He lowered his big head in a token bow. He seemed to be senile, but sincere and humble.
"What wrong instructions? Be more specific!" someone in the meeting asked loudly.
Wu left his notes and, head bowed, looked over the top of his glasses at the people in the meeting. At the same time, those present started looking around at one another. Wu immediately returned to his notes and went on reading methodically. He read even more slowly, enunciating each of his words with greater clarity. "When old revolutionaries encounter new problems, we deal with them according to old paradigms based on our experiences. But, under the new circumstances of today, this absolutely-will not-do!"
It was all empty bureaucratic talk, and there was a stir in the meeting again. Probably thinking he was about to be interrupted again, Wu suddenly left his notes to say loudly and emphatically, "I gave wrong instructions, I committed an error!"
"What old paradigms? You make it sound as if it's nothing! Do these old paradigms of yours refer to opposing rightists?" This time, it was a section head, a Party member, who had stood up. It was a woman nearing middle age, who had been labeled anti-Party. Not knowing how to respond immediately, Wu looked at the woman through his reading glasses, which had slipped down his nose.
"What do those old paradigms of yours refer to? Do they refer to opposing rightists by luring snakes out of their lairs?" The woman was agitated and her voice was trembling.
"Yes, yes." Wu hastened to nod.
"Whose instructions were these? What were the instructions? Make yourself clear!" the woman followed up.
"Comrades of the Party Center leadership, our Party Center -" Wu took off his glasses to try to see who the woman was.
The woman was not intimidated, and, raising her head, asked loudly, "Which Party Center are you referring to? Which leader do you mean? How did you receive your instructions? Speak up!"
The people at the meeting all knew that the sacrosanct Party Center had already split, and that even the Political Bureau of the Party Center was in the process of being replaced by Mao Zedong's Central Cultural Revolution Proletariat Command Group. Comrade Wu Tao's headquarters had lost control of the meeting, and a buzz of voices arose. However, as Party secretary, Wu Tao rigidly kept to Party rules. Without replying, and assuming an injured tone, he loudly silenced the meeting, "I represent the Party committee in apologizing to those comrades who have been subjected to criticism!"
He again lowered his head, but this time he bent the whole of his body forward and this seemed to be quite an effort for him.
"Hand over your blacklist of names!" The middle-aged man who shouted out was a Party cadre who had been subjected to criticism.
"What blacklist?" Wu, alarmed, immediately asked back.
"The blacklist based on your investigations to decide who was to undergo reform through labor!" It was the woman section head shouting again. She was pale, agitated, and her hair was in a mess.
"There's no list!" Wu reached over and seized the microphone to immediately deny this. "Don't believe rumors! Comrades, don't worry, our Party committee does not have a blacklist! I guarantee in the spirit of the Party that a blacklist does not exist! I admit that some comrades have suffered, and that our Party committee has inappropriately attacked some comrades. We have committed errors, but a blacklist of names definitely does not-"
Before Wu had finished, there was a disturbance in the left corner of the meeting. Someone had left his seat and was heading for the dais.
"I want to speak! Why can't I speak? If it really doesn't exist, why are you worried if people speak out!"
It was Old Liu, pushing aside the security officers barring him from getting onto the dais.
"Let Comrade Liu Ping speak! Why can't people speak? Let Comrade Liu Ping speak!"
During the shouting, Old Liu pushed his way through, mounted the dais, and turned to the meeting. Shaking his fist at Wu Tao, also on the dais, he said, "He's lying! When the Cultural Revolution started and the first poster went up, the Party committee held an emergency meeting. The branch Party secretaries of departments were then instructed to carry out personnel rankings, so the political department has had these name lists from way back! Needless to say, when people were investigated-"
The meeting exploded and, up front and at the back, people had stood up at the same time and were shouting and yelling.
"Get the people of the political department to come forward!"
"Get the people of the political department to come forward to testify!"
"Hand over the blacklist of people targeted for criticism!"
"Only allow leftists to rebel! Don't allow rightists to overturn things!" The person who had shouted this was already charging up to the dais. It was Danian.
"Revolution is not a crime! It is right to rebel!" It was Big Li shouting this slogan, his face red, and he was standing on his seat. He, too, stood up. The meeting had turned into a riot and everyone was standing up.
"I have had thirty-six years in the Party, I have never been anti-Party, and the Party and the people can investigate my history-"
Before Old Liu finished, Danian had jumped onto the dais and seized him.
"Get the hell down! An anti-Party careerist like you, with a landlord father hidden away, has no right to speak!"
Danian had grabbed Old Liu by the shoulders and was pushing him off the dais.
"Comrades! My father is not a landlord. During the War of Resistance he supported the Party and the Party has a policy toward enlightened gentry. This can be checked in the archives-"
The Red Guards who had torn off the armband from the arm of Old Liu's son were on the dais and Old Liu, shoved off the dais, fell to the floor.
"Beating up people is not allowed! It is futile to repress revolutionary mass movements!" He was worked up and could not help shouting out.
"Let's go!" Big Li waved an arm as he gave a yell and, leaping over the backs of seats, charged up to the dais. Their group had also surged onto the dais.
The two groups confronted one another, each shouting slogans and on the brink of fighting. The meeting was a total shambles.
"Comrades, Red Guard comrades, Red Guard comrades on both sides, please go back to your seats-"
Wu was tapping the microphone but nobody took notice, and the cadres of the political department were too afraid to intervene.
Everyone at the meeting was standing up and feverish with excitement. He was on the dais and somehow had grabbed the microphone from Wu's hand and was shouting into it, "If Wu Tao won't capitulate then let him be destroyed!"
The meeting instantly responded in agreement, and he took the opportunity to declare, "The Party committee no longer has authority to hold such meetings to intimidate the masses; if meetings are to be held, they must be convened by us, the revolutionary masses!"
Below the dais everyone was clapping. He had ended the stalemate in the confrontation between the Red Guards and seemed to have become the leader needed by the unruly masses.
The Party secretary who had been deprived of his power to terrorize had become the target of the masses. To protect himself, the senior cadre of the Party Center had dissociated himself from Wu Tao and could not be contacted by telephone. Comrade Wu Tao who had given "wrong instructions," too, had thus become a pawn in the gamble at a higher level of politics.
22
And how is Margarethe? She had dragged you into a quagmire with writing this damn book. It is hard going forward or backward, but there is no stopping. People are no longer interested in those worn-out stories, and you yourself are fed up with being tormented. Each of her letters to you is signed with a yellow star of David. She never forgets that she is a Jew, but you want to erase the imprints of your suffering.