Seniority and prestige are intangible political capital. Chairman Mao's prestige was accumulated over decades of being consistently correct. Chen Ke's current accumulation was far from enough. He dared not waste his existing resources recklessly. If he couldn't convince the comrades completely at this meeting, the subsequent work would be very difficult.

After Hua Xiongmao joined, all the comrades of the Shanghai Party Branch were present except those arrested and the traitors. The meeting adopted a rotating speech mode. Starting from Qi Huishen, everyone had to express their stance. Chen Ke didn't turn this meeting into a loyalty meeting for himself. The Party didn't do this. Modern political parties are based on political views rather than personal relationships. And the strength of organizational discipline of a modern political party is the only benchmark determining combat effectiveness.

After a round of speeches, the comrades put forward various views. Summarized, there were three points. First, to what extent should the Party's intelligence be shared? Who should master the core secrets of the Party? The emergence of traitors was truly shocking; just being locked up in the concession prison for a few days, someone actually defected and revealed the situation of the party organization.

After Chen Ke raised this issue that everyone cared about, everyone felt this must be determined.

"Since everyone actively or passively participated in this incident, I think we must give every comrade an explanation. I'll first talk about some of my feelings in Beijing." During his days in Beijing, Chen Ke contacted many people, both constitutionalists and revolutionaries. In fact, scholars in the late Qing Dynasty only differed in the degree of rebellion, not in whether they wanted to rebel or not. In these times, local gentry hoping to hold power advocated "constitutional reform" to gain a political voice through constitutionalism. While overseas students and some "progressive youth," although looking respectable, actually couldn't truly gain power even with "constitutionalism." These people became the main force advocating "republican revolution." In the final analysis, they all wanted to seize power from the Manchu Qing.

After explaining the difference between domestic "constitutionalism" and "republic," everyone felt Chen Ke had strayed a bit too far. This incident was the Manchu Qing government and the concession joining hands to suppress the People's Party and the Whampoa Book Club, although everyone was released quickly. Lu Huitian asked Chen Ke, many comrades either sat in the police station jail or were arrested and locked up by the Shanghai government. The means of both sides were the same in this matter. What did this have to do with "constitutionalism" and "republic"?

Chen Ke continued to explain that the Manchu Qing court was naturally unwilling to withdraw from the historical stage voluntarily. In order to maintain political power, besides suppressing revolutionaries on one hand, they also had to redeem their reputation on the other. A major reason for domestic criticism of the Manchu Qing was forfeiting sovereignty and humiliating the nation. Foreign aggressors wanted to pressure the Manchu Qing government to spit out more benefits, and the Manchu Qing government naturally refused. And the Manchu Qing was now working hard to recover lost sovereignty, or at least absolutely not lose sovereignty anymore. This wasn't because the Manchu Qing court was so patriotic, but because they firmly believed they couldn't give "rebels" more excuses to attack the Manchu Qing court. The Mixed Court was precisely the main struggle between the court's legal rights and foreign extraterritoriality in China.

Before Guan Jiong, the Chinese chief official "Mixed Court Trial Officer (*Yanyuan*)" of this Mixed Court incident, sat in this position, the Shanghai Mixed Court had changed several *Yanyuan* in a short period. The reason was that those officials couldn't maintain China's existing power. Shanghai was where the contradiction between China and foreign countries was most obvious; the Manchu Qing absolutely wouldn't make the slightest concession here.

After the gunfight occurred, the police station arrested people wantonly to prove the "rationality of their action." The Shanghai government's arrests were just for show, to demonstrate that the Shanghai government had the ability to maintain local order in Shanghai and not give foreigners an excuse to continue intervening. This wasn't cooperation between the two sides, but another manifestation mode of the contradiction between the two sides.

Listening to Chen Ke's analysis, everyone felt it was both very right and very wrong. The conflict between the Manchu Qing and foreigners was indeed so. According to Chen Ke's analysis, both sides should have dealt a deadly blow to the arrested people, tortured them to extract confessions, and then proven their "correctness." Especially after the traitors of the People's Party told the internal situation of the People's Party to the concession side, they should have pursued relentlessly. This time, it was the concession side that released people first.

After listening to the comrades' questions, Chen Ke raised his left hand and extended two fingers. Everyone didn't know what Chen Ke meant and looked at Chen Ke inexplicably. "There are two factors that determined everyone could be released. It was precisely this conflict that decided they had to release people."

First, politically, the Shanghai Consular Body was very clear about the dissatisfaction of the Chinese literati group with the Manchu Qing. And they knew even better that the Chinese literati group hated foreigners even more. In the Mixed Court incident, local forces tended to the stance of the Manchu Qing sticking to national interests. If the Shanghai Consular Body pursued this case relentlessly, it would only make the literati group's hatred more deep-rooted. It had no benefit for foreigners. Moreover, thanks to the traitors, the People's Party, in the eyes of the foreign consular body in Shanghai, was nothing more than a literati political group in Shanghai. With such a classification, the foreign consular body in Shanghai had to face a problem: relentless pursuit of a literati political group like the People's Party would only make Shanghai's attitude against the foreign consular body more resolute. Even the comprador group, which consistently supported foreigners relatively, didn't support foreigners this time. Rather than pursuing the People's Party relentlessly, the foreign consular body might as well show its "goodwill." Plus Qi Huishen's comprador father worked hard to lobby the British; except for a few people caught participating in the gunfight, everyone else was released.

And the Shanghai government hoped to borrow local support more. They originally had no enthusiasm for arrests. It was just to prove the government had the ability to maintain local order, and additionally to warn radical forces not to act rashly again through arrests. Since the British released people, plus Yan Fu and other reputable figures lobbied the Shanghai government, the Shanghai government also released people.

These were all manifestations of contradiction. As the two sides of the main contradiction—the Manchu Qing government and foreign aggressors—after the fierce armed struggle ended and the Shanghai market had returned to basic normality, both needed to win over some people to their side, rather than driving other forces into the opponent's camp all at once. The People's Party could survive because the People's Party was not the main party of the contradiction.

Listening to this analysis, the comrades were truly convinced. The matter was full of twists and turns, but whether arresting or releasing people, it revolved around the main contradiction. Through Chen Ke's analysis, things that originally seemed unreasonable received a very reasonable explanation. The changes before and after of the police station and the Shanghai government were actually completely determined by the process of struggle and changes in conditions.

The attending new Party members had only listened to some ordinary lectures by Chen Ke. Although they knew Chen Ke was the initiator of the People's Party after joining the Party, Chen Ke was no longer in Shanghai but went to Beijing at this time. Deeper theories about the Party were all hosted and narrated by Qi Huishen and the others. So these new Party members felt that Chen Ke wasn't in Shanghai when the incident happened, but immediately convened a meeting as the absolute host upon returning to Shanghai. They might not be convinced in their hearts. It was just that Chen Ke had the support of other old Party members, so many people didn't dare to show contemptuous expressions. After listening to Chen Ke's analysis, the new Party members finally knew why Chen Ke could be the leader of the organization, and why Qi Huishen and others were so obedient to Chen Ke. After Chen Ke returned to Shanghai, Qi Huishen and the others seemed to have a backbone, and their spirits looked very different. The theoretical level of the two sides was indeed very different.

Watching the new comrades discussing spiritedly below, Chen Ke looked around at the old Party members. He saw Qi Huishen, You Gou, Wu Xingchen, and Chai Qingguo were thoughtful, while Hua Xiongmao and He Zudao had joyous faces, and Qin Wu'an nodded slightly with bright eyes. It seemed they had all accepted his viewpoint. As long as these formal Party members could accept his attitude, the subsequent matters could proceed smoothly.

The new Party members were full of joy and whispering. It seemed this was the first time they heard such a profound practical analysis of "On Contradiction." Chen Ke said to himself in his heart, *I am actually just at this level now; hindsight is much easier. When using "On Contradiction" to analyze future development, I hope I can also have today's clarity.*

Seeing the comrades below had discussed almost enough, Chen Ke said loudly, "This is just a peripheral factor. There is an even more important decisive factor in it." Hearing Chen Ke's words, all comrades stopped talking. The analysis just now solved everyone's doubts. In the comrades' view, the two biggest enemies, the Manchu Qing and foreigners, had been analyzed clearly. What else was the "decisive" factor that could influence the situation? Everyone was listening.

Chen Ke's voice was sonorous and forceful, "If it were just our People's Party comrades, actually according to the general situation, whether the concession or the Manchu Qing, they would kill one to warn a hundred. The *Subao* case hasn't passed for many years. Which one of Zhang Binglin (Zhang Taiyan) and Zou Rong wasn't more famous than us sitting here? More rallying power, more relatives and old friends. Why did Zhang Binglin sit in the concession prison for fully two years, and Zou Rong was even abused, abused to death in prison at a young age? Why could our comrades come out?"

These words were profound. The comrades originally felt that firstly the contradiction wasn't intense enough, and secondly there were people behind them. Looking at it this way, being able to come out after being arrested was a natural thing. Hearing Chen Ke compare the People's Party with the *Subao* case, logically speaking, the People's Party's plot compared to the *Subao* case was nothing at all. As a result, several main figures of the *Subao* case were either imprisoned or lost their lives. Moreover, *Subao* was also ordered to stop publication. Such a comparison was very representative.

"Because the people participated in this action. The power of the people, only the power of the people is the key that decides everything," Chen Ke said loudly.

The cause of this Mixed Court incident was that a Cantonese woman, Madame Li Huang, prepared to send her husband's coffin back to her hometown for burial after her husband, an official in Sichuan, passed away. Madame Li Huang and her travel companions, three men and two women, took a steamship down the Yangtze River from Chongqing, preparing to return to Guangdong via Shanghai. Because there were fifteen girls accompanying them, they aroused the suspicion of the police station on the way. Just arriving in Shanghai in December 1905, Madame Li Huang's group was arrested by the police station on charges of abducting people and sent to the Mixed Court for trial. This case was jointly tried by Chinese *Yanyuan* Guan Jiong, Assistant *Yanyuan* Jin Shaocheng, and British Vice-Consul Twyman. According to Madame Li Huang's confession, the accompanying girls were bought by relatives in Guangdong via letter entrustment, as maids or servant girls, and all had proof of value. In addition, there were more than one hundred pieces of carry-on luggage in the boat, obviously not the act of human traffickers. Therefore, Guan Jiong believed that the evidence for the abduction charge accused by the Municipal Council was insufficient and decided to temporarily detain Madame Li Huang's group in the Mixed Court's women's detention center according to regulations, pending disposal, first verifying the selling proof and relatives' letters to clarify the truth. Who knew that first the police station head jumped out and said Madame Li Huang was an abductor and must be taken back by the police station. Then, Twyman also came out to help, insisting that the police station take the criminals back and detain them in the Municipal Council's Western Women's Prison.

This was originally a purely official matter. After learning this news, the native place association organization of Cantonese in Shanghai—Guangzhao Guild Hall—first supported it, held a fellow townsmen meeting, and raised a protest. Then all social strata in Shanghai, including officials and gentry, merchants, shop assistants, students, and foreign firm employees, gathered one after another to protest against the foreigners' atrocities. Shanghai officials and people unanimously strongly demanded the release of Madame Li Huang, the replacement of Twyman, the punishment of the police head Gibson who assaulted officials, and the transfer of female prisoners from the Western Prison to the Mixed Court. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Qing government also lodged a protest with the foreign diplomatic corps stationed in Beijing.

People's Party members and Whampoa Book Club members who learned this news took the initiative to intervene comprehensively. The originally spontaneous mass movement became more orderly under the planning and contact running of the Shanghai Party Branch, and the depth of mobilization far exceeded before. A grand parade of tens of thousands of people was also the first time in Shanghai's history. Many Shanghai citizens who had just experienced the movement to boycott American goods and had high patriotic sentiments participated in this grand parade. It greatly demonstrated the power of the people.

The General Chamber of Commerce of Chinese in Shanghai immediately issued a statement calling on Chinese shops in the concession to strike uniformly to show protest. Due to the continuation of trial strikes, market strikes, and labor strikes, the prosperous International Settlement was almost paralyzed, and foreigners were helpless. They had to negotiate with the Shanghai government to resolve this incident.

Because People's Party members participated personally and led this action to a certain extent, their prestige among the people was very high. Especially the gunfight incident made the People's Party and the Whampoa Book Club have a very good reputation among the people. To quell public anger, both the concession and the Manchu Qing government had to release the People's Party members and Whampoa Book Club members who didn't participate in the gunfight.

"Comrades, it is not just us twenty-something people of the People's Party, or the hundred or so people of the Whampoa Book Club struggling against foreigners. We shouldn't only see our own efforts; behind us, there are thousands upon thousands of Shanghai citizens, and more Chinese common people supporting us. If we say the foreign devils dare not attack us, why weren't the four comrades who participated in the gunfight released? If the Manchu Qing court has conflicts with foreigners, why didn't they ask for those few comrades from the foreign devils and release them? Because they are afraid that after releasing these people who use force to oppose their rule, the people will follow one after another to use weapons to oppose foreign devils, and even oppose the Manchu Qing court which is not much stronger than foreign devils."

Everyone fell silent. Chen Ke was right. These young people used to just complain, scold foreigners, and scold the court in their familiar environment. Being really chased and searched by police and soldiers, everyone had the same fear and powerlessness. Being released was already a result they didn't expect. And after Chen Ke's analysis, they initially felt they were very lucky, but didn't really restore their original sharpness. Listening to Chen Ke's analysis of the people's power, many people felt another feeling in their hearts. *Yes, the power of the people.* Precisely because of the people's participation, the concession and the government had scruples. Among the Party members present, most participated in the parade personally. The long dragon formed by the endless stream of people still made those who saw it with their own eyes feel their hearts surging when thinking about it now. Without being in it, without leading everyone to shout slogans together, without getting responses from so many people, one cannot feel that sense of power.

"The people, only the power of the people is great. This is the only power that can change China and change China's destiny." Chen Ke said loudly, "**Long live the people!**"

Hearing such words, everyone's emotions were mobilized. The initial depression was swept away. Everyone's face had more spirit. Qi Huishen raised his hands and started applauding. One after another, all comrades started applauding. Enthusiastic applause echoed in the classroom.

"Long live the people!" Hua Xiongmao followed and shouted. During the days Chen Ke was away, Hua Xiongmao felt uncomfortable all over. Now that Chen Ke was back, Hua Xiongmao was already very happy. Hearing Chen Ke's incisive analysis conquered the comrades, he naturally wanted to fuel the flames.

"Long live the people!" He Zudao beside Hua Xiongmao also shouted. He had always been a simple follower of Chen Ke. But this time his shout came from the heart. As a liaison officer, He Zudao was responsible for contacting various forces in Shanghai. Watching more and more people join this parade, finally converging into such a torrent, this simple child had never experienced such a scene. Chen Ke's words really resonated with He Zudao.

Chen Ke stood up abruptly. "Comrades, perhaps because of our participation, this movement had more scale. But even if we didn't participate, would the people not take to the streets? Would they not march? No, comrades, the people would still take to the streets spontaneously, march spontaneously. Revolution is not non-existent; revolution already exists. The people need revolution! Moreover, the people understand who their enemy is! They understand! Don't they know it's foreigners bullying them? Don't they know the Mixed Court Trial Officer Guan Jiong is opposing foreigners running rampant and unlawful like this? The people know! So when our Party's comrades propagated and organized the parade, did the people refuse? They didn't. They needed to express their dissatisfaction. Although facing the muzzles of foreign devils, did they stop shouting? No! The people did not stop shouting! Comrades of the People's Party present, if we didn't have only these few guns, these few people. If we had an army of thousands upon thousands, well-equipped, when we faced foreign devils, faced the enemies of the people, which side do you say the people would stand on? You tell me!"

Everyone was imagining the scene Chen Ke described. An indescribable trembling feeling made everyone high-spirited unknowingly! *Yes! If we didn't have only those few guns, if there were really thousands of troops and ten thousand horses, then the people would definitely stand on the People's Party's side.*

"Where do our guns come from? Where does our army come from? Not falling from the sky, not growing from the ground. They are among those people! Mobilize the people, let the people know that only our People's Party's program can save China, and the people will join us! Will follow us, will become our comrades! China has four hundred million compatriots. Even if only one hundred million believe us, and one percent of people join us, that is an army of one million! Is there anything that can stop us from seizing the victory of the revolution? Comrades. Is there!"

Chen Ke's resolute and sharp gaze swept across everyone. Everyone was excited, as if they had something to say, but something blocked their throats so they couldn't say it.

"The people are the great ones. Because without the support of the people, everyone would still be in the prisons of foreign devils or the court now. If without the support of the people, foreign devils and the government would dare to torture us severely! Display us in cangues. Now we can sit here safely, without missing arms or legs, all thanks to the people's blessing! People must have a conscience! You dare not say it in public, but when we comrades are together, we dare to say it, right! I ask everyone to say with me! Thank the people, Long Live the People!"

"Thank the people! Long live the people!" Qi Huishen shouted first.

"Thank the people! Long live the people!" Hua Xiongmao and He Zudao shouted.

"Thank the people! Long live the people!" You Gou shouted.

"Thank the people! Long live the people!" Finally, all comrades started shouting.

Chen Ke led the slogan shouting again and again, watching the comrades change from initial embarrassment to understanding, to belief, and finally to a kind of fervor! Until finally, everyone made the same sound in unison.

This was the first time the voice of "Long Live the People" was shouted out! Watching the increasingly high enthusiasm of the comrades, Chen Ke believed that this slogan would be shouted out again and again in the future, the number of people would be more and more, and the area would be wider and wider. Until it covered the whole of China.

On January 9, 1906, all comrades of the expanded Shanghai Party Branch tacitly accepted Chen Ke's leadership.