Lu Sin was the Commander in Chief of China's Cultural Revolution, not only was he a great man of letters, but also a great thinker, and a great revolutionary. Lu Sin was a man of inflexible integrity, without a shadow of servility or obsequiousness, this being the most valuable quality in colonial and semi-colonial peoples. On the cultural front, Lu Sin, representative of the great majority of the nation, was the most correct, valiant, firm, loyal, and an ardent national hero. Below is the evaluation that President Mao, great leader of the Chinese people, made of Lu Sin.
In October of 1927, Lu Sin moved from Kangchou to Shanghai and remained there until his death in October of 1936. These years in Shanghai were years of intense and a complex struggle, the most glorious and militant years of his life. During this period the reactionary Kuomintang, propped up by imperialism, accelerated their campaign of encirclement and annihilation against the bases of rural revolutionary support, directed by the Communist Party of China. At the same time they put in effect a relentless encirclement and annihilation of all progressive and revolutionary culture in their own regions.Shanghai was the center of a cultural struggle. Taking it as the base of the struggle, Lu Sin united the large masses of revolutionary combatants in art and literature, and carried on a determined struggle against the reactionaries of the Kuomintang and every kind of reactionary force. He exposed and struck the enemy with sharp and penetrating writings. The acute and complex struggle directed Lu Sin to the study of Marxist theory, which he used to change his ideology and guide his revolutionary practice. He conscientiously applied the revolutionary line of President Mao to convert himself into a great revolutionary combatant.
The present article contains various episodes from the life of Lu Sin in Shanghai. Around 1930, a period during which I was reading some books about the nature of dialectic, I was in the habit of going to the house of Lu Sin to consult him about some problems which I encountered in my studies. On one occasion I left certain books about communism on a shelf.
"How can you leave these books here?" he asked seriously. "The only thing accomplished is to tell the enemy openly that I am on the left. It is very dangerous." Lu Sin was very careful never to leave any of his many books of Marx, Engels, Lenin, or Stalin there. He took a room not far from #9 Talusintsun Lane, where he lived, and filled it with books. The bookcases were of rough and heavy boards. They were simply boxes; no one would suspect that they were meant to hold books. They could be locked with keys, and be transported at any moment. Why such secrecy, and readiness to move them? That was a dark society, and without any freedom. The government of Chiang Kai-shek carried out policies against the people, refusing to offer resistance to foreign aggression, and strengthening its fascist regime.
The incidents of brutal repression of workers, peasants, and intellectuals took place daily. On the cultural front, the government employed a great number of professional writers to create public opinion against the revolution and the growth of proletarian literature and art. In the cruel campaign of encirclement and annihilation against culture, they began to prohibit books, close libraries, pass repressive laws against publications, and blacklist writers, arresting and imprisoning leftist writers, and even assassinating them secretly. (described in Revolutionary Literature and the Blood of the Pioneers)
Consequently, to seek truth, and study Marxism-Leninism, was to risk ones life. Lu Sin waged an extremely difficult struggle against the secret agents and lackeys of the reactionaries, in order that he study revolutionary theory, and save his precious books. After making careful plans, he camouflaged himself by hanging, at the entrance of his clandestine library, a sign with the name of Kamada Seiichi, an employee of the Uchiyama Library. But, not content with this, he always remained alert, and ready to move at the least suspicion.
In this room he kept a great number of writings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, as well as other books about the social sciences in Chinese and other languages. The books filled the place, leaving very little space for other things, except a table and a chair. The light was covered with an old newspaper, in such a way that the room remained dark; only a circle of light fell on the surface of the table. The room was permeated with a strong odor of tobacco.
The history of the revolutionary struggle made Lu Sin see that one could only understand the complex phenomena of class society, and analyze their nature, through the application of the Marxist-Leninist theory of classes. For this reason, he went to the room to constantly study Marxism-Leninism, and related it to the struggle against the Kuomintangists, against the spies hidden among the revolutionary ranks, and against imperialism. He often read and meditated all night.
He studied conscientiously, underlining certain passages, writing marginal glosses, using scraps of paper as bookmarks, copying useful material. In that gloomy society, he drew enormous strength from that little room. His studies led him to the conviction that the coming of a proletarian society was inevitable. Those books signaled the direction of his revolutionary struggle. Although I did not go there very often, whenever I did, I found solutions to the problems which presented themselves to me in the revolutionary theory and direction for the struggle in those times.
It was in such a society that Lu Sin conscientiously studied the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, and mastered Marxism-Leninism, changing his conception of the world, and converting himself into a great communist combatant.
Lu Sin gave full attention to the comprehending of existing conditions, studying Marxism-Leninism with the intention of using it as a guide, and applying it to the revolutionary struggle.
After the counterrevolutionary coup d'etat made by the Chiang Kai-shek group on April 12, 1927, the Chinese revolution was in retreat. The Kuomintang imposed its reactionary and barbarous domination, submitting itself openly to the service of imperialism, and intensifying its exploitation and oppression of workers and peasants. The communists, young revolutionaries, and revolutionary intellectuals suffered fascist persecution. There followed a great wave of arrests, imprisonment and massacres. Some lost hope, fearing to make the revolution, and retire from the struggle. Others became traitors. Confusion reigned in the country. It was under these conditions that our great leader President Mao led the revolutionary forces to the Chingkang mountains to establish bases of revolutionary support in the countryside, and gathered forces together to develop the revolution. And from the countryside finally surrounding and occupying the cities controlled by the enemy. This was the correct line for the revolution. The red flag was raised over the Chingkang mountains. In the spring of 1930, internal struggles broke out among the different military leaders at the center of the dominant reactionary class. This was an occurrence favorable to the revolution.
Directed by President Mao, the revolutionary forces grew in the country. Nonetheless, in this situation, certain militants in the Party, with leftist tendencies, became arrogant. Making an erroneous evaluation of conditions, they proposed a series of adventurist actions. Not understanding the realities of Chinese society, they were disposed to pass by the long and difficult struggle indispensable for the revolution. But rather, they desired to complete it all in one stroke, dreaming of victory through uprisings in the cities, and a general assault on the principal cities by part of the Red Army from different parts of the country. Under the white terror imposed by the reactionary regime, this was only an illusion. Lu Sin told me that a representative of such an opportunist line of the left, in an effort to organize this incorrect type of struggle, had come to see him to try to convince him to work for this line. The person said to Lu Sin: "You are a man of prestige in educational and cultural circles. Write a long article injurious to the reactionary Kuomintangists. It will be very effective for us." But Lu Sin was opposed to such leftist acts, knowing fully that the gathering together of forces for the revolution, and the guaranteeing of its future, required a prolonged struggle.
"It is difficult to write an article like that," he replied, "but if I were to write it, I would lose my base in this important position of the struggle against the counter revolutionaries." But even when Lu Sin refused, the person would not give up.
"There are Soviet ships in the Juangpu river," he insisted. "You could embark, and go to the Soviet Union." Before speaking, he had prepared a path by which Lu Sin might flee from the struggle. "Leave?" said Lu Sin, indignant. "No more would I be able to write, to participate in the struggle." All that remained for that person to say was: "Then do what you like."
The revolution found itself in retreat, and under enormous difficulties. Lu Sin made the correct Marxist-Leninist analysis of the situation. Firmly facing the cruel reality of the counterrevolution, he was sure that the revolution would rise again, and therefore he was even more vigilant in facing the intrusion of opportunism. He said that while the flint remains, the fire does not disappear. About this he wrote: "Revolutions have rarely been stopped by public leaders. A revolution probably ends when the opportunists enter the ranks, and undermine it from within." (From Purifying the Reds a Great Spectacle) Lu Sin tightly bound Marxism-Leninism with the concrete struggles of the Chinese revolution. This was a correct embodiment of the political concepts of President Mao and the Communist Party of China. Therefore, even though the situation was very complicated, he remained firm in the revolutionary line of President Mao, repelling interference from the left and from the right, and struggled solidly for new victory in the Chinese revolution.
Analyzing the origins of the opportunists' understanding of theory, Lu Sin wrote of them: "They had not made a detailed analysis of Chinese society, and were mechanically applying methods that were appropriate to be employed only under a Soviet political power." (from A Glance at the Literature of Shanghai)
He was against the blind cries of war such as: "To arms! Kill the enemy!" In one of his letters he wrote: "In battle, first we must maintain our positions. If one attacks and is annihilated, it is courage without strategy; it is not true courage." According to him: "To struggle . . . costs many lives; this is inevitable, but naturally the fewer the better. That is why I have always favored trench warfare." His years of struggle in Shanghai were years of great victories, because he adhered firmly to the revolutionary line of President Mao, and always combined theory with practice.
Lu Sin saw clearly that, because the reactionary forces were deeply entrenched, anyone who struggled alone against them found himself in a very weak position, and that the scattered struggle of small groups could not even shake them. "The roots of the old society go very deep, and we cannot make them tremble if the new movement is not stronger." (From Thoughts on the Union of Leftist Writers).
The reactionary Kuomintangist political power seemed to want to preserve all the darkness of several millennia. Lu Sin was above all in favor of a firm and persistent struggle against the old society and the old forces, giving attention to their real strength. Secondly, he wanted a battle front in constant expansion. Third, he advocated the formation of a contingent of new combatants, to unite with more people, and to form layer groups, in order to wage an organized, tenacious, and a long struggle against the reactionaries. "The leftist writers," he wrote, we want not only those traveling companions who have been on the road with them for a while, but they enthusiastically call all the spectators along the sidelines to join them." (From on the Third Category)
In order to struggle for freedom of speech and of the press, to form societies and create mutinies, and to attack the fascist regime of the Kuomintang, Lu Sin participated in and directed all kinds of activities of the revolutionary people toward freedom. His intention was to unite forces and mobilize the masses. In February of 1930, Lu Sin spoke before a general meeting of the movement for freedom. Someone proposed that each of those present, begin to form an organization which would be called the League for the Freedom of China. This was done, but the League suffered severe oppression from the beginning. The central offices of the Kuomintang of the province of Chechiang began the persecution, and then the government of Nanking ordered the arrest of the writers designated by Lu Sin to organize the League for the Freedom of China. Behind this criminal charge the real reason was hidden. The real reason was the publication of periodicals. There were some who counseled Lu Sin to release a declaration dissolving the League. He responded: "Take the hard road. I will Never make such a declaration." He faced the danger with indifference. At that moment, so critical to the revolution, he remained even closer to the revolutionary masses, waging a tenacious battle.
On March 2, Lu Sin and fifty other writers founded the Union of Leftist Writers, a united front organization, to guide the Chinese revolutionary proletarian literary movement. Through the movement, Lu Sin signaled the direction of the struggle, and defined the necessary requirements for the struggling workers in revolutionary art and literature. The revolutionary literature of China developed vigorously, but the Union very soon came under severe persecution.
Lu Sin wrote "The Current Conditions of Art in China are Very Dark," in order to denounce the vile domination of the Kuomintang, and the massacres of revolutionary writers. By means of a friend, he sent the article out of the country for publication. According to a report in a Shanghai periodical of those times, from August to October of 1930, 140,000 communists and progressives were assassinated. Fearing that Lu Sin would be killed also, his friend anxiously asked if it might not be better not to sign his name to the article. Without hesitation Lu Sin responded: These words must be said. Take it and get it published. The revolutionaries were not intimidated by the prisons, machine guns, and spilt blood. They were not defeated by the secret agents or lap dogs of the capitalists. They were not annihilated by the executioners. Lu Sin and his comrades in arms continued struggling. To defend the rights of the people, and ransom the imprisoned revolutionaries, Lu Sin, Soong Ching-ling, Yang Sing-fo, and others organized, in January of 1933, the China League for Civil Rights. Lu Sin was an executive member of the committee of the League.
He gave direct support to many revolutionaries who found themselves in the prisons of Chiang Kai-shek, enabling them to obtain defense or attain release. At the same time, he sharply criticized the reactionary Chiang Kai-shekist regime of terror, and condemned Chiang's secret police for trampling on civil rights and massacring revolutionaries. Lu Sin was an active and resolute leader in the struggle of the League. When a secret agent of the Kuomintang assassinated Yang Sing-fo, Comrade and executive member of the committee of the League, and its general secretary, Lu Sin was also on the black list of the secret police. Many people counseled him that he stays out of danger. Nonetheless, he was openly at the meeting in memory of Yang Sing-fo. Returning from the meeting, he wrote defiantly "A Lament of Yang Chuan (Yang Singfo)," an expression of his tenacious spirit of combat:
How to recover the happiness of Past days?
Bronze the flowers or they wither.
Who would have thought that, as showers return?
My tears would be falling for another
great son of the people
August 16, 1933 (China Reconstructs, Vol. XIV, No. 5, p. 2-9)