Zhang Guotao

Zhang Guotao

Zhang Guotao (November 26, 1897 - December 3, 1979), also known as te Li, was born in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province. He was one of the founders of the Communist Party of China, a student leader of the May 4th movement, and a senior leader in the early days of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

In 1916, Zhang Guotao entered Peking University and showed positive performance in the May 4th movement. In October 1920, the early organization of the Communist Party in Beijing was founded. In 1932, he entered the Hubei Henan Anhui Soviet Area and became the de facto leader of the base area. In April 1935, he abandoned the Sichuan Shaanxi base and began the long march. After MaoGong joined forces in June, he opposed the decision of the Central Committee to go north. In October, he led the Ministry to go south to Chuankang and announced the establishment of another "Central Committee" in zhuomu Diao. In June 1936, he was forced to cancel it. In March 1937, he was criticized at the enlarged meeting of the Politburo. At the beginning of April 1938, he took the opportunity of sacrificing the mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor to escape from the Shaanxi Gansu Ningxia border region and join the Chinese Kuomintang, and was expelled from the party on April 18. Soon after, he joined the juntong to engage in anti Communist spy activities and staged a farce of "the founder of the Communist Party of China opposes the Communist Party of China". In June 1948, he founded ChuangJin weekly in Shanghai and went to Taiwan in November of the same year. He moved to Hong Kong in 1949. He moved to Toronto in 1968. I once wrote my memories.

On December 3, 1979, Zhang Guotao, 82, died of cold in a nursing home.

Life of the characters

In 1916, he entered Peking University.

In 1919, he performed actively in the May 4th Movement and was promoted as the director of the speech Department of the Beijing students' Federation.

In October 1920, he joined the early organization of the Communist Party in Beijing.

In July 1921, he attended the first National Congress of the Communist Party of China and was elected a member of the Central Bureau, in charge of organizational work. After the meeting, he served as director of the Secretary Department of China's labor union and editor in chief of labor weekly, leading the workers' movement.

In July 1922, he continued to be elected member of the central executive committee at the second National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

In June 1923, at the third National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he opposed the correct policy of joining the Kuomintang to establish a revolutionary united front.

In January 1924, he attended the first National Congress of the Kuomintang and was elected alternate member of the central executive committee.

In January 1925, he was elected as a member of the Central Bureau at the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and director of the central Ministry of industry and agriculture.

After 1926, in the face of the conspiracy activities of the KMT rightists rejecting, attacking the Communist Party and destroying the cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party, he implemented the policy of compromise and concession.

At the end of 1926, he served as secretary of Hubei District Committee of CPC.

In July 1927, he was a member of the Standing Committee of Nanchang Central Committee.

In 1928, he went to the Soviet Union to attend the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and was elected a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at the first plenary session of the Sixth Central Committee. After the meeting, he stayed in Moscow as the representative of the Communist Party of China to the Communist International.

In early 1931, he returned to China and served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Later, he went to the Hubei Henan Anhui revolutionary base and served as secretary of the central branch of the CPC Hubei Henan Anhui Soviet Area and chairman of the Military Commission. In November, he was elected vice president of the Provisional Central Government of the Soviet Republic of China. He actively carried out Wang Ming's "left" adventurism policy in Hubei, Henan and Anhui, and presided over the wrong "elimination of counter revolutionaries".

In October 1932, after withdrawing from the Hubei Henan Anhui Soviet Area, he led the Fourth Front Red Army into northern Sichuan, established the Sichuan Shaanxi base with the Sichuan Shaanxi border party organization, and served as the chairman of the Northwest Revolutionary Military Commission.

In April 1935, the Sichuan Shaanxi base was abandoned and the Long March began. In June, after the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army and the first front army of the red army joined forces in MaoGong area, Sichuan Province, Zhang Guotao, as the leader of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army, expanded his ambition and tried to coerce the Party Central Committee with military strength in order to gain the power of the party and government. He also opposed the Central Committee's policy of going north to resist Japan and strongly advocated going south to split the party and the Red Army. In October, he led the Ministry south to Chuankang and announced the establishment of another "central government" in zhuomu Diao.

In June 1936, it was forced to cancel the second "Central Committee". In July of the same year, he served as secretary of the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Then he went north with the second and fourth front armies of the Red Army. In October, we arrived in Northern Shaanxi.

In March 1937, the CPC Central Committee held an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau in Yan'an to criticize his separatist and warlord mistakes. In order to educate and save him, he was still appointed Vice Chairman and acting chairman of the government of the Shaanxi Gansu Ningxia border region in September of the same year.

In April 1938, Zhang Guotao, then acting chairman of the Shaanxi Gansu Ningxia border region government, took the opportunity to worship the mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor and fled to Chongqing to join Chiang Kai Shek. He was expelled from the party by the CPC Central Committee on April 18. In the Kuomintang, Zhang Guotao successively committed himself to the military unification, the design committee and so on. The official strife made him depressed.

Since 1941, he has been a member of the second, third and fourth National Political Council. After the victory of the Anti Japanese War, he once served as the director of Jiangxi branch of the General Administration of rehabilitation and relief of the executive yuan of the Kuomintang government.

On the eve of the national liberation, Zhang Guotao fled to Taiwan with the defeat of the Kuomintang reactionaries. In Taiwan, he was in a worse situation. Not only did no one pay attention to him, but even his favorite house was forcibly occupied.

In the winter of 1949, Zhang Guotao left Taipei with his wife Yang Zilie and three sons and came to Hong Kong.

In 1967, the "Cultural Revolution" spread to Hong Kong. As a traitor of the Communist Party of China, Zhang Guotao felt that he would be doomed if he stayed in Hong Kong. In panic, Zhang Guotao and his wife decided to seek refuge abroad.

In 1966, he began to write serial articles of "my memory" for the University of Kansas in the United States, and published the Chinese version in Hong Kong Ming Pao Monthly.

At the end of 1968, shortly after accepting interviews with Americans, Zhang Guotao arrived in Canada, the last stop of his life. At the beginning, Zhang Guotao and his wife lived in a free nursing home in Canada. There, the pension provided by the government can not lead a good life, but it is enough to support the old couple.

In 1976, at the age of 79, Zhang Guotao suffered a sudden stroke. He was paralyzed and unable to take care of himself, so he was transferred to a geriatric hospital in the suburb of Toronto. The environment of the hospital was very poor. Not only were there few doctors and nurses, but the narrow ward also made Zhang short of breath. What makes Zhang Guotao even more intolerable is that every winter, the night in Toronto is chilly, and the lack of enough heating hospitals is extremely cold. Zhang Guotao is shivering with a stroke, and he can only rely on a few blankets he brings to keep himself warm.

In the early morning of December 3, 1979, when Zhang Guotao was turning over in a nursing home in Toronto, Canada, he was unable to pick up the blanket because it fell on the ground, and he froze to death in his hospital bed. Later, he was buried in Songshan cemetery in Scarborough, Eastern Toronto. He was 83 years old.

family life

Zhang Guotao was born in a gentry family in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province. His father, Zhang pengxiao, was a magistrate of Xiangshan and ran a bank at the same time. Zhang Guotao was the eldest son of his family.

In 1924, Zhang Guotao married Yang Zilie and joined the Communist Party of China in 1921. He was the first woman minister of the Communist Party of China. Zhang Guotao and Yang Zilie have three sons: Zhang Haiwei, Zhang Xiangchu and Zhang Yuchuan. They all settled in the United States and Canada. They are Canadian doctors, engineers and university teachers.

After the death of Zhang Guotao, the handling of his affairs was very low-key. There was no official name left on the original tombstone, and his family members disappeared afterwards.

Main works

My memory, written by Zhang Guotao, was serialized in the Hong Kong Ming Pao Monthly from 1971 to 1974, and then compiled into a book by the publishing house in 1974. In the name of "modern historical materials editing and publishing house", the people's Publishing House published two volumes in November 1980. The Oriental Publishing House published three volumes in January 1998, and reprinted two volumes in March 2004.

Among the early important leaders of the party, only Zhang Guotao wrote his long memoir my memory. He Fusheng, Zhang Guotao's personal guard, also has oral history, which provides important historical materials for later generations to study Zhang Guotao.

Major events

A family of officials and gentry

Zhang Guotao was born in a gentry family in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province. His father was an official and ran a bank at the same time. Zhang Guotao was the eldest son of his family, and his father had high hopes for him. Zhang's father and son often have an exchange of ideas, including the collision of old and new ideas. In October 1916, Zhang Guotao was admitted to Peking University. During the period of studying in Peking University, Zhang Guotao often sent his father progressive books and periodicals such as new youth, which he read, and resolutely refused the marriage arranged by his family. Zhang Guotao's eloquence was very good. In Peking University, he actively participated in the student movement and preached revolution everywhere. As for his eloquence, later the old man of the Fourth Front Army recalled: "Chairman Zhang's pre war mobilization was the best. Every commander and fighter was enthusiastic and full of fighting spirit."

In 1919, Zhang Guotao and Mao Zedong met for the first time in the library of Peking University. At that time, Zhang was a student leader, while Mao was an assistant of the library of Peking University. Li Dazhao introduced to Mao Zedong: "this is Zhang Teli, Comrade Zhang Guotao." Mao Zedong warmly shook hands with Zhang Guotao and introduced himself: "I am Mao Runzhi of Hunan Province." Zhang Guotao nodded, then talked with Li Dazhao as if there were no one else. Many years later, when Mao Zedong was interviewed by American reporter snow in Northern Shaanxi, he talked about this acquaintance and said with deep feeling: "they look down on me, a country bumpkin."

the May 4th Movement

The May 4th Movement pushed Zhang Guotao to the front stage of history.

On May 4, 1919, a patriotic movement took place in Beijing, which was mainly composed of young students, with the participation of the masses, citizens, business people and other middle and lower classes, through demonstrations, petitions, strikes, violence against the government and other forms. When the May 4th Movement broke out, Zhang Guotao was the director of the speech Department of the Beijing students' Federation. Zhang Guotao organized these people into a number of speech groups and teams to visit the streets and railway stations inside and outside Beijing

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Guo Tao