Chapter 44 1. The battle begins in July

The anti-rightist struggle of the Chinese Writers Association officially started in July. On July 1st, the 36th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the headline on the front page of the People's Daily was not a commemorative article, but an editorial written by Mao Zedong, "Wen Wei Po's bourgeois direction should be criticized." On June 14, at the same location, there was also an article written by Mao Zedong and signed by "the editorial department of this newspaper", entitled "Wen Wei Po's bourgeois direction in a certain period of time".The titles of the two articles are similar, and the content is connected. The previous article is about showing the target, and this one is about shooting!The time has come to counter the rightist attack in an all-round way.

At this time, the struggle against the rightists in the democratic parties has already won the first battle.In the government work report of the Fourth Session of the First National People's Congress on June 26, it was already criticized that "rightists made many destructive remarks under the pretext of helping the Communist Party to rectify the movement", many of which were directly aimed at our country's basic system. Offensive." Zhang Bojun, Zhang Naiqi, Luo Longji, etc. were criticized at the meeting, and the "Zhangluo League" had already appeared in the editorial of the "People's Daily" on July 1.

But until July 1, the anti-rightist struggle of the Chinese Writers Association had not moved, nor had the entire literary and art circles moved. On the afternoon of July 3, Zhou Yang convened a meeting of the leaders of the Party Group of the Writers Association, and decided to launch an anti-rightist struggle in accordance with the arrangement of the Central Committee.Guo Xiaochuan recorded in his diary: "Zhou Yang conveyed Comrade Xiaoping's opinion. He believes that the rightists are not brave enough and the methods are not enough. The time must be extended and the struggle must be resolute. All units should line up and make plans."

On the afternoon of July 5, Guo Xiaochuan wrote a plan for the anti-rightist struggle of the Writers Association. On the morning of the 6th, Shao Quanlin called party members to discuss the plan. It was Monday on the 8th. When I got up early in the morning, there was thunder and thunder, heavy rain poured down, and stagnant water hindered traffic.At 9 o'clock in the morning, the anti-rightist struggle mobilization meeting of the Chinese Writers Association was held amidst the sound of thunder and rain. Shao Quanlin gave a mobilization report and spoke for two and a half hours.Liu Baiyu read out the anti-rightist struggle plan.Zang Kejia, Ai Wu and others also spoke at the meeting.The meeting lasted until one hour.The anti-rightist struggle of the Chinese Writers Association began from then on.

On the evening of July 16th, Ai Qing hosted a banquet at the Kangle Hotel, entertaining Neruda and Simado, and invited Guo Xiaochuan, Xu Chi, Shaou and other poets to accompany him.Guo Xiaochuan didn't want to go at first, he had to go to Zhou Yang's for a meeting at eight o'clock in the evening.Ai Qing said, then we will break up at eight o'clock.Ai Qing's wife, Gao Ying, managed the time very well, and it really ended before eight o'clock.Guo Xiaochuan hurried to Zhou Yang's place, Shao Quanlin and Liu Baiyu had already arrived.Together, they discussed the goals of the Writers Association's next anti-rightist struggle, and decided to focus on the Ding and Chen issues next week.They studied until 11:30.

July 21 was Sunday, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Shao, Liu, and Guo from the Party Committee of the Writers Association went to Zhou Yang's place for a meeting to further study the issue of the struggle against Ding and Chen.They discussed that now that Ding and Chen were justified and supported by the masses, if they were to be brought down, new materials and heavy artillery shells were necessary.Where can I find it?Someone mentioned Liu Xi. Liu Xi used to work in the Cultural and Film Bureau and was just transferred to the Tianjin Writers Association. She has a very close relationship with Chen Qixia. She exposed a lot of Chen Qixia's materials when she was suppressing counter-revolutionaries and criticizing Ding Chen's anti-party clique. An important insider.Zhou Yang immediately decided that he wanted Liu Baiyu to go to Tianjin the next day to capture Liuxi and open a breakthrough.It was also decided at the meeting that the enlarged party group meeting to criticize Ding and Chen would be held consecutively on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the next week.

The real protagonist is about to appear, and the real battle is about to start. From the excerpts in Guo Xiaochuan’s diary, it can be seen that in July, the Party Central Committee has indeed strengthened its leadership over the anti-rightist struggle on the cultural front: On July 3, Zhou Yang conveyed Comrade Xiaoping’s opinion that he believes that the rightists now have the courage to Not enough, not enough methods.The time must be extended, and the struggle must be carried out resolutely.All units are required to line up and make plans. On the morning of July 4, Shao Quanlin and Liu Baiyu attended a meeting convened by the Secretariat of the Central Committee and listened to Deng Xiaoping's report on the struggle against the rightists. On the evening of July 12, Shao Quanlin and Liu Baiyu attended a meeting called by Deng Xiaoping. Xiaoping "emphasized reasoning, refuted the rightists, and fought hard." On July 26, the Secretariat of the Central Committee criticized the literary and art circles for being too slow.