Chapter 36 Speech at the Opening Ceremony of Yan'an University[1]

(May 24, 1944) Comrades! Yan'an University starts today.Our school is a school that includes courses in politics, economics, and culture. You should study politics, economics, and culture to prepare for work in these fields in the future.Some parts of this school were run separately in the past, but now they are combined.As Comrade Zhou Yang [2] said, there are shortcomings and mistakes in our work, but our shortcomings and mistakes are temporary.Communists have shortcomings and mistakes in their work, and they will correct them as soon as they are discovered.They should not be afraid of self-criticism, and if they have shortcomings, they should publicly say that they are shortcomings, and if they have mistakes, they should publicly say that they are mistakes. Once they are corrected, the shortcomings will no longer be shortcomings, and the mistakes will become correct.In the past, schools were run for many years without success, but now progress has been made, and policies and methods are on the right track. This is related to the progress of the overall work in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and the base areas in North China, Central China, and Northwest Shanxi.

All our work has only one goal, which is to overthrow Japanese imperialism and drive it out of China.The Japanese imperialists invaded China and penetrated deep into the Chinese territory. The task of every Chinese is to fight Japan.Some people oppose the Communist Party and have trouble with us. These people violate this policy.On this issue, they are of two hearts.We are of one mind, we hold conferences with one mind, we hold small meetings with one mind, openly and secretly, we all have one mind, that is to fight Japan out.If we want to fight Japan out, we must establish base areas.All the places in China that are not occupied by the enemy are the anti-Japanese base areas, the rear area is the base area, North China and Central China are the base areas, Guangdong and Hainan Island are the base areas, and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region is the base area. Our Communist Party has created anti-Japanese base areas in many places.Some people say that the base area is not good and that there should be no base area. This is inappropriate.Without base areas, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army would have nothing to eat and nowhere to go to fight the enemy.Who hates our base areas the most? Japanese imperialism doesn't like our base areas because they crowd them out from behind.Once we have a base area, we must do military, political, economic, cultural, party affairs and other work.The party school is for studying party affairs, and there are political, economic, and cultural courses, as well as some military courses, but they focus more on party theory, party history and style.The Kangda[3] also studied politics, engaged in production, and talked about economics.Now our army is all about economics. The 359th brigade is engaged in production. This year, every soldier and cadre is required to produce six stones and a bucket of fine grain. Isn’t this economical? All our troops are engaged in food, clothing, and house repairs. , Building large auditoriums, small auditoriums, and making tables, chairs and benches are all done by ourselves, which is all economical.Yanda's study focuses on politics, economics, and culture, and all bases are engaged in these tasks.The only purpose is to overthrow Japanese imperialism and turn China into an independent and free new China.Just now Comrade Zhou Yang said that he wanted to serve the border area, to serve this base area.Can one or two, two hundred or two thousand, go to serve in the base areas of Northwest Shanxi, Taihang Mountain, Mount Tai, and Mount Wutai? There are also called border areas, and generally our base areas are called border areas.We serve the base areas, why not say that we serve the whole country? Because you always have to land in one place, like an airplane flying into the sky, it has to land in one place when it comes back, and it cannot fly anywhere without landing.Dogmatism does not fall to the ground, it hangs in the air.We should not engage in dogmatism, but serve the reality in a down-to-earth manner.

Japan is a real thing. It fell to China and hundreds of thousands of troops attacked us.Now our various base areas bear a lot of enemies, resisting 58 percent of the Japanese troops and 90 percent of the puppet troops.Some people couldn't see this fact, and slandered us as if we hadn't fought a single Japanese or puppet army.Last year, the "Liberation Daily" published an article of ours called "Comparison of the Achievements of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the War of Resistance". There were figures in it, such as 58%, 90%, etc.Now we have 470,000 workers in the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and about 250,000 workers in other party and government agencies and mass organizations.Now the anti-Japanese base areas have a total population of more than 80 million who directly and indirectly pay public grain.In the past, there were 10 million people. Later, the Japanese army "mopped up" and brought back a large number of troops from the frontal battlefield. They adopted a policy of supplementing the military attack on the frontal battlefield and focusing on political inducement to surrender. They concentrated their forces to bring us down and destroy us. Implement the policies of "mopping up", "nibbling", "strengthening law and order", and "three light". "Three Alls" means burning, looting, and killing.We also need to have a way to deal with it, which is military, political, economic, cultural, and party affairs.In the two years of 1941 and 1942, the most brutal years of the war, the anti-Japanese base areas encountered great difficulties. "Liberation Daily" wrote an editorial called "Darkness Before Dawn", calling on everyone to work hard to overcome this difficulty.The party, government, military, and people in each base area worked hard to implement the ten major policies[4] and overcome difficulties.There are many difficulties in the enemy's rear, and Yan'an also has many difficulties, such as [5], only millet has no pork problem.The development of production in Yanda is very good, and it needs to continue to develop, and it needs to eat more pork.I talked with Comrade Zhou Yang that day, you all have good spinning and various special productions, but I think it is not enough now, and you have to work hard to develop.The situation in the enemy's rear is even more difficult, and generally all base areas are very difficult, because the enemy implements the "three alls" policy.The enemy's rear was very difficult and the struggle was fierce, but we stood firm and persisted in the war of resistance for seven years.This cruel war has gone through the most difficult years in 1941 and 1942, and this year we have developed again.China is what it is today because of our anti-Japanese base areas.Of course, it would be inappropriate to say that this large base in the rear will not save China at all.Some people say that only his rear base will save China, but the border areas and enemy rear bases will not save China. This is completely unreasonable.How did you save China? Your 3 million troops only bear 42 percent of the Japanese army and 10 percent of the puppet army, while our 470,000 troops bear such a heavy burden.Our base area is relatively small, but the burden is very heavy, without any support, we rely on our party, government, army and ordinary people to work hard together.In this battle in Henan[6], the Japanese troops numbered more than 100,000 and the Kuomintang troops about 400,000, so they did not shoulder the burden, and "turned back and started walking" as soon as they heard the gunfire.Many things are difficult to handle now, so we have to find a way, which is democracy. Some people don't agree with this way.Another thing is unity. Some people don't do it. They distribute pamphlets, hold meetings, and call the Communist Party a "traitor party," the Eighth Route Army a "traitor army," and the border areas a "traitor area." They don't talk about unity. .

In short, Yan'an University should serve the various anti-Japanese base areas.The work in the base areas is on the right track, and the political, economic, cultural, and party affairs in our Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region are on the right track, and our schools are also on the right track.But the shortcomings of the past must be overcome, and dogmatism must be eliminated. Politically, you should study the Party’s principles and policies, such as the united front, the “three-three system”[7], better troops and simpler administration, etc.You have to study industry, agriculture, commerce, transportation, and finance. The current policy is to be fully self-sufficient. The implementation of the "three-three system" went a little to the right before the high-level cadre meeting[8] was held the year before last, and it went a little to the "left" last year.Our policy is very clear and definite, which is to fight Japan. All parties, classes, political and non-political organizations in China, as long as they agree to fight Japan and cooperate with the Communist Party, and not destroy the Communist Party, we will all fight against Japan. Be united.This policy remains unchanged.Comrades, if you study politics, you must adhere to this policy, unite the people of the whole country, and achieve the goal of defeating Japan.

In terms of economy, we must achieve comprehensive self-sufficiency. Over the past few years, especially since last year, our economy has made great progress.Fully self-sufficient, in addition to making food, but also producing various useful things.Now the government of the Border Region has issued a directive requiring all households of the people in the Border Region, with a population of 1.4 million and 350,000 households, to have a year's surplus of grain for each household.It is not only necessary to guard against drought, but also to prepare for a counterattack.This goal was not achieved last year and must be achieved within the next two to three years.We work in Yan'an and the border areas, and run Yanda University. If 350,000 farmers have a year's surplus food, then our Communist Party will be great.Also, the hilltops in northern Shaanxi are all bare, like a monk's head. We need to plant trees to make them grow hair.Planting trees requires a plan. If each family plants 100 trees, 350,000 families will plant 35 million trees.Do it for ten or eight years, "It takes ten years to grow trees, and a hundred years to grow people."In addition, there is industry, and now the factory congress[9] proposes to be fully self-sufficient in daily-use industrial products.The border area has a population of 1.5 million workers, farmers, merchants, students and soldiers, and needs 310,000 bolts of cloth a year, but we can only produce 100,000 bolts a year, which is a shortfall of 210,000 bolts.We will completely solve the problem of self-sufficiency in clothing within two to three years. Based on past experience, this is certain.In the past, the cotton, cotton yarn, and cloth in the border area had to be bought from outsiders, costing hundreds of millions of yuan in border coins, and blood flowed out.If we grow the cotton, spin the cotton yarn, and weave the cloth by ourselves, and if 1.5 million people do it by themselves, blood will stop flowing out, and our economy will be more solid.Every year, the government and ordinary people need 4.7 million catties of iron, most of which cannot be produced by themselves, and they have to spend hundreds of millions of yuan to buy it from outside, and the blood has to flow out.Now it is required to be fully self-sufficient in 4.7 million catties of iron within two to three years, to mine and smelt the mines themselves, and to manufacture the necessary machines and farm tools.Our industrial production is of various kinds, chief among them are weaving and ironmaking.These two main items must be self-sufficient, and other items must also be self-sufficient. This is comprehensive self-sufficiency.

There is also a lot of work on cultural and educational issues.We want to achieve this goal: 1.4 million ordinary people in the border area, 100,000 party, government, and military people, a total of 1.5 million people, must be able to read and write.We must be educated to study politics, and we must be educated to be township, district, and county heads in the future.The economy of the border area has developed, and the peasants also demand education.We want to make all the common people in the border area able to read a thousand characters each, and we will do it for ten or eight years.It would be even better if you can read 1,500, 2,000, or 3,000 characters.We must at least know a thousand characters, and each village must have a winter school.If literacy is to become a mass literacy movement, it won't work if we go down and teach "one, two, three, four" and "people, hands, knives, cows, sheep". Can teach others.

And health work.Comrade Zhou Yang said that a health class should be held to learn something.Every township should have a small clinic. There are a total of 1,000 townships in the border area. Out of 1.5 million people, 1,000 people will be found to study medicine. It may be good to study for four months or a year, and then become doctors in the clinic. .Recently, the epidemic in Yan'an has been prevalent. We, the Communist Party, are in charge here, so we should see it and find a way to solve it.Comrade Li Dingming, the vice-chairman of our border region government, is a Chinese medicine practitioner, and some people have studied Western medicine. These two kinds of doctors have never talked much about the united front.Let's do some research. Do we want to talk about the united front? I don't know Chinese medicine or Western medicine. Whether it's Chinese medicine or Western medicine, the function is to cure the disease.There is also a problem with medical skills if the disease cannot be cured. We should not disapprove of traditional Chinese medicine or western medicine just because the disease cannot be cured.Those who can raise babies and cure sick people will be rewarded for Chinese medicine and Western medicine.We put forward the slogan: these two kinds of doctors should cooperate.

In terms of culture, you also need to learn to act, perform Yangko, and learn to sing, such as the Yellow River chorus, small chorus, and so on.Politics, economics, and culture are the contents of our extended study. We must learn them well, be able to do work in this field, and serve the actual situation. Comrade Zhou Yang just mentioned rectification and cadre review. These two tasks are of great significance, transforming people and thinking.Mistakes were also made and are being corrected.In addition to what Comrade Zhou Yang said, let me say a few more words.We have a policy called "not killing one".Some people still don't believe it, saying that they don't know when the government will kill him.They are really spies. In the past, they did things to sabotage the border areas, the Eighth Route Army, and the New Fourth Army.From April last year to now, not a single one has been killed.Is there any harm in this? There is no harm.For real spies, real villains in the past, our purpose is to reform them.Our policy is to educate people, this policy has been determined, and I am announcing it to you once again.Some people believe it, some people don't believe it, believe it or not.The above said "words can be repeated", which means that what has been said must be practiced.Once the policy decided by the central government is announced, it must be implemented. Everyone can read it.Not killing one is of great significance.No matter how big the crime is, if you don't kill it, you can educate it, and if you are educated, you can still do something.The real spy who did bad things in the past, we hope that he will wake up by himself and go with us to overthrow Japanese imperialism.What if there are one or two out of a hundred people who are unwilling to realize their goals and refuse to cooperate? If there is a way, let them grow millet for themselves, do it themselves, develop production, and have enough food and clothing. , Very stubborn, will we keep people under the knife? We will keep people under the knife.Why stay? In order to stabilize the majority, because killing him will cause other people with similar problems to panic.If you are stubborn for ten years, let you work for ten years; if you are stubborn for twenty years, let you work for twenty years;It's called yes or no.A spy is a spy, and we need to figure it out so that they no longer work as spies and can cooperate with the Communist Party to fight Japan.If he is not a spy, he made a mistake and put a spy hat on him. We have to take the hat off to distinguish right from wrong. During the "rescue movement" [10], the atmosphere was very tense, and many people were "rescued", many of whom were mistaken, and there was a hat ceremony today, to take off the wrong hats worn by others.When the Communist Party handles affairs, it will make mistakes when it does not understand. After understanding, the mistakes must be corrected. This is the correct way.Getting it wrong is bad, but it can be good.For example, I wronged you, and now I take off the wrong hat that I put on you. We have gained experience from this, and we will not wear hats on people indiscriminately in the future.For those who have been wronged, they feel uncomfortable and painful, but they have also been tempered and gained experience, and they will be more cautious when judging others in the future.Regarding the review of cadres, we implement nine principles: the head is responsible, hands-on, the leading backbone is combined with the broad masses, the general call is combined with specific guidance, investigation and research, distinguishing right from wrong, winning over those who have made mistakes, training cadres, and educating the masses.Now Yan'an censors cadres, we must adopt such a policy, yes yes, no no, implement a leniency policy.

Today is the start of school, and I have one more thing to say. Some of your classes are taught by comrades in charge of various departments of the border region government. They are doing practical work, and you are studying. This is good.At the same time, you should often go to ask for advice, go to the door, or you can make a phone call.If one day they don't come to teach, they will send their soldiers and ask them to speak. Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

note [1] Yan'an University is a comprehensive cadre university founded by the Communist Party of China during the Anti-Japanese War. It was formed on September 22, 1941 by the merger of Northern Shaanxi Public School, China Women's University, and Zedong Youth Cadre School. become.After April 1943, Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences, Lu Xun Academy of Arts and Letters, Xinwen Cadre School, Institute for Nationalities, and School of Administration were merged one after another. [2] Zhou Yang, then director of the Cultural Work Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and president of Yan'an University.

[3] Anti-Japanese University, the abbreviation of Anti-Japanese Military and Political University.The Anti-Japanese Military and Political University was established in January 1937, formerly known as the Anti-Japanese Red Army University. [4] Ten policies, see page 66 of this volume. [5], see note [4] on page 121 of this volume. [6] Henan campaign, see note [5] on page 143 of this volume. [7] "Three-Three System", see note [8] on page 25 of this volume. [8] 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. [9] Refers to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Factory Directors and Workers' Representative Conference held in Yan'an from May 1 to 25, 1944. [10] "Rescue Movement", also known as "Rescue the Stumbled Movement".After the Yan'an rectification movement began to examine the work of cadres at the end of 1942, serious deviations occurred due to overestimation of the enemy's situation and the use of the wrong method of "coercion, confession, and belief".During this period, Mao Zedong once clearly put forward the correct line of anti-rape work-nine guidelines, and opposed the wrong line-coercion, confession, and trust.After Kang Sheng, who was in charge of the cadre trial at that time, proposed the "rescue those who lost their feet" at the Yan'an cadre meeting on July 15, 1943, the mistakes in the cadre trial work further expanded, resulting in many wrong cases.On July 30, Mao Zedong once again emphasized the correct line of anti-rape work and instructed to stop the "movement to rescue those who have lost their feet."On August 15th, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted a decision on the review of cadres, reiterating the nine guidelines.On October 9, Mao Zedong emphasized the need to adhere to a policy of no killing and no arrest of most.It took a lot of hard work to stop mistakes in the work of reviewing cadres.Subsequently, the wrong cases were screened and rehabilitated, and those who were wronged were apologized.