Wu Mi Diary Continuation (Volume 8, 1967-1968)

Author: Wu Mi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: On March 3rd, Friday, the arrangements were changed again. Yesterday's order (Mi did not understand, privately asked Geng for clarification, who replied as follows): From now on, you must still submit documents twice a week (in the morning on Monday and Thursday). If there is no "," you can skip it, but if you don't submit "" on a certain day (Thursday), you must submit a "" in its place. "" should focus on exposing others and self-confessing mistakes. It should be brief, not requiring thousands of words each time, and so on.
From 8 to 11:20, Mi cleaned alone in the interior of the Three Teachings Building. At noon, I went to the staff canteen No. 2 and waited in line (after a long wait) to purchase fifteen pounds of rice tickets and fifteen pounds of noodle tickets for March, totaling 5.11 yuan (paid in cash). The vegetable tickets still had over nine yuan left, so I didn’t buy them. Then I took lunch, but all the dishes were gone, so I had only four ounces of rice, returned home, and ate it with soy sauce and vinegar. I rested for a while.
From 2 to 6, labor in the vegetable garden: Mi sat with Zheng Siyu in the fertilizer room, tidying up the chives seedlings (same as before). After 5 p.m., I took a break and gathered wood shavings in the tool room, as well as cleaning a used spade. For dinner, I wanted to eat noodles and waited in line for a long time in the staff canteen No. 2, finally getting two ounces of "small noodles," and ate them at home. He Guojiong lit a charcoal stove for Mi, boiling milk and two eggs, so dinner was very satisfying. I went to bed at 8 p.m. and slept very well, waking up only at 4:40 the next morning (using only a hot water bag to warm the bed). It rained at night.
March 4th, Saturday, overcast, rain, cold. 5–13°C
I woke up at 4:40 a.m. and went to the toilet. I wrote in my diary. Breakfast: two sugar buns. At 7:10, I went out in the rain (wearing a straw hat) to the outside of Building 1, waiting for Chen Yunsheng from Unit 831 to come for a queue and roll call. He ordered that morning study (see below), and in the afternoon, either write "" or study Chairman Mao’s "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People." It was also announced that anyone who wanted to see him (Chen Yunsheng) could take leave or discuss matters by going to the Unit 831 headquarters at 6:30 p.m. each day, and so on.
In the morning, I studied in the Chinese Department teacher reading room: From 8 to 10, Mi followed the order to read Chairman Mao’s "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People." From 10 to 12, I had a discussion, chaired by Geng (with Peng Weijin taking notes), where each person was asked to say, "Since labor reform for half a year, how do you now recognize your own crimes, the progress of your ideological reform, and your plans for future work and life." Seven people spoke. Mi was the sixth speaker, comparing the Mi of 1957 with the Mi of 1967: In 1957, Mi only knew to search for their own mistakes in the teaching of "Foreign Literature." Now, in 1967, Mi finally realized that their seventy-two years of life (1894–1966) and enjoyment were all provided by the kindness and generosity of the working people. The working people, with their blood and sweat, supported Mi, giving them comfort and freedom. Yet Mi had committed many "crimes against the party, socialism, and Chairman Mao’s thought" in return, feeling immense shame and regret! Just this understanding, this awareness, this sense of pain, is the achievement and progress of Mi’s half-year labor reform. It was only through labor in the vegetable garden that Mi first learned the hardships of farming and the greatness of the working people, giving rise to feelings of gratitude. As for the remaining years of old age, Mi could only rely on the party and the working people’s kindness for living expenses, even if it was fifteen yuan a month, just like an old horse waiting to die in the stable—what plans could there be to make? Geng spoke next after Mi, briefly but firmly. Then they dispersed.
Lunch: four ounces of rice, specially prepared by Tang Changmin.