Chapter 14 4. One move

When did the leaders of the party group of the Chinese Writers Association attack Ding Ling?Li Zhi of the former Central Propaganda Department wrote in the article "Memories and Reflections - Chronicles of 1957": "Not long after the third batch of materials on Hu Feng was released at the end of June 1955, a deputy secretary of the Party group of the Writers Association and the Party The secretary of the general branch jointly signed a report to the Central Propaganda Department to 'expose' the problems of Ding Ling, Chen Qixia and others, and attached materials about Ding Ling, Chen Qixia and others. Newspaper." The "deputy secretary of the party group" mentioned here is Liu Baiyu, and the "secretary of the general party branch" is Ruan Zhangjing.

On February 14, 2002, when the author visited Zhang Xi, the former secretary-general of the Chinese Writers Association, who was hospitalized in Peking Union Medical College Hospital, he talked about such a thing: One summer a few years ago, Liu Baiyu invited him to the Huangsi General Political Compound Liu Baiyu said that at that time, Kang Zhuo wrote a material to the party group of the Writers Association, reflecting some problems of Ding Ling in the Institute of Literature. , wrote a report to Lu Dingyi, head of the Central Propaganda Department, and after the report was written, he asked the Party branch secretary Ruan Zhangjing to sign it and report it.After seeing this report, Lu Dingyi reported it to the Central Committee.After this conversation, Zhang Xi asked Ruan Zhangjing to check again. Ruan Zhangjing said that at that time Liu Baiyu only said that if he wanted to report a document to Lu Dingyi, it must be signed by the party secretary. Didn't read it, just signed it.Later, Zhang Xi told Liu Baiyu what Ruan Zhangjing said, but Liu didn't agree.

According to organizational principles, Liu Baiyu could never be the master of this task by himself, nor did he have the courage to write a report to his superiors, reflecting the problems of the members of the party group, the vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, and a veteran revolutionist.What's more, Ding Ling is not easy to mess with. She is a "strength faction" and a "Sister Feng". Even Hu Feng is afraid of her.Li Xin said: "At that time, among the full-time party members and cadres in the literary and art circles, if Zhou Yang was the top leader, Ding Ling could be said to be the second leader. It’s not easy for a writer to be highly valued by Mao Zedong in Yan’an.” At that time, Zhou Yang was Liu Baiyu’s direct leader and immediate boss no matter from the administrative system or the party system.Without the consent and support of the party secretary, Liu Baiyu would not have dared to take such a move. This is common sense.But why did the secretary of the party group deliberately avoid it, and even brought in a secretary of the general party branch to boost his momentum?

Kang Zhuo later said that the purpose of his writing the material was to improve unity, and he would never want to "rectify" Ding Ling, let alone think that the opinions he reflected would cause such a big disturbance later.So Kang Zhuo felt aggrieved. "He later said that those people distorted his disclosure at that time, and explained: When I was talking to the party group, I said that Ding Ling had serious liberalism; I suggest that you hold a meeting and discuss the issues of the 1930s. How do I know that my opinion has become an issue of Ding Ling's personal relationship with the party. You put me in the position of an uprising so that I cannot step down. (Xing Xiaoqun's "The Mystery of Ding Ling's Victimization")

In any case, the problem was reported to Lu Dingyi, head of the Central Propaganda Department.How should he deal with it?Talk to Ding Ling, point out the problem, and persuade her to correct it. This is "being kind to others".But Lu Dingyi made a ruthless move. Around the end of July, signed by Lu Dingyi, he wrote the "Report of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Party Group of the Chinese Writers Association Prepares to Criticize Ding Ling and Others' Wrong Way of Thinking."The report said: "During the struggle against Hu Feng's counter-revolutionary clique, it was exposed that party members and cadres in the literary and art circles, and even some responsible cadres, had serious liberal and individualistic ideologies and behaviors, which affected the unity of the literary and art circles, and gave rise to hidden counter-revolutionaries. The activities of these elements have created convenient conditions and damaged the party's literature and art. The reports of Comrades Liu Baiyu and Ruan Zhangjing of the Writers Association to the Central Propaganda Department reflected this serious situation. They based on the facts exposed by some comrades and from Hu Some of the materials found in the confessions of members of the Feng counter-revolutionary group believe that Comrade Ding Ling's liberal and individualistic ideological style is extremely serious." Thoroughly, and Comrade Ding Ling actually does not accept criticism, on the contrary, she expresses great dissatisfaction, thinking that checking the "Literary Daily" is to punish her." The report proposed several specific work methods, and asked the central government to review and approve.At the back of the report are the reports of Liu Baiyu and Ruan Zhangjing to the Central Propaganda Department and materials about Ding Ling and others.

Ding Ling's "crime" is: Liberalism and individualism are extremely serious, affecting the unity of the literary and art circles, and she is extremely dissatisfied with the inspection of "Literary News"'s mistakes; there are two sources of materials: one is that some comrades exposed, and the other is from the Materials discovered in the confessions of members of the Hu Feng counter-revolutionary group.The report proposes to "criticize the wrong thinking and style of Ding Ling and others." Please pay attention to the title of Lu Dingyi's report: "Report of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Party Group of the Chinese Writers Association Prepares to Criticize the Wrong Thought and Style of Ding Ling and Others" - the Party Group of the Chinese Writers Association has already prepared to "criticize" "Ding Ling and others" "Ready"!Zhou Yang is the party secretary of the Writers Association and the deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department. He plays a pivotal role in this decision-making.As for Lu Dingyi's handling of Ding Ling's problem, it was impossible not to discuss it with Zhou Yang.An old comrade from the former Central Propaganda Department said that Lu Dingyi "just listened to Zhou Yang and obeyed his advice."

In a sense, it can be said that the discovery of Ding Ling and Chen Qixia was not a direct result of the elimination of counter-revolutionaries (because they were not "counter-revolutionaries" after all), but it was an unexpected gain of the elimination of counter-revolutionaries. Immediately afterwards, according to the instructions of the Central Propaganda Department, and according to the keynote of Lu Dingyi’s report, the Chinese Writers Association stopped the ongoing anti-revolutionary campaign, and from August 3rd, successively held enlarged meetings of the party group at No. 22 Dongzongbu Hutong Chinese Writers Association.