Peng Xuefeng and "Dawn News"
Author: Zhang Yanmei, Party History and Local History Research Office of the Shangqiu Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China
Abstract: In the process of establishing the anti-Japanese base in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu, Peng Xuefeng founded the party newspaper - "Dawn Newspaper" in accordance with the new democratic cultural policy. As one of Peng Xuefeng's "Three Treasures", "Diaobao" has greatly played the role of the Party's mouthpiece. During the founding of the newspaper, Peng Xuefeng devoted a lot of effort to make significant contributions to the development of "Dawn Newspaper".
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In the process of establishing the anti-Japanese base in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu, Peng Xuefeng founded the party newspaper - "Dawn Newspaper" in accordance with the new democratic cultural policy. As one of Peng Xuefeng's "Three Treasures", "Diaobao" has greatly played the role of the Party's mouthpiece. Peng Xuefeng once said: In an environment where the enemy is strong and we are weak, a pen is better than two thousand Mauser rifles. As soon as the "Dawn Newspaper" was published, it was welcomed by the vast number of anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in the base area with its clear position, real reports, vivid texts and novel layouts. It played the loud clarion call for the Central China region to persist in the War of Resistance, and formed a tradition and style with combat nature, distinctness, mass nature and party spirit as its main characteristics. During the founding of the newspaper, Peng Xuefeng devoted a lot of effort to personally guide the work on the Xiaobao work site, established the purpose of publishing and distributing the "Yiaobao", and formed the spirit of "Yiaobao" in the process of publishing and publishing, making a significant contribution to the development of "Yiaobao".
1. Peng Xuefeng established the purpose of "Dawn Bow"
Direction determines the future, and the road determines destiny. Peng Xuefeng founded "Dawn News" as a politician who runs a newspaper and requires the party newspaper to adhere to the correct political direction. Peng Xuefeng established the correct purpose of publishing newspapers, so "Dawn" has strong vitality and can survive, develop and grow in the difficult guerrilla areas behind enemy lines. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, "Dawn Newspaper" made outstanding contributions to promoting the Communist Party of China's anti-Japanese national united front policy, the deeds of the anti-Japanese military and civilian struggle against Japan, and guiding the troops to conduct current affairs and political education. It was once praised by Mao Zedong as one of the regional newspapers that "does well".
The "Daobao" has existed for a long time. It was founded on September 29, 1938. As of December 7, 1946, the "Daobao" has published 1,159 issues. "Dawn Newspaper (English Edition)" has published more than 6,000 issues until the end of 1958, "Dawn Newspaper (Luxi Edition)" has published 100 issues, "Snow Maple Newspaper" has published 114 issues, and "Daily Telegraph of Dawn" has published more than 1,000 issues. Currently, "Dawn News" is the official newspaper of the Suzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China. As of July 1, 2024, a total of 17,810 issues have been published. It is one of the longest-time newspapers in China. In the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, socialist construction, reform and opening up, and the new era, united and educated the people, attacked the enemy, promoted the Party’s policies and policies, reflected the voice of the people, played a major role in reflecting and guiding actual work, and as the clarion call of the times, he gloriously completed his historical mission and made due contributions.
Peng Xuefeng established the purpose of "Dawn Newspaper" to run newspapers mainly includes four items:
Adhere to the principle of party spirit. In the article "The Produce and Growth of Dawn and Its Future Policy", Peng Xuefeng pointed out that "Dawn" is the political compass for all the commanders and fighters of the detachment, and the mentor of military, political, civil movement, cultural and entertainment work in the army, it is the only official newspaper of the Party. The Party’s line, propositions, policies, resolutions and instructions from individual periods are all promoted through newspapers. The Party newspaper should improve the will of the people in the occupied areas to resist the war and awaken the people's national consciousness. We must spread the views of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Marxism-Leninism, the precise and correct analysis of the international political situation, the imperialist world war, and political foresight, and induce people to grasp the most basic link of the international political situation and understand and grasp the foreign policy in the war of resistance. Under Peng Xuefeng's specific guidance and care, "Diaobao" conducts news activities, and always takes the Party's central tasks as a guide. The Party Central Committee launched the "Hundred Regiments War", and the "Dawn News" reported on the "Hundred Regiments War" and mobilized the troops to cooperate closely. The Party Central Committee launched a movement to streamline the production and government-simplified the military. The "Dawn News" organized manuscripts with production and government-simplified the military as the center to disseminate and exchange experiences. This is especially true for the three-year rectification campaign. As for the various movements launched and led by the Party, Government and Military Committees in Huaibei region based on the characteristics of the region, they are often issued with the "Dawn" as the clarion call. Peng Xuefeng often explained to newspaper staff the principles of Lenin and Mao Zedong's newspaper management. He said: Comrade Mao Zedong's proposal to seek truth from facts, maintain close ties with the masses, criticism and self-criticism are the highest manifestation of the party principle of the Communist Party of China. Peng Xuefeng earnestly warned the newspaper staff that they should never leave the principle of party spirit at all times.
Adhere to the principle of combat. "Dawn" should be a collective propagandist, a collective agitator, and a collective organizer. Peng Xuefeng pointed out: Newspapers should not be just simple reports, but the content of newspapers should be educational, competitive and organized. The ultimate goal of newspapers is to change theoretical propaganda and agitation into practical concrete actions. Peng Xuefeng emphasized that cultural and news movements are not secondary to military and political struggles, and they must play a leading role in military and political struggles. When it was founded, Peng Xuefeng proposed the purpose of running a newspaper: First, guide and guide the New Fourth Army's policy of advancing forward, reflecting the daily life of the local army; second, we must fight ruthlessly against all incorrect thoughts, consciousness and other behaviors; third, we must unite closely with the masses and all friendly forces, and resolutely implement the united front. "Dawn News" reports on the heroic deeds, glorious victory and combat art of front-line commanders and fighters against the enemy and puppet war, and reports to the rear masses and party and government organs to develop production, actively support the front and work enthusiastically in the army; reports to the troops to train and learn military and political culture to improve combat quality; reports to the passionate life of military-civilian cooperation, unity of cadres and masses, and being close to the family. As Deng Zihui said in the inscription: Make dawn the mouthpiece of the liberation of the Jianghuai people and become the clarion call for the construction of the Fourth Division's Party Army.
Adhere to the principle of mass. In the publication lyrics "Dawn Newspaper - Our Good Friends" written by Peng Xuefeng, he made a clear statement that the party newspaper had a close contact with the masses. When "Dawn" was first founded, the article was difficult to understand, with many cursive characters, strange characters and simple characters. Peng Xuefeng pointed out: The article is not popular, it has profound literary descriptions, and the font also has innovative "creation", which is all related to the mass viewpoint of the party newspaper. Peng Xuefeng's articles and vivid and bright speeches are easy to accept by intellectuals and workers and peasants. They are easy to understand and make sense. This has become a role model for journalists to learn from and the driving force for reforming their writing style. Under Peng Xuefeng's leadership, "Dawn" promoted the Communist Party's proposal to fight against Japan and save the country at a time of great disaster in the base area, promoted the truth of Marxism, reflected the people's combat life, reflected the people's creation, wisdom, methods and experience in the process of implementing the party's policies and policies, as well as the people's lives, thoughts, requirements and voices, etc., and spoke on behalf of the people. The people are the masters of newspapers, the people's social practice is the main source of news, and the people are the supervisors of newspapers. The language of "Daobao" is lively and easy to understand. The soldiers, the masses and cadres regard listening to and reading newspapers as a kind of political learning and spiritual enjoyment. The writing style of "Daobao" is to tell the truth, tell the facts, and tell the truth. Therefore, "Daobao" can have strong vitality, last forever, and be welcomed by the people in the base areas.
Adhere to a clear standpoint. Peng Xuefeng attaches great importance to improving the political and theoretical quality of party newspaper workers and adheres to revolutionary stance, viewpoints and methods. Every article in "Dawn" has a clear position, a clear boundary between right and wrong, and a clear boundary between right and wrong. The newspaper strictly distinguishes the enemy and us, and ruthlessly exposes and strikes against the enemy and puppet, praises and criticizes the friends, and unites as much as possible to unite and strive for it. For oneself, we mainly praise our achievements and encourage morale, but we also do not give up criticizing our mistakes on the premise of affirming the essence of the revolution. Peng Xuefeng once told the newspaper staff that he wanted to strengthen the ambition of the people and destroy the prestige of the enemy. At the same time, reporting must be accurate and clearly reflect the Party’s policies and policies. He pointed out that the power of the party newspaper's combat power comes from the understanding of the party's strategic theory. Improving political theory quality is a condition that party newspaper workers must meet. In December 1938, the guerrilla detachment advanced to the Suiqitai area where the Japanese invaders, traitors, bandits, and miscellaneous teams were like mahjong. In the first battle, a group of traitors and bandit armed forces hated by the people, and the military power was greatly boosted. The people of Dawn, regardless of the fatigue of the night march, compiled and engraved it into an issue of newspapers as quickly as possible, and published a good news on the front page headline, with the title "Our Central Mission to Enter Sui Qi Tai - Strike and Eliminate the Traitors", which was criticized by Peng Xuefeng. Peng Xuefeng told the people of Xiaoxiao that they would not follow the party’s policies and put the elimination of the Japanese invaders first, but highlighted that the traitors and bandits were the center of our crackdown. This is a principled mistake and will give the anti-communist diehards an opportunity to spread rumors and slander them. He told Ale: "Spidos' political economy would rather read less, and the party's actual struggle experience should be put in more effort." Another time, a comrade in the newspaper added a sentence at the end of a battle report sent by the headquarters, "The enemy is under strict surveillance of our army." After reading the proof, Peng Xuefeng immediately gathered the newspaper staff together. He first studied Comrade Mao Zedong’s discussion on the strategic issues of guerrilla warfare in light of actual combat examples of the troops and studied the tactics we should adopt. Comrade Xue Feng pointed out that the sentence added at the end of the war report was a manifestation of the lack of basic military common sense, and announced the headquarters' decision on the spot, that is, when conducting combat comments in the future, newspaper editors should be invited to participate. Peng Xuefeng insisted on the seriousness of the party newspaper and overcome the shortcomings of not seeking truth from facts, not talking about tactics, and exaggeration, making the "Dawn Newspaper" better and better.
2. Peng Xuefeng provides logistical support for "Dawn Newspaper"
The "Dawn News" was founded at the beginning of the anti-Japanese base in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu. The guerrilla detachment was in combat and marching, and there was a very shortage of manpower, material resources and financial resources. As the guerrilla detachment, the leader of the anti-Japanese base in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu, and the founder of "Dao Dawn", Peng Xuefeng provided strong logistical support for "Dao Dawn".
The army encountered many difficulties in its operation in the first few months of the Eastern Expedition, and two or three people were responsible for interviews, editing, engraving, printing, and distribution. I ran all day long, but the dust had not been washed away. As soon as I arrived at the station, I started to use very undesirable mimeograph tools. Peng Xuefeng encouraged everyone: No matter how difficult it is, the "Dawn" must be sound. As the troops expanded rapidly, several intellectuals were selected one after another, so there was a rough division of labor in the editing, writing, printing and distribution.
The most difficult material and financial resources was during the spring famine in 1939. The New Fourth Army guerrilla detachment expanded to more than 12,000 people. At the same time, the enemy continued to sweep and the stubborn army attacked many times. The military expenditure was extremely short of time. The commanders and soldiers served two meals of sorghum steamed buns and sweet potato soup every day, and the vegetables were hard to afford. The material supply necessary for the survival newspaper of Dawn was facing great difficulties. Peng Xuefeng said: Spiritual food is more important than eating vegetables. We still do our best to support the material conditions of "Dawn". The guerrilla detachment was stationed in the Yongcheng Bookstore, and the detachment supply department had only 4 silver dollars left. Peng Xuefeng told Minister Zifeng that he would rather tighten his belt than raise money to buy paper and ink needed by the newspaper to maintain the publication of "Dawn Newspaper". Before deploying the battle, Peng Xuefeng explained a "political task" to the participating commanders: it is stipulated that when the battle is over, please pay attention to search. Anyone who finds mimeographers, steel plates, stencils, wax papers, inks, papers and enemy and pseudo-paper newspapers and magazines must be sent to the Dawn News Agency of the Political Department. Under the influence of Peng Xuefeng, the guerrilla detachment paid attention to searching for the hardware equipment needed for newspaper operation after the battle. Once discovered, it would be like a treasure to be sent to the newspaper. The guerrilla detachment and local cadres in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu knew that the supply of materials in Dawn was difficult, and many comrades generously donated money. Chen Qiwu and Kang Ying returned to the army from the United Front Station and first donated 100 yuan. Liang Shuming, a member of the National Political Consultative Conference, donated 100 yuan when he passed by the detachment. From then on, the detachment and the Henan-Anhui-Suzhou base areas spontaneously launched a campaign to donate money to the "Dawn Newspaper", which solved the urgent need for the newspaper. In the bookstore, the 4-page 8 16-page published by "Dawn Newspaper" on New Year's Day in 1939 was changed from the previous printing of glossy paper to the two-side newspaper printing. The newspaper began to move towards regular newspapers, with a new look.
In June 1939, Peng Xuefeng and Director of the Political Department Xiao Wangdong purchased a new mimeographer from Woyang through united front relations. After the reform of a complete set of tools, the newspaper's font was clear and the color was accurate, and the number of prints was increased to more than a thousand copies.
The newspaper received support from enthusiastic readers inside and outside the army, supplemented mimeographed materials, began a bold technological revolution, and the typesetting and printing technology was greatly improved. Under Peng Xuefeng's leadership, in just one year, "Diaobao" developed into the most popular newspaper for the military and civilians in the Anti-Japanese Base Area. The newspaper was beautifully printed and the circulation increased from the beginning of three to five hundred copies to 3,500 copies. It became a "spiritual product" that combined politics and art at that time at that time.
3. Peng Xuefeng has provided talent reserves for "Dawn"
Peng Xuefeng attaches great importance to the talent reserves of "Dawn". Peng Xuefeng demanded the establishment of a correspondent and communication network with high standards and strict requirements. He demanded that among the troops, local party and government cadres and masses in the Henan-Anhui-Suzhou border areas, more than 2,000 correspondents mainly composed of workers, peasants and soldiers, and cultivate many bridges for connecting the masses among workers, peasants and soldiers. After the People's" and its editors and editors were merged into the Dawn, graduates from JAC University were transferred to work in the Tonglian Department. He repeatedly called on cadres, correspondents, editors, and journalists to learn to be both civil and military talents who "kill thieves on the horse and get off the horse and give edicts." Peng Xuefeng made full use of his rich collection of books and often lent to workers, peasants and soldiers correspondents and journalists to read, improving their theoretical level and literary cultivation. He often talks with newspapermen and patiently elaborates on the party's news policies, so that the Dawn newspaper can reduce the degree of mistakes in politics and principle, and improves the editor's theory and business.
In March 1940, the Fuxiao Newspaper held a two-month "automatic training class", with 18 students, including Peng Xuefeng, Wu Zhipu, Xiao Wangdong and other party and government leaders in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu took turns to teach, explaining the party's relevant policies and news theories, and the newspaper editors introduced their work experience and mimeographing technology. After graduation, students started more than 10 newspapers and magazines, such as the district party committee’s "Mass Guide" and "Party Life" of the Huai Shang Prefectural Committee, the Huai Shang Guide" of the Fourth Branch of the Anti-Japanese University and several county newspapers. In October 1940, the Fuxiao Newspaper held the second registration training class with 7 students. After the training class, these comrades quickly became the backbone of the military version of "Dawn News". By the end of the year, the number of staff of the Xiao Xiao newspaper increased to nearly 20, providing strong talent support for the development of the newspaper.
4. Peng Xuefeng led the Dawn newsman to form the "Dawn Spirit"
The spirit of dawn is a revolutionary spirit of hard struggle, perseverance, courage, persistence in pursuit, hard study and selfless dedication by Peng Xuefeng leading the people of dawn.
As a battlefield newspaper, "Dawn Newspaper" has followed the commanders and fighters of the New Fourth Army through the war fires and smoke from the trenches, fighting and advancing all the way. And at that time, it was the most important time for the national war of resistance. During the arduous years of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the New Fourth Army troops led by Peng Xuefeng and the "Dawn Newspaper" carried forward the "Dawn Spirit", and used the "Dawn Spirit" as the pillar from beginning to end to solve the revolutionary ideal world outlook and hardship, and helped cultivate young news soldiers step by step to continuously improve the basic qualities of party newspapers, sow the anti-Japanese fire on the vast battlefield behind the enemy in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu border areas and Huaibei, and forge a strong anti-enemy fortress.
The guerrilla detachment went east to fight behind enemy lines in eastern Henan, and the troops often fought wars. Whenever there was a situation, the newspaper staff put wax paper, stencils, and mimeographs on their bodies, and then left the steel plate on their backs and set off with the troops and fought against the Jianghuai Plain with the army. On a cold winter night in the north wind, the troops passed through numerous blockade lines, and sometimes they had to march for more than 100 miles a night. Although they were exhausted, when they arrived at the camping station, the comrades in the newspaper office ignored the fatigue of the march and the first thing they did was to find a house and a table, and then went out for an interview. After they came back, they immediately wrote the manuscript, unfolded the wax paper, and engraved the newspaper.
Although the environment is arduous, hard work, courage, vitality and enterprising are still the spiritual customs of the Fourth Division. In helping young news soldiers "three refinements" (refining thoughts, resilience, and refining people - people with ideals), General Peng Xuefeng focused on cultivating the revolutionary sense of honor and responsibility of their party newspaper workers and establishing the bitterness and optimism of the revolution. Whenever my father and his waist were sore and his legs were hurt, or they were sweating profusely because of their work, Chief Peng told them the story of Chairman Mao and others risking their lives under the terror of white. "It's so difficult! They did it with their heads, because they were revolutionaries who liberated all mankind and fought for communism!"
When I saw that the people in the dawn newspaper were in trouble due to some technical problems in the engraving, Commander Peng repeatedly encouraged them to be "unsung heroes" who worked hard, and told them about the attitudes of the Communists and Napoleon to treat difficulties, and encouraged them: "Napoleon once said: 'There is no difficult word in the dictionary'. He is a bourgeois politician and does not admit that there are difficult words. This is not a scientific attitude. We Communists are scientific materialists and a hard bone of revolution. We should not avoid difficulties and will always attack difficulties."
After Peng Xuefeng's encouragement, the people of the Dawn Newspaper made a great ambition: to use the spirit of hard work to run the Dawn Newspaper well and be a five-person (self-produced, self-edited, self-printed, self-printed, and spontaneous) all-rounder in mimeographing newspapers. They sent away the long night in their daily desk writing, and ushered in the dawn full of hope. Although their feet were frozen and their fingers were grinding thick calluses, they were still working hard day after day. When
A comrade from the Times wrote a poem like this, depicting the scene at that time:
The courtyard is quiet in the deep, the courtyard is empty,
Intermittent cold anvil intermittent wind.
Helplessly, people can't sleep late at night,
The iron pen is portrayed until dawn.
5. Visit the front line of newspapers to provide specific guidance
Peng Xuefeng personally served as the director of the Party Newspaper Committee, and often visited the front line of newspapers to provide specific guidance on work. Peng Xuefeng holds regular meetings to study newspaper work and personally reviews and revises manuscripts for "Dawn". Since the day the "Dawn Newspaper" was founded, the large samples printed in each issue of newspapers were checked personally, and circled them with red and blue pencils, marked them, and made eyebrow comments, affirmed their achievements and recorded their shortcomings. If you find articles, titles, and proposals with major principled errors, you will immediately send a secretary or guard to send the large samples of the approved newspaper to the newspaper, and then reprinted and distributed them.
Peng Xuefeng flexibly uses the Party Newspaper media to mobilize, summarize experience and guide his work through the education of "Dawn Newspaper". Whether on the arduous march or on the battlefield filled with smoke, he personally wrote editorials, communications, and commentator articles for the newspaper. According to incomplete statistics, Peng Xuefeng wrote more than 100 articles for "Dawn", some of which were interpreting the strategies and tactics of plain guerrilla warfare, some were to mobilize the masses, some were to maintain the united front, and some were to comment on current affairs. At a critical moment, it played the role of president, editor and director of communications. For the ongoing combat work, formulate writing content and manuscript assembly plan. In order to improve the level of newspaper operation, Peng Xuefeng advocated newspaper evaluation activities, with sharp criticism and praise. There are summaries during meetings, and discussions in various forms such as individual conversations or written notes. Every anniversary and 100 commemorations, Peng Xuefeng helps comprehensively and systematically summarize experiences and proposes new progress policies and publishing tasks. Since its inception, "Diaobao" has been developing continuously, which is inseparable from Peng Xuefeng's careful guidance and personal efforts in news publicity. Peng Xuefeng once imagined that one day the war would end and he would become a journalist.
Peng Xuefeng carefully preserved a complete set of "Dawn" compilation copies, using light blue cloth as the cover, and wrote the five words "Crystal of the Heart and Blood" in his own writing. He once said, "I have been revolutionizing for half my life, and I have only these boxes of books and "Dawn"" and are my only beloved property.
Under Peng Xuefeng's correct leadership, "Dawn News" promoted the Communist Party of China's anti-Japanese national united front idea, deepened the ties between the base areas and the people in the border areas, inspired the confidence of the military and civilians in the border areas to win the war of resistance, and played the role of the party newspaper as a mouthpiece. "Dawn" has grown into "the crown of the Mixed Printing Newspaper in Central China". It has been published in major cities such as Moscow, Leningrad, New York, Canada, Hong Kong, and Nanyang. It participated in the Wanguo Newspaper Expo held in Paris. It is regarded as "China's miracle" and "sweet springs in the Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu desert", and has become a vivid practice of the new democratic culture in the Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu base areas.
