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Interview record of Zhang Suhua, former deputy director of the First Editorial and Research Department of the Central Literature Research Office

Reporter: There is a recent saying that the phrase "Long live Chairman Mao" in the 1950 "Slogan for Celebrating May Day" was added by Mao Zedong himself. Many readers find it difficult to tell whether this is true or not. What is the truth? Can you tell us what the relevant historical documents say?

Zhang Suhua:I think it is necessary to clarify this matter. I have seen this statement many times in the past, and some people even concluded from it that "'Long live Chairman Mao!' This slogan that hundreds of millions of people have shouted for decades was actually Mao Zedong himself who asked others to shout it."

The best way to clarify this fact is to let the archives speak. I found the original archive of the "Slogans to Celebrate May 1st Labor Day" in 1950. This archive has been well preserved to this day. It is in 16-page format, with a total of 5 pages. The entire text is written vertically, and the handwriting is very clear. From this archive, it can be seen that the first draft of the "Slogans to Celebrate May 1st Labor Day" is in Hu Qiaomu's handwriting, indicating that it was drafted by Hu Qiaomu. The first draft drafted by Hu Qiaomu drafted a total of 35 "May 1st Slogans". The last two are "Long live the great unity of the Chinese people!" and "Long live Chairman Mao!"

After Hu Qiaomu drafted it, he sent the first draft to Liu Shaoqi for review. Liu Shaoqi made specific revisions to Articles 9, 13, 16, 17, 19, 22, 25, 29, 31, 32, 33, and 35, and deleted Article 34, "Long live the great unity of the Chinese people!". Here we will only talk about the revisions to Articles 33 and 35. Liu Shaoqi changed Article 33, "Long live the Communist Party of China!", to "Long live the great Communist Party of China-the leader and organizer of the victory of the Chinese people!"; and changed Article 35, "Long live Chairman Mao!", to "Long live Comrade Mao Zedong, the great leader of the Chinese people!". After Liu Shaoqi made the revisions, he submitted the revised draft to Mao Zedong on April 18, and wrote on the right side of the first page of this file: "Chairman Mao: Please review this. If it is useful, please give it to Shangkun to print and distribute to all comrades in the Politburo.

Reporter: So did Mao Zedong make any changes when he reviewed this document?

Zhang Suhua:Yes. After reading the revised draft of the "May 1st slogan" submitted by Liu Shaoqi for review, Mao Zedong revised three of them on April 21. First, he changed the "resolutely implement the economic policy of benefiting both labor and capital and balancing public and private interests" in Article 14 to "resolutely implement the policy of balancing public and private interests and benefiting both labor and capital"; second, he changed the "don't touch the property of rich peasants" in Article 19 to "don't touch the land property of rich peasants"; third, he changed the "the people of Taiwan, Tibet and other areas to be liberated, work hard to assist in the completion of the national liberation cause" in Article 24 to "the people of Taiwan, Tibet and other areas to be liberated, prepare all possible conditions, cooperate with the timely advance of the People's Liberation Army, liberate themselves and complete reunification." No other changes were made.

According to convention, this document had to be discussed and approved by the Central Political Bureau before it could be officially issued. Therefore, after Mao Zedong made the revision, he added the word "draft" in brackets under the title "Slogans to Celebrate May Day" and wrote on the top of the first page of this file: "Shangkun prints and distributes. Print and distribute to all comrades in the Political Bureau and Qiao Mu, Lu Dingyi, Chen Boda, Li Lisan, Nie, and Bo for discussion on Wednesday." Then, Yang Shangkun wrote on the upper left of this page based on Mao Zedong's opinion: "Comrade Qiao Mu: Please print 20 copies."

In this file, Hu Qiaomu drafted with a fountain pen, Liu Shaoqi revised with a brush, and Mao Zedong revised with a pencil, so it is entirely possible to distinguish who revised what.

I checked the perpetual calendar, and the "Wednesday" Mao Zedong mentioned was April 26, 1950. As for how the meeting was discussed, there is no written material left. The "May 1st slogans" later published publicly by the People's Daily increased from 34 to 38. The four added ones are: "Salute the intellectuals who serve the people nationwide!" "People from all walks of life in the country work together to assist the people's government in famine relief!" "In areas where land reform has been completed, quickly issue land certificates, consolidate the people's land ownership, and work hard to carry out spring ploughing!" "All democratic classes and democratic parties across the country unite and work hard to build an independent, free, democratic, unified and prosperous new China!" I also paid special attention to the last two items, which were still published: "Long live the great Communist Party of China - the leader and organizer of the victory of the Chinese people!" "Long live Comrade Mao Zedong, the great leader of the Chinese people!", exactly the same as Liu Shaoqi's revision.

Reporter: That is to say, these two slogans have not been changed since Liu Shaoqi revised them until they were officially released.

Zhang Suhua:This is the fact. I think we can trace back to where the slogan "Long Live Chairman Mao" came from. This will help us understand the incident in 1950.

Slogans are often impromptu shouts to express people's feelings and emotions, and are not meant to be recorded in writing or passed down to future generations. The same is true for "Long Live Chairman Mao." It is now difficult to confirm when and by whom it was first shouted. There are reliable historical records. After my preliminary verification, it was at the Border Region Labor Heroes Conference held by the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government in November 1943. The labor heroes who came to Yan'an to attend the conference at that time felt that they were poor people who were looked down upon in the past, but now they have turned over and become glorious labor heroes. They are very grateful to Mao Zedong, Zhu De and the Communist Party, so they sent tributes to Mao Zedong. Among them, 45 labor heroes of the Yanshu Division, including Wu Manyou, Zhao Zhankui, Shen Changlin, and Yang Chaochen, shouted the slogan "Long Live Chairman Mao!" in their tributes to Mao Zedong. This tribute was published in the "Liberation Daily" on December 1, 1943. The words "We must shout: Long live Chairman Mao!" were also included in the dedication to Mao Zedong by representatives of labor heroes and model production workers from the Central Government, the Military Government and others.

Reporter: That is to say, this slogan originally came from the masses spontaneously expressing their sincere feelings.

Zhang Suhua:That's right. It should be from that time that this slogan was widely circulated among the people. It also began to be used in party documents. For example, at the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China in April 1945, Zhu De gave a military report and shouted "Long live the Communist Party of China! Long live Comrade Mao Zedong!" at the end of his report. Zhou Enlai also shouted these two slogans at the end of his speech. Another example is the editorial "The Communist Party of China and China -- Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" in the Liberation Daily on July 1, 1946, which ended with the words: "Let us shout: March forward under the banner of Mao Zedong! Long live China! Long live the Communist Party of China! Long live Mao Zedong, the savior of the Chinese people!" According to Li Yinqiao's recollection, in the autumn of 1947, when Mao Zedong went to Jiaxian County to see the Yellow River, he was recognized by the villagers on the city wall. People shouted: "Chairman Mao is here! Chairman Mao is here!" "Long live Chairman Mao! Long live Chairman Mao!" Mao Zedong waved to everyone and said: "Hello, fellow villagers! Hello, comrades!" Similar scenes were very common during that period.

Reporter: What people remember most about this slogan now is probably the slogan chanted during the mass parade at the founding ceremony.

Zhang Suhua:According to the People's Daily, at the end of the founding ceremony, when the masses walked out of the venue past the rostrum, slogans such as "Long live the People's Republic!" and "Long live Chairman Mao!" resounded through the sky. Mao Zedong answered loudly through a loudspeaker: "Long live comrades!" The people supported Mao Zedong, and Mao Zedong loved the people. Both feelings were very sincere.

In fact, in the speeches of the representatives at the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in September 1949, many people also shouted similar slogans at the end. For example, Sai Fuding, the head of the Xinjiang delegation, said at the end: "Long live Comrade Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese people!" Chen Shutong, the chief representative of the national industrial and commercial circles, said at the end: "Long live Chairman Mao!" Xie Xuehong, the chief representative of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, said at the end: "Long live the Communist Party of China! Long live Chairman Mao!" Shen Junru, a representative of the China Democratic League, said at the end: "Long live Chairman Mao, the great leader of the Chinese people!" Xu Deheng, the chief representative of the Jiusan Society, said at the end of his speech: "Long live Chairman Mao!" Ma Xulun, the chief representative of the China Democratic League, also said at the end: "Long live the Communist Party of China and the people's leader Chairman Mao!"

Reporter: In that case, the inclusion of the slogan "Long Live Chairman Mao" in the "Slogans to Celebrate May Day" in 1950 was a relatively natural thing at the time.

Zhang Suhua:Yes. So, judging from historical documents, from the dedication of the labor heroes in Yan'an in 1943 to the May Day slogans in 1950, "Long live the Communist Party of China!" and "Long live Chairman Mao!" and Liu Shaoqi's revisions, they all reflected the voices of hundreds of millions of people who had been liberated and liberated in that era, and their sincere wishes for the new people's regime and the people's leaders represented by Mao Zedong.

Reprinted from: Xinxiang Review

Editor: Hou Mengwei

Editor: Wang Yuanyuan

Editor: Xiang Dongmin