Speech at the Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China[1]

(December 1, 1941)

This draft is very good, but it has shortcomings. It only emphasizes studying reality and does not explain the importance of studying theory. It only speaks of shooting the arrow at the target, but does not stress the importance of the arrow. The main shortcoming of past education was that it only taught without paying attention to teaching people how to apply what they learned. The easiest thing is only to teach, the hardest is to teach application. We must teach people to analyze problems and study China’s relations of production and productive forces. For example, learning carpentry takes three years before one can apply it, but if one only teaches the rules and the ink-line, it can be taught in just three hours. The draft has not properly resolved the question of linking Marxist theory with reality. Analytical work must be done on all kinds of problems, and after preparing to do analytical work for a number of years, then carry out the work of theoretical synthesis. This draft should be written into two resolutions, one applicable to Yan’an and one for use throughout the country.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong’s speech at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China during the discussion of the Central Committee’s draft on the cadre schools in Yan’an.