Speech at a Meeting of the Presidium of the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Directors of the Delegations[1]

(May 27, 1945)

On the question of strategic guidance, the forms of struggle and the forms of organization are determined by the forces of Japan, ourselves, and the Kuomintang, with us situated in the middle. Under such circumstances, what forms should we adopt? The sparrow warfare we conducted at the beginning of the War of Resistance was an offensive form, and it was correct. After 1940, we should have retreated. After the winter of 1940, the enemy’s rear areas only then shifted to a stalemate, and fundamentally we have not yet emerged from the stalemate stage. Later, we adopted an even more dispersed form—the Armed Work Teams. Subsequently, we learned the whole set of the Ten Major Policies, and coupled with changes in the Pacific situation, we advanced again, developing even more than in 1940. The issue henceforth is to acquire the technological conditions, to prepare twenty to thirty brigades, 150,000 to 200,000 men, to break away from the military regions, and to drive into the Northeast in the future. On the question of cadres, problems arise in the relations between new and old cadres, and between cadres from other areas and local cadres; under normal circumstances, old cadres and cadres from outside should take responsibility. The question of 20,000 old cadres uniting with and leading the vast numbers of new cadres, local cadres, and non-Party cadres is a question that bears on the victory or defeat of the Chinese revolution. In all matters where we have stumbled historically, do not be afraid to face them squarely; treating them as experience is very good. Viewing problems historically is Marxism. If we do not engage in industry, do not learn industry, we will perish. This question must be addressed during the transition.

[1] On May 27, Mao Zedong presided over a meeting of the Presidium of the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the directors of the delegations at Zaoyuan. The meeting discussed the question of electing the Central Committee and decided that the Central Committee would be composed of 45 full Central Committee members and 25 alternate Central Committee members. This is part of Mao Zedong’s speech at the meeting.