Comrade [Peng] Dehuai:1
1. Zhou [Enlai] and Lin [Biao]2 have returned to Yan’an in preparation for the Seventh Party Congress. Please come to Yan’an to participate in the congress together with Luo [Ronghuan], Bo [Yibo], Nie [Rongzhen], and Lü [Zhengcao].3 I hope you will make arrangements in advance. Some representatives must be reelected in the districts of Taihang, Taiyue, and Beiyue. The Central Committee will send a separate notice.
2. There is progress in rectification in the areas behind enemy lines, as is evident from the two articles on the experience of rectification and on ideology written on July 9 by the Northern Bureau4 (which have been passed along to be broadcast). Please supervise and encourage the rectification behind the enemy lines, so that it will be substantially completed this year, thus allowing cadre screening to be launched on a full-scale basis next spring and to be finished within the year.
3. The guiding principles for cadre screening are as follows: (1) The leading cadre takes responsibility; (2) He does the work himself; (3) Leading cadres and backbone cadres unite closely with the broad masses; (4) General calls must be combined with specific guidance; (5) Investigate and study [the facts]; (6) Differentiate right from wrong, and trivial from important; (7) Win over those who have taken a wrong step; (8) Cultivate the cadres; (9) Educate the masses. You must clearly distinguish these guiding principles of seeking truth from facts from the subjectivist principles which once damaged the Party during the Civil War. This subjectivist approach can be summarized as “obtaining confessions by compulsion and giving them credence.” I will give a detailed explanation on another occasion.
4. The plan of Chiang [Kaishek] and Hu [Zongnan] to attack our border region was exposed by us in time. Seeing that we are prepared, they had to stop temporarily. Thus, we can hope for one year of peace. Our preparations for military defense, however, absolutely must not be relaxed.
5. Please make multiple copies and widely distribute the telegram sent by the Yan’an mass meeting, the editorial of Liberation Daily,5 and the critiques by Chen Boda and Fan Wenlan6 on China’s Destiny. Take this opportunity to give extensive, in-depth, and planned education on class [struggle] and to expose thoroughly the Guomindang’s deceitful influence. Do not underestimate the importance of this matter. The Guomindang’s ideas exist in our Party to a serious degree.
6. In the areas behind enemy lines, we should add “fighting the enemy” (anti–“mopping-up” and anti-“nibbling”) and class education to the six policies as stated in the previous telegram. This will make eight policies, the sequence of which should be: (1) Struggle against the enemy; (2) Rectification of the Three Styles; (3) Crack Troops and Simple Administration; (4) Unified leadership; (5) Support the government and cherish the people; (6) Develop production; (7) Investigate cadres; and (8) Carry out class education. (In the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, “Fight the enemy” should be changed to “Military education” and ranked as the eighth policy.)
7. Among the masses, the daily and common tasks are these three items: fighting, production, and education.
8. Class education, that is, education combining unity and struggle within the United Front, is not class education standing in isolation and divorced from the United Front. The term “class education” should not be used outside our Party.
This telegram will also be sent to all responsible comrades of the Central Bureau and Central Subbureaus, and the Party committees of several districts.
Mao Zedong
noon, July 30
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 52–54, where it is reproduced from the manuscript.
1. Regarding Peng Dehuai see above, note to the text of January 25, 1943.
2. Regarding Lin Biao, see above, note to the text of January 25, 1943.
3. Bo Yibo (1908–2007) was at this time deputy secretary of the Taihang Subbureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Lü Zhengcao (1904–2009) was at this time commander-in-chief of the Third Column of the Eighth Route Army and commander-in-chief of the Central Hebei Military Area Command.
4. Referring to the two articles “Introduction to the Experience of Rectification,” by the Northern Bureau of the Central Committee, and “Problems Regarding Ideology,” by the Study Committee of the Departments under the Headquarters of the Eighteenth Army Group, published on August 2 and August 4, 1943, respectively.
5. The telegram entitled “Calling for Unity and Opposing Civil War” was issued by the Yan’an mass meeting in commemoration of the sixth anniversary of the War of Resistance on July 9, 1943. The editorial refers to the editorial drafted by Mao Zedong for the July 12, 1943, issue of Jiefang ribao titled “Calling the Guomindang to Account.” See above, note to the text of July 12, 1943 and note to the text of July 21, 1943.
6. Regarding Chen Boda, see above, note to the text of March 16, 1943. Fan Wenlan at this time worked for the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee. See above, note to the text of January 17, 1942.