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Abstract
During the 1940s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) underground branch at the National Southwest Associated University (NSAU or xinan lianda), under the leadership of the party's Southern Bureau and the Yunnan Provincial Work Committee (YPWC), implemented the CCP's alliance-building policies and strategies and successfully gained the sympathy and support of many students and faculty. With the guidance of the “sixteen-character” principle and “three-diligence” stratagem, members of this branch deftly adapted to particular circumstances and set a model for other CCP covert organizations in cultivating a consensus with the “middle force” against the Japanese aggression and subsequently the Chinese Nationalists. With primary sources such as oral interviews, memoirs, and other personal accounts of several major participants in the lianda alliance-building efforts, this article is intended to examine the various tactics and activities of this important underground branch and highlight their significance during a critical decade in modern Chinese history.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Cha Liangzheng (查良铮), “The National Southwest Associated University Since the War of Resistance,” 1–2.
2 See John Israel (易社強), “Southwest Associated University.”
3 See Israel, Lianda.
4 See The National Southwest Associated University Party History Writing Group (西南联大党史编写组), A Brief History of the Underground Organization and Mass Revolutionary Activities of the Chinese Communist Party’s National Southwest Associated University.
5 See CCP Alliance Department and the Alliance Department of the Chongqing Municipal Committee (中共中央统战部、重庆市委统战部), eds., Chongqing and the United Front of China, 7.
6 Yu Liu’s interview with Li Zhinan (李之楠), economics student and secretary of the “Secret General Branch” of the lianda underground party, 2010–2011.
7 See “Statistics of the number of students enrolled in National Southwest Associated University in 1938” (国立西南联合大学历年在校学生人数统计表) in The Historical Materials on the National Southwest Associated University, 3–4.
8 Mao Zedong, “‘The Communists’ Inaugural Speech.”
9 Mao Zedong, “Vigorously Develop Anti-Japanese Forces and Resist the Attack of the Diehard Anti-Communist Faction,” 14–15.
10 For a detailed account of the “overly ‘left’ and overly ‘right’” policies, see Mao Zedong, “On Policy, ” 16–21.
11 Ma Shitu (马识途), The Underground, 10.
12 Ibid., 102.
13 See Mao Zedong, “On New Democracy,” 662.
14 The lianda underground organization was highly secretive. Within it, sometimes as the situation required (as in the case of fending off possible annihilation by GMD), there were a “First-Line Party General Branch” and a “Second-Line General Branch,” the latter was also known as the “Secret General Branch” whose members were directly appointed and led by the CCP Yunnan Provincial Youth Committee (YPYC) and undisclosed to their fellow members within the party, such as those in the First-Line General Branch.
15 Yu Liu’s interview with Li Zhinan (李之楠), economics student and secretary of the “Secret General Branch” of the lianda underground party organization, 2010–2011.
16 Mao Zedong, “On New Democracy,” 662–665.
17 Ibid., 666–671, 676.
18 Ibid., 679.
19 Mao Zedong, “On Coalition Government,” 1029–1030.
20 Mao Zedong, “On New Democracy,” 674.
21 Yu Chan (于产or Yu Lisheng 于立生), “The ‘Star Origin Society’,” 308.
22 Ma Shitu, The Underground, 4–5.
23 Zheng Boke (郑伯克), Review and Discussion of Work in the Guomingdang-controlled Areas – Memoirs of Zheng Boke, 251–252.
24 Zheng Boke, “Hide the Talents and Await the Opportunity,” 74–75.
25 Song Ping (宋平), “Swimming in the Same Stream without Getting Polluted,” 4.
26 Narrated by Li Ming (李明) and compiled by Yu Jiahua (余嘉华), “The Three-Diligence and the December 1 Event – Key Points of Comrade Li Ming’s Talk” (December 28, 1978), in Wuhan Hospital Ward. The session was participated by Wang Yun (王云), Hong Deming (洪德铭), Xu Shuzhen (徐淑贞), and Yu Jiahua (余嘉华), and the account is included in edited by Yunnan Provincial Institute of History (云南省历史研究所), Yunnan Modern History Research Materials《云南现代史研究资料》 4th series (Kunming: Yunnan Provincial Institute of History, 1981), 51–52.
27 Ma Shitu, The Underground, 104.
28 See Yu Liu, “The ‘Sixteen-Character’ Policy and the ‘Three-Diligence’ Strategy,” 5.
29 The Southern Bureau Party History Collection Group, ed. Important Records of the Southern Bureau Party History, 88.
30 Important Records of the Southern Bureau Party History, 58.
31 Ibid., 67.
32 At the beginning of its establishment, Minxian was a secret organization. However, due to the identify leak of some of its members, the organization changed into a semi-open state. Yuan Yongxi, who participated in the “Great Rear Area Youth Work Conference” held at the Southern Bureau in 1939, recalled that “to facilitate the alliance with the GMD against Japan, the decision to disband Minxian was formally made at this conference because the leftist nature of this organization was not conducive to uniting the masses in the middle.” See Yuan Yongxi’s narration and Jiang Zhongli’s compilation, “Memories of the Democratic Movement at NSAU,” 27. Also see Yu Liu’s interviews with Li Zhinan during 2010–2011.
33 Mao Zedong, “Vigorously Develop Anti-Japanese Forces and Resist the Attack of the Diehard Anti-Communist Faction” (May 4, 1940), 14.
34 Zheng Boke, “Hide the Talents and Await the Opportunity,” 70–71.
35 Ibid., 61 and 64. Also see Tong Xiaopeng (童小鹏), “Zhou Enlai’s Historical Contribution in Leading the Second Battlefield during the War of Liberation,” 222.
36 See The Southern Bureau Party History Collection Group, ed. “Overview,” 15.
37 See Zhou Enlai, “On the Three-Diligence Policy,” 668–670.
38 Yu Liu’s interview with the underground party member at lianda, 2010–2011. The names of some interviewees are withheld in accordance with the wishes of their families.
39 Zheng Boke, “Hide the Talents and Await the Opportunity,” 64–65.
40 Ma Shitu, A Stormy Life, 430.
41 Zheng Boke, “Hide the Talents and Await the Opportunity,” 73. Also see Yu Chan (于产or Yu Lisheng于立生), “The ‘Star Origin Society’,” 308–310.
42 Zheng Boke, “Hide the Talents and Await the Opportunity,” 65–66.
43 Ibid., 67.
44 Ibid., 66.
45 Ibid., 68.
46 Yu Liu’s interview with Hu Bangding (胡邦定), history student and underground party member at lianda during 2010–2011.
47 Zhou Enlai, “On the Three-Diligence Policy,” 669.
48 Zheng Boke, “Hide the Talents and Await the Opportunity,” 69.
49 Xu Dixin (许涤新), “Memories and Experiences of the United Front Work of the Southern Bureau,” 11–12.
50 Mao Zedong, “The Strategic Problems in the Current Anti-Japanese United Front”, 750.
51 Ibid., 747, 750.
52 Ma Shitu, The Underground, 96.
53 Zheng Boke, “Hide the Talents and Await the Opportunity,” 62, 69. After investigation and research, Ma Ziqing (马子卿) and Zheng Boke, the two secretaries of the Yunnan Provincial Work Committees before and after the New Fourth Army Incident in January 1941, both regarded the underground party organization at lianda as the cornerstone of the Yunnan Party’s alliance work due to the influence and importance of the university in the intellectual circles and the fact that most of the underground party members at lianda were the backbone of the Party. By 1944, when the Communists were gathering the momentum, the underground party of lianda secretly planned large-scale student rallies, organized by the Autonomous Students Association and various departments. Professors from lianda and Yunnan University were invited to speak at the rallies to demand political participation from the GMD authorities. With these legal means, the YPWC and the lianda underground party started the democratic movement in Kunming, attracting a large number of centrist students and teachers. For more details, see Zheng Boke, Review and Discussion of Work in the White Zone: Memoirs of Zheng Boke, 176, 179–180.
54 Xu Dixin, “Memories and Experiences of the United Front Work of the Southern Bureau,” 19.
55 Ma Shitu, A Stormy Life, 389 and 393.
56 Ibid., 408–409.
57 Wen Lidiao (闻立雕), Red Candle: My Father Wen Yiduo, 210.
58 Ibid., 210.
59 Chu Tunan (楚图南), “The Work of the Democratic League and the Democratic Movement in Yunnan,” 85.
60 Xu Dixin, “Memories and Experiences of the United Front Work of the Southern Bureau,” 15.
61 Li Chuwen (李储文), “Lianda and the Student Services Center,” 381.
62 Rong Gaotang (荣高棠), “The Composition and Work of the Organization Department of the Southern Bureau,” 32–33.
63 Xu Dixin, “Memories and Experiences of the United Front Work of the Southern Bureau,” 19.
64 Li Chuwen, “Lianda and the Student Services Center,” 380–381.
65 Xu Dixin, “Memories and Experiences of the United Front Work of the Southern Bureau,” 19.
66 Narrated by He Zhaowu (何兆武) and written by Wen Jing (文靖), A Record of Going to School (Revised Edition), 126, 132.
67 Xing Fangqun (邢方群 aka 邢福津 Xing Fujin), “Remembering the Clubs and Societies at NSAU,” 320.
68 See The National Southwest Associated University Party History Writing Group, A Brief History of the Underground Organization and Mass Revolutionary Activities of the Chinese Communist Party’s National Southwest Associated University, 20; Xing Fangqun, “Remembering the Clubs and Societies at NSAU”; and Journal of Yunnan Normal University, 1985, no. 2, 69.
69 Li Chuwen, “Lianda and the Student Services Center,” 381.
70 Ibid., 378.
71 Yu Liu’s interviews with Ma Shitu, student in the Chinese Language Department and Secretary of the lianda underground party branch after the New Fourth Army Incident, and with Li Xiao (李晓 aka 李曦沐), history student who joined the lianda underground party in 1945. The interviews took place during 2011–2012.
72 Li Chuwen, “Lianda and the Student Services Center,” 379–380.
73 Xing Fangqun, “Remembering the Clubs and Societies at NSAU,” 336.
74 Chen Yun (陈云), “The Radical Restructuring of Party Organizations in the Great Rear Area and the Expansion of Activities Outside the Party” (December 1941) in Hide the Talents and Accumulate Strength, ed. Party History Research Office of the CCP Yunnan Provincial Committee, 21.
75 The Youth Movement History Research Office of the CCP Central Committee and the Central Archives (团中央青运史研究室、中央档案馆), “Several Decisions of the Central Committee on Current Student Work in the Nationalist-controlled Regions” (June 3, 1940) (中央关于目前国民党区学生工作的几个决定) in Selected Documents of the Youth Movement of the CCP Central Committee (July 1921 – September 1949)(Beijing: China Youth Press, 1988), 519–520.
76 For the relevant data, see Hong Deming (洪德铭 aka洪季凯, Hong Jikai), “Professor Wen Yiduo and the Democratic Youth League” (闻一多教授与民主青年同盟) in Lianda in My Heart, 319; also see the written notes of John Israel’s interview with Hou Fangyue (侯方岳), a member of the YPWC on May 9, 1980, collected by the Party History Collection Group of Yunnan Normal University, courtesy of the December 1 Memorial Hall of Yunnan Normal University.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Yu Liu
Yu Liu is currently researcher at Hong Kong Insights Institute of Social Sciences in Hong Kong and formerly Associate Researcher in the History Department of Sun Yat-sen University. She received her doctoral degree from the History Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and her research interests are modern Chinese history, Chinese communist party history, oral history, and Hong Kong history. To contact Yu Liu: [email protected]
Yi Sun
Yi Sun is Professor of History at the University of San Diego. Her research interests are Chinese women and modernization, Sino-American relations, and China’s foreign relations. Correspondence to: Yi Sun [email protected]