Conversation During an Inspection Tour of the Southern Front of the Central Revolutionary Base Area[1]

(July 1, 1934)

We have difficulties, but we must overcome them, and we are certainly capable of overcoming them. Fear of difficulties, passivity, laziness and slackness, asking for leave to go home, desertion, claiming there is no way out in one’s work, handling urgent tasks in a routine manner, lack of a wartime atmosphere, work that is unrealistic, superficial, and not grasped firmly—all these vicious and poisonous germs must be wiped out at once. Let all comrades who are actively struggling unite, launch a struggle against opportunist vacillation and passivity, and fight to the end for the victory of the revolution.

[1] This is part of a conversation held by Mao Zedong during an inspection tour of the southern front of the Central Revolutionary Base Area. The main points of the conversation were published in Issue No. 8 of *The Front Line*, the organ of the Guangdong-Jiangxi Provincial Committee.