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

(April 17, 1942)

1. In the course of study and inspection work, it is necessary to examine and appraise the thinking and organizational concepts (i.e., words and deeds) of cadres. Activists and backward elements in all organs and schools should not be treated in an egalitarian manner; activists must be made to play an exemplary role. 2. Counter-revolutionary elements discovered in the course of inspecting work and examining cadres should be eliminated so as to consolidate the organization. The change in the study plan of the senior group—from studying history to focusing on the study of the eighteen documents, and now to examining cadres—is very beneficial and very necessary. For the time being, study the twenty-two documents on current realities first, and suspend the study plan for researching the Party’s history for a period. In the rectification movement, the phenomena of the old three unhealthy tendencies and the new three unhealthy tendencies have manifested; it is now necessary to correct egalitarianism, extreme democracy, and so on.

[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 when discussing issues concerning study and inspection work in Yan’an.