer. premises.The guards entered first to report.Mao Zedong immediately stepped from the table and stretched out his hand and said, "Mr. Mao, welcome!"...

Mao Zedong saw my father's article about the rectification movement, so the topic started from here. "The old man spoke well!" His spirit was radiant. "You said, if the Communist Party has no deviations, then why bother with rectification? Criticism is to help party members correct their mistakes. Our rectification, as you said, is 'to love others with virtue, and to meet each other with sincerity.'" My father claims to be eighty and five years old, and has gone through several dynasties, and has never seen the political clarity of today.People are not saints, who can be without fault?Communist Party members will not admit that they are saints, right?

Mao Zedong kept nodding his head and listening. "At first, I doubted whether the Chairman's 'Double Hundred' policy would confuse my thinking. Then I thought about it, everyone has a different standpoint and sees a problem from a different angle. I can't force people to agree. If the country has the way, the common people No discussion. It is a good thing that the people dare to speak up, and they should not be disobedient because their language is too extreme. As long as the country is the premise, not the individual, then it can be called contention or harmony.” The leader solemnly declared in an affirmative tone: "Whoever speaks is innocent, and whoever hears it is a warning. This policy will never change." I felt that there was no need to comment on this kind of occasion, so I moved to the right side of the table, and when I turned my eyes, I accidentally saw the comrade sitting next to me holding a bunch of manuscripts. The paper was densely packed with Mao Zedong’s ink marks, but I saw the title: " The Bourgeois Orientation of Wen Wei Po...".I was stunned, and hurriedly turned my face to look at the swimming pool a stone's throw away. At this moment, it was crystal clear and the water was calm.Unexpectedly, the wind and waves under the Taiye Pool are raging, and I am still numb... ① Shu Yan also recalled: My father stood up and said goodbye.Mao Zedong held my father's hand and said: "I will go to other places in a few days. I hope you will come to Beijing again next year." Mao Zedong must send my father.Pointing to a pool of blue waves, he said, "I swim here every day." After walking for a while, he suddenly stopped and asked, "What is your parting message, old man?" "Now the party is rectifying. The Communist Party can govern such a large country so well, and the power of the country has never been seen in history." My father thought for a while and continued: "I remember that in the Buddhist scriptures, a male Lions can't help but suffer from a few gnats on their body. Although gnats are small, they can do a lot of harm. Please be careful!" My father quoted Buddhist scriptures in order to explain that rectification should be carried out within the party, and those who corrupt the party's style are also party members with unhealthy conduct, and no one else can corrupt it. He turned to me, but didn't hear the words clearly, did he refer to the little white bugs that live on humans and animals?When speaking, he twisted his index finger with his thumb to describe. I immediately replied: "Chairman, that's right." "Well said!" He took a step forward, put his right hand on his chest and said with a serious expression, "I will definitely keep it in my heart." Mr. Mao Guangsheng, an old man in his nineties, never imagined that just a few months after this talk, he would be "expanded" into the ranks of "bourgeois rightists"!In addition to writing "Wen Wei Po's Bourgeois Orientation in a Period", Mao Zedong also wrote a news lead for Xinhua News Agency that reposted this article. The full text is as follows: (Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, 14th) The editorial department of the People's Daily criticized the bourgeois political orientation of Wen Wei Po and Guangming Daily in response to Yao Wenyuan's article.The opinion of the People’s Daily editorial department and Yao Wenyuan’s article are as follows: Since this article "Wen Wei Po's Bourgeois Direction in a Time Period" is an important strategic plan of Mao Zedong's counterattack against the rightists, the full text is reproduced below: The article reproduced below was published in Wen Wei Po on June 10, entitled "Recorded for Examination".Shanghai Wenhui Daily and Beijing Guangming Daily have published a large number of good reports and articles in the past period.However, within a short period of time, the basic political orientation of these two newspapers became that of bourgeois newspapers.These two newspapers used the slogan "a hundred schools of thought contend" and the Communist Party's rectification movement to publish a large number of articles and inflammatory reports that expressed bourgeois views and were not prepared to criticize them.Some of the people in these two papers made a big mistake about the paper's point of view.They confuse the principled difference between newspapers in capitalist countries and newspapers in socialist countries.On this point, some editors and reporters of some other newspapers also have this situation, and some journalism teachers of some universities also have this situation, not only Wenhui and Guangming, but these two newspapers are particularly prominent.Misconceptions can be studied, considered, and criticized for change, and we expect them to.Judging from the situation of these two newspapers in recent days, the course seems to have changed.Of course, non-Party newspapers should not be run in exactly the same way as Party newspapers, but should have their own characteristics.However, their basic direction should be consistent with other newspapers.This is because in a socialist country, newspapers are a reflection of the socialist economy, that is, a planned economy based on public ownership, through news means, and newspapers in capitalist countries are different from the reflection of an anarchic and group-competitive economy through news means.At a time when class divisions existed in the world, newspapers were always the tools of class struggle.We hope to start a debate on this issue so that everyone can reach a consensus on this issue.Among journalists, some members of the Communist Party and the Communist Youth League also have a bourgeois journalistic viewpoint, and this erroneous viewpoint should also be considered, studied and criticized.Dogmatic news views and stereotyped writing style should also be criticized.This aspect of things is nasty.Party newspapers, including this one, have made mistakes in this respect.Mistakes in this area must also be criticized in the debate.In this way, on the issue of news, there will be a struggle on two fronts: against the "Left" and against the Right.Yao Wenyuan's article only implicitly points out Wen Wei Po's bourgeois orientation. It is a good article to see the obvious and harmful tendency of some people in Wen Wei Po to stand on the bourgeoisie's standpoint to carry out class struggle against the proletariat, so it is reproduced here .And use this excuse to express our views to our colleagues - Wen Wei Po and Guangming Daily for consideration. Mao Zedong's article was sent by Xinhua News Agency, so in addition to being published in "People's Daily", all newspapers across the country reprinted it, which caused great political influence. Twenty-four-year-old Yao Wenyuan has thus become a rising political star in China.It can be said that Yao Wenyuan's famous work was "Recorded for Exam Preparation". Because Mao Zedong pointed the spearhead of the counterattack at Wen Wei Po and Guangming Daily, people began to "search" these two non-Party newspapers, carefully examining the various rightists released during the big speeches. Speech...