On the Nine Guiding Principles for
Cadre Screening and the Eight Policies
for the Areas Behind Enemy Lines
(July 30, 1943)
evident from the two articles on the experience of rectification and on ideology
cadre takes responsibility; (2) He does the work himself; (3) Leading cadres and
backbone cadres unite closely with the broad masses; (4) General calls must be
combined with specific guidance; (5) Investigate and study [the facts]; (6)
Differentiate right from wrong, and trivial from important; (7) Win over those
who have taken a wrong step; (8) Cultivate the cadres; (9) Educate the masses.

You must clearly distinguish these guiding principles of seeking truth from facts
from the subjectivist principles which once damaged the Party during the Civil
War. This subjectivist approach can be summarized as “obtaining confessions by
compulsion and giving them credence.” I will give a detailed explanation on
another occasion.
was exposed by us in time. Seeing that we are prepared, they had to stop
temporarily. Thus, we can hope for one year of peace. Our preparations for
military defense, however, absolutely must not be relaxed.
(anti–“mopping-up” and anti-“nibbling”) and class education to the six policies as
stated in the previous telegram. This will make eight policies, the sequence of
which should be: (1) Struggle against the enemy; (2) Rectification of the Three
Styles; (3) Crack Troops and Simple Administration; (4) Unified leadership; (5)
Support the government and cherish the people; (6) Develop production; (7)
Investigate cadres; and (8) Carry out class education. (In the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, “Fight the enemy” should be changed to “Military
education” and ranked as the eighth policy.)
fighting, production, and education.
United Front, is not class education standing in isolation and divorced from the
United Front. The term “class education” should not be used outside our Party.
This telegram will also be sent to all responsible comrades of the Central
Bureau and Central Subbureaus, and the Party committees of several districts.
Mao Zedong
noon July 30 noon, July 30
Notes

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Notes
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Lü Zhengcao (1904–2009) was at this time commander-in-chief
of the Third Column of the Eighth Route Army and commander-in-chief of the Central Hebei Military Area
Command.
of the Central Committee, and “Problems Regarding Ideology,” by the Study Committee of the Departments
under the Headquarters of the Eighteenth Army Group, published on August 2 and August 4, 1943,
respectively.
meeting in commemoration of the sixth anniversary of the War of Resistance on July 9, 1943. The editorial
refers to the editorial drafted by Mao Zedong for the July 12, 1943, issue of Jiefang ribao titled “Calling the
Guomindang to Account.” See above, note to the text of July 12, 1943 and note to the text of July 21, 1943.
the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee. See above, note to the text of January 17, 1942.

--- Notes

Comrade [Peng] Dehuai:1
Seventh Party Congress. Please come to Yan’an to participate in the congress
together with Luo [Ronghuan], Bo [Yibo], Nie [Rongzhen], and Lü [Zhengcao].3 I
hope you will make arrangements in advance. Some representatives must be
reelected in the districts of Taihang, Taiyue, and Beiyue. The Central Committee
will send a separate notice.

written on July 9 by the Northern Bureau4 (which have been passed along to be
broadcast). Please supervise and encourage the rectification behind the enemy
lines, so that it will be substantially completed this year, thus allowing cadre
screening to be launched on a full-scale basis next spring and to be finished
within the year.

Yan’an mass meeting, the editorial of Liberation Daily,5 and the critiques by
Chen Boda and Fan Wenlan6 on China’s Destiny. Take this opportunity to give
extensive, in-depth, and planned education on class [struggle] and to expose
thoroughly the Guomindang’s deceitful influence. Do not underestimate the
importance of this matter. The Guomindang’s ideas exist in our Party to a serious
degree.


--- Notes

2. There is progress in rectification in the areas behind enemy lines, as is

3. The guiding principles for cadre screening are as follows: (1) The leading

4. The plan of Chiang [Kaishek] and Hu [Zongnan] to attack our border region

5. Please make multiple copies and widely distribute the telegram sent by the
6. In the areas behind enemy lines, we should add “fighting the enemy”

7. Among the masses, the daily and common tasks are these three items:

8. Class education, that is, education combining unity and struggle within the

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 52–54, where it is reproduced from the manuscript.
1. Regarding Peng Dehuai see above, note to the text of January 25, 1943.
2. Regarding Lin Biao, see above, note to the text of January 25, 1943.
3. Bo Yibo (1908–2007) was at this time deputy secretary of the Taihang Subbureau of the Central

4. Referring to the two articles “Introduction to the Experience of Rectification,” by the Northern Bureau

5. The telegram entitled “Calling for Unity and Opposing Civil War” was issued by the Yan’an mass

6. Regarding Chen Boda, see above, note to the text of March 16, 1943. Fan Wenlan at this time worked for

1. Zhou [Enlai] and Lin [Biao]2 have returned to Yan’an in preparation for the