SPEECH AT RALLY OF SCHOOLS AND YOUTH BODIES IN YENAN IN COMMEMORATION OF
THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE '9 DECEMBER' MOVEMENT

9 December 1939
[Text] At a rally of school and youth bodies held
in Yenan on 9 December 1939 in commemoration of the
fourth anniversary of the 9 December student movement, Chairman Mao pointed out the great historical
significance of this movement.

The 9 December Movement has great historical significance. It was a
movement which prepared this country for the great war of resistance
against Japan. It was like the 4 May Movement, which prepared this
country for the first revolution. The 9 December Movement motivated
and prepared the way for the "7 July" war of resistance. After the
4 May Movement came the 30 May Movement, during which China saw the
formation of an all-people's movement, and all the workers, students
and merchants were on strike everywhere in the country. The 4 May Move-ment prepared public opinion, prepared the cadres, prepared the ideology,
and prepared people's minds for the great revolution of 1925-1927.

The 9 December Movement was a movement that mobilized the Chinese people
for the war of resistance, a movement that reoriented our ideology and
trained our cadres and a movement that mobilized the entire nation. This
movement occurred when the Red Army reached northwest China on its northward move to fight the Japanese. This is how the 9 December student
movement was related to the northward move of the Red Army in the war
against Japan. These two events helped start the all-people's war of
resistance. After the "1 August" declaration, the Chinese Communist
Party Central Committee called upon the people all over the country to
oppose Japanese imperialism, and it asked the entire nation to be united
for the war of resistance. The 9 December Movement took place after the
"1 August" declaration. The students opposed suppression of the youth
at that time. They opposed the Japanese imperialist aggression against
China. They demanded that the civil war be ended and that all political

parties unite to fight Japan. The occurrence of this movement shocked
the entire country. The 9 December Movement will be a great event to
be remembered in history.

o   "Chairman Mao Discusses Youth and the Work of Youth," People's Pub-lishing House, 1964