Under present conditions, cadre education should occupy the foremost place among all educational endeavors; and in-service cadre education should, in turn, hold the highest priority within the broader field of cadre training.
This is because all work, including national education, must be carried out by cadres.
As the Party has stated, “After political policy has been decided, cadres are the decisive factor in determining the outcome.”
To neglect cadre education—to fail to accord it top priority among all educational activities—is to reverse cause and effect.
At the same time, it remains vitally important to establish and operate cadre schools diligently, drawing large numbers of cadres into systematic training programs.
Such efforts must never be taken lightly.
However, the vast majority of cadres—over ninety percent—continue to serve in their posts, where resources and demands make it impractical to organize extensive cadre schooling.
Therefore, providing necessary and feasible education to serving cadres in their own workplaces is the most urgent task in the entire cadre education program and deserves the full attention of Party, government, and military leadership at all levels, as well as their propaganda and education departments.
The characteristics of guerrilla warfare not only permit us to do this but actually require it.
Since the Sixth Plenary Session, in-service cadre education has attracted considerable attention within the Party, sparking a wave of study among cadres in many localities and various sectors—an altogether welcome development.
Nevertheless, instances of neglect persist: in some areas and units, formal efforts have yet to begin.
While practical training has received insufficient emphasis, the overwhelming majority of serving cadres exhibit a strong desire to acquire professional skills and achieve mastery in their fields.
Political education, though generally addressed, has often been conducted ineffectively, lacking proper methodology, failing to distinguish between essentials and non-essentials, or lacking continuity.
Cultural education is urgently needed by the Party’s cadre corps, largely composed of workers and peasants, yet it has not yet received adequate attention from Party, government, and military leadership at all levels.
As for advanced theoretical education, it has either been ignored altogether or has become abstract and dogmatic, detached from practical application.
Yet the success or failure of theoretical education is the primary determinant of the revolution’s ultimate outcome.
All of these issues must be reformed or strengthened.
In-service cadre education should encompass four main components: practical training, political education, cultural education, and theoretical instruction.
First, all serving cadres must receive practical training, guided by the principle “Learn what you do.”
Whether engaged in military affairs, politics, Party work, culture, education, propaganda, organization, mass mobilization, counter-espionage, finance, economics, banking, medicine, public health, or any other field, each cadre must master his or her specialized duties.
This constitutes the first and foremost educational and learning objective.
The leading bodies and chief officials of each department are responsible for organizing orderly study among their respective cadres, while party committees at all levels and their political departments, along with the relevant propaganda and education organs, bear overall responsibility.
The scope of study includes the following five areas: First, research and analysis of the surrounding circumstances closely related to each department’s work—for example, military personnel meticulously surveying and analyzing the positions of friend, foe, and ourselves, distilling key insights into teaching materials for military cadres; similar procedures apply across other domains.
Second, the study of policies, decrees, and directives pertinent to each department’s functions—for instance, financial officers should be thoroughly familiar with fiscal policies and regulations, while counter-espionage specialists should understand the relevant guidelines and instructions; the same principle applies elsewhere.
Third, the examination of concrete experiences gained in the course of performing departmental duties—for example, the Party’s organizational department might analyze and synthesize its experience in organizational and cadre work, extracting essential points to formulate instructional materials for its cadres; analogous studies would be conducted in other departments.
Fourth, historical knowledge specific to each field—for instance, the Party’s propaganda department could compile a narrative and summary of the past decade of the Party’s propaganda and agitation campaigns, together with the evolution of its policies, into a textbook for propaganda cadres; other departments would follow suit.
Fifth, the scientific foundations underlying each trade—for example, military cadres would study military science, medical personnel would delve into medicine, and so forth; every department should undertake scholarly research in its own theoretical domain.
With respect to these various aspects of practical training, the leading bodies of each department are tasked with supplying teaching materials, guiding the learning process, and assessing performance, ensuring that their cadres gradually attain both theoretical understanding and practical proficiency in their respective professions.
Disregarding the importance of acquiring and perfecting professional skills is a grave error.
Second, all serving cadres must receive political education, covering current affairs and general policy.
Methods for imparting current affairs instruction include encouraging cadres to read newspapers, explaining topical issues to them, and convening regional or departmental meetings to deliver briefings on pressing matters.
General policy education may involve materials that all cadres should universally study, such as central declarations regarding the situation, decisions on strengthening Party spirit, resolutions on conducting investigations, and outlines of governance for border regions—urging cadres to read, interpret, and discuss these documents.
Alternatively, it may focus on topics indirectly related to a particular department’s work but nonetheless warranting scrutiny—for example, explaining to military commanders the Central Committee’s decision on land policy.
The purpose of political education is to enable cadres not only to master the specifics of their own field and its immediate policies but also to gain a broader perspective on national affairs and overarching policies, thereby broadening their horizons and preventing narrow-mindedness and an inability to grasp the bigger picture.
It must be emphasized that while a tendency to dwell on general politics at the expense of specialized expertise is undesirable, so too is an exclusive focus on the latter to the exclusion of the former.
Moreover, although all cadres ought to be familiar with general affairs and policies, the relative weight assigned to these topics should vary depending on the nature of each department’s work.
For instance, physicians, technical experts, writers, and artists should devote less time to such instruction, whereas Party functionaries, propagandists, government officials, and political officers in the armed forces should receive more.
The lack of regularity in political education is a problem that the Party, government, and military propaganda and education departments must systematically address.
Third, for cadres whose cultural level is too low or merely modest, in addition to practical and political education, special emphasis must be placed on cultural education, rejecting the erroneous notion that it can be neglected.
For these comrades, engaging in cultural learning and raising their cultural standards constitutes the central pillar of their entire educational endeavor.
The scope of their studies is tentatively set to include Chinese language, history, geography, arithmetic, natural sciences, social studies, and political science, with the propaganda and education departments responsible for securing textbooks.
Where conditions permit, cultural remedial classes or even dedicated cultural schools should be established—either by a single agency or jointly by several, or through a rotational system that brings cadres together for concentrated study.
Such classes or schools should employ full-time instructors, supplemented by part-time faculty; where physical facilities are unavailable, small-group study sessions may be organized, with a particularly culturally literate cadre temporarily relieved of routine duties to serve as a teacher, or a dedicated instructor may be assigned.
Cultural classes or schools may be divided into beginner and intermediate levels: the former for those who are illiterate or only marginally literate, aiming to bring them up to roughly the level of elementary school completion; the latter for those who have already attained an elementary-school-level education, with the goal of reaching approximately middle-school standards.
Cadre placement in these groups should be based on cultural attainment rather than rank.
Furthermore, certain cadres engaged in propaganda and education work, though intellectuals, may still require supplementary instruction in Chinese language and grammar, which can be provided through small-group study or other means.
To elevate the cultural level of the cadre corps as a whole, the status of cultural educators within Party, government, and military institutions should be raised, with outstanding instructors receiving high praise and preferential treatment.
Those who have made significant contributions to cultural education should be rewarded.
Fourth, senior and intermediate-level cadres who possess the requisite cultural background, intellectual capacity, and interest in theoretical study should engage in theoretical learning alongside their practical and political education.
The scope of such study encompasses political science, philosophy, economics, and history, to be pursued sequentially.
The guiding principle is to link theory with practice: for example, political science might draw on Marxist-Leninist writings on strategy and tactics as theoretical material, complemented by a review of the Party’s ten-year struggle as empirical evidence; philosophy could utilize Marxist thought as a theoretical framework, informed by nearly a century of intellectual development in China; economics might base its instruction on Marxist political economy, illustrated by nearly a century of China’s economic growth; and history would examine both foreign and Chinese revolutionary histories.
Implementation would involve forming separate groups for advanced and intermediate learners, primarily relying on self-study supplemented by collective discussion and guidance.
Fifth, the allocation of time and curriculum among these four forms of education—ensuring that they are interconnected yet do not conflict or become disjointed—shall be coordinated by the Party, government, and military propaganda and education departments.
Sixth, regardless of the department or aspect of practical, political, cultural, or theoretical education involved, the spirit of opposing subjectivism, sectarianism, and the ossified rhetoric of the Party must be upheld.
All materials must be reviewed by the leading bodies, and anything tainted by subjectivism, sectarianism, or Party jargon must be rigorously purged or criticized.
Seventh, in-service cadre education is a long-term undertaking, guided by the principle of fostering professional development without impeding one’s work or compromising health—and especially without interfering with the war effort.
Where conditions allow, a daily two-hour study period should be maintained; in other cases, the duration may be adjusted flexibly.
Any time devoted to in-service cadre education shall be counted as regular working hours, treating education and learning as integral parts of one’s job.
When evaluating cadres, their engagement in learning should be one of the criteria considered.
Eighth, a system of assessment, testing, and rewards and punishments for in-service cadre education shall be established, with detailed procedures to be formulated by the Central Propaganda Department.
Ninth, Party, government, and military leadership at all levels must devote close attention to both in-service cadre education and cadre school education.
Personnel required for cadre education—teachers and administrative staff—should be subject to rigorous screening and prioritized for assignment.
Leaders at all levels are obligated to participate in teaching.
Funding for cadre education should be provided to the greatest extent possible.
Tenth, those engaged in cadre education, particularly teachers, should undergo specialized training, the details of which will be determined by the Central Propaganda Department. o☆(.)•☆()