Du Yude

Du Yude, born in 1906, came from an intellectual family in Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province. His grandfather, Du Weigao, was a Qing dynasty xiucai; his father, Du Liangkui, was learned and fond of literature; his elder brother, Du Yuming, was an anti-Japanese general and a core figure of the Whampoa (Huangpu) clique. The name Du Yude is drawn from a line in thebook of Songs of the South (Shijing): “Do not forget your ancestors; cultivate virtue for self-reliance.” It expresses the aim of cultivating virtue and standing on one's own.

As a child he attended Taozhen Advanced Primary School in Mizhi, and later entered Yulin High School. During his time at Yulin High School, he came into contact with the CPC Yulin High School Party Branch, the Communist Youth League Yulin High School branch, and activities related to the New Culture Movement; he read widely in progressive books and periodicals and gradually formed communist beliefs.

In the spring of 1927, he joined the Communist Party of China on the recommendation of Guo Hongtao. In the summer he returned to Mizhi, organizing and leading local peasants in revolutionary struggle. To cope with the Kuomintang reactionaries’ purge of the party and the suppression by local warlords, Du Yude left northern Shaanxi for Suzhou that year; during this period his elder brother Du Yuming recommended him for the Nationalist Army’s 21st Division drill corps to study military affairs, but a few months later, due to disagreements with his brother’s political views, he left again.

In early 1928, Du Yude followed Wei Ye-chou and moved to Taihe County in the northwest of Anhui, joining Yang Hucheng’s forces to work in military mobilization, assisting in retraining troops, establishing soldiers’ committees, forming propaganda teams and civilian movement teams, and participating in the establishment of the CPC Military Committee; Wei Ye-chou served as secretary of the Military Committee, and Du Yude served as a member of the Military Committee. On February 9, the CCP Anhui-North Special Committee was established. To cultivate revolutionary talent, Du and others selected progressive officers to serve as instructors, supporting Yang Hucheng in founding the Taihe Military Cadre School. In mid-February, he led Communist officers to recruit new soldiers around Fuyang; in the Laoji area alone they recruited more than a hundred people. Military and political leaders strengthened training, and Du Yude personally lectured on the situation, conducting cultural education and drill.

The Anhui-North Special Committee, aiming to expand revolutionary power, sent Du Yude to infiltrate the National Revolutionary Army’s 19th Army under Gao Guizi stationed in Fuyang, where he served as the deputy commander of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Training Regiment. On the afternoon of April 9, the Fubei District held the founding conference of the Wanbei Soviet Government; Du Yude and Chang Shaoxian jointly served as deputy commanders of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. On April 11 the enemy and friendly forces faced a stalemate. On April 13, near the Dongyue Temple in Fuyang, Du Yude was dragged to the execution ground and heroically sacrificed; he was 22 years old. His deeds were later recorded in the history of the Wanbei revolution, marking an important stage in the establishment of the Wanbei Soviet Government and the Worker-Peasant Red Army.