Support the Struggle While Preserving Cadres

(August 11, 1943)

Comrade Dehuai:

With regard to the concept of supporting the struggle on the one hand while preserving large numbers of cadres on the other, apart from yourself, most [comrades’ understanding] is incorrect. The cadres sent from the Nie Region are very few in number and rarely of good quality or importance. The Central Committee has already sent a telegram requesting them to select and transfer from their directly subordinate organs, schools (Party School, Anti-Japanese Military and Political University), and the various areas of Beiyue, Jizhong, and Pingbei four to five hundred good, high-ranking and senior cadres to Yan’an for study (a portion of the best middle-ranking cadres may be included). Please discuss this with Liu, Deng, Yang, Huang, and others, and arrange to select and transfer from the directly subordinate organs, schools, and from Taihang, Taiyue, Jinan, and Ji-Lu-Yu around five hundred good, truly promising high-ranking and senior cadres to Yan’an for study. Other large numbers of middle-ranking cadres and those who have made mistakes or are suspected and are difficult to handle at the front may also be sent to Yan’an, but are not to be counted within this quota. Increasing the Border Region’s material conditions by twenty to thirty thousand troops and ten to twenty thousand cadres presents no problem. The Border Region has had ample rainfall this year and can expect a good harvest.

Mao Zedong

Weizhen