Chapter 47 Speech at the Mobilization Meeting of In-service Cadres Education in Yan'an

(May 20, 1939) Comrades: We have been preparing for this meeting for a long time, and it was supposed to be held a long time ago. Because of the production movement, it was delayed until today.Comrades in various organizations have now responded to the Central Committee's call for a study movement and organized study groups, some of whom have already started to study and have achieved considerable results. This is very good.We are holding this meeting today to talk about a few issues related to the study movement. 1. The learning movement is necessary. Based on the historical experience and the current environment, our party has recently launched two movements, one is the production movement and the other is the learning movement. These two movements have universal and permanent significance. of.

As we all know, the purpose of the production movement is to provide food and clothing.Clothes and food are very much needed by us, so our production activities are very important now.The whole country has to eat and dress, so it is also important in the whole country.By extension, not only the whole country, but also the whole world.Therefore, the production movement has its universality.Food and clothing are not only needed by us, our sons, grandsons, descendants, and grandchildren also need food and clothing.Therefore, the production movement was necessary not only in the past, but now and in the future. This is the permanent basis of the production movement.

Speaking of learning to move.The ancients said: "People don't know the past and the present, but horses and oxen wear skirts" [1], that is to say: people don't know the past and the present, which is like oxen and horses wearing clothes.What is "ancient"? "Ancient" means "history". The past is called "ancient". "今" is now.It is not enough for us to pass through the present, we must pass through the past.People in Yan'an need to understand the past and the present, people across the country must understand the past and the present, and people all over the world must understand the past and the present, especially us Communists, we must know more about the past and the present.To understand the past and the present, we must learn, not only we must learn, but future generations must also learn, so the learning movement also has its universality and permanence.

Generally speaking, our production movement and study movement have their universal and permanent significance.Now let me talk about the immediate reasons for launching the production movement and the learning movement. The direct reason why we launched the production movement was that we had no food to eat and no clothes to wear.Although there is a little bit now, when difficulties arise in the future, there will be not enough food and clothing, so we have to prepare in advance.In this way, the problem of clothing and food became the direct cause of our production movement. Then, what is the direct reason for launching the study movement? It is that our Communist Party wants to lead the revolution.The Communist Party has tens of thousands of members in the past, now there are hundreds of thousands, and there will be millions in the future. These hundreds of thousands or millions of Communist Party members will lead the revolution of tens of millions or tens of millions of people. , is not possible, Communists should know all kinds of things.Therefore, leading a revolution requires learning, which is one of the reasons we started the Learning Movement.

Secondly, there are shortcomings in work that urgently need to be overcome.Now there is such a contradiction in our ranks, that is, our cadres cannot lead the work without studying.Some veteran cadres used to work in other armies for a period of time, and all their work depended on giving orders; but in our Red Army, it is not enough to rely solely on giving orders.If people don't listen to you, they beat them. As a result, they can't lead the work, and many soldiers run away.It is majestic to issue orders in the army, but it is useless to have majesty without ability.All cadres in our Eighth Route Army, New Fourth Army, and guerrilla units should not only be majestic, but also capable, and this requires learning.Now some of our soldiers are more literate than the battalion commanders. They used to not know a word, but now they can read five hundred, one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, and can write short articles for posters.Our battalion commanders and company commanders do not attend the lectures when the instructors are in class. They think that the lectures are for the combatants. If they attend, they will be "disqualified"! They don't know how to write articles and don't know many things, but soldiers are smarter than them.Therefore, there is a kind of panic in our ranks, not economic panic, nor political panic, but technical panic.The skills learned in the past are only a little bit, and I use some today and some tomorrow, and gradually run out.It’s like a shop that doesn’t have many things at first, but it will be sold out as soon as it is sold out, and it will be empty.The "purchase" of our cadres is to learn skills, which are urgently needed by many of our cadres.If our cadres want to do their work well, they must know a little more. It is not enough to just rely on what they have learned in the past. It is only a half-knowledge. Well done, be sure to increase their knowledge.Cadres in the Party, government, military, civilians, and academics must increase their knowledge in order to do their work better.

Now I see that some of our teachers have a book of political knowledge in their hands, which was published in the era of the Central Soviet Area. He is quite familiar with the contents of this book, because he has probably taught it seventy or eighty times, but other things I don't know, it's really "without reading books and foreign affairs, and only focusing on politics". He doesn't know how to further develop the things in the book in light of the new situation.This has also been seen in mass organizations, in the army, and in branches.If we want to break this status quo and improve our work, we must step up our studies.

The third point that makes learning an urgent need is the characteristic of our party.In the past, our party had a small team with only a few party members, and now the number of party members is not large, but now we are shouldering the task of overthrowing Japanese imperialism and establishing a new China, and we need to build a large party.We were small in the past, but now we want to be big, so what should we do? Now we are in the middle of the process of growing from small to big, and we need to recruit party members across the country.But some people say, "Why do you need to grow up?" They don't want us to grow up.But we think it is better to be bigger, and according to the opinions of the common people, we also need to be bigger, because they can't find the Communist Party everywhere, and our party will be easier to find when it grows.In this regard, we must be more stubborn. Unlike some people, the big party we want to build is not a "rabble" party, but an independent party with combat effectiveness. In this way, we must have a large number of educated Cadres are the backbone.This task is before us, and we must always pay attention to it. We have to lead tens of millions of people in revolution, and our current strength is obviously not enough.

If we want to build a big party, our cadres must learn from it.Learning is what we pay attention to, especially cadres and comrades, the need for learning is more urgent. If you don't study, you can't lead the work, improve your work and build a big party.Leading work, improving work, and building a big party are the direct causes of our study movement. The resolution of our Sixth Plenary Session on the study movement is very important. Our party has always called on comrades in the whole party to study.There was learning in the past, but the organization was relatively poor, not as good as it is now.Now it has gone a step further. With organization, it is not as anarchic as it used to be.

Now the central government has set up the Ministry of Cadre Education, which is responsible for leading the study of the whole party.Comrades should not only read books, but also study in an organized way.Party departments at all levels across the country, governments at all levels in the border regions, various mass organizations, and schools of all types must set up such organs and establish such a system to lead and conduct learning.The same is true in the army. We need to set up a Ministry of Education and establish a learning system.This kind of learning system, the central government must promote it throughout the country, and as long as the Communist Party can do it, it must promote it and create a wave of learning.

Comrades: Everyone must study hard, not lag behind, and not stay lazy and sleep.In the past, Zaiyu, a student of Confucius, slept during the day, and Confucius called him "a rotten wood cannot be carved." You can also say the same thing to those who are lazy in our team, but those who have achieved academic results should be rewarded. There are rewards and punishments, and the rewards and punishments are strict.But our main focus is on awards, and it doesn't matter if there is a leader. 2. Learning to move is possible Learning to exercise is necessary, but is it not possible? Our answer is completely possible.But here comes the problem again, there are not many, there are only two, one is that everyone is very busy, and the other is that they can't understand.These two questions are completely true.With such a busy job, plus production campaigns, those who are at the front have to fight and cannot study. Not only ordinary people say this, but even high-level cadres say this. "No effort", this has become a theory not to study, a basis for laziness.It is wrong for Communist Party members not to study theory. If there are problems, they must find ways to solve them. This is the true spirit of Communist Party members.In the midst of busyness, think of a method called "squeeze", and use "squeeze" to deal with busyness.It’s like when there are so many people in a meeting, you have to squeeze in to get a seat.It is also like a master carpenter driving a nail into a piece of wood to hang clothes. This is when the carpenter "squeezes" the wood and the wood gives in to succeed.Since the concession of wood, how many woods have been nailed, and the invisible fiber pores have been "squeezed" to create such a large hole. It can be seen that "squeezing" is a good way.We are very busy at work now, and we can also call it a concession. We use the "squeeze" method to squeeze out two hours of work between work, meals, and rest every day to study, and squeeze the work to two directions, one upward. One down, you can definitely squeeze out two hours to study.Comrade Chen Yun[2] has the experience of "squeezing" and he has a way to "squeeze" time to read books and attend meetings.

Another problem is that I don't understand.This kind of situation does exist, and some comrades "would rather pick up shit than study theory."If you are busy, you can "squeeze", this is a way; if you don't understand, there is a way, called "drilling", "drilling" in like a carpenter drilling wood.Don't be afraid of things we don't understand, just use "drilling" to deal with them.In China, reading is originally called attacking books, and reading Marxism is attacking Marx’s principles. If you want to understand Marx’s principles, you must attack them. If you don’t understand something, you should attack it like an enemy.Now some people don’t take the offensive but only take the defensive, that’s wrong, Marxism will never give in, so if you don’t attack, you won’t get results.In the past, people called "proofreading" "school hatred". It is really difficult to proofread, and it is too much to do against it without an enemy.For difficulties, we should attack them like an enemy, for whom we have no affection.Therefore, although the theories of Marxism and Leninism are difficult, if we attack them with the attitude of "enemies" without emotion, we will definitely be invincible, and we will definitely be able to take down their fortresses.In the past Han Wengong[3] "Crocodile Sacrifice Essay", there is a passage saying that it is restricted to go away for three days, if it does not go for three days, if it does not go for five days, or seven days, then it will be impolite and kill it with one knife.We want to be like Han Wengong’s sacrifice to crocodiles. We can’t understand it for ten days, twenty days, thirty days, ninety days... We must understand this thing. If we continue like this, we will definitely be able to understand things that cannot be understood. of. If you can't get it right from the front, you can start from the side. It's like fighting a battle. If a stubborn enemy can't attack from the front, you can attack from the side and surround it on all sides to isolate it, so that it can be easily captured.The same is true for learning, if you don't understand the positive things for a while, just start with the other things, lay the foundation first, and then you can understand the positive things bit by bit. If you are busy with work, you must "squeeze", and if you don't understand, you must "drill". If you use these two methods to deal with it, you will definitely win in learning. 3. There will be results in learning sports The study movement has now seen results, with many study groups organized.Philosophy groups, reading groups, etc. have already been organized in Yan'an, and they have seen results. Those who did not understand philosophy before now understand a little, and those who do not understand Marxism now understand a little.There is such an organization in the army, and it is more or less effective.In many places outside, there are reading clubs, which are similar to the education of our in-service cadres. This can be used as a reference for us.We Communist Party members are enthusiastic about learning.Someone told me that since the study movement started, many comrades have been very enthusiastic and happy, and those who originally asked for transfers are now unwilling to be transferred.This is also the effect of learning sports. The basis of the learning movement is the conscious enthusiasm of our comrades.Our approach is to coordinate individual and organizational activities.Some schools did not pay attention to individual activities at first, and did not give them free time to read books. They are usually very nervous, and they are good at organizing activities, but this is a bad problem, and individual enthusiasm cannot be fully exerted.Regarding this point, I am now trying to correct it.We advocate the combination of individual activities and organizational activities. We have both conscious enthusiasm for learning and sound leadership, so our learning activities will definitely achieve results. Here I would like to add a little bit, that is, among our cadres, there are some older ones who think that there is no hope of studying when they are old. I think this idea is wrong.Who can say no when you are older? There is an old saying: "When a person reaches fifty-five, he will be a tiger."Then, if you are fifty-four years old, you are still a young man. How can you not learn the truth?! This is a point I mentioned in passing. Now our cadre education system is very good, it is a new invention, it is a newly invented university system.Speaking of universities, we have the Marxist-Leninist College, the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, the Women’s University, etc., which are all very good.Outside there are Peking University, Fudan University, etc., and overseas there are Oxford University, Paris University, etc. They all study for five or six years before graduating, so they are called period universities.And our university can be regarded as the best in the world, it is called a permanent university, it does not matter if you are older, as long as you are alive, you can enter our university.A university like ours is uniquely created in Yan'an.But anyone can enter, no matter where they are, North China, Central China, and South China, no matter who they are, whether they are members of the Communist Party or not, they can enter this long-term university. I can also give some examples of people who have successfully studied in college for a long time.The truly learned people from ancient times did not learn in schools.Confucius' Confucianism was not learned all at once from the school.His teacher was called Xiang Luan, which is proved by books, "Xi Zhongni, Master Xiang Luan", it is recorded in it.But he didn't learn all his doctrines from Xiang Luan. He only learned his Confucianism when he was a gentleman and an official in the state of Lu. The same is true for Mr. Sun Yat-sen.When he was in school, there was no Three People's Principles.Everyone knows that he studied medicine, and his Three People's Principles came after he left school.Moreover, Mr. Sun Yat-sen’s Three People’s Principles did not come into existence all at once. At first, it was just the One People’s Principles, and then there were the Two People’s Principles. Finally, he went to Europe once and saw social problems in Europe. The workers wanted to overthrow the capitalists, etc. In this situation, he came up with a People's Livelihood Principle, which was combined into the Three People's Principles. As for foreign countries, there is Marx. He did not study Marxism in school, but idealism.Later, the Marxism he learned outside of school was different from that of his teacher.As for people with short academic qualifications, I can take Gorky as an example. He is the most famous "doctor" in literature in the world, but he has never been to elementary school, middle school, or university. No. 1 in the world. So it is possible to enter a school, but this is only a door. If you want to learn more, you must study outside the school and study for a long time.If you can't read the words now, it doesn't matter, there is hope, as long as you study hard. 4. Learning should be learned to the end Learning must be learned to the end, and the biggest enemy of learning is not being able to "understand".If you understand a little bit, you will feel satisfied and don’t study any more. This satisfaction is the biggest enemy of our study movement, and we must overcome it after today’s meeting. The knowledge we have learned, as Comrade Luo Mai [4] said, includes party building and the history of the Communist Party of China. We have to learn these things for a long time and overcome all difficulties in learning. We will definitely be able to do well in these knowledge Yes, but the main thing is not to do it halfway, otherwise nothing will be achieved. In addition to these studies, there are current affairs and party policies.These two items were not included in the past plans, but they are very necessary, because this is practical knowledge, that is, "today" knowledge.With regard to current affairs, the central government is already extracting materials on current affairs and preparing to compile a comprehensive abstract, which can be used for comrades' research and reference.As for the party's policies, everyone has probably read the resolutions of the Sixth Plenary Session, but it would be wrong to throw them away after reading them. The party's policies should be studied frequently.Between the Sixth Plenary Session and the Seventh Plenary Session, all meeting reports, including Politburo meetings, must be studied.It is not enough to study those theories without studying the party's policies, and it will be out of touch with reality. The current learning campaign for in-service cadre education includes the Party, government, military, civilian, and academies, including working cadres in mass organizations and schools.After our meeting is held, everyone should work hard to help each other, and correct the old style of not caring about whether or not others read books. In the future, we should help each other learn, be each other's teachers, students, and classmates.The same is true for comrades in the Central Committee, who study together with comrades.Comrade Luo Mai told me that materials are already being requested and the comrades are already studying them. This is very good and fully demonstrates the enthusiasm of the comrades.All right! Comrades present here, comrades of the whole party, study and study, everyone must learn to the end, and all must enter this indefinite university.We must turn the whole party into a big school.The leader of the school is the central government.The local party headquarters, the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and the guerrillas are all branches of this university.All Party comrades and non-Party fighters must attend this school. We believe that if we adopt the policy of learning to the end, we will be able to overcome the bad phenomenon of complacency. Our learning movement is necessary.We can learn.Learning has seen results, and there will be more results in the future.We adopt the policy of learning to the end.Under the leadership of the Ministry of Cadre Education, I believe the results of the cadre learning movement will be very good.The method we tried must be extended to the whole party, especially the party in North China. Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] See Han Yu's poem "Fu Shu Shu Cheng Nan". [2] Chen Yun, born in 1905, was born in Qingpu, Jiangsu (now part of Shanghai).At that time, he was the head of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. [3] Han Wengong, that is, Han Yu (768-824), a native of Heyang (now Meng County), Henan, was a writer and philosopher in the Tang Dynasty. [4] Luo Mai, namely Li Weihan (1896-1984), was born in Changsha, Hunan.At that time, he was the Deputy Minister of the Cadre Education Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.