Key Points of a Speech Delivered at a
Meeting of the Politburo of the Central
Committee
(March 16, 1943)
I. The Current Situation
Japan recently moved troops from Manchuria into Shanhaiguan, taking the
offensive against China. Recently a Guomindang radio station made contact with
Yan’an, and this is an indication that the relationship between the Guomindang
and the Communists has taken a turn for the better. Last winter, the
Guomindang estimated that Japan definitely would attack the Soviet Union, but
after this past February the Guomindang concluded that it might not attack.
Because of Japan’s new offensive, the Guomindang is thinking of internal aid,
since foreign aid has not arrived. Negotiations are still in progress. They said the
negotiations should be based on the October 19 telegram of He [Yingqin] and Bai
[Chongxi].1 If Japan continues its offensive, the Guomindang government might
move its capital to Chengdu, but still will not surrender. Amid Japan’s new
offensive, the number of people who have defected to Wang [Jingwei] has
increased. Japan has already decided on the policy: Support Wang, Strike Chiang
[Kaishek], and it is now unifying the puppet regimes of Northern and Central
China.
Will Germany be defeated this year or next year? The first possibility is more
likely. We should also take into consideration the second possibility (that
Germany will not be defeated this year, that the second front2 will not be opened,
and so forth). For now it is impossible to know with absolute certainty which possibility is more likely.
Our overall assessment: Japan follows the Support Wang, Strike Chiang policy.
Under attack by Japan, the Guomindang needs internal aid since foreign aid is
not available. There is a possibility that the relationship between the
Guomindang and the Communist Party will take a turn for the better. There is a
possibility that the Chinese War of Resistance will last for seven or eight years.
We must continue to persevere for two or two and a half more years.
The situation in the whole world and historical development are unfavorable
to the Guomindang and favorable to us. But we need genuine Marxism-Leninism
to be able to triumph over the Guomindang.
II. Orientation for Work
The Central Committee’s orientation for work is research and guidance and to
achieve the goals of preserving the backbone and preparing for the future.
The issue of research:
1. International
For the six major countries of Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union,
Germany, Italy, and Japan, we should mainly research the three major issues of
their politics, military affairs, and economy.
Last year our research on Japan was the best; research on the other countries
was not so good. This year we are doing better.
2. Domestic
As for the Guomindang-controlled areas, we should mainly do research on
their politics, military affairs, economy, and culture.
For the base areas, we should do research on their politics, military affairs,
economy, culture, and education. The most important aspect of politics is political
power. In military affairs, the most important aspect is the building of the
military and the militia. In the economy, the most important aspects are the
public sector and the private sector.

Last year the best research was done at the Central Research Institute and the
Office of Political Research.
3. History
Research on modern Chinese history: politics (Fan Wenlan);3 military affairs
(the Headquarters of the General Staff and the General Political Department); the
economy (Chen Boda);4 culture (Ai Siqi5 on the history of philosophy and Zhou
Yang6 on the history of literature).
Begin to do research on the history of the Chinese Communist Party: the line
problem during the past twenty-two years; discussion meetings of the members
of the Politburo. There should be definitive results within one year.
4. We should preserve and educate the cadres. Education includes professional
education and theoretical and ideological education. This year we should
continue our efforts with respect to the latter.
Cadres in departments directly under the Central Committee should undergo
theoretical and ideological education, reading forty books by Marx, Engels, Lenin,
and Stalin. Of the various kinds of cadre education, the most important are
rectification education and ideological education. Among the various cadres, the
most important is the education of the senior cadres.
The issue of guidance:
Means—newspapers, telegrams, broadcasts on Party affairs, and oral reports.
Newspapers are a very important method. Comrades of the Central Committee
should be adept at using newspapers. They should spend half their time with
newspapers. Liberation Daily has made progress since changing its format last
April. Since the work method of starting from the masses and returning to the
masses was established, sources of materials for the newspaper have become
inexhaustible. The soul (or essence) of Marxism is to concretely analyze concrete
problems.
Broadcasts on Party affairs are a way of educating cadres within the Party.
Last year we made some achievements in our work. This year we must make
more. We should spread the achievements throughout the entire country through
newspapers and broadcasts on Party affairs.

This year we should prepare to hold the Seventh Party Congress.7
We should add one more item to our list: Our leadership should connect with
the masses. Now the orientation for the finance and economic work of the
Women’s Committee, of the Professionals’ Committee, and of the Cultural
Committee are undergoing transformation. Investigation of cadres also requires
the connection of the leadership with the masses. This is done by summarizing
experience from the grassroots level and then providing guidance, that is, starting
with the masses and returning to the masses, or, in other words, gathering
together and persevering. The sole resource and the only way forward for us rests
with the masses.
Last year I did not have much contact with comrades working in many
departments; this year I will have more contact with them. Only with much
contact does one acquire knowledge.
III. Work Tasks
The tasks of the departments directly under the Central Committee are work,
production, and education. At the front line, the tasks are war, production, and
education. In the rear echelon, they are production and education. This
orientation should be explained to all comrades. In public we will say that we
will overcome difficulties and welcome the light, but among senior Party cadres
we will explain that we will preserve the backbone and conserve our strength.
Northern China is now sending large numbers of cadres to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region to study. Preserving the backbone means preserving not
only local cadres but also the backbone of the army. Now we should slim down,
that is, [the policy of] Crack Troops and Simple Administration. In order to
preserve the backbone, we must resolutely adopt this policy and fight against the
enemy’s “nibbling” policy. This is the task of war; this is our primary task.
The second task is cadre education and citizen education. Cadre education is
primary. In the past, cadre progress was very slow while progress by soldiers was
much better. A groom in eastern Gansu even became a wood carver.8 In the past,
cadres didn’t have the time or the funds and textbooks for study. We must conscientiously carry out the Central Committee’s decision on cadre education.9
Third is the task of production.
Making use of these methods, we will reach the goals of preserving the
backbone and preparing for the future.
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Notes

Notes
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 9–13, where it is reproduced from a transcript
of the speech preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1. The hao telegram (hao being the telegraphic code designation for that date) refers to the telegram that
Chiang Kaishek sent to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and Ye Ting, the commander-in-chief, vice commander-inchief of the Eighteenth Group Army (Eighth Route Army), and the commander of the New Fourth Army,
respectively, in the name of He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi, the chief of the General Staff and vice chief of the
General Staff of the Military Commission of the Guomindang government, on October 19, 1940. In this
telegram, the Guomindang disparaged the work of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army and
ordered that the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army move from south of the Yellow River to the
north, according to the “Admonitions of the Central Government” on July 16, 1940.

2. Regarding the second front, see above, the text of February 21, 1943.

3. Regarding Fan Wenlan, see above, note to the text of January 17, 1942.

4. Chen Boda (1904–1989) was at this time vice director of the Central Political Research Office and the
study secretary for Mao Zedong. For further information on Chen, see above, note to the text of January 23,
1942.

5. Ai Siqi was at this time director of the Supplement Department of Jiefang ribao. See above, note to the
text of September 15, 1942.

6. Zhou Yang (1908–1989) was at this time director of the Cultural Work Committee of the Central
Committee and the president of the Lu Xun Academy of Arts and Literature.

7. The Seventh Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was postponed and not held until April 23 to
June 11, 1945 in Yan’an.

8. Meaning a woodblock print artist.

9. Regarding this decision, see above, the text of February 28, 1942.