Review of Early the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Government Newspapers and Periodicals
After the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China stayed in Shanghai for a long time from the summer of 1921 to the beginning of 1933 (he briefly moved to Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan). Therefore, most of the early the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China government newspapers and periodicals were founded on the Huangpu River, which vividly demonstrated the characteristics of Shanghai culture, such as being good at innovation, leading the trend and pursuing Excellence.
The wizard:
"A beacon of dark China society"
In July 1922, the Second National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in Shanghai discussed the issue of party newspapers. In August, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to establish an authoritative publication at the West Lake Conference to widely publicize the Party’s anti-imperialist and anti-feudal democratic revolutionary program.
On September 13th, the first public publication "Guide" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China authorities came out in Shanghai. It is a weekly magazine with a format of 16, and its general distribution office is located at No.3, Lanfali, Zhaobang Road, Laoximen, Shanghai (now Lane 1047, Fuxing East Road) (the original building is no longer in existence). The inaugural issue of this newspaper’s Manifesto pointed out: "The civil strife of warlords is certainly the biggest obstacle to peaceful reunification and freedom in China, and the foreign invasion of international imperialism is a demon that restricts the free development of our Chinese nation politically and economically." "According to the real public opinion and political and economic facts of the whole country, my colleagues in this newspaper would like to call for unity, peace, freedom and independence before the people."
Cai Hesen has been the editor-in-chief of Guide for nearly three years, and has overcome financial difficulties and insisted on publishing it with tenacious spirit. At first, the magazine was arranged according to the content of the manuscript. In order to enhance the pertinence and highlight the key points, he successively opened up columns such as "current affairs review", "inch iron", "local newsletter", "what to say" and so on. At the same time, he also wrote a large number of political essays and commentaries (more than 130 of them were signed "He Sen"). No matter whether it is a long article of five or six thousand words or a short draft of hundreds of words, he can grasp the important issues or typical cases in reality for specific analysis.
Cai Hesen often goes to the factory to listen to your suggestions and criticisms with an open mind; In order to reflect the demands and voices of readers in time, he specially added the column "Voice of Readers" in the Guide. The magazine actively publicizes the party’s principles and policies to the public and strives to make them deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; The enthusiastic support of the public for the magazine has become the strong backing for it to persist in publishing in the predicament. The magazine is known as "a bright light in the dark society of China", and its circulation has gradually increased from more than 3,000 at first to tens of thousands. At that time, Li Lisan once commented: "The merit of The Guide is exactly the great merit that Comrade He Sen showed in the China Revolution."
Due to the sinister environment, after the first five issues of Guide were published in Shanghai, the editorial department had to travel to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan and other places, and its distribution scope was also expanded to many large and medium-sized cities, and it was also sold in Paris and Berlin. In October 1925, Cai Hesen went to Moscow to attend the sixth enlarged meeting of the Executive Committee of the Comintern, and immediately served as the representative of the Communist Party of China to the Comintern. The Guide was edited by Peng Shuzhi, and Zheng Chaolin undertook the specific editorial affairs. In the spring of 1927, the editorial department moved from Shanghai to Wuhan. The Guide was edited by Qu Qiubai and edited by Yang Mu Zhi. Some old comrades recalled that the maximum circulation reached 100,000 copies. After the "July 15" counter-revolutionary coup, the publication was suspended and 201 issues were published.
The Guide took a clear-cut stand against imperialist powers, feudal warlords and supported the workers’ and peasants’ movements. It experienced the whole process of the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and witnessed the development of the Party in this historical period.
Hot Blood Daily:
"Ten issues were published, and the sales reached 30,000."
After the May 30th tragedy, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to publish a daily newspaper in Shanghai in order to expose imperialist atrocities in time and inspire people’s morale. Qu Qiubai led the relevant comrades through intense and busy work, and completed the preparations in just a few days.
On June 4, 1925, Hot Blood Daily was founded in Shanghai, with Qu Qiubai as the editor-in-chief, and Shen Zemin, He Gongchao and Zheng Chaolin participated in the editing work. Qu Qiubai declared in his preface: "Now the blood of all Shanghai residents has been boiled to the climax by the bullets of outsiders … Now the strong in the world possess cold iron, while we weak only have hot blood, but we really have hot blood in our hearts, so we don’t worry that there will be no cold iron in our hands in the future. Once hot blood gets cold iron, it will be the last luck of the strong."
"Hot Blood Daily" is a four-page edition with about 12,000 words in each issue. The newspaper is more political and encouraging: the first and second editions of the "local news", "domestic news" and "urgent news" columns mostly publish news that newspapers avoid or ignore; The third edition of the "International Highlights" column specifically reports the news of sympathy and support of the working class in the Soviet Union and other countries to the people of China; The fourth edition of the "Voice" supplement mainly publishes short comments, essays and literary works, among which there are both criticisms of wrong remarks and satires on shameful acts.
Most of the editorials published in Hot Blood Daily are written by Qu Qiubai, such as Federation of Business Studies and Shanghai Citizens, What does the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce want? "Who is the enemy and who is the friend? "The May 30th Massacre and the Abolition of Unequal Treaties" and so on are all highly targeted and thoroughly reasoned.
During the editing of Hot Blood Daily, Qu Qiubai was "wanted" by the Shanghai Concession authorities, but he put his life and death aside and devoted himself to running the newspaper. Yang Zhihua, his wife, said in Memories of Autumn White: The site of Hot Blood Daily is a guest room, with a long table of white wood in the middle and several long benches around it. At that time, the weather was very hot. During the day, Qu Qiubai worked hard in his stuffy room to write articles, edit news, proofread and compose editions, and was so busy that he was sweating like a pig. In the evening, he has to listen to reporters’ reports and organize writing. Whenever a major problem is found, Qu Qiubai always goes to the workers and personally verifies the materials before publishing them in newspapers. At that time, although the work was very hard, he said to his wife Yang Zhihua, "It is much more effective to work like this than to give lectures at the university platform."
On one occasion, when Qu Qiubai went out on business, he saw a worker reading the Business Daily and talked with him. The other party complained, "There is no newspaper suitable for workers to read, and now the newspaper can’t understand it." Inspired by this, he tried to make the writing simple and easy, and paid attention to the use of spoken language or dialect; The point of view of the article is straight to the point, and the length can be short or short, so that workers have time to read and understand. In addition, he also published many folk tunes and rap, which were popular and vivid, loved by the masses and quickly sung by everyone.
Hot Blood Daily, the first daily newspaper founded by the Party, had a great influence in the May 30th Movement. The newspaper once revealed in the notice: "Ten issues were published, and the number of sales reached 30,000. There were hundreds of people who contributed letters and came to contact each other." Starting from the second issue, the newspaper marked the address as "Turn 567, Huaxing Square, North Zhejiang Road" next to the header; From the 12th issue, it is marked as "No.56 Huaxing Road, North Zhejiang Road, Shanghai", which is now Zhejiang North Road, and Lane 64 Huaxing Road is behind Huaxing Square.
Due to the strangle of imperialism and warlords, Hot Blood Daily was forced to close after its 24th issue was published on June 27th, but its revolutionary propaganda has had a great influence.
Boolean Sevik:
"The Pointer of the New Road of China Revolution"
At the August 7th meeting in 1927, the temporary CPC the Political Bureau of the Central Committee headed by Qu Qiubai was elected. Soon, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China moved back to Shanghai from Wuhan, because the Guide had been forced to close, so he began to plan to publish a new the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China organ publication in secret.
On October 22nd, the CPC held a meeting in The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), and formally decided to set up a comprehensive central organ publication "Boer Sevik" in Shanghai, with Qu Qiubai, Luo Yinong, Deng Zhongxia, Wang Ruofei and Zheng Chaolin as the editorial board director (editor-in-chief). On November 14th, it was decided to set up the Editorial Committee of the Central Party Newspaper, and 21 people including Cai Hesen, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Li Lisan, Yun Daiying and Zhang Tailei were added to the editorial board.
The first issue of "Boolean Sevik" came out on October 24th, and its title was inscribed by Qu Qiubai himself. The editorial department is located at No.418 Hengchangli, Yuyuan Road, Shanghai (now No.34, Lane 1376, Yuyuan Road), which is a "pseudo-three-story" brick and wood structure new-style Lane residence. While presiding over the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s work, Qu Qiubai was responsible for editing Boolean Sevik, determined to make it a "pointer to the new road of China revolution"; Every week, he will go to the editorial department from his apartment on Fuxi Road (now Yan ‘an Middle Road) to discuss topics and screen manuscripts with everyone.
Bour Sevik was founded at the time of great changes in the revolutionary situation in China, and has opened more than 10 columns successively. In order to guard against the enemy’s destruction, it was published on the cover in disguise, and used the headlines of China Cultural History, China Ancient History Examination, Economic Monthly, Civilians and Rainbow.
The magazine devoted a lot of space to promoting the general policy of the Party to realize the agrarian revolution and the armed uprising of workers and peasants. For example, the expansion of revolutionary forces in southern Hunan, eastern Hunan and western Jiangxi, published in the 25th issue of Volume I, introduced Mao Zedong’s establishment of a base area in Jinggangshan, reported that some troops led by Zhu De went to Jinggangshan, and praised the development of the stationed troops in Jinggangshan and the base area for making the revolution "within the reach of forces" and "the enemy dare not face it squarely". The journal also published the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s resolutions and instructions in time, reprinted the documents of the Communist International, and published theoretical articles on discussing and studying China’s revolutionary problems, which became an important political propaganda position of the Party. At that time, Mao Zedong asked to send "Boolean Sevik" in his letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and said that "we are hungry for books and newspapers".
Boolean Sevik published 52 issues from its inception to July 1932. Cai Hesen, Li Lisan, Zhang Wentian, etc. also served as the director of the editorial board. Because of the sinister environment, it gradually changed into a semi-monthly, monthly and indefinite periodical, and changed from 16 format to 32 format; During the 15 months when the editorial department was located in Hengchangli, 31 issues were published, accounting for 60%. At that time, the magazine was like a breeze, blowing away the stagnant blocks in readers’ chests after the failure of the Great Revolution. It is also like a "night light", which illuminates people’s way forward.
Red Flag Weekly:
First put forward "organizing armed volunteers to save the country"
On February 17th, 1931, Zhang Wentian returned to Shanghai from Moscow, Soviet Union. At the beginning of March, he served as the Minister of Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, and later became the temporary The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) of the CPC. He adjusted the work of party newspapers in time according to the needs of carrying out revolutionary propaganda. On March 9th, Red Flag Weekly, the the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China organ newspaper edited by him, was founded in Shanghai.
Red Flag Weekly was formerly known as Red Flag and Red Flag Daily. Red Flag was founded in Shanghai on November 20th, 1928. It was started as a weekly magazine by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee. From the 24th issue, it was changed into a three-week journal, with 16 folio at the beginning, then changed into 32 folio and 8 folio. By August 2nd, 1930, it was published in 126 issues. On August 15th, 1930, Red Flag and Shanghai Newspaper sponsored by jiangsu provincial party committee of the Communist Party of China (founded on April 17th, 1929, edited by Li Qiushi, published 385 issues in four editions) merged into Red Flag Daily, with four editions marked as "The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CCCPC) organ newspaper", and changed to "the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and jiangsu provincial party committee" on February 14th, 1931. The editor-in-chief of Red Flag Daily was Pan Wenyu and Wang Jiaxiang successively, and the director of the interview department was Pan Hannian. Li Lisan, Guan Xiangying and Zhang Wentian often contributed articles. The newspaper publicized the party’s principles and policies in many ways and was welcomed by both inside and outside the party. After its publication, the number of copies reached more than 12,000. Later, due to the continuous destruction of the printing house by the enemy, it was difficult to print normally. On March 8, it stopped publishing and published a total of 182 issues. It is in this case that Zhang Wentian decisively decided to close Red Flag Daily and change it into a secret Red Flag Weekly.
The inaugural issue of Red Flag Weekly published articles such as the Draft Decree of the First National Congress of the Chinese Soviet Union and the New Plan to Break the Kuomintang’s Attack on the Red Army. Moreover, in the letter from the editor of this newspaper to the readers, which is equivalent to the publication, he appealed: "Dear readers, fight to safeguard the Soviet regime and overthrow the rule of the imperialist Kuomintang!" This newspaper mainly publishes the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s work reports, resolutions, policies, electricity calls, declarations, etc., reprints the documents of the Communist International, reports the news of the Soviet Union and communist party, reflects the development of the political situation at home and abroad, and guides the work of the whole party. The column "Puffy China Soviet Movement" opened by Red Flag Weekly is particularly concerned by readers. It has published a large number of newsletters and introduced various aspects of the revolutionary base areas, such as "How the Soviet Government Struggles for the Solution of the Food Problem" published by Zhang Wentian on July 10, 1932 under the signature of "Luofu", which vividly expounded the sufficient basis for the continuous development of the revolutionary base areas under the leadership of the party by combining the typical materials in several Soviet areas’ documents and reports. It is worth mentioning that after the September 18th Incident in 1931, Zhou Enlai published "Japanese Imperialist Occupation of Manchuria and Our Party’s Current Tasks" in the Red Flag Weekly published on October 21st, in which he first proposed "to lead the workers and peasants and all oppressed nations to organize their own armed national salvation volunteers", which spread the name of "volunteers". Since then, the CPC Manchuria Provincial Committee has decided to "mobilize the broad masses to establish a volunteer army".And has sent more than 200 party and league members to various places to organize or assist in the creation of volunteers.
Due to the serious white terror, Red Flag Weekly is often in danger, but Zhang Wentian is fearless and tries his best to ensure its normal publication. The first to ninth issues of Red Flag Weekly are 8-page newspapers; Since the tenth issue, it has been changed into a 32-volume book format. In order to cover the distribution needs, it has successively adopted 16 kinds of camouflage covers such as Industry Weekly, Times Weekly, Modern Weekly, Buddhist Studies, Civilians, Modern Life and Architecture.
In order to make Red Flag Weekly published smoothly, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China rented two adjacent buildings (No.146-148, Lane 998, Zhoujiazui Road today) in Yuanxingli, Qiwupu Road, Shanghai in the spring of 1931, one with a secret printing factory and the other with a silk cloth village as a cover, which was specifically responsible by Qian Zhiguang. Soon, due to the mutiny of Gu Shunzhang, who held an important position in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Teke, the secret printing factory was moved to No.99, Meibaike Road (now Xinchang Road). A grocery store was opened on the first floor, and Qian Zhiguang, the "boss", often observed the movement outside. The second floor was used as a dormitory, and the third floor was used for typesetting, printing and binding.
Because of the white terror, Zhang Wentian had to change his apartment many times. In 1932, he lived most of his life at No.27 Pingheli, Aiwenyi Road, Shanghai (now Lane 239, Beijing West Road). By November, it was moved to Maris New Village (now Lane 216, Chongqing North Road) located in the southwest of Happy Valley Hall. In the meantime, in addition to burying his head in his work, he also published more than 100 articles under pseudonyms such as Luofu, Pingjiang and Goth. In January 1933, he entered the Jiangxi Central Revolutionary Base with the temporary the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Red Flag Weekly insisted on March 1 of the following year, with a total of 64 issues and 13 additional issues. The newspaper not only played an important role as a mouthpiece, but also made a complete record of the Party’s work in Soviet areas and Kuomintang-controlled areas in the past, leaving valuable historical materials.
Newspapers and periodicals of other central organs
In addition to the above-mentioned party newspapers and periodicals, there are also some early the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China newspapers and periodicals published in Shanghai.
On July 1st, 1923, Forward was founded in Shanghai. In order to deceive the enemy, it was published in Guangzhou, with Qu Qiubai as the editor and Chen Duxiu, Zhang Tailei and Xiang Jingyu as the main contributors. This magazine mainly analyzes and discusses the revolutionary problems in China, and publicizes the principles and strategies formulated by the three major congresses of the Communist Party of China. Each issue has a "inch iron" column to expose the shortcomings of current politics in short and pithy words. On February 1, 1924, it was published until the third issue was closed.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) Party Newspaper was founded in Shanghai on November 30, 1923. It was edited by Chen Duxiu, and the periodical was uncertain. By May 1924, four issues had been published, the first of which was the document of the First Plenary Session of the Third Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the third and fourth issues were the documents of the enlarged meeting of the the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Executive Committee in May 1924. The specific date of suspension is unknown.
Central Political Newsletter (also called Central Newsletter) was founded in Wuhan in September 1926 and moved to Shanghai in November of the following year. At first, it was the most confidential and important political publication in the Party for the responsible comrades of the C.O. and the responsible secretaries of important regions to know about all aspects of work and decide policies. Later, it was changed into a public publication in the Party, which mainly published the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China documents, work summaries and local newsletters, including materials of Nanchang Uprising, Guangzhou Uprising and armed riots of workers and peasants in various places. In July 1928, it stopped publishing and published 30 issues.
The Life of the Party was first published in Shanghai on January 1, 1929. It was an indefinite periodical at first, and changed to a semi-monthly magazine after its sixth issue. This magazine mainly publishes articles on the revolutionary road in China within the Party, and also criticizes the right-wing ideas. The main contributors are Li Lisan, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Yingchao and Yu Hongze. On June 15, 1930, the publication was stopped, and 11 issues were published.
The Truth was founded in Shanghai on October 30th, 1930. It is a theoretical newspaper and edited by Wang Jiaxiang. The main contents published are the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s resolutions, declarations, circulars, documents of the Communist International on the China Revolution, and articles on the Party’s line, principles and policies. It was closed on March 5, 1931.
Struggle was founded in Shanghai on January 21, 1932. It is a mimeographed periodical with 16 formats and was edited by Zhang Wentian. After the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China moved out of Shanghai, the journal was still published in Shanghai, with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s documents and theoretical articles about China’s revolution as the main content. On July 5, 1935, the journal was closed, with a total of 79 issues published, which was called "Shanghai Edition". By the way, on February 4, 1933, Jiangxi Ruijin also published Struggle, which was a journal of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of the Communist Party of China. It was printed in a format of 16 pages and closed on September 30, 1934, with a total of 73 issues, known as the "Soviet Edition"; After the Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, on November 21st, 1935, the issue of "Struggle" was published in Yan ‘an, as the organ publication of Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and later changed to the organ publication of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with a total of 54 issues published in 32 format, which was called "Northwest Edition" (final issue on March 19th, 1937).
In the early the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China government newspapers and periodicals founded or published in Shanghai, some dared to be the first, some were well planned, some were well arranged, and some struggled to open up. They adhered to the distinct political stance and the purpose of running journals, and also laid a fine tradition of party newspapers and journals.
(The author is a member of the Literature and History Committee of the 12th Shanghai CPPCC)