Speech at the Meeting of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee
(May 17, 1939)
[1]
It is important for the Central Committee to hold special meetings to discuss the work of various departments; henceforth, such meetings should be convened every two or three months. The Party’s major policies and guidelines should be implemented through concrete propaganda efforts organized by the Propaganda Department. The Propaganda Department must pay close attention to the organization and leadership of propaganda work, mastering the art of leadership. It should keep track of publications across the country, regularly collecting relevant materials. Special emphasis should be placed on organizing external publicity efforts by local Party organizations. Local Party organizations should be instructed to establish external publicity bodies as a priority—this is even more important than setting up Party organs. Furthermore, attention should be given to the principles and methods of national education; currently, the guiding principle is democracy. In the past, during the Central Soviet Area, both the policy on national education and that on literature and art were based on communism, which was incorrect. At the meeting, Wang Jiaxiang suggested that the Kuomintang has been advancing many absurd arguments, to which we ought to respond. The meeting decided to focus on addressing the issues raised in KMT propaganda, with Mao Zedong tasked to write an article responding to questions concerning the three stages of the War of Resistance, as well as the concepts of the mainstream and the counter-current.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong’s speech delivered after listening to and discussing Lo Fu (Zhang Wentian)’s report on the work of the Central Propaganda Department at the meeting of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat.