Chapter 42 8. "Ding Chen is a representative of unhealthy trends, and we must start a struggle"

Ding Ling's fate in 1957 ultimately depended on the general climate of political struggles across the country. The three enlarged meetings of the Chinese Writers Association Party Group in June were the product of the rectification movement, and the subsequent reversal of the meeting's policy was also the inevitable result of the anti-rightist struggle.Li Zhilian said: At the enlarged meeting of the Party Committee of the Writers Association, there were too many opinions to criticize the leaders, and it was impossible to keep going, and it was impossible to find a way out. It seems that the new 'offensive' has a basis." This is really at a critical moment, helping the precarious Zhou Yang.

The adjournment of the enlarged meeting of the party group is a signal of a turning point.This is probably Lu Dingyi's opinion, because he is extremely disgusted with the tendency of the meeting and cannot allow this kind of sentiment to develop and spread. He is already considering whether the Ding-Chen issue belongs to the meaning of the "anti-rightist struggle" Woolen cloth! On the morning of June 14, the day after the expanded meeting of the Writers Association's party group, Shao Quanlin and Liu Baiyu braved the heavy rain to meet Lu Dingyi at an appointment.At three o'clock in the afternoon, Guo Xiaochuan went to see Liu Baiyu, who told him, "Comrade Dingyi firmly believes that Ding Chen is a representative of unhealthy trends, and advocates launching a struggle to resolutely rectify the literary and art circles." Guo Xiaochuan was very excited after hearing this, Thinking that "the handling of Ding and Chen's issue has a clue. I will definitely welcome this storm. I regard Ding and Chen as rightists in the party. I must prepare opinions to meet them."

The problem is becoming clearer. "Ding Chen is a representative of unhealthy trends", and there is still a "struggle to be launched". Lu Dingyi's two speeches on June 8 and June 14 have actually set the tone.In the next few days, the Central Propaganda Department held intensive meetings to unify their views on the Ding and Chen issues.Zhou Yang started to fight back. June 16 was Sunday, at 4:00 p.m., the leaders of the Central Propaganda Department held a meeting with the leaders of the party group of the Chinese Writers Association to discuss the issue of Ding and Chen. The participants included Lu Dingyi, Zhang Jichun, Li Zhilian, Zhang Hai, Cui Yi, Shao Quanlin, Liu Baiyu, Guo Xiaochuan, everyone has arrived.Zhou Yang was the first to speak. He was very excited and talked about the situation of the three enlarged party group meetings held by the Writers Association.Then Lu Dingyi gave a speech. He said that it depends on the people to see the key. Now there is a trend of rightists inside and outside the party, which seems to be very rampant. Our purpose is to release it and fight back.He believed that Ding Ling and Chen Qixia were not loyal to the party, and if Chen Qixia persisted in his mistakes, he should be resolutely expelled.Then other comrades spoke, Guo Xiaochuan said very excitedly that the Central Propaganda Department should think about it, and if it is right, it should make up its mind to correct it.Lu Dingyi, Zhou Yang, and Liu Baiyu all criticized Li Zhilian and the party committee of the Central Propaganda Department in their speeches, believing that there was a right trend in them, which affected many people.The meeting went on for more than three hours.

It was probably at that meeting that Zhou Yang proposed to Lu Dingyi that he had different opinions on the conclusion of Ding Ling's historical review issued by Zhang Jichun and reported to the Central Organization Department at the end of last year.So Lu Dingyi instructed Li Zhilian to contact the Organization Department of the Central Committee and demanded that the conclusion report be returned. On June 20, the Central Organization Department sent a letter to the Central Propaganda Department: "Central Propaganda Department: I hereby return the "Review Conclusion on Comrade Ding Ling's Historical Issues", please reconsider."

The next night, Shao Quanlin, Liu Baiyu, and Guo Xiaochuan went to Lu Ding's family in Zhongnanhai to continue studying the deployment of the anti-Ding Chen struggle.Guo Xiaochuan suggested: "Ding and Chen are rightists and should be attacked as rightists." Lu Dingyi said: "Don't decide for now, let's see after fighting." Shao and Liu also agreed with this opinion.At that time, the central government did not have a clear opinion on how to define the rightists.Guo Xiaochuan read the famous article "Things Are Changing" for the first time in Lu Ding's family.Things about the Chinese Writers Association are also changing.

A whole week later, at 9 a.m. on June 24, the Central Propaganda Department held another meeting to discuss the Ding and Chen issues. The participants were roughly the same as the previous one, but this time it was a ministerial office meeting, and the matter was more solemn.This meeting was actually aimed at Zhang Jichun, Li Zhilian and others. It was Zhou Yang and Liu Baiyu's long-term counterattack against the Party Committee of the Central Propaganda Department, but they dared not touch Zhang Jichun, only dared to criticize Li Zhilian.At the meeting on the 16th, they had already expressed their dissatisfaction with Li Zhilian and others, but they hadn't shown their sharpness yet. This time, they were full of firepower and attacked in an all-round way, and the contradictions were made public.

The atmosphere of the meeting was somewhat tense. Li Zhilian and Cui Yi spoke first, talking about the differences of opinion with the leaders of the party group of the Chinese Writers Association on the issue of Ding and Chen.Then, Liu Baiyu and Zhou Yang talked about their opinions on Li Zhilian, mainly: first, their different views on Ding Ling's historical conclusions; second, their opinions on Ding and Chen; There are opinions on the anti-revolutionary summary.The summary of the anti-revolutionaries is as follows: In the summary of the Central Propaganda Department’s anti-revolutionaries written by Li Zhilian in December 1956, it was mentioned that "in the struggle against counter-revolutionaries, there should be no internal party struggles or ideological struggles." This means that Therefore, the anti-Ding and Chen struggles in 1955 were out of date, so some people opposed them.Zhang Jichun is the leader of the anti-revolutionary team of the Central Propaganda Department, and he supports this conclusion.

Zhou Yang pointed out: Ding Ling and Chen Qixia’s comments to him at the Writers’ Association’s party group meeting were to overthrow the case. The cadres of the Writers’ Association were dissatisfied with criticizing Ding Ling in 1955, so they overturned Ding Ling’s case. , He also said that he has always had objections to the conclusion of Ding Ling's historical review made by the Central Propaganda Department in October 1956.Zhou Yang's speech aroused Zhang Jichun's excitement, he stood up, pointed at Zhou Yang and said: You can say whatever you want, who knows what you are doing!When discussing Ding Ling's historical conclusions, you all agreed, and you reported it to the central government when you had no objections. Now you disagree. What is the basis?Say what you want!Why did you raise different opinions now, and why did you keep silent at the meeting? Could it be that this is a joke!Zhou Yang and Liu Baiyu also became excited. The two sides argued for a long time, and the scene was tense for a while.In the end, Lu Dingyi came out to smooth things over and said that there had to be a process of understanding Ding Ling. Some problems might not have been clearly seen at the time, but now they are clearly seen. Li Zhilian, Cui Yi and other party committee comrades did not know much about Ding Ling in the past, and it was not intentional. Shield her, and so on.The meeting lasted for nearly five hours and was not adjourned until two o'clock in the afternoon.

Zhou Yang broke out and fought back, because they had the support of Lu Dingyi, and Lu Dingyi had the support of "above". Three days later, on June 27, Zhang Jichun revised Ding Ling's historical review conclusions returned by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and wrote to Li Zhilian, Zhang Hai, and Cui Yi, saying: "Ding Ling's historical conclusions have been revised again, please pay attention again. Take a look and put forward suggestions for re-editing. Then find a few copies and write the revised words next to them in red ink, and distribute them to Zhou Yang, Quan Lin, Bai Yu, Mo Han, Xiao Chuan, Ding Yi, you and me. You can also send Comrades Ziyi and Panshi asked for opinions. We should consider whether to give them punishment."

Li Zhilian recalled: After Ding Ling's historical conclusion was returned from the Organization Department of the Central Committee, it was discussed again at a ministerial meeting. Lu Dingyi proposed to change Ding Ling's historical conclusion to: "After Ding Ling was arrested in 1933, she turned herself in for rebellion; The return of Nanjing to northern Shaanxi was sent by the enemy." But he did not put forward any new evidence.The unanimously adopted conclusions were overturned after the review team carefully revised their words many times.Lu Dingyi's opinion affirmed the doubts he raised in the letter he wrote to the Central Committee in November 1955.

In May 1958, during the rectification and anti-rightist make-up classes, the Central Propaganda Department held a meeting to criticize Li Zhilian, Zhang Hai, and Cui Yi. In June, Li Xin, who had been transferred to work in Hubei, was recalled to accept criticism. On July 14, the Central Propaganda Department made a "Report on the Opinions of the Li Zhilian, Li Xin, Zhang Hai, and Cui Yi Anti-Party Clique" to the Central Committee, and on July 25 the Central Secretariat approved the report.The conclusion of the final case stated: "The criminal activities of this anti-Party group are mainly to overthrow the Central Committee's instructions on the report of the Ding Ling and Chen Qixia anti-Party groups by the Central Committee's party group in December 1955, and to instigate the Ding Ling and Chen Qixia anti-Party groups. Attack the party, and negate the anti-revolutionary movement, implement the vicious policy of protecting bad people and attacking activists." The result of their treatment was: Li Zhilian was designated as an extreme rightist, Li Xin was designated as a rightist, and they were both expelled from the party. All posts inside and outside the party were revoked; Zhang Hai and Cui Yi were designated as members of an anti-party group, they were placed on probation in the party for two years, and their posts were removed.Li Zhilian was downgraded from 7 to 13; Li Xin was downgraded from 11 to 16; Zhang Hai was downgraded from 9 to 14; Cui Yi was downgraded from 11 to 14. During this period, "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" that many people had been looking forward to was finally published. It was broadcast by the Central People's Broadcasting Station on the evening of June 18, and the full text was published in the "People's Daily" the next day.This is Mao Zedong's speech on February 27. From May 7 to June 17, he made more than a dozen revisions, added the famous "six standards", and added content emphasizing class struggle.This speech was originally an ideological weapon for many people who dared to speak boldly during the rectification movement, but, "When people saw this officially published "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People" in the newspaper on the morning of June 19, some listened to it. Those who had recorded, heard the transmission, or heard about certain contents of the original speech were all dumbfounded at the newspaper. Some people who were encouraged by this speech and played it for a long time saw the six standards clearly in sight, Only then did I realize that I had entered the Baihu Festival Hall by mistake, and I couldn’t stop complaining.” (Zhu Zheng’s "Summer of 1957: From the Controversy of a Hundred Schools to the Controversy of Two Schools")