Mei Gongbin, Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, was imprisoned for eight years
Mei Gongbin, formerly known as Mei Dianlong, joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1925 and participated in the Northern Expedition and the Nanchang, East and West Zhejiang riots. While meeting with a Japanese Communist liaison, Mei Gongbin was arrested and held in a Japanese prison for over a year, and spent half a year recuperating in Japan after his release. It was also during this time that he befriended Hu Qiuyuan of the Shenzhou Guoguang Society, through whom he met Kuomintang generals Chen Mingshu and Li Jishen.
Upon his return to China in 1931, Mei Gongbin officially changed his name and conducted secret activities as a university professor and writer. After the failed mutiny in 1934, Mei Gongbin retreated to Hong Kong with the 19th Route Army and began his long career as an undercover agent, thus meeting many democrats and left-leaning members of the Kuomintang and carrying out united warfare against them.
In 1947, Mei Gongbin was again instructed by Pan Hannian to assist Li Jishen in preparing for the establishment of the Democratic Revolution. Soon after, the Democratic Revolution was established in Hong Kong, with Song Qingling elected as honorary chairman, Li Jishen as chairman, and Mei Gongbin as a member of the Central Executive Committee. It is said that Mei Gongbin personally drafted all the documents when the DRC was established.
After the founding of the DRC, it played an important role in unifying the senior generals of the Kuomintang as well as the democrats and intellectuals for the CCP, among which the contribution of Mei Gongbin cannot be underestimated. History shows that from August 1948 until March 1949, Mei Gongbin sent democrats from Hong Kong to the CCP-occupied areas in four batches.
The first batch of democrats who went north included Shen Junru, Tan Pingshan, Cai Tingkai, Zhang Bojun and more than ten others. The second group on board included Guo Moruo, Ma Xulun, Xu Guangping’s mother and son, Chen Qiyou, Sha Qianli and others. The third batch had Li Jishen, Mao Dun couple, Zhu Yunshan, Zhang Naiqi, Peng Zemin, Deng Chumin, Wang Shaoguan, Liu Yazi, Ma Yinchu, Hong Shen, Shi Fuliang, Jian Bozan, Shen Zhiyuan, Sun Qiyu, Wu Maosun, Li Minxin and more than thirty others. The fourth group included Huang Yanpei, Sheng Pihua and others.
The Kuomintang at that time was very surprised by the sudden departure of these people from Hong Kong. Sadly, most of these above-mentioned people who believed in the CCP and Mei Gongbin did not escape the clutches of the CCP in the subsequent movement, except for those who died early.
Mei Gongbin accompanied Li Jishen to Beijing in 1949, and Li Weihan, who was then head of the CCP’s United Front Work Department, told him, “From now on, your organizational relations are transferred to the Central United Front Work Department, and you work as an undisclosed member of the Communist Party sent by the Central United Front Work Department to the Democratic Party.” From then on, Mei Gongbin all appeared as a democrat and served as the secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Democratic Revolution for a long time, in charge of the great power of the Central Committee of the Democratic Revolution. And until his death, the CCP did not recognize his membership in the CCP.
In 1955, Mao Zedong concocted the Pan Hannian injustice case to cover up the dark secret that he had colluded with The Japanese army, who was the person in charge of contact with the Japanese army in that year. Mei Gongbin, who was associated with Pan Hannian, was also implicated and was isolated and examined, and then put in prison for 8 years, and after his release, he was reformed through labor for another 8 years.
During this period, in 1975, Mei Gongbin died of depression at the age of 75. Did he understand what kind of road of no return he had taken when he was on his deathbed?
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