Chapter 19 On Lu Xun[1]

(October 19, 1937) Comrades: Today, the main task of our Shanbei Public School is to train the anti-Japanese vanguard.As this great war of national self-defense advances rapidly, we need a large number of activists to lead us and a large number of capable vanguards to open the way.This kind of vanguard is open-minded, loyal, active and upright; they are not self-seeking, and they are only for the liberation of the nation and society; Not fanatics, not limelighters, but down-to-earth and practical people.They play the role of guides on the road of revolution.The current war situation is simply a war of resistance between the government and the army, without the participation of the broad masses of the people, and there is absolutely no guarantee of final victory.We now need to create a large number of vanguards who will fight to the end for national liberation, and ask them to lead and organize the masses to complete this historic task.First of all, the vast vanguard of the whole country must be organized as soon as possible.Our Communist Party is the vanguard of the proletariat and at the same time the vanguard of the most thorough national liberation.We will fight to the end to accomplish this task.

When we commemorate Mr. Lu Xun today, we must first get to know Mr. Lu Xun and understand his position in the history of Chinese revolution.We commemorate him not only because his articles are well written and he is a great writer, but also because he was a vanguard of national liberation and gave a great boost to the revolution.He is not a member of the Communist Party organization, but his thoughts, actions, and writings are all Marxist.He was a Bolshevik outside the party.Especially in his later years, he showed more youthful strength.He has always fought resolutely against the feudal forces and imperialism. In the harsh environment where the enemy oppressed and devastated him, he endured and resisted, just as the comrades of the Northern Shaanxi Public School were able to fight against such a bad material. Just as diligently studying revolutionary theory in life, it is full of the spirit of arduous struggle.All the material facilities of Shanbei Public School are not good, but there is truth here, freedom is taught, and it is a place for cultivating revolutionary vanguards.

Lu Xun came out of the crumbling feudal society, but he will return to his carbine and attack the corrupt society he has experienced, and attack the evil forces of imperialism.With his pungent, humorous, and powerful pen, he drew the grimaces of dark forces and ugly imperialism. He is simply a high-level painter.In recent years, he stood on the standpoint of the proletariat and national liberation, fighting for truth and freedom.The first characteristic of Mr. Lu Xun is his political vision.He observes society with binoculars and microscopes, so he can see far and truly.In 1936, he boldly pointed out the dangerous tendency of the Trotskyist gangsters. The facts now fully prove that his views are so accurate and clear.

The value of Lu Xun in China is, in my opinion, the first-class saint in China.Confucius is a sage in feudal society, and Lu Xun is a sage in modern China.In order to commemorate him permanently, we established the Lu Xun Library in Yan'an and the Lu Xun Normal School in Yanchang, so that later people can imagine his greatness. The second characteristic of Lu Xun is his fighting spirit.As mentioned earlier, in the dark and violent attack, he is a big tree supporting independently, not a grass that leans to the sides.He saw the direction of politics clearly, and fought bravely toward a goal, never surrendering or compromising halfway.Some half-hearted revolutionaries joined the struggle at first, and then "deserted".For example, Kautsky in Germany and Plekhanov in Russia are obvious examples.There are many such people in China.As Mr. Lu Xun said, at first everyone was leftist and revolutionary, but when the oppression came, some people immediately defected and offered their comrades to the enemy as a gift.Lu Xun hated this kind of people, fought against them, educated and trained the literary youth under his leadership at any time, taught them to fight resolutely, be pioneers, and open up their own paths.

The third characteristic of Lu Xun is his spirit of sacrifice.He is not at all afraid of the enemy's threats, temptations and harm to him, and he stabs everything he hates with a pen like a steel knife without hesitation.He often stands in the bloodstains of soldiers, tenaciously resisting and roaring forward.Lu Xun is a thorough realist, he does not compromise at all, he has a firm heart.In an article [2], he advocated beating dogs in the water.He said that if you don't hit the dog in the water, once it jumps up, it will bite you, and at the very least, it will splash the mud all over you.So he advocated fighting to the end.There was nothing about him like a hypocrite of false compassion.Now the mad dog of Japanese imperialism has not been beaten into the water by us, and we will continue to beat it until it can no longer stand up and withdraws from China's borders.We must learn from this spirit of Lu Xun and apply it to the whole of China.

Combining the above characteristics, a great "Lu Xun spirit" has been formed.Lu Xun's life runs through this spirit.Therefore, he became a great writer in literature and art, and he was an excellent and experienced vanguard in the revolutionary ranks.When we commemorate Lu Xun, we must learn from Lu Xun's spirit, bring it to the anti-Japanese teams all over the country, and strive for the liberation of the Chinese nation! According to the publication of "People's Daily" on September 22, 1981. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

note [1] This is Mao Zedong's speech at the Yan'an Shanbei Public School commemorating the anniversary of Lu Xun's death. [2] Refers to Lu Xun's article "On "Fairplay" Should Be Delayed" written on December 29, 1925, which was published in the first issue of the semi-monthly "Mang Yuan" on January 10, 1926 .