Chapter 524 523【Series】

Entering December, there are many things to do.

First of all, China and the Soviet Union resumed diplomatic relations. At the beginning, the Nanjing government opened its mouth and clamored to solve the problems of Outer Mongolia and the Middle East Road. But when the "Investigative Report of the League of Nations" was released, Chang Kaishen's attitude immediately took a 180-degree turn, and he fully agreed to resume diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union unconditionally.

Immediately afterwards, the National Party held the Third Plenary Session of the Fourth Central Committee, and factional struggles within the party resumed.

The current situation is that Chang Kaishen is in charge of the army and Wang Zhaoming is in charge, but Sun Ke has nothing to gain. Therefore, Sun Gongzi tried to promote democratic constitutionalism at the plenum of the National Party, and received wide support from people from all walks of life. He wanted to take advantage of this popular support and momentum to come to power.

Chang Kaishen and Wang Zhaoming felt extremely troubled by this. If someone else stood up and spoke out, they could solve it with a single shot by an assassin. But who dares to kill Sun Ke? That is Mr. Sun Yat-sen's son. No matter who killed it, if something happened to Sun Ke, Chang Kaishen and Wang Zhaoming would have to take the blame.

The Nationalist Party was still in conflict, so Mrs. Sun, together with Cai Yuanpei, Lu Xun, Yang Xingfo and others, formally established the China Civil Rights Protection Alliance in Shanghai.

Mrs. Sun and Cai Yuanpei served as the chairman and vice-chairman respectively, Yang Xingfo served as the general director, and Lu Xun served as the executive member of the Shanghai branch. Although Zhou Hexuan did not attend the inaugural meeting of the "Civil Rights League", he was also elected as one of the national executive committee members and was responsible for the preparations for the establishment of the Peking branch.

To be honest, Zhou Hexuan has no hope for this organization, but it is better than nothing, at least he can save a few people from the KMT's gunpoint.

At the end of December, Zhou Hexuan came to Peiping and went straight to Hu Shi's home.

"Mingcheng, you're finally here," Hu Shi said enthusiastically, "It's a pity that I'm busy all day, and I don't have time to go south to visit Mr. Bernard Shaw, and I don't have the chance to see the face of an international master."

Zhou Hexuan picked up the tea bowl and said with a smile: "It's better not to see each other, you will inevitably be disappointed."

Hu Shi was surprised and said, "As some people say, Mr. Bernard Shaw has a problem with his character."

Zhou Hexuan shook his head and said, "It's not that bad, but it's not that sacred either. It's just a well-known scholar with mixed good and bad."

"I see." Hu Shi was really disappointed.

Bernard Shaw's evaluation in China was polarized. Those who liked him praised him as a saint, and those who hated him denounced him as a scum. In fact, both were biased. For example, in the article Fu Sinian wrote later, he denounced Bernard Shaw as an outright hypocrite, but the article was too subjective and obviously biased.

Zhou Hexuan asked: "Brother Shi, my visit to Beiping this time is about preparing for the establishment of the Civil Rights League. How is your contact going?"

Hu Shi smiled and said: "The situation is going well. There are many people from Peking University and Tsinghua University who are willing to join. For example, Jiang Menglin, Li Ji, Ma Youyu, Ren Hongjun, etc., they are all very enthusiastic about this matter, and each introduced their friends to join. "

Zhou Hexuan nodded: "I also wrote to contact some figures in the newspaper industry. Brothers Cheng Shewo and Chen Bosheng expressed their support. Although the heads of many newspapers in Tianjin and Beiping did not want to join, they agreed to help promote the propaganda .”

"That's good!" Hu Shi said happily, "As long as the democrats and newspaper leaders in Beiping and Tianjin unite, they will definitely be able to urge the National Government to implement a democratic and constitutional government!"

Zhou Hexuan could only smile in agreement. Historically, Hu Shi was the chairman of the Beiping branch of the Civil Rights League, but he was expelled after only two months.

The reason is simple. One of the purposes of the Civil Rights League is to rescue political (harmonious) criminals, and to rescue all political (harmonious) criminals without distinction. However, Hu Shi believed that a distinction should be made, relying on national laws to punish crimes, and only rescue those innocent prisoners.

It seems that Hu Shi's approach is more rational, but in fact it is very wrong, because according to the Kuomintang, none of the prisoners they arrested was innocent.

Moreover, Hu Shi was very dishonest. He hated communism from the bottom of his heart and regarded it as similar to fascism. So he deliberately covered up the fact that the Communist prisoners were tortured, saying that the Communists in the prison had not been tortured to extract confessions, which made Mrs. Sun, Lu Xun and others so angry that they quickly voted to expel Hu Shi.

The Democratic League has three purposes: first, to demand democratic constitutionalism; second, to call for an active resistance to Japan; third, to rescue detained political (harmonious) criminals.

The reason why Hu Shi joined this organization was only to promote democracy and constitutionalism. He didn't care about the latter two points at all, so he was not the same kind of person as Lu Xun from the beginning.

But it is undeniable that Hu Shi had great appeal among intellectuals, and he contributed a lot to the establishment of the Peking branch of the Democratic League.

Zhou Hexuan didn't want to get involved in this messy dispute over doctrines. He said: "There was a telegram from Shanghai saying that Yang Xingfo will go to Beiping next month to preside over the inaugural meeting, and that a democratic election will be held at that time. The chairman of the Beiping branch will be You do it, I don't like doing mundane affairs very much."

Hu Shi waved his hands again and again: "No, no, Mingcheng, your knowledge and reputation are greater than mine, and it is obvious that you should be the chairman of the branch."

Zhou Hexuan said: "I am preparing to build another organization, so I don't have so much energy."

"What organization?" Hu Shi asked curiously.

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "The International Anti-Fascist League, also known as the 'World Committee Against Imperialist War'. This organization was established in the middle of the year, and I am in charge of preparing for the establishment of the Chinese branch."

Hu Shi was surprised: "This is an international organization!"

Zhou Hexuan nodded and said, "It's just an international non-governmental organization. Mr. Romain Rolland is the chairman, Mr. Barbusse and I are the vice-chairmen, and Mr. Einstein is the committee member."

When Hu Shi heard that Romain Rolland, Barbusse, and Einstein were participating, he immediately said excitedly: "Mingcheng, how could you forget me for such a grand event? I must participate in this organization of yours!"

"That's good, you will be the director general of the China branch." Zhou Hexuan laughed.

"Let's forget about the director-general," Hu Shi laughed, "I'll be the vice chairman of the Chinese branch, and the director-general will let those who are capable do it."

Hu Shi was similar to Zhou Hexuan, he also specialized in yelling and shouting, and didn't want to run around all day to deal with trivial matters.

Zhou Hexuan stood up, straightened his clothes and said, "That's it, you also help me to promote more, and see who else is willing to join the International Anti-Fascist League."

"No problem, I'm good at connecting, let me do it!" Hu Shi patted his chest and said.

Zhou Hexuan asked: "By the way, are you free on New Year's Day?"

"What's the matter?" Hu Shi asked.

Zhou Hexuan said: "My wife Xiaodong is officially coming back, and she is going to perform on stage in Tianjin."

"Hahaha," Hu Shi laughed, "Don't worry, I will definitely come to join you!"