Pay Attention to Strengthening the
Disciplinary Education of the Troops1
(July 12, 1946)
To all departments, and to be relayed to all unit commanders:
All units, before undertaking any action, must carry out disciplinary education
completely and publicly, and according to the specific matters requiring attention under the existing circumstances. Only if all officers and men are clearly
informed, on the condition of not revealing any confidential information, can we
ensure that all officers and men will observe political discipline at the time of
action and make a good impression on the people. Recently, due to forgetting to
undertake such education before taking action, or failure to adopt a serious and
conscientious attitude when carrying out such education, or thinking that having
carried out such education in the past meant there was no need to do so again, or
making only a small number of men aware without the troop commander being
able to deliver a speech to the entire unit, things went so far in some units that a
breakdown of discipline occurred while entering the cities, and this was truly bad.
We expect the commander of every unit to instruct the political organs to carry
out self-criticisms on this. Strengthening the disciplinary education of all troops
is extremely important.
 The Central Committee
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 336–37, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.
1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-199