Chapter 25 3. The turning point office meeting of ministers of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee

The Chinese political arena in the first half of 1956 was very different from a year ago. There were not so many incidents, movements, and criticisms. Instead, there were "a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools of thought contending", and the tense atmosphere gradually dissipated.Perhaps it is precisely because of last year's anti-revolutionary campaign that this year's relaxation, harmony, peace and tranquility have occurred. This is a short period of tranquility after the struggle, and this tranquility is related to the "Eighth National Congress" of the party that will be held in the second half of the year.

On April 28, Mao Zedong said in his concluding speech at the expanded meeting of the Politburo: "'Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend', I think this should be our policy." On May 2, he made another speech at the seventh meeting of the Supreme State Council Say, now that spring is here, let a hundred kinds of flowers bloom, don’t let only a few kinds of flowers bloom, and let a few kinds of flowers not bloom. This is called a hundred flowers blooming.The contention of a hundred schools of thought means that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, two thousand years ago, there were many schools of thought and a hundred schools of thought, and everyone discussed freely.Now we need this too.

These words show the mind of a sage monarch in a peaceful and prosperous age. Chinese cultural people who have experienced several ideological and critical struggles in the past few years finally feel a burst of relief.After experiencing one of the most severe winters, Ding Ling felt particularly keen. She thought that it was time to solve the problem. But it was Chen Qixia who lodged the complaint first. During this time, Chen Qixia's problems took a turn for the better. On May 11, the Central Anti-Revolutionary Leading Group notified the Chinese Writers Association’s Anti-Revolutionary Leading Group that they had found out that Chen Qixia and Li Youran had no counter-revolutionary problems, and the isolation review of them was lifted. On May 22, Ruan Zhangjing, Secretary of the General Party Branch of the Chinese Writers Association, and Cui Yi, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, notified Chen Qixia to end the suspension for self-reflection and restore his freedom.Chen Qixia immediately asked to talk to the party committee of the Central Propaganda Department. On May 24, Li Zhilian, Cui Yi and others listened to Chen Qixia's three-hour appeal. Chen Qixia said that some of his words might be complaints, and Cui Yi said that even complaints should be listened to.Chen Qixia was very moved, thinking that the Party Committee of the Central Propaganda Department was serious and fair.At the end of the conversation, Li Zhilian asked Chen Qixia to put his opinions into written materials. On May 30, Chen Qixia wrote the "Statement" of 18,000 words.

The "Statement" published today is a manuscript that Chen Gonghuai, the eldest son, found in a notebook after Chen Qixia's death in 1988 when he was sorting out his belongings.Chen Qixia made an eight-point request, including: "My arrest was officially issued by the Ministry of Public Security, although it has never announced what crime I committed. Therefore, I now have reasons to request the Ministry of Public Security to formally revoke my arrest warrant. , and explain the grounds and reasons for the wrongful arrest." "I request the party committee to let me know exactly why I was arrested, who made the decision, and how the problem was dealt with during the nine months and another three days of my deprivation of freedom. all the circumstances.” “I request the Party Committee to instruct the Writers’ Association to draw a concrete conclusion on this review of my history.” “I request the Party Committee to thoroughly examine the Party branch of the Writers’ Association since Kang Zhuo served as party secretary. Unbiased, how did it come about? Who should be responsible?"

Against such a large background and small environment, on Thursday, June 28, at 9 am, Lu Dingyi presided over an office meeting of the Ministers of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.Some articles recalling the Ding Chen incident all talked about that meeting, which was an important turning point. The meeting was held in Zhongnanhai Xifutang, which is the small meeting room of the Central Propaganda Department.Attendees included Zhang Jichun, Zhang Panshi, Li Zhilian, various directors of the Central Propaganda Department, Fan Changjiang, Liu Baiyu, Ruan Zhangjing, Yang Yumin, and Yan Wenjing.One of the contents of the meeting's research is to listen to the opinions of the party committee of the agency on the handling of Chen Qixia's issue and future work.

First, Li Zhilian and Cui Yi reported. After listening to it, Lu Dingyi asked if there were any inaccuracies in the report of the Party Group of the Writers Association to the Central Committee on the issue of Ding and Chen.Liu Baiyu said that we were too busy with work at the time and did not check the facts.Lu Dingyi was not very happy, and said that this time he had to check clearly, and he could no longer be passive. The conclusion that was drawn hastily without verification and verification in September last year exposed its weak foundation nine months later, and the important link of "investigation and verification" had to be added.The meeting hosts who were too hasty at the beginning are now passive.

The minutes of the minister's office meeting read: "Five, studied the opinions of the party committee of the headquarters on the handling of Chen Qixia's issue and how to proceed with the work in the future. Comrade Jichun was determined to preside over the future approach, and the party committee of the Central Propaganda Department and the Writers' Association Some comrades from the party group and the general branch participated, investigated the facts clearly, listened to opinions from all sides, and then put forward handling opinions. In addition, it was agreed that Chen Qixia would continue to participate in the party's organizational life. Comrade Jichun first verbally communicated to Comrade Xiaoping Report it once, and report to the Central Committee in writing after the facts are clear." Zhang Jichun is the executive vice minister and the second in command of the Central Propaganda Department after Lu Dingyi.

This means that the report of the Party Group of the Writers Association that has been distributed by the central government has been questioned, and its accuracy must be re-verified, so as to re-judge its fairness.Since the matter was related to the documents and decisions of the Central Committee, after the meeting, Zhang Jichun made an oral report to Deng Xiaoping, Secretary General of the Central Committee, and obtained his consent.Zhang Jichun was originally the deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of Erye. After the liberation of the whole country, he worked in the Southwest Bureau and was very familiar with Deng Xiaoping.

The main discussion in that meeting was Chen Qixia, because he made complaints both verbally and in writing, while Ding Ling was still preparing to "review myself to the party" until June 10.Ding Ling wrote the statement of defense after receiving the notice from Yang Yumin in early August and after reading Chen Qixia's statement.However, Chen Qixia and Ding Ling were originally involved in the same case, "grasshoppers tied to a thread", and neither of them can do without the other, so the issues must be tried at the same time, and the nature must be the same. The party committee of the Central Propaganda Department immediately drafted "Several Specific Opinions on How to Handle Chen Qixia's Issue" in accordance with the spirit of the ministerial meeting. After Zhang Jichun agreed, on July 2 they invited Liu Baiyu, Ruan Zhangjing, Li Xin, Zhang Xi and others made further arrangements.On July 7, the Party Committee of the Central Propaganda Department issued this "Opinion" to all Party branches and Party branches.It proposed: "The work of investigating the facts is proposed to be carried out by eight comrades Yang Yumin, Guo Xiaochuan, Ruan Zhangjing, Zhang Xi, Yan Wenjing, Kang Zhuo, Ge Luo, and Li Xin (and some comrades can be recruited to assist), and Ruan Zhangjing, Kang Zhuo The second comrade assists Comrade Yang Yumin in organizing and arranging the specific implementation of this work. This work is required to be completed within one and a half months, and a systematic investigation report should be written at the end. During the investigation process, it is necessary to organize several reports for research. The report meeting was presided over by Comrade Ji Chun. In addition to the above comrades who did the investigation work, the following comrades were also invited to participate: Zhou Yang, Xiong Fu, Liu Baiyu, Lin Mohan (comrade Su Yiping replaced Lin when he was not at home), Li Zhilian, Cui Yi, Zhang Hai Waiting for comrades to participate."

But the final decision of the Central Propaganda Department was not to set up one group, but to set up two "groups", one was a "research group" with as many as 15 people, and the other was a "seven-member group".Since the establishment of the research group and the seven-member group in July, they have conducted investigations on some important facts presented in the enlarged meeting of the party group of the Chinese Writers Association in 1955 and the "Report" to the Central Committee, as well as the defenses of Ding Ling and Chen Qixia.The investigation work of the seven-member group of the Chinese Writers Association was carried out from July to October, and the investigation letter issued stated: "Try to be well-founded and accurate with an attitude of seeking truth from facts."During this period, they only reported to the research group once.At the end of October, the seven-member team was changed into a three-member team (Liu Baiyu, Yang Yumin, Zhang Hai), and the investigation continued until December.

But once the group was formed, there was a lot of internal debate over how to proceed.One opinion holds that the report of the Party Group of the Chinese Writers Association in 1955 had been approved by the central government, and the organization should be based on the facts in this report.Another opinion, represented by Li Zhilian and Zhang Hai, is that the report of the Writers Association’s party group is only a political conclusion. Listen to my opinion, this is a necessary step for all finalizing work.The differences between the two parties are: whether to confirm and approve the "anti-Party" facts listed in the "Report", and whether to re-investigate and confirm those "facts". After the two opinions were reported to Zhang Jichun, he supported Li Zhilian, thinking that after checking the facts, the basis for the punishment would be more definite and the punished would be more likely to accept it.So the working group investigated Ding Chen's anti-Party issues revealed in the report of the Chinese Writers Association, one by one. Li Zhilian and Zhang Hai also directly talked to people, and on this basis, they obtained a lot of investigation materials. The meeting on June 28 was an opportunity, a hope, and a turning point in fate for Ding and Chen.There are two key points: first, it was decided to re-check the facts of the Ding and Chen issues, and draw a new conclusion based on the results of the check; second, it was determined that Zhang Jichun was in charge of this work, which is an important personnel guarantee. Zhang Jichun was much older than Zhou Yang. He was a party member in 1926. He followed Zhu De and Chen Yi to Jinggangshan and participated in the Long March.He has a decent style, is fair, and has no personal grievances with Ding Ling. To a certain extent, it is precisely because of his role that the review work can be carried out fairly and smoothly.Guo Xiaochuan once talked about his feeling: Liu Baiyu and Lin Mohan were dissatisfied with the party committee of the Central Propaganda Department, and felt that Li Zhilian, Zhang Hai and others favored Ding Chen and oppressed them. The roots are very hard.However, Xiong Fu said in a talk in September 1978: "The issues concerning Ding Ling and Chen Qixia have always been dealt with when Comrade Zhou Yang participated and Comrade Zhou Yang's opinions were respected. . . . Comrade Zhang Jichun always wanted to ask Comrade Zhou Yang for his opinion. When discussing the issue of Ding and Chen in the Ministerial Office Meeting, Comrade Zhou Yang was usually present. Without Comrade Zhou Yang’s consent, no problem could be dealt with. Comrade Jichun paid great attention to this Question." Xiong Fu's statement should be more accurate, Zhang Jichun is very cautious about this matter. At the "Eighth National Congress" held in September 1956, Zhang Jichun was elected as a member of the Central Committee, Zhou Yang was an alternate member, and Lu Dingyi entered the Politburo as an alternate member.