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He Long and Ye Ting are leading the Red Army and are coming quickly! This heart-stirring news came from afar like spring thunder.

In the months since the reactionaries launched the April 12 counter-revolutionary coup, the working masses in Chaozhou and Shantou have suffered greatly from the white terror and oppression of the reactionaries. Many people who escaped from the death lines of slaughter, live burial, hanging, and prisons gritted their teeth, held back their tears, buried the bodies of their fallen comrades, bandaged their own wounds, and continued on the path of struggle.

We visited several families of fallen comrades. Their smiles and tears, their hatred and excitement, their eager anticipation and joy for the approaching Red Army truly left us speechless. One evening, in a wooden house in Wuqiao, we visited the mother of a ferry worker named Xiong. She was gray-haired, her eyes shining with hatred for the enemy. She took out the blood-stained clothes of her fallen son, shaking them as she unfolded the tattered white shirt with bullet holes and blood stains, saying excitedly, "When the Red Army arrives, I will use this blood-stained shirt as a flag to welcome them!" Her stubborn and indignant expression reminded one of the revolutionary mother Nilovna from Gorky's novel: "Mother."

"Our troops have arrived!" people cheered. This was September 24, 1927. The Red Army, led by comrades He Long and Ye Ting, came down from the Nanchang Uprising to Chaozhou and Shantou.

Villages in various counties were preparing and organizing armed welcomes for the Red Army. Workers, revolutionary youth, students, and women in Shantou City had also mobilized and organized to prepare to welcome the Red Army. The reactionaries were in a panic and had even executed several imprisoned revolutionary youths on Zhongshan Road, but they could not stop the tide of the times or the people's yearning for revolution.

When the Red Army arrived in Chaozhou, the masses gathered at Xihu to hold a welcome meeting. In addition to the workers and farmers from the suburbs, men and women farmers from the villages along the Chao-Shan railway, such as Hong'an, Dazhai, Sheshi, Xiandu, Xiandong, Shaxitou, Guanchao, Fuyang, Caitang, Fengxi, and Wuyang, either centered around the former farmers' association or formed groups spontaneously to run to Chaozhou City to welcome their army. A young student who attended the meeting told me, "Yesterday, the crowd welcoming the Red Army almost trampled the Xihu Mountain flat! The grand and enthusiastic atmosphere was truly like a storm, unstoppable. Anyone who saw this scene would deeply believe in the greatness of revolutionary power. The Red Army, in the eyes of the masses, is like a downpour on a dry day, the savior from all suffering!"

On September 25, the Red Army entered Shantou City. The whole city seemed to be boiling. People excitedly spread the news to each other. The streets and alleys were crowded with people watching the Red Army and those welcoming them. The Red Army fighters and political workers, sunburned and looking tired, all had bright eyes and spirits. Many workers were busy fetching water and serving tea for the Red Army, as if they were long-lost brothers.

I saw an old woman holding onto a Red Army soldier, saying: "My eldest son was arrested and tortured to death by the reactionaries for joining the farmers' association, and now they want to arrest my youngest son, who has fled, and I still don't know if he is alive or dead! But those dog officials still want to impose fines, forcing my daughter-in-law to marry and my child to be sold, and we still haven't gathered enough two hundred yuan, and they are still forcing us... Now, I am the only one left, a sixty-year-old old woman, begging for a living... You must avenge my family!" As she spoke, she burst into tears. The people around her also cried and cursed the reactionaries!

An old woman came to the Dapu Guild Hall with her only chicken, crying and shouting: "I only have this old life and this chicken. I am old and can no longer help the revolution, so I will give this chicken to the comrades, so you can eat and have more strength to fight the enemy. We will succeed in the revolution soon, and I will avenge my son and daughter-in-law!"

After the Red Army entered Shantou, the political workers organized a condolence team to visit the families of fallen comrades. I also participated in this work. I personally saw many workers voluntarily asking to go with the Red Army, refusing to leave even if it meant death. They were willing to be guides, carry stretchers, cook, and eagerly take care of horses and guns. Many workers were on a diet, collecting food, and sending the chickens, ducks, and eggs they raised at home to the Red Army.

The next day, a mass meeting was held at Niutudi (near the current Workers' Middle School). A long line of workers came, shouting slogans: "Down with imperialism, down with the reactionaries! Avenge the fallen comrades!" Ah! I saw, at the front of the line, holding a blood-stained shirt as a flag, was the mother of the worker named Xiong from Wuqiao. She held the flag high while shouting the slogans.

Although she was gray-haired, her steps were still steady. As she entered the venue, several comrades jumped down from the podium to help this revolutionary old mother onto the stage. She raised the flag, instilling in people a deep hatred for the enemy and a firm belief that the revolution would ultimately triumph!

After a while, comrades Zhou Enlai, He Long, Ye Ting, and others appeared on the podium, and the cheers and applause from the audience erupted. Many leaders spoke. At that time, there were no loudspeakers, but their passionate and stirring voices were very powerful and resonant. Every word they spoke provided immense encouragement to the masses in their struggle for liberation. Especially Comrade Zhou Enlai, who was one of the most familiar and beloved revolutionary leaders among the laboring people of Chaoshan. On November 7, 1925, during the second eastern expedition of the National Revolutionary Army, on the third day of entering Chaoshan City, it was the eighth anniversary of the October Revolution in the Soviet Union. That evening, a military-civilian celebration was held at Yongping Restaurant, where we first met Comrade Zhou Enlai. At that time, there were also Soviet military advisors like General Galen. In 1926, Comrade Zhou Enlai served as the executive committee member of Dongjiang and personally presided over the Dongjiang administrative meetings for several days (the location was at the current No. 2 Primary School on Waimalu). I participated as a news reporter. Comrade Zhou Enlai's resolute and amiable attitude left a very deep impression on people. In the same year, Comrade Zhou Enlai appointed Comrade Li Chuntao to take over the reactionary newspaper "Pingbao" and establish "Lingdong Minbao." Comrade Li Chuntao served as the editor-in-chief, and I served as the deputy editor. The header of the newspaper's supplements, such as "Revolution," was still in Comrade Zhou Enlai's handwriting. In April 1927, when Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the revolution, Comrade Li Chuntao was killed. I hid these supplements in the countryside. I remember I told Comrade Feng Keng: "When the revolution succeeds in the future, it would be very meaningful to take out these newspapers and look at them, especially as a good souvenir for comrades like Li Chuntao." Our wish was fulfilled, and these publications were preserved until the national liberation, and the year before last, they were taken by Renmin University of Beijing as materials for the "History of Chinese Journalism."

  红军进入汕头的第二天,便出版了《革命日报》。据说《革命日报》的报头字是郭沫若同志题的。后来红军撤退,我把仅出版三天的《革命日报》寄藏在一个农民家里,可惜后来这家农民给反动派连房子都烧光了。

  红军退出汕头的前一天,下午三点钟左右,我正站在三楼的阁台上,忽然听到了冲锋号声,接着就是激烈的枪声。后来才知道,原来是停在妈屿口的反动派军舰“飞鹰”号,派了一百多名兵匪分三路偷偷登陆,企图袭击红军。但只经过十多分钟的战斗,就被红军全部消灭了。

  但是反动派当时拥有很多军队,敌我势力悬殊,红军终因寡不敌众而主动退出汕头。

  红军虽然长途跋涉,给养不足,但战斗意志坚强,情绪高昂,沿途粉碎了白匪军和地方反动地主武装的截击。普宁城是当时潮汕地区反动派、地主豪绅恶霸的中心堡垒。红军回击这些反动势力攻普宁城的时候,附近十几个乡的农民,都自动协助红军攻城。男的女的,送茶送饭,还纷纷拿出土枪、铁矛、竹枪、斧头、尖担、锄头助战。在东门外山陵丘陇,燃起柴火,击鼓助威,把大地主恶霸方十三等吓得魂飞魄散。后因大量敌军陆续开到,红军在歼灭敌人一个连后,主动撤退了。

  当时红军撤退到流沙(现普宁县城)地区时,整个形势已经决定,不能再停留在潮汕了。贺龙、叶挺同志,在流沙群众大会上,对红军和农民们说:红军虽然遭到暂时的失利,我们有共产党的领导,人民的支持,最后革命一定会胜利的!

  周恩来同志和郭沫若同志等,都曾住在流沙墟旁白塔秦的一座祠堂里。抗日战争时期,我曾来到这里,访问了当地的农民们。他们告诉我哪地方是当时红军官长住过的,哪地方开过会。农民对红军的爱戴热情,使我感动得几乎流下泪来。

  红军在苦战中牺牲很大。存下来的其中一小部分到海陆丰和彭湃同志所领导的工农武装会合,成为后来海陆丰建立苏维埃政权的骨干。同年十二月底,再会合广州暴动后撤退出来的武装,在党的东江特委的领导下坚持斗争。还有一小部分退入南山,成为后来创立南山根据地的武装骨干。其余的都退到闽西赣南。

  红军从九月二十四日到潮汕,至九月三十日撤退,为时只有七天。潮汕广大的劳苦人民,把革命的七天,亲切称为“七日红”。虽然只有七天,但在潮汕革命史上,起着极其重大的作用。特别是红军战士们那种艰苦、勇敢的精神,处处爱护人民的行动,给人民留下永远不能磨灭的印象。记得红军撤退时,揭阳、普宁交界三洲地方,一只渡船的父女俩,因不肯渡过敌军,竟被枪杀沉尸江底。第二天尸体浮出水面,女儿还紧紧抱住父亲的大腿。象这类可歌可泣的事情,是讲不完的。总之,人心倾向共产党,红军虽然遭到挫折,暂时撤出潮汕,但是人民始终把共产党当做自己的灯塔。今年纪念人民解放军建军三十周年,回首“七日红”,使人们无限感奋,“七日红”将永远辉煌地记载在中国人民解放运动的史册上。

"载一九五七年七月十五日《南方日报》"

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