December 21, 1939


Comrade Norman Bethune,[1] a member of the Communist
Party of Canada, was around fifty when he was sent by the Communist Parties
of Canada and the United States to China; he made light of travelling thousands
of miles to help us in our War of Resistance Against Japan. He arrived in
Yenan in the spring of last year, went to work in the Wutai Mountains, and
to our great sorrow died a martyr at his post. What kind of spirit is this
that makes a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people's
liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism, the spirit of
communism, from which every Chinese Communist must learn. Leninism teaches
that the world revolution can only succeed if the proletariat of the capitalist
countries supports the struggle for liberation of the colonial and semi-colonial
peoples and if the proletariat of the colonies and semi-colonies supports
that of the proletariat of the capitalist
countries.[2] Comrade Bethune put this Leninist
line into practice. We Chinese Communists must also follow this line in our
practice. We must unite with the proletariat of all the capitalist countries,
with the proletariat of Japan, Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy
and all other capitalist countries, for this is the only way to overthrow
imperialism, to liberate our nation and people and to liberate the other
nations and peoples of the world. This is our internationalism, the
internationalism with which we oppose both narrow nationalism and narrow
patriotism.

Comrade Bethune's spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought
of self, was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his
great warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people. Every Communist
must learn from him. There are not a few people who are irresponsible in
their work, preferring the light and shirking the heavy, passing the burdensome
tasks on to others and choosing the easy ones for themselves. At every turn
they think of themselves before others. When they make some small contribution,
they swell with pride and brag about it for fear that others will not know.
They feel no warmth towards comrades and the people but are cold, indifferent
and apathetic. In truth such people are not Communists, or at least cannot
be counted as devoted Communists. No one who returned from the front failed
to express admiration for Bethune whenever his name was mentioned, and none
remained unmoved by his spirit. In the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei border area, no
soldier or civilian was unmoved who had been treated by Dr. Bethune or had
seen how he worked. Every Communist must learn this true communist spirit
from Comrade Bethune.

Comrade Bethune was a doctor, the art of healing was his profession and he
was constantly perfecting his skill, which stood very high in the Eighth
Route Army's medical service. His example is an excellent lesson for those
people who wish to change their work the moment they see something different
and for those who despise technical work as of no consequence or as promising
no future.

Comrade Bethune and I met only once. Afterwards he wrote me many letters.
But I was busy, and I wrote him only one letter and do not even know if he
ever received it. I am deeply grieved over his death. Now we are all
commemorating him, which shows how profoundly his spirit inspires everyone.
We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this
spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man's ability may be
great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and
pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of
value to the people.

## Notes


[1] The distinguished surgeon Norman Bethune was a member
of the Canadian Communist Party. In 1936 when the German and Italian fascist
bandits invaded Spain, he went to the front and worked for the anti-fascist
Spanish people. In order to help the Chinese people in their War of Resistance
Against Japan, he came to China at the head of a medical team and arrived
in Yenan in the spring of 1938. Soon after he went to the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei
border area. Imbued with ardent internationalism and the great communist
spirit, he served the army and the people of the Liberated Areas for nearly
two years. He contracted blood poisoning while operating on wounded soldiers
and died in Tanghsien, Hopei, on November 12, 1939

[2] See J. V. Stalin, "The Foundations of Leninism",
Problems of Leninism, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1954, pp. 70-79.


Transcription by the Maoist Documentation Project.