Jiayu tragedy

During the period of 1925, under the leadership of Li Dazhao, the revolutionary activities of Henan * * * production party were rapidly restored and developed. After the student movement and the workers' movement, the peasant movement also developed, and the peasant movement in Henan became an important force supporting the Northern Expedition.

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The peasant movement has played an important role in the development of revolutionary forces in Henan. 1in March, 925, Li Dazhao proposed to attach importance to the development of the peasant movement in Henan and prepare for the northern expedition of the Guangdong National Government in the future. Soon, Li Dazhao met with Bao Luoting, who came to attend the meeting of Party leaders in Beijing, and proposed to him that he should pay due attention to the Henan Red Gun Association. Besides sending comrades to work, we should also send some comrades with military experience to organize training and leadership. The Red Gun Club is backward in weapons, so it should be supported in weapons and funds in the future. If we can master this armed force, it will become a powerful auxiliary force in the future Northern Expedition. However, Bao Luoting attached importance to regular armed forces, and Li Dazhao's correct opinion was not adopted, which had a great influence on the work of Henan Red Gun Association. However, under the extremely difficult conditions of manpower and material resources, Li Dazhao still started the work of Henan Red Gun Club.

1924 65438+February, the second national army entered Henan. Soon, at the invitation of Hu Jingyi, commander of the Second National Army, Li Dazhao went to Kaifeng for talks with Hu Jingyi, and decided to help Hu Jingyi manage Henan and reorganize the army. Later, a group of progressive party member students were sent to Liuhe Primary School to negotiate with the Soviet Embassy in China, and an advisory group was sent to help Hu Jingyi manage government and military affairs. Hu Jingyi supported Sun Yat-sen's three policies of uniting with Russia, uniting with Russia and helping peasants and workers, which made the revolutionary movement of peasants and workers and the student movement in Henan recover and develop rapidly. However, the Second National Army is a force just separated from the old warlords. At the same time, it also incorporated some troops stationed in Wu and local miscellaneous troops. The army expanded rapidly, the military supplies increased sharply, and the military discipline was lax, and soon there was a contradiction with the farmers in Henan, which was opposed by the Red Gun Association. The two sides clashed in many places, thus objectively inhibiting the development of revolutionary forces in Henan.

Guns are extremely common in Henan. Almost every township has its own gun club, and its name is quite complicated. There are red, yellow, green, white and black gun clubs, as well as hard belly clubs, big sword clubs, temple clubs, fan clubs, Tianmen clubs and Boxers, which no longer exist. They all practice martial arts, use broadswords and spears, believe in "God" and seek ghosts and gods. Its nature is similar, among which red gun is more common. This folk armed force plays an important role in Henan, which is related to the consolidation of the second national army in Henan and is also a major and urgent issue in the northern peasant movement. So Li Dazhao organized manpower to carry out the peasant movement in Henan. The peasant movement in Henan was first launched in the countryside along the railway and around the central city. At that time, it was organized and led in the name of the Kuomintang Party Department, but the actual propaganda and organization work was carried out by party member, League members and revolutionary youth. * * * Little Comrade was the first producer of peasant movement in Henan. He was a student of the first phase of Whampoa Military Academy, and later went to Xingyang County, a suburb of Zhengzhou, to engage in the peasant movement. Later, Dai Peiyuan, Liu and Tang Shikui also came to Xingyang from Beijing. They walked in the countryside to publicize and contact the masses. With the support of Han, the county magistrate who was determined to make revolution, he founded the peasant night school, organized a propaganda team, carried out extensive propaganda and organization work, actively won the gun meeting with the masses, and tried to liberate the peasant masses with revolutionary tendencies but vague consciousness from the spiritual shackles of warlords, bureaucrats, local tyrants and gentlemen. In order to win over the masses, Dai Peiyuan "went it alone" and made a big speech at the "Hongmen Banquet" arranged by the head of the reactionary gun club, preaching the revolutionary truth. Finally, he won over the members of the gun club present, saving the explosive danger. 1925 10 Wang Sangang, the leader of the reactionary gun club, with the support of the evil gentry, killed the chairman of the farmers' association in Jiayu District, Xingyang County 1 1 family, openly retaliating against the development of the peasant movement. However, they can't stop the development of the peasant movement. Xiao He and Comrade Dai Peiyuan continued to go deep into the masses and carry out propaganda and organizational work. After more than two months' efforts,1more than 500 poor peasants joined the peasant associations. The Jiayu District Farmers' Association has also set up a self-defense brigade for farmers, and won the struggle against exorbitant taxes, local tyrants and evil gentry, litigators and foreign missionaries.

In order to strengthen leadership, Li Dazhao also sent Hu Lun, who had just returned from the Soviet Union, to Xingyang to engage in the peasant movement. At the same time, the Central Committee of Henan and Shaanxi also sent Luo Siwei and Huo Yunfu to Xingyang to strengthen their work. Shortly after the establishment of the Party organization in Xingyang County, with Hu Lun as the head, the peasant movement in Xingyang County was further developed. 1925 65438+February, Xingyang County Farmers Association was established. There are 6 district peasant associations in the county, and more than 2,000 farmers have joined the peasant associations. At that time, most members of the peasant associations held the concept of "self-defense, and all our ideas can be truly understood by the masses." Their slogan is "Down with imperialism and warlords, long live the peasant associations".

While the peasant movement was carried out in Xingyang County, the peasant movements in other parts of the province also flourished. In the late May 30th Movement, Wang Kexin (sent by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Northern Bureau), Zhou Xulun (Peking University graduate) and Zhou Xingyu organized patriotic students to carry out the peasant movement in Xinyang, southern Henan, and carried out publicity and organization activities in Liulin Town, Dongbai Village and Dang Yu Village. 1August, 925 to165438+1October, Xinyang County Farmers Association was established. The peasant movement in Qixian County in eastern Henan Province also began to develop in the autumn of 1925. In the late May 30th Movement, * * * produced party member Zhang Haifeng to teach at Fuji Primary School in Qixian County, and at the same time do the work of the peasant movement. 1925165438+1October 14, Shuikang, Renhe and Sanle of Zhengzhou set up farmers' associations, and Wan (both appointed by the North District of China * * *) spoke at the inaugural meeting, calling on farmers to organize themselves to overthrow the warlords. At the same time, Wang Zhongxiu (appointed by Northern District) was in Luoyang, and Zhang Tingcong (appointed by Northern District) was engaged in the peasant movement in northern Henan.

Although the peasant movement in Henan started later than that in Guangdong, it developed rapidly under the care and attention of Li Dazhao. From the summer and autumn of 1925 to 10/5, there were 10 counties in Henan, and 15 village farmers' associations were established, with more than 4,000 members. By March of 1926, farmers' movements had been launched in 15 counties in Henan Province, and four county farmers' associations were established, namely Xingyang, Qixian, Xinyang and Xuchang. There are 32 district farmers' associations and 238 village farmers' associations in the province, with as many as 200,000 members. Seeing the rapid development of the peasant movement in Henan, Li Dazhao praised: "The peasant movement in Henan has also been quite effective recently." ③

Under the leadership of Li Dazhao, the vast number of peasant associations in Henan played an active role in the struggle against Feng. When analyzing the economic situation of three counties and eight townships in Henan Province, Li Dazhao pointed out: Henan, like the whole country, has a serious land problem, among which yeomen and tenant farmers suffer the most. Following Li Dazhao's instructions, the peasant movement in Henan improved the status of the poor peasants, organized peasant associations attended by poor peasants, tenant peasants and employees, and guaranteed the class interests of the poor peasants themselves. Therefore, the organized peasant masses can accept the leadership of the * * * production party, follow the * * * production party to participate in the anti-Feng war and participate in the national revolution.

The Second National Army has more than 100,000 troops in Henan, and the people's burden is quite heavy. Coupled with years of war and famine, the lives of the broad masses of the people are very painful. However, in order to overthrow the reactionary rule of warlord Feng and strive for national independence and freedom, the broad masses of peasant associations can tolerate heavy taxes, exorbitant taxes and hard labor, and only the second national army can fight against warlord Feng. The tenth issue of Zhongzhou Review published a peasant talk, which distinguished the Second National Army from other warlords, knowing that the Second National Army could give more democratic rights to the people and expressed its support, reflecting the opinions of the broad masses of peasant associations. 1926 1 month, farmers' associations in Qixian, Xingyang and Xinyang joined forces with more than 200,000 farmers in Xuchang, Zhengzhou, Luoyang and Jiaozuo to send telegrams to expose Wu's treachery. The United Nations troops attacked Feng Zhi's warlord, and in turn joined forces with Feng Zhi's warlord to attack the criminal plot of the national army, denouncing him for taking refuge in British and Japanese imperialism. However, the strength of the peasant movement led by our party is not strong enough. Most gun clubs in Henan did not accept the leadership and influence of our party, and later became allies of Wu in attacking the Second National Army. Yucheng, Zhecheng, Suixian, Qixian and Tongxu areas in eastern Henan; Xinyang, Runan, Queshan and Xuchang in southern Henan; The Red Gun Clubs in Ruzhou, Luoyang, Xin 'an, Kanxiang, Lingbao, Gongxian and Zhengzhou in western Henan accepted Wu's leadership, organized troops, and were appointed as 10 road commander by him, which played a considerable role in helping Wu attack the second national army. The railway from Zhengzhou to Xinyang was torn down by the Red Gun Association in dozens of places, and the two national armies were divided into several sections, which made them neglect each other from beginning to end and attack separately. Xinyang has also become an isolated city. The fall of Zhengzhou was entirely caused by the surrounding red guns. When Yue He led his troops to the Western Expedition, they were defeated by guns in Ruzhou, Luoyang, Xin 'an, Lingbao and Ganxiang near Xin 'an. The Second National Army was defeated by the Henan Red Gun Association instead of Wu. This serious mistake of Henan Red Gun Association proves the importance and correctness of Li Dazhao's emphasis on the work of Henan Red Gun Association.

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1in the spring of 926, with the support of British and Japanese imperialism, Zhifeng defeated the national army and occupied Beijing and Tianjin. Li Dazhao is wanted and in danger, but he still cares about the revolutionary struggle in Henan. According to the changes in Henan's political situation, he promptly pointed out the new strategy and policy of developing the peasant movement to the Henan party organization, and sent people to strengthen their work, restore and develop the peasant movement in Henan as soon as possible, and accumulate strength to prepare for the Northern Expedition.

After Wu occupied Henan, he suppressed revolutionary forces and people's forces. On March 1926 and 15, Jin was appointed as the overseer of Henan by Wu, and immediately announced the cancellation of trade unions, peasant associations and Kuomintang organizations. No assembly, no strike, all activities are allowed. Dai Peiyuan and the Kuomintang, who worked in Luoyang by the * * * production party, were killed by the Red Gun Society when they were sent to Huang Shi. Party member Luo Siwei and Tang Shikui, who were engaged in the peasant movement in Xingyang, were arrested and imprisoned. Revolutionary organizations in Luoyang, Xingyang and Zhumadian were destroyed, and the peasant associations in the whole province were forced to stop their activities. * * * More than 65,438+000 comrades of the Production Party engaged in revolutionary activities in Henan were forced to move to Beijing, Shanghai and other places. Wu is obsessed with the Red Gun Club that helped him defeat the Second National Army. 1in late March, 926, Jin immediately announced the dissolution of Yu Weijun and the Red Gun Club after his return from Wuhan, and sent them back to their hometown, strictly forbidding to use the names of Yu Weijun and the Red Gun Club again. On April 13, an order was issued to suppress those who did not dissolve as soon as possible. Immediately, Mei Renyi, the leader of the Red Gun Club in Dengfeng County, was wanted to suppress the Red Gun Club in Tongxu and Xihua. On May 8, Wu mobilized a brigade to encircle the Red Gun Club in Louguai, Sui County, burning down 40 or 50 villages, killing and injuring more than 5,000 people, causing appalling tragedies. This series of atrocities completely buried the fantasy of the Red Gun Society to Wu, and also planted the seeds of the hatred of the Red Gun Society to Wu. Farmers have raised their consciousness in the lessons of blood and pinned their hopes on the Guangdong National Revolutionary Government. They put forward the slogan "Go ahead and beat Guangdong" in the pillow for the dead and wounded. It is easier to accept our party's propaganda about the peasant movement. This change has created new favorable conditions for the development of the peasant movement in Henan. Li Dazhao analyzed this new situation in time, agreed with the opinion of China Yushan District Committee that the Red Gun Club was used to attack the rear of Wu, and decided that some unidentified comrades such as Hu Lun stayed in Henan to do the work of the Red Gun Club, and sent more comrades to work in Henan.

1926 April 18, according to the spirit of the Beijing central special meeting, the Henan provincial farmers' congress was held, the provincial farmers' association was established, and two representatives were elected to attend the first national farmers' congress and the second Guangdong farmers' congress. According to Li Dazhao's guiding ideology, the meeting also decided to attach importance to the Red Gun Association to develop the peasant movement and consolidate the peasant associations. After the meeting, most comrades engaged in the peasant movement went deep into the Red Gun Association to carry out their work and achieved good results. Farmers' movement workers, as special commissioners of Henan Farmers' Association, guide and help this work. After more than a month's efforts, the peasant movement in Henan has been restored and developed. According to the statistics in May this year, the agricultural movement in the whole province has returned to the state before the failure of the Second National Army, that is, there are 4 county farmers' associations (Qixian, Xingyang, Xinyang and Xuchang), 32 district farmers' associations and more than 200 village farmers' associations with about 270,000 members. At the same time, 654.38+10,000 farmers' self-defense forces were organized. It is planned to set up six more county farmers' associations by the end of June, namely, Mixian, Yancheng, Changge, Jixian, Xiuwu and Anyang. The peasant movements in these areas were all carried out on the basis of the Red Gun Movement. Facts have proved that it is correct to attach importance to the Red Gun Club Movement and develop the peasant movement. Developing the peasant movement centered on the Red Gun Club is a remarkable feature of the peasant movement in Henan.

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With the development of the revolutionary situation and the improvement of farmers' consciousness, it has become the demand of the broad masses of farmers to unify the Red Gun Association and promote the peasant armed alliance. This is an important symbol of the development of the peasant movement in Henan.

At the important moment of the development of the peasant movement in Henan,1July, 926, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held the third enlarged meeting to discuss the Red Gun Movement and made a resolution on it. On August 8th, Li Dazhao published an important article on "Red Guns in Lu Yu and Shaanxi Provinces" in "Political Life", which greatly promoted the peasant movement in Henan. The "Resolution" further affirmed that the Red Gun Association is a work that must be paid attention to in developing farmers' associations. It is also pointed out that the Red Gun Association should unite revolutionary forces. Under its leadership and influence, prevent failure. It is also pointed out that the first step is to publicize the Red Gun Association, establish a secret traffic liaison organ and gradually develop into a powerful command organ. The second step is to try to hold a meeting of representatives of local red gun associations. Representatives present were Xinyang, Yancheng, Xuchang, Changge, Qixian, Suixian, Luoyang, Yucheng, Xuzhou and Suxian. The representatives of Qixian and Suixian can represent some gun clubs in Tongxu and Taikang, and the representatives of Xuzhou are closely related to Zong Xigui, the leader of the Southern Shandong Red Gun Club. The meeting produced the headquarters of Henan Farmers' Self-Defense Force, and formulated the articles of association and the same program. The meeting asked all counties to set up offices as command and liaison centers. Preparations for the major league of gun clubs in Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui are being actively carried out.

The convening of representative meetings of local gun associations and the establishment of the headquarters of the provincial peasant self-defense corps promoted the alliance of gun associations and promoted the development of the peasant movement in Henan. Shortly after the meeting, the county offices of Qixian, Suixian, Yucheng, Xuchang, Changge and Xinyang were established one after another, becoming the leading institutions for the external liaison and command of the county gun association. At the beginning of 1927, the area around Taikang, Tongxu, Yucheng, Suixian and Qixian in eastern Henan; Xuchang and Changge areas in central Henan; Xinyang, Runan and Queshan areas in southern Henan; There are 30,000, 50,000 or over 100,000 armed farmers' organizations in Luoyang and Dengfeng, Xin 'an, western Henan Province, which can mobilize more than 250,000 Henan farmers to directly join the National Revolutionary Front, and the effect of joint operation is even more numerous.

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Farmers in Henan actively participated in the national revolution and made great contributions to the response to the Northern Expedition. Under the guidance of Li Dazhao, in order to strengthen its leadership, the Yuzhong District Committee set up the Henan Military Commission with Hu Lun as its secretary, sent comrades who knew military affairs and were familiar with the peasant movement, organized small and capable guerrillas in various places, joined the Red Gun Club, carried out activities along the railway, demolished railways, bombed bridges and cut wires, which undermined Wu's military plan. On August 23, 1926, Wu urgently mobilized troops to reinforce Hubei, but the Xinzheng-Xinyang railway was bombed in many places, the railway traffic was interrupted, and the troops were forced to walk. Along the way, the troops sent cars to farmers, begged for food and arrested their husbands. Guerrillas and Red Guns helped the masses to stop it, and many cars and grain were taken back to the masses. Wu's mobilization of troops was blocked, his action was slow, and he could not reinforce in time, which won the fighting time for the Northern Expeditionary Army. When Wu retreated from Wuhan, a brigade was prepared to transfer to Nanyang, contacted the border defense department in northwest Hubei, and went to tanghe county, where it was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people in Tanghe and surrounding counties for more than ten days. 1926165438+10 In October, Liu Zhenhua was defeated by Feng Yuxiang in Shaanxi and was ready to return to western Henan. Under the organization and leadership of Wang Kexin, Zhang Zhipu and other comrades of the Western Henan Military Commission, gun clubs in more than a dozen counties, such as Xin 'an, Mianchi, Luoyang, Lingbao and Shaanxi, have concentrated 40,000 to 50,000 people with sufficient weapons.

Another important action of Henan farmers against Wu is to oppose exorbitant taxes. At that time, there were more than 65,438+10,000 troops stationed in Henan, and all the salaries were collected on the spot. The people of Henan had a heavy burden. At that time, Henan had a population of only 30 million, and it had to pay regular tax 1 1 10,000 yuan and illegal tax of 9 million yuan every year. The provincial bank indiscriminately issued 40 million yuan of non-convertible currency. Land tax and Cao Ding have been levied in the 18th year of the Republic of China, amounting to140,000 yuan. In addition, the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees of the local garrison add up to no less than 100 million yuan, and each Henan person has to pay an average of more than three yuan in taxes. This is a chain worn by the people of Henan, who strongly demand the abolition of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees, especially under the influence of the victory of the Northern Expedition, the broad masses of the people rose up and resisted. Xinyang Red Gun Association joined forces with the Peasant Self-Defense Forces to resist Tian and Wei's grain requisition and donation, which made the troops afraid to go to the countryside to raise grain. Ma Bu was disarmed by a battalion of the Red Gun Club in Dengfeng to raise supplies. Zhang Zhigong was urging grain in Ruyang, and his 13 horse was killed by farmers. The gun associations of counties in western Henan jointly opposed the securities assessed by the finance and taxation departments. About145,000 people gathered in graves from gun clubs in more than ten counties to hold a meeting, expressing their boycott and issuing a notice that no county is allowed to buy. They are so powerful that the defenders dare not compete with them. Hua county and Xunxian offices in northern Henan were afraid to go to the countryside to urge food because of the boycott of the Red Gun Association, and the magistrate of a county was forced to resign. Tanghe, Biyang, Qixian and Mengxian also have struggles against exorbitant taxes and levies. This large-scale struggle of Henan people against exorbitant taxes and levies cut off the grain supply of the army and dealt a heavy blow to Wu. Because there is no pay, the army often mutinies and internal contradictions are further aggravated. This is a great support for the Northern Expeditionary Army, which is fighting Sun on the battlefield in the south of the Yangtze River. The counter-offensive organized by Wu in Hubei was never able to fight Hubei, nor could he cooperate with Sun in attacking the Northern Expeditionary Army.

1May, 927, the second northern expedition, Henan farmers directly cooperated with the northern expedition. When Feng Jun occupied Luohe and Suiping and prepared to continue southward, there were already hundreds of fighting peasants in northern Henan. On April 27th, they cut off the connection between Zhengzhou and Beijing in Zhangde, and captured Huixian in an attempt to seize Weihui. The Red Gun Clubs in hua county and Xunxian also took action to attack in order to meet the Northern Expedition of Wuhan National Revolutionary Army. When the Wuhan National Revolutionary Army fought fiercely in Luohe and Yancheng, party member Xiao, Wu Zhipu and Yu Xiumin led peasant armed forces, and held riots in Qixian and Suixian on May 24th, occupying the county seat. After that, it captured Tongxu and Chenliu counties. Qixian, Suixian, Yongcheng, Chenliu and other places have successively established revolutionary regimes. Wang Kexin, secretary of the Western Henan Military Commission, led the railway workers and peasants to destroy the enemy's railway traffic in Luoshan, snatched the train from the enemy and provided it to Feng Yuxiang's department for use. Feng Yuxiang attacked the Ministry and handed over some of Zhang's armed forces. Frightened, several personnel carriers fled to Zhengzhou in panic. When Feng Jun retreated to Luohe, more than 100,000 peasants attacked Luohe. The casualties in Feng Jun exceeded 1000, and an infantry brigade was completely disintegrated. In Zhumadian and Luohe

The peasant masses also organized detective teams, transport teams, guide teams, plainclothes teams and rescue teams to assist or participate in the battle, so that the Northern Expeditionary Army quickly won the battles of Shangcai, Xiping, Luohe, Yancheng and Linying and defeated the main force of Feng Jun. With the help of the peasant masses, Feng Yuxiang's troops quickly won the battles of Xin 'an and Luoyang in western Henan and advanced to Zhengzhou. At the beginning of June, the Wuhan National Revolutionary Army and the Northwest National Revolutionary Army Feng Yuxiang successfully joined forces in Zhengzhou, and Feng Jun was rushed to the north of the Yellow River. The peasant movement in Henan has written a glorious page in the revolutionary history of China.

Li Dazhao said: "If the broad masses of peasants in China can organize themselves to participate in the national revolution, the success of the national revolution in China will not be far off." The development of the peasant movement in Henan during the Great Revolution vividly shows that farmers, who account for more than 70% of the population, are an important force in the revolution. However, with the rapid development of the revolution, there was no time to seriously transform the gun association organization and establish a sound and powerful leadership, so that the peasant movement in Henan did not get rid of the decentralized and non-unified organizational situation, and its consolidation and development were affected. In particular, the right opportunist leadership represented by Chen Duxiu in the Party has restricted the development of the peasant movement in Henan, believing that the peasant movement in Henan is also "naive" and should be restrained, "so as not to put pressure on Feng Yuxiang to leave the Wuhan government". When the right wing of Wuhan Kuomintang, headed by Wang Jingwei, is about to openly rebel, and the army has begun to aim at the * * * production party and the revolutionary masses, it is required that the Henan peasant movement "is to develop the firmness of the peasants and the national revolutionary army." Completely abandoned the party's leadership over the peasant movement, and finally failed under the cruel suppression of the new warlords. This historical lesson is profound. However, Li Dazhao's achievements in caring for and guiding the peasant movement in Henan are indelible.