Instructions on Relaxing Military Education and the Phenomenon of Lax Discipline [I]
(October 13, 1952)

I. According to recent inspections and reports from various units, since May and June of this year, two opposing phenomena have emerged in troop training: First, cultural education has been universally emphasized, thus creating a high tide of cultural learning throughout the army and achieving great results. This aspect is good. Second, military education and military discipline have been universally relaxed, thus leading to a lax life in the troops, reduced skills, weakened physical strength, and serious damage to weapons, equipment, horses, etc. This aspect is seriously undesirable and must be corrected immediately.

To draw the serious attention of the entire army, the following facts, though not universal, are extremely serious: For example, in a certain battalion's exercise, the assembly time was extended to one hour and eight minutes; in a certain division's test, six out of ten veteran soldiers had forgotten the caliber of guns and cannons and the essentials of correct aiming; in a certain battalion's roll call, dozens of people fainted within an hour; artillery horses were kept in concentrated feeding, but no one trained or managed them, resulting in deformed hooves and weak, obese bodies unable to carry loads; a certain division notified the troops to boil and wash cartridge pouches, but a certain company carelessly boiled the cartridges along with the pouches; the proportion of cadres at all levels leaving their posts for study was too high, reaching 68 percent in North China, and even higher in some units in Northwest China, with some divisions reaching 90 percent, resulting in a state of no one being in charge of military education and military life; although the re-equipped troops underwent three months of combat readiness education, they did not continue to implement the 30 percent military education policy in the following six months, resulting in the inability to consolidate what they had learned, very unfamiliar movements, and even some gunners not knowing how to eject shells, using sledgehammers to knock them out; especially the phenomenon of not cherishing weapons and equipment, leaving them exposed to wind and rain, sun and dew, paint peeling off, wood cracking, and damaging weapons, equipment, and horses, is even more widespread and serious. Based on the above phenomena, it is sufficient to illustrate the seriousness of the relaxation of military life and discipline in the troops in the recent period, and the danger that this must affect the weakness of combat readiness concepts and the reduction of combat effectiveness.

II. The main reasons for the above phenomena are the long-standing guerrilla habits among cadres at all levels, the lack of strict requirements for military management, the lack of the establishment of strict internal order; the failure to organize the work schedule of the troops according to unified regulations, often decided or changed by the temporary interests of individual leaders; and the long-standing inattention and lack of seriousness in the safekeeping and care of weapons and equipment; even individual commanders, because they fear that serious and conscientious management may be criticized by soldiers at democratic meetings, more or less intentionally relax their efforts. Secondly, there are some deviations in the implementation of the correct policy of cultural education. Some people arbitrarily interpret the policy of "taking cultural education as the center of troop training during this period (until the end of May 1953)," or say "military must obey culture," or "cultural learning is the main thing, work is secondary," or generally propose "cultural education is the central work of the entire army at present"; while most of the leading organs and cadres are only accustomed to the single-handed working method, and are not good at taking care of the overall situation, appropriately organizing forces, so that other work and central work can cooperate well with each other; even some troops, in order to show their achievements or eager for quick results, arbitrarily extend the time for cultural education, put forward excessive demands, or add many extracurricular assignments, exceeding the scope of the system, doing whatever they want, and acting on their own.

III. It should be pointed out in a timely and strict manner that the occurrence of the above-mentioned phenomena is abnormal, and is not and should not be allowed at any time; especially at present, when we still have a large-scale war to resist US aggression and aid Korea, the United States still occupies our Taiwan, and the coast and borders are often subject to enemy harassment, and the newly equipped troops are not yet proficient in mastering technology and equipment, the above-mentioned phenomena are harmful to the maintenance of our army's fighting spirit and the improvement of combat effectiveness.

Because the policy of "taking cultural education as the center of troop training" still needs to continue until the end of May next year, it is therefore very necessary to proactively draw the attention of the entire army to the above-mentioned deviations and resolutely correct them. For this reason, the following points are specifically pointed out, and it is hoped that all troops will strictly abide by and implement them:

First, all troops that can conduct training as the main task must maintain a ratio of 30 percent of military education time and 20 percent of political education time, and pay attention to strengthening the content of military and political education to prevent perfunctory behavior; the unified allocation of time must be regarded as law by everyone, and must not be modified without the approval of the Military Commission; violators shall be subject to disciplinary action. Those who cannot take training as the main task, such as troops performing tasks such as suppressing bandits, combat, special guard, and guarding prisoners, shall organize education according to the ratio of 30 percent for military, 20 percent for political, and 50 percent for cultural, based on the time they can conduct education, and there should be no bias.

Second, at the beginning of re-equipping, the re-equipped troops must first conduct three months of military training with military education as the main task, and strive to be familiar with the mastery and use of various weapons and equipment during this period; during the training period with cultural education as the main task after three months, they should still maintain 30 percent of military education time to continue to consolidate and improve, and strictly pay attention to the safekeeping and care of weapons and equipment.

Third, the number of military cadres at all levels who leave their posts to study culture shall not exceed one-half, and the military cadres who remain in the troops shall focus on commanding the troops, organizing the military education of the troops, and strengthening the military management of the troops, and should no longer emphasize cultural learning as the main task, in order to maintain the military leadership of the troops.

Fourth, all troops designated to undertake military tasks in Korea should stop focusing on cultural education three months before departure and switch to training tasks focusing on military education, with the aim of improving military technology and tactics and ensuring full combat morale.

Fifth, all troops should, under the unified regulations of the major military regions, conduct a roll call by division before October 30 to check all weapons, equipment, and horses, and conduct detailed registration; at the same time, they should conduct a discipline rectification work, with the content of strictly implementing orders and instructions, strictly enforcing military discipline, strictly abiding by the system, and strictly safekeeping and caring for weapons, equipment, and horses; serious violations of discipline and damage to weapons and equipment should be seriously investigated for responsibility and given due punishment.

Sixth, starting from June 1, 1953, the focus of troop training will shift to military training. In order to welcome this training, the troops of the major military regions should make preparations in cadre training. Therefore, the method of training cadres in batches should be adopted, starting from January and February next year, to implement the rotational training of military cadres, previewing various subjects of troop military training, and preparing conditions for carrying out troop military training. The specific methods will be separately stipulated by the Military Training Department of the Military Commission.

Seventh, it must also be emphasized that all leading organs and leading cadres must develop an overall concept of taking care of the overall situation, not only grasping the current central work, but also not relaxing the work that is indispensable even if it is not the current center, and not only seeking simplicity and singleness, grasping one thing and abandoning the rest; nor should they arbitrarily interpret a certain work and make inappropriate emphasis. Leading cadres at all levels should especially pay attention that when a movement begins, it is necessary to concentrate all efforts to strive for the rapid development of the movement; but in the process of the movement, they should also promptly understand the situation, discover deviations, and correct them, and not indulge them or dare not correct deviations simply based on the emotions of the masses and the demands of subordinates, or even the interests of the leaders themselves, thereby losing the responsibility of leadership.

Eighth, the major military regions should make plans to implement this instruction, and report their plans and the situation of their implementation to the Military Commission at any time.

Mao Zedong
Chairman
Complete Works of Mao Zedong
Volume 32