Chapter 17 Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Second Department of the Central Party School

(August 8, 1943) The second part of the Central Party School starts today.Most of the comrades came from the front and returned from the battlefield; some came from various places in the border areas and came from work;Now that everyone is studying in one school, there must be a consensus of opinion, a unified thinking, and a unified goal.Otherwise, if some people want to study economics, some want to study philosophy, some want to read novels, and some want to learn foreign languages, then our schools will be difficult to run and will not be able to run well.Our entire Party must be united, and the study and activities in schools must also be unified, and there must be a consensus of opinion.School starts today, and I mainly come to do such a publicity.

What kind of unified opinion do we want to implement and what unified goal should we achieve? It is what Comrade Peng Zhen [1] just said about the four criteria for cadres that Dimitrov said at the Seventh Congress of the Communist International: Unlimited Loyalty , Contact the masses, ability to work independently, and observe discipline. [2] We must study according to these four principles, and all students and staff in the school must work hard to achieve this goal. You have been working for a long time, you have no chance to study and research, and some of you are not in good health.Coming to the party school this time, not only will I get the opportunity to study and research, but it will also give comrades who are tired from long-term work a chance to recuperate.Rest well, study well, and go out to do things in the future.

When you are studying now, the world is undergoing great changes.The world changes in every period.Chinese society has undergone several major changes, from primitive society to slave society, then from slave society to feudal society, and from feudal society to semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The nature of our society has changed three times. Now for the fourth change. What tasks does the Chinese revolution want to accomplish? What exactly does the Chinese Communist Party want to do? It needs to do two things, to change the dynasty twice. First, we must change the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society into a democratic society, that is, a new democratic society.This is different from the change from a feudal society to a democratic society in France, Britain and any other country (except the February Revolution in the Soviet Union) in the past.The old democratic revolutions in various countries in the past were led by the bourgeoisie, and the mobilization of the masses was not thorough, for fear that the masses would wake up and go beyond the control of the bourgeoisie.The new-democratic society we want to build is still capitalist in its basic nature, destroying the feudal order and overthrowing the oppression of imperialism and the feudal system, and under the leadership of the proletariat, the masses of the people have been fully mobilized.

China has entered the feudal society for more than three thousand years.Until now, my country is still a semi-feudal society, and feudal relations still dominate.Now we want to change this society into a democratic society.In the democratic revolution that completes this transformation, the proletariat must not give up its leadership under any circumstances. There is also a struggle for leadership in our party schools, which is to use proletarian ideology to overcome petty bourgeois ideology and other non-proletarian ideologies.Among all kinds of non-proletarian ideas, the main ones are petty-bourgeois ideas, such as individualism, liberalism, looseness, and spontaneity.Comrades from the first department of the party school have rectified the three winds and received education in the line and Marxism-Leninism in one and a half years from last year to the present. .

Recently the Kuomintang published a book, written by Chiang Kai-shek, called The Destiny of China.He said in this book that there would be no China without the Kuomintang. I don’t know where he got it from.For those of you who have read history books and novels, there is no Kuomintang in "Three Kingdoms", "Fengshen Bang", and there is still China.The Kuomintang has a history of fifty years. It did some good things during the old democratic revolution in China. However, it did not complete the first step of the Chinese revolution, transforming a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society into a democratic society.In 1924, the Kuomintang led by Sun Yat-sen held its first congress in Guangzhou, which accepted the opinions of the Chinese Communist Party and the Soviet Union.At that time, some people in the Kuomintang were in favor of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in order to achieve their goals.When the time comes, they will attack the Communist Party and the masses.Sure enough, after the death of Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek gradually came to power. As soon as he arrived in Nanjing in 1927, he issued an order to "clean up the party" to suppress the Communist Party and attack the workers, peasants and the revolutionary army.The Anti-Japanese War period was ten years after the Kuomintang reactionary and ten years after the civil war.Was the War of Resistance a revolution? The War of Resistance was a revolution.But during the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang practiced fascism again.Chinese fascism is different from foreign fascism. Foreign fascism is aggressive and imperialist; Chinese fascism is comprador and feudal. It has no power to invade outside, so it is not aggressive in nature, but it is against the people.As soon as the war of resistance began, the Kuomintang did not want the people to rise up in the war of resistance, and pursued the policy of one-sided resistance.They believed that the war of resistance was a matter for the government, and the common people only had to send troops and pay.The Communist Party of China pursues the policy of comprehensive resistance and believes that only by mobilizing and relying on the masses of the people can the war of resistance be won.On this issue, we are opposed to the Kuomintang, and we are fighting against them.You don't want the common people to rise up, we want them to rise up, if one wants it and the other doesn't, there will be a struggle.

The Kuomintang also needs the common people, and it also talks about "loving the people."Whether in China or foreign countries, in ancient times or now, the exploiting classes cannot live without the common people.They talk about "loving the people" for the purpose of exploiting and extracting things from the common people, which is similar to feeding cattle.What do you feed the cows for? Besides plowing the fields, cows can also be used for milking.The "love for the people" of the exploiting class is similar to the love for cattle.We are different, we ourselves are a part of the people, our party is the representative of the people, we must make the people awaken and unite the people.On this issue, we are in opposition to the Kuomintang, one wants the people and the other divorces them.

Eighty percent of China's population is peasants, and the people we are talking about are mainly peasants.Do we want peasants or do we not want peasants? If it is consistent with the political direction of the big landlords and the big bourgeoisie, that is, to be completely captive of the big landlords and the big bourgeoisie, and to milk the common people like cows, is there such a Communist Party? Maybe Yes, but there shouldn't be.So, are there actually any? Yes.In our party, some people once left the peasants, sacrificing the interests of the peasant masses to accommodate the big landlords and the big bourgeoisie. They not only broke away from the peasants, but even the middle bourgeoisie. We must fight against this phenomenon .Our current enemy is mainly Japanese imperialism, which hinders China from transforming from a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society into a democratic society. Our main slogan is to overthrow Japanese imperialism.At the same time, the Kuomintang opposes our mobilization of the people every day, and it does everything possible to undermine us. We have to fight and fight for these, which includes fighting for leadership.Who are China’s tens of millions of peasants following? If they follow the big landlords and the big bourgeoisie, China will still be a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society where exploitation and oppression exist; if they follow the proletariat and the Communist Party, they can enter democracy from a semi-feudal society socialist society, from a semi-colonial to an independent country.We also run the party school to change the dynasty.

Second, the Communist Party still needs to do one more thing and change its regime, which is to transform a bourgeois democratic society into a proletarian socialist society.Some comrades, including some veteran cadres, only know about the first change of government, but not the second.They had experience in the first change of government, called fighting the local tyrants and dividing the land, and they were in favor of it; now they were in favor of overthrowing Japanese imperialism; they were in favor of the struggle against secret agents;But these all belong to the first dynasty change just mentioned.The Chinese revolution has gone through three periods, namely the Northern Expedition, the Ten-Year Civil War, and the War of Resistance Against Japan. The revolutions in these three periods belong to the first change of regime.Was the first regime change completed immediately after the victory of the War of Resistance? Not yet.Japanese imperialism has been beaten out, but the establishment of a new democratic society in China has not yet been completed, and even in our anti-Japanese base areas the implementation of new democracy is still insufficient.

The democratic revolution in China is difficult.Sun Yat-sen carried out the old democratic revolution for forty years without success.Later, when we started the new democratic revolution, it was also difficult and tortuous.The Kuomintang-Communist cooperation lasted for more than three years from 1924 to 1927; followed by the 10-year counter-revolution of the Kuomintang;Therefore, to win the Chinese democratic revolution, there must be the leadership of the Communist Party.What is the victory of the Chinese democratic revolution? It means the establishment of a new democratic China.A democratic revolution of a bourgeois nature, led by the proletariat and participated by the broad masses of the people throughout the country, which basically does not destroy the private property system, is the first revolution we are making now.

However, only this step is not enough.Our cadres must also understand that the private property system will be abolished in the future.Of course, certain conditions must be met, including economic and political conditions, including the belief that the majority of the people in the country believe in the leadership of the Communist Party.Leadership is not something that can be obtained by asking people, let alone by coercion, but by making the masses understand which party is better and which party they follow to find their way out in terms of practical interests and political experience of the masses. , which is achieved in this way.Of course, our Communist Party also needs to carry out propaganda, and we must speak according to the actual situation of the masses and not engage in dogmatism. Only in this way can we achieve good results.

Now is the new-democratic revolution, and the future will be the socialist revolution. These are the two revolutions we are talking about. To carry out these two revolutions, we need to study the four points mentioned by Dimitrov.Whether or not you are infinitely loyal must be measured by objective standards.Dimitrov said well that this will be tested in battle, in prison, and in court.Rectifying the Three Styles, censoring cadres, opposing Hu Zongnan's offensive, the six-year war of resistance and the ten-year civil war are all struggles, and opposing opportunism and petty bourgeois ideology are also struggles. It is through these struggles that you will test whether you are infinitely loyal.The article of connecting with the masses must also be measured by objective standards.For example, when a person dies and a memorial service is held, how well the masses respond is a criterion for measurement.Some people are high on the top, have great official positions, and call them chiefs. It seems that the people support him. In fact, this does not explain the problem.When some cadres die, I don't think the common people will shed tears. He is a self-proclaimed leader of the masses.Because you are an official, the common people have to deal with you. In fact, as soon as the business is done, they will turn around and leave, and ignore you.For a true leader of the masses, on the day of the memorial service, the common people will feel that it is a pity that he died, at least they will not feel that it is good to die, because Xiaomi can be saved.After the death of Comrade Liu Zhidan[4], the people in northern Shaanxi were very sad, which shows that he is a real leader of the masses.Are mass leaders appointed by the masses? Or are we appointed by ourselves? Dimitrov said that they are appointed by the masses and confirmed by the masses based on their own experience. I just talked about two revolutions, but to complete these two revolutions, we must create a revolutionary party that truly meets these four criteria.Our Party has been established for 22 years and has gone through three revolutionary periods, but it has not yet been perfected, our Party is still not unified, and its level is still low.If our Party had become more unified and its level higher, then it can be concluded that the Chinese revolution would not be what it is today.Twenty-two years of history have passed, and we have to start today.The purpose of our Party school is to improve the political and theoretical level of our comrades and make our Party more unified.China's social and economic conditions have resulted in many "theater troupes" in our party, to put it roughly, there are many "theatre troupes".In a team, whether they play the leading role, those who play supporting roles, or those who play the role, they are all very affectionate, and there is a principle: my team can criticize your team, but your team cannot criticize my team.This is called sectarianism.There are two kinds of sectarianism in our Party, one is dogmatic sectarianism, imitation of foreign dogma, and rhetoric; the other is empiricist sectarianism.We have been fighting on the hills for a long time. During the ten years of civil war, we shared weal and woe, and now we have six more years of war of resistance. We have formed teams. The activities of each team are not unified, and the level is relatively low.But our task is arduous. Both revolutions are to be carried out in our hands.We must improve our political and theoretical standards so that our party will be more unified and form a large party without forming a team.Everyone can not be afraid of sacrifice, can be infinitely loyal, can connect with the masses, can work independently, can observe discipline, and unite and resolutely fight against the enemy.We will do these two revolutions in our whole life. Comrades! Completing these two revolutions is not as simple as cooking a meal or building a house, but overthrowing our class enemies.If foreign imperialism and China's big landlords and big bourgeoisie want to oppress us, we must overthrow them.But today we mainly overthrow Japanese imperialism, not the big landlords and big bourgeoisie, because they are still fighting today, and even after Japanese imperialism is overthrown, we are unwilling to fight with them.However, it seems that the Kuomintang is determined to fight us, and there is not a moment when they are not trying to eliminate us.Therefore, we must be vigilant and not be fooled by them like the first KMT-CCP ​​cooperation.Many people here have experienced that time, not only me, but also Comrade Zhou Enlai and some other comrades.We all held meetings with the Kuomintang in Guangzhou. At that time, they did not understand the principles of revolution and had no power. The Soviet government and the Chinese Communist Party helped them start it.After getting it up, he kicked us away.In March 1943, Chiang Kai-shek's book still scolded the Communist Party.This time the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperate, we should not be fooled again. During the two years at the party school, you have to participate in the rectification of the three styles, the review of cadres, and the study of party history and the works of Marx, Engel, Lenin, and Sri Lanka.In addition, military classes also need to learn military courses, and cultural classes also need to learn cultural courses.There are six courses in total.After school starts today, you will start to rectify the three styles and review the cadres.Some people have participated in the rectification movement ahead, but they have not yet participated in the rectification movement in Yan'an.After you participated in the rectification movement, one eye was opened; after you participated in the censorship of cadres, the other eye was also opened.Both eyes are bright, what revolution is impossible to win? In addition, the history of the party must be studied, the history of the party for 22 years must be studied, analyzed and studied.Regarding the method of study, Dimitrov said that there are two methods of training educational cadres in party schools, one is a dogmatic method of abstractly learning theory, and the other is a method of learning theory in connection with the reality of struggle.The previous methods belonged to the first type, which made people stupid.What we are using now is the latter method, which can enable you to figure out the problem and ensure that you can improve one step within two years. When school starts today, I just want to clarify this direction so that comrades can feel at ease. Learning in this way will help you and the whole party.We want to carry out two revolutions and make them victorious in our hands.As a member of the Communist Party, as a cadre of the Communist Party, we must have such self-confidence, and we must learn the skills to do these two things well for the working people. Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Peng Zhen, born in 1902, from Quwo, Shanxi.At that time, he was the vice president of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. [2] In August 1935, Dimitrov, General Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, stated in "Working Class Unite Against Fascism (Reply to the Discussions at the Congress)" at the Seventh Congress of the Communist International that the correct Four criteria for the selection of cadres: first, unconditional devotion to the cause of the working class, loyalty to the party, and tested before the enemy—in battle, in prison, in court; second, To be very close to the masses; thirdly, to be able to find one's own way independently and not to be afraid of taking responsibility for decision-making; fourthly, not only in the irreconcilable confrontation with all phenomena that contradict the Bolshevik line, but also in the struggle against class enemies When working, they must observe discipline and be trained by the Bolsheviks. [3] Hu Zongnan, then commander-in-chief of the 34th Group Army in the First Theater of the Kuomintang Army. [4] Liu Zhidan (1903-1936), a native of Baoan (now Zhidan), Shaanxi.Joined the Communist Party of China in 1925.In April and May of 1928, together with Xie Zichang and others, he led the Weihua Uprising. From 1932 to 1933, he established the 26th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and opened up the Shaanxi-Gansu Border Revolutionary Base.In September 1935, he served as deputy commander and chief of staff of the 15th Red Army.After the Central Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi in October of the same year, he served as the deputy director of the Northwest Office of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, the commander of the 28th Red Army, and the commander-in-chief of the North Route Army of the Red Army.In March 1936, he crossed the Yellow River east to participate in the Eastern Expedition, and died heroically in the battle of Sanjiao Town, Zhongyang County, Shanxi Province in April.