Chapter 21 "Women Hit the Front"

There is a popular saying in the Sichuan-Shanxi area: "If you want to eat Tongjiang rice, women stand in front." Although the local women are hard-working and bear the main burden of social and family working life, people still follow the ancient saying of "Three Obediences and Four Virtues" and put women in the first place. Under the "regime, family, theocratic, and husband's rights," they are not eligible to participate in any social activities or enjoy any social rights.In the family, they are slaves of labor and procreative tools.The local folklore says that "the horse has a dragon head, the pig has a pen, and the woman has a man." Women have the lowest status and the most oppression. The concept of "equality between men and women" is unheard of here.Due to the long-term warlord melee, the young men here were either captured by the warlords or mobilized by the Red Army to join the army. Seventy to eighty percent of the remaining rural population were women.Doing a good job in women's work has become an important part of the construction of the Soviet area.

In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of women politically and economically, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee specially issued the "Women's Struggle Program", which stipulates: 1. Women are equal to men in politics, economy and education!2. Women have the freedom to marry and divorce!3. Working women and men have the same right to share the land!4. Working women have the freedom to organize women's associations and women's life improvement committees for their own welfare!5. Working women have the right to participate in political organs, and have the same right to vote and be elected as men!6. Working women have the right to join and organize trade unions, peasant associations and all social organizations!7. Women hired as coolies should increase their wages and improve their treatment!8. Young women have the same right to education as men!9. Oppose arranged marriages!10. Oppose buying and selling marriages and the system of child brides!11. Oppose the system of multiple wives and concubines and keeping maidservants!12. Oppose the oppression of feudal forces and the shackles of the old family.

The program also proposed for the first time that female workers should enjoy eight weeks of paid pre-natal and post-natal rest, in addition to living allowances and medical expenses, and wages for rest during menstruation and breast-feeding. The arrival of the Red Army made women, like men, the occupants and dominators of social products and resources for the first time. Their revolutionary enthusiasm also rose unprecedentedly, and they became the main force of agricultural production.The war in the Sichuan-Shanxi Soviet Area was extremely fierce. Most men joined the army to fight, or joined the guerrillas and transport teams to fight with the Red Army.The majority of women responded to the call of the party and the Soviet:

The men joined the Red Army transport team, and the women and sisters at home, hurry up to dig the food, so that they will not worry about food and clothing for the next season. Not only did they undertake the main production tasks in agricultural labor, women in the Soviet area also organized a large number of laundry teams, sewing teams, transportation teams, stretcher teams, and propaganda teams. Work actively for the Red Army and the Red regime. Party and government organs and mass organizations at all levels in the Soviet Area have set up women's work organizations. There are more than 600 women cadres in government agencies at all levels in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area, accounting for about a quarter of the total number of cadres.Most importantly, under the organization and leadership of Zhang Qinqiu, an outstanding female leader of the Red Fourth Front Army, the women in the Sichuan-Shanxi Soviet Area were armed and directly participated in the front line of the revolutionary war.

At the beginning of 1933, Zhang Qinqiu, director of the General Political Department of the Fourth Red Front Army, was ordered to set up an independent women's battalion. Tao Wansong, the female captain of the Propaganda Team of the General Political Department, was the battalion commander, and Zeng Guanglan was the political commissar of the battalion.Before the establishment of the women's independent battalion, Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao personally convened Zhang Qinqiu, Tao Wanrong, Zeng Guanglan and other women's independent battalion cadres to talk: "The headquarters and the provincial party committee have made great determination to build the first regular women's armed forces in our army. It was decided that the women's independent battalion will be directly under the leadership of the headquarters, and the provincial party committee has decided to transfer more than 100 cadres from the provincial agencies to serve as your backbone. In addition, we will also send a few old comrades from Hubei, Henan and Anhui to serve as company commanders in your battalion. , instructors, and fighters should also draw some of the better qualities from the women's armed forces in the counties and districts."

Tao Wanrong, the battalion commander of the Women’s Independent Battalion at that time, recalled: “When I went to the headquarters to report for duty, Commander Xu Xiangqian and Political Commissar Chen Changhao enthusiastically encouraged me, thinking that I would be able to do a good job. A few old comrades from the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet regions were selected to serve as company commanders and instructors in the Women's Independence Battalion." At the end of March 1933, the bright spring light shone on the red rhododendrons all over the mountains and plains. The liberated women were all excited, with happy smiles on their faces.On the playground of a school in Tongjiang County, the inaugural meeting of the Women's Independent Battalion of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army was held.This matter is a big enough event to cause a sensation, whether it is in the Red Army or among the local people.

More than 400 soldiers in the Women's Independence Battalion are neatly dressed, armed with weapons, with a majestic and heroic appearance.The main leaders of the Northwest Revolutionary Military Committee, the Red Fourth Front Army Headquarters, and the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee all attended the meeting to congratulate.Chen Changhao delivered a passionate speech at the inaugural meeting, and personally awarded Tao Wanrong, the commander of the Women's Independence Battalion, a military flag. As the war became increasingly tense, in March 1934, in the ancient city of Wangcang, the Women’s Independence Battalion was expanded into two regiments. Thousands of people.Women in northern Sichuan have to do heavy physical work since they were young. Most of them are not tall, and many of them are not as tall as a rifle.When it became popular, many little girls were rejected because of their thin stature.As soon as these little girls heard that they were not allowed to be in the Red Army, they immediately burst into tears and refused to leave. Some girls even cried and begged on their knees, so that many red stations were crying.In the end, Zhang Qinqiu, Zeng Guanglan and other leaders heard the crying and came out to ask what was going on, and they personally approved the acceptance. These crying girls laughed out of their tears.

These girls all voluntarily joined the Red Army, so no matter how hard they were, they had no complaints.They train like real soldiers during the day, and take turns standing guard at night, learning culture under the tung oil lamp.During the war, they carried the wounded, delivered food, and helped the wounded wash their clothes.Zhang Qinqiu is a literary and artistic activist. The women's group is like a pile of dry wood, and Zhang Qinqiu is like a fire. As soon as she comes, the women's group is in flames, and the army station keeps singing and laughing all day long.In addition to training and performing duties, the girls sang and danced allegro.There was a female soldier named Shi Qiongying, who was a well-known Allegro star in the entire regiment and even the entire front army.The most famous allegro sung by Shi Qiongying is still remembered by many veterans of the Red Army:

Wang Lao Wu, is it suffering?Coptidis and bitter gourd boiled. where are you going todayDedicated to the Red Army to fight the government. There are so many weapons in the government yamen, even if the revolution loses its head! What are you doing to overthrow the government?Win the seat of the people of the country. The main tasks assigned by the Front Army to the Women's Corps were to defend rear offices, hospitals, and warehouses, eliminate bandits, transport weapons and ammunition and other military supplies, and transport the wounded and sick.From the establishment of this unit in 1933 to the northward movement in 1935, under the direct leadership of the headquarters of the Red Fourth Front Army, they fought in Daba Mountain, Jialing River, Snow Mountain and Grassland and Hexi Corridor.It made an indelible contribution to the liberation of the workers and peasants and themselves, and became a banner for women to participate in the armed struggle in the Second Civil Revolutionary War.

During the Revolutionary War, military struggle was the most important social practice. Women's direct participation in military struggle meant that they had achieved equal rights with men in all levels and fields of social practice. They liberated women through their own actions. Movement pushed to a higher level.The Women's Independence Group of the Red Fourth Front Army has left a brilliant mark in the history of the Chinese people's revolutionary struggle.