Speech at the Yan'an Conference of Party Activists[1]

(April 29, 1939)

China needs a nationwide general mobilization—political, economic, military, cultural, and so forth—in order to sustain the protracted war of resistance. The Communist Party has always called for a nationwide general mobilization, that is, to mobilize all forces to strive for victory in the War of Resistance. The program and methods for the General Mobilization of the National Spirit have their positive significance and their good aspects; at the same time, they also have negative aspects, and this side is directed against the Communist Party. Our task is to develop its positive aspects, prevent and check its negative aspects, and guide it in the correct direction. Who truly believes in the Three Principles of the People must be judged by whether he practices the Three Principles of the People. The yardstick by which Marxists measure everything is practice.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong's speech at the Yan'an Conference of Party Activists.