Chapter 28 On the Cultural and Educational Issues of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region [1]

(March 22, 1944) Today I would like to discuss the issue of culture and education with my comrades.I haven't studied this issue in depth either, but I've just heard some materials that I don't have much to talk about first, and I'll start it off.Several issues were discussed at the high-level cadre meeting of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. Although the issue of culture and education was not included in the agenda, I think it should be included in the agenda when the high-level cadre meeting is held this winter, and it should be included as a part of the agenda. An important agenda.

In recent years the work in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region has achieved great success, especially in the past year when production in the Border Region was even more successful.If it rains in the old days this year, the natural conditions are met, and this high-level meeting has made ideological preparations, and the work will be done well.Taking the environment as an example, this year is better than last year, and frictional battles will probably not be fought.Roosevelt [2] disapproved of China's frictional war, and the Generalissimo Jiang didn't want to fight, and we didn't want to fight, and everyone didn't want to fight, so naturally there wouldn't be a fight. The so-called "peace is the most important thing."The Border Region is now under such an environment.Our slogan has long been put forward, that is, war, production and education.We are fighting Japanese imperialism in the enemy's rear, and at the same time we can carry out construction, production and education.As long as there is no war in the border region, the immediate tasks are production and education.The army also has education, including political education, military education, and cultural education. This winter, there will be a big military training.A few years ago, when Chen Xuezhao[3] first came to the border region, she saw that the construction of the border region was not good in one way or another, and she said that the Communist Party had a way to build the army, but the establishment of the country would not work well.This is what I said three years ago.Is this statement correct? I think this statement is correct.We have some solutions politically and militarily, but in terms of production and construction at that time there were indeed relatively few solutions.Think about it, everyone, where were the production achievements three years ago? If the production was done well, [4] maybe it would not have been written.Three years ago, everyone's food was not good, and there were many patients. It is said that half of Lu Yi [5] fell asleep in class.Probably because the vitamins in the millet are not enough, so I have to doze off.

During the civil war and the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, our party learned to fight and learned to fight.We are relatively proficient in politics and military affairs. Of course, we still have shortcomings, but we are more familiar with these two subjects.As for the two subjects of economy and culture, I am not very familiar with them.We have also engaged in economics, because without economics, there is no way to fight wars.To be able to fight wars, you must first have food to eat. In the past, you were able to fight wars because you had a little economic experience.In the past, the Central Soviet Area also engaged in culture, such as the naval dance, and the comrades present have seen it, and there were also literacy groups, newspapers, and schools, but it cannot be said that the whole party has learned it, so it is not very successful.Speaking of the common people, there are still some people in northern Shaanxi who are poorly fed, and many people do not have enough food. Having enough food and clothing is still a goal in the border areas, and only some people have achieved it.But last year, production was on track and the economy was on track. This is a major premise and something new.Financial and economic issues are on the agenda of this year's high-level cadre meeting. This is because although the economy is on track, we haven't fully learned it yet, and we have to continue to learn.

Cultural issues were not on the agenda for this meeting.The Party headquarters, the government, and even some management agencies in our border regions, such as some propaganda agencies, have not raised the issue of culture and education on the agenda, and some comrades do not know what to do in these areas.For example, the Propaganda Departments at the county and district levels have heard that some know it and are doing well, while others don’t know how to do it.This is the situation now, where we are relatively good at military affairs and politics, but not so good at economics and culture.If the economy and culture can't be done, what will happen? If you can't do it, the Communist Party is of little use.There is also a point of usefulness, that is, good at destroying old things, good at attacking the enemy, and able to defeat the enemy, but it is not very useful.Because if you don't learn economics and culture, you won't be able to feed everyone with millet rice, and the common people will have no pork to eat, and they will be illiterate, and they won't know how to play Yangko.There is also a little bit of Yangko now, but how to popularize it is still a problem.There are still many things to do in terms of culture, such as setting up literacy groups, singing, spring couplets, and so on.Therefore, it is not good if you do not learn the two subjects of economy and culture.

During the civil war, the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, and even now, some of our comrades still have a kind of thinking, that is, politics and military affairs are the first, and economics and culture are secondary.Is there any reason for such a view? Indeed, politics and military affairs come first. If you don’t destroy the enemy, you won’t be able to do any millet, rice, or Yangko, because the enemy is still oppressing you.Under the oppression of the enemy, what kind of schools and production can you do? So of course beating the enemy is the first priority.In this way, those who do the work of fighting the enemy will have a reputation and enjoy themselves, but those who work on millet and Yangko will not be able to eat well, and they will not sit at the head of the meeting, and they will not have a place in the election bureau.If we don't destroy the enemy, we can't do millet and production, so we should put the work of defeating the enemy first.But we should know that politics is the superstructure and economy is the foundation.Politics is like the house, and the economy is the foundation.Why do we engage in politics, the government, and the army? It is to destroy the old politics, the old government, and the old army that hinder the development of productive forces.With Japanese imperialism occupying our territory, what productive forces can we develop? This hinders the development of productive forces.Unless the old political and military forces that hinder the development of productive forces are eliminated, the productive forces cannot be liberated, and the economy cannot develop.Therefore, the first task is to overthrow the old politics and the old military that hinder the development of productive forces, and we engage in politics and military affairs only to liberate productive forces.Comrades who have studied social sciences all understand this point. The most fundamental problem is the problem of the upward development of productive forces.We have been engaged in politics and military affairs for many years just for this matter.Marxist social science also mainly talks about this matter, talking about how the productive forces developed in history.As for culture, it reflects and guides politics and economy; it reflects and guides military affairs.There are two kinds of Yangko in our border area today: one is old Yangko, which reflects old politics and old economy; the other is new Yangko, which reflects new politics and new economy.There is a Yangko called "Zhao Fugui" and another Yangko called "Zhang Zhiguo". I heard that after the performance in Wuqi Town, a soldier from the Third Police Brigade tied his hands and ran to the company commander to ask for punishment.Why do you want to ask for punishment? He said, "I want to desert, not only want to desert myself, but also want to organize others to desert." He also told how much French money he had sewn into his cotton coat.He demands punishment.If he speaks out by himself, of course he will not be punished.This is the power of our culture.Why couldn't the big dramas and novels of the early years produce such power? Because they didn't reflect the politics and economy of the border areas.In the past, hundreds of thousands of writers, artists, and cultural figures broke away from the masses.After holding the literature and art symposium, they held it for a year last year, and they gradually reached the edge, and once they reached the edge, they were welcomed by the broad masses.The so-called touching the border means reflecting the lives of the masses, truly reflecting the politics and economy of the border area, and this can serve as a guide.The relationship between politics, military, economy, and culture is like this: political and military power is to overthrow the forces that hinder the development of productive forces; the purpose of overthrowing the forces that hinder the development of productive forces is to liberate productive forces and develop the economy.Economy is the foundation of politics and the military, and politics and the military are the superstructure.The foundation is the economy, and the fundamental purpose is to develop the economy.The reason why politics and military affairs are put first is because without them, the productive forces cannot be liberated, and it is impossible to discuss other issues.Culture reflects political and economic struggles, but at the same time it can guide political and economic struggles.Culture is indispensable, and no society can be built without culture.Feudal society has feudal culture, and feudal culture is the truth of propagating feudalism.Capitalist society also has capitalist culture, and capitalist society cannot be established without culture.Now China is not a capitalist country, capitalism is not dominant, so Chinese culture is also very weak.In a truly capitalist country, capitalist culture improves production techniques.Now we are building a new democratic society, which is capitalist in nature, but also belongs to the masses. It is not socialism or old capitalism, but new capitalism, or new democracy.This society can't do without culture.For example, if you organize a work change team[6], you need to keep accounts, and you need to keep accounts when you organize a cooperative. This requires culture.To organize a labor exchange team in a village, at least one person must be able to write the names of the villagers.In short, there is no culture.During the Northern Expedition in the past, the new army was better than the old army, which was related to the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy[7].At that time, most of the students in Whampoa were young students. These young people had revolutionary enthusiasm and knowledge. They had a culture that other armies could not match.In addition to having a revolutionary spirit, a revolutionary army cannot do without knowledge.If the army lacks knowledge and its cultural and political levels do not improve, then it is impossible to improve the quality of this army.

How is the development of our border regions now? In my opinion, if we do not develop our culture, our economy, politics, and military will all be hindered.Now we are being held back. Backward things hold back good things, such as illiteracy and accounting, hindering our economic, political, and military development.If we can all be literate and educated, then we will move forward faster.So I propose that from now on, we should bring up the issue of developing culture, please think about it, investigate and study it.By the winter of this year, we will hold a meeting to start discussions and deal with him for ten or eight days, and it will be better next year.Let's come up with a five-year plan. Last year counts as one year, and this year is the second year. During these five years, 1.4 million people in the Shensi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, plus 100,000 party, government and military personnel, will have a total of 1.5 million people. 10,000 people, wipe out all illiteracy, and raise the culture of the people in the border areas to a necessary level.How can it be done? I think there are roughly four problems here: newspapers, schools, arts, and health.Now let's talk about it separately.

First, about newspapers. Now senior leading comrades, and even middle-level leading comrades have a feeling that it will be difficult to conduct affairs without newspapers.When the meal came, the newspaper came. Some of them read the newspaper first, and then ate.A comrade from a local worker-peasant background told me that he read the newspaper first.If the number of such working comrades in each county increases to fifteen to twenty, our work will be done even better. The Liberation Daily has become an organizer in the Border Region.Without the "Liberation Daily", it would be very difficult to work in such a sparsely populated, vast area, and economically and culturally backward in the whole of China.With one "Liberation Daily", the political and cultural life of the entire border region can be organized.There is also the "Border Mass Daily", which has a wider distribution and more people read it.There are still many local newspapers in the border area, which are run by local committees. I heard that there are newspapers about China and Suide in Longdong and Sanbian[8].The newspapers in Guanzhong and Suide seem to be pretty good, and the news is well written.The reason why these local newspapers are needed is because it is not enough to have only one "Liberation Daily" and one "Border Mass Daily". They have a newspaper there, which can reflect the situation more directly and quickly.I think it's good.Comrades in our prefectural committees should take newspapers into their own hands and use them as a weapon to organize all work, to reflect and guide politics, the military and the economy, and to organize and educate the masses.Pay great attention to this work and make it better year by year.Do all our brigades have newspapers? I know that the brigade in Guanzhong [9] has newspapers, the 359th brigade also has newspapers, and I heard that some regiments also have newspapers.The counties have not yet.Is it possible to run some newspapers in the counties as well? I have no experience in this point. Is it necessary? I don’t think there is any need in some places, such as Yan’an, because the "Liberation Daily" and "Border Mass Daily" are published there.Do some counties far away from Yan’an need it? For example, some county committees can publish a mimeographed newspaper and hire an intellectual to take charge, whether regularly or irregularly. From editing to publishing, including engraving steel plates, one person is almost enough.What do the newspapers of the counties publish? For example, when we have Shen Changlin [10] here, we can publish his deeds, and Chen Defa [11] can also be included, without waiting for the "Liberation Daily" in Yan'an.Comrades can think about this matter. Of course, don't think that this is a meeting held in Yangjialing, so everyone is ordered to do it.

In the past, we learned a way of working, which is to hold meetings.This style prevails everywhere, and we have not given up on this way of working for many years.If you adopt the working method of running newspapers, then many truths and models can be propagated through newspapers.Now we have to learn how to work this way.Now in our border region, meetings are the most important way of working, and the distribution of newspapers can save a lot of meetings.We can discuss many issues in newspapers, which is equivalent to holding meetings and holding training courses. Many instruction letters can be replaced by news, so newspapers can be regarded as an important way of work and education.Wall newspapers can also be regarded as a kind of newspaper, and running wall newspapers can also be regarded as an important way of work.But we still don't know how to use it, and we haven't been able to come up with a revolutionary wall newspaper that will cause a sensation in the city and attract people from all over Yan'an to read it.I think a catering unit with, say, 100 people can post a poster.There is always a head here, and he will use the poster as a weapon to organize work, educate the masses, mobilize the enthusiasm of the masses, and write his own editorials.Now some posters are not well run, and only those who write articles read them.Can a poster meeting be held? Suppose there are 200 government agencies with posters, and each poster has an editor and a head, and a meeting of more than 400 people is held.This meeting must be attended by the head of state.The chief is in charge, and only by doing it himself can the poster be run well.It is necessary to run wall newspapers with revolutionary content and liveliness, and become a working method for organizing the work of various organs.

By running newspapers in this way, there can be thousands of newspapers in the entire border region. This is called running newspapers by the whole party.An organization can also run a newspaper, and both party members and non-party members can participate. This is called the alliance between the party and the non-party.In this way, our newspaper can play a big role.In the past, we did not pay enough attention to this point, but now the heads of various agencies are responsible, and they regard newspapers as a good way of working.We have a lot of political and economic work, and if the newspapers are run well, these tasks can be done even better.

Second, about the school. A piece of news was published in the newspaper yesterday about Wan Xiao in Yan'an City[12].This is a very good piece of news. With such a piece of news, it is more effective than our many words.Because this complete school has made actual achievements, it should be spread throughout the country.This primary school is running very well. In the past, we had many primary schools that were not well run, and the masses did not welcome them. We insisted on running them. This is commandism.Once upon a time, we had a teacher in Yangjialing, who had been teaching for a year. I asked him if he could understand what you were teaching.I said that our Communist Party must learn a method, that is, people don't listen and don't talk about it.The Department of Education held a meeting and said that the school should be run by the private sector, which I think is very good.Comrade Qiao Mu[13] told me that the school should be run by the village.I heard that there are twenty-five natural villages in Chen Defa's township, and there is only one primary school in each township, and students have to walk dozens of miles to study, which is very inconvenient.There was also a news in the newspaper yesterday, saying that Suojiaya Village was going to set up a primary school, with a three-semester system a year, with holidays during busy farming seasons, and students helping the family with the farming.In this way, while studying, while helping the family to do things, at the same time there is no danger of becoming a public servant.In rural areas, it is more convenient for each village to run a primary school.If a township runs an elementary school, the children need boarding for studying, food for the boarding, six or seven dou for food at home, and three dou for one stone to pay for the school. They learn all about Kyushu and the world, and do not start from the actual needs of the farmers. There is also the danger of becoming a public family, which is inappropriate.It is a natural process to become a citizen participating in the revolution, just as it is a natural process for a militia to become a guerrilla and a guerrilla to a regular army.It's a little unnatural now, joining work and leaving production, as if a piece of meat was cut from him, very suddenly.We can also find ways to solve the problem of teachers.Literacy groups can be organized.In the past, a literacy group was set up in the border area, but it failed. I think it was actually not done.It seems that the increase of 400,000 shi of fine grain was proposed in the past, and it was proposed at the senior cadre meeting, but no one cares about how to increase it.The high-level meeting[14] proposed an increase of 80,000 shi in the previous year, but the result was an increase of 160,000 shi. Because Wu Manyou's family-based plan appeared in the newspaper at the beginning of January last year, the construction department found him and opened three Tianhui, after figuring out Wu Manyou, knows how many ten thousand stones can be added to the border area, and how to increase it.In my opinion, the failure of organizing literacy groups in the past was because there was no specific leadership, and also because the production movement of the masses had not yet developed.The situation is different now. The masses have this demand, and our working methods have also improved. We can gradually promote it with one call.We generally have such a plan, that is, 1.4 million people from 350,000 households in the border areas will eradicate all illiteracy within ten years.Know one character a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year, three thousand six hundred and fifty characters in ten years.The ten years can be divided into two five-year plans. In one five-year plan, literacy is about 2,000 characters. If you can read 2,000 characters, you will be close to eradicating illiteracy.On this basis, we propose that 1.4 million people will be able to read the Border Region Mass Daily within five years.Even if it is postponed for another five years, everyone will be able to read the "Border People's Daily" within ten years.Our Communist Party is famous for its ambition. Within ten years, we will make the "Border People's Daily" accessible to all ordinary people, and one-third of the people will be able to read the "Liberation Daily".One-third of the 1.4 million people can read the "Liberation Daily", and the "Liberation Daily" will be printed a lot. By then, I am afraid that many paper mills will be established.In the past, they ate buns, wore tattered clothes, and were terribly cold. How could we have a literacy group? Now it is different. We have made progress in production. If we do it again this year, cultural work should be raised.I want to engage him in this winter, because now the masses are demanding to do so, for example, he can come to a winter school for three or four months.Spring and summer are not easy, because people are so busy that they have to farm in the mountains.This winter, a start will be made to lay a foundation, and next year there will be even greater development.Improving culture and eradicating illiteracy depends on the literacy group.Of course, this is also voluntary.At the beginning, you might as well organize one or two groups, and ask some people to be literate. Literate is of course better than non-literate, so the literate people will be proud.Then select a few models and give them a few handkerchiefs as awards. They will be able to read and have handkerchiefs. After two years of working with them, they can become a trend.

Who should teach it? Ordinary people teach ordinary people.Now our troops are officers teaching soldiers, soldiers teaching soldiers, and soldiers teaching officers.Last year some cadres trained in Yan'an for five days before going back to train. There are more than a hundred people in a company, and there will always be a hero among them.The literacy group can also teach the people. Those who know ten characters can be the team leader, and those who know one hundred characters can be the chairman of the committee. We also need to compile some books on production knowledge and other aspects as teaching materials.Students must learn to abacus, learn to write letters, learn to keep accounts, and learn to write directions.In this way, the people in his family saw that when he came back from elementary school after studying for a few days, he could do everything, which was very good.This is better than the former students. When we came out of school at that time, we were self-righteous, outstanding, and full of air. In addition, we must also promote the kindness of the father and the filial piety of the son.In the past, I had a fight with my father because of this matter. He said I was not filial, and I said he was not kind. I said that the father should be kind first, and the son should be filial second. This is two-sided.How can a son be filial if the father beats him to a pulp? This is the dialectic of Confucius.Celebrating the March 8th Women's Day this year, and proposing to establish a model family, this is a great progress for the Communist Party.We advocate family harmony, loving fathers and filial sons, brotherly love and brotherly respect, both sides draw close to each other, and live in harmony. It is very good that primary schools are now decided to run privately, but there are also government-run ones.There are now six high-level middle schools and normal schools run by the government, and there are six normal schools and middle schools in the border area with a population of 1.4 million. This is unprecedented in history, and it only developed in the era of the Communist Party.The areas around Suide and Mizhi have developed education all the time, and it may be a little worse now than in the past.As for Sanbian and Longdong, it is very different. The establishment of a normal school in Sanbian is a big step forward.Now that the power is handed over to the commissioner's office and the prefectural committee, you must manage it, and you must manage it well. In terms of teaching methods, teachers should give lectures according to the situation of students.Teachers do not learn things according to the students' requirements, but teach them all by themselves. This method is not acceptable.Teachers must also learn from students, not just teach students.Now I think there must be a system called 37-30.That is, the teacher first learns seven points from the students, understands the history, personality and needs of the students, and then takes three points to teach the students.This method sounds very new, but in fact it has been around for a long time, and Confucius taught it in this way.For the same question, his answer to Zilu was different from what he answered to Ranyou.Zilu is quick-tempered, so he has to be slow in answering him; Ran You is slow, so he has to be quick in answering him.I heard that last year Yan'an held a training class for a month, and the heads of townships and branch secretaries gathered together for training. What did they teach? Some materials published in the "Liberation Daily" in July, August, and September last year, as well as the "Liberation Daily" A Comparison of the Achievements of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the War of Resistance.Is it necessary to teach these things? Yes, especially "Comparison of the Achievements of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the War of Resistance", which is more educational.However, these few points alone are not enough. In the countryside, only talking about the results of the War of Resistance is not enough.They should be taught how to work, so that they understand how a branch secretary or a township head should work, and let them know that the way of working should not always be the same, but how to do work according to the current situation, how to be a township head, how to When branch secretary.As for the schools in Yan'an, such as the Central Party School, Yan'an University, and the School of Administration, they should also focus on contacting reality.From the Central Party School, Yan'an University, School of Administration to every village primary school, we must do this.I heard that both Propaganda Departments[16] have paid attention to this problem, that is very good.The current education, one is general education, including social education, literacy education; the other is cadre education.With these two kinds of education, the entire border region can be turned into a big school, and every township can be a school.All ordinary people and cadres study production and culture in this big school.Within a few years, the mass culture in the border areas will be higher than that of other places, even higher than some big cities such as Wuhan and Chongqing.As long as it is done well, it can be done well in five to ten years, and there will be great progress and great development. This is by no means empty talk. Third, about art. Yangko is one item, as well as Spring Festival couplets, songs, and New Year pictures. The Yangko team from Yangjialing went to Ansai to perform for a few days and solved a basic problem.In the past, there was a gap between the foreign intellectuals and the local people. This time when the Yangjialing Yangko Team performed in Ansai, several labor heroes also joined in and danced together with the Yangko Team.I think this is very good. The labor heroes feel that your yangko team is singing their praises, and the barriers have been eliminated. "Liberation Daily" published Zhou Yang's article[17] yesterday. This article is about Yangko, and it is worth reading.Yangko has not been universalized yet.Yan'an got tired of watching Yangko this year, but the people in the whole border area haven't seen enough. They asked to perform a Yangko opera three times.So I think the Yangko team can be organized more. This new Yangko team can have one in each township, with new content, and one, two, three, or four in each district. There is no limit. This winter will be done like this .This is my idea, not stipulated, comrades can consider it.I think the intellectuals in Yan'an should hold meetings in October of this year's lunar calendar to study how to investigate and work.Comrades from the Yangjialing Women's Committee learned spinning for only two weeks, and the women in the countryside were very welcome.If you don't learn this skill, how can you organize women? If you say you are a revolution, then you have to learn the skill.This winter, the intellectuals in the Yan'an school all went down to do mass work, helping the masses perform yangko, hold winter schools, run training classes, subscribe to household plans, etc., and worked for three months to really learn their skills.I think these people need to be liberated, and this system can be implemented every year.This works as both a vacation trip and an Upper Frontier class.There is a condition here, that is to go to help the masses, not to hinder the masses.We did a lot of stupid things in the past, that is, hindering others from spinning and carrying dolls.When you go down this time, you have to "look at the food and eat, and tailor your clothes." There are 350,000 households in the border area, and every household hangs up Spring Festival couplets with new content, which will also bring a new look to the border area.Comrades from the two Propaganda Departments should study this issue.To write Spring Festival couplets, we need to compile several notebooks and make new Spring Festival couplets.Spring Festival couplets are literacy textbooks and political textbooks for the masses.There are 350,000 Spring Festival couplets, the contents of which are basically the same, but the text can be different. This is an important aspect of mass cultural activities.Should we also create a few songs to sing? For example, three or five songs, so that 1.4 million people can sing and understand its meaning. I think this is also a kind of learning and a kind of The method of eradicating illiteracy is the same as that of Spring Festival couplets.In addition, you can also make New Year pictures. In short, our art should produce a few things that are really welcomed by the common people.Now the common people don't even have good Spring Festival couplets, and we're just talking about improving things, which can only be empty talk.Now the main problem in the border area is still a problem of popularization.The artistic life of the masses is too poor, and our comrades engaged in literature and art work must work hard in many ways. Fourth, about hygiene. Hygiene is an extremely serious problem in the lives of the people in the border areas, and now it is also included in cultural issues.This year's Spring Festival promotion, including the Yangko performed by the General Health Department in Ansai, proved that the common people welcome the new culture.The phenomenon of superstition among the people in the border areas is much less than before, but it cannot be eliminated. One of the most important reasons is that the medical and health work is not yet popularized.The masses have no other way to overcome the threat of disease and death, only to believe in gods.Now there are only three hospitals in Yan'an, but how many people are there in Yan'an? There are 30,000 people in the party, government and army, and 14,000 people in the common people. Not many people enjoy the blessing of health care.As for the other 1.3 million ordinary people in the border area, no one cares about them at all.Now it is time to greatly promote the knowledge and work of medicine and health, and find a way to train some medical talents in each district.Either the divisions send people to study in Yan'an, or Yan'an sends people to train, I think it's fine.For this matter, each prefectural committee, each commissioner's office, and each district can formulate a plan. Within five to ten years, each district will have a clinic that can diagnose and treat common diseases.As for the question of medicines, the Border Region should develop industries in this field.Ordinary medicines are produced by themselves as far as possible, and if necessary, they can be bought outside the border area. Of course, they can be bought outside the border for the welfare of the people.Our economy has developed, and we can go outside to buy if we strive for a super price.To promote hygiene, one should treat diseases to the masses.Within five to ten years, we require progress in the popularization of scientific knowledge, and medical and health care should be included in our plans, going hand in hand with production plans. We want the population to grow and science to advance.This issue was discussed two years ago, and it was impossible to do it, but now it is possible.Of course, the party should also pay attention to it. If there is such a possible condition, the problem must be solved. This can break the superstition and make the common people disrespect Bodhisattvas.In the past, when I traveled from Changsha to Shanghai, I took two kinds of boats, one was a foreign boat and the other was a wooden boat.They don’t respect the Dragon King Bodhisattva on the foreign boats, and the people on the foreign boats don’t care about the Dragon King Bodhisattva.But they have to pay respect to Dragon King Bodhisattva on wooden boats. Dragon King Bodhisattva is their "insurance company". Wooden boats are easy to capsize.Therefore, if the common people do not worship God, there must be the development and popularization of science.If science is not developed or popularized, god worship is absolutely necessary for them.If there were a few more people like Aluofu[18], of course no one would honor Ziguanyin anymore.With scientific knowledge, superstitions can naturally be broken. Without this, he would still be superstitious. I will talk about these few things today.If the Communist Party can do these things in the border areas, and each system improves its working methods, making progress day by day, year by year, if in five to ten years, we run many kinds of newspapers and organize many literacy Group, eradicate illiteracy, popularize art again, and pay attention to medicine and health, improve medical conditions, that's almost the same.Whether the Communist Party is useful, that is to say, the question of whether the Communist Party is necessary for its existence will be resolved.Ye Qing[19] wrote an article saying that the Communist Party is not necessary to exist, we say it is necessary to exist, and we will use facts to prove it. Over the past twenty years, our Party has learned politics first, and then military affairs. Last year it learned economic construction, and this year it will learn cultural construction.If great achievements are made in cultural construction, then we have learned another great skill, and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region can become a better model throughout the country! Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is Mao Zedong's speech at the Propaganda Work Conference held by the Propaganda Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. [2] Roosevelt (1882-1945), then President of the United States. [3] Chen Xuezhao (1906-1991), a native of Haining, Zhejiang.He used to be the special correspondent of Tianjin "Ta Kung Pao" stationed in Europe, and a special writer of Shanghai "Life Weekly".After arriving in Yan'an in November 1940, he served as editor of the supplement of "Liberation Daily" and a teacher of the Fourth Department of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. [4], is a group of essays written by Wang Shiwei (then a researcher at the Literature and Art Research Office of the Academia Sinica in Yan’an), published twice in the "Liberation Daily" on March 13 and 23, 1942. On the Supplement of Literature and Art. [5] Lu Yi, the abbreviation of Lu Xun Academy of Arts and Letters.Lu Xun Academy of Arts was established in Yan'an in April 1938, changed to Lu Xun Academy of Arts and Letters in May 1939, and merged into Yan'an University in April 1943. [6] Work change team, see note [4] on page 76 of this volume. [7] The Whampoa Military Academy, short for the Whampoa Military Academy, was established in Whampoa, Guangzhou in 1924 by Sun Yat-sen with the help of the Communist Party of China and the Soviet Union.The Communist Party of China successively sent Zhou Enlai, Yun Daiying, Xiao Chunv, Xiong Xiong, Nie Rongzhen, etc. to work in the school, and many members of the Communist Party and the Communist Youth League were among the students. [8] Sanbian was originally the collective name for the three counties of Dingbian, Anbian and Jingbian in Shaanxi.This refers to the trilateral division of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region during the Anti-Japanese War, which governed Dingbian, Yanchi, Jingbian, Wuqi and other counties at that time. [9] Refers to the First Brigade of the Eighth Route Army Left Behind Corps. [10] Shen Changlin, from Mizhi, Shaanxi.In 1942, he worked hard in the mass production movement and became a labor hero in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.On January 28, 1944, "Liberation Daily" published an article "Model Party Member and Labor Hero Comrade Shen Changlin", introducing his deeds. [11] Chen Defa, from Ansai, Shaanxi.In 1942, he worked hard in the mass production movement and became a labor hero in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.On January 2, 1944, "Liberation Daily" published an article "Majiagou and Chen Defa", introducing his experience. [12] Refers to the report "Yanshi Wanxiao has a new look" published in the "Liberation Daily" on March 21, 1944.Wan Xiao is the abbreviation of Complete Primary School.At that time, primary schools in Yan'an were divided into two types: ordinary primary schools and complete primary schools. General primary schools provided three-year compulsory education for junior primary schools, and complete primary schools provided three-year compulsory education for junior primary schools and two years for senior primary schools. [13] Qiao Mu, that is, Hu Qiaomu (1912-1992), was born in Yancheng, Jiangsu.At that time, he was the secretary of Mao Zedong and the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. [14] Refers to the senior cadre meeting held in Yan'an from October 19, 1942 to January 14, 1943 by the Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. [15] Wu Manyou, see note [3] on page 67 of this volume. [16]指中共中央宣传部和中共中央西北局宣传部。 [17]指一九四四年三月二十一日《解放日报》发表的周扬《表现新的群众的时代——看了春节秧歌以后》一文。 [18]阿洛夫，苏联外科医生，当时在延安中央医院工作。 [19]叶青，又名任卓宣（一八九六——一九九O），四川南充人。一九二三年任旅欧中国共产主义青年团执行委员，后转为中国共产党党员。一九二八年被捕后叛变，担任过国民党中央宣传部副部长。