Chapter 56 Mission in 1945[1]

(December 15, 1944) 1944 is coming to an end. What is our task in 1945? What tasks should we pay special attention to next year? The entire anti-fascist war has achieved great victories. We can defeat Hitler next year. accomplish.Our only task is to cooperate with the Allies[2] to defeat the Japanese invaders.The United States has now reached Wright Island [3] and may land in China.At the same time, the Japanese aggressors have opened up the mainland line of communication from Tokyo to Singapore, and China's occupied areas have been further expanded.Will the enemy stop its attack? I don't think it will stop, and it may attack the southwest and northwest of our country again.During this period, the Japanese aggressors will surely play tricks again in an attempt to induce the Chinese government to surrender through the Chinese capitulationists.The internal situation in China is still disunity, the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are fruitless, and the anti-Japanese forces of the Chinese people are artificially divided by the Chinese reactionaries.The battles on the frontal battlefield have failed successively. The Kuomintang authorities still insist on their one-party dictatorship and defeatist policies that are dissatisfied by the people of the whole country, and reject all suggestions that are conducive to the war of resistance, unity and democracy.Only the vast liberated areas of China, which were built with great difficulty, implemented Dr. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary Three People's Principles, that is, New Democracy, united people from all walks of life, established a heroic army, crushed all enemy attacks, and were able to launch offensives to recover vast lost ground. .In this situation, what should we do?

It is necessary to make the people of the whole country understand that only by using the power of the people to promote the Kuomintang, the Communist Party, other anti-Japanese parties and people without party affiliation to convene a state conference on a democratic basis and organize a coalition government can all the anti-Japanese forces in China be unified and oppose the Japanese invaders Attack, and cooperate with the Allies, to expel the Japanese invaders from China.Through Comrade Lin Zuhan[4], we raised this issue with the National Political Council[5], and later raised it in writing with the Kuomintang authorities. Recently, Comrade Zhou Enlai went to Chongqing to negotiate on this matter, but there was still no result.At present, it is very clear that negotiations alone cannot be successful. I hope that the people of the whole country will unite and speak out, demanding that the Kuomintang authorities change their current policies so that a democratic coalition government can be quickly established.This is the general task of the people of the whole country, and the Chinese people must strive for this goal no matter whether they are in the rear areas, in occupied areas or in liberated areas.As long as there is a united central government in China that implements democratic policies and can mobilize and unify all the anti-Japanese forces in China, the victory of China's Anti-Japanese War and the liberation of the Chinese people will be very fast.For this purpose, we should think of many ways.

In the rear, we must assist the democratic patriotic movement oppressed by the reactionary authorities, we must mobilize all forces to resist the enemy's attack, and we must be alert to the conspiracy of the capitulationists to betray the nation and surrender to the enemy.Many young people and other people from all walks of life should go to places occupied by the enemy to fight guerrillas, and the broad masses should be prepared to resist on the spot wherever the enemy may go.At the same time, the Liberated Areas have effectively assisted the rear with their own heroic combat operations and launched guerrilla warfare in new areas.All people in the rear and all patriotic parties have the responsibility to work hard for the establishment of a democratic coalition government.There are already many parties in the rear, many industrialists, professors, students, and even many members of the Kuomintang, who agree with the idea of ​​a coalition government and believe that this is the only correct way to resist Japan and save the country.But the current strength is not enough, and the broad masses of the people should be called on to fight for this.

In the occupied areas, the broad masses of the people are brutally oppressed by the enemy and yearn for liberation.We must help them organize and prepare for an armed uprising when the time is right, cooperate with the army's offensive, drive out the Japanese invaders internally and externally, and liberate our brothers and sisters.This task must now be given equal importance to the work in the Liberated Areas.This is a very urgent job, no matter how difficult it is.In this work, the French Communist Party and the French people have set a glorious example, and we should learn from the French experience.Among the people in the enemy-occupied areas, the necessity of a democratic coalition government should be explained, so that they know that only with the emergence of this government, the liberation of the people in the enemy-occupied areas will be imminent, and they should be called upon to fight for this goal.

In the Liberated Areas, this area has now become the center of gravity for resisting Japan and saving the country. As of November 1944, there were 650,000 Eighth Route Army, New Fourth Army and other people's anti-Japanese troops, and more than two million militiamen. 90 million liberated people.In 1944 we made great achievements in military, political, economic and cultural fields.But what work did we do in 1945 that deserve special mention? In my opinion, in 1945, the Liberated Areas of China should pay attention to the following: (1) Expand the liberated areas.No matter which liberated area is near or far away, there are still many places occupied by the enemy and puppets with weak defenses. Our army should attack these places, wipe out the enemy and puppets, expand the liberated area, and shrink the occupied area.We must turn all the occupied areas that are weakly defended and can be conquered under our current conditions into liberated areas, force the enemy to be surrounded by us in extremely narrow cities and traffic arteries, and wait until all conditions are met. When mature, the enemy is completely driven out.This kind of offensive is completely necessary and possible. Our army has carried out many such offensives, especially this year with great results, and we should continue to do so next year.In all places newly occupied by the enemy that have not yet established liberated areas, such as Henan, we must call on the people to organize armed forces to oppose the aggressors and establish new liberated areas.Several years of experience have proved that it is very effective to organize numerous "armed task forces" who have been trained and are good at carrying out various military and political tasks, go deep into the enemy's rear to attack the enemy and puppets, and organize the people to cooperate with the front-line operations in the Liberated Areas. This should be done everywhere.

(2) The enemy's offensive ("mopping up") will not stop. We should always be vigilant and be ready to counter "mopping up" the enemy's attack at any time. It would be wrong not to have such vigilance.Don't think that we are strong and the enemy is weak, and that the balance of forces between the enemy and ourselves has changed. We must know that the enemy is still strong, and he will never forget to attack us. Only by implementing correct military policy and other policies can this situation be changed.Only when we have the upper hand will the enemy attack become impossible.

(3) Reorganize the existing self-defense army and militia to enhance their combat effectiveness.The number of self-defense troops and militias is not enough, and all regions should expand as much as possible, except in some individual places where it is impossible to expand.Among the 90 million people, except for the old, the young and the sick, all male and female citizens should be organized in the self-defense army. Without departing from the principle of production, they should take turns to defend their hometown and assist the army.Select elite elements from the Self-Defense Forces to organize militias or basic self-defense forces. Under the principle of "combining combat with production", they will fight in coordination with the army, or fight independently.Of the 90 million people, at least 5 percent, or 4.5 million people, should be militiamen, that is to say, the number of militiamen should be doubled.In some places, this work has not been taken seriously.In these places, the number of militias was too small, lack of training, and the quality was not high. In 1945, this situation must be changed.Both the self-defense army and the militia must not violate the farming season, reduce work delays, and not hinder production.Here, the method of changing jobs[6] is necessary, and militia organizations for combat and labor changing organizations for production can often be combined with each other.The leadership of the Self-Defense Forces and Militia must be democratically elected.Only in this way can the self-defense army and the militia expand and increase their fighting capacity.An important method of combat for the militia is the explosion of landmines, which should be popularized in all villages by the mine campaign.It is very necessary to make all kinds of landmines widely and to train in explosive techniques.

(4) Reorganize the regular army and the guerrillas.In 1945, the entire army should be trained in turn.Carry out training in accordance with the new method and hold mass military training campaigns. (5) In the old areas, replenish the consumption amount of the original army.In newly developed areas, the military should be expanded if economic conditions permit.Regardless of whether the army is replenished or expanded, it must be conditioned on not increasing the financial burden on the people. This must be borne in mind.If we violate this point, we will fail. (6) Unity within the army is very important.Our Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army have always relied on the unity of officers and soldiers to win glorious victories.However, the influence of the warlordism habits of the Chinese warlord army still exists in our army.In some units, this habit is still very serious.In 1945, extensive work should be carried out to eliminate all unhealthy phenomena in the relationship between officers and soldiers in the army, such as beating and cursing, indifference to soldiers' supplies, illnesses and other difficulties, impatient education and persuasion of soldiers' mistakes and shortcomings, and easily Punishment, bad habits and wrong policies such as insulting or shooting deserters, etc., should be fundamentally eliminated.Many troops have not yet paid attention to this work, because they do not understand that this work is an extremely important political basis for the combat effectiveness of the army.In the current one-year training plan, military training and political training should be given equal emphasis and the two should be combined.At the beginning of the training, we should also focus on the political aspect, focus on improving the relationship between officers and soldiers, strengthen internal unity, and mobilize the high enthusiasm of cadres and soldiers, so that military training can be easily implemented and more effective.To carry out this work, we should hold a campaign of supporting the cadres and loving the soldiers within each unit, calling on the cadres to love the soldiers, and at the same time calling on the soldiers to support the cadres. The shortcomings and mistakes of each other should be publicly explained and quickly corrected. In this way, a good unity can be achieved. internal purpose.

(7) Strengthen the two tasks of supporting the government and loving the people and supporting the military and superior resistance, and further improve the relationship between the military and the people.The relationship between our Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army and the people in our liberated areas has always been good, so we were able to defeat the enemy and consolidate and develop the liberated areas.However, the habits of the old army can also be transmitted to us. Unhealthy phenomena in the military-civilian relationship, such as the military's arrogant attitude, harming the interests of the people, poor discipline, and disrespect for the government, etc., often occur.At the same time, the localities did not provide enough help to the army, and the work of giving preferential treatment to the subordinates of the resistance did not do well, etc., also existed.In 1943, we pointed out the importance of these tasks, but many places have not paid attention to them.In the first month of the lunar calendar in 1945, all the Liberated Areas should hold the Movement of Supporting the Government and Loving the People and the Movement of Supporting the Army and Promoting Resistance, and must make remarkable achievements.Those who have already achieved results must continue to do it, and the results of these two tasks must be checked.If the entire army, officers and men are united as one, politically consolidated like iron, coupled with training in military technology and tactics, and with the support of the people, the Chinese people's cause of resisting Japan and saving the nation will have a strong guarantee. up.

(8) The national united front is the fundamental line for the Chinese people to resist Japan and save the country. In the liberated areas, it is first manifested in the "three-three system" [7] government work in which all classes and parties cooperate.In this aspect of work, some localities have done well and some have done poorly. All localities should sum up their experience.Communists must discuss more, have more discussions, and hold more meetings with other parties and people without party affiliation, so as to break through barriers, eliminate misunderstandings, and correct bad phenomena in mutual relations, so as to coordinate government work and various social undertakings.All personnel who participate in the work of the people's congress (council), government work, and social work, regardless of party affiliation or whether they have no party or affiliation, should be respected and should have positions and rights.

(9) Rent reduction has achieved results everywhere.But in some places, the achievements are less, and the viewpoints of bright and dark without diminishing and gifts still exist.On the other hand, there are also phenomena such as reducing too much, or not paying attention to paying rent after reducing rent.Both biases should be corrected.After the rent reduction, when the lease expires, except for those who can be taken back by the landlord under the principle of taking into account the interests of both parties, a new contract should be made so that the farmers have land to plant.If the rent reduction in the old areas is not complete, the rent should be checked.Rent reductions in new areas that have not yet been reduced should be initiated.It is wrong not to reduce the rent, and it is wrong to reduce it too much.Where landlords are in difficulty due to being destroyed by the enemy or for other reasons, the government should help them solve their difficulties and make it easier for them to engage in agriculture, industry, commerce or other work.Make it one of the government's jobs to unite them against a common enemy.We are now in the countryside, and the correct settlement of the land problem is an important link in supporting the long-term war. I hope everyone will pay attention to it. (10) Production campaigns have been carried out in most places this year, and remarkable results have been achieved. This is a very gratifying event.However, there are also some places that have not yet started, some places that have not achieved much, and some places that have achieved results in the army but not in the people's area.In 1945, without exception, large-scale production campaigns must be held universally.In addition to combat and training, all armies must engage in production for self-sufficiency, and the same is true for government agencies and schools.Only in special circumstances, reduction or exemption of production may be allowed.The people must be mobilized to organize production mutual aid groups under the principle of voluntariness, such as work exchange teams, mutual aid groups, and work exchange classes.Our local workers must devote all their energy to helping the people and organizing such mutual aid groups so as to restore and develop production on a large scale. Not only should the people have enough to wear and eat, but they should also gradually have a surplus. The slogan "Cultivate more than three"[8] can be realized even in the liberated areas behind the enemy, in addition to the places severely devastated by the enemy.The industrial products in our Liberated Areas must strive to be self-sufficient, and we must strive to achieve the goal of being fully or mostly self-sufficient within a few years.This is possible through a tripartite effort run by public, private and cooperatives.Concomitant with production is economy, and waste must be minimized as much as possible. "Developing the economy and ensuring supply" is our unwavering fiscal policy.If we do not develop the economy fundamentally, but solve the financial problems in minor details, it is a wrong policy.If we have worked hard to develop public and private economies, we can support war for as long as it takes without exhaustion.This point is very important, and it is necessary to make all the staff and all the military and civilians have a thorough understanding in order to organize them to engage in large-scale production campaigns.In the public economy, the personal dividend system based on quality can and should be implemented in many departments. Care must be taken not to violate the two principles of "both military and civilian considerations" and "public and private considerations". (11) In order to defeat the Japanese aggressors, in addition to giving full attention to military, political and economic work, we must also pay attention to cultural and educational work.Most of the intellectuals in our liberated areas are good people.Their shortcomings and even mistakes can be reformed at work.They are valuable capital for the cause of the people, and they should be valued.Many of them are engaged in military, political, and economic work, and many others are engaged in cultural, educational, artistic, and health work.All of these people should be valued.The direction pointed out by this year's cultural and educational work conference in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region can be applied everywhere.The absolutists benefit the ignorance of the people, and we benefit the wisdom of the people. We want to make all the people gradually get rid of ignorance and unhygienic conditions.Local governments and party organizations should put the four cultural and educational tasks of newspapers, schools, art, and health in their agendas. (12) From the army, villages, factories and government agencies, use the method of mass democratic election to select outstanding individuals to serve as combat heroes, labor heroes and model workers, give rewards and education, and encourage and educate them through them. unite the masses.Years of experience have proven that this system is extremely effective in improving the combat effectiveness of the army, increasing agricultural and industrial productivity, and improving the working capabilities of government agencies and all other agencies. This movement should be widely promoted in all regions. (13) To defeat the Japanese aggressors, we need a large number of capable cadres.The number of cadres we have now is much larger than before, but we still feel inadequate.The capacity of cadres has also increased, but it is still not enough.In particular, lower-level and junior cadres, whether in the army or localities, generally have low levels of education, understanding of policies, and skills in their work, and some of them are very low.The reason for this situation is that they are busy with work and have too few opportunities for education.In 1945, the education of cadres in various places should focus on the training of army (company to squad) and local (district, township) lower-level and junior cadres.Those who are on the job use the method of rotation training, and those who are not on the job use the method of school to improve them one step in a planned way. (14) A serious flaw in our work style is that some staff members are accustomed to acting arbitrarily and arbitrarily, and are not good at inspiring people's criticism and discussion, and are not good at using the democratic style.Of course, this is to compare this style of work with that in our liberated areas, not to compare our liberated areas with the Kuomintang areas.Our Liberated Areas are democratic places, while the Kuomintang is a feudal place. There is a difference in principle between the two places.However, there are indeed many people in our ranks who have not yet learned to use the democratic style of work, and the bureaucratic style of work inherited from the old society still exists.If others have different opinions, they will not be happy if they do.He only likes to hear compliments, not criticism.For fear of hitting a wall, being hit, or being retaliated against, people dare not speak out boldly.This is a very bad style of work, which hinders the progress of our career and the progress of the staff.I propose that all localities should be educated on this point, and that a democratic style of work should be vigorously advocated both inside and outside the Party.No matter who it is, as long as it is not a hostile element or a malicious attack, everyone is allowed to speak, and it doesn't matter if they make mistakes.Leaders at all levels have the responsibility to listen to what others say.Implement two principles: (1) Know everything and say everything, and (2) The speaker is innocent, and the hearer is a warning.If there is no "the speaker is not guilty", and it is true and not false, it is impossible to receive the effect of "knowing everything and saying nothing".Since the rectification movement, our work style has improved a lot. This has been praised by all kind-hearted people, which is very honorable.But we still have a serious shortcoming, a lack of democracy among many of us, and we must correct this shortcoming.All our working cadres, regardless of their positions, are servants of the people. Everything we do is to serve the people. What bad things do we have that we are reluctant to throw away? If we correct this shortcoming, then we will be able to unite With a larger number of people, our cause can achieve greater and faster development. (15) In addition to the above, an extremely important task facing the people in the Liberated Areas is to think of various ways to promote a coalition government.Continuing to negotiate with the Kuomintang and other parties is one way, and the whole people to rise up and appeal for demands is one way, and there may be other ways.In short, we must make multiple efforts to establish this democratic coalition government that meets the requirements of the whole nation's resistance war as quickly as possible. Of course there is still much work to be done and to be done in our Liberated Areas, but I think the above-mentioned fifteen items are particularly worth pointing out at present, and the others will be omitted.The conditions and work procedures in the various liberated areas differ from each other in many points, and each locality should arrange work according to its own characteristics so as to properly complete various tasks. 1945 should be a year of greater development of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.People all over the country hope that our liberated areas can save China, and we also have such determination and courage.I hope that all the soldiers and civilians in our liberated areas will work together, both communists and non-communists, to unite as one to strengthen the anti-Japanese work in the liberated areas, to organize the people in the enemy-occupied areas, to help the people in the rear, and to establish struggle for a democratic coalition government. According to the "Liberation Daily" published on December 16, 1944. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is Mao Zedong's speech at the Second Session of the Second Session of the Senate Council of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. [2] Allies refer to China, the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, France and other countries that jointly fought against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II. [3] Wright Island, one of the Visayas in central Philippines.On October 20, 1944, the US military began to land on Wright Island and completely occupied the island in late December of the same year. [4] Lin Zuhan, that is, Lin Boqu, was the chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government at that time.In June 1938, he was hired by the Kuomintang government as a member of the National Political Council. From May to October 1944, he was appointed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to negotiate with the Kuomintang in Chongqing. [5] National Political Council, see note [3] on page 217 of this volume. [6] Changing jobs, see note [4] on page 76 of this volume. [7] "Three-Three System", see note [8] on page 25 of this volume. [8] Geng San Yu Yi, see note [3] on page 75 of this volume.