Comrade Ke Qingshi: Two or Three Stories
Original text published in “Study and Criticism” Issue 6, 1975, Author: Ye Bole
【Editor’s Note from “Study and Criticism”】: April 9 this year marks the tenth anniversary of Comrade Ke Qingshi’s passing. Comrade Ke Qingshi was extremely strict with both others and himself throughout his life. During his work in Shanghai, he implemented Chairman Mao’s revolutionary line and took the lead in resisting the infiltration of bourgeois lifestyle into the Party. Today, as new and old cadres in Shanghai study Chairman Mao’s instructions on the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat, revisiting these deeds helps further inspire revolutionary spirit and strive for the cause of communism.
Time flies; Comrade Ke Qingshi has been gone for a full ten years. He was a good student of Chairman Mao. The last ten years of his fighting life were spent in Shanghai. These were ten years of intense struggle between two classes and two lines. “Firm revolutionary will, tenacious fighting spirit, passionate class feelings, and strict scientific attitude” characterize his lifelong revolutionary practice. He has lived on in the hearts of the broad cadres and masses in Shanghai with such a revolutionary image.
In 1954, Comrade Ke Qingshi came to Shanghai. At that time, under the brilliant guidance of Chairman Mao’s general line for the transitional period, a great socialist revolution in ownership began. Before coming to Shanghai, he warned comrades around him to be careful in such a “flower world” and “ten-mile foreign concession” like Shanghai! If not vigilant, one’s head could be cut off without even knowing how. Indeed, with the great victory of socialist transformation, the bourgeoisie became more cunning, and the “fragrant and poisonous fog” they stirred up eroded and poisoned cadres with weak will. In early 1957, Comrade Ke Qingshi received a “report” that a deputy party secretary of the China Shipbuilding Factory was openly pursuing bourgeois lifestyle, claiming “twenty years of revolution,” shamelessly asking the Party for 10,000 yuan from the state and to “leave the Party and resign.” At that time, Comrade Ke Qingshi was extremely angry and immediately called for a special column in the Party journal titled “Opposing Selfishness and Personalism Striving for Fame and Gain,” published the letter, and mobilized Party members for serious discussion and criticism.
This “report” was a signal. It told people that the bourgeoisie was stirring up a bourgeois lifestyle to attack the proletariat. It was at this moment, when the wind was just beginning, that Comrade Ke Qingshi keenly perceived this as a serious class struggle. He repeatedly told cadres in Shanghai: “Shanghai is a ‘sea,’ the most concentrated place of the bourgeoisie and the most complex place of class struggle. If blinded by the flower world, one will fall into the bourgeois dye vat. Fighting the enemy with real knives and guns is visible, but bourgeois thoughts sneaking into our minds are invisible and some comrades even find it quite comfortable. This is the most dangerous!” At that time, some cadres in Shanghai were quite fond of ballroom dancing, indulging in the “peng, cha, cha” lifestyle. After repeated struggles, Comrade Ke Qingshi finally curbed this unhealthy trend. He said: every cadre should keep a set of “Selected Works of Mao Zedong” on their desk and also by their bedside, reading Chairman Mao’s books whenever they have time, and never spend time dancing or playing poker. When Shanghai cadres talk about Comrade Ke Qingshi, they share the same feeling: if it were not for Comrade Ke Qingshi’s persistent efforts to curb bourgeois lifestyle among cadres, many would have fallen into the bourgeois traps and could not extricate themselves.
The rectification movement and the anti-rightist struggle were another great victory on the political and ideological front after the basic victory of the socialist revolution on the economic front. This victory greatly propelled the Great Leap Forward on both sides of the Huangpu River. While some comrades were absorbed in the sound of machines, Comrade Ke Qingshi received a letter from a worker in Shanghai. This letter, full of revolutionary passion, said: “The rectification movement has succeeded, and the spirit of rectification must never be lost!” Comrade Ke Qingshi was very pleased to read this letter. At the end of April 1958, the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee held an expanded meeting. Holding this letter, Comrade Ke Qingshi repeatedly educated all cadres in the city to remember the worker’s words: “The spirit of rectification must never be lost!” After the meeting, Comrade Ke Qingshi went to Beijing for a conference. Before boarding the train, he personally revised the report, making the worker’s words the central idea of the report. However, shortly after Comrade Ke Qingshi left, a so-called “praise wind” suddenly blew through Shanghai newspapers, vulgarly flattering cadres who “love praise but not criticism,” completely discarding the spirit of rectification. For a time, this unhealthy trend grew stronger in some units, creating a filthy and vulgar atmosphere. This was the bourgeoisie counterattacking.
After returning from Beijing, Comrade Ke Qingshi sensed something was wrong with this trend and immediately summoned relevant cadres for inquiry. Holding newspapers in hand, with a serious face and agitated tone, he sternly pointed out: “What is this ‘praise wind’? This is a wrong direction!” When someone said, “The rectification made cadres look gloomy; we should let cadres feel comfortable,” Comrade Ke Qingshi was furious and sharply questioned: “How could rectification make proletarian cadres gloomy?! Only the bourgeoisie would feel gloomy!” Later it was confirmed this was indeed a fierce struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The great rectification movement and anti-rightist struggle made the bourgeoisie very uncomfortable and made cadres pursuing bourgeois lifestyle suffer greatly.
To uphold the spirit of rectification, they could tolerate it even less. Under such a struggle situation, the capitalist roaders in the Municipal Party Committee took advantage of Comrade Ke Qingshi’s absence from Shanghai to lead a moderate “praise wind,” not only mobilizing the masses to “praise” cadres but also praising bourgeois intellectuals, under the pretext of “promoting the spirit of communism.” That day, Comrade Ke Qingshi had just gotten off the train. To find the root of this unhealthy trend, he did not eat lunch until 1 p.m. After lunch, he immediately convened a standing committee meeting of the Municipal Party Committee to continue the investigation, exposing the capitalist roader in the committee and curbing the “praise” unhealthy trend, correcting the direction of the rectification movement. This was such a deep concern and care for the broad cadres. The vast majority of cadres accepted Comrade Ke Qingshi’s criticism and education, went deeply among the masses, washed away ideological filth with the sweat of labor, established close ties with the masses through practical rectification actions, and together with the masses experienced the turbulent days and nights of the Great Leap Forward, jointly attacking bourgeois legal rights thinking.
During the climax of the Great Leap Forward, rural people’s communes appeared in Shanghai by the East China Sea. Comrade Ke Qingshi firmly believed: although Shanghai is small in land and large in population, as long as the people’s commune’s advantages of “one big and two public” are utilized and hard work is put in, agriculture can still be developed. However, there were some in the Party who yearned for bourgeois lifestyle and did not consider these major national economic and people’s livelihood issues. Although farmland was scarce, they still wanted to develop some scenic spots by Dianshan Lake for those who sought to expand bourgeois legal rights to enjoy boating and water activities. They did not care that this would reduce grain field area and affect grain production.
One Sunday after autumn 1960, Comrade Ke Qingshi, as usual, did not rest and set out to inspect work by Dianshan Lake. Incidentally, going to factories and rural areas whenever free had long become his habit. It was the season of the third autumn, with golden waves of rice and fragrant grains, and the members were busy harvesting—a scene of a good harvest. But strangely, the previously winding road had become so straight and wide. “How much farmland will this occupy? Is this necessary?” Comrade Ke Qingshi muttered to himself. At the lakeside, an old farmer was planting trees, so Comrade Ke Qingshi asked about the situation. The old farmer said, “Dianshan Lake is going to build a big garden! The road is made to be broad and straight for you Shanghai people.” Sensitive to the pulse of the masses, Comrade Ke Qingshi immediately sensed dissatisfaction from the old farmer’s words. He further asked, “How much grain can one mu of land produce in a year here?” The old farmer said calmly, “About a thousand jin.” Hearing this, Comrade Ke Qingshi felt heavy-hearted and immediately rushed back to Shanghai. On the way, a large bus with a Xinhua Bookstore banner came toward him. Comrade Ke Qingshi thought they were coming to participate in the autumn harvest battle, but when he asked, they said they were “coming to the scenic area for leisure.” Now he fully understood: building big roads and parks was for this purpose! Who did this? He anxiously returned to the office and immediately convened relevant department heads for thorough investigation. It turned out that some leaders in the Municipal Party Committee were spreading such fallacies: “Shanghai has many people and no place to go on Sundays; building a scenic area gives everyone a place to go.” That was the root! Dianshan Lake is over a hundred li from Shanghai; who has leisure time to go there? Building a “scenic area” was just adding a place for those desperately wanting to expand bourgeois legal rights to seek pleasure. To stop this behavior, Comrade Ke Qingshi immediately held a meeting to discuss. He passionately said, “Shanghai suburbs have only 5.4 million mu of farmland in total, no more can be grown! Some still want to occupy farmland to build ‘scenic areas.’ Do they not need to eat? Whoever wants to do this, tell them to eat tree leaves!” Comrade Ke Qingshi’s joys and sorrows were thus closely linked to the fundamental interests of the people.
“Our Party and state’s cadres are ordinary workers, not lords riding on the people’s heads.” This is true under favorable conditions and even more so under difficult circumstances. Whenever we think of Comrade Ke Qingshi’s strict self-discipline, we feel even more ashamed of special treatment in life. During the years when our national economy faced temporary difficulties, one day Comrade Ke Qingshi came home and suddenly saw a person in charge of managing agency affairs dodging and hesitating. Comrade Ke Qingshi asked what he came for. He put on a smiling face and said, “Nothing, just came to see the leader.” Comrade Ke Qingshi hated such vulgar behavior and asked again, “What exactly did you come for?” The man stammered, “We brought some food to care for the leader’s health; this is not special treatment, it’s from the agency farm production.” Comrade Ke Qingshi immediately became alert and sternly said, “Why don’t you care about the masses? Take the things back! If you bring anything again, you are not allowed to come here!” Though a small matter, this was so upright and righteous!
With the development of Shanghai’s industrial production, batches of new products were trial-produced. At this time, among some responsible cadres, a bad trend of “trying out” new products appeared. Semiconductor radios, they wanted to “listen”; new watches, they wanted to “try on”; new fabrics, they wanted to “try wearing”; new recipes, they wanted to “taste.” In short, they tried every means to turn public property into private property under the pretext of being for the kitchen but actually for themselves. They took advantage of this to make a profit. However, this could not escape Comrade Ke Qingshi’s eyes and ears. After discovering this, he immediately summoned the people involved for criticism: “Workers trial-producing new products, is it just for you few?” Undeniably, among our cadres, some were confused by commodities and the colorful world of market exchange; some had fallen to the edge of revisionism; some had degenerated into new bourgeois elements. During his lifetime, Comrade Ke Qingshi fought against these people and educated the broad cadres with great effort and dedication. He often said: “Ancient Chinese copper coins had a square hole in the middle; if you fall headfirst into this hole, it’s like being shackled and you can’t get out. Don’t be blinded by money!” He often reminded erring cadres: “Do you know about a donkey rolling? If you make a mistake and don’t correct it quickly, you will sink deeper and deeper like a rolling donkey!” His profound metaphors and earnest, passionate criticism were so serious, active, and warm-hearted. Except for a few stubborn elements, many cadres gradually cleansed themselves of filth under Comrade Ke Qingshi’s patient education and kept pace with the magnificent advance of millions of workers and peasants.
In the winter of 1963, just before the third municipal Party representative conference was to be held, Comrade Ke Qingshi fell ill. Despite his illness, he eagerly studied Chairman Mao’s latest instructions repeatedly from the combination of theory and practice, preparing his speech for the conference. On the day the meeting opened, although still ill, Comrade Ke Qingshi came to the venue and delivered his last speech to Shanghai’s Party members and cadres. This was the famous report “Strive to Promote the Revolutionary Transformation of Cadres and Party Members’ Thoughts and All Work!” The report was so gripping. He said: “Revolutionization means proletarianization, means communization, means thoroughly overcoming bourgeois thoughts and all other old thoughts and habits with proletarian and communist thoughts.” He also said: “The revolutionary transformation of cadres and Party members is the prerequisite for the revolutionary transformation of the masses.” And “bourgeois individualism only produces low tastes and is a hotbed for revisionism. It is the enemy of the revolution and must be resolutely opposed.”
This report was published at a critical moment when the socialist education movement in urban and rural Shanghai was deepening. It was like a loud bell, once again educating Shanghai’s Party members and cadres to discard bourgeois lifestyle. It seemed like a call to battle, inspiring Party members and cadres to charge forward in the fierce attack against the new and old bourgeoisie. The delegates at the Party congress all felt that Comrade Ke Qingshi’s report immediately raised the theme of the congress and elevated people’s spiritual realm to a new height. At that time, the battle slogan “Achieve ideological revolutionization!” became the code of conduct for Party members throughout the city. More than ten years later, Comrade Ke Qingshi’s call for revolutionary transformation of cadres and members still rings like a great bell in people’s ears. Today, many comrades recall in unison: “Fortunately, Comrade Ke Qingshi’s strict demands on Party members and cadres saved us from many mistakes. Otherwise, in this ‘sea’ of Shanghai, many might not have survived the stormy waves of class struggle!”
In the spring of 1964, Comrade Ke Qingshi fell ill again. Soon after, he bid farewell to the people of Shanghai forever. The ten years since Comrade Ke Qingshi’s passing have been even more magnificent. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius movement, personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao, pushed the socialist revolution deeper. Under the nurturing of Mao Zedong Thought and the baptism of the Cultural Revolution’s battles, many old cadres regained revolutionary youth, and a large number of new cadres were rapidly growing. Today, as we deeply study Chairman Mao’s important instructions on theoretical issues and Marxism’s theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat, resolutely oppose the comprehensive dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the fighting image of Comrade Ke Qingshi, a revolutionary predecessor who led by example to limit bourgeois legal rights, appears once again before us. He always stood in the revolutionary ranks, urging us to thoroughly eliminate bourgeois lifestyle, educate us to deeply criticize bourgeois legal rights thinking, and encourage us to always maintain revolutionary vigilance, always follow the great leader Chairman Mao, and carry the continuing revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat through to the end!
