Speech at the Autumn Harvest Mobilization Meeting of Organs, Schools, and Troops in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region[1]

(September 25, 1939)

This year, 40,000 people produced 30,000 dan of grain, solving half of the year's needs by themselves. This is no small matter. What has this production movement proven? First, ideas can be transformed into material things. An idea, as long as it is well-founded, corresponds to the facts, and possesses certain conditions, can be transformed into material things. Second, it is wrong to look down upon labor. The most learned people in the world are, first, the workers and peasants. The view that "all pursuits are base, only book-learning is exalted" is incorrect; it should be changed to "all pursuits are base, only labor is exalted." Third, unity can overcome everything. Eliminating bad things depends on the unity of the people; developing good things also depends on the unity of the people.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong's speech at the Autumn Harvest Mobilization Meeting of organs, schools, and troops in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.