In June 1946, the Kuomintang tore up the armistice agreement and the CPPCC agreement, and a full-scale civil war broke out. In November, Chiang Kai-shek convened a one-party "National Convention," which ended on December 25. At this time, the debate among democrats about the "third way" and the "third way" (also known as the "middle way") was just beginning. At the end of the year, the "United Daily Evening Magazine" sponsored by the underground party published a discussion between Ma Xulun and Ma Yinchu on the current situation under the title of "Dialogue between the Two Horses." During the discussion, Ma Xulun criticized the "middle line" and called on all parties to unite, unite the front, and unite the whole country, and "there can be no exceptions."
On December 31, 1946, the "United Daily Evening Magazine" published the content of the "Dialogue between the Two Horses".
"Dialogue between the two horses": Ma Xulun and Ma Yin talked about the current situation for the first time
On December 22, 1946, Shanghai's Wen Wei Po published an editorial entitled "There is no neutrality in the third side", which pointed out that in the current situation, "the position of the third party is 'no neutrality, only right and wrong'". Taking this as a starting point, the leaders of many democratic parties have made statements one after another, expressing their own opinions. At this time, two leaders of the Shanghai democracy movement were invited to meet and discuss with the Shanghai "United Daily Evening News" and left a dialogue about the current situation. The record of the discussion was published on the third page of the "United Daily Evening Magazine" on December 31 under the eye-catching title of "Dialogue between the Two Horses".
The so-called "Erma" refers to Ma Xulun and Ma Yinchu, both of whom are over 60 years old, and are called "Yi Lao" (Ma Xulun, the word Yi Chu) and "Yin Lao". The two have the same surname and half a name, and they are the same family tree, and they are both well-known professors. During the Anti-Japanese War, Ma Xulun insisted on Shanghai to denounce the traitors, and Ma Yinchu was imprisoned in Chongqing for criticizing the Kuomintang's economic policies, which was also iron-clad; After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Ma Xulun led patriots in Shanghai's culture, education and publishing circles to establish the China Association for the Promotion of Democracy. Those who have read or heard the "Erma" article or speech
Although there were many people, this was the first time that such a conversation had aroused great interest among readers.
During the discussion, both of them had extremely vigilant and thorough views on the economic and political situation that people were most concerned about at that time. They "started with the Chinese New Year" and talked about the price of goods and people's livelihood, the indiscriminate issuance of money, the hardship of the people, and the withering of urban and rural areas, and then talked about the current political situation -- the people have not yet fully awakened, the Kuomintang is playing political tricks, the methods of United States "special envoy" Marshall, the loans of the United States, currency, international issues, and so on.
"We must have great unity"
When we talk about the democratic movement in the future, we can, of course, express our views on the ongoing "middle-of-the-road" debate. Just a few days ago, Ma Xulun published an article entitled "On the Third Aspect and the Democratic Front" in the "Friendly Voice" column of the "Masses" weekly, an organ of the Communist Party of China, holding that "there are only two aspects: the anti-democratic government and the democratic people, and there can be no third aspect." Now, with the help of the "United Daily Evening Magazine", a platform with a wider audience, Ma Xulun expressed his views in a more concise and vivid language.
During the discussion, after analyzing the reasons why the people have not yet resisted generally, Ma Xulun borrowed the words of a certain representative of the "National Congress": "The government is incompetent, but the people are capable." In his view, the future of democracy is still optimistic.
"If we talk about the future democracy movement, I think it has to be simplified: first, the goals should be simple and clear. We can only categorically propose the use of democratic forces to defeat anti-democracy, and there can be no other conciliatory things, let alone the slightest ambiguity. There is talk of mediation, if it is mediated from the standpoint of a third party, what is the third party between democracy and anti-democracy? How can the struggle between democracy and anti-democracy be mediated? ”
Under the heading "Democracy and Anti-Democracy," the transcript of the discussion described Ma Xulun's clear-cut speech under the subheading "Not a KMT-CCP issue": "In the past, some people have done this kind of mediation on the KMT-CCP issue; Now that the KMT-CCP issue has passed, today it is no longer a KMT-CPC issue, but a question of democracy and anti-democracy. Resolutely smashing anti-democracy is the only goal. The democratic struggle based on this goal is the only way to follow the path of normalcy. If we continue to mediate from the standpoint of a third party as before, the common people and the general society will be confused. ”
Massulon candidly expressed his views on the NLD at the time: "I would like to see the NLD, the backbone of the Democratic Front, concrete. Corrections that should be corrected, claims that should be asserted. I hope that the NLD will unify its will, strengthen its strength, understand reality, step up its self-examination, and make its banner clear! It is necessary to correct the posture of being in a position of being a mediator in the past, and to bring into play the true spirit of fighting for democracy, and continue to grow stronger. In the future struggle for democracy, we must see how our people's own front is organized, and whether we can have a truly strong and extensive people's organization that can influence all localities. We must have great unity. ”
United Front: "There can be no more exceptions"
Massulen argues that there is no such thing as a "third way", but only one way. "As for the struggle for democracy, as I have just said, the first goal must be simple and clear, and the second is to unite the whole country, and there can be no exceptions. Now some people advocate the combination of the middle layers, thinking that they can form a force, which I personally think is impossible to achieve, not only at present, but also in the future. "In the future, China will either continue the rule of the current government, or it will come up on behalf of the people's power, and there will be no other one."
He called for the great unity of the democratic forces. "Now it is time for the whole country to rise up and unite, and I hope that all parties will work together to promote this great combination! To the point that there is only democracy and anti-democracy. Under this camp, the combination of democracy should be divided into parties and strata, and if it is to be divided, it is to give convenience to the anti-democracy and suffer losses! ”
Massulun's analysis and grasp of the political situation is very accurate. He opposed the "third front" and the "middle line" and called on the democrats to have a clear understanding of the situation in a timely manner, unite and stand more clearly on the side of the CCP and oppose the dictatorship of the Kuomintang.
Being able to stand on the side of the CCP at a critical moment and speak out in a timely manner is due to Ma Xulun's own foresight on the one hand, and on the other hand, the influence of his CCP members and friends cannot be underestimated. Ma Xulun was surrounded by many openly known CCP members and underground party friends, such as Wang Shaohua, who founded the DPP with him. As a leading figure in Shanghai's democracy movement, Ma Xulun has been leading the DPP to carry out democratic activities under the guidance and help of the CPC.
The patriotic and democratic movement in the Kuomintang region is on the rise, and the progressive democrats have unified their understanding and united in opposing the "middle line." Ma Xulun's clear-cut remarks in the "two-horse dialogue" should be indispensable.
(Source: "China News", the author Wu Hongying is a third-level researcher of the History Department of the Central Research Office of the Association for Promoting Democracy)