美 Mei - Zhong 中 關 Guan - Xi 系

A Personal History of the Beginning of the Red Guards
By Liu Jin
Yanhuang Chunqiu
Issue 5, 2008
Translation by Anton Lee Wishik II

The Red Guards first originated at the affiliated middle school of Beijing Qinghua University.  At that time, I was the president of the work association of the school.  I saw with my own eyes the beginning of the Red Guard movement.

On June 1st, 1966, the People’s Daily published a banner written by Beijing University’s Nie Yuanzi (and 7 others) criticizing the school’s educational methods.  Afterwards, the Cultural Revolution surged through all the large universities in Beijing.  Students, working independently, went on strike, and the leadership organizations were paralyzed.

On June 3rd, under the leadership of comrades Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, an enlarged meeting of the Politburo was convened.  The new Municipal Party Secretary Wu De and Youth League Central Committee Secretary Hu Keshi both were in attendance.  The Politburo decided on eight governing principles for leading the Cultural Revolution.  They also entrusted the responsibility for leading the Cultural Revolution within Beijing’s middle schools to the Communist Youth League.  That night, in the Beijing municipal meeting hall, all the concerned work unit leaders gathered to attend a meeting and spread the spirit of the Politburo’s meeting.

The Youth League School had decided that comrade Gu Long and myself would attend the meeting and listen to Wu De and Hu Keshi’s report on the Politburo meeting.  The second day, on the morning of June 4th, we were told to attend an emergency meeting of the Youth League.  Comrade Hu Keshi told us:  “According to the spirit of the Politburo meeting, the Youth League has decided to establish a leadership organization for the Cultural Revolution within Beijing’s middle schools.”  Hu and the Secretariat of the Central Committee, Hui Shuchang, would assume the first and second in command positions respectively.  Also, each district of Beijing would establish their own branch organization.  Haidian district contained 66 middle schools and would be a focal point.   It had been decided that for the Haidian branch organization Zhou Lie, myself, and Gu Long would undertake the leadership positions.

Entering Qinghua Middle School to Establish a Working Association to Support the Revolution

In the early afternoon of June 4th, I led five comrades from the Youth League to visit 19 middle schools.  After becoming more familiar with the situation, a work association was set up.  After several days of working to get the situation under control, I received an urgent call from comrade Hu Keshi.  He said: “A group of Haidian district’s Qinghua Middle School students had already organized a revolutionary organization themselves, “the Red Guards.”  They had posted large banners criticizing the leadership of the school for their “bourgeoisie educational methods.”  However, school authorities had also organized an association of students for protecting the school’s administration.  Because those for protecting the school were numerous, the Red Guards were being suppressed and dealing with external difficulties.  Hu wanted me to go to Qinghua Middle School immediately to establish a work association for supporting the Cultural Revolution, supporting the Red Guards, and supporting all the school’s teachers and students to stand up and criticize the school leadership’s “bourgeoisie educational methods.” Comrade Hu emphasized the fact that Qinghua was an influential school, and was one of the two schools he personally controlled and focused on as extremely important (the other was the Shida Middle School located in the city).  He wanted me to report back to him about Qinghua’s situation every night at nine o’clock using a direct line.

I felt that this was an urgent and important task, so I immediately took five people and rushed directly to Qinghua.  I had the five workers spread out to look for the large banners.  They also were to talk to students of all different levels and people of all different viewpoints to become more familiar with the situation.  I also walked around the school looking at the banners. I also looked for the school president, Wan Bangru, to ask about the present circumstances.  I then looked for the leader of the Red Guards to ask about the condition of their organization.  According to what they said:  In May, the school authorities had recruited a hardworking student to join the Youth League.  However, this student’s family was seen as part of the “high-level intellectual clique.” Wang Ming, Bo Dahua, Zhang Xiaobin, Kuang Taosheng, Luo Xiaohai and two others (all high-level cadres) felt that the Communist Youth League should implement a political line based on social class and should not recruit this student.  To this end, they made some criticisms and suggestions, opposing the school’s “revisionist” educational path.  In response, school authorities convened a school-wide meeting to pronounce: whoever continued to point their spearheads at the school were against the school’s party branch and against the party itself.

At that time, the seven dissidents were under a great deal of pressure due to their disagreement with the school.  One night, they crept out of the school’s campus and held a meeting at the old Imperial Gardens.  They decided to set up an organization called “the Red Guards.”  In order to express the significance of their group, on June 2nd, they made a banner criticizing the school authorities’ “bourgeoisie” educational path.  The school called an emergency meeting to organize students to make banners counterattacking the Red Guards.  Thus, the several dozen students who had formed the Red Guards were in a very isolated position.

On June 8th, after familiarizing myself with situation at Qinghua, I felt this kind of chaotic situation could not continue.  At once, I had the entire school, both students and teachers, convene a meeting at the school field.  As a member of the leadership organization of the Cultural Revolution for Haidian District middle schools, I pronounced the establishment of a Qinghua Middle School Cultural Revolution Work Association responsible for the work of leading the Cultural Revolution at Qinghua.  In addition to my other post, I would also be president of the association.  I passed on the ‘eight principles’ of the Beijing Municipal Committee along with a work report which emphasized two things:  First, support the Cultural Revolution and support the criticism of bourgeoisie educational paths.  Second, implementation should be accompanied by leadership, follow policy as well as the eight principles.  My report was well received.

Later, after the masses began acting and the Cultural Revolution began, I immediately found some radical acts which violated policy: 1.  A public criticism of a female athletics teacher. 2.  A second-year female high school student was publicly criticized.  Because she was the daughter of a Beijing city director, her father was branded a ‘reactionary.’ 3. A third-year junior high student wanted to publicly denounce Qinghua University President Jiang Nanxiang’s daughter.  Thus, I immediately convened a meeting and declared: First, it was not ok to attack students.  Second, it was not ok to attack teachers.  Third, as for Qinghua Middle School President Wan Bangru, it was acceptable to open one’s mouth, but not raise one’s hand.

Qinghua Middle School’s actions developed quite normally.  At the end of June, I relayed the instructions from the Political Bureau regarding the Cultural Revolution.  The main spirit was to lead students to progressively “resume classes and make revolution.” The pervasive Red Guards established in all large and middle-sized schools were to adopt a policy of absorption and fusion.  Also, all Red Guard leaders who had performed well would be admitted into the leadership system of the Communist Youth League.

The Red Guards’ “Justifiable Rebellion” Banner

At the time, the Central Committee’s policy towards the Cultural Revolution in large middle schools, and the policy concerning the revolutionary spirit of the Red Guards, were somewhat contradictory.  However, at that time I still had not woken up to this point.

One day as I was walking down the hallway of one of the school buildings, two leaders of the Red Guards, Bo xxx and Kuang xxx (translator’s note: no given names provided), took out a banner they had written and had me take a look and give them feedback.  According to my memory, the main content was:

We dare to create opposition to the old system.  We want to be like Sun Wukong (translator’s note: the Monkey-King from the novel Journey to the West) and pick up the golden cudgel.  We dare to create opposition to the old system.  Strike them down to the ground and step on one of their arms.  Make them unable to stand up for all of the future.  Some people say we are too radical.  We are not afraid.  We want to make the air thick with the smell of gunpowder.

After I saw this, I immediately gave them some advice.  One, creating opposition to an irrational system and criticizing irrational bourgeoisie educational systems are both correct actions.  The Central Committee supports these actions.  However, the Red Guards should talk policy, and shouldn’t speak so crazily.  Second, banners should state the truth, should be reasonable, and should convince people through logic.  I wanted them to read Mao’s Selected Works to see what Mao had to say about this and to use Mao Zedong Thought to analyze the issue.

At that time, the banner did not seem of great importance to me.  Only later did I realize, they were not satisfied with my advice to speak policy and not speak rashly.  They claimed my work association was conservative and regressive.  They began to go against the work association.  Originally, this kind of banner was aimed at the association, but when I advised them to read Mao’s works and advised them to follow Mao’s instructions, they were somewhat able to bear their dissatisfaction.

On June 24th, banners signed by the Red Guards appeared at Qinghua Middle School reading, “Long Live the Proletariat’s Revolutionary Spirit of Rebellion!”  Afterwards I learned, from their nondescript, short article in the June 5th People’s Daily, “The Lament of Han Fulai,” which included some boldfaced type, namely Chairman Mao’s line from his celebration in Yan’an of Stalin’s sixtieth birthday:  “The principles of Marxism are extremely complicated, but to sum it up in one phrase, it’s justified rebellion.  According to this meaning therefore, just revolt, just oppose, just do socialism.”  After the Red Guards’ revisions to their original banner, they put up their “justified rebellion” banners.  I saw them, but I still didn’t see any great importance.  It was beyond me that these “justified rebellion” banners actually conformed closely to the Party’s revolutionary demands, and through the infinitely resourceful hands of Jiang Qing (translator’s note: Mao’s wife), they had ended up in the Chairman’s lap.  Not only did Chairman Mao praise these banners, he also personally wrote a letter to the young generals of the Red Guards.

The Conflict Between the Work Association and the Red Guards

According to the Central Committee’s unified deployment, prior to mid-July, all schools were to change over to regularized standards.  Therefore, comrade Hu Keshi demanded that I resolve the Qinghua Middle School problem as soon as possible.  My policy was to have two leaders of the Red Guards take part in the Youth League leadership, Zhang Xiaobin as Vice-Secretary and Ma Moumou as a committee member.  In this manner, the conflict with the Red Guards would be laid bare before the public.

In mid to late July, as school after school heard that their work association had been driven out, many large middle schools once again lost control.  Only afterwards did we know, upon returning to Beijing on July 18th, Chairman Mao had criticized Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.  According to Mao, dispatching work associations had constricted the revolutionary movements of the masses.  Once again, this message from Mao was transmitted through special channels to the young generation of high-ranking cadres.  But we were still in the dark even though the Youth League leaders themselves also didn’t know.  One thing that happened to me is enough to explain the situation.

At that time, we still wanted to win over the Red Guards.  We went to the Red Guards’ leader’s homes, and informed the heads of household of the work that their sons had done.  On the evening of July 27th, we first visited the home of Zhang Xiaobin, and our work went quite smoothly.  Next, we went to the home of (anonymous).  His father was the vice-president of a PLA institute.  I introduced the situation concerning the Cultural Revolution at Qinghua hoping that the father would help us with our work.  Before I had finished speaking, he stopped me and indignantly responded: “Why can’t the Work Association be opposed?!  Why can’t the Youth League be suspicious?!  The Vice-President of the 101 Middle School Work Association talks about Mao Zedong Thought and can be two-sided…”  I was so shocked by his tone of voice, I couldn’t continue the conversation.

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