The Communist Party of China has always attached importance to the study of the whole party, especially leading cadres During the Yan'an period, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yun, and other party leaders set an example by improving their skills through study, and gradually established a study system, forming a fine tradition of attaching importance to study, which greatly promoted the in-depth development of the study movement within the party, and still has reference significance for the building of a study-oriented political party.
Why Learn: Self-Improvement and the Party's Cause Needs
The reason why the leaders of the CPC Central Committee took the lead in actively carrying out the study campaign throughout the party after it arrived in northern Shaanxi was a strategic choice made in the face of new situations and new problems.
First, the overall quality of the cadre contingent needs to be improved. In the face of the new situation and new tasks of building an anti-Japanese national united front, whether they are old cadres or new cadres, there are different degrees of incompatibility in their work, and the quality of party members and cadres urgently needs to be improved. Some old cadres have a firm revolutionary will but lack the necessary cultural knowledge; some cadres have high revolutionary enthusiasm but lack experience in actual struggle, and so on. In order to raise the level of Marxist theory of the whole party, study has become an important task facing the whole party.
The second is the objective requirements of the severe domestic and foreign situation and social contradictions. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the contradictions between China and Japan became more prominent. At the same time, the various contradictions inherent in Chinese society have become more acute. In this complicated situation and situation, the CPC is confronted with many major issues concerning the life and death of the Chinese nation and the future of the Chinese revolution: how to correctly understand and deal with the relationship between national struggle and class struggle, patriotism and internationalism, and how to lead the people of the whole country to win victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan requires the party to make correct analysis and answers. Therefore, promptly and in-depth promotion of the study activities, the truly regard of Marxism as the scientific world outlook and methodology for transforming the old world, and the making of the Party's clearer and more objective understanding and analysis of the situation and practical problems of the Chinese revolution became one of the urgent tasks facing the Party at that time.
What to Learn: Classics and Chinese and Foreign History
The party leaders of the Yan'an period loved to study and were good at learning, and they had a very profound understanding of the importance of strengthening the study of Marxist theory. Mao Zedong was an avid reader, and in the harsh war environment, he collected newly published Marxist-Leninist works through various channels as soon as he had the opportunity, and tried to find them to read carefully. His classic works he often read include The Communist Manifesto, The State and revolution, and Anti-Dühring. According to Shi Jingtang, who managed Mao Zedong's books during the Yan'an period, Mao Zedong often read Lenin's "Two Strategies" and "The Infantile Disease of the 'Left' in the Communist Movement" when he was in Yan'an. Starting from the Central Soviet Region and after the Long March, he has been taking these two books to look through frequently, annotating and writing feelings on the books, and remembering the first few times to read and other information. In addition, he read many treatises on Marxism, all accompanied by in-depth thinking about China's practical problems.
After the Red Army's Long March arrived in northern Shaanxi, Mao Zedong began to concentrate on philosophy in order to sum up the lessons of the Chinese revolution from a theoretical height. He read a wide range of philosophical books, conscientiously absorbed the ideological essence of various philosophical schools, and regarded the solution of the party's ideological understanding problems as the starting point and focus of his philosophical research. Chen Yun recalled: "During the rectification period in Yan'an, Comrade Mao Zedong advocated the study of Marxist-Leninist works, especially the study of philosophy, which played a great role in enhancing the thinking and unifying the understanding of the whole party. ”
Liu Shaoqi also vigorously advocated the party's theoretical study, emphasizing that there is a universal truth in history. He advocated that we should sum up the party's historical experience well and use these experiences to educate our cadres and party members. Only in this way can we punish those who have done wrong, cure the sick and save people, safeguard the unity and discipline of our party's ranks, ensure the correct leadership of our party on a regular basis, and lead the Chinese revolution to victory in the future. Liu Shaoqi proposed that we should study not only Chinese history but also Western history, so that we can have a deeper understanding of Marxism-Leninism and a clearer understanding of the situation.
In Mao Zedong's view, victory would have been impossible without revolutionary theory, without historical knowledge, without a deep understanding of the actual movement. On March 30, 1942, when Mao Zedong delivered a report by the Central Study Group entitled "How to Study the History of the Communist Party of China," he stressed the need to "study problems as a historical process under certain historical conditions, and called this method "ancient and modern Chinese and foreign laws," demanding that we should not cut off history, but should sum up and inherit this precious heritage. Therefore, during the Yan'an period, the task of studying history was put forward to the whole party, and special attention was paid to the study and study of China's modern history, and the study of history by the Central Study Group led by Mao Zedong was first to read through the "Sixth National Congress" and then to comprehensively study the history of the Communist Party and the history of the Chinese revolution.
How to learn: Individual learning is combined with collective learning
Liu Shaoqi called on everyone to be diligent in reading and studying, and he himself set an example by taking the lead in learning, consciously learning, and taking reading as a habit and belief that he has always adhered to. At the end of 1939, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was very critical, Liu Shaoqi came to the Jiangbei Headquarters of the New Fourth Army. Zhang Aiping recalled that he had visited him late at night, and when he entered the house, what he saw was that Liu Shaoqi was reading seriously under the faint candlelight, and he drew a lot of blue and red circles on the pages he read, and some of them also approved words, and Liu Shaoqi's spirit of reading and learning at this moment left a deep impression on him.
Studying philosophy can raise the level of theoretical understanding, apply philosophical ideas to revolutionary work, and constantly improve the level of practical work. Driven by Mao Zedong, studying philosophy once became a fashion in Yan'an. Philosophical research groups have been created in various institutions, which carry out philosophical study activities in the form of lectures and seminars on new philosophy. The study group set up by Zhang Wentian in the Central Propaganda Department was later expanded to a study group of more than 100 people due to the participation of party members of the General Office of the Central Committee and the Central Cultural Commission. The Central Organization Department has also set up a study group, with Chen Yun as the leader and Li Fuchun as the deputy group leader. The group focused on philosophy, using the Materialist View of History as a teaching material for group study, stipulating that every morning before nine o'clock was self-study time, and organizing a collective discussion once a week. At the same time, some scholars in Yan'an, such as He Peiyuan, Ai Siqi, and Wu Liangping, often held philosophical lectures, including military dialectics, philosophical issues in actual life, knowledge of the history of Chinese and foreign philosophy, philosophical methods, and so on. All this has greatly stimulated the interest of party members and cadres in studying philosophy and greatly enhanced the theoretical level and work ability of leading cadres.
Chen Yun attaches great importance to carrying out study activities and actively organizes study activities within the party. Chen Yun personally presided over the group study meeting almost every time, and before the meeting, he would first ask each comrade, ask them if they had read it, read it several times, what they had experienced, what their understanding or questions were, and would give detailed answers to the questions raised by the comrades one by one. Before the adjournment of the meeting, he also specified the content of next week's study, and in addition to self-teaching and self-study, the study group would also invite counselors to provide guidance, such as asking Aischi to talk about philosophy, Wang Xuewen to talk about economics, Yang Song and Wu Liangping to talk about scientific socialism theory, and so on. At that time, the form of learning was mainly independent learning, with weekly collective discussions, and the main courses studied were the basic theories of Marxism-Leninism and the philosophical thought of Mao Zedong.
In order to promote the whole party's study movement, many research groups and research associations were established during the Yan'an period. These research groups and seminars regularly conduct academic discussions on special topics and undertake the task of training teachers and preparing teaching materials for cadre education. Due to the proper study methods, flexible learning methods, and effective organization, through the study of this stage, the political and ideological consciousness and theoretical and cultural level of party members and cadres have been markedly improved.
Author: Li Xueming
Source: Learning Times