(February 1938)
We are deeply aware that it is an arduous task to establish the Lu Xun Academy
of Fine Arts; it is a task that the limited ability of a few of us can by no means
accomplish. Therefore, we urgently hope the people from all walks of life in the
country will offer us their sympathy and assistance, so that the academy may grow
quickly. This will also help our country's heroic War of Resistance move forward
victoriously and win final victory by driving the Japanese bandits out of China!
Since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the people of China have risen as one to
struggle for the survival and liberation of our nation, to resist the aggression of the
Japanese imperialist bandits and drive them out of China, and for the consolidation of world peace. All parties and factions have rallied under the Anti-Japanese
National United Front to wage the sacred national revolutionary anti-Japanese
war until final victory is achieved.

During this period of the War of Resistance, we must not only mobilize and
make use of all presently existing forces to resist Japan, but should seek out and
prepare new forces, which is to say that we must pay attention to the problem of
training the cadres urgently required for the war effort. "Cadres decide everything!"¹ This is a very urgent question, not only in times of peace but in times of
war. In the bloody combat against the Japanese bandits at the front, as well as in
the work of mobilization in the rear, we need tens of thousands of military, political, economic, and cultural cadres. There is no doubt at all about that.

The arts-drama, music, fine arts, and literature--are the most effective weapons in propagandizing, inspiring, and organizing the masses. Artistic workers are
an indispensable force in the current War of Resistance. Therefore, the task of
training cadres specialized in artistic work for the War of Resistance is one that at
present can no longer be put off.

Our Border Region has actively carried out educational efforts regarding the
War of Resistance and established many schools (such as the Chinese Anti-Japanese Military and Political University and the Northern Shaanxi Public School)
that are suited for training generalist political and military cadres needed for the
war. But there is a gap in establishing schools specialized in the arts. Therefore, we
have decided to establish this academy of fine arts and, moreover, to name it after
China's greatest writer, the late Lu Xun. This is not only to pay tribute to this great
teacher but to demonstrate that we will march forward on the road he opened up.

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 5, pp. 151-52, where it is reproduced
from a documentary collection published in China in 1979.
1. This was one of the key slogans put forward by Stalin at this time regarding the
requirements for developing socialism in the Soviet Union.