Directive on Methods of Leadership for the Various Base Areas Behind Enemy Lines[1]

(December 12, 1941)

Comrades Dehuai and Ruiqing:

Considering that communication among the various base areas behind enemy lines is already very difficult and will become even harder to get through in the future, and that travel to and fro takes time, we therefore request that attention be paid to the following points regarding the methods of leadership for the various base areas: (1) Study in detail the written reports and telegrams from each locality. (2) Hold detailed conversations with persons coming from or going to the various localities (regardless of their posts) and transfer deputy responsible personnel for training, making use of opportunities to collect materials. (3) Dispatch personnel and organize inspection tours to various places to examine work and gather materials. (4) It is inadvisable to convene a North China-wide conference of senior cadres or a political work conference, because the travel to and fro of principal responsible personnel takes time and the loss outweighs the gain. (5) Convene various kinds of meetings in southeastern Shanxi and southern Hebei (such as meetings on the elimination of traitors, on enemy and puppet work, etc.), draw conclusions, and introduce them to other base areas. The most important issue in methods of leadership is to make use of every possibility to conduct investigations, collect materials, and carry out in-depth study of each specific question concerning the War of Resistance behind enemy lines, so as to arrive at concrete conclusions.

Mao, Zhu, Wang, Tan, Fu

December 12, 1941

[1] This was jointly addressed by Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Wang Jiaxiang, Tan Zheng, and Fu Zhong to Peng Dehuai and Luo Ruiqing.