Su Zhaozheng forever remembered

SU Zhaozheng, chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, was born on Qi’ao Island in 1885.

The island had been attacked by British invaders prior to the Sino-British Opium War. The intruders were defeated and made reparations of 3,000 teals of silver, which was used to pave the granite White Stone St.

Afterwards, Su left for Hong Kong at age 18 and worked as a seaman on a foreign vessel. There, he met Dr Sun Yat-sen who was about to journey abroad. He joined the Alliance Association in 1908 and threw himself into the revolution to overthrow the Qing Court.

Su traveled to Wuhan from Guangzhou in March 1927 when the Great Revolution swept over China. Some 500,000 people gathered to welcome the leader of the 2.8 million industrial workers nationwide.

However, the revolutionary momentum abruptly suffered a reverse. Thousands of CPC Party members were slaughtered in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Changsha, Wuhan and other areas.

Su Zhaozheng risked great danger to arm workers in Jiujiang and bring them to Nanchang where Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and He Long initiated the Nanchang Uprising on August 1 and founded the first CPC Revolutionary Army.

A CPC emergency conference in Hankou on August 7 set the general policy of “fighting against anti-revolutionary arming with revolutionary arming” and saw Su Zhaozheng, Qu Qiubai and Li Weihan elected to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

The October Revolution in Russia was a heralded success in 1917. Inspired by the event, Su was determined to fight to improve conditions of the poor. Working with townsman Lin Weimin, he founded the Hong Kong Seamen’s Union in March 1921.

It was the first union of seamen and also one of the earliest industrial trade unions in China. To defend the rights and interests of Chinese seamen, he demanded that ship owners raise wages, improve working conditions and end exploitation, but was turned down, which triggered the Seamen’s Strike in Hong Kong on 12 January 1922.

The 56-day strike, with the number of seamen and then workers rising from 10,000 to over 100,000, brought Hong Kong to a standstill and ensured that the strikers’ terms would eventually be met.

Upon recommendation by Li Dazhao, Su became a CPC Party member in 1925. He went to Guangzhou for the 2nd National Labour Conference, which gave birth to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and Su was elected to the Executive Committee.

The May 30th Incident, in which more than a dozen Chinese worker demonstrators were killed by British police in the international settlement of Shanghai, led Su and Deng Zhongxia to initiate the Canton-Hong Kong Strike.

The strike-boycott involved more than 200,000 strikers and lasted 16 months, causing considerable disruption and having a profound impact on the international workers’ movement.

Su headed the China Trade Union Delegation to Moscow in March 1928 to attend the 4th Congress of the Red Employee International (REI), during which he addressed issues of Chinese employees. His speech aroused great attention and he was elected to the REI Executive Committee.

He then led the Chinese Delegation to the 5th Congress of the Communist International (Comintern) in Moscow, giving briefings on the struggles the CPC was staging in China. He and Qu Qiubai were elected members of the Comintern Executive Committee.

Su also took part in the 6th CPC Congress and was re-elected to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Su fell ill due to years of hard work and suffered from appendicitis. Despite this, he returned to Shanghai from the former Soviet Union and presided over the 2nd enlarged session of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. His disease recurred after that and he was near death when Zhou Enlai and Li Lisan hurried to the hospital.

A leader of the early Communist Party of China, Su passed away at age 44. The next day, the Central Committee called on the CPC to carry on Su Zhaozheng’s spirit and strive for the goals he sought. The REI convened in Moscow to pay respect to him.

A statue of Su was raised in his hometown and a school was named after him in November 1985, the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Su’s birthplace, Qi’ao Island, with a bridge leading to urban areas, a ring road, modern residential buildings, historical sites and a prestigious university campus, has become a hot spot for economic development.

The Zhuhai government has demanded that marine, island and coastal resources be fully utilized to protect the biological diversity and foster ecological sustainability on the island. Mangrove trees now enrich the island and Chinese white dolphins are under protection.

Su Zhaozheng will be remembered forever while the bourgeoning city grows and strides toward brighter prospects.

(ZD News)