Chapter 89 Mao Zedong Named the "Rightists" in Shanghai

"After more than two months of struggle, Shanghai's anti-rightist struggle has won a decisive victory. The number of people involved in the struggle has reached hundreds of thousands, and batch after batch of rightists have been exposed. Come down..." This "major theory" was stated by Ke Qingshi, the first secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, at the preparatory meeting for the second session of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on August 15, 1957. This "good student" of Mao Zedong followed Mao Zedong closely, so he made the "anti-rightist movement" in Shanghai "in full swing."

Ke Qingshi imitated the method of the National People's Congress and also turned the Shanghai People's Congress into a battlefield for "anti-rightists".Ke Qingshi said: "The struggle at the meeting will cooperate with the anti-rightist fronts outside the meeting, such as the democratic parties, literature and art, news, publishing, education, health, business circles, etc., and push the anti-rightist struggle in the city to a new climax."① Ke Qingshi also made the following analysis of the "anti-rightist" situation in Shanghai: "In the previous stage in Shanghai, some important rightists have been exposed, and many grassroots units have also exposed a group of rightists."①

Later, this report by Ke Qingshi was published in the People's Daily on August 27, 1957, under the title "Deepening the Anti-Rightist Struggle and Carrying out a National Rectification".Ke Qingshi said: The rightists in Shanghai have existed for a long time, and this time they have been exposed more thoroughly.Among them, there are mainly three types of people: One is the right wing of the Democratic Party during the original democratic revolution. They have always represented the position of the right wing of the bourgeoisie, have more experience in political struggles, and are disguised as "professors of democracy" and "progressives". They have a deceptive effect on some people. This time took the lead and attacked;

One is the people in power in the past, who were on stage during the Kuomintang period. They have become notorious, and they are unwilling to withdraw from the stage of history. They usually dare not show their faces. There is also the politically disaffected and other elements of the bourgeoisie who resist the socialist revolution. These types of people exist objectively, and they will always emerge when given the opportunity.This big exposure is not surprising, and it is a good thing. Mao Zedong was very concerned about the "anti-rightist movement" in Shanghai.In Mao Zedong's own words, when he came to Shanghai in late March 1957, "I came to light the fire at that time."

A hundred days later, Mao Zedong came to Shanghai again.This time, he came to call on the people of Shanghai to "anti-rightists". On July 9, 1957, Mao Zedong named a series of "rightists" in Shanghai in his speech at the Shanghai Cadre Meeting: "In your Shanghai, it was Wang Zaoshi, Lu Yi, Chen Renbing, Peng Wenying, and Wu Yin, some rightists who came out to make trouble. When the rightists made trouble, the centrists were confused. The ancestors of the rightists were Zhang Bojun and Luo Longji , Zhang Naiqi, both originated in Beijing. The more chaotic the place in Beijing, the better, and the more chaotic the better. This is a rule of thumb.”①

Mao Zedong compared the "rightists" in Beijing and Shanghai in this way: "The current style of the democratic parties is secondary, and the main problem is which line to take. Should they follow the counter-revolutionary line of Zhang Bojun, Luo Longji, Zhang Naiqi, Chen Renbing, Peng Wenying, Lu Yi, and Sun Dayu, or what line should they take? This question is clear..."② Of course, Mao Zedong wrote "The Bourgeois Orientation of Wen Wei Po in a Time Period" for the "People's Daily" in the name of "the editorial department of this newspaper" on June 14, 1957; "Wen Wei Po's Bourgeois Orientation Should Be Criticized," written in the name of an editorial for the People's Daily on July 1, ignited two big fires for the "anti-rightist movement" in Shanghai.

Under Mao Zedong's personal roll call, and under the hard work of "good student" Ke Qingshi, the "Anti-Rightist Movement" in Shanghai was indeed "vigorous"... "Defeated the Rightists and Trained the Masses", on August 27, 1957, "People's Daily" reported "Nine Days of Debate in the Preparatory Meeting of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress" with this headline.According to the report: In this great debate, a total of more than 20 rightists among the people's representatives and non-voting personnel were fully exposed and criticized. Among them, 15 rightists had already been exposed and criticized in society before the meeting. They are: Peng Wenying, Chen Renbing, Sun Dayu, Shen Zhiyuan, Wang Zaoshi, Lu Yi, Xia Gaoyang, Zhang Mengwen, Xu Jie, Luo Jiaheng, Li Kangnian, Wang Zijian, Han Ming, Lu Lu, Xu Buwu, etc.Some of the rightists were newly exposed at the meeting, and they are: Dong Renjian, professor of Shanghai International Studies University; Jin Youyun, principal of Shanghai Huimin Middle School; Wu Chengxi, a rightist in the party, and others.

The report said: Many middle-aged people who had a vague understanding of the struggle have also awakened. Many people who have been silent in the past can't help but speak out at the meeting to denounce the rightists.Xu Senyu, an archaeologist over seventy years old, Feng Zikai, an old painter, and Shen Yinmo, a calligrapher, all made generous speeches at the meeting.People's representative Hu Zhongfan reviewed his past attitude of "watching the fire from the other side" towards the anti-rightist struggle. Only at this meeting did he realize that "this is a life-and-death struggle."

This report left behind a momentary image of the "anti-rightist movement" in Shanghai.