Chapter 60 On August 7, the Central Committee was in a meeting

August 7th was a day when history was marked.In Wuhan, which is drifting away, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is holding an emergency meeting.This important meeting was later called the "August 7th Meeting". Compared with a month ago, Wuhan at this time has really become "the moon in the Qin Dynasty and the pass in the Han Dynasty, and the people who marched thousands of miles have not yet returned", completely changed.The venue of the August 7th Conference was located at No. 41, Sanjiao Street, Hankou City (now No. 139, Duyang Street).This is an apartment-style house built by the British in 1920.At that time, it was the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Lodzomov, the Soviet agricultural advisors of the National Government.This building is located at the junction of the three concessions of Russia, Britain, and France. It faces a secluded street in the front and an alley in the back. The roof balcony is connected to the neighbor’s balcony. It is easier to evacuate in case of emergency.The venue was chosen in a room upstairs.Li Weihan was responsible for the safety of the meeting place. He repeatedly checked the surrounding environment and conditions, and sought the opinions of Deng Xiaoping and Lu Dingyi. Deng Xiaoping was usually the head of the Party Central Secretariat.They also think this place is good.

Qu Qiubai once asked Deng Xiaoping: "Is the meeting arranged?" Deng Xiaoping said: "All arrangements have been made. Those who know the location will come by themselves, and those who don't know will be brought in by underground traffic officers or comrades who know. You and Comrade Luo Mai (Li Weihan) will go in through the back door. When Lodromova I'm in charge of guarding the door, and I'm here too." Although there were only 21 people present at the meeting, it took three days for the underground traffic staff to divide the people into three batches and bring them into the meeting place one by one.It was the hottest time in Wuhan. The delegates only brought a small luggage and slept on the floor when they entered. It was difficult to fall asleep in the first half of the night, and they could only close their eyes when the sky was about to dawn.

This meeting was moved before the Nanchang Uprising, and Zhang Guotao was in charge at that time.So when Zhang Guotao arrived in Nanchang, he clamored to rush back to Wuhan, that is to say, he wanted to hold this meeting.Now the meeting is really about to start, and the committee members who are still on the way south will not be able to catch up. This is an extremely important and rare short meeting: from morning to evening, it was only held for one day. The meeting was chaired by Li Weihan.On behalf of the Standing Committee, he first reported the planning and preparation process of the meeting, and then announced the three agenda items of the meeting:

The first item on the agenda - a report by Rominaz, the representative of the Comintern.After he said a few words about the problems to be solved at this emergency meeting, he began to read the "Report to Party Members".This "Report to Party Members" was drafted by Rominaz, and translated into Chinese overnight by Qu Qiubai on the evening of August 6.After Rominaz finished reading, he began to explain. Qu Qiubai translated every sentence he said, and it took nearly a whole morning.Finally, he asked everyone: "This report has been accepted by the Standing Committee, and now all comrades can speak."

Sitting there, Mao Zedong was thinking about his "Hunan peasants", and he had long been impatient. As soon as Luominaz finished speaking, he asked to speak.He spoke 4 questions.Many of his ideas later became the guiding ideology of the entire party: The first is the issue of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. He criticized the party's leadership for the mistake that the Communist Party members joined the Kuomintang not as hosts but as guests; The second is the peasant problem.He took the peasant movement in Hunan as an example. He said that his investigation report had an impact in Hunan, but had no impact on the central government. His words became a little fierce: "The masses want revolution, but the party's guidance does not make revolution. It is really a bit counter-revolutionary." the taste of!"

It was time to eat, and some committee members were not very focused.But as soon as Mao Zedong said this, the venue suddenly seemed to be blown by a river wind, and everyone straightened up and pricked up their ears.Mao Zedong flicked his long hair and gestured.The tall and thin body also swayed. The third and fourth he talked about were military issues and party organizations.He said: "Some leaders don't engage in military movements, but focus on mass movements. Our failure in Hunan last time can be said to be entirely due to the subjective mistakes of scholars. What I want to emphasize now is: the future Autumn Harvest Uprising must be military! I demand that the new Members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo should lose their bookish spirit, be tougher, be tougher! Even beheading is nothing but a scar, so what are you afraid of! You must know that political power is won by the barrel of a gun!" Mao Zedong's words were further refined in the future The original version of "Government Grows from the Barrel of a Gun".It is also the best footnote for the Nanchang Uprising that has already occurred and the Autumn Harvest Uprising that will occur soon.Advocates of armed struggle and mass movements applauded Mao Zedong's dismissal.

Luo Yinong said: "The so-called uniting the petty bourgeoisie actually only looks at the upper class and ignores the masses. In order to make concessions to the upper class and lead the national revolution to the key stage of further development-the agrarian revolution is put on the shelf. At such a serious moment, our party does not pay attention to it. Armed to seize power." Deng Zhongxia interjected: "That's right, even landlords and comprador warlords like Tan Yanyan are regarded as petty bourgeois. What prestige do we still have among the masses?" Cai Hesen: "All the mistakes in the past are not as serious as the mistakes made after the fifth congress!" His words added a layer of self-criticism, "I was a member of the Politburo in the past, and I should bear the responsibility for this mistake."

Ren Bishi is the leader of the Communist Youth League and belongs to the youngest age group to participate in the meeting. Like Deng Xiaoping, he is only 23 years old (the younger than them is Lu Dingyi, who is only 21 years old).He has long been dissatisfied with Chen Duxiu's opportunism, so his speech this time is very eye-catching: "The party is too afraid of the masses! Opportunists not only do not lead the masses deeply, but also suppress the struggle of the masses. The party wants to change the past. There must be a new leadership! The old man (referring to Chen Duxiu, who was not allowed to attend the meeting to criticize him) can go to Moscow"

The back door of the venue is connected to the back door of the restaurant. At noon, the representatives ate some bread, drank some boiled water, and filled a few pieces of watermelon. The meeting continued in the afternoon. For the sake of safety, the door did not dare to open, the sun was scorching outside, and the room was like a steamer. Almost everyone held cattail fans and towels in their hands. A few fat men had already taken off their shirts and were sitting and panting. After Qu Qiubai finished his report on "the party's new tasks," elections were held. Nine members of the Politburo were newly elected: Su Zhaozheng, Qu Qiubai, Xiang Zhongfa, Luo Yinong, Gu Shunzhang, Wang Hebo, Li Weihan, Peng Pai, and Ren Bishi.There are 7 alternate members: Deng Zhongxia, Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, Peng Gongda, Zhang Tailei, Zhang Guotao, and Li Lisan.

On the 9th, the Politburo held a meeting and confirmed three people, Qu Qiubai, Li Weihan, and Su Zhaozheng, as the temporary members of the Politburo Standing Committee.Originally the secretary was Su Zhaozheng, but Su Zhaozheng died of illness not long after, and the post of secretary was taken over by Qu Qiubai. During the election, Rominaz proposed seven members of the Politburo and five alternate members. After being opposed, two additional seats were added to the Politburo. According to Li Weihan, during the discussion, he, Cai Hesen and others advocated Mao Zedong to join the Politburo, but Mao Zedong had other ideas and repeatedly stated that he was going to participate in the Autumn Harvest Uprising and could not join the Politburo.

Although the August 7th meeting was held very hastily, the summary of the failure of the Great Revolution was not perfect, the estimation of the future situation was not reasonable, the candidates for the Politburo were not perfect, and there was no clear attitude towards the Nanchang riots; but it only took one day The time meeting, after all, was at the critical juncture after the failure of the Great Revolution. It promptly corrected Chen Duxiu's right opportunism and determined the general policy of the agrarian revolution and armed struggle.This achievement is indelible. Since then, red riots have followed one after another.However, Zhang Guotao, who was downgraded from the position of chief to an alternate, was very dissatisfied with the change of candidates for the Politburo. Originally, he did not advocate the Nanchang riots, but later he was "hijacked" by the crowd and went on the road. Apart from cursing a few "reckless moves" behind his back, he couldn't say much.However, I suffered so much from "making a revolution under my feet" here, and in the end I was dismissed as a member of the Politburo. This world is too unfair! It was probably when Zhang Guotao returned to Shanghai and heard Qu Qiubai talk about the punishment of important committee members.According to him, Qu Qiubai's explanation was: both Chen Duxiu and Tan Pingshan were opportunists publicly pointed out in the 1987 resolution and should be severely punished; Tan Pingshan may be expelled from the party, while Chen Duxiu's party membership can still be retained, but The members of the Central Committee have in fact been expelled.As for Comrade Zhang Guotao, he once expressed his opposition to the Communist International and defended the opportunism of the past.Li Lisan should be responsible for the leadership mistakes of the Hubei Federation of Trade Unions.Zhou Enlai should be responsible for disbanding the workers' pickets. Many of the CCP's propaganda documents contain opportunistic mistakes, and Cai Hesen managed them.Therefore, they were also punished separately.In the "Report to Party Members", it was pointed out that many absurd orders issued by the National Farmers Association were handled by Mao Zedong, and he should be responsible.Moreover, after the "Ma Day Incident", he notified the Hunan Provincial Party Committee to cancel the peasants' plan to attack Changsha, so he must bear the joint and several responsibility for opportunism. This is just Zhang Guotao's one-sided remarks.