Chen Yannian

Chen Yannian

Chen Yannian (1898 - July 4, 1927), also known as Ya Yan, was born in Huaining County, Anhui Province. Revolutionary martyrs. Chen Duxiu's eldest son. As one of the early leaders of the Communist Party of China, he made great contributions to the cause of China's Liberation revolution. In 1915, he entered Shanghai French Tutorial school and Sinian University. In January 1919, he and Huang lingshuang organized the anarchist Evolution Society and founded the magazine evolution. In June 1922, together with Zhao Shiyan and Zhou Enlai, he founded the Communist Organization in Europe, the Chinese Youth Communist Party, and served as the propaganda minister. In the autumn of the same year, he joined the Communist Party of France. Soon after, he was officially recognized as a member of the Communist Party of China by the CPC Central Committee. In October 1924, he was the Secretary of Guangdong District Committee of CPC. In 1927, he served as secretary of the CPC Jiangsu Zhejiang District Committee, was elected as member of the fifth CPC Central Committee and alternate member of the Political Bureau, and soon became Secretary of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee. He was arrested in Shanghai on June 26, 1927 and died on July 4. In September 2009, Chen Yannian was selected as "100 heroes and models who have made outstanding contributions to the founding of new China" by 11 departments including the Central Propaganda Department and the central organization department.

Life of the characters

Self improvement of youth

In 1898, Chen Yannian was born in the old residence of nanshaiguan in Huaining County, Anhui Province. When he was 6 years old, his mother Gao Xiaolan sent him to a private school. After the revolution of 1911, he entered a new school. Yannian was a strong boy with rough and dark skin. He was introverted. He was as stubborn as his father. He was usually silent and didn't look like a scholar. Therefore, his family called him "black faced wusheng".

Chen Yannian studied very hard, had a bright mind and a strong memory, and borrowed more books to read.

Chen Yannian's childhood was a time when the Chinese nation was in the abyss of suffering. Chen Duxiu ran to the revolution and spent little time at home, so he had little communication with his children.

With the growth of age, Chen Yannian, like Chen Duxiu of that year, is more and more eager to go out of Anqing and study outside. In 1915, Chen Duxiu returned to Shanghai and began to organize new youth magazine. When he received a letter from his hometown, he immediately agreed with Chen Yannian's wishes and sent them to Shanghai to accept more new ideas.

When they first arrived in Shanghai, Yannian brothers lived with their father and stepmother Gao Junman. However, it wasn't long before they moved out of their father's house and boarded on the floor of the shop of the New Youth magazine publishing house (Yadong library on Si Lu). They worked outside during the day to earn a living. At night, they went to the French School attached to the French patrol house to study French, part-time work and part-time study. Until they went to work and study in France, Yannian brothers never went home to eat and live.

Study in China

In 1915, Chen Yannian and his second younger brother Chen qiaonian left home and went to Shanghai to study French at Tongji University for the first time and then Fudan University. With the rise of the new culture movement, all kinds of thoughts spread widely. Anarchism spread relatively early. It advocated absolute individual freedom without the government. It had a great influence on some intellectuals who were dissatisfied with and rebelled against the reactionary rule. At that time, Chen Yannian, a young man, lacked the ability to identify truth and falsehood. He believed that anarchism was the most radical, so he joined the anarchist organization evolution society. Later, Wu Zhihui, the anarchist in charge of the Chinese French Education Association, introduced Chen Yannian's brother to work study in France in December 1919, and arrived in Paris on February 3 the next year to study in the University of Paris. He joined the "Gongyu society", an anarchist organization, and edited "Gongyu" magazine.

Study in France

Chen Yannian actively studied the theory, studied and explored the way to save the country and the people. Cai Hesen, Zhao Shiyan, Zhou Enlai and others actively spread Marxist theory among work study students. Chen Yannian was influenced by the discussion and gradually understood Marxism. In 1921, work study students in France launched three major struggles. In the process of struggle, Chen Yannian's understanding of anarchism changed greatly from doubt to disappointment. When he saw through Wu Zhihui's deception, his thoughts changed dramatically, he rose up and resolutely broke with the anarchists.

Zhao Shiyan, who was busy preparing for the establishment of the Communist Youth League among the work study students in France, observed the great changes of Chen Yannian. In his letter to Chen gongpei on April 26, 1922, Zhao said: "there are some Annas whose tendency has changed a lot. Chen Yannian is the most famous author of Annas. The tendency is very lovely." In the letter on the 30th, he said, "the tendency of Er Chen and others has changed greatly in recent times." He also asked Chen gongpei to write to Chen Yannian as soon as possible. With Zhao Shiyan and others striving for unity, Chen Yannian's political belief changed fundamentally, accepted Marxism, joined the Youth League, and attended the inaugural meeting of the "Youth Communist Party of China" which was later renamed "the European branch of the Chinese Socialist Youth League" held in bulinlin square in the suburb of Paris in June 1922. Later, he was elected as executive committee member, and edited and printed "Youth" magazine with Zhao Shiyan. Around October, Chen Yannian, Zhao Shiyan and Xiao San were introduced to join the French Communist Party by Ruan Aiguo (Ho Chi Minh), a member of the French Communist Party. In the winter of that year, the general branch of the Chinese Communist Party in Europe was established, and Chen Yannian and others became members of the Chinese Communist Party. In March 1923, the party organization sent Chen Yannian, Zhao Shiyan and other 12 people to Moscow Oriental Labor University to study.

Running study classes

In September 1924, Chen Yannian returned to Shanghai. In October, he came to Guangzhou as a special commissioner of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League to attend the meeting of representatives of the Communist Youth League in Guangdong and preside over the reorganization of the Executive Committee of the Communist Youth League in Guangdong. In November, Zhou Enlai, chairman of the CPC Guangdong Regional Committee, concurrently served as director of the Political Department of Huangpu Military Academy, and Chen Yannian served as secretary of the CPC Guangdong Regional Committee. After the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in January 1925, the Guangdong district Party committee set up a presidium composed of Chen Yannian, Zhou Enlai, Peng Pai and Liu Ersong in the Executive Committee, with Chen Yannian as secretary. Guangdong was the center and base of the great revolution, and the decision-making and work of the Guangdong district Party committee affected the overall situation of the whole country. Chen Yannian and the district Party Committee attached great importance to Party building. First of all, the leading body of the district Party committee has been improved and the party organization has been rectified. The main person in charge of the district Party committee personally attended the important branch meetings in Guangzhou and sent people to the party committees of other counties to inspect and specifically guide the construction of the party organization. At the same time, efforts should be made to strengthen the party's ideological unity. In his speeches in "Comrade Gao" and "our life", he stressed the need to "promote the party's education and training" and "firmly unite under the party's correct policies." The district Party committee has gradually established a party lesson system, set up study classes, training classes and Party schools, and organized party members and cadres to learn Marxist theory and basic knowledge of the party. With the rapid development of the workers and peasants movement, the party organizations in Guangdong also developed rapidly. By March 1927, it had become an organization with more than 9000 party members, cohesive force, combat effectiveness and strong unity. Chen Yannian is known as the "king of Guangdong and Guangxi".

Chen Yannian's view of relying on the masses of workers and peasants was clear and firm. In his article national revolution and the worker peasant class, he pointed out that "in the revolutionary movement, only the class most oppressed by capital imperialism and Warlords is the most revolutionary class, and the most revolutionary class is the workers and peasants. Chen Yannian went to the workers to take part in activities to understand the situation and guide the work. It strengthened the alliance of workers and peasants and promoted the development of the movement.

Workers and Peasants Movement

In his article "what should we do", Chen Yannian called on the young people to "resolutely fight against all the dark past" and take part in the revolutionary struggle. Chen Yannian and the district Party committee strengthened the leadership of the Youth League and the new student union, established the Guangdong Women's Liberation Association, and assisted Zhou Enlai in forming the young soldiers' Federation. Chen Yannian attached great importance to the establishment and mastery of the revolutionary armed forces. He and Zhou Enlai decided to send a group of Party groups to Huangpu Military Academy to train military cadres. In November 1924, he helped Zhou Enlai to build an armored motorcade with Xu Chengzhang as the team leader. In 1925, based on the armored motorcade, an independent regiment headed by Ye Ting was established. The district Party committee dispatched cadres with military knowledge and Deputy peasant associations, expanded and improved the peasant self-defense forces, reorganized the Guangzhou workers' League army into the workers' self-defense forces, and established the provincial and Hong Kong strike workers' picket teams. These revolutionary armed forces under the direct command of the party supported the workers' and peasants' revolutionary movement and protected the interests of the workers and peasants. Later, Ye Ting's independent regiment was sent as the advance force of the northern expedition, and the workers' picket force and self defense force became the backbone of the red guards during the Guangzhou Uprising. In June 1925, Chen Yannian, Deng Zhongxia, Su Zhaozheng and others led the strike in Hong Kong, which shocked China and other countries.

Oppose compromise

Before the second National Congress of the Kuomintang in January 1926, the struggle between the left and the right was very acute. Chen Yannian and Zhou Enlai agreed on the policy of "attacking the right, isolating the middle and expanding the left", and planned to completely intercept and attack the right at the second National Congress of the Kuomintang. But Chen Duxiu opposed it. In March, the new rightist Chiang Kai Shek concocted the "Zhongshan warship incident" and made a sudden attack on the Communist Party. Chen Yannian and Zhou Enlai supported Mao Zedong's correct idea of fighting back against Chiang Kai Shek, but they were opposed and stopped by Chen Duxiu and Zhang Guotao. Two months later, at the second plenary session of the second Central Committee of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai Shek threw out a "case of sorting out party affairs" aimed at rejecting the Communist Party and splitting the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. At that time, the Communists who attended the meeting, Chen Yannian and Guangdong district Party committee all strongly opposed it, but Zhang Guotao forced the Communists to accept it. Chen Duxiu and others compromised with the Rightists one after another and made three major concessions, which became an important reason for the failure of the great revolution. Chen Yannian repeatedly opposed and resisted Chen Duxiu's wrong ideas of Right opportunism. At the Yiwei meeting, he sharply criticized Chen Duxiu for "not believing in the mass power of workers and peasants" and "never daring to cooperate with the Kuomintang Rightists in action."

Chinese PinYin : Chen Yan Nian