"The struggle is so difficult, the experience is so precious, and the spirit is so noble!" This is Wu Xilin, a veteran member of the Kuomintang who is 84 years old this year. In an interview, he left Shanghai more than a hundred years ago and went to France to work-study and seek the road to save the country. the evaluation of patriotic young people. Wu Xilin's father, Wu Qi, a senior figure in the Shanghai Revolution, was one of them. Not only did he participate in the preparation of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party’s organizations in France, he also served successively as secretary of the Paris branch of the Chinese Youth Communist Party and head of the Paris branch of the Chinese Kuomintang.
On March 17, 1919, 89 young people carried heavy luggage and set off by boat from Huishan Pier on the North Bund of Shanghai to go to France by sea. This was the first group of young people to go to France for work-study studies that year. The 26-year-old Mao Zedong also appeared for the first time (and twice since then) among the people seeing him off at the dock.
Today, a hundred years later, the sound of waves on the banks of the Huangpu River is still there, and the breeze is blowing at the "Starting Point for Work-Study Students in France" located at No. 32 Qinhuangdao Road (the former site of the wharf, now the Qinhuangdao Road Cruise Ship Wharf). At a glance from the best viewing spot on the riverside near Gongping Road Pier, there is a red pontoon on the river. It has witnessed Zhou Enlai, Cai Hesen, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi, Nie Rongzhen and other work-study students embarking on the "" "Starting a journey" scene.
Some work-study students went to France aboard the Falun "Bolajia".
Under the influence of Zhou Enlai, he embarked on the "right path"
"Be diligent in work and frugal in your studies." From March 1919 to December 1920, Wu Qi (also known as Jingxiang, a native of Yixing, Jiangsu Province, whose father Wu Zhiren was As the head of the Jiangsu Students Association in France, he, together with 20 batches of more than 1,600 work-study students, took a boat in Shanghai with a firm belief in seeking a way to save the country and a strong desire to learn advanced science and technology. A new journey of life.
Many students studying in France participated in the "May Fourth" movement in China. Through the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle, their patriotism has generally improved. "Make China, which is poor and weak, prosperous and strong" is their common wish. At the same time, these young people traveling in France are generally around 20 years old and have limited cognitive and analytical abilities. After coming to Europe, Chinese students were exposed to various theories, newspapers and periodicals, and were influenced by various ideas. Some believed in anarchism, some believed in nationalism, and so on. There are all kinds of strange things.
Fortunately, there are comrades like Zhou Enlai among them who pay attention to new trends in the world and explore ways to transform Chinese society. After arriving in France in 1920, Zhou Enlai eagerly studied Marx's classic works "Das Kapital" and "The Communist Manifesto". He promoted among his classmates that only Marxism could save China, and criticized anarchism as a "utopian" idea and not scientific. socialism. The two brothers Chen Qiaonian and Chen Yannian (the two sons of Chen Duxiu) originally believed in anarchism. With the patient help of Zhou Enlai, they finally changed their ideological concepts and became staunch Marxists. They later played a major role in the revolutionary groups in France. .
By the beginning of 1921, the early organization of the Chinese Communist Party in France was formally established. At the same time, Cai Hesen, Li Weihan, Li Fuchun, Li Lisan, Xiang Jingyu, etc. established various revolutionary groups. Wu Qi participated in three movements with these early leaders of the CCP: on February 28, more than 400 work-study students, led by Cai Hesen, Xiang Jingyu, Li Weihan, and Wang Ruofei, went to the Chinese Embassy in France (Beiyang Government) to petition; 7 In March, under the instigation of Zhou Enlai and Li Lisan, more than 300 work-study students participated in a meeting to protest against the Beiyang government's secret loan from France (this loan was nominally for disaster relief, but was actually used to purchase arms, etc., and the conditions for the loan were to pay national stamp duty , deed inspection tax as mortgage, in exchange for Sichuan-Yunnan-Guangdong-Guangxi Railway construction rights, mining rights, and national industrial purchasing rights); in September, 120 work-study students, led by Zhao Shiyan, Cai Hesen, Li Lisan, and Chen Yi, launched the "Strive to Return to Lyon" University” movement. As a representative of the students in France (a total of 5 people), Wu Qi participated in the interview with Wu Zhihui, the then president of the University of China and France in Lyon.
The experience of these three political movements laid the foundation for Wu Qi to join the "Young Communist Party in France" the next year.In June 1922, Wu Qi, Zhou Enlai, Li Weihan and others gathered in the Bahunte Poyugne forest outside Paris. The Chinese Youth Communist Party in France (later renamed the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe) was established in Paris. The meeting elected Zhou Enlai, Zhao Shiyan and Li Weihan are the main leaders, of which Zhao Shiyan is the secretary and Wu Qi is the secretary of the Paris branch.
In the book "My Father Deng Xiaoping" written by Deng Rong (Maomao), Wu Qi was mentioned twice:
Wu Qi, a work-study student studying in France at that time, recalled: "Among the classmates I came into contact with, the oldest The younger one was Comrade Deng Xiaoping. When I met him at the Pirongo Hotel in the suburbs of Paris in the second half of 1922, he was still young, but he was very experienced, talented, physically strong, and energetic. Full, straight-spoken, sonorous and powerful. More than half a century has passed, but all this is still imprinted in my mind. "
Another time:
On October 25, 1925, the French intelligence officer reported: "Yesterday (i.e. 10). From 20:00 to 21:30 on March 24th, a meeting of Chinese Communists was held in a cafe on rue Charlot in Issy-les-Moulineaux, with a total of 25 people. Participated, the meeting was chaired by Deng Xixian. Wu Qi read out the communist education class and pointed out the necessity of rebuilding the Chinese Communist Group and establishing a publication. "
At the end of the same year, the Chinese Communist Party in Europe Branch (due to the development of youth in France) Germany, Switzerland and other countries (for which the word "Brigade in France" is no longer appropriate) were officially established, and the Brigade in Europe Party and League organization has trained a large number of outstanding cadres for the Chinese revolution.
On August 1, 1922, the European Youth League organized the "Youth" monthly magazine. The picture shows the second and third issues of "Youth".
Wu Qi's good friend Wang Jingqi also went to France in 1921 for a work-study program, but was deported back to China for participating in the "Rejection of Payment Movement" and the "Movement to Return to the University of Lyon". This shattered his ideal of saving the country through science, and further left him in a state of ideological confusion. A major change has occurred. In 1922, when Wang Jingqi was ordered to return to France to serve as the organizer of the French Communications Office of the Kuomintang in Lyon, he made a special trip to Shanghai to report to Mr. Sun Yat-sen. During the reception, he gave instructions: "Contact comrades to organize the general branch of the Chinese Kuomintang in France." After Wang Jingqi arrived in Paris, he discussed with Zhou Enlai and set up a preparatory office in a hotel near the University of Paris in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. Three months later, more than 100 people had participated. At the founding meeting, Wang Jingqi, Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Zhang Xingzhou, Xi Wende, Cao Desan and others were recommended as executive members. After the establishment of the General Branch of the Chinese Kuomintang in France, Wu Qi strongly supported Wang Jingqi's work and became the head of the Paris branch of the Chinese Kuomintang.
In January 1924, at the First Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang held in Guangzhou, Mr. Sun Yat-sen issued a declaration on the reorganization of the Kuomintang and determined the three major policies of "alliance with Russia, alliance with the Communist Party, and support of agriculture and industry." However, the right wing of the Kuomintang (later the "Xishan Conference Faction") headed by Xie Chi, Zou Lu, Ju Zheng, and Zhang Ji clearly expressed their opposition. This countercurrent soon spread to Western Europe. Zhang Xingzhou, Xi Wende, Cao Desan and others in the Paris branch of the Chinese Kuomintang responded and began to establish their own "doors" and engage in disunity. At this time, Zhou Enlai and Li Fuchun had returned to China, and Wu Qi once again stood firmly on Wang Jingqi's side and launched a tit-for-tat struggle with the "Xishan Conference Faction".
Remaining loyal in the flames of revolution
In 1926, Wu Qi returned to China to participate in the Northern Expedition, and worked in the General Political Department of the Northern Expeditionary Army with Comrade Zhou Enlai. In July, Wu Qi went to the front line with Deng Yanda, director of the General Political Department, and served as the army editor-in-chief of the "Revolutionary Army Daily". In 1927, the right wing of the Kuomintang launched the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup. Wu Qi used his status as a special commissioner of the General Political Department in Nanjing to rescue more than 20 comrades including Zhang Shushi (later Secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China), Mao Xiaoling and others.
During the entire nation’s Anti-Japanese War, Wu Qi cooperated with local governments along the Shanghai-Hangzhou line in rescuing hundreds of thousands of wounded soldiers and refugees. His outstanding achievements earned him a special award from the Kuomintang government.In the winter of 1944, the Japanese army invaded the Guizhou-Guangxi Highway. Wu Qi joined the wartime service corps and was sent to Malong County, Yunnan Province to rescue the wounded and refugees, and did a lot of anti-Japanese and national salvation work.
As a staunch leftist of the Kuomintang, Wu Qi had a close relationship with Shao Lizi, a veteran of the Kuomintang. They had worked together for many years and had maintained correspondence after 1949. In 1956, with the care of Shao Lizi, Wu Qi officially joined the Kuomintang Revolutionary Organization in Shanghai. In fact, as early as the early days of Shanghai's liberation, according to a letter from Premier Zhou Enlai, Wu Qi was originally planned to be responsible for establishing the "Shanghai People's Government Diplomacy Office", but Wu Qi was unable to undertake this work because of tuberculosis. After recovering for a while, Wu Qi used his expertise to serve as a preparatory member of the Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee, engaged in the collection of revolutionary cultural relics. It is worth mentioning that in February 1950, Wu Qi found a jade seal in a material warehouse in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. It was identified as the jade seal used by Hong Xiuquan of the Taiping Rebellion and eventually became a collection of the Chinese Revolution Museum. Wu Qi worked in the Shanghai Museum of Culture and History in his later years until his death in 1980.
The Shanghai Cultural Relics Management Committee hired Wu Qi as the convener of the preparatory committee.
Wu Qi left a last word to his son Wu Xilin during his lifetime: Because he had served, been injured, and shed blood during the Songhu Anti-Japanese War, he hoped to be buried between the Jiufeng and Three Mao in Songjiang after his death. It can be said that "blood is spilled on Songjiang" , Loyalty reflects history.”
Throughout the life of Wu Qi, a predecessor of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Party, his experience in France had a significant impact on his life. He served as the head of the Paris branch of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and under the influence of the Chinese Communists, especially Comrade Zhou Enlai , chose a path that he believed was correct and that had actually been proven correct through historical tests. He unswervingly fought against counter-revolutionary forces such as the "Xishan Conference Faction" and witnessed the development process of the Communist Party of China from scratch, from small to large, from weak to strong, and witnessed the founding of the Communist Party of China's original intention of a century-old struggle in Shanghai. , the magic weapon role of the united front in the revolutionary struggle.
The Huishan Pier in those days has long ceased to exist, and now the lights on both sides of the Huangpu River are bright; when pedestrians pass by the "Starting Place for Work-Study Students in France", the torrential water of the Huangpu River laps against the embankment, as if to remind today's people: wipe With a bright "red" background, you can feel the stories in history, the details in the stories, and the spirit in the details, and always maintain your original intention and mission.
(The author Jin Xin is the assistant director of the Theory, Culture and History Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Revolution and a cadre of the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Revolution)
