I hear that some of you do not want to serve in the navy. Why? Do you feel
that there is too much hardship in serving in the navy?...
You all lead a very hard life!...

If they [the sailors] are obedient, then things will go well. In that case you
[first mates] must pay attention to being good teachers to your students!...
(Source A, p. 56)
You should settle down, put your worries aside, and be happy about serving
in the navy. In the past, when the imperialists invaded our country, in most
cases they came from the sea. Even now, the Pacific Ocean is not at all pacific.
We ought to have a strong navy... (Source C, p. 77)
We ought to be very closely united with one another. Henceforth, it will be
even better. When the worker and peasant elements become intellectuals and
the intellectuals become workers and peasants, the distinction between intellectuals and workers and peasants will gradually disappear...
In the past, we were on land, and we loved the mountains and the soil. Now
we are in the navy and we ought to love the ship, love the islands, and love the
oceans. (Source C, p. 82; Source B and Source D, pp. 581-582)
We must take good care of old machines. We must cherish them and use
them well. At the moment we have old machines: later on we will have new
ones... You must nurture your children well, and when they grow up, let them
have an education so as to lay a firm foundation for the revolution, and so that
they may become successors to the revolution. (Source D, pp. 576-577)
More than twenty years ago I was fighting as a guerrilla in these areas. At
that time I wore a straw hat and straw sandals. The reactionaries then surrounded us and attacked us on all sides; and yet today, some twenty years later,
here I am cruising along on our own naval vessel together with you. (Source
A, p. 58)
Thirty years ago I passed through at this spot. At the time the islands were
over there; now they have moved over here. In the past the waterway was very
narrow; now it has become much wider... The waterway has changed; so has
the world! (Source D, p. 582; Source C, p. 83)
The imperialists take advantage of us. We must stand up for ourselves. Our
country has such a long coastline, we must absolutely have a strong navy to
protect our coastline. At the moment, our navy is still not sufficiently strong;
we have yet to develop it in a big way... In the past we only had infantry and
artillery soldiers, now we have an air force as well as a navy. Our national de
fense forces are growing in strength every day, and only now can our country
proceed with its national construction in peace. As long as we work together
and apply our efforts, we have a very bright and pleasant future ahead of us.
(Source A, p. 59; slightly different versions in Source D p. 579 and Source C
pp. 78-79.)
The First Five-Year Plan in our country has begun; do you all know about
it?... You are all very young. (Let’s see now...) the First Five-Year Plan, the Second Five-Year Plan, the Third Five-Year Plan... you will be only thirty-some
years old when we arrive at a socialist society... and you will still be young when
we achieve a communist society. (Source A, p. 59; slightly different version in
Source D, p. 579)
We must first of all pay attention to political education and enhance the
political enthusiasm of the comrades. This book is very good in its contents.275
The language, too, is simple and very appropriate for the soldiers to read.
(Source C, pp. 80-81; slightly different version in Source D pp. 589-581)
We have been fighting for several decades. Our country is still very poor
now, but after several five-year plans it will grow powerful.
At this moment, the Pacific Ocean is not pacific. When we have a powerful
navy the imperialists will not dare to bully us. We must build the coastline
which is over ten thousand kilometers long, into a Great Wall on the sea.
(Source D, p. 580)
Furthermore, there’s also imperialism (to be opposed)!... Our country is
poor and blank, we have very few factories and very little iron and steel. Our
line of coastal defense is very long. The imperialists bully us precisely because
we have no navy... (Now we have a navy, a navy of our own, a navy of the
people.)... You must do a good job and strive to build a powerful navy with
combat capacity; then the imperialists will not dare to bully us anymore... You
are the navy now. If you are in the navy you mustn’t be afraid of storms and
waves. You simply must go out on the sea to train yourselves... It does not matter if one’s level of education is low. Even the most illiterate person can master
technology. You have a high level of class consciousness and abundant combat
experience. You are the backbone cadres [of the navy.] In the past we scaled the
snow-capped mountains and crossed the marshlands,276 what difficulty can we

not overcome now?...
(A comrade reports: Some people say that we have no experience in building a navy [and so] we must learn from other countries in a wholesale and undeviating way. They also say that fighting on the sea is different from fighting
on land, and the principles employed in fighting on land are not applicable on
the sea.)
We must [of course] learn from the advanced experience of other countries.
However, don’t think that everything is better if it is foreign. Our own things
must not be discarded. The navy has its own special characteristics, and yet
we cannot emphasize the peculiarity of the navy. We must retain the good
traditions of our military forces... We can make our own [naval equipment].
In the past, in the period of the War of Resistance against Japan and the War
of Liberation, we were able to manufacture our own [equipment]: now we
should have an even greater capacity to do so. It won’t do for us to rely on
others exclusively...
(In a report Mao was told that the emphasis was on the technological sophistication and mobility of the navy, and that the point was made that in a sea
battle the role of the people’s masses was minimal.)
The navy too must rely on the people’s masses and on the fishing people. It
cannot become divorced from the masses. It must go among the fishing people
to sink its roots. Once we have a base among the masses everything is easier to
accomplish. For instance, in the past, when we fought a battle, we knew a lot
about the enemy’s situation, but the enemy was unable to fathom our troops’
maneuvers. This is the effect of the [favorable] conditions provided [us] by the
masses [in our struggle]. The army must rely on the masses in fighting a battle,
so must you when you fight a battle on the sea. No matter where you go you
must rely on the masses. (Largely based on Source D pp. 586-587; partly on
Source C pp. 86-87)
Source A: Members of the crew. Cruiser XX, Nan Wangde Hangxing (An Unforgettable Voyage), in Mao Guanhuai, pp. 51-65.
Groups of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (that is, the First Front Army of
the Red Army, also known as the Central Red Army) set out from Changting and Ninghua
in western Fujian and from Ruijin, Yunu and other places in southern Jiangxi and started
a major strategic movement. In traversing the eleven provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, Xikang, Gansu and Shaanxi, crossing
perpetually snow-capped mountains and trackless grasslands, sustaining untold hardships
and frustrating the enemy’s repeated encirclement, pursuits, obstructions and interceptions,
the Red Army covered 25,000 li [12,500 kilometers] on this march and finally arrived
triumphantly at the revolutionary base area in northern Shaanxi in October 1935.

Source B: Zhao Laijing, Mao Zhuxi He Shuibing Tanhua (Chairman Mao Converses with Sailors), in Zhongguo Qingnian Bao [Mar 26, 1954], 1.
Source C: Correspondent for Xinhua News Agency et al., Weida Ee Hangcheng (A
Great Voyage), reprinted in Mao Gushi, vol. 2 pp. 76-78.
Source D: Wei Xinwen, Mao Zhuxi Yongyuan Huozai Shuibing Xinzhong originally in Jiefangjun Wenyi, II (1975), and reprinted in Huiyi Mao Zhuxi, pp.
573-588.277
Inscription Written for the Navy
February 21, 1953
In order to oppose the invasion of imperialists, we absolutely must build a
strong and powerful navy.
(Signed)
Source: Beijing Review, Weekly, Beijing, January 3, 1968.