After briefly outlining the significance of today’s reception, Chairman Mao stated: At present, both foreign countries and China are striving for the same goal—that is, to defeat Japanese imperialism, enduring hardship and struggle just as the Communists do. Defeating Japanese imperialism requires industry; to secure the national independence of China, industrialization is essential. We Communists must strive for the industrialization of China.

At this point, Chairman Mao once again pointed out that the main cause of China’s backwardness is the lack of modern industry. Chairman Mao continued: The reason Japanese imperialism dares to bully China so cruelly is that China has no strong industry. It bullies us because of our backwardness. Therefore, eliminating this backwardness is the task of our entire nation. The common people support the Communist Party because we represent the demands of the nation and the people. But if we cannot solve economic problems, if we cannot build modern industry, if we cannot develop the productive forces, the common people may not necessarily support us. During the War of Resistance against Japan, the Communist Party engaged 58 percent of the enemy troops and over 90 percent of the puppet troops. We have experience and achievements in this regard. However, in economic work, especially industry, we are not yet very familiar. Yet this field determines everything else—it determines military affairs, politics, culture, ideology, morality, religion, all these things. It determines social change. Therefore, all Communists should study economic work, and many among them should study industrial technology. Our border region is a great school, in which one of the courses is industry. This Congress of Workers’ and Staff Representatives is a short-term training class in industry. If we Communists do not care about industry, do not care about the economy, and do not understand any other useful work—knowing nothing about these, capable of nothing—if we can only do an abstract kind of “revolutionary work,” such revolutionaries are utterly worthless. We should oppose such armchair revolutionaries and learn all kinds of technical knowledge to industrialize China.

After Chairman Mao finished speaking, the Northwest Field Service Corps performed dramas such as “Cast Your Vision Further Ahead,” which depicted the arduous struggle behind enemy lines. The performance was extremely brilliant, and the gathering did not conclude until late at night.
Liberation Daily, 1944.5.26
(At a reception held by the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC, Comrade Mao Zedong called for the development of industry to defeat Japanese aggression; Communists and revolutionaries should learn the technology and knowledge to industrialize China)

Speech at the Opening Ceremony of Yan’an University, 1944.5.xx
(News Report) At 2 p.m. on May 24, Yan’an University held its opening ceremony in the auditorium of the Border Region Government. Many leading comrades from various departments and guests attended. Chairman Mao and…
Commander Zhu all attended the ceremony in person. [Text missing]
After Comrade xx’s report concluded, Chairman Mao rose to speak amidst prolonged, thunderous, enthusiastic applause. He first pointed out that education in the Border Region had now begun to get on the right track, and that this was linked to the progress in work in the Border Region and all the anti-Japanese base areas. From this, he explained the importance of the anti-Japanese base areas. All our work has only one goal: to overthrow Japanese imperialism. To drive the Japanese out, we cannot do without base areas. The one that hates our base areas most is Japanese imperialism; it does not like our base areas. Such base areas are liked by Britain and the United States, liked by all our allied nations, because in the enemy’s rear, from these base areas, we squeeze the enemy out, fighting 58 percent of the Japanese troops and over 90 percent of the puppet troops. The primary responsibility for China’s war of resistance has been shouldered by the Communist Party. Having base areas means we must do work—military, political, economic, cultural, and party affairs work—so as to deliver the final blow to the Japanese aggressors. Yan’an University is a university of politics, economics, and culture. These three areas are what our Yan’an University must study, must learn, must practice.

Chairman Mao then emphatically pointed out the specific tasks for Yan’an University in the future, calling on everyone… In politics, to study the united front, the three-thirds system, and the policy of better troops and simpler administration.
Speech at the Opening Ceremony of Yan’an University — 1
— 2
policy, and to study various policies and methods. In economics, to learn how to develop industry, agriculture, commerce, and transportation; to help 350,000 peasant households achieve the goal of having a surplus after three years of reserves; to help the common people formulate a tree-planting plan, planting trees on all the barren hills bequeathed to us by history within ten years; and to make the Border Region’s industry fully self-sufficient, reaching an annual output of 310,000 bolts of cloth and 4.7 million catties of iron. And then, cultural construction: enabling every person in the Border Region to read at least 1,000 characters; promoting hygiene, establishing a small clinic in each of the over 1,000 townships of the Border Region; also teaching the common people to do yangge dance and sing, ensuring every district has a yangge troupe, and ensuring every household has New Year pictures and spring couplets with new content.

Chairman Mao earnestly urged everyone: Serve practical needs; do not engage in dogmatism. A person must end up in a place, like an airplane that goes out in the morning but must come back and land somewhere in the evening. It cannot fly everywhere without landing. Dogmatism is like not landing; it is forever suspended in mid-air. Chairman Mao then pointed out that when Communists have shortcomings or mistakes in their work, they will correct them once they are discovered. They should not fear self-criticism. If there are shortcomings, they should openly state them as shortcomings; if there are errors, they should openly state them as errors. Once corrected, the shortcomings cease to be shortcomings, and the errors turn into correctness.

o Liberation Daily, 1944.5.3
At the opening of Yan’an University, Comrade Mao Zedong indicates that Yan’an University should serve the War of Resistance and the political, economic, and cultural construction of the Border Region
People’s Education Press, 195x (Comrade Mao Zedong’s Speech at the Opening Ceremony of Yan’an University)
Long Live Mao Zedong Thought (Part 2)