The Rising And Fading Of Yan'an Enlightenment Thought

The Revolutionary literature flourished in the 1930s,and then China League of Left-Wing Writers establishmented. Among the China League of Left-Wing Writers, There were two different concepts of literature. One was Left-Wing Utilitarian School which represented by Sun Society and Creation Society; the other was Left-Wing Enlightenment Literary School which represented by Lu Xun. There were many different opinions between Left-Wing Enlightenment Literary School and Left-Wing Utilitarian School. For example,literature of class nature, the relationship between literature and political, literature criteria for criticism. Their differences reached the peak on the controversy about"the two slogans". The main debate stopped after the death of Lu Xun, but the different opinions still remained and developed in the coming days.Under the influence of the May 4th Movement, Lu Xun's thoughts on literature and relaxed political environment in the Yan'an , the writers such as Ding Ling, Ai Qing, Wang Shi Wei Published a series of novels, essays. Their works criticized the ignorance and backwardness of People, called for Sincere love and warmth. In addition, they pursuited independence and freedom of thought. At the same time, Their works concerned about the relationship between the revolutionaries and the masses, thought What kind of revolutionaries and the masses were needed and how to win the victory of the revolution. Thus, in contrast to the Left-Wing Utilitarian School's appeal to social revolution, they hoped to unite the social revolution and thought revolution. They beard double historic mission of social revolution and thought revolution and created Yan'an enlightenment thought.Yan'an enlightenment thought inherited May 4th enlightenment thought, but It also has the characteristics of their own. The opinion of Left-Wing Utilitarian School also developed in the Yan'an. Represented by Mao's Yan'an Speech, It provided the Workers, peasants direction of literature, provided the literature was the "cogs and wheels" of revolution. It was to say that literature must be subordinate to politics and service politics.There were different understandings about the the relationship between literature and political, Led to the contradiction between Left-Wing Enlightenment Literary School and Left-Wing Utilitarian School. Left-Wing Enlightenment Literary was discard by Left-Wing Utilitarian School at last. Enlightenment Writers also lost their status.With infinite pains, they began a new journey which were full of Self-doubt and Self-transformation.