"Red Star Shines on China" Reading Notes, Recording the Real Revolutionary Holy Land in the Eyes of Foreigners (Part 2)

Mind map

★ Monetary anatomy

58 The tendency of the co-operative movement in the Soviet Union is clearly socialist in nature. The Communist Party considers the co-operatives to be "an instrument for resisting private capitalism and developing a new economic system", and they define its five main tasks as follows: "to stop the exploitation of the masses by the merchants; to overcome the blockade of the enemy; to develop the national economy of the Soviet union; to raise the economic and political level of the masses; to prepare the conditions for socialist construction"—during this stage "the bourgeois-democratic revolution in China under the leadership of the proletariat can create favourable conditions for the transition of this revolution to socialism." ”

59 Whatever the exact meaning of Lin Zuhan's figures, this is a completely Chinese miracle, because we remember that the guerrillas have been fighting in and out of this area for five years, the economy has been able to survive, there has been no famine, and on the whole, the peasants seem to accept the Soviet currency and believe in it. In fact, this is not something that can be explained only from a financial point of view, but can only be understood on a social and political basis.

★ Fifty years of life!

60 "I wanted to be a Communist Party," he told me nostalgically, "but no one asked me to participate." I'm fifty years old, and I think the Communist Party probably thinks I'm too old. "But one day a Communist Came to his place of refuge and asked him to join the Party. The old guy was so happy that he told me that he couldn't help but cry at the thought that he still had some use in building a new world.

61 Our achievements show that the farmers here are very willing to learn as long as they give them the opportunity. "And they're not stupid either. They learn quickly, and as long as they make the reason clear to them, they change their habits.

62. The education system in the Soviet Union is divided into three parts: school, army, and society. The first part is more or less run by the Soviets, the second part is run by the Red Army, and the third part is run by the communist organizations. The emphasis is mainly on politics – even the youngest children learn when they first become literate through simple revolutionary slogans. Then read the story of the conflict between the Red Army and the Kuomintang, the landlords and peasants, the capitalists and the workers, etc., full of heroic deeds of the members of the Communist Youth League and the soldiers of the Red Army, and the depiction of the paradise on earth under the future Soviet regime.

63 Many faculty members are not even high school graduates. It's interesting that they share all their knowledge together. These schools are genuinely communist, not only ideologically, but also "culturally superior" using the technical knowledge they can muster.

Chapter Seven: On the Way to the Front

★ Talk to the red peasants

64 He continued enthusiastically: "Has there ever been a free school in our country before? Did the Red Army bring the radio before we heard the world news? What is the world like, and who has ever told us? You say there is no cloth for cooperatives, but have we ever had cooperatives before? And your land, was not once pledged to the king and the landlord? My sister starved to death three years ago, but since the Red Army came, haven't we had enough food to eat? You say this is bitter, but if we young people can learn to read, it is not bitter! Our Young Pioneers learned to shoot at the traitors and the Japanese, and this is not bitter!"

★ Industry in the Soviet Union

★ "They sing too much"

65 I remember in the factories in Shanghai, little boy and girl laborers sat there or stood there for twelve or three hours a day, and after work, they lay down exhausted from work and fell asleep on their bed, the dirty quilt under the machine. I also remember the little girls in the silk reeling factory and the pale young women in the cotton mills—who, like the bonded workers in most factories in Shanghai—actually sold themselves into slavery for four or five years, working for the factories, and were not allowed to leave the heavily guarded, thick-walled site without permission. I remember the 29,000 corpses that were buried in the streets and rivers of Shanghai in 1935, the bodies of the destitute poor, the starving corpses of their children and the bodies of drowning babies.

66 For these workers in Wuqi Town, no matter how primitive and simple their lives are, at least it is a healthy life, with movement, fresh mountain air, freedom, dignity, and hope, all of which have full room for development. They know that no one is making a fortune from them, and I think they realize that they are working for themselves and for China, and they say they are revolutionaries!

67. I think this sentence sums up the youthful atmosphere of this peculiar "industrial center" in Shaanxi Su District. Even if they lack the material of socialist industry, they have the spirit of socialist industry!

Chapter VIII With the Red Army

★ "Real" Red Army

68. The casualty rate among the commanders of the Red Army was very high. They had always fought alongside their soldiers, both below the regimental commander. A foreign military attaché once said that a single thing could demonstrate the ability of the Red Army to fight an enemy with great superiority. This is what Officers of the Red Army used to say: "Brothers, come with me!" Instead of saying, "Brethren, rush forward!"

69 It is often seen that young people in their early twenties have lost an arm or a leg, or their fingers have been knocked off, or they have unsightly scars on their heads or bodies – but they are still happy optimists about the revolution!

70, from the most senior commanders to ordinary soldiers, eat and wear the same. However, battalion commanders and above can ride horses or mules. I noticed that they got delicious food and even split it equally — when I was with the army, it was mostly on watermelon and plums. There is little difference between the residence of the commander and the soldier, and they come and go freely, regardless of the form.

71. To understand why the Chinese Red Army has been able to sustain itself in these years, it is necessary to understand their inner spirit, morale and fighting spirit, and training methods. And, perhaps more importantly, an understanding of their political and military leadership.

★ Peng Dehuai impression

72 His subordinates told me that he had come on foot for most of the six thousand miles of the Long March, and often gave up his horses to tired or wounded comrades.

73 Like his subordinates, he had only two sets of uniforms, and neither of them wore a military title badge. He had a personal dress, boyishly proud, a vest made of captured parachutes after shooting down enemy planes on the Long March. 74, I must admit that Peng Dehuai made a deep impression on me. I like his conversational demeanor in a straightforward, straightforward, non-slurring style, which is a rare quality in Chinese.

75 I noticed that Peng Dehuai liked children very much, and there was often a group of children behind him. Many children served as attendants, correspondents, trumpeters, grooms, and were organized as regular units of the Red Army, called the Young Pioneers. I often saw Peng Dehuai sitting with two or three "little red devils" and seriously talking to them about politics and their personal problems. He respected them.

★ Why the Red Army?

76"This sentence lasted for one month. After each torture, I often thought that the next time I would have to confess, because I really couldn't stand this kind of punishment. But each time I decided not to give in, I insisted until the second time. In the end they got nothing out of my mouth and unexpectedly released me.

★ Guerrilla tactics

77 "The main reason for China's use of guerrilla warfare," Peng Began, "is because of economic bankruptcy, especially in rural areas." Imperialism, feudalism, warlordism combined, destroyed the foundations of the rural economy, and cannot be restored without the elimination of its main enemy. Second, guerrilla warfare developed because of the backwardness of the interior. Third, although China's strategic center is more or less controlled by the imperialists, this control is unbalanced and uneven. There are many gaps between the imperialist spheres of influence where guerrilla warfare can develop rapidly. Fourth, the Great Revolution (1926-1927) sowed the idea of revolution in the minds of many people, and even after the counter-revolution in 1927 and the massacre in the cities, many revolutionaries refused to give in and sought ways to resist.

78 But there is nothing, absolutely nothing," he said, "and it is more important than that—that the Red Army is the army of the people, and it grows because the people help us."

79 Tactics are important, but if the majority of the people does not support us, we will not survive. We are nothing more than the fists of the people against the oppressors!"

★ The life of a soldier in the Red Army

80 If nothing else has been achieved in China's decade of internal strife, it has at least established a core of combat force and military mind experienced in the application of modern technology and tactics, which will soon build a strong army that can no longer be regarded as a silver pewter gun.

81 I am familiar with the American, British, French, Japanese, Italian, and German armies, but I believe that only the best troops can eat the tense and arduous daily conditions of the Red Army soldiers.

82 The Diet of the Red Army was extremely simple. Coffee, tea, cakes, all sorts of sweets or fresh vegetables, almost unheard of, and they don't want to. Canned coffee is more valuable than coffee; no one likes coffee, it tastes like medicine, but a good can can make a durable lunch box! Hot boiled water is almost the only drink, and drinking cold water is specifically forbidden.

83. "The principles of Lenin's room," Xiao Hua, the twenty-two-year-old director of the Political Department of the Second Division, told me, "is very simple. Their whole life and activities must be linked to the daily work and development of their soldiers. The activities must be carried out by the warriors themselves. Must be simple and easy to understand. Entertainment must be combined with practical education on the army's immediate tasks. ”

★ Politics class

★ Red kiln worker Xu Haidong

84, "In my fourth year of school, when I was eleven, I participated in a quarrel in which the 'rich beat the poor', and a group of 'rich children' forced me into a corner. We were throwing sticks and stones, and a stone I threw out broke the head of a child surnamed Huang, the son of a rich landlord. The boy left crying and soon returned with his family. He said I 'forgot my birthday' and punched and kicked me. Sir beat me again. I skipped school and refused to go again. I was very impressed by this incident. I have since believed that the children of the poor are not fair. ”

★ Class war in China

85 We must remember that everyone now knows that in the fifth anti-communist encirclement and suppression campaign, the Kuomintang generals ordered in many places to kill all the common people. This was considered a military necessity, because Commander-in-Chief Chiang said in a speech that where Soviet power had long been established, "it is impossible to distinguish between the red bandits and the common people." This method of killing the whole people was particularly brutal in the Republic of Eyuwan, mainly because some of the Kuomintang generals in charge of suppressing the Communists were locals, the sons of landlords who had been confiscated by the Communists, and were therefore eager for revenge. At the end of the fifth encirclement, the population of the Soviet area was reduced by 600,000 people.

Title IX: War and Peace

★ Let's talk about horses

86 I rode a few days on horseback with the Red Army cavalry in Gansu, or more precisely, with the Red Army cavalry for a few days. They lent me a good horse with a captured Western-style saddle, but at the end of each day's march I felt that it was not the horse that was waiting for me, but that I was waiting for the horse. This was because our battalion commander did not want his four-legged baby to be too tired, and he wanted us to get off our horses and lead us three or four miles for each mile of riding on both legs. He treated the horse as if he were a quadruplet of the Dionni family, and I came to the conclusion that anyone who was to be the man's cavalry had to be first and foremost a nurse, not a groom, and even preferably a walker, not a horseman.

★ "Little Red Devil"

87, red face, sparkling bright eyes, such a child you see the heart softened, like a homeless child who needs friendship and comfort. I think he must be very homesick. But I soon realized that I had miscalculated. He was not his mother's little baby, but an old Red Army. He told me that he was fifteen years old and had joined the Red Army in the South four years earlier.

88 The Young Pioneers liked the Red Army, probably because for the first time in their lives in the Red Army, they were treated as human beings. They eat and live like people, they seem to participate in everything, they think they are equal to anyone. I have never seen any of them beaten or bullied.

89, "It's bitter, isn't it?" I tried to ask.

"Not bitter, not bitter. With comrades with you, the march is not bitter. We revolutionary youth cannot think of whether things are difficult or hard; we can only think of the tasks before us. If we want to walk ten thousand miles, we will walk ten thousand miles, and if we want to walk twenty thousand miles, we will walk twenty thousand miles!"

90, they are patient, hardworking, smart, hard to study, so seeing them, it will make you feel that China is not hopeless, you will feel that any country with teenagers will not be without hope. In the Young Pioneers, China's future is pinned on them, as long as these young people can be liberated, developed, inspired, and given the opportunity to play their due role in building a new world.

★ A united front in practice

★ About Jude

91 No matter how he is judged, it must be admitted that in terms of tactical originality, mobility of the troops and diversity of operations, he has repeatedly proved himself superior to any of the generals sent to fight him, and has undoubtedly established the indisputable combat effectiveness of the Chinese revolutionary army in guerrilla warfare. 92 My special tactic of leading soldiers is this: I myself am very strong, I can live with my brothers, I have close contact with them, and thus gain their trust. Every battle, no matter how big or small, I always have to survey the terrain in advance and plan everything precisely. My main tactics were generally successful because I took care of everything and personally led the troops. I always insist on having a clear understanding of the enemy's position from all angles. I also have a very good relationship with the people in general, which helps me a lot. Cai Yi is known for his command tactics, and he taught me many things. At that time, the Dian Army was a new army, armed with German rifles. Another factor that I think is important to both commanders and fighters is the understanding of the political situation. With this understanding, they can have the morale to fight resolutely for doctrine. Then there's experience — the more you fight, the more you can master the situation.

93 When I left Sichuan in 1922 to look for the Chinese Communist Party, I did not know how to have relations with the Party at all, but I was determined to make contact with it in any way. In fact, the party was only organized a few months ago, which is what I later learned. My interest in communism and Bolshevism arose after I myself read books about the Russian Revolution. Other influences on me were a few conversations with French students.

94. Zhu De's life experience is inseparable from the fate of the Chinese people, and the reasons for the Red Army's struggle can be seen from his life.

95. Unlike many of the leaders of the New China Army, Zhu De is not an 'international student' from Japan, Russia, Germany and other countries. His experience was home-grown and rooted in the interior of China, so it was not important that he was able to gain the trust of his brethren and the respect of the old-fashioned generals of China. He is familiar with most of the terrain of the interior from north to south, and is familiar with local customs and customs.

96. Zhu De was trained by the famous republican general Cai Yi in the first batch of new military academies in China. He then learned special guerrilla tactics while serving as a garrison on the border of French Indochina and in the mountain fortresses of Sichuan and Yunnan, which later contributed greatly to the Red Army. Politically, he first fought for democracy as a member of the League in 1909, then joined the Kuomintang, and finally searched for the Communist Party completely spontaneously, becoming one of the oldest members of the Communist Party of China in 1922. From Zhu De's long journey to Shanghai, Beijing, and Berlin in search of the Communist Party, we can see the spontaneous spirit and firm goal of becoming the leader of the three revolutions in the future.

97"The historical course of the Chinese communist movement would be unimaginable without its two twin geniuses, Zhu and Mao, whom many Chinese actually regard as one person. Mao Zedong was the cool political mind of this struggle, and Zhu De was its ardent heart, which gave it life with his actions. One of the reasons why the Communist Party was able to maintain tight control over the Red Army and Zhu De's loyalty and obedience to the 'civilian' leadership was one of the reasons.

98 The union of Zhu and Mao was not in competition with each other, but complementary to each other. Jude did not have any political ambitions, he could take orders, and therefore he could issue orders — a valuable factor in the leadership of the revolutionary army.

99, Zhu De's precious personality can win everyone's love almost immediately. It seems that the origin of this personality is his modesty, and this modesty may stem from his personal honesty and reliability.

Episode 10 Back to the Security Guard

★ Encounters on the road

★ Security life

★ Russian influence

100 We must remember that the CCP's participation in the Communist International and its solidarity with the Soviet Union has always been entirely voluntary, and can be revoked internally by the Chinese themselves at any time. In their view, the most powerful role of the Soviet Union was as a living example, an ideal that gave rise to hope and conviction.

101. In the political life of Marxists in China, the existence of the individual is a drop in the ocean of society as a whole, that is, among the masses, and must be subordinated to the will of the latter, and if he is a leader, he must do this consciously, and if he is a material creator, he must do this unconsciously. Of course, there have been disputes and infighting among the Communists, but none of them have been serious enough to inflict fatal wounds on the Party or the army. This phenomenon, this "non-Chinese" unity, is the result of the new conception of society as a place of struggle for dominance among the various class forces, in which only the most united, the most determined and the most energetic can achieve final victory. This unity, if not their victory, explains to a large extent why the Communists were able to avoid annihilation.

102 The CCP has undoubtedly benefited greatly from sharing the collective experience of the Russian Revolution and from the leadership of the Communist International. But it is also true that the serious setbacks suffered by the Chinese Communists in the painful process of their growth and development can also be attributed to the Comintern

★ The Chinese Communist Movement and the Comintern

★ That foreign think tank

★ Farewell, Red China

103, the last time I walked through the street of the security guards, the closer I got to the city gate, the more I felt nostalgic. People stuck their heads out of the office to say goodbye to me. All the members of my poker club came out to send me off, and some "little ghosts" accompanied me to the root of the security wall. I stopped to take pictures of Lao Xu and Lao Xie, who were holding each other's shoulders like elementary school students. Only Mao Zedong did not appear, he was still sleeping.

"Don't forget my prosthetic arm!" Cai Shufan shouted.

"Don't forget my photos!" Lu Dingyi reminded me.

"We are waiting for your air fleet!" Yang Shangkun laughed.

"Send me a wife!" Li Kenong demanded.

"Send back four or two cocoa." Bogu reproached.

Chapter 11 The White World Again

★ Prelude to a mutiny

★ The commander-in-chief was arrested

104. The "demand for national salvation" submitted to the commander-in-chief was broadcast to the whole country, but everywhere it was blocked by the Kuomintang news and was not published in the newspaper. This famous eight-point requirement is:

(1) Reorganize the Nanjing government and accommodate all parties to jointly take responsibility for saving the country.

(2) Immediately cease the civil war and adopt a policy of armed resistance against Japan.

(3) Release the patriotic (vii) leader of Shanghai.

(4) Amnesty for political prisoners.

(5) Guarantee the freedom of people's assembly.

(6) Guarantee the right of people to organize patriotic groups and political freedom.

(7) Implement Sun Yat-sen's will.

(8) Immediately convene a national salvation conference.

105 Soon after his capture, the commander-in-chief began to realize that his greatest "traitor" may not be in Xi'an, but in Nanjing. In view of this situation, Chiang Kai-shek must have made a decision not to be a martyr, and to let General He Yingqin or anyone else climb to the dictator's throne on his corpse in vain.

★ Chiang, Zhang and the Communists

★ "Tit-for-tat"

★ Friendship lasts forever ?

106. After the fiercest civil war of ten years, the Red Army and the White Army suddenly joined hands to sing "Friendship Lasts Forever". What does that mean? Did the Red Army turn white and the White Army turn red? No one has changed. But someone has to gain, someone loses? Yes, China gained, Japan lost. For it seems that, thanks to the intervention of a third factor, Japanese imperialism, the extremely complex two-way struggle has once again postponed the decisive battle.

★ Red skyline

107 History in general, and the history of the revolution in particular, is always richer, more varied, more lively and 'more ingenious' than the best parties, the most conscious vanguards of the most advanced classes imagined. This is self-evident, for the best vanguard can only express the consciousness, will, enthusiasm and imagination of tens of thousands of people; whereas revolution is realized by the consciousness, will, enthusiasm and imagination of millions of men, who are inspired by the sharpest class struggle, when all his talents are particularly highly and concentrated.

108 The Communist Party has no illusions about this. Nor do they think that if they do not actively strive for it, the promise of "democracy" or the anti-imperialist movement will be fulfilled. They will never abandon the slogan of achieving full democracy and anti-imperialism, and in defending these two slogans they will not hesitate to make small political concessions, because they believe that their fundamental political foundations cannot be destroyed.

109.The Communist Party foresees that in this war it will be necessary to arm, equip, train and mobilize millions of people in a struggle that can play a double surgical role in cutting off the external tumors of imperialism and the internal cancers of class oppression. According to them, such a war can be waged only if the masses are mobilized in the broadest possible way and a highly politicized army is developed. And such a war can be won only under the leadership of the most advanced revolution. It can be mobilized by the bourgeoisie, but only the revolutionary workers and peasants can accomplish it. Once the people are truly armed and organized on a large scale, the Communist Party will do everything possible to achieve a decisive victory in the war against Japan. As long as the bourgeoisie leads the war of resistance, they will advance shoulder to shoulder with the bourgeoisie. But as soon as the bourgeoisie is shaken, becomes "defeatist", or shows a willingness to submit to Japan, a tendency which they believe will emerge immediately after the great losses suffered at the outset of the war – they are ready to take over the leadership.

★ Appendix 1: Translation suffixes from the new translation of the Journey to the West

★ Appendix II: Snow's Photographic Interview Activities ★ in the Northwest Soviet District Appendix III: Snow's Living Room and the 12.9 Student Movement