Red New Life Bookstore (Part II)
Li Jizhong
Comrade Li Jiansheng also took advantage of every opportunity to unite the progressive comrades, divide and disintegrate the enemy, and win over a military police squad leader who monitored them to take part in the revolutionary work. Comrade Li Jiansheng was highly vigilant against the enemy, concealed himself well, and used ingenious methods of struggle, but the cunning spies did not get any "evidence," so they "paroled" him, laid a net, and tried to cast a long line to catch a big fish.
In 1942, Comrade Li Jiansheng resolutely decided to return to Yan'an to find the party. Unfortunately, he traveled to Dongsheng of the Islamic League, and was discovered by the spies, and he was arrested for the third time and escorted back to Shaanba. In the concentration camps, the spies also used torture instruments such as pouring chili pepper water and sitting on tiger chairs in an attempt to obtain our party's secrets from Li Jiansheng's mouth, but Comrade Li Jiansheng was strong and unyielding, and did not reveal anything about the party organization and the top-secret materials he kept for the party, so that the spies found nothing, and finally in 1943 they had no choice but to release Comrade Li Jiansheng as a "suspected Communist Party."
During the arrest of Comrade Li Jiansheng, the "Northwest Bookstore" was independently supported by Comrade Wang Yuting. The spies searched the bookstore several times, forcibly occupied the bookstore's premises, destroyed the bookstore's contents, and caused the bookstore to be closed down three times and moved four times. The masses said angrily: "It's still a crime to sell books these days?!" Comrade Wang Yuting followed the party's instructions: "As long as there are people, the bookstore will be opened, and the opening will be a victory." When the bookstore was moved, she borrowed the villagers' thatched houses, tofu factories and fried oil fruit rooms to open temporarily.
At that time, the secret service set up "post and telecommunications inspection offices" in various post offices, and most of the progressive books and periodicals sent by Chongqing to the "Northwest Bookstore" were detained. The "eldest young master" of the Ningxia warlord Ma Hongkui even intercepted and detained some good books and reference books that were not politically tinged in the "Northwest Bookstore," such as atlases, dictionaries, and textbooks, and then sold them in his own bookstore. In this way, the "Northwest Bookstore" suffered a great loss of funds, and in the most difficult time, Comrade Wang Yuting used the income from spinning wool to supplement his life, and sometimes the whole family could only drink one meal of gruel a day, but the bookstore has always persevered.
After Comrade Li Jiansheng regained his freedom, the whole family was rejoicing in the reunion, but their lives were even poorer, and there were no books to sell in bookstores and no source of firewood and rice. What to do? Comrade Li Jiansheng was not discouraged, and in accordance with Chairman Mao's teaching of "self-reliance, abundant food and clothing," he personally compiled, copied, and printed books. In order to commemorate the new life of the bookstore, the "Northwest Bookstore" was renamed "New Life Bookstore", and every night he wrote and painted under an oil lamp, and during the day he assisted in printing by the lithograph.
In order to reflect the victory of the anti-fascist struggle in World War II, Comrade Li Jiansheng drew up "A Map of the Situation of the German-Soviet War," "A Map of the Situation of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Southeast Asia," and "A Reference Map of the Political Economy of World War II," as well as primary school textbooks and children's literacy pictures.
After eight years of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Japanese were finally defeated. The whole People's Republic of China rejoiced and celebrated. However, the Chiang Gang spies were jealous of the people's celebration of victory, and the Kuomintang spies in Chongqing provoked trouble and smashed the Xinhua Daily office and the Life Bookstore. Kuomintang spies in Shaanba also smashed the "Xinsheng Bookstore," smashing the shelves of doors and windows, and smashing books and periodicals all over the floor. But bookstores can't be crushed or smashed! With the development of the situation, the "Xinsheng Bookstore" also continued to grow, and in the winter of 1945, it moved to Guisui, and by 1946 it had the main store of Guisui and two branches in Baotou and Shaanba. During the War of Liberation, the bookstore supplied the people with spiritual food, covered the revolutionary comrades, and provided funds for the activities of the revolutionary work.
Although Comrade Li Jiansheng had lost organizational ties with the party for a long time, he never stopped his revolutionary work. He once took the initiative to send comrades to the heart of the Central Unification spy organization, understand the dynamics of the spies, and obtain important information; He cooperated with the student movement in Chiang's district, organized progressive students to petition for a class strike, and launched an anti-hunger and anti-civil war struggle; He also used various channels to dismantle the reactionary army, reconnoiter the enemy's situation, and assist the people's army in searching for and arresting armed spies ......, thus contributing to the victory of the Liberation War. All this revolutionary work was carried out under the cover of bookstores.
In 1948, Comrade Li Jiansheng re-established contact with the party, and since then he has worked more intensively in accordance with the party's instructions. In 1949, in accordance with the "Suiyuan method" proposed by Chairman Mao, he actively publicized the party's policies to people from all walks of life and exposed the rumor-mongering and sabotage of reactionary forces.
Comrades Jiansheng and Wang Yuting also sent their two sons, Li Haichao and Li Haibo, to study at the Fengzhen Yuanyuan Administrative Cadres School, and transported a large number of new books from the Fengzhen Xinhua Bookstore to supply readers and promote the peaceful liberation of Suiyuan in all aspects. With the "September 19" uprising of Suiyuan military and political personnel, their family finally survived the night and ushered in the dawn.
After the founding of New China, the "Xinsheng Bookstore" continued to spread the revolutionary culture and propagate the revolutionary truth with a brand-new look, and made certain contributions to the cultural construction of New China. Xinhua Bookstore spoke highly of the historical merits and contributions to the revolution of the "Xinsheng Bookstore" and praised Comrades Li Jiansheng and Wang Yuting for their righteous deeds of loving the party and the country.
After the liberation, Comrade Li Jiansheng was appointed as a researcher of the Guisui City People's Government in 1950, the director of the CPPCC Office in 51, the deputy director general of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association of Suiyuan Province in 52, the section chief of the Inner Mongolia Construction Company in 53 years, and the section chief of the Inner Mongolia Architectural Design Institute from 59 to 61. In 1961, the Inner Mongolia Construction Department made a clear review of Comrade Li Jiansheng's entire history, made a fair conclusion, and approved his re-entry into the party.
During the Cultural Revolution, he was persecuted by Lin Biao and the ultra-left line of the "Gang of Four", and died unjustly on April 26, 1968, at the age of 59. Comrade Wang Yuting went around running and reasoning for Comrade Li Jiansheng's unjust case and seeking to rehabilitate Zhaoxue, but unfortunately he was killed in a car accident in 1977.
After the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee, the Inner Mongolia Construction Committee completely rehabilitated Comrade Li Jiansheng and held a grand memorial service for Comrade Li Jiansheng on June 9, 1979 at the Inner Mongolia Construction School. "Comrade Li Jiansheng has been loyal to the party's cause since he took part in the revolutionary work. Motivated and enthusiastic about work. He was arrested and imprisoned three times, but did not give in to the enemy, but waged an indomitable struggle against the enemy, showing the integrity of a Communist Party member. Although he lost his party affiliation, he still persisted in the revolutionary work and withstood the severe tests of the party organization for a long time. …… Comrade Li Jiansheng's life was a life of revolution and fighting. The passing away of Comrade Li Jiansheng is a loss to our party. ……"
Although the party's loyal sons and daughters, Comrade Li Jiansheng and Comrade Wang Yuting, have said goodbye to us forever, their tall image of being brave in fighting in the face of the enemy and being strong and unyielding will always live in our hearts.
Their noble character of wholeheartedly doing the revolution, not for fame, not for profit, never giving credit to others, comparing qualifications, ranks, and treatment; Diligent, hard-working, unpretentious, hard-working style of life; As well as the revolutionary optimism of not fearing danger and forging ahead in the face of difficulties, they are the spiritual wealth and learning examples left to us. The "Xinsheng Bookstore," which Comrades Li Jiansheng and Wang Yuting painstakingly founded and operated, will go down in history as an important page in the underground work in the white areas of western Inner Mongolia.