On the Rectification of the Three Styles
(April 20, 1942)1
Last time, I talked about the question of current affairs. Today, I am going to talk
a bit about the question of the educational work currently under way in Yan’an.
Our present educational work has great significance. Whether for dealing with
today’s current affairs or for greeting those of the future, we must strengthen
education. The current situation is now one in which the Guomindang anti-Communist high tide could emerge. If the anti-Communist high tide arises, our
difficulties will be greater, but even if the anti-Communist high tide does not
arise, we will still have a great many difficulties. This year and next are the two
most difficult years, so we need to strengthen our internal education. When the
anti-Communist high tide comes, the difficulties will be greater. We will need to
strengthen internal education even more. The Guomindang says that we are
changing our work style and that we are rectifying and consolidating internal
affairs. This is completely correct. We must do this for the present, and we must
do it for the future. The darkness in current affairs is only a temporary
phenomenon; it will change. The whole world and all of China will change in the
not-too-distant future, and fascism will collapse. In order to welcome brightness,
we need to strengthen our education and prepare our thinking. To report on
current affairs, to assess current affairs, is one way to prepare our thinking. To
master Marxism-Leninism and to overturn subjectivism are far deeper and more
thorough methods for strengthening our education. If, within the next two years,
cadres in our entire Party can change their work style, expand the correct work
style, and eliminate the improper work style, after such a goal is attained, we will
be able to consolidate our internal affairs. The level of our cadres will be raised so
that fundamentally we may welcome the bright world of the future and grasp
this new bright world. In sum, we need to strengthen education in order to deal
with darkness; we need to strengthen education in order to welcome brightness.
No matter what, we need to strengthen education.
Looking at the history of our Party, there has been very little internal cadre education that is comprehensive, all-Party, and led by the Center. Only since July
of last year, when the Central Committee circulated its decision on enhancing
Party character [dangxing], have we paid attention to this question as a whole,
from the top to the bottom, and systematically. This is very significant. The
education and study that are being carried out in Yan’an right now have national
significance. The significance of comrades in the Central Study Group who are
present here, and all the working cadres of Yan’an engaging in study, is by no
means partial. First, this is because our institutions are directly under the Center.
This place, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, has the greatest political
significance of all border regions, and many cadres here engage in work of a
national character. Second, cadres from many different places around the country
have come here. These cadres originally were from various places around the
country, and they have come to Yan’an for one reason or another. Either they
were no longer able to stay in their previous location, or they have business to do
in Yan’an, or they have come here to study. Yan’an has gathered together talent
from all over the country, so our educational work has national significance.
After the cadres in Yan’an have been taught well and have studied well, they will
be able to deal with the darkness in the present, to welcome the brightness in the
future, and to create a new world. This is extremely significant and has a
nationwide character. Moreover, after Yan’an does this work and does it well,
word will spread. It will spread to various other base areas and to the
Guomindang-controlled areas. Party organizations in various areas will follow us.
Now, we are only doing this here. We want to spread the word through
Liberation Daily and the New China News Agency. Now, the New China News
Agency should mainly broadcast teaching materials, broadcast documents such
as “On the Self-cultivation of Communist Party Members” by Comrade Liu
Shaoqi, the Twelve Articles by Stalin, Stalin on investigation, Lenin on discipline,
and Dimitrov on cadre policy.2 Of course, the world is at war now. It is not
possible to carry no news about the war, but a little less of it can be broadcast.
For example, broadcast a little less news on the fighting in India or on the
fighting in the Soviet Union and instead broadcast more educational materials
and more news on the rectification of the Three Styles in Yan’an. The report
submitted by North China [bureau] on the rectification of the Three Styles may
be broadcast from Yan’an. We can struggle a bit more against subjectivism.

Now the Guomindang is taking advantage of our opposition to subjectivism,
sectarianism, and Party formalism to curse us, to publish articles in the press
cursing us. Yet we will continue to oppose these things. Of course, the kind of
subjectivism and other things that we oppose are completely different from the
things that they are cursing. First, we must make all comrades present at this
meeting understand, and through them make all the cadres in Yan’an understand,
that what we are now doing is a matter of great significance and is work of
nationwide significance that builds the Party and makes the work of our Party
more perfect and more complete. Now the Center has already determined to
oppose subjectivism, to oppose sectarianism, and to oppose Party formalism, to
transform our study style, Party style, and writing style and to expand the correct
styles and restrict and eliminate the erroneous styles. Except for certain necessary
routine work, the various ministries and committees under the Center are
devoting all their energies to this work. Of course, we cannot yet be sure that we
will do this well. Some comrades in various agencies and schools have still not
recognized this point clearly, not made this matter an important matter, or not
made this a central task. We say that for the next three months we should make
this a major task; but does that mean that all other work should come to a halt?
Routine, necessary work will not come to a halt. We must take this as our major
task under the condition that routine, necessary work does not stop. How about
less urgent work? Stop less urgent work temporarily. Many different courses are
taught in school; stop the less important courses. For example, the Central Party
School is devoting all its energies to this task, to studying the eighteen
documents, plus four more, making twenty-two,3 for two and a half months. The
Central Research Institute should also suspend other courses to make room for
the study of these documents. Other schools, taking into consideration their
varying circumstances, may suspend more or fewer courses. Various agencies
may also more or less suspend less urgent work according to their circumstances.
That is, in addition to doing the routine, necessary work, they should give top
priority to discussing and studying the twenty-two documents, as well as to
inspecting their work and thought. It is stipulated that schools should devote two
months to this and agencies should devote three months. If two months are not
enough for the schools, then extend it by a fortnight, and if that is not enough,
then extend it by a month. If three months are not enough for the agencies, then extend it by a fortnight, and if that is not enough, then extend it by a month. In
short, we need to oppose subjectivism thoroughly, and to do a good job of it. We
must have such determination. If we do not do a good job, then we should do it
again. If we still do not do a good job, then do it once more. We must do a
thorough job. If anybody opposes this, we must persuade him to come around. If
he is not persuaded, then we must keep at it, keep at it until he comes around
willingly. In short, we must push this to the end—we must rectify the Three
Styles and bring about a thorough transformation of thought. We have long
prepared for this transformation and have been preparing since the Zunyi
Conference; in particular, since the Center promulgated the decision on
enhancing Party character in July of last year, it has been ten months and much
preparatory work has been done. Now we will again make a concerted effort for
three months, and after that, it will be back to routine work. During the total
assault, all work shall stop except for certain necessary work. High-ranking
leading cadres must be made to acknowledge this and to have this determination.
All comrades must be made to acknowledge this and to have this determination
to achieve unity in thought and unity in action.
If we cannot achieve this, there will be great difficulties. Why? Because there
were serious shortcomings in cadre education in the past, particularly in schools
where policies were completely misapplied, where the study of Marxism-Leninism was taken to an anti-Marxist-Leninist point, and methods, too, were
anti-Marxist-Leninist methods. This poison is relatively deep. The present poison
of subjectivism is historical as well as recently produced, and both are relatively
deep. The historical poison is a legacy. In recent years, many things in education
have not been done well. Because thinking is varied and jumbled, there is neither
unity of thought nor unity in action. So this person thinks about the issue this
way, and that one thinks about it that way; this one looks at Marxism-Leninism
this way, and the next one looks at it that way. This person calls a matter black,
and that one calls it white; one person says one thing, ten people say ten things,
one hundred say one hundred things, each one has his own version. This is how
it is in Yan’an, more or less. Liberalist thinking [ziyouzhuyi de sixiang] is
relatively deep here, and we can say there is pronounced liberalism in certain
departments. Liberalism is the thinking of the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie,
and Communist Party members should not have it. However, is there anyone now who points out that this is petty-bourgeois consciousness, that it is bourgeois
consciousness? No one points this out clearly. Under such circumstances, cadres
from all fields, new cadres, old cadres, male cadres, female cadres, men of letters,
cadres from different places, and people engaging in different kinds of work
when together all have defects. These defects will be difficult to overcome
without doing a good job of studying the twenty-two designated documents and
applying them for several months in concrete actions. Theory must be linked
with concrete actions, and the things talked about in the documents must be
linked to one’s own actions. What is concrete? There is an individual’s concrete
history, and there is the concrete history of the work of an agency. The ideas
various comrades entertain and the actions that they take are all concrete. First,
we can study these, and in the process of this study and inspection we can
achieve unity in thought and unity in action. If we do not work in this way, we
will not be able to achieve the goal of unity in thought and unity in action. That
is, many things violate Marxism-Leninism and need to be discarded during this
study and inspection. If we want to achieve this goal, then we must use our main
energies to do this work. Otherwise, not only will we not be able to achieve this
goal but also we will be hard-pressed to deal with the current difficulties, and if
fighting starts, then Yan’an will be lost, and everyone will cry, chickens will fly,
and dogs will jump. Then, the “hundred schools of thought” will all emerge; it
will be a disaster and it will be very difficult for the bright future to arrive. Even
if it arrives, we will not be able to grasp it.
Of all the Communist parties in the world, except for the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union, only the Chinese Communist Party has base areas in which to
educate and train its own cadres. Now perhaps we cannot appreciate the
advantages of this. But if Yan’an were to be lost, then we would know the
advantages of Yan’an, with its many caves, where the twenty-two documents can
be read and discussed, and we would realize how wrong it was to be lax and
inattentive to our study. Then we would repent. It is no big deal to lose Yan’an.
But if the Zhang family wants independence and the Wang family also wants
independence, it will be a big problem. Therefore, even if Yan’an is lost, we must
still oppose subjectivism and continue fighting. In the end, we must do it, we
must do it even if people begin to cry and even if everything is smashed to
smithereens. We must do it quickly if we wish to cope with future difficulties.

We must read these documents now. The decision of the Propaganda Department
stipulates that one must write a diary [xie biji].4 Party members have a duty to
obey Party decisions, and now that this decision provides that you must keep a
diary, and you must write in that diary. You say that you won’t. That won’t do.
Iron discipline has to be observed by Party members. The headband of the
Monkey King was made of gold. When Lenin talks about discipline for
Communist parties, he says the discipline is iron. It is tougher and harder than
the gold headband of the Monkey King. This is written in the book “Left Wing”
Communism: An Infantile Disorder.5 On our “headband,” it is written that you
shall “write a diary.” All of us need to write diaries, and I also need to write some
[entries]. You cannot clearly study Stalin’s Twelve Articles without keeping a
diary. Regardless of whether you are a man of letters, a warrior, a man, a woman,
a new cadre, an old cadre, and regardless of whether it is a school or an agency,
you must write a diary. First, leaders need to write a diary, and class leaders and
leaders of small groups all need to write diaries. They must write, and they must
also examine the diaries. When you read the documents, you must move your
hands and write in your diary. Many comrades have already moved their hands
and written diaries, and many comrades have made errors in the past and have
written diaries. We say that if you have committed errors, do not worry. As long
as one recognizes one’s error and corrects it, that is very good, that is a very good
comrade. Now some comrades who have made errors are writing diaries, that’s
an excellent phenomenon. It won’t do if you make a mistake and pretend that
you are still the Honorable Grandfather. Those who made major contributions in
the past also need to write diaries. Don’t turn your contribution into a millstone
around your neck, acting as if nothing matters, for this will only turn your
contribution into a very heavy burden. Perhaps someone will say “I have made
great contributions, so what diary is there for me to keep?” That won’t do. No
matter how great your contribution has been, you need to write a diary. Someone
else may say “I understand astronomy and geography, and trigonometry and
geometry; it doesn’t take three months to read these few documents, so I can
finish them in three days.” Still others may say: “what is this stuff? I can take the
exam without reading them.” Those who can do this, of course, are very
accomplished, but I say no. Why do I say no? What kinds of documents are these
twenty-two documents? They are a summary of the more than one hundred years of experience in the world revolution and a summary of more than twenty
years of experience in the Chinese Revolution. Stalin’s Twelve Articles were
written seventeen years ago. Without the experience of the proletarian revolution
of the whole world, would Stalin have been able to write these Twelve Articles?
No. How come there were no Twelve Articles written during the times of Marx?
Dimitrov’s report at the Seventh Congress of the Com-intern is also a summary
of nearly one hundred years’ experience, and we fully know that to attain the
goals of the revolution, we must implement what is contained in his report and
adopt the Four Articles on cadre policy.6 The world revolution is reckoned from
the time Marxism emerged, and the twenty years of the Chinese Revolution
begin from the creation of the Communist Party. Not counting the May Fourth
movement, that is twenty years. Even this bit of experience of the Chinese
Communist Party was earned through much hardship and cannot be taken
lightly. Without the twenty years of twists and turns, without the twenty years in
the course of struggle, there would not be these decisions by the Center today, no
April 3 decision by the Central Propaganda Department. Some comrades say
these decisions are excellent, only it would be better if they had been made five
years earlier. I say, you’re right, it would have been even better if they had been
made twenty years earlier. If the Chinese Communist Party were free of
subjectivism, sectarianism, and Party formalism from the day it was created,
wouldn’t that have been great, wouldn’t that have been the tops? Is there such
excellence in this world? There isn’t. Everything requires experience; every good
policy is a summary of experience. Youths who have only spent a few years
reading books—how arrogant they are! They say that they only need three days
to finish it all, that they can take the exam without reading, and that they don’t
need two or three months. Still others say that they have marched for 25,000 li or
35,000 li, so why should they study? I say even if you march that many li again,
that won’t do. Sailors are the most experienced travelers in the world, always on
the move circling the globe, but if they do not write diaries, then their experience
cannot be summed up. Sometimes it takes six to seven months for the Center to
draft one document or at least a couple of weeks. It looks as if we are always
more stupid, and others are always wiser. When we write resolutions, we can
never produce them very quickly. So, don’t take things to be so easy. Many
comrades look down upon Stalin’s Twelve Articles, look down upon the Center’s decisions, and look down upon Marxism-Leninism. We need to be clear on this
point. Don’t look down on them. Do write diaries. Do discuss. Do make selfexaminations [fanxing]. At the mobilization meeting held the day before
yesterday Comrade Kang Sheng7 talked about criticism and self-criticism.
Criticism means criticizing others, and self-criticism means criticizing oneself.
Criticism and self-criticism are a single whole, and you cannot neglect one. But
for leaders, self-criticism is the main thing. Work should have its core, and the
core of our educational work today lies in reflecting, studying, and selfexamination. The core is oneself. Enlarge the correct things in oneself, and
expunge and eliminate the incorrect things in oneself. We need to make all
students and cadres understand that in rectifying the Three Styles, the core is
oneself. To help others, one first needs to improve oneself; without oneself
making progress, it will be hard to help others. We need to make this clear. We,
the comrades present here, must make ourselves examples for others. To make
progress, we need to study over and over our own thoughts, our own history, and
our own present work, and do a good job of self-examination to serve as a model.
We must do this. No matter who we are, we must do this; we must all study the
twenty-two documents, read them enthusiastically, and master them. We need to
express our attitudes about them: Are we for them or against them? If you think
that these documents run counter to Marxist principles, well, then you should
submit your views. If you think that they do not violate Marxism-Leninism and
they take a Marxist-Leninist position, that they have not violated Party policies
or principles, and that they are in accordance with them, then you should express
your support and approval. We must carry the determination of the Center, of the
high-ranking cadres, and of the comrades within the Central Study Group to
subordinate levels. We must do this, and we must do it well. In opposing
liberalism and subjectivism, do not act as they did when opposing “opportunism”
in the Jiangxi soviet, saying eating hot peppers is Right opportunism. Instead, do
it correctly and do it thoroughly. We comrades at the Center have determined
that all Central agencies shall be mobilized to assist all of Yan’an to rectify the
Three Styles by sending many cadres to assist the various agencies and schools.
Aside from continuing routine, necessary work, the entire Central apparatus shall
be mobilized to rectify the Three Styles. If the Central agencies proceed like this,
then various other agencies and schools will do so all the more. Spend three months studying the documents and one month reviewing the work. Hold a few
meetings [on the rectification of the Three Styles], such as organizational
meetings, propaganda meetings, and other meetings. Individual comrades from
the Center will take the lead in this rectification of the Three Styles. At the level
of the border region, Comrade Ren Bishi8 shall be entrusted with the
responsibility to provide guidance. Comrades Wang Jiaxiang9 and Chen Yun10
will be responsible for the Military Affairs Committee system. Comrades Kang
Sheng and Li Fuchun will be responsible for the various agencies directly under
the Center. Comrade [He] Kaifeng will be responsible for schools (except the
Party School). I will be responsible for the Party School. The goals we want to
reach during this period of study and inspection are to transform our work style
and to unify internally, that is, as it is written in the decision, to transform our
viewpoint, transform our way of thinking, transform our style of work, unify
cadres, and unite the whole Party.
During the work of study, discussion, and inspection, many cadres will appear
to be very active and enthusiastic. Some will also be interested and participate in
the entire thing, but they will treat the entire thing as business as usual. Also,
there will be a few who will be even worse; these are the backward ones. In most
places, generally there are these three kinds of people, the active and enthusiastic
and thus correct, the average, and the backward. We cannot treat these people
equally. It is not good to promote egalitarianism among cadres; egalitarianism
makes the activist and the average emulate the backward. We should make the
backward and the average elements emulate the activist and advanced elements,
make the backward, those comrades whose ideological consciousness and actions
are rather lacking and incorrect, emulate the correct and active comrades, as well
as make the average comrades emulate the active comrades. It is a mistake to lack
such guidance, leaving the active to be mixed up with the backward, not giving
any encouragement to the active and treating them in the same way as the
backward. Who would want to be active then? There would be no more
Stakhanovs.11 Why does the Soviet Union advocate learning from Stakhanov?
Because he is active, and it wants others to emulate him. We should adopt this
attitude, calling on all to emulate the activists. Of course, in doing this we should
pay attention to not praising excessively or inappropriately, creating the
impression that the leaders particularly like some people and dislike others. That would be no good. We need to make everyone emulate the future, the activists,
with the spirit of uniting cadres and uniting the entire Party.
There is also the issue of gathering questions, studying the twenty-two
documents, and checking on our work. The various agencies and schools shall
hold meetings to discuss and explain the questions themselves, and at the same
time, they shall report these questions to the Center. We hope that there will be
two models. One is the best, and the other is the worst. Report these two views
and these two circumstances to the Center. Each work-unit can answer the
questions that arise during study by themselves; if you cannot explain them, hold
a meeting to discuss them. If you still cannot resolve them, submit them to the
Center for answers. This is the way to gather and answer questions. You should
separate the activists, the normal elements, and the backward elements among
the cadres and pay particular attention to those who have problems in their
thinking and in their Party character, and use the method of talking with them
one on one. The Northwestern Bureau has used this method, as have several
other agencies, to good result. Another method is to hold cadre meetings. Oneon-one talks and cadre meetings—use these two methods to do the work. How
should cadre meetings be held? I talked with Comrade Wang Shoudao12
yesterday. In the organization where he works, there are more than twenty small
group leaders and section chiefs and more than sixty other kinds of cadres; in all,
over eighty people. I think there can be a meeting for those twenty or so people
each fortnight, and one meeting for the eighty people each month. At the twentyperson meetings, you should inform them of the spirit of the Central Study Group
and systematically discuss its content; you can open up discussion, and everyone
can express his views. The size of the meeting can be more than ten people or
eight or nine people, according to the circumstances of the unit. Hold such
meetings at best once a week, or if that’s not possible, then once a fortnight,
because these people are the direct leaders of the others. For the others, hold one
meeting every month. There are too many people at such meetings, and I fear
that it will be very difficult to discuss anything, but you can give a report and
explain the discussions from the twenty-person meetings. You need to use these
methods to hold meetings. To connect with cadres, one way is to talk with them,
and the other way is to hold meetings. By using these two methods, we will be
able to know what each comrade is thinking, what problems he or she has, with what things he or she is dissatisfied, and with what things he or she is satisfied. It
is not yet time for investigation work now, and certain things may only be
brought up then—for example, methods like first criticizing the leader and then
criticizing the led. Last time, when Comrade Deng Fa13 compiled a report
concerning the experience of the labor movement committee, the shortcomings of
the leaders were first criticized, so everyone dared to speak up. If the led had been
criticized first, then they would have been intimidated and would not have dared
to speak up. Investigation work should encourage people to speak up. As the vice
director of the Central Research Institute14 said, speak up bravely and shoot the
arrow at the target, and as long it does not violate the law and is within
regulations, speech is permitted. Correct or incorrect refers to the content of the
speech; some is right, and some is wrong. Saying something wrong, which
happens in the process of speaking, should be acknowledged and identified as
wrong; it can be corrected later. When problems occur during discussions, you
should first criticize the leader and then the led; this is a better way, like the
method used by the Labor Movement Committee. General responsibility for
whether we do a good job this time falls on the Center. If we do a good job, it is
to our credit, and if we do not do a good job, it is to our discredit. The
administrative head of each department shall bear the main responsibility for
whether his department does a good job. The Party branch should not, as in the
past, take responsibility; this time the administrative side shall bear
responsibility. Regardless of whether the one-on-one talks resolved problems,
regardless of whether cadres have studied the twenty-two documents and written
their diaries, regardless of whether investigation work has been carried out,
regardless of whether the style of work has changed, regardless of whether the
goals of the discussion have been reached, and regardless of whether there is a
little success or none—the responsibility for all this redounds upon the
administrative head. All comrades present here today shall bear responsibility. I
hope that you consider this well, study well, and do a good job consulting and
exchanging views with cadres in the departments under your leadership in order
to achieve the goals of rectifying the Three Styles. Others rectify their Three
Styles, but I am not rectifying even one; if Party members are like this, that is no
good. You are a Party member, so you should obey the decisions of the Party.
Will it do if you do not rectify even one style? It won’t do even if you rectify two styles. We say that we must rectify the Three Styles. To rectify the Three Styles,
we cannot permit even a few deviant styles. After two and a half styles have been
rectified, and there is only half left, can it remain? No! We must rectify the Three
Styles; this is called going to the end. We must bear this responsibility. Here,
method is important, and first we need to disseminate the decision of the
Propaganda Department that puts forward the method, that is, studying the
twenty-two documents, discussing them, and carrying out investigation work.
Only in this way can you do a good job. This is no easy matter.
I hear that some agencies and schools are pushing things. They spend two days
studying one document, and then they’re done, but this is like viewing flowers
while riding on horseback.15 Many documents need to be studied and analyzed
article by article, only getting to the second after finishing the first, so before
finishing the first, don’t look at the others. Just discuss this one. With some, two
or three articles can be studied together, but first study them one by one. It is no
easy matter to achieve a thorough understanding of Stalin’s Twelve Articles.
Many people attempt to grasp them all at once but end up grasping nothing at all.
We should go over the document article by article, using an analytical method.
Once you have done one article, then do the next; in this way, first there are ten
articles left, then there are eight articles left, and finally they are all “eliminated.”
Analyze the articles one by one and then sum them up; only in this way will you
be able to understand the whole thing. We need to achieve something this time,
give a new face to the Party, and all comrades present here must take
responsibility for doing this. Regardless of whether we do a good job rectifying
the Three Styles has an important bearing on the present, on the future, and on
the leadership of the whole revolution. We must resolve to do this work well.
15. That is, seeing things only superficially.

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Notes

Notes
Our source for this text comes from Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 411–23, which draws from a printed
record in the Central Archives.
1. Mao gave this talk to a meeting of the Central Party Study Group, or the Central Research Group,
which had been set up according to the August 1941 Central Committee resolution to undertake education of

senior Party cadres; see the text of the resolution in Vol. VII, pp. 783–85. This talk followed the Party
directive on rectification of April 3, 1942, and its timetable was extended in June; see Saich, ed., Rise to
Power, pp. 1073–95.
2. These are essentially the core rectification study documents, aside from Mao’s writings, most of which
were collected in the Yan’an Zhengfeng wenxian, 5th exp. ed. (Hong Kong: Xin minzhu chubanshe, 1949).
Stalin’s Twelve Articles consists of his 1925 list of what is required for the Bolshevization of cadres; they are
translated in Compton, tr., Mao’s China, pp. 269–71. Georgi Dimitrov was the head of Comintern in the
1930s; see Vol. V, pp. lxix–lxx. He called for cadre reform in 1935 at the Seventh Congress of the Comintern.
3. All twenty-two documents are listed in the April 3, 1942, Propaganda Bureau decision, translated in
Saich, ed., Rise to Power, p. 1076. These are exactly the contents of the famous Rectification Documents book
that was used at this time for cadre study. See Compton, tr., Mao’s China.
4. These biji of personal reflections and confessions were a core part of the rectification process, as Mao
makes clear below; according to David E. Apter and Tony Saich, Revolutionary Discourse in Mao’s Republic
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), biji were broadly accepted by cadres in Yan’an at that time.
5. Written by Lenin in 1920.
6. The Four Articles are the criteria for selecting cadres put forth by Georgi Dimitrov as the general
secretary of the Comintern at its August 1935 Seventh Congress. They are: 1. unconditional dedication to the
work of the proletariat, as demonstrated in combat, in prison, and in court; 2. enthusiastic connections with
the masses; 3. being decisive and unafraid of taking responsibility, and; 4. demonstrating Bolshevik
discipline. Dimitrov’s essay is in his The United Front: The Struggle Against Fascism and War (New York:
International, 1938), pp. 116–26.
7. Kang Sheng (1898–1975) was the leader of Yan’an’s security and intelligence services and a leading
member of Mao’s leadership group in 1942. Kang played a central role in the Rectification movement and
anti-spy campaign. He had extensive experience in Moscow and made the delicate transition from serving
Wang Ming, competitor for top leadership with Mao, to serving Mao in the late 1930s.
8. Ren Bishi (1904–1950) was a leading military figure in the Communist movement in the 1930s. He
joined the Long March and rose to top leadership circles with Mao and would serve in the all-powerful
Secretariat from 1943. For his biography, see Vol. IV, p. xxxvii, n18.
9. Wang Jiaxiang, see above, note to the text of February 21, 1942.
10. Chen Yun (1905–1995) was at this time a member of the Politburo and of the Northern Bureau of the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the deputy head of the Northwestern Financial and

Economic Office, and the head of the Political Department.
11. That is, labor heroes, like Alexei Stakhanov, the coal miner made famous by Stalin for exceeding
production targets.
12. Wang Shoudao was at this time the director of the Party Central Secretariat (see above, note to the text
f January 23, 1942).
13. Deng Fa (1906–1946) was at this time the secretary of the Labor Movement Committee of the Central
Committee.
14. This was Fan Wenlan, a noted historian. See above, note 1 to the text of January 17, 1942.