former headquarters of all china labor union

all china labor union, abbreviated as aclu hereinafter, was established on may 1st, 1925 when the 2nd national labour convention was holding. the convention passed more than 30 bills including political struggle, economic struggle and workers & peasants united, and established the aclu. lin weimin and liu shaoqi, two leaders in the workers’ movement have been elected as the president and vice president of the union, and 25 persons including deng zhongxia and suzhaozheng were elected as executive commissioners.

aclu was the backbone of the national workers’ movements led by the chinese communist party (ccp for short hereinafter) during the period of the first revolutionary civil war, it played an important role in the political movements and military operations such as developing the labour union, leading the worker’s movement and the unification of guangdong revolutionary base areas and the northern expedition army war, etc.

after establishment, the office building of alcu was located at wenming road and the former huizhou guild hall on south yuexiu road, and moved to hankou in february 1927. the former address in south yuexiu road was then used as the guangzhou office of alcu. today, it is open for the tourist as the memorial hall of the former headquarters of all china labor union.

as the cradle of the revolution in modern china, guangzhou has not only the training center for peasants movement sponsored by mao zedong, but also the alcu led by liu shaoqi. it became the center of workers’ movements led by the ccp in the revolution period. alcu guided the working class for revolutionary struggles actively after it was founded. it organized the guangdong-hong kong strike in june 1925 shocked the world. this strike lasted for one year and four months, made the working class exercised, consolidated the guangdong revolutionary base areas and was well prepared for the seething revolutionary movements nationwide.

located at the south yuexiu road, the former headquarter of alcu was a half-timbered two-floor building which was the former office of chinese kuomintang central headquarter. after mr. liao zhongkai was murdered by mobs here on august 20, 1925, china kuomintang central headquarter moved since then. alcu relocated here from guangdong area committee of ccp in october of that year, and worked with the guangzhou workers’ representative association in the same building. the hall and offices of guangzhou workers’ representative association were at the 1st floor where the chairman liu ersong worked; the auditorium and offices of secretariat, organization dept, education dept and publicity dept. of alcu were at the 2nd floor where mr. liu shaoqi worked and reviewed documents and discussed issues with other responsible persons.

at the peak of guangzhou-hong kong strike, the newsroom of workers’ road, the organ of guangzhou-hong kong strike committee was here too.

temporary buildings were set up in the balcony as the meeting rooms and dormitories within the party, a lot of important decisions alcu and guangzhou-hong kong strike committee were discussed and made here.

the labour institute founded by alcu was a school especially for training the cadres of the union, the first term was held in the basement of the building.

alcu held the third national labour session in guangzhou in may 1926, the session decided to raise two monuments in front of the building respectively in honor of mr. liao zhongkai and the martyrs during the workers and peasants’ movement.

after our country was liberated, the former building was teased up and reconstructed by the cultural relics departments, and opened for the tourists in 1958, later was proclaimed as the historical monuments & cultural relics under state protection by the state council, is one of the famous bases for patriotism education.