Speech at the Second Congress of the CPC Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region[1]

(November 14, 1939)

China lacks two things: one is independence, the other is democracy. Yet to achieve independence, democracy must come first; without democracy, there can be no independence. The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region should become a model of democracy for the whole country. China has two things in excess: one is imperialist forces, the other is feudal forces. At present, four kinds of contradictions exist in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. Externally, there are two: one is the contradiction with Japanese imperialism, the other is the contradiction with the Kuomintang landlord and bourgeois classes. Internally, there are also two: one is the growth of capitalism, the other is the persistence of feudal remnants. These four contradictions are interconnected internally and externally, with the external ones being primary.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong's speech at the Second Congress of the CPC Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.