The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

Chen Tianheng replied.

Mao Runzhi nodded and said, "Chen Tianheng, you are one of the dozen or so students who applied to join the Marxist Research Society after that lecture. You should continue to rest and recuperate until you are fully recovered."

"But, Chen Tianheng, you should exercise more."

Chapter 2

"West of Hengshan, East of Yuelu"

"Lectures are held in the south of the city"

“Man can be molded, gold can be melted”

"Lize Shaogaofeng——"

In the morning, the students of the First Normal School got up from the large bunk beds in the rows of tiled dormitories, lined up outside, sang the school song, and did gymnastics.

Before lining up with his classmates for exercises, Chen Tianheng had already run two laps around the First Normal School campus (Chengnan Academy).

Attend classes, go home, eat, sleep, after recovering from illness, Chen Tianheng temporarily lived a life of dormitory-classroom-canteen in this era.

"Hello, Mr. Xu!"

Passing by the grove, Chen Tianheng greeted Xu Teli who was stretching his legs.

"Yeah, Xiao Chen. Good morning."

Although Xu Teli was in the primary school department of the First Normal School, Chen Tianheng had asked Xu Teli for advice many times during this period, and the two had become familiar with each other.

"Hello, Teacher Shu!"

Shu Xincheng: "Oh, Chen Tianheng from Class 1."

"Hello Teacher Tian!"

Turning a corner, Chen Tianheng saw Tian Han and greeted him as usual, adding, "Teacher Tian, ​​our class has Chinese classes in the third and fourth periods this morning! Don't forget!"

"Chen Tianheng, you also serve as a teacher? I remember that!" Tian Han said with a smile.

……

Chen Tianheng's Chinese teacher was Mao Runzhi, but it was clear that Mao was a frequent traveler (doing research, mobilizing workers and peasants, and establishing organizations). When Mao Runzhi was away, Tian Han, the second-grade Chinese teacher, filled in for Chen Tianheng's class.

Yes, that’s Tian Han who sang “March of the Volunteers”, whose real name is Tian Shouchang.

However, Chen Tianheng also did something a little different from his classmates. On December 31, 2021, the day before New Year's Day, Chen Tianheng submitted his application to join the party.

Hunan Provincial No. 1 Normal School (also known as Changsha No. 1 Normal School), the cradle of the Party.

Of the 13 delegates to the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, three had studied or taught at Hunan First Normal School. Of the 21 members of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee when it was founded, 20 were from Hunan First Normal School.

The most famous of these was, of course, Mao Runzhi, a graduate of Hunan First Normal School. The Hunan provincial government's funding for the school was constantly defaulting, and Mao Runzhi had repeatedly advanced expenses, effectively becoming a "director" of the school. Of course, due to the critical shortage of teachers, Mao Runzhi also served as a Chinese language instructor there.

In 1921, as long as students stayed within the Hunan First Normal School campus, "singing Xipi" (CCP) was tacitly condoned by the school and its teachers. In 1921, any ideological trend, including those of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and the Soviet Union, could be openly discussed at the First Normal School.

However, despite the academic freedom, the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China cannot openly operate from the Hunan First Normal School or anywhere else with a sign. The Hunan Provincial Committee, the party's first provincial committee, currently has its offices where Mao Runzhi and Yang Kaihui lived.

"Student Chen, I've read your application and the two articles you published in the Student Union Weekly. It seems you've been reading a lot in the library lately."

The person who talked to Chen Tianheng was He Shuheng.

He Shuheng, a delegate to the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, was a member of the Hunan branch (Hunan Provincial Committee) and a teacher at Hunan First Normal School. Chen Tianheng's application to join the Party was given to him.

Chen Tianheng nodded. "I read it while browsing the shelves in the library. There aren't many books on communism in the library, and the few that are available are all classics by Marx and Engels. If Teacher He hadn't given me a volume of Shou Chang's collected works, I wouldn't have known what was really happening in China."

He Shuheng: "Comrade Li Dazhao began to ponder how to save China very early on, and how to connect Marxism with China's realities. But Tianheng, remember that whether it's Western classics or our collections of essays, they're ultimately just paper. If you want to develop your own methodology, the best way is to conduct field research and accumulate experience."

Chen Tianheng: "Yes, Secretary Mao said the same thing. After the spring, I want to join Secretary Mao's working group to conduct research and investigations on workers and peasants in Hunan, as well as conduct organizational work."

He Shuheng: "Well, that's right..."

"But Teacher He, Secretary Mao thinks I'm too young. I mentioned this to him a few days ago, but he didn't agree." Chen Tianheng added.

"Haha, you're only sixteen after all."

"Teacher He, you're older than me. Could you please persuade Secretary Mao to take me with him next time?"

Chen Tianheng looked at He Shuheng with his big, innocent eyes, which made He Shuheng feel a little headache.

Only sixteen! His hair hasn't even grown out yet...

Forget it, I'll mention this to Runzhi at the next meeting.

……

1922, early summer.

Liuyang - Shangli - Anyuan.

A sudden downpour slammed down the flying dust. After the rain, the sky cleared up, and the moist air, carrying the fresh scent of the grass and trees along the road, filled the air, making the mountain road feel particularly fresh.

With an oil-paper umbrella tucked under his right armpit, Mao Runzhi, dressed in a white gown, took big strides and climbed up a small slope.

"There are three or four more valleys. After we finish this section of mountain road, we will reach the Anyuan Road Mine. We will be there before dark."

Mao Runzhi was looking far ahead from a high place, and he said this while turning his head to the person behind him.

Five or six meters behind Mao Run, Chen Tianheng, carrying a huge cloth bag on his back, climbed to the top of the slope with great effort.

Behind Chen Tianheng was Jiang Xianyun, also carrying a huge cloth bag, who also climbed to the top of the slope with great effort and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Secretary Mao, has Secretary Li Lisan arrived in Anyuan now?" Chen Tianheng asked.

"He's the secretary of the Anyuan branch, so of course he's often in Anyuan. But he might not be at the club today. He might be doing work along the railway line."

After resting for a while at the top of the mountain, the three of them continued on their way. The downhill walk was much easier, and Chen Tianheng and Jiang Xianyun were able to chat with each other.

Jiang Xianyun joined the team halfway. Mao Runzhi and Chen Tianheng set out from Changsha and arrived in Shangli yesterday. Jiang Xianyun also rushed to Shangli from the 3rd Division of Hengyang. The three of them met in Shangli and then went to Anyuan together.

"Jiang Xianyun, I heard from Secretary Mao that you always ranked first in every subject in every exam at the Third Division?"

"Yeah. Hey, these are just trivial matters," Jiang Xianyun replied. "Chen Tianheng, aren't you also the top student in your grade at the First Normal School? I even saw an article you wrote in the Student Union Weekly."

Chen Tianheng: "Regarding the article in the Student Union Weekly, it was Committee Member He who said to me, 'Chen Tianheng, besides submitting an application to join the Party, shouldn't you also write an article about your reading experience?' You said you'd scanned all the books in the library, but how could I tell if it was genuine? So I had to publish an article to prove it. Regarding the exam, it was me who pestered the Party Committee to participate in the Workers and Peasants Survey. Teacher Mao said, 'Okay, you can participate, but you have to get first place in the grade this semester, so I had to get first place.'"

Mao Runzhi looked back and said: "The environment in the railway and mining area is different from that in school. When you get there, do more research, observe more, ask more questions, and think more. Don't start giving orders as soon as you get there. And you also need to pay attention to personal safety."

"Remember, Teacher Mao."

Jiang Xianyun: "Chen Tianheng, I see that the articles you publish in the Student Union Weekly are very extensive. You easily cite the latest information and inside stories about the Changsha officialdom, the Hunan Governor's Office, and even the high-level officials in Zhili and Anhui. Are you from an official family? Do you have a strong background?"

Chen Tianheng shook his head. "No, we're from a poor family. My father was a caravan clerk when he was young. Later, in western Hunan, the caravan encountered bandits and his leg was broken. He could only work as a shop assistant and his health is not very good now. The things I wrote about in my articles are all from reading newspapers and magazines."

Mao Runzhi: "Thanks to Chen Tianheng's mother's family, who were able to help out, his mother was a local family and asked someone to find a job for Chen Fuxian as a shop assistant."

Jiang Xianyun: "Oh? You're not from Changsha?"

Chen Tianheng: "No, my ancestral home is in Guangdong. My father was a caravan driver when he was young. He came to Changsha from Guangzhou and met my mother. They liked each other very much and got together. It is said that there are many relatives of the Chen family in Guangdong, but I have never contacted them."

Jiang Xianyun: "Then it's even more rare that you are such a great reader. My father is a scholar, so I started reading when I was very young, and he always supervised me."

Mao Runzhi: "Not only was Jiang Xianyun a scholar, his father was a scholar in the Qing Dynasty."

……

The three of them walked and chatted, and the mountain road didn't seem so tiring anymore.

The Anyuan Railway Mine is the collective name for the Pingxiang Coal Mine and the Zhuping Railway. The Pingxiang Coal Mine is a rare large coal mine located south of the Yangtze River, the source of coal for the Hanyeping Coal-Iron Complex, and one of the few systematic industrial trusts established in modern China.

However, the status of Anyuan Railway Mine in modern industrial history is one thing, and the on-site investigation of Anyuan is another.

In the evening, the three men arrived at the workers' village in Anyuan. Before they even entered the workers' club, Chen Tianheng saw twenty or thirty workers approaching in a disorganized manner. They were surrounding a worker who was being carried on a wooden plank. He was wearing only his underpants, his limbs stiff and his skin blackened. He had been dead for a long time.

"Brother, was there water in the mine today? Or was there a gas explosion?"

Chen Tianheng asked.

The leading worker said calmly, "No, there was nothing serious at the mine today. It's just that Lao Xu was upset. After a while, he couldn't speak, and then he died."

It's nothing serious, just a worker died, not a big deal...

"Brother Luo, there was no follow-up on the pension you and the Mining Bureau proposed last time, right?"

Mao Runzhi had been here many times and even went down the mine himself with a lantern and got to know the leading worker.

"There's no pension, the mine boss won't give it."

……

Anyuan Workers' Village—home to coal miners and their families—was a vast expanse of low-rise buildings, a mix of brick, adobe, wooden, and even thatched huts. The Anyuan Road Mine Workers' Club, a two-story brick-and-wood building at the back of one bank, was considered one of the better houses in the slum, though it was actually rented from a foreign goods store. By the time the three of them settled in at the club, it was already dark when Li Lisan, secretary of the Anyuan Road Mine branch of the Communist Party of China, and several worker representatives hurried back from outside.

“The railway and mines have cut salaries.”

Li Lisan walked in, put his schoolbag on the table, and said with a frown.

Mao Runzhi: "When I came to Anyuan in May, the railway and mining companies still owed the workers one month's salary. Are they still owed wages now?"

"It's still owed. The mine and railway bureau settled May's wages a few days ago, but all workers were paid according to the reduced salary standards. June's pay should have been paid last week, but it still hasn't been paid. Those workers with families are having a hard time financially."

Shu Jihuan, a mine representative from the Workers' Club, said: "Workers work over 12 hours a day. Miners spend a week underground before returning to the surface. Their daily salary is 8 cents, and the highest-paid skilled workers make 12 cents. Now it's going down, from 8 cents to 7 cents, and from 12 cents to 10 cents. Everyone is very angry right now."

"Yes, Secretary Mao, Secretary Li, the workers are extremely angry right now. Some have even gone to the mine manager's office to demand an explanation. Our Party organization should take action, strike while the iron is hot, and organize a strike."

The proposal was made by Li Yihuan, a representative of the Workers' Club Railway Bureau.

Li Lisan shook his head and said, "We have to wait a little longer. Some comrades in the north have received theoretical and methodological guidance from the Soviet Union. They have been very effective in contacting and mobilizing workers on the Pinghan Line. The Party Central Committee will send Liu Weihuang and a few others south soon. This way, we will have professional guidance and increased manpower. We can then launch a strike."

Li Lisan said that they had to wait for "foreign aid from the north", and Shu Jihuan and Li Yihuan could only sigh and said nothing more.

"After waiting so long, it seems the revolution is something you have to wait for."

Mao Runzhi's words seemed to indicate some dissatisfaction.

Do we have to wait for the arrival of "professionally trained" comrades from the north before launching a strike?

"If we can't hire Butcher Zhang, will we not be able to eat pork during the New Year?"

Li Lisan understood that the workers' current enthusiasm presented a good opportunity, but after some thought, he said with embarrassment, "Our comrades in the Party organizations in Pinghan and Tangshan...are more experienced. Here in Anyuan, workers have launched no fewer than ten spontaneous movements since 1915, but none of them have been successful."

Mao Runzhi took a deep drag on his cigarette. He didn't seem entirely satisfied with Li Lisan's explanation.

Li Lisan frowned, put the cigarette between his fingers to his lips and took a puff. The small room in the workers' club was filled with smoke.

"Secretary Mao, Secretary Li. I have an idea."

Chen Tianheng and Jiang Xianyun had been sitting at the edge of the "audience seats" in the room. At this time, Chen Tianheng raised his hand and had something to say.

Li Lisan turned around. He had just entered the Workers' Club and had hurriedly started talking to Mao Runzhi, and hadn't yet gotten to know the two new young men.

Mao Runzhi: "These are student Party members recruited by the Hunan Provincial Party Committee at Hunan First and Third Normal Schools: Chen Tianheng and Jiang Xianyun. They are still in the preparatory inspection period and have come to Anyuan for practical training."

Chen Tianheng: "Secretary Li, Secretary Mao. Although we don't have support and guidance from the north right now, this opportunity is rare. If this period of time passes and the workers become accustomed to their lives and their resentment subsides, it will be more difficult to organize a strike again."

"Of course, a strike isn't something that can be accomplished simply by shouting a few words and gathering everyone together. It requires professional organizational and operational methods. ... However, mastering these professional methods doesn't necessarily require the support of comrades from the north."

Chen Tianheng lowered his head and took out a homework book from his schoolbag:

"These are the notes and summaries I compiled while studying in the First Division library. I'm not sure if they'll be enough to serve as a 'strike guide.' However, we can explore on our own, sum up our experience, and improve our work."

"The Party has already established an organization in Anyuan and has done a lot of work before. The workers all recognize the club. I think we can try to organize this strike ourselves."

Chapter 3

The historic Anyuan Railway and Mine Strike took place three months later. In September 1922, the Party sent a team of "professionals" from the north to Anyuan, who worked with the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Anyuan Railway and Mine Branch to successfully hold the strike.

Mao Zedong's long journey from Changsha to Anyuan was not accomplished in one go. In fact, from 1921 to 1922, Mao Zedong went to Anyuan five times, and this was the fourth time.

It is now June, and Chen Tianheng’s idea is to do it now.

In order to accomplish this, he started preparing about half a year ago, and the result of his preparatory work is this little notebook.

Li Lisan took the workbook from Chen Tianheng and flipped through it briefly. It was just an ordinary rule-bound workbook, not thick, with 48 pages, but these 48 pages were almost finished.

"These are... the transcripts and notes you made while reading books in the library?"

Chen Tianheng nodded. "In addition to books, there are also magazines and newspapers. They record the materials I read about the workers' movement in the first half of the year. Of course, the main content is workers' strikes in Britain and the United States. The first chapter of the notes is about the Chicago workers' strike."

Li Lisan looked through his notes. After Li Lisan finished reading, Mao Runzhi took over.

"Chen Tianheng, you never mentioned before that you were collecting information on the overseas workers' movement."

Chen Tianheng: "Well, ah, I saw this when I was reading in the library, and thought I could sort it out."

Mao Runzhi opened the exercise book. Chen Tianheng's notes were divided into two halves, the left side was the original text of the book (some of which were translated by Chen Tianheng himself), and the right side was the summary and distillation.

For example, the Chicago Strike, pages 1 to 8 are a notebook about the Chicago workers' movement.

On the left, Chen Tianheng copied a passage: "In October 1884, the Chicago Federation of Guilds and Labor Unions held a conference and unanimously determined May 1, 1886 as the date for the implementation of the eight-hour workday."