1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

"Has anyone had a similar experience? Let's talk about it! Come on! You!"

".."

After a few seconds, a chaotic sound echoed as UMP45's fingers moved:

...I'm from Hubei! My fellow villager cursed the battalion commander, and he scraped his eyelids with a knife, gouged out his eyes, cut off his ears, and cut off his nose. He was skinned alive!"

..I was also arrested! There were five of us, and four of us were suffering from malarial fever and couldn't walk! The officer told us that we could go home if we couldn't walk anymore! But as soon as they turned around, they were shot dead!"

"..."

As several soldiers spoke out without receiving any punishment, more and more soldiers began to bravely recount their painful experiences in the old army: "I'm from Hu Jian! My company commander would suffocate anyone who dared to make a mistake. In the end, his head was as big as a bull's head!"

"Back home, if you make a mistake and refuse to kneel down and apologize to your superiors, they'll just slit your stomach open with a knife and rip your heart out! Two of my fellow villagers died that way!"

"You guys dig out hearts, but I don't just dig out hearts! I dig out livers! I dig out lungs! And they force us to eat! Whoever refuses, they eat their flesh! I was forced to eat it myself! I've never been able to eat meat since then!"

As the accusations deepened, more and more horrific things were revealed, and the soldiers burst into tears and cried uncontrollably. Even the former officers of the Northwest Army felt uncomfortable at this time.

To be fair, these kinds of bad things were relatively rare in the Northwest Army, and most of the officers who dared to join the uprising and join the Red Army did not do these things.

However, after joining the Nationalist Army, the 26th Army inevitably picked up some of the Nationalist Army's "ethos of concern for good." They might not have dug out the soldiers' hearts, but they would not be punished for beating or insulting them. Looking at the hatred and madness in the eyes of these soldiers, where was their former "superior authority"?

One by one, they all quietly moved their butts, fearing that they would be "hated by the whole family".

At this moment, UMP45 stood on the platform and shouted:

"Comrades, listen to me!"

".…."

The soldiers tried to stop crying and looked up at her.

"I'm not saying you'll be well fed and warmly clothed after you join the Red Army, but has anyone actually done what I just mentioned?!"

".."

After a few seconds of silence, the soldiers roared: "No!"

“No!”

“Never seen it!”

Finally, it became a unified "No! No! No!" After the roar had mostly died down, UMP45 shouted again: "Red Army, how good is that!!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Are you willing to follow the Red Army forever?"

“Yes! Yes! Yes!!”

This time, whether it was the officers, the cadres left behind by the Communist Party of China, or Li Desheng and others who watched the whole process with red eyes, they all understood one thing: this unit would now belong only to the Red Army and could never be taken away by anyone else.

117 Who Should the People Hate?

After this operation known as the "grievance meeting", the Red Army completely won over the morale of the 5th Red Army Corps.

At least, let alone the generals of the ordinary national army, even the old commander Feng Yuxiang would probably not be able to pull them back.

(In fact, after the Red 5th Army revolted, Feng Yuxiang repeatedly secretly sent people to try to win over the army, attempting to persuade it to revolt. When this failed, he resorted to sowing discord. This was one of the reasons why Dong Zhentang and others were distrusted and even purged.) Originally, everyone thought that the next step would be the usual activities of "declaring loyalty," "swearing an oath," and "singing a tune." Unexpectedly, UMP45 changed the subject, grabbed another soldier, and asked:

"You and your fellow countrymen suffered such torture, beatings, humiliation and murder. Whose fault do you think is it?"

"Of course it's the company commander's fault!"

The soldier answered without hesitation, and then added:

"Oh, and the deputy company commander, he's also a bad guy!"

Li Desheng frowned slightly, then slowly let go.

Although it is not entirely correct, this kind of cognition is the norm among grassroots soldiers and is even worthy of praise; at least he still knows how to "hate" instead of Lu Xun's "anger at their lack of struggle."

Soon, UMP45 questioned a dozen other soldiers, and without exception, their answers directly pointed to the people who had tortured them at the time - the company commander, deputy company commander, battalion commander, and other officers;

Only one soldier shifted the blame to the division commander, arguing that he had been passing by but had shown no intention of saving him and had even watched the scene from the sidelines, making him a "bad guy" as well. UMP45 remained silent on everyone's responses and continued to ask:

"I understand now. The people in our army all come from poor backgrounds, most of them were conscripted. So, before you joined the army, were your lives good at home? Did anyone bully you?" With the previous "military complaints" as a prelude, this time, without any mobilization, some people immediately began to complain and discuss:

"Yes! Of course not! The kid from Wang Ermaizi's family next door used to beat me up all the time! Once he even broke my head! Look, there's a scar here now!" "Hahaha... me too, but I broke his head too, so what do you call that... fair!"

“Why were you beaten?”

"Little kids, it's not uncommon to see them fighting each other every day..." At first, it was just such trivial things;

But soon, as UMP45 called a few people to the stage and coaxed them to speak, the content changed:

"I was so hungry that I stole a chicken from Jiachang's house and broke my leg. Luckily, I'm lucky and healthy, otherwise I'd be a cripple now..."

"I went to seek justice for my sister, and the village chief slapped me several times. I can no longer hear in my left ear..."

"What happened to your sister?"

"..."

The soldier was silent for a moment, then roared:

...My sister... He was raped by that bastard! Not only did he rape her, he also sold her to a brothel!! When I found my sister, she was almost dead!"

Despite the limited language, almost everyone could imagine what a miserable scene it must have been, because they had seen it countless times since they were young.

"...Who else has had this experience? Raise your hand! Stand up and tell us... Come on, you! Tell us!"

"I'm not my sister, I'm my elder sister. She was taken as a concubine by our Huang Dagou. He played with her for two years before selling her to a brothel. Then the brothel sold her to a traveling merchant. I never saw her again." "What about you?"

"I...my mother and my sister are both pretty, so...so...the landlord of our village took a fancy to them...landlord...wuwuwuwuwuwu..."

In his self-introduction, he described himself as someone whose entire family had been wiped out and who had fainted from hunger while fleeing famine. He was accepted into the Northwest Army because of his size. So, there's no need to elaborate on what actually happened in the village.

The soldier was crying so hard that he couldn't speak, but another soldier, with red eyes, told a very similar painful experience:

My sister, my sister-in-law, and my mother were all taken over by the landlord! He first found a reason to beat my father and brother-in-law to death, and then took advantage of me working as a farmhand outside... and brought people to rape them!" "When I got home, I saw that my sister was still alive, and my mother and sister-in-law had hanged themselves! Wait until I take them down and bury them! My sister also jumped into the well!"

"Then, I killed the landlord's entire family and escaped..."

Despite speaking so passionately, the tears on the soldier's face never stopped, flowing down his skin covered with wrinkles, which clearly showed the pain he had suffered. Then, one soldier after another, even officers, took the initiative to stand up and tell about the past when they or their family members were bullied outside the army.

Some of their mothers, sisters, wives, relatives and friends were raped or taken over, some were forced to remarry, some were beaten, killed or forced to commit suicide;

Some of them or their relatives were hung up and beaten by landlords, village chiefs, and headmen; some were beaten with sticks or whips, some with rifle butts or belts, some with fists or legs; some were forced to kneel, some were forced to freeze, some were forced to starve, and some were forced to be exposed to the sun.

Some were forced to crawl on their knees for several kilometers, others were forced to drink urine, lick spit, and eat feces...

In short, all the tragedies in the world that later generations can and cannot imagine happened to this group of Red Army soldiers.

If a person shares his happy experience with a group of people, other people may not feel very happy because they cannot empathize with him; but if a person shares the pain that almost everyone has experienced with a group of people, the pain will be magnified countless times.

Just one hour later, more than 30 soldiers fainted from crying. Two of them even foamed at the mouth and had blood in their eyes. The rest were choked with sobs and could not speak.

Roaring, crying, screaming, cursing... resounded throughout the entire venue.

As a result, the "grievance meeting" was forced to be temporarily suspended, and was not resumed until the next day after everyone had a good night's rest.

The next day, Li Desheng urgently summoned many cadres from the central government, especially those in the military and political work departments, to visit the site. Many of them keenly noticed that this "old army" before them seemed to be different from the previous one.

Cadres who frequently work in the army's political field have clearly discovered the difference:

These officers and soldiers used to be "lazy" and would fall asleep during political classes.

Now, they all sat up straight, looking intently at the person on the stage, afraid of missing a single word; most importantly, light began to appear in their eyes.

UMP45 stood at the front of the stage and began today's "discussion"∵:

Yesterday, we talked a lot about our pasts. Does anyone here think that the suffering you endured was caused by the counter-revolutionary group headed by Chiang Kai-shek?

".…."

When this was said, not only the soldiers but also the officers were stunned. One soldier who claimed to be from the same hometown as Chiang Kai-shek even shouted:

"What does this have to do with Chiang Kai-shek? He was very kind to the people in our area! If I wasn't born in a humble family and looked down upon by others, maybe I could have become an officer.

After hearing this, some leaders of the CPC Central Committee were furious and wanted to come out and lecture the others, but Li Desheng stopped them: "I told you before we came here! Don't talk! Don't interrupt! Watch how Comrade Ma Shiwu conducts political work!"

"..."

The soldiers were still chattering and "discussing":

"Yeah! It was my company commander and the landlord from my hometown who bullied me. What does that have to do with him?" "I do think he's a bad guy, but it's mainly because of my bad luck." "That's right, everyone said Chiang Kai-shek was a bad guy, but I never saw him kill anyone..." In short, with the exception of a very few voices, almost no one agreed with UMP45's statement. UMP45 still didn't comment, but just smiled and said:

"Okay, I'll keep this a secret for now. Let's vote by raising our hands. Those who hate landlords, security chiefs, town heads, and county magistrates, please raise your hands!"

Looking around, almost no one did not raise their hand.

"...Then, those who think Chiang Kai-shek is bad and hate him, please raise your hands!"

Out of the more than 1,000 soldiers in the audience, only a handful raised their hands. Two or three of those hands were raised only after seeing others raise theirs. "Those who feel their fate is bad, that they were born badly, or that the world is bad, please raise your hands!"

This time, most people raised their hands.

UMP45 still didn't explain the previous question and continued:

"It seems that everyone hates those bastards like the village chiefs and the police chiefs... Yes, it seems that without them, you and your loved ones would not have suffered so much..." The soldiers nodded.

Isn’t it?

These guys are bad!

If only we had a powerful local ruler, life wouldn't be so difficult! However, UMP45 asked a question:

"But who sent these people? Who's behind them?" Some said it was the county magistrate, some said it was the provincial governor. Only one person shouted out, "It's the Nationalist government! It's Chiang Kai-shek! It's the reactionaries!"

Only then did the CCP cadres watching from the sidelines smile.

Okay!

The effect is here!

Isn't this a successful political endeavor?

But the smile froze on his face the next moment because UMP45 loudly retorted:

"Wrong!"

118 starts! The Red Army evolves!

"Wrong!"

Honestly, if it weren't for the strong support the World Revolutionary Party has given to the CCP and the recent performance of UMP45, according to the previous anti-counterrevolutionary style, it would have been no problem to label her a "counterrevolutionary" based on this statement alone.

What the hell!

If it wasn't Chiang Kai-shek and these bastards, who else could it be?!

Like many political cadres, the soldiers were clearly confused. Although they had little education, they were not stupid.

From the initial conversation, it was clear that UMP45 was leaning towards placing the blame on Chiang Kai-shek and other "counter-revolutionary groups." Why did they change their tune?

"Haha, why do I say you're wrong? Because your answer is both right and wrong. The root of the problem isn't Chiang Kai-shek; he's just a symptom."

The soldiers were bewildered, but Li Desheng and other senior leaders were suddenly enlightened. They understood what Commissioner Matt was trying to say.

Sure enough, Ma Shiwu asked another question:

"Everyone knows that the Soviet areas have been carrying out land reform and cracking down on landlords, right? So, why do you think the Communist Party is carrying out land reform?"

Everyone looked at each other for a while, and no one spoke.

UMP45 laughed:

"What are you afraid of? Telling the truth won't hurt you! Didn't you tell so many truths yesterday? Just say what's on your mind! Don't worry! I guarantee you, there will be no punishment for saying anything!" After a while, someone finally spoke up:

"Because the landlord is rich!"

"Because they want us to obey!" "Because the Communist Party is too poor!" "Because..."

The reasons vary, but they are generally the same - the Communist Party wants money, food, people, and hearts.

No one thought it was for them, and some even had the audacity to exploit the situation, arguing that good landlords shouldn't be killed altogether, saying the Communist Party's methods were too brutal and had killed many good people. UMP45 still didn't refute everyone's views:

"Everything you said makes sense and is correct."

Some CCP officials agreed, while others struggled to resist the urge to criticize. Then, Agent Matt changed the subject:

"But, what you said is not the main reason..."

"Let me ask you, when you were farming at home, how many acres did you plant? What was the yield per acre? What is the maximum amount of land you could plant? How much food is needed to feed you or your family?" I randomly called out the names of more than a dozen people, and everyone gave different answers.

So, UMP45 naturally asked a soldier: