Passed by the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee
(September 1, 1942)
Since the War of Resistance began, Party leadership in the various anti-Japanese base areas has generally been unified, and relationships among the various Party, government, military, and popular (mass) organizations have been basically united. Because of this, we have stood firm in the face of bitter struggle over several years and have coordinated the national War of Resistance. However, because of the poisonous influence of subjectivism and sectarianism and because certain political views and organizational relationships still have not been clearly understood or properly resolved, in certain districts there still persist some instances of discord in the relationships among the Party, government, military, and mass organizations (actually, they are the relationships among Party members and cadres in these different systems). For example, the spirit of unity is insufficient; there is no marching order; each regards himself as the authority; the army lacks the spirit of respect for local Party and government authority; the Party and government are not separated; Party members and cadres in the government agitate for the independence of Party leadership; Party members dominate mass organizations; departmentalism and factional prejudices persist, and so on. These instances of discord hinder the maintenance and construction of the anti-Japanese base areas and the further Bolshevization of our Party. The construction of base areas and the implementation of democracy require the centralization [yiyuanhua]1 of leadership in every base area. With the cruelty of the Japanese “mopping-up” campaign, the strengthening of the blockade and strongholds, the difficulty of communications between higher and lower levels, and the increase in local and guerrilla warfare, there is a need for greater flexibility in the relationship between higher and lower levels and an increase and strengthening of an active spirit of independence in each district (military district, subdistrict), as well as an active and general unification of leadership and closer coordination among all organizations in every district, so that none will provide the enemy with an advantageous loophole. To attain these objectives, the Central Committee especially issues the following resolution:
1. The Party is the vanguard of the proletariat and the highest form of proletarian organization; it should lead all the other organizations, such as the army, government, and mass organizations. The unification and centralization [yiyuanhua] of leadership in the base areas should be expressed in a unified Party committee that leads everything in that base area (Central Committee bureaus, subbureaus, district committees, and local committees). Thus, it has been decided that the representative bodies of the Central Committee (Central Committee bureaus and subbureaus) and Party committees at each level (district and local committees) are to be the highest leading organs in each district, unifying leadership in each district over Party, government, military, and mass work, and that all former local Party political and military committees are to be abolished (their establishment was necessary and correct during the founding period of the base areas). The character and composition of the Party committees at each level must be changed; Party committees at each level should not merely be committees that guide local work but should also be unified organs leading the Party, government, military, and mass organizations in that district (they should not, however, be joint conferences). For that reason, they must include the principal responsible Party members and cadres in Party affairs, the government, and the army (the standing committee of the Party committee should also include responsible cadres from the three areas of the Party, the government, and the military), and it should not be made up wholly or mostly of Party workers. The job of the Party committee at each level should be to take care of each area, discuss and investigate each aspect of Party, government, military, and mass work in each area and should not be limited only to local work.
2. Decisions, resolutions, and directives of organs representing the Central Committee and district and local Party committees must be unconditionally carried out by lower-level Party committees, as well as by Party groups at the same level in the government, military, and mass organizations. Relationships of subordination between higher and lower levels in the government, military, and mass organizations should remain unchanged. Resolutions, orders, and regulations from higher levels of government, orders and instructions from higher levels of the military leadership, and resolutions of higher-level mass organizations (of the above documents, the more important must pass through the Party member responsible for that organ, to be delivered to the Party committee at the same level for approval, or they can be discussed and confirmed by the responsible members in the Party committee and thereafter be issued as orders, but not all need to be approved) must not only be unconditionally carried out by lower-level government, military, and mass organizations but must also be unconditionally carried out by lower-level Party committees. They must not be opposed or shelved under the pretext of lacking instructions from higher-level Party committees. If lower-level Party committees have views that differ from the resolutions of higher-level government, military, and mass organizations, they may report them to a higher-level Party committee. If disputes arise within a Party committee when deciding concrete problems according to a resolution of the organization’s higher level, they must be resolved according to the principle of majority rule. Even if responsible persons in government, military, or mass organizations do not agree with the majority opinion, they must still carry out the decision of the Party committee at the same level, but they may report their opinions to the related higher-level organ.
3. Central Committee bureaus and subbureaus are the representative organs of the Central Committee and are under its direction. Party district committees and local committees are selected by the representative assemblies of military and local Party organizations, subject to higher-level approval. District and local Party committees should include responsible people from the local Party organization, Party cadres in the army, and Party groups in the government. Whether the main armed forces should participate in county committees is to be decided according to the concrete situation in the locality. County committees (in which the main armed forces do not participate) and district committees should include only responsible Party persons from the local Party and from local troops and government. For secretaries of Party committees at each level, comrades should be selected who can assume responsibility for any aspect of Party, government, military, or mass work. Secretaries of Party committees must thus understand not only Party affairs but also military and government work. Secretaries of district Party committees are to be selected by decision of the Central Committee bureaus and subbureaus and approved by the Central Committee. The secretaries of local Party committees are to be selected by the district Party committees and approved by the subbureaus and bureaus of the Central Committee. In order to unify the leadership of the local Party and the Party in the military, secretaries of subbureaus and district and local committees are to serve concurrently as political commissars in the military districts or subdistricts (divisions or brigades), and assistant secretaries are to be appointed to be in charge of Party work. If the political commissar for a military district or subdistrict is selected as the Party secretary of a subbureau, district Party committee, or local Party committee, an assistant political commissar can then be appointed specifically to handle the military work. The secretaries of subbureaus, district Party committees, and local Party committees should pay attention to each aspect of work and, except for concurrent services as political commissars, should not be concurrently responsible for other concrete work. When, in a few special cases, it is not necessary for the secretary of a Party committee to act concurrently as political commissar or for a political commissar to act concurrently as secretary of a Party committee, the approval of the higher-level Party committee or Central Committee must be obtained. Military administrative committees and political departments in the army are to become departments of Party committees at the same level (Central Committee bureaus, subbureaus, Party districts, or local committees), are to have privileges and duties equal to those of the other departments (such as organization departments, propaganda departments), and are not to be subordinate to other departments and committees, yet they differ from other committees or departments in that they retain direct relationships of subordination and leadership between higher and lower levels. Military policy (such as the principles on the expansion or the establishment of armies, political work) and broad political aims of military action (such as the strategy and planning and summarizing of military service in the counter–mopping-up campaigns) must be submitted to Party committees for discussion, but military commanders and political commissars (i.e., secretaries of Party committees) are to make decisions on concrete military action (the final power of decision making by military commanders and political commissars on military affairs depends on the work regulations of the political departments). Unlimited democratic discussion can only lead to defeat in military activities. The appointment and dismissal of important military personnel must still pass through the military organs and be handled according to the already existing regulations.
4. The main armed forces are armed units under Party leadership and the powerful mainstay in establishing base areas and carrying on the struggle. The main armed forces should take the consolidation and sustaining of their respective base areas as their primary task. The main armed forces are definitely of a national character, yet at the same time concretely they have a local character. The most important reason that past leadership in certain base areas was not unified is that the comrades leading the main armed forces in those areas did not have a correct and integrated understanding of the establishment and maintenance of their base area. As a consequence, certain policies they carried out (such as arming the local population as part of establishing the military, military expansion, and unified collection and consumption in financial and economic policy) merely concentrated on the main armed forces and ignored integration of the overall tasks of the base area. This led to disputes with the local Party and government. At the same time, the leading organs of the Party and the government in some localities and districts have not had a real understanding of the fact that everything is subordinate to the demands of the war, have not been capable of fulfilling the necessary responsibilities regarding questions of reinforcements for the main armed forces, the guarantee of supplies and materials, the privileged treatment of the families of resistance fighters, and the counteracting of desertion, and thus have brought about discordant relations between the army and the local Party and government. In the future, to realize the centralization [yiyuanhua] of leadership in the base areas, there must be, in addition to the establishment of Party committees as unified organs of Party leadership in the district, a correction of several errors in thought and policy among the main armed forces and among certain leaders of the local Party and government organs. We must carry out the various policies of the Central Committee on the base areas and the various directives of the Military Commission on the military establishment. In the future, the main armed forces must carry out the decisions and resolutions of the Party committees at each level and the laws of each level of government. The main armed forces must also carry out the resolutions of the lower-level Party committees and lower-level government units (i.e., county, district, and locality) of the area where they are stationed. If there are differences of opinion, reports may be made to higher-level Party committees or to higher government levels. In addition, they should regularly communicate with and assist one another. Plans of the main armed forces—such as orders regarding military movements, troop deployment, and martial law—must be respected and carried out by local Party, government, and mass organs. The main armed forces should be responsible for the protection of Party, government, and mass organs. In all instances in which Party, government, and mass organs have been needlessly harmed because of carelessness or lack of attention on the part of the army, the responsible military personnel are to be punished. If disputes arise in the future, there should first be a lower-level compromise solution, and then the dispute and the solution are to be reported to a higher level; the method in which each organization merely makes accusations to a higher level and fails to achieve a negotiated solution to the problem on the spot is to be opposed.
5. The systems of political authority (representative assemblies, government) are the organs of power, and their ordinances are of a compulsory character. The relationship between Party committees and the political system must be clearly defined. A monopoly of the work in the political system by Party committees, a lack of distinction between Party and government, disobedience by Party members and cadres within the political power system to Party committee resolutions, and actions which are contrary to Party discipline must all be corrected. In order that the “Three-Thirds” system2 be carried out, leadership of the Party within the political system should exist in matters of principle, policy, and overall political orientation but should not intervene everywhere or monopolize affairs. Lower-level Party committees do not have the power to change or to refuse to carry out the resolutions and ordinances of higher-level representative assemblies and the government, and Party organs and Party members should become models of adherence to the ordinances of representative assemblies and the government. The Party should advance its political work by promoting the actual authority of the representative assemblies and the government. When Party cadres or members disobey the ordinances of the representative assemblies or the government, they should be severely punished by Party organizations. The leadership of the Party in the representative assemblies and the government can only work through its respective Party members and Party organs, and Party committees and Party organs have no right to give direct orders to the representative assemblies and government organs. Party groups must obey Party committees of equal rank, yet the work style of Party groups must be reformed; they cannot force obedience of people outside the Party, but must operate through personal persuasion and political work. If the Party group fails to persuade a majority in the representative assembly or government and the opinion of the Party group is not adopted by the representative assembly or the government, the minority must submit to the majority, and the principle of democratic centralism must not be opposed. But if comrades in Party groups do not firmly uphold the resolutions of equal-ranking Party committees because their own views differ from those of the Party committees, their action is contrary to Party discipline, and it should be reproved and punished. The Party must delegate competent cadres to work in the representative assemblies and the government; all concentration of cadres in Party organs to the neglect of political work must be corrected. When the “Three-Thirds” system is carried out, the number of Party members in the political system will decrease, but the quality of the Party members in the political system must be greatly improved. Party members and cadres working in the political system must obey the decisions, resolutions, and discipline of Party committees and Party groups and must not take advantage of their own positions for independent action. In this respect, it should be especially pointed out that for the practical realization of the leadership of the Party in the “Three-Thirds” system, the Party relies on unanimity in speech and action of Party members and Party cadres in the political system and their absolute obedience to Party resolutions. Strict Party discipline among Party members and Party cadres in the political system is of great significance. Party committees must be careful in transferring Party members within the political system; the procedure must involve the Party members’ formal resignation from the political organ. Relations between the government and the army must be improved; in the army, instructions should be given on the protection of the government; the government must guarantee supplies and transportation for the army; military commanders must be elected as government officials [weiyuan] and assembly members. The army should be a model of respect for the government and for the execution of ordinances, and illegal acts committed by soldiers must be severely punished by military organs. Except for the expression of opinions to the assemblies or the government by soldiers in their capacity as citizens, government officials, or assembly members, soldiers and military organs do not have the right to intervene in the internal work of the assemblies or the government. However, political organs of the army must give all possible assistance to the work of the government.
6. Mass organizations are bodies organized on the initiative of the masses themselves, and the Party, government, and army should not directly intervene in their internal activities. The Party’s leadership of mass organizations is exercised through its own Party members and groups. However, failure to distinguish between the Party and the people, monopolization, and complete uniformity must all be corrected. To the greatest extent possible, the membership of the committees of the mass organizations at each level should include more than half non-Party people. The issue of Party groups in mass organizations is the same as that of Party groups in the government. The government should respect the independence of the mass organizations and give them whatever assistance is necessary, but it should demand that mass organizations carry out government ordinances. Mass organizations should, in accordance with the law, petition the government for registration and thus attain legal status. When mass organizations break government laws, the government can punish and even dissolve them; aside from this, the government cannot in any case interfere with the activities and work of the mass organizations. Mass organizations should rally the masses, support the government and army, and assist resistance mobilization. But mass organizations are by no means political organs; they must not take over administrative functions from the government by arrests, examinations, judgments, or by other actions. The army and mass organizations should assist each other but should not intervene in each other’s affairs.
7. In guerrilla areas, due to their special nature, the centralization [yiyuanhua] of leadership should not merely be limited to mutual relationships; there must also be centralization, when necessary, of Party, government, military, and mass structures. The organs of Party committees, government, and mass organizations can be amalgamated with military and political organs. Party, government, and mass cadres in army or guerrilla units are responsible for specific tasks (such as superior or subordinate military commanders or political commissars or various jobs in the political departments). When there are hostilities, they are to participate in the work of the army and the guerrilla units. When there is a lull, they are to carry out their former tasks in the Party, government, or mass organizations (as secretaries of Party committees, county magistrates, or labor union leaders).
8. On the one hand, the centralization [yiyuanhua] of Party leadership is to be expressed in the mutual relations between Party, government, and mass organizations of the same level; on the other hand, it is to be expressed in the relations between upper and lower levels. In this sphere, strict adherence to the principle of obedience of lower levels to higher levels and obedience of the entire Party to the Central Committee are of decisive significance in unifying Party leadership. When carrying out policies and regulations, the leading organs in each base area must follow Central Committee directives. When deciding new questions of a general nature that affect the entire country, Party, or army, they must ask for instructions from the Central Committee and must not endanger the unified leadership of the entire Party by setting up strange new standards and making decisions on their own. (This does not pertain to decisions of a local nature or those that are not contrary to higher-level or Central Committee decisions.) Failure of Party, government, military, or mass organizations at lower levels to execute with determination higher-level or Central Committee decisions, resolutions, orders, or directives, compliance in appearance only, or failure to ask for instructions from higher levels or the Central Committee for the solution of new questions of principle or questions which should, according to their nature, not be decided independently are all signs of an impure Party spirit and the destruction of unity.
In this respect, the attention of leading comrades of the Party, government, army, and mass organizations in the base areas should again be drawn to the fact that responsible Party members in Party committees, the government, the army, and mass organizations at all levels must not make statements, engage in discussions, or make broadcasts that have national significance without obtaining Central Committee permission. The writings of leading comrades at each level should be examined by the Party committees or appropriate members of the Party branches at the same level. The principal contents of the writings by individuals with rank higher than subbureau committee member or army commander that have national significance or significance for the entire Party should first be submitted to the Central Committee by report or telegram. Localities should no longer make direct broadcasts to the outside world. This should be unified in the New China News Agency in Yan’an. It should be thoroughly understood that the actions of responsible higher-level Party cadres who take it upon themselves to express political views without obtaining the approval of a specific organization at an equal level or higher is a major transgression of Party organizational principles and an evil obstruction to unity!
9. In order to unify leadership in the base areas and in order to improve relations among the Party, the government, the army, and the people [min],3 ideological education must be given to Party members and cadres within the system of Party, government, army, or mass organizations. The Three Work Styles must be rectified and the poison of subjectivism and sectarianism must be eliminated. At cadre meetings, on the basis of Central Committee resolutions and Comrade Mao Zedong’s report, teach cadres to recognize the larger aspects and to consider situations in their entirety, summon cadres to carry out criticism and self-criticism, make cadres understand situations in their entirety and not succumb to partial or particular biases, and understand the correct relationships between the part and the whole, between higher and lower levels, and between this and that part of a situation. If we are to strengthen educational work in the various Party, government, military, and mass organizations, we must make all comrades recognize the importance of a centralized [yiyuanhua] leadership and the revolutionary order and laws of the base areas. Here we must especially warn military cadres that when discordant relations exist among the Party, the government, the army, and the people [min], the greatest responsibility should generally fall on the military cadres. Since the army is in possession of weapons, it is easy for it to act single-handedly, disregard the government and the Party, break discipline, act independently, and harm the interests of the masses. As a consequence, political cadres in the army in particular must restrain their subordinates and hold themselves in check. They must call on the troops under their command to support Party leadership, support the government, and rigidly uphold Party leadership and government laws. At the same time, they should correct those views among some Party members and cadres that are contrary to reality. These people believe that only the work done in Party committees or Party organs can really be called Party work. In fact, for all Party members and cadres military work, mass work, economic work, technical work, or cultural work are all Party work. The work done in Party organs is only a part of the Party’s work. (It is Party affairs work.) In following Party leadership, Party members must follow the Party’s line, policies, resolutions, decisions, directives, and discipline. Certain Party members only follow Party leadership in their slogans or they distort Party leadership and as a result they do not earnestly study and carry out the Party’s line, policies, resolutions, decisions, directives, and discipline. Such attitudes are incorrect.
10. The purpose of strengthening the unity of leadership in each anti-Japanese base area is to facilitate the war against the Japanese bandits. “Everything bows to the demands of war” is the highest principle of unified leadership. The entire Party must understand that if the army is weak and if the war is lost, it will be impossible for the base areas to exist, and the Party, government, army, and masses will collapse. It is thus the duty of the Party committees, the government, the mass organizations, and the entire people to strengthen the army and increase its fighting power. Party committees, government, and mass organizations all have a constant responsibility to solve the problems of army recruitment, provisions, and clothing; to supply and transport ammunition, to provide living quarters, to transport the wounded and disabled, to provide nursing and care for them, to give preferential treatment to families of anti-Japanese soldiers, and so forth, and any carelessness in these matters is extremely mistaken and harmful. In the army itself, it must be thoroughly understood that without the integration of the Party, government, and mass organizations, the army by itself would not be able to fight on in the War of Resistance for a single day. We must therefore intensify education in the army so that it will cherish the base areas, treasure human and material resources, respect the Party and government, strengthen discipline, and give the Party, government, and masses the necessary assistance. Recruitment and transportation for the army and preferential treatment for the families of resistance fighters must be worked out according to government orders and regulations; irregularities are harmful to the war effort and disadvantageous to the army itself.
11. On the basis of the principles contained in this resolution and the concrete conditions in each locality, leading organs in the base areas are to decide the various relevant detailed provisions and carry them out through government ordinances, army regulations, the bylaws of the mass organizations, or by other means, in order to solve the many concrete problems of unified leadership. After decisions have been reached, they must be reported to the Central Committee.
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji Vol. 8, pp. 155–63, which is based on Zhengfeng wenxian.
1. We have used “centralization” for yiyuanhua, whereas both Compton, tr., Mao’s China and Saich, ed., Rise to Power have used “unity” or “unification” in their translations. We are concerned about not confounding yiyuanhua, the total amalgamation of separate functions under direct Party rule, with tongyi (unity). However, we realize that “centralization” could suggest jizhonghua. We have marked the appearances of yiyuanhua in our translation.
2. See above, note 1 to the text of January 26, 1942, and note 4 to the text of February 20, 1942.
3. Clearly “people” here for min is most elegant; however, the use of min in the rest of the document is short-hand for minzhong tuanti (mass organizations).