The magazine "Red Flag" was founded under the direct care and specific guidance of the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao. As early as January 1955, at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Chairman Mao pointed out that all provinces and cities must run good publications. In January 1958, Chairman Mao formally raised the issue of establishing a central theoretical publication at the Nanning Conference. In March of this year, the decision to establish a central theoretical journal was crystallized at the Chengdu Conference. At the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in May 1958, Chairman Mao made a formal decision to establish a publication and named it "Red Flag".
When the central government was planning to establish a publication, some comrades asked Chairman Mao to name the publication. The chairman said that we should take the mass line and let everyone work together to find a good name. Relevant units will mobilize everyone to nominate and compile reports. Chairman Mao selected the name "Red Flag" from it and it was confirmed by the Central Plenary Session.
Chairman Mao also wrote more than 20 mastheads for "Red Flag". He wrote a letter to Chen Boda, editor-in-chief of "Red Flag": "I have written a few mastheads. Please review them. If they don't work, try again. Write." He also added explanations next to the inscription: "It is intended to be used" and "This writing method comes from red silk dancing and drawing red flags." The editorial department selected two words from them as the official masthead. These are the two words "red flag" that are still widely recognized and praised by everyone today.
The central government also decided to establish the editorial board of "Red Flag" magazine. The first meeting of the editorial board was held on May 24, 1958 in Jurentang, Zhongnanhai, chaired by Comrade Deng Xiaoping. The editorial board consists of 36 people, composed of comrades with high theoretical level and strong writing ability from relevant departments of the central government, provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and the army, as well as those in charge of the propaganda theory system and academic theoretical experts within the party. Among them, Deng Liqun, Tian Jiaying, Li Youjiu, Chen Boda, and Hu Sheng are permanent editors, and Chen Boda is the chief editor.
There was also an episode in this meeting. Due to the negligence of the staff, two Li Das were notified of the meeting. "Wen" Li Da, the president of Wuhan University, was on the editorial board, and "Wen" Li Da, the deputy chief of the General Staff, was on the editorial board. "Li Da has the same name. "Wu" Li Da found something wrong after the meeting and wanted to leave. Comrade Xiaoping said that since he is here, he should sit down and listen. Since the members of this large editorial committee were scattered across the country, everyone had a heavy workload and it was difficult to convene a meeting. It was never held again in the future. Therefore, in 1959, the central government decided to establish an editorial committee within "Red Flag", consisting of the editor-in-chief, deputy editor-in-chief and four editorial members, to preside over the daily work of "Red Flag".
The first issue of "Red Flag" was published on June 1, 1958. The publication speech was written by Hu Sheng and approved by Chairman Mao and Comrade Deng Xiaoping. At the same time, Chairman Mao's article "Introduction to a Cooperative" was published. Since then, Chairman Mao has been paying attention to the work of "Red Flag", often recommending articles to "Red Flag", and also made careful revisions to some manuscripts. In August 1958, Lu Dingyi wrote an article entitled "Education must be integrated with productive labor" and sent it to Chairman Mao for review. The Chairman read it several times and proposed revisions each time. Sometimes it is important to do it yourself. Revise.
On August 22, 1958, he said in a letter to Lu Dingyi: "In the education history section, Kailov and Stalin should be criticized, which is beneficial to both China and the Soviet Union. China has good educational history. It should be mentioned, otherwise it would be incomplete. What do you think?" He specially added this paragraph to Lu Dingyi's manuscript: "The history of Chinese education has the aspect of people's nature. The people value the king, Xunzi's man can conquer nature, Qu Yuan criticized the evil of the king, Sima Qian praised resistance, Wang Chong, Fan Zhen, Liu Zongyuan, Zhang Zai, Wang Fuzhi's ancient materialism, Guan Hanqing, Shi Naian, Wu Cheng'en, Cao Xueqin's popular literature, Sun Yat-sen During the democratic revolution, everyone’s situation is different, and many of them have no monographs on education. However, the ones mentioned above cannot but affect the education of the people. When talking about the history of education in China, they should be mentioned.”
Chairman Mao said. The comprehensive development of children also made a wonderful addition: "Childhood needs to develop the body, and this development must be sound. Childhood needs to develop communist sentiment, style and collective heroism, which is the moral education of our era. . Both are related to engaging in labor, so the principle of combining education and labor is irreplaceable.
To sum up what has been said above, the all-round development we advocate is to enable students to develop a sound body and develop communist morality. He specifically criticized this article: "The title of "Red Flag" is very large, and the full text should be in larger fonts. "At the same time, he also wrote the editorial note for "Red Flag".
Chairman Mao also wrote a letter of invitation for the editorial department of "Red Flag". He read from "Guangming Daily" that the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Harbin Institute of Technology I was very interested in the article written by my comrade about the camera position design, so I wrote to the author and asked them to write a more detailed article and send it out in the name of the "Red Flag" editorial department. This was deeply cordial to the staff of "Red Flag".
The "Three Red Flags" of "Red Flag" magazine
In the first few years of "Red Flag", the names of several authors often appeared in the pages, which attracted attention. . One is Yu Zhaoli, who writes international reviews, the other is Shi Dongxiang, who writes ideological and cultural reviews, and the other is Xu Xinxue, who writes economic reviews. Later, people gradually learned that these were three collective pseudonyms.
"Yu Zhaoli" is composed of Qiao Guanhua, Yao Zhen, and Wang Li, each taking a word or part of a word in his own name. They all participate in the central government's research and document drafting on international issues, and have a strong understanding of international situations and international affairs. They are familiar with the issues and understand the spirit of the central government. They are highly authoritative and very popular and valued.
"Shi Dongxiang" is headed by deputy editor-in-chief Hu Sheng and Wang Renzhi of the Central Political Research Office. "Shi Dongxiang" is the pseudonym of the writing group that Comrades such as Ding Weizhi, Zheng Hui and others participated in. They are known for their profound knowledge, high theoretical cultivation and literary talent. Writing skills, he wrote very influential and popular ideological and cultural review articles.
"Xu Xinxue" evolved from "Humbly Study" and was led by deputy editor-in-chief Deng Liqun, with Mei Xing and Ma. The pseudonym of the writing group that Hong participated in. They were all participants in the Central Committee’s conferences on economic issues and drafters of economic documents. The articles they wrote could provide a thorough analysis of relevant issues, so that the spirit of the Central Committee could be conveyed as quickly as possible and play an important role in economic work.
Some people joke that there are "three red flags" in the country and "three red flags" in "Red Flag" magazine, referring to these three collective writing teams.
In September 1960, the fourth volume of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" was published. This was a major event in my country's ideological and political life. "Selected Works" collected 70 articles by Mao Zedong during the Third Civil War. "Red Flag" focused on learning. In 1960, the 19th issue of "Red Flag" published the introduction to the fourth volume of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" and published an editorial "Contempting the Enemy Strategically" focusing on the propaganda priorities determined by the central government. , attaching importance to the enemy in tactics", that is, highlighting the ideas of daring to fight, daring to win, being good at fighting, and good at winning.
The editorial made a comprehensive and specific discussion on this, and pointed out that this is the fundamental law for defeating the enemy. In the joint issue of Issue 20-21, the editorial article "Basic Summary of the Victory Experience of the Chinese People's Revolution" was published, focusing on how Mao Zedong adhered to Marxist-Leninist views on state machinery and his thoughts on building a people's democratic dictatorship. It was previously sent to Chairman Mao for review. He thought it was well written and made some revisions.