Chapter 106 Mao Zedong sharply criticized "movie gongs and drums"

Literature and art are sister flowers.In the "Anti-Rightist Movement", literature suffered catastrophe, art elegy, and sisters suffered frostbite. "Movie Gongs and Drums" is the prelude to the big show.In the "anti-rightist movement", "movie gongs and drums" naturally became the focus of the "counterattack". Mao Zedong's famous statement: "We will support whatever the enemy opposes; we will oppose whatever the enemy supports." This statement is generally correct.But absolutes are the most taboo, and when the "left" style prevails, absolutes are the most favorite.

As mentioned earlier, this assertion was made absolute and applied to "Early Spring Climate of Intellectuals", which once caused Fei Xiaotong to be criticized - because Taiwan's "Overseas" monthly praised "Early Spring Climate of Intellectuals" at that time. Similarly, the absolutization of this assertion also caused Zhong Lianfu to suffer—because his "Drums and Drums of Movies" was quoted by Taiwan at that time. That was on January 15, 1957, when the "Hong Kong Times" published a newsletter issued by Taiwan's Avenue News Agency, "Under heavy oppression, the film industry in mainland China is miserable."This newsletter heavily quotes materials from Zhong Lianfu's "Drums and Drums of Movies". Finally, the newsletter reads:

"All film workers trapped in the mainland have been persecuted and suppressed for too long, and now they are actually beating the gongs and drums of anti-violence..." This time Zhong Dianfei was in a terrible situation!Because his "Drums and Drums of Movies" is now called "Drums and Drums Against Violence" by the Taiwan News Agency, is that okay? ! Therefore, applying the "formula" that "the enemy supports" and "we oppose", Zhong Dianfu became the object of "we oppose". On February 27, 1957, when Mao Zedong gave a speech "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" at the Supreme State Council, he issued a severe criticism of Zhong Dianfu:

"There are rightists and leftists in the Communist Party. There is a cadre in the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee named Zhong Lianfu. He wrote two articles under a false name, telling a mess about the past and denying everything. This article aroused criticism and controversy. But Taiwan appreciates this article." ① Mao Zedong said that "two articles were written under false names", one of course refers to "The Drums of Movies" written by Zhong Dianfu in the name of a commentator of "Literary Daily"; the other is Zhong Dianfu's pseudonym Zhu Zhu Zhu published "For Advancement" in "Wen Wei Po" on January 4, 1957.

Mao Zedong's words, as soon as the hammer was finalized, immediately put Zhong Dianfu into the "separate volume"-even though the anti-rightist gongs and drums had not yet sounded. In fact, Zhong Dianfu, a film theorist sitting in the red wall, has quite a background. He is a native of Jiangjin County, Sichuan, born in 1919.In 1937, at the age of eighteen, he went to Yan'an to enroll in the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University.The following year, joined the Communist Party of China.Since then, he has been engaged in the study of Marxist-Leninist literary theory for a long time.

At the beginning of 1951, Zhong Dianfu was transferred to the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and worked in the film department.There are only two main cadres in this film division, one is Zhong Dianfu, and the other is the director Jiang Qing. Not long after Zhong Dianfu entered the Central Propaganda Department, Mao Zedong launched a criticism of the movie "The Story of Wu Xun".According to Mao Zedong's instructions, in June of this year, the Wuxun historical investigation team traveled from Beijing to Shandong, the hometown of Wuxun, to conduct an investigation for more than 20 days.The temporary party leader of this investigation team is Zhong Dianfu, and the main members are Jiang Qing and Yuan Shuipai.

From July 23rd to 28th, 1951, the "People's Daily" serialized the "Investigative Notes on the History of Wu Xun" written by this investigation team.This article was revised and published by Mao Zedong himself, and the author of the article is Zhong Dianfu. Zhong Dianfu once recalled his impression of Jiang Qing when he went to Shandong for investigation: "This person is impossible to work with. She is in the key of A in the morning and raised to the key of B in the evening. It is difficult to know what she really thinks. And her music scores are always far from her actual singing ability. In During the Shandong period, along the way, I either accused this or scolded that, but the matter involved some leaders of the Ministry of Culture. Once I couldn't help it, so I talked to her once as the leader of the party group and said, "You have some opinions." It’s better to go back to Beijing to talk again. Comrades from the Provincial Party Committee and the Liaocheng District Party Committee came with us. They are young and don’t know about Beijing’s work in literature and art...’ She blushed and said: ‘I Consider your opinion'. On the second day, I made a statement: 'I accept your criticism...' and I have been busy since then."①

It was at the beginning of March 1957 that Zhong Lianfu learned of Mao Zedong's severe criticism of "Drums and Drums of Movies".