The Evil History of Chen Yi’s Opposition to Chairman Mao
Disguised as a Communist Party member and occupying key government positions, Chen Yi was a complete hypocrite of revolution and counterrevolution. He came from a reactionary landlord family, with a deeply ingrained bourgeois worldview. For decades, whenever he saw an opportunity, he instinctively and madly opposed our great leader Chairman Mao and the radiant Mao Zedong Thought. Chen Yi’s history is a record of crimes against the Party, against Chairman Mao, and against Mao Zedong Thought.
As early as during the First Civil War, Chen Yi formed a deadly alliance with the warlord and ambitious Zhu De. At Jinggangshan, he disobeyed Chairman Mao’s leadership, opposed establishing revolutionary bases, and opposed Mao’s ideas on building the Red Army and a series of strategic and tactical principles. In July 1928, ignoring Chairman Mao’s teachings that “during the enemy’s temporary stability, military disunity and reckless advances are to be avoided,” and despite repeated warnings, they insisted on leading the main force of the Red Army to leave Jinggangshan without authorization, heading south recklessly to attack Chenzhou in southern Hunan.
After fierce fighting, they managed to enter the city, but that very night, they were counterattacked and surrounded by the enemy. They panicked and abandoned the city, losing two to three thousand troops. Subsequently, their reckless adventurism escalated into a tendency to flee, leading the troops to escape to eastern Guangxi, resulting in the infamous “August Failure.”
Meanwhile, due to the absence of the main Red Army forces at Jinggangshan, the enemy took advantage of the opportunity to attack, leading to the fall of Yongxin, Lianhua, Ninggang, and other counties. At a critical moment when Chen Yi was defeated and the Fourth Red Army faced life and death, our great leader Chairman Mao led a battalion of the 31st Regiment, risking his life, fighting and retreating, arriving in Guangxi on August 23, bringing Zhu De and Chen Yi back to Jinggangshan. On October 14, the Second Boundary Party Congress was held at Maoping, criticizing Zhu De and Chen Yi’s errors.
Chen Yi’s collaboration with Zhu De against Chairman Mao caused tremendous losses to the revolution. Chairman Mao wrote painfully in November of the same year:
“Taking the Red Army to attack Chenzhou led to the failure of both the Boundary and the Red Army. The Red Army lost about half its strength; countless houses were burned, and many people were killed in the Boundary. Several counties fell one after another, and to this day, they have not been fully recovered. This painful experience is worth remembering at all times.”
The disastrous “August Failure” created a difficult situation where the enemy besieged the Jinggangshan base with heavy forces. In early 1929, the main Red Army was forced to transfer to western Fujian. However, Zhu De and Chen Yi, instead of learning from the lessons, harbored resentment and intensified their opposition to Chairman Mao and his revolutionary line.
In 1929, Chen Yi suddenly shouted: “Keep Zhu, not Mao; keep Mao, not Zhu!” Utterly rampant! Using the influence of so-called “overseas students,” their rich “social experience,” and under the guise of being the secretary of the Military Commission, they deceived and blinded a significant portion of officers and soldiers, attempting to incite them against our most revered great leader Chairman Mao, creating a very serious situation.
From June 15 to 22, 1929, the Seventh Party Congress of the Fourth Red Army was held. During the meeting, Zhu and Chen launched a reckless attack against Chairman Mao and his revolutionary line.
They opposed Chairman Mao’s correct propositions on establishing and expanding revolutionary bases, deepening land revolution; on organizing, propagating, arming, and helping the masses establish revolutionary governments and party organizations; on the fundamental principle that the Red Army must absolutely obey the Party’s leadership; on the military-political-economic democratic policies within the army; and on the strategic tactics of “enemy advances, our retreat; enemy stays, our harass; enemy exhausts, we strike; enemy withdraws, we pursue.”
They desperately promoted “attacking big cities,” “fighting hard,” “fighting positional and formal battles,” and vigorously implemented their blind adventurism and opportunistic surrender routes. The debate was fierce and intense. At that time, opportunists returning from the Soviet Union also attacked Chairman Mao, claiming Mao’s approach was even less advanced than the Soviet Union’s. This made Zhu and Chen even more arrogant, saying:
“Well, big brother doesn’t have this approach; you (referring to Chairman Mao) are setting new trends.”
The opposition was overwhelming. Although comrades in the meeting fought them resolutely, some within the Red Army failed to recognize Zhu and Chen’s counterrevolutionary nature. They exploited some people’s conciliatory tendencies and bourgeois influence within the army, enabling them to incite part of the troops to oppose Chairman Mao.
At that time, except for Chen Yi, the number of supporters of Chairman Mao was equal to those opposing him. Therefore, Chen Yi’s attitude was crucial in determining whether Chairman Mao could continue to lead the Red Army. But Chen Yi, driven by his reactionary bourgeois stance and his consistent opposition to Chairman Mao, cast a vote against Mao. As a result, Chairman Mao was temporarily in the minority and was voted out.
Chairman Mao was pushed out of the Fourth Red Army and was forced to cease work, but he maintained his correct stance. He then went to Tingzhou in Fuzhou, where his situation was very difficult.
As soon as Chairman Mao left the Fourth Red Army, Zhu and Chen were overjoyed. Chen Yi usurped the position of the Party committee secretary, and the leadership of the Fourth Red Army and Jinggangshan base fell entirely into the hands of these two ambitious men. This was a serious event of Chen Yi colluding with Zhu De to usurp the Party, the Army, and the government.
After seizing power, Zhu and Chen, standing on the bourgeois and warlordist positions, immediately changed the political direction of the Red Army, leading the Fourth Red Army onto the path of Kuomintang warlordism. They pasted propaganda everywhere in the city, recruited soldiers, and a large number of hooligans and ruffians infiltrated the Red Army. They pushed Mao’s years of revolutionary strength to the brink of collapse.
After the “Seventh Congress,” enemies from Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong launched a reckless attack on the Fourth Red Army. Zhu and Chen panicked, fearing that Fujian West could not hold out, and left the base, rushing into the middle of Fujian. They suffered defeats again, suffering heavy losses.
Cornered and with no way out, they had to change their plans, retreat to Shanghang in western Fujian, and hold the Eighth Party Congress of the Fourth Red Army.
At that time, the entire army’s officers and soldiers demanded that Chairman Mao return to lead the Fourth Red Army. Chairman Mao, knowing the “Eighth Congress” was imminent, immediately wrote a letter to the congress, pointing out:
“What will Chen Yi’s followers do?”
However, the congress was manipulated by Zhu De. They again launched a reckless opposition to Chairman Mao, suppressing other comrades’ correct opinions, insisting on military adventurism and warlordism, belittling political work, and developing the bourgeois reactionary military line to the extreme. The meeting was hastily concluded, and Chairman Mao was once again pushed out of the Fourth Red Army.
Chairman Mao did not attend the “Eighth Congress.” Under the guise of opposing Mao, he secretly came to Shanghai, falsely accused Mao, and demanded the central authorities take organizational action against Mao, claiming they had seized power from him, intending to eliminate Mao and fulfill his and Zhu De’s personal ambitions.
At that time, Zhou Enlai and other comrades working at the central authorities received Chen Yi. Chen Yi, full of arrogance and exaggeration, reported a series of so-called “errors” of Chairman Mao to the central authorities, portraying Mao as utterly useless. He demanded Mao’s removal and spread rumors claiming this was the common wish of all Red Fourth Army soldiers.
Faced with this serious issue, the central leadership held a meeting, deeming Zhu and Chen’s actions wrong. When Premier Zhou Enlai first spoke with Chen Yi, he asked him to bring Chairman Mao back and continue as the Party secretary. Chen Yi completely refused. Zhou Enlai then personally spoke to him twice more, and only then did Chen Yi reluctantly agree.
Premier Zhou asked him to convey the central decision and persuade the officers opposing Mao, but because this was Chen Yi’s heinous crime, he did not transmit the decision to the broad Red Army soldiers after returning. Truly a heinous crime!
Under the rule of warlord Zhu De and Chen Yi, the Fourth Red Army continued to suffer heavy losses. Their reckless attacks into eastern Jiangxi and the disastrous battles at Meixian deeply educated the officers and soldiers, arousing their strong dissatisfaction with Zhu and Chen’s opportunist line, and they longed for Chairman Mao day and night.
At this critical moment, our great leader Chairman Mao returned to the Fourth Red Army and, in December 1929, presided over the Ninth Party Congress of the Fourth Red Army, known as the Gutian Conference, which severely criticized Zhu and Chen’s opportunist line, corrected the direction of the Red Army, and brought it back from the wrong path. It also saved Chen Yi himself, still requiring him to be responsible for the Gan’nan Special Committee work.
Over the years, Chen Yi repeatedly opposed Chairman Mao, suffering setbacks in practice, but he did not change his course. His rebellious nature remained. By 1930, he was secretly supporting Li Lisan and opposing Mao, faithfully executing Li Lisan’s wrong line, desperately resisting Mao’s revolutionary line.
In 1932, he conspired with Zhang Wenhui, Bogu, and others to fiercely oppose Chairman Mao. They sidelined cadres loyal to Mao and installed followers of Wang Ming, vigorously promoting the “Left” opportunist line.
At the Ningdu Conference in August, they again ousted Chairman Mao from the leadership of the Fourth Red Army, removing all of Mao’s military and political positions, and only nominally kept Mao as the Chairman of the Chinese Soviet Republic to appease the masses. Chen Yi once again committed unforgivable crimes.
Later, in October 1934, during the Long March, Chen Yi stayed in the Soviet Area as the director of the Central Soviet Area Office. He actively followed the “Left” opportunist line of Xiang Ying (then secretary of the Central Soviet Area), violating Mao’s instructions after the Zunyi Conference. As a result, in March 1935, the enemy surrounded them heavily. Xiang Ying and Chen Yi only managed to break out with a squad, barely escaping with their lives, bringing irreparable losses to the Central Soviet Area.
Subsequently, Chen Yi also supported Xiang Ying’s right opportunist line. During the difficult revolutionary period, he not only failed to do ideological work for those losing faith and wavering but also encouraged them to desert. Chen Yi said:
“The guerrilla war in the south has reached a point where it is hard to endure. Dying from wounds, sickness, or starvation is common. Those afraid of hardship and sacrifice can return to the enemy, but when they return and fall into the enemy’s hands, do not show no mercy, so that it will be hard to meet again in the future.”
This fully exposed Chen Yi’s shameful cowardice.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Yi repeatedly opposed Chairman Mao’s revolutionary line, faithfully implementing the opportunist lines of Wang Ming and Liu Shaoqi, causing huge losses to the revolution.
Chen Yi committed a series of major errors, yet he did not stop or reflect. Instead, he harbored resentment against Mao and his criticism and assistance.
In spring 1942, Liu Shaoqi left the New Fourth Army for Yan’an. Before leaving, he sent a telegram recommending and having the central authorities appoint Rao Shushi as the secretary of the Central China Bureau and political commissar of the New Fourth Army. Chen Yi, driven by personal ambition, was deeply dissatisfied, not only engaging in open and covert conflicts with Rao Shushi but also neglecting work, playing Go daily, composing poetry, and even daring to suspect that Mao was retaliating against him through this, believing Mao used this as a “one-arrow revenge” because he had previously opposed Mao.
One evening in summer 1942, he told his secretary:
“Chairman Mao is very powerful. He likes to strike at people. Now, the rectification documents from Yan’an mention ‘punishing the past to save the future,’ ‘fighting ruthless suppression and brutal struggle’—all just fancy words, isn’t it? I have tasted Mao’s blows before. You, who just joined the Party, don’t know much about the history. Don’t believe those pretty words.”
Chen Yi’s madness and opposition to Chairman Mao are truly heinous!
After the end of the Anti-Japanese War and during the period leading to the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Chen Yi again opposed Chairman Mao’s wise instructions to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek and liberate all of China. He vigorously promoted Liu Shaoqi’s so-called “New Stage of Peaceful Democracy” and the national and class capitulation lines, spouting nonsense:
“The era of solving China’s problems with guns has passed; the era of solving China’s problems through peaceful democracy has arrived.”
Once again, this caused enormous setbacks to the revolution.
Chen Yi repeatedly and madly opposed Chairman Mao, but he was not ashamed; instead, he took pride in it. Even after liberation, he often boasted about how he opposed Mao and admitted that at the time, the prevailing ideology was:
“Mao Zedong has his approach; I, Chen Yi, have two approaches!”
This arrogance is truly extreme, showing how high he thinks of himself.
At the same time, he hypocritically praised the warlord Zhu De, who once opposed Mao with him, saying:
“Commander Zhu, in the darkest days when the masses’ morale was at zero and despair was everywhere, pointed out the bright future and increased the revolutionary faith of the masses. This is the greatness of the Commander, impossible without Marxism-Leninism… The reason Commander Zhu became the leader of the People’s Army is natural, not accidental; it was tested in revolutionary struggle.”
Look at how clear Chen Yi’s love and hatred are! How sinister his intentions! Chen Yi and Zhu De are truly birds of a feather.
Just like a dog can never change its nature of eating shit, Chen Yi’s deep hatred for Chairman Mao and Mao Zedong Thought is endless. For more than ten years since liberation, he has never stopped his evil acts against Mao. Under the guise of opposing personal superstition, he actually attacked Mao, saying:
“We do not have personal superstition; we do not worship Stalin, Khrushchev, or Comrade Mao Zedong.”
And he shamelessly belittled Mao’s great role in Chinese revolutionary history, spouting nonsense:
“Leaders are ultimately individuals; their strength is limited; mainly relying on collectives, the Party, and everyone.”
He also said:
“Mao Zedong is just an ordinary commoner.”
And:
“He is just a screw.”
And:
“He was a student at the First Normal School. What does he have? Just an ordinary student… Without relying on the Party, could he win? … Without the Party, even the most talented is useless.”
Shut up, Chen Yi! Mao Zedong is our most revered leader, the brightest sun in our hearts, and the great founder of our Party. If you continue to crazily attack Mao, we will not forgive you!
Long-standing, Chen Yi has regarded himself as a “meritorious elder” opposing Mao, shamelessly boasting about his shameful history of opposing Mao. He said:
“I opposed Chairman Mao, but after he came to power, he still promoted me. Opposing him does not necessarily mean counterrevolutionary; supporting him does not necessarily mean revolutionary.”
He viciously slandered Mao, saying:
“Mao’s prestige and correctness may have come from the most unjust treatment he received.”
And:
“Mao Zedong is the most persecuted person. The grievances and injustices he suffered, the unfair treatment, are the most—when he was dismissed, kept under surveillance, declared an opportunist, sent to the back to recuperate, no one visits him, no one dares to approach him. When he came to power, all comrades reconciled, and no one made him apologize.”
All utter nonsense—an utter fool!
Chen Yi, born from his reactionary bourgeois nature, hates Mao Zedong Thought with a deadly hatred, fearing it to death. He desperately attacks, slanders, and resists Mao Zedong Thought, never using Mao Zedong Thought as the guiding principle in foreign affairs. He said:
“Mao Zedong Thought is Mao Chairman’s thought, but also not Mao Chairman’s thought… Viewing Mao Zedong Thought as a personal ideology is vulgar.”
And:
“Mao Zedong Thought is just a big framework.”
And:
“Don’t think that believing in Mao Zedong Thought can solve all problems; thinking that you can be lazy is also wrong.”
And:
“If diplomats also wear military caps, dress in military uniforms, hang Mao’s quotations around their necks, and hold Mao’s Quotations in hand, wouldn’t they look like priests?”
And:
“The core content of Mao Zedong Thought is that rebellion is justified… Will the king welcome rebellion?”
And:
“Can diplomacy be without kindness, humility, moderation, and patience?”
And:
“Reciting Quotations and giving commemorative medals can bring progress and revolution? That’s unreliable; supporting the ordinary is better…”
And:
“…reciting Quotations, giving people commemorative medals… what we do is very dangerous, inexperienced Mao children, people who don’t understand things.”
Just a few words reveal how deeply Chen Yi despises Mao Zedong Thought!
Chen Yi also said:
“Mao Zedong Thought is developing, Marxism-Leninism is developing; a doctrine in development will never reach perfection.”
Chen Yi truly deserves to be called the vanguard of opposition to Mao Zedong Thought.
Chen Yi’s mad opposition to Chairman Mao and Mao Zedong Thought aims to realize capitalist counterrevolutionary restoration in China. For over ten years, he has appeared everywhere in the arts and literature circles, jumping around and making reckless remarks, preparing to create public opinion for capitalist restoration. He fiercely opposes Mao’s revolutionary cultural line, faithfully implements Zhou Yang’s counterrevolutionary cultural black line, and defends the so-called “artistic monsters and ghosts.”
In diplomacy, he desperately resists Mao’s revolutionary diplomatic line, faithfully executes Liu Shaoqi’s “Three Declines and One Extinction” revisionist line, causing enormous losses to the global revolutionary cause. Chen Yi is not only an enemy of the Chinese people but also an enemy of revolutionary people worldwide.
During the unprecedented proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chen Yi felt his doom approaching and became even more frenzied in opposing Mao. He attacked Mao, saying:
“During the Cultural Revolution, it was a matter of absolute dictatorship.”
He incited the monsters and ghosts to post big-character posters attacking Mao, claiming:
“Including Mao Chairman, everyone is just ordinary workers; anyone can post big-character posters.”
He also said:
“Criticize the Central Committee and Mao Chairman… you can give opinions, and they are all welcome. Even if you go too far, they shouldn’t fight you.”
Truly audacious and reactionary to the extreme! When the broad masses of revolutionaries shouted from their hearts, “Long live the great leader Chairman Mao,” he was gnashing his teeth and shouting:
“People shout long live Mao Chairman, but no one can live for ten thousand years. But the people can live for ten thousand years.”
He also said:
“Just talking about greatness, greatness, long live, long live, doesn’t help you, and it doesn’t benefit you.”
And:
“Don’t think that just because you support Mao Chairman today, you won’t oppose him tomorrow! You can’t always support him.”
And:
“I also opposed Mao Chairman in the past… I can’t guarantee I won’t oppose Mao Chairman in the future.”
How sinister his intentions are! Down with Chen Yi!
Until recently, Chen Yi still said:
“I, Old Commander Chen, also have influence, but I don’t want to do this.”
He also said:
“I’m going to rebel too!”
And prepared to “risk death” and “give my life.”
This shows Chen Yi is again stirring and struggling desperately.
But we want to warn Chen Yi: If you insist on overestimating yourself and dare to oppose our great leader Chairman Mao again, we will smash you to pieces! Chen Yi in history is just such a veteran opponent of Mao, a real hypocrite of revolution and counterrevolution. Chen Yi’s life is full of crimes, heinous beyond measure. Truly:
“The bamboo of Qingshan Mountain records endless crimes; the waves of the East Sea flow with endless evil.”
Even if he is dismembered into pieces, it won’t relieve our hatred!
Down with the veteran anti-Maoist Chen Yi!
Red Fifth Regiment “Treading the Green Mountains”
Sources:
The above “The Evil History of Chen Yi’s Opposition to Mao Chairman” is compiled from the “Critic Chen Liaison Station” of the Capital Red Generation’s “Critic Chen Bulletin.”
