The Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) holds a document - two typewritten pages printed in English, signed "Sun Yat-sen" - the deathbed address of the leader of the Chinese Revolution to the leaders of the USSR, dated March 11, 1925: "To the Central Executive Committee of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Dear comrades,

As I lie here, bedridden by an incurable disease, my thoughts are with you and the future of my party and my country. You lead the Union of Free Republics, which is the true legacy that the immortal Lenin left to the world of oppressed peoples. Thanks to this legacy, the victims of imperialism are destined to defend their freedom and liberation from the existing world order, the foundations of which are rooted in ancient slavery, wars and injustice.

I leave behind me a party that, as I have always hoped, will cooperate with you in carrying out the historic task of completely liberating China and other exploited countries from this imperialist system. By the will of fate, I am forced to leave this task unfinished and hand it over to those who, while remaining true to the principles and teachings of our party, will be my true followers.

Therefore, I bequeathed the Kuomintang to continue the national revolutionary movement so that China could free itself from the semi-colonial status imposed on it by imperialism. For this purpose, I have ordered the party to continue to maintain constant contact with you. I am deeply convinced that your Government will continue to support my party as before. As I bid you farewell, dear comrades, I want to express my fervent hope that the time will soon come when the USSR, as a friend and ally, will welcome a strong and independent China, and both allies will go forward together to victory in the great struggle for the liberation of the oppressed peoples of the world. With fraternal greetings to Sun Yat-sen.

Signed on March 11, 1925. Attended by:

Song Ziwen, Wang Jingwei, He Xiangning, Sun Ke, Dai Enxai, Zou Lu, Kun Xiangxi."

The fate of the above letter was unusual. Russian historians have repeatedly cited this document, always emphasizing its importance for understanding the final stage of the difficult path that was traversed by the leader of the Chinese revolution, a sincere friend of the Soviet people. At the same time, their

page 61

Most of our Taiwanese colleagues have remained stubbornly silent about the very existence of this appeal, and it was never included in the Complete Works of the Father of the State published in Taipei.

A modern researcher has a fairly extensive set of data to reconstruct the circumstances under which the dying Sun Yat-sen signed a letter to the Soviet leaders. However, eyewitness accounts are often very contradictory.

SAYS HE XIANGNING

About what happened at the bedside of Sun Yat-sen immediately before his death, the domestic reader became aware mainly from the memoirs of He Xiangning (1887-1956), at that time an active member of the left wing of the Kuomintang. Her notes [He Xiangning, 1961] were published in Russian translation in 1966 in connection with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the leader of the Chinese Revolution. The author of the preface to the book, M. F. Yuryev, specifically noted that these memoirs, among other things, contain important facts related to the drafting of Sun Yat-sen's will [He Xiangning, 1966, p.14]. Let us turn to these facts.

"In the winter of 1924, Sun Yat-sen went to the North to promote the slogans "Convocation of the National Assembly" and "Elimination of unequal treaties"among the public and official circles. He took the long route through Japan and Tianjin to Beijing...

Sun Yat-sen's health was already failing by this time. Traveling by sea in the winter made him feel even worse. In December, when he reached Beijing, he fell ill...

In Beijing, at that time, the Beiyang militarist Duan Qi-rui was the host, who received all visitors from Guangdong. He treated us very kindly, trying in every possible way to get us to support his position - "not to take too radical measures against imperialism." With his advice to be friendly, not to pursue radical policies, so as not to bring the matter to "the need for explanations with the powers", he even sent Xu Shi-ying to Sun Yat-sen.

"What kind of revolutionary would I be," Sun Yat - sen replied indignantly, " if I didn't strive for the destruction of imperialism?

Meanwhile, Sun Yat-sen was getting worse. Song Qing-ling never left him for a moment. I was amazed at her self-control.

Before my arrival, Sun Yat-sen was treated in Yiheyuan ¹ , and Song Qingling was there with him. Seeing no improvement in the patient's condition, Zhang Jing-jiang and Li Shi-zeng insisted on using Chinese medicine, and around January 20, Sun Yat-sen was moved to a house located in Teshizi Lane. However, Chinese medicine did not help either. Considering Sun Yat-sen's condition critical, we set up a 24-hour watch near him and constantly convened consultations. We all longed to prolong his life, even if only for a few years, so necessary for the construction of the state that he himself laid down.

But, to our great chagrin, the disease progressed. The medication didn't help much at all. Fearing not only for the life of Sun Yat-sen, but also for the fate of the revolution, we were in a state of extreme oppression.

As we became more and more convinced of the incurable nature of the disease, we finally decided to ask Sun Yat-sen for advice in the future. Sun Yat-sen, a doctor by profession, well aware of his position, agreed with us. On January 22, we talked to him about the will, and on January 24, it was already ready. Sun Yat-sen's will consisted of three documents. The first one was subsequently read out at the opening of all Kuomintang meetings. According to the second, Sun Qing-ling was bequeathed the library and the house of Sun Yat-sen. Both parts of the will were written down according to Sun Yat-sen by Wang Jing-wei. The last document, a letter to the Soviet Government that Sun Yat - sen dictated in English, was written down by M. M. Borodin, Chen Yu-ren, Sun Tzu-wen, and Sun Ke.

¹ In the original: "At the Sehoe Hospital."

page 62

In the oral text of the will were the words: "Unite with the oppressed peoples of the world to fight together." Wang Jing-wei, who was aware of Xu Shi-ying's visit and his request not to incur the wrath of the powers, wrote this sentence down as follows:"...unite with the peoples who treat us as equals to fight together." However, this formulation was also opposed by Zhang Ji, Shao Yuan-zhong, Hu Han-min, and others. Even these vague words written by Wang Jing-wei and Chen Yu-ren were considered "ultra-left". The right was not happy with Wang Jing-wei and Chen Yu-ren.

On January 24, Sun Yat-sen was supposed to sign the completed will, but he asked to postpone this procedure after learning that Sun Qing-ling was grieving in the next room. He tried to calm Song Qing-ling and all of us down, and we encouraged him:

"That doesn't mean you're going to leave us.

But Sun Yat-sen was still very excited about the will, and he did not sleep a wink all night. In order not to worsen his condition at all, we tried not to talk about the will any more. All our thoughts were focused on somehow prolonging Sun Yat-sen's life. The disease then receded, then came again. But there was no fundamental improvement.

On March 11, at 8 a.m., I entered his room, and the sight of him immediately startled me, especially the look in his eyes. Quickly leaving the room, I told Wang Jing-wei about this and asked him to give Sun Yat-sen a will to sign. However, Chen Bijun, who was present, objected with displeasure:

- Tell me, you need to sign! When he wrote down the will, you all scolded him, and now he has to carry it for signature. To be scolded even more?

Then I found Sun Tzu-wen and Sun Ai-ling, who quickly realized that the time had come to sign the will, and hurried to Sun Yat-sen. They were all gathered at his bedside. When Sun Yat-sen signed the will, Song Qing-ling wept inconsolably. And no one could hold back the tears. We were worried about the fate of the alliance with Russia and the Communist Party, which even during Sun Yat-sen's lifetime had many opponents. And if he had not signed the letters to the Soviet government, it would have been used as a trump card by the right-wing Kuomintang.

In the afternoon, Sun Yat-sen's situation worsened dramatically. He was gradually losing his speech... The next morning, at 9: 10 a.m., he was gone" (He Xiang-ning, 1966, pp. 93-98).

After listening to the story of He Xiangning, we will pay attention to two important circumstances.

First, it contains factual errors regarding some dates. The authors of the documentary chronicle "Sun Yat-sen and Beijing" followed day by day the events that took place during Sun Yat-sen's last stay in the North. They found that Sun Yat-sen left the hospital and was moved to Teshizi Lane not "around January 20", but on February 18 (on that day the newspaper "Chenbao" reported this) [Huang Zonghan, Wang Xianzhi, 1996, p. 484]. Thus, the claim that Sun Yat-sen intended to sign the will on January 24 is erroneous, since at that time he was still in the hospital and only his wife was allowed to see him in the ward.

Secondly, He Xiangning's mention that the text of the will dictated but not yet signed by Sun Yat-sen was discussed and edited by the leader's entourage deserves special attention.

WANG JINGWEI'S VERSION

A member of the Kuomintang Central Committee, Wang Jingwei (1883-1944), presented the events in a slightly different light.

Speaking at the Second National Party Congress on January 4, 1926, he said the following::

"...After the party leader underwent surgery at the Sehe Hospital in Beijing on January 26 last year, it became clear that his condition was hopeless. At that time, all the comrades in Beijing, hearing this sad news, felt a serious responsibility that they would have to take on themselves. Therefore, in the evening of the same day, a meeting of the Political Council was convened. The leader created the Political Council back in Canton and personally headed its work. But once in the hospital,

page 63

he realized that a serious illness would not allow him to engage in everyday party affairs. Meanwhile, most of the members of the Political Council were not in Beijing: Hu Hanmin and Liao Zhongkai were in Canton, Dai Jitao and Shao Yuanchong were in Shanghai, so I was the only one who accompanied the leader to Beijing. So on that day, he added Yu Yuzhen, Wu Zhihui, Li Dazhao, Li Shizeng, and Chen Yuzhen to the Political Council.

That evening, after a long discussion, the members of the Political Council decided that while the leader's condition was not yet critical, it was necessary to ask him to leave a will that his party comrades could follow. The participants of the meeting were unanimous in this opinion, but no final decision was taken on this issue throughout January. We all still had some hope for the party leader's recovery. The doctors said that there was almost no hope, but we continued to believe that the leader's willpower and ability to resist the disease were superior to all other people. And even if he is not destined to fully recover, but maybe he will still be able to hold out for a longer time - six months, a year, or, who knows, even two or three years. Telling him outright that the disease is incurable and that he must be prepared for death would undermine his resolve to fight the disease. So we all decided to tell him at the very last moment.

From January 26 to February 24, we almost daily told the doctors that if the party leader's condition worsened dramatically, they would allow us to go to his room and talk to him. The doctors gave their consent.

In the first half of the day on February 24, the leader became very ill and it was clear that he was not able to continue to fight the disease. The doctors said that if we need to talk to him, it should be done within a day or two, because after that he will leave us forever. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, I asked Ms. Sun ² to leave with her consent, and then the three companions - Sun Zhesheng ³ , Kong Yongzhi ⁴ , Song Ziwen - and I, the fourth, entered the room together. When the leader saw us coming in, he invited us to come closer, as if he knew that he would never get out of bed again. And then he asked us what we wanted to tell him. Everyone else was still hesitant to say directly what we had come for.

Then I said cautiously: "On January 26, you were admitted to the hospital, and many of our comrades blamed us, thinking that you should have left us a few words. If you get better, you'll be fine. If not, we will need to be able to listen to your instructions. We are ready to help you defeat the demon of malaise, but we would still like you to say a few words to us before your consciousness is clouded. These words will be useful to us in 10, even 20 years!"

And this is what the chief then replied: "If I live, I will have something to say. When I die, you can do whatever you want, in which case I don't need to tell you anything."

"I would still like to listen to you!" we insisted.

The chief said: "If I tell you something, there will be many dangers for you. Now you are surrounded by numerous enemies, and after my death, they will go on the offensive against you. If you stand firm, it will be very dangerous. I think it's best if I don't tell you anything. Then it will be easier for you to act in accordance with the circumstances. If I say something, it will be very difficult for you to overcome the danger."

"We know," I replied, " that most of our comrades are ready to follow your precepts. We are not afraid of any dangers, the choice between life and death does not frighten us. You have been instructing us for a long time and you can be sure that we are not afraid of difficulties, we are not afraid of enemies."

After listening to me, the chief closed his eyes and nodded his head in agreement with our opinion.

We told him, " Say the first thing that comes to mind!"

The chief said: "I've written a lot of books."

"Yes," I replied, " you have written the General Program for State Construction, the State Construction Plan, the Three People's Principles, and the Manifesto of the First National People's Congress.

² According to Chinese custom, a married woman can be called either by her own surname or by her husband's surname. This is why Song Qingling is sometimes referred to as "Mrs. Song" or "Mrs. Sun"in the memoirs given.

³ Sun Ke, son of Sun Yat-sen.

⁴ Kun Xiangxi, brother-in-law of Song Qingling.

page 64

congress". We'll mention all of this. But I would like you to say something more generalizing."

I remembered what the chief had told me on January 1 last year on the way from Tianjin to Beijing. At that time, he was still feeling well and said what I had written down: "The goal of the revolution, to which I gave forty years of my life, is to fight for the independence, freedom and equality of China." This phrase he intended to say in his speech, but then it was decided to abandon the public speech and replace it with a leaflet distributed among the population. This time, among other things, he told us that a revolutionary strategy should pay particular attention to two points: first, it is necessary to raise the masses; second, it is necessary to unite with the peoples who treat us as equals to fight together. I listened to these two theses and immediately wrote them down.

Since we had little time and had to write immediately in the presence of the patient, it was all written down in a hurry, very carelessly.

When I had read what I had written, the chief nodded his head and said: "All right."

We prepared another will related to family matters, and I read it slowly. The chief nodded his head again and said: "All right."

At first we wanted to ask the chief to sign our name, but in the next room Mrs. Sun was sobbing bitterly, and the chief said: "Put that away for now, I still have a few more days to live." So I didn't dare ask the chief to sign the will again, so I folded it up and put it in my pocket... The will was kept by me in order to give it for signature to the leader at the moment when he becomes very ill " [Zhong Guo Kuomintang, 1926, pp. 11-13].

A DOCUMENTARY RECORDING OF THIS CONVERSATION

The evidence of He Xiangning and Wang Jingwei is not entirely consistent. The record of "Conversation with Wang Jingwei and Others on February 24, 1925", published many years later in the PRC, also differs from them.:

"On February 24, 1925, Sun Ziwen, Sun Ke, Sun Wan, Zou Lu, and Wang Jingwei, on behalf of their Kuomintang comrades, came to the sick Sun Yat-sen with a request to leave a will. Below is the original recording of the conversation that took place at that time, under which those present put their signatures (published for the first time).

Party Leader: "What do you want to tell me?"

Wang Jingwei: "We still don't give up hope of helping you beat the disease. But Western and Chinese doctors have told us that it would be best to talk to you while you are still feeling well. We don't know when we will need your parting words, maybe in 10 years, maybe in 8, and maybe in 20 - 30. We don't give up hope of helping you beat the disease, but at the same time we want you to say a few words to us."

Party leader: "I think I have nothing to say to you. If I get better, I'll have something to say, but if I die, what's the use of words?"

Wang Jingwei: "The comrades want to act according to your destiny. If you say a few words to your friends, it will instill in them an irresistible confidence in their abilities. After you recover, you will need to rest for a year or six months. This time it takes you to say a few words to your comrades."

Party leader: "What did you want me to say?"

Wang Jingwei: "We have written down what you have often told us" (reads out).

Party leader (shaking his head affirmatively): "I agree! But you're acting so openly, and that's dangerous. Because the political enemies are now preparing to force you to retreat after my death. And if you show firmness, you will inevitably be in danger."

Wang Jingwei: "We are not afraid of danger, we will definitely act according to your destiny."

Party Leader: "I agree."

Wang Jingwei: "Your spouse takes exceptional care of you during your illness! Our friends treat her with great respect and are very grateful to her. If something unexpected happens, her comrades will certainly take care of her safety,

page 65

but you also need to say a few words to calm her down. In addition - your children! We have prepared the text of the words addressed to them" (reads out).

Party leader (closing his eyes, nodding affirmatively): "I agree."

Wang Jingwei: "Could you please put your signature?"

Party leader: "We don't need to do this yet. Bring me the texts in a few days and I'll sign them."

At 4: 15 p.m. on February 24, 1925, at the bedside of the sick party leader.

Recorded by: Wang Jingwei.

Certified: Sun Wan, Sun Ke, Sun Ziwen, Zou Lu" [Huang Zonghan, Wang Xianzhi, 1996, pp. 388-389].

This recording, made by Wang Jingwei, and his official announcement at the Kuomintang congress basically coincide with each other, except for one important detail. It turns out that Wang Jingwei did not write down the will from the words of Sun Yat-sen right at his bedside, but came to him with a pre-prepared text. This is exactly what the circumstances of the conversation look like in the statement of some other eyewitnesses.

MEMORIES OF HUANG CHANG AND SUN KE

Sun Yat - sen's personal secretary, Huang Changu (1890-1959), was the first to tell the world about his last days. He accompanied Dr. Sun on a trip to Beijing, and a month and a half after his death, he spoke to graduates of a military school in Yunnan province about the illness and death of the leader. Soon after, the full text of Huang Changu's memoirs was published in the Mingo Daily newspaper.

"...At 3 p.m. on February 24, a nurse came out of the patient's room with a worried look and said, addressing her relatives and all those present:

"This morning, the usually cheerful Mr. Sun's mood suddenly became dejected. Phlegm had accumulated in his throat over the past two days, and especially this afternoon. In addition, he is already in an unconscious state. In my experience, Mr. Sun's condition has become critical. If you need to ask him something, it should probably be done immediately."

We already knew that there was no hope for the Commander-in-chief's recovery. Therefore, many comrades insisted that the text of the will should be drawn up so that in case of extreme need, the commander-in-chief could sign it and leave it to the party as an eternal reference point. In order to do this, we contacted Mr. Wang. After hearing the nurse's words, Mr. Wang made arrangements with the patient's three relatives and first asked Ms. Sun to leave the room. The four men entered, closed the door behind them, and stood by the bed.

At this moment, the commander-in-chief fell into a state of slumber, but when he heard the sound of footsteps, he came to his senses. Opening his eyes, he asked his companions: "Do you have something to do with me?". He said that and closed his eyes again.

"The four of us," says Mr. Wang, " came today to visit the chief in a friendly way. You'll probably get better soon. But after that, you will still need a long rest. In the meantime, our party will have a lot of pressing matters to attend to, and we need someone to handle these party matters for you. And in order for this comrade to conduct party affairs in accordance with the leader's intentions, it is necessary that the leader say a few words as a parting word to the comrades."

The Commander-in-Chief listened attentively to Mr. Wang, and after listening to him, he was deep in thought, as if he had a lot to say. However, after a long silence, he opened his eyes and said in a stern voice, " I have nothing to say! If I get better, I will be able to talk and I will be able to talk in detail with each of you individually in a few days after a rest at a mountain resort. If I don't get better, what's there to talk about?" After saying that, the commander-in-chief closed his eyes again.

Mr. Wang asked him again, " It seems that our chief's health will certainly improve. But before full recovery, it may take a long time when you will not be able to do business. And there are already a lot of party affairs, and they all do not tolerate delay. Therefore, we would still like you to get in touch with us in advance.-

page 66

but they did say a few words as an instruction to us, so that we could deal with party affairs in accordance with them."

The commander-in-chief was silent for a long time, then opened his eyes again and said: "I believe that all of you are in danger. If I die, your enemies will certainly try to bend you to their will. And if you don't comply, they'll want to kill you. If you try to avoid the danger, you will have to give up your positions. So what else can I tell you?" After saying that, he closed his eyes again.

Mr. Wang asked him again in all sincerity, " The chief and I have been fighting together for several years and have never been afraid of danger. We have never retreated under the onslaught of our enemies. Who can bend us to their will? Nevertheless, I would like you to say a few words as a parting word, so that we know how to go further forward and continue to fight."

The Commander-in-Chief, having seen that the requests were so insistent, opened his eyes again and asked: "What would you like me to say?"

Mr. Wang replied, " We have prepared a few words here and will read them to you. If you don't agree with them, please say something else, and I'll write it down."

After listening to this, the party leader said: "Good! Read me what you have prepared there!"

Mr. Wang took out the first text and read it slowly in a low voice:

"I gave forty years of my life to the national revolution, which aims to bring freedom and equality to China. After forty years of experience, I have deeply realized that to achieve this goal, it is necessary to awaken the masses and fight in alliance with the peoples of the world who are building relations with us on the basis of equality.

The revolution is still incomplete. In order to complete it, my associates must continue to act energetically, guided by the "State Building Plan", "General State Building Program", "Three People's Principles", and "Manifesto of the First National Congress"that I have written. It is especially important to ensure that the demands I have put forward for the convocation of the National Assembly and the annulment of unequal treaties are implemented as soon as possible.

This is my last will."

When the text was read out, the commander-in-chief expressed his full agreement and said, nodding his head: "Good! I totally agree!"

Then one of the relatives asked: "You have just expressed your readiness to say a few words concerning party affairs. Could you also say something to your relatives in the same way?"

"All right," the commander-in-chief replied. "And what exactly do you think I should say?"

Mr. Wang took out the second text and read:

"Having turned all my thoughts to the service of the motherland, I have not accumulated any property for myself, and everything left after me-books, clothes, a house, etc. - I will bequeath to my wife Sun Qingling. My children have already reached the age of majority and are not dependent on others. I want them to take care of themselves in order to live up to their expectations. This is my last will."

After listening to what he had read, the commander-in-chief nodded his head again and said, "Good. I also agree with that."

Mr. Wang asked him again: "Since you agree with these two texts, could you please sign them today so that they become the words spoken by the party leader?"

Nodding his head, the commander-in-chief replied, "Yes."

Then Mr. Wang opened the door and took out a fountain pen. Ms. Sun was sitting in the living room at the time. When she saw the door open, she immediately entered. The Commander-in-Chief, apparently so that she would not be tormented by the hopelessness of his situation, quickly told Mr. Wang: "There is no need to sign today. Let's postpone it for a few days" " [Huang Zonghan, Wang Xianzhi, 1966, p. 184].

The accuracy of the above details of what happened that day at Sun Yat-sen's bedside is confirmed by the memoirs of his son Sun Ke (1891-1974).,

page 67

who was also in the dying man's room at the time. The most significant evidence is the following::

""...What should I tell you?" My father asked.

"We have already prepared the text," Wang Jingwei replied. - I would like to read it to you, and if you agree, then put your signature under it. If you don't agree, then say something else and I'll write it down."

"All right," my father said. - Read it!".

Then Wang Jingwei read the text he had prepared in advance slowly, character by character, and his father expressed his complete satisfaction with what he had written. This was what is now known as the " Testament of the Father of the State." In addition, the text of the will to relatives was prepared, which was also read out, and the father agreed with it " [Sun Ke, 1994, pp. 11-12].

Thus, the recording of Sun Yat-sen's conversation with Wang Jingwei on February 24, 1925, and the memoirs of Huang Changu and Sun Ke coincide in the main.

First, Sun Yat-sen originally had no intention of leaving a will at all and only agreed to it after Wang Jingwei's insistent requests.

Second, Sun Yat-sen, having yielded to the wishes of his associates, did not dictate his last will to them at all, but only approved the finished text of the will with which they came to him and about the contents of which he was not aware until then.

Third, Wang Jingwei read out two documents to Sun Yat-sen: an appeal to members of the Kuomintang and a property order. There was no mention of a letter to the leaders of the Soviet government at all that day.

BY WHOM WAS THE TEXT OF THE WILLS DRAWN UP?

Some light on this issue is shed by the memoirs of one of the veterans of the Xinhai Revolution, a member of the Political Council of the Kuomintang Central Committee Yu Yuzhen (1879-1964):

"After [Sun Yat-sen's] arrival in Beijing, his painful condition worsened and he personally gave a written order to establish the Beijing Political Council. At that time, it was the party's highest decision-making body and was responsible for implementing them, so its activities were carried out in complete secrecy... After that, the Father of the State did not get out of bed.

When the Political Council was established, it held more than ten meetings at the Beijing Fandian Hotel, during which Wu Zhihui often argued with Borodin. Because of the language barrier, they could only discuss through an interpreter, and this always took up a lot of time.

The illness of the Father of the State became more and more threatening, and comrades in the Political Council expressed the opinion that just in case it was necessary to draw up the text of the leader's address. I suggested calling it a "Death Warrant", but Wu Zhihui said that it would sound feudal and that it would be better to use the usual word "Will". This proposal was adopted at the meeting. Then, several meetings were held to exchange views and a text written by Wang Jingwei was compiled. More than twenty comrades who were in Beijing were invited to participate in the editing of this text. The final version of it was written down by Wang Jingwei and presented to the Father of the State, who was lying in bed "[Yu Yuzhen, 1978, p. 397].

Details of how Sun Yat-sen's political will was drawn up can be found in the memoirs of the then member of the Political Council, Yu Shude (1894-1982).:

"At that time, the Beijing cell of the Kuomintang often held extended meetings - in fact, it was the Kuomintang CEC relocated to Beijing, which decided the most important issues. In addition to the members of the Central Committee who were originally part of the Beijing cell - Li Dazhao, Ding Weifeng, Wang Faqin, Yu Yuzhen, Gu Mengyu, Xu Qian, and Yu Shude, in the meetings of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of China,-

page 68

Wang Jingwei, Lin Sen, Zhang Ji, Zou Lu, Xie Chi, Wu Zhihui, Li Shizeng and others took part, as well as Central Committee candidates Han Linfu, Lu Youyu, Fu Rulin, etc. Wang Jingwei was usually chosen to preside over the meetings.

As Mr. Sun's condition became precarious, at one of these meetings, Wang Jingwei suggested that the text of Sun Yat-sen's will should be drawn up just in case. Wu Jihui was also authorized to write a preliminary draft of the will.

At the next meeting, Wu Zhihui presented his draft text and read it out to the audience, shaking his head ruefully. I don't remember it verbatim, but the general meaning, as usual in political wills, was that the author called on party members to implement his unfulfilled plans. The text was short, just over a hundred characters long. I only remember that in the last sentence "Strive hard for this! Strive hard for it!" an outdated expression of the Old Chinese written language that seemed inappropriate was used.

Wang Jingwei listened and also shook his head. When the text was read out, Wang Jingwei asked the audience what their comments were, but no one said anything. Then Wang Jingwei himself spoke, saying, as far as I remember, that "this text is unsatisfactory, it does not reflect the revolutionary spirit of Sun Yat-sen and cannot inspire party members to revolutionary achievements." After that, he suggested it himself: "I could try to make a different version of the will."

At the next meeting, Wang Jingwei read out the text of his will, which, after a long discussion, was unanimously recognized as much more successful than Wu Zhihui's version, and was adopted without any changes "[Huang Zonghan, Wang Xianzhi, 1966, pp. 397-398].

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF SUN YAT-SEN'S LETTER TO THE SOVIET LEADERS?

He Xiangning claimed that the text of Sun Yat-sen's letter to Moscow was dictated by him and written down by Borodin, Chen Yuzhen, Sun Ziwen and Sun Ke, and this was done before February 24. Wang Jingwei, on the other hand, claimed that the letter was written by Chen Yuzhen and read to Sun Yat-sen after he signed the first two wills on March 11.

Curious details were given by the author of the official chronicle of Sun Yat-sen's life, without specifying, however, on what sources it was based.:

"After Sun Yat-sen signed two wills that he agreed to on February 24, his secretary Chen Yuzhen suddenly took out a long suicide letter written in English to Soviet Russia. It was written by Chen and Borodin, and read out by Song Ziwen, after which the leader was asked to sign it. The text was very lengthy, written in English, but it appeared unexpectedly and in a great hurry. This was something completely different from the political will agreed upon 16 days earlier, written in Chinese, and adopted after careful discussion by responsible comrades from the top leadership. This English text was read only once to Sun Yat-sen, who was on the verge of death, and immediately asked to sign it. It is not surprising that at that time the party comrades thought that this was done incorrectly, many critical comments were made on this issue, and all this caused controversy" [Guofu nianpu, 1965, p.1129].

He Xiangning's claim that the letter to the Soviet leaders was written down from the words of Sun Yat-sen is highly questionable.

First, as we saw above, all other eyewitnesses report with one voice that on February 24, Sun Yat-sen was initially opposed to leaving any wills at all. Therefore, it is unlikely that he dictated his deathbed address to the leaders of the USSR before February 24.

page 69

Second, the text of the letter is indeed much longer than the other two wills. Sun Yat-sen knew a little English, but not enough to express his thoughts in that language ^.5

Third, the letter states that Sun Yat-sen ordered the party to continue to maintain constant contact with Soviet leaders. But the political testament does not mention the USSR at all. This suggests that Sun Yat-sen's letter was written independently of the main will.

The letter appears to have been written by Borodin and Chen Yuzhen, Sun Yat - sen's secretary responsible for his foreign correspondence. Both were fluent in English, and the text of the message was stylistically almost perfect.

REVIEWING THE ORIGINAL WILL

Back on February 24, when Sun Yat-sen was read the text of the two wills, he was, in the words of a nurse, "unconscious." In the future, he got worse and worse. According to He Xiangning, when she entered Sun Yat-sen's room on March 11, the look in his eyes startled her. Sun Yat-sen's strength had left him, and he could no longer sign his name without help.

"Ms. Sun," Huang Changu recalled, "tearfully lifted the commander-in-chief's hand so that he could hold the fountain pen and sign it" [Huang Zonghan and Wang Xianzhi, 1996, p.417].

Wang Jingwei's recollections fully coincide with this: "After receiving Mrs. Sun's consent, Comrade He Xiangning asked me to take out two wills and give the chief the fountain pen that Sun Zhesheng usually carried. The patient was extremely weak, his hands were shaking and would not obey him. So his wife held his hand to make it easier for him to sign. Despite the fact that he no longer had any power in his hands, the signature turned out to be very clear" [Zhong Guo Kuomintang, 1926, p.13].

At present, we have the opportunity to refer to the originals of all three documents6 and see what Sun Yat-sen's signature actually looks like.

Paradoxically, the "Sun Wen" hieroglyphs that crown the text of the first two wills don't just look distinct. Written in a confident, strong hand, they couldn't have been written by someone who was on the edge of life and death. Especially if someone else was guiding the dying person's hand, helping them write.

Even more mysterious is Sun Yat-sen's signature under the letter addressed to the Soviet leaders. It is a real work of calligraphic art - the lines of the letters are perfectly smooth, smooth, they are written with a firm and determined hand.

There can only be one explanation for this. Sun Yat-sen, who was no longer able to adequately perceive everything that was happening around him, with great difficulty managed to put his signature on the documents presented to him. But the story with them did not end there. It is very likely that even after the Kuomintang leader died, the issue of his wills continued to be discussed at the Political Council. It is possible that it was decided to rewrite the text of the wills and imitate them.-

⁵ In a note addressed to F. Volkhovsky (March 15, 1897), Sun Yat-sen reported: "I must confess that I cannot write English correctly without help" [Guofu quanji, 1989, p. 313].

⁶ The originals of Sun Yat-sen's two wills are kept in the archives of the Kuomintang History Committee in Taipei.

page 70

read Sun Yat-sen's signature. If this assumption is correct, everything was done within the next few days, because on March 15, as the researcher of the biography of Sun Yat-sen K. M. Wilbur notes, photographic reproductions of the two wills were published in the journal "Goven Zhoubao" [Wilbur, 1976, p. 369, n. 32]. The letter to Moscow was not included in this publication. The Russian translation of it appeared in the newspaper Pravda on March 14, and in China its English original became known on March 18 from the correspondence of the Rosta agency ^.7

"HEREBY CERTIFIES..."

In addition to Sun Yat-sen's signature under his wills, their authenticity was confirmed by the signatures of witnesses. However, this raises another perplexing question, which for some reason has never come to the attention of researchers of the life and work of the leader of the Chinese revolution.

The problem is when exactly Wang Jingwei and his ilk signed off on the authenticity of the three documents.

Wang Jingwei claimed that this happened immediately after Sun Yat-sen approved the text of the two wills on February 24.:

"After leaving the room, we immediately went to the Political Council with a report. Several members of the Political Council were present. Some of them were already waiting at the door and had heard our entire conversation. Therefore, we asked them to sign the text, certifying it" [Zhongguo Kuomintang..., 1926, p. 13].

Sun Ke described the situation in much the same way:

"We left the patient's room and immediately went with a message to the Political Council. All present members of the Political Council unanimously signed the documents to confirm their authenticity" [Sun Ke, 1994, p. 12].

Meanwhile, Zou Lu claimed that the signatures of members of the Political Council and relatives appeared under the will only on March 11.:

"When the chief signed (the will), Ms. Sun held his hand in hers. After that, Wu Jingheng ⁸, Dai Chuanxian ⁹, Shao Yuanchong, Sun Ziwen, Kun Xiangxi, Sun Ke, Dai Enxai and I immediately signed it" (Zou Lu, 1976, p. 163).

The question of who exactly certified the authenticity of the documents is also important.

The two wills are signed by ten people: Wang Jingwei, Sun Ziwen, Sun Ke, Kong Xiangxi, Shao Yuanchong, Dai Enxai, Wu Zhihui, He Xiangning, Dai Jitao, and Zou Lu.

The text of the letter was signed in the presence of seven people, including Wu Zhihui, Dai Jitao, and Shao Yuanchong10 .

There can be no doubt that Sun Yat-sen's letter to Moscow could not have been signed by Sun Yat-sen "in the presence" of the persons whose names appear under it.

⁷ A clipping from the newspaper" Far Eastern Times " with the text of the letter was found in the archives of the US State Department (USDS 893.006198). From this text, which in some places does not completely coincide with the original, stored in the archive of the RTSHIDNI, a translation was made into Chinese, and then the Chinese text was translated into Russian. It is he who is placed in the book "Sun Yat-sen. Selected works", Moscow, 1985, pp. 556-557.

⁸ Wu Zhihui.

⁹ Dai Jitao.

^10K. Wilbur had no opportunity to get acquainted with the original letter stored in the Moscow archive, and erroneously claimed that there were no signatures of witnesses under this document at all [Wilbur, 1976, p.279].

page 71

It is inconceivable that three members of the Political Council - Wu Zhihui, Dai Jitao, and Shao Yuanchong-pointedly refused to witness the authenticity of the message right at the bedside of the dying party leader. But they may have avoided this procedure after Sun Yat-sen's death, when the letter was retroactively reprinted a second time, and under it appeared a beautiful signature of the deceased. All three were representatives of the right wing of the Kuomintang. In November 1925, they took part in the Xishan Conference, which decided to expel Communists from the Kuomintang and release Borodin from his duties as chief political adviser. Borodin himself wrote about this as follows:

"Before Sun was even laid to rest, the split that had been brewing for all the time of our direct contact with the Kuomintang actually began, and the right-wing Kuomintang members were the first to speak out. Their speech has the character of a struggle not against the so-called principles of Sun Yat-sen, but against the left wing, which they dubbed the red wing, which sold out to the Bolsheviks "(Borodin, 1994, p. 541).

A PHOTOGRAPH THAT TURNED OUT TO BE A FIGMENT OF THE ARTIST'S IMAGINATION

In conclusion , let's talk about another document that is relevant to the topic we are considering.

In 1986, the People's Daily newspaper published a report that said: "Sun Yat-sen's deathbed photo was first seen by viewers in the film 'Sun Yat - sen-Petrel of the Revolution'. For a long time, this relic was kept in the Society of Chinese Emigrants in Kobe (Japan) and was provided to the filmmakers by the historian Liu Danyan" [People's Daily, 10.11.1986].

This article attracted the attention of Yu Qizhao, an employee of the Memorial Museum at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, who was interested in the origin of this photo. She was able to establish that this image has already been published before in Taiwan with the following comment::

"At 9: 30 a.m. on March 12, 1925, the Father of the State died in a house at Beijing, Teshizi Lane. The painting depicts the historic moment when on March 11, the Father of the State, no longer able to resist a serious illness, signed his will. The original painting, measuring 9 chi high and ¹¹ chi wide, was painted in the spring of the 26th year of the Republic of China11 . It shows Dai Jitao on the right, Zou Lu in the center, Wu Zhihui to the right, and Sun Ke at the foot of the bed" (Yu Qizhao, 1999, p. 315).

Later, the historian Wang Gengxiong became interested in this image. He formulated a number of questions to which he could not find a satisfactory answer. In particular, why isn't Sun Qingling actually holding Sun Yat-sen's hand in the photo? [Wang Gengxiong, 2001, p. 404].

It is quite clear that the image in question is not a photograph at all, and this negates its significance as a historical source. Moreover, the artist who picked up the brush 12 years after the events depicted by him deliberately distorted the true state of affairs. He created a composition that immediately and permanently satisfied the demanding demands of the new Kuomintang leadership. The artist did not depict either Wang Jingwei, who was defeated in the fight against Chiang Kai-shek, or He Xiangning, or even Sun Qingling, who supported the Chinese Communists. At the bedside of the dying leader were only those who, by 1937, were in the same camp as the self-appointed successor of the Father of the State.

¹¹, 1937

page 72

In fact, just as arbitrary adjustments to historical facts were made by those characters who were behind the scenes of the picture.

Wang Jingwei, speaking at the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang, was guided by very serious considerations. Sun Yat-sen's political testament was extremely necessary for him, who became the de facto leader of the party after the death of the leader, as a mandate certifying the right of succession. For the same reason, it was not convenient for him to inform the party members about who was the true author of the will.

Wang Jingwei's version that Sun Yat-sen's last will was dictated by the leader appealed to He Xiangning. She extended this fiction to a letter to the Soviet leaders. But she was guided by completely different considerations. It was important for her to prove that on his deathbed, the great Chinese revolutionary thought of an alliance with the Chinese Communists and turned his mind's eye to Soviet Russia.

The memoirs of He Xiangning were well received by those Soviet historians who invented the myth of the "great turning point" in the worldview of the leader of the Chinese Revolution.

list of literature

Borodin M. M. Smert ' Sunya i Kuomintang [The Death of Sun and the Kuomintang]. Documents. Vol. 1. 1920-1925. Moscow, 1994.

Wang Gengxiong. Weiren xiangtse di mandian (About what you can't see in the album of photos of a great man). Shanghai, 2001.

Guofu nianpu (Chronicle of the life of the Father of the State). Vol. 2. Taipei, 1965.

Guofu quanji (The Complete Works of the Father of State). T. 10. Taipei, 1989.

People's Daily. 10.11.1986.

RGASPI (Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History). F. 514. Op. 1. D. 125. L. 13-14.

Sun Ke. Bashi shulue (Memoirs of an eighty-year-old) / / Zhuanji wenxue, 1994, N 4. Huang Zonghan, Wang Xianzhi. Sun Zhongshan yu Beijing (Sun Yat-sen and Beijing). Beijing, 1996. He Xiangning. Waters of Huyi (My memories) / / People's Daily. 7.10.1961.

He Xiangning. Memories of Sun Yat-sen (translated from Chinese by Yu. M. Garushyants). Introductory article by M. F. Yuryev, Moscow, 1966.

Zou Lu. Huilu (Memoirs) / / Zou Lu quanji (Complete works of Zou Lu). Vol. 1. Taipei, 1976.

Zhongguo Kuomintang di er ci quanguo daibiao dahui huyi jilu (Minutes of the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang). 4.01.1926.

Yu Qizhao. Sun Zhongshan wenshi tupian kaoshi (A critical study of the visual sources of Sun Yat-sen's biography). Guangzhou, 1999.

Yu Yuzhen xiansheng wenji (Collected Works of Yu Yuzhen). Тайбэй, 1978. Wilbur K. M. Sun Yat-sen, Frustrated Patriot. N.Y., 1976.

Permanent link to this publication: