Key Personnel in Political Organs at All Levels Must Be Party Members
(February 19, 1939)
[1]
As our forces continue to expand and new heterogeneous units are incorporated, there may be many political cadres who are not members of the Communist Party. Such a situation would make it difficult to uphold the fine tradition of the Eighth Route Army’s political system and would further jeopardize the leadership of the Party and the effective implementation of its policies. Henceforth, regardless of the nature of any unit, once it has been integrated into the Eighth Route Army’s establishment, a Party organization must be established within it. The instructors, political instructors, and key personnel in political organs at all levels must be Party members and subject to Party leadership; otherwise, it is better to leave posts vacant than to compromise standards.

Mao, Wang, Tan
19th day

[1] This is a telegram sent by Mao Zedong, together with Wang Jiaxiang, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the CPC, and Tan Zheng, Deputy Director of the General Political Department, to the Eighth Route Army’s Forward Command, all divisions, military regions, as well as to Shandong, Henan, the 358th Brigade, Chen Shiju’s Detachment, and to political commissars and directors of political departments at all levels.