Chapter 22 Red Army University in the cave

The predecessor of the Red Army University was the Central Military and Political School founded in Ruijin, Jiangxi Province in November 1931. In 1932, it was renamed the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army School. In May 1936, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission established the Anti-Japanese Red Army University in Wayaobao on the basis of the Northwest Red Army University. Mao Zedong himself served as the political commissar of the Red Army University, Lin Biao as the principal, Luo Ruiqing as the dean of education, Zhou Kun as the minister of school affairs, and Yuan Guoping as the school affairs minister. Minister of Training.The study period of the first phase of the Red Army University is 6 months.Due to the difficult conditions for running the school and the lack of school buildings, the Red Army University was divided into three departments.

After the Red Army University withdrew from Wayaobao and came to Zhidan, the first department was stationed in the abandoned cellar on the Hongshi cliff in the south bridge of the county seat and the nearby stone cave dwelling; the second department was stationed in Liushuping Village on Sanli Road in the south of the city; The third department was first set up in Songzhuang Zhaizi, Shunning Town, and then moved to Mubo Temple, Huan County, Gansu. Chen Guang, chief of the first section, and Luo Ronghuan, political commissar, had a total of 40 students, including two foreign students (Wu Ting, Korean; Hong Hong, Vietnamese), and most of the other 38 students were cadres above the Red Army Division. With the above combat experience, each person has three scars on average.Only three of them are married, the others are single.The 38 students are: Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, Luo Ruiqing, Liu Yalou, Chen Guang, Zhang Aiping, Peng Xuefeng, Chen Shiju, Yang Chengwu, Tan Zheng, Zhou Jianping, Peng Jialun, Wang Ping, Geng Biao, Liu Huinong, Bian Zhangwu, Xu Jianguo, Su Zhenhua, Zhang Chunqing, Zhang Shucai, Zhang Jingwu, Zhang Dazhi, Song Yuhe, Zhao Erlu, He Jinnian, Guo Shushen, Huang Yongsheng, Tan Guansan, Mo Wenhua, Yang Lisan, Deng Fulian, Liu Peng, Wu Fushan, Luo Baolian, Jia Lifu, Fu Zhuting, Tong Xiaopeng, Xiao Wenjiu.Many of these students are well-known figures with Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek once offered a reward for the heads of these people, which added up to more than 2 million yuan.

The second section chiefs Zhou Shidi (first) and Zhou Jianping (later) have a total of 225 students.The target students are company and battalion-level cadres. The learning content is the same as the first subject, mainly studying politics, military affairs, and culture. Mo Wenhua, who served as secretary of the Party branch of the Red Army University, recalled: ... After a week of marching, I excitedly came to live in a cave on the side of the mountain outside Baoan City.These caves are chiseled according to the natural stone walls, and they look like beehives from a distance.It is unknown which dynasty these caves were dug. The large ones are about one foot high and wide, and one foot four feet deep; the smaller ones are only about six feet high and wide, and five feet deep.

Because no one has lived in it for a long time, we can only see weeds and rocks growing inside and outside the cave... The school building of "Red University" has nothing but stone caves.In order to ensure teaching, the party branch of the first department convened a meeting to mobilize everyone to take active actions and build the school building by themselves. ... Our classroom is located in the largest stone cave, which used to be a sheepfold.We cleared away the sheep manure first, cut out a big blackboard on the stone wall, built a table and stools with stones, and chose some stones for chalk, and built a decent podium with stones for the teacher.Although the rows of tables and chairs are all made of stone, they are all neatly arranged. Finally, the walls of the cave were whitewashed with lime water...

... After the classrooms are set up, we start to set up the dormitory again.We either shared a small cave for two or three people, or shared a large cave for four or five people. Some slept on stone kangs, some built beds with stones and spread a wooden board on top of it. If there were no boards, we spread some grass on the stone. At that time, there were many wolves in Baoan County, and howling wolves were often heard at night.Several times, wolves even ran into the cave dwellings, because our cave dwellings had no doors, and we were afraid of wolves entering the caves. Before we went to bed, we blocked the tables and washbasins at the entrances. Once the wolves came in, they would overthrow these things and scare the wolves away. Wake up the people in the house.We also keep a wolf stick by the bed, just in case...

...But there is no playground and there is no smooth road, weeds are overgrown everywhere, and stones block the road.In the first few days, when we went out for exercises in the morning, our shoes and pants were often torn by thorns, and it was very difficult for the teachers to come to class.In order to solve this problem, our party branch researched and decided to open a main road across the school gate and three branch roads leading to the traffic avenue. We will complete this task by ourselves. ... Some of us took shovels, some shovels, some hoes, and some hooks. There were singing and laughter floating in front of the peaceful "campus". Some students pointed to the rocks and said humorously: We communists The goal is to transform the world and build a new China, so what is it worth building a few roads now?

…Usually, what we eat is millet rice with bran (because the rice milling tools are outdated), and the dishes are potatoes, dried beans and cabbage.There are also grains, sand, and sometimes nitrate salt in the meal... During our study at the "Hongda University", at least, we were able to eat our stomachs on time.This "full stomach" was a very high standard of living at the time, and it was very fascinating. Indeed, the conditions for running the Red Army University were extremely difficult. Most cave dwellings had no doors, so stones were used to build walls and door openings at the entrances, some broken wood was found to make door frames, and thatch was woven into door curtains to keep out the wind and cold.Considering the problem of winter in the snowy season, the trainees imitated the practice of the local villagers, and built an earth kang in the stone cave dwelling, or built an open earth stove at the flue.

Every Sunday, the students would bring ropes and axes, go to the nearby ravines to collect firewood, and bring back a fire to keep warm. The hardship and coldness can be imagined.The hardships of the Red Army University and the actions of the students to renovate the school buildings by themselves infected the local people. They specially sent a pennant to the first department of the Red Army University, which read "Workers can create the world." On the day of the opening of the Red Army University, Mao Zedong, Zhang Wentian, Bo Gu and other central leadership comrades and Xu Teli went to inspect the first department, visited the classrooms and dormitories, and encouraged everyone to study with peace of mind so as to meet and promote the climax of the anti-Japanese revolution.Mao Zedong talked about the current situation, the party's anti-Japanese national united front, line, and policies, and encouraged the students to study with peace of mind, "You are living in the stone age, but you are learning the most advanced science of our time - Marxism-Leninism." It's also funny. Said: "You seem to be the disciples of Yuanshi Tianzun. You are practicing in the cave. When will you go down the mountain? When the world is in chaos, you will go down the mountain." This sentence aroused warm applause from everyone.

On sunny days, students sit in a circle under two big trees on the grassy beach to listen to the lectures. The stones are stools and their knees are tables; when it rains or snows, they study in the classrooms of cave dwellings. The lecturers are all central leaders or other experts. Students listen for two or three hours a day outside of class, and the rest of the time is spent studying, discussing, and researching by themselves.The handouts have white paper, yellow paper, red paper, and green paper, and the printing is not clear, which seems to be very laborious.The papers of those handouts were turned over and engraved with leaflets dropped by enemy planes, and there were also some rough linen paper.In addition to the handouts, the Party Central Committee has a small library, and each student is only allowed to borrow one book at a time.The students knew that Chairman Mao had a copy of Ai Siqi's "Popular Philosophy", so they borrowed it and printed it, and distributed a copy to each group for everyone to read.The leaders of the central government knew that the students were very hard-working in their studies, and repeatedly asked the students to pay attention to the balance between work and rest, so as not to break down the body.It is stipulated that Sunday must be a holiday, and they are not allowed to stay in the cave dwelling, and they must go to the wild for entertainment.Because everyone deeply feels that after more than ten years of struggle in the past, the Chinese revolution has sacrificed countless revolutionaries, but the result is still failure or is on the verge of failure.How to improve the experience and lessons of the past into a theoretical understanding, how to win the revolutionary war, establish a new China, and move towards socialism.There are many problems that need to be solved urgently, so everyone is very motivated to study, study hard, immerse themselves in research, and cherish every minute and every second of precious time. ①

Every night, the students sat on stone benches by candlelight, or around stone tables, and read the handouts carefully. When they encountered problems that they didn’t understand, they would discuss them over and over again until they burned out all the candles provided (a candle is stipulated to be lighted). three nights), and had no choice but to go to rest.Later, when there were no more candles, I used flax oil lamps instead. Without a wick, I twisted paper instead. The main subjects taught by Red Army University are: Mao Zedong: Strategic Issues in China’s Revolutionary War; Zhang Wentian: Basic Issues of the Chinese Revolution and Dialectical Materialism; Kai Feng and Wu Liangping: Political Economy; Qin Bangxian: Philosophy; France, Germany, Japan, Italy); Li Weihan said: Party building; Li De (a Soviet adviser) said: Bingtuan tactics; current affairs and party policies, temporarily reported by Mao Zedong or Zhou Enlai.Lin Biao gave a lecture on combat science.

Although the conditions are difficult, the students are very optimistic.Peng Jialun taught and sang songs such as "Song of the Great Road" which were very popular at that time.Every morning, in Zhidan City, you can hear the loud and clear singing of Hongda University students wafting over the small town. In addition to cultural entertainment, the students repaired the basketball court by themselves.American reporter Snow and doctor Ma Haide liked to play tennis with the students when they visited "Red University".In the Red Army University, these students who have commanded divisions and even legions have been killed for a long time, but they are not very old. Most of them are only in their twenties. Sometimes they play like children. A game called "Wooden Stick Fighting Jiang" was very lively, young students participated, and students who didn't like to move also participated, and the laughter was ups and downs. American journalist Snow was invited to give a speech at the Red Army University. He briefly talked about "British and American policies toward China", and then agreed to answer questions.The students handed over notes one after another, and after listening to the interpreter explain the questions on the notes, Snow realized that he agreed to answer the questions "it was a big mistake".He wrote in "Westward Journey": (Lin Biao) The noodles he invited me to eat couldn't make up for the embarrassment I encountered.Questions posed to me, even by H. G．Mr. Wells (famous British science fiction novelist) to answer, but also to lament his exhaustion. Snow was deeply impressed by the educational conditions of the Red Army University. After talking with the principal Lin Biao and other faculty members, Snow learned about the enrollment situation, the courses, board and lodging of the students, and was very moved. Say: There is probably only such an "institution of higher learning" in the world that uses cave dwellings as classrooms, stone bricks as tables and chairs, and lime mud walls as blackboards. The school building is not afraid of bombing at all. ② In the face of financial difficulties, the Party Central Committee took special care of the life of the Red Army University. In addition to eating millet rice, they could eat mutton soup once a week and occasionally buckwheat noodles, which was considered the best treatment. After the Xi'an Incident broke out, the first batch of students from the Red Army University graduated.According to the instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission, the trainees should be sent to the main forces immediately.Among the first batch of students of the Red Army University, 22 students became marshals or generals after the founding of New China.