Revolutionary's daughter urges party to honour 'red' ideals
The daughter of one of the People's Republic's founders recalled in an article in the Communist Party mouthpiece yesterday how her father had to declare his assets when he applied to join the party in the 1920s.
Its publication comes at a sensitive time, with the party undergoing a power transition amid renewed calls for the disclosure of officials' personal assets in a bid to stem rampant corruption.
The article by He Jiesheng, a retired major general and daughter of Marshal He Long , was headlined "The Loyalty of Our Fathers". It said her father had applied for membership after leading the Nanchang uprising against the ruling Kuomintang on August 1, 1927.
She wrote that her father had been interrogated by two senior party cadres at a secret military base in a dilapidated school in Ruijin , Jiangxi province when submitting his application form.
When asked how many assets and how much cash he possessed, He Long said, "I have nothing", she wrote, adding that her father explained that he had cut all social ties after deciding to join the party.
He Jiesheng, 77, said that although her father was a KMT army commander when he applied for Communist Party membership he had decided to give up his high rank and matching salary to join the party because he agreed with its members' goals of rooting out corruption and helping the people banish poverty.
Beijing-based political analyst Zhang Lifan said He Jiesheng was not the only child of a revolutionary leader - or "second red" - to publicly call on the party to uphold the creation of the "free, equal and honest society" pursued by their parents.
"He Jiesheng represents another batch of second reds to call on the party to stick to the revolutionary traditions and legacy left by their parents," said Zhang, formerly with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Born into a poor farmer family in Hunan's Sangzhi county, He Long began his revolutionary career after joining Sun Yat-sen's Revolutionary Party in 1914 when he was only 18 by attacking a government tax assessor with two cleavers. He was denounced during the Cultural Revolution and died in custody in 1969, aged 73.
