As everyone knows, our army has the famous "three major disciplines and eight points of attention," the contents of which include: Obey the command of all actions, do not take a needle and a thread from the masses, and return all seizures to justice; speak kindly, buy and sell fairly, borrow things to be repaid, pay compensation for damaged things, do not beat and curse people, do not damage crops, do not flirt with women, and do not abuse prisoners.
However, these contents were not determined at the beginning, but were modified several times to finally form this version.
As early as the autumn harvest uprising, Chairman Mao was well aware of the importance of military discipline, and before launching the autumn harvest uprising, he demanded that the soldiers must be kind to the people, buy things fairly, sell things fairly, and not curse or beat people, and have a good conversation with the people.
After the defeat of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, Chairman Mao led his troops to Jinggangshan, and before leaving, Chairman Mao was worried that some people would bully the common people when passing through the townships and towns, so he stipulated three disciplines: "Obey the command of action, do not take a sweet potato from the common people, and fight the local tycoons to return to the public." ”
This was the original version of the "Three Disciplines."
Later, in 1928, Chairman Mao led the troops to go deep into the countryside near Suichuan County and began to mobilize the strength of the peasant masses, and Chairman Mao put forward six more points of attention: "Door board, bundle and lay grass, talk kindly, buy and sell fairly, borrow things to be returned, damaged things to pay compensation." ”
By January 1929, two more items had been added to the "six notes": "Take a bath to avoid women, and urinate to find a toilet." ”
This was the original version of the "Eight Notes."
It is worth noting that the latter two items were proposed by Lin Biao, and later Chairman Mao raised these eight points of attention in an interview with Snow, saying: "The last two items were added by Lin Biao, and these eight items have been implemented more and more successfully, and to this day it is still the discipline of the soldiers of the Red Army." ”
However, later, with the changes in the revolutionary situation, the "Three Disciplines and Eight Notes" were revised several times, and they were also composed into songs, which were widely sung in the army, and the lyrics were as follows:
Revolutionary soldiers must bear in mind the three major disciplines and eight points of attention:
First, if I don't take a needle and thread from the workers and peasants, the masses support and like me;
Second, obey the orders of our superiors, and our victory is more guaranteed;
Third, confiscation of everything must be returned to the public, and the discipline of privately beating local tycoons cannot be tolerated.
Eight things we should do, and never forget:
The door panel should be good in the first morning, so as not to annoy the masses in their hearts;
The second morning to bundle grass, indoor and outdoor dirt to clean;
Third, the attitude of speech should be reconciled, and the most important thing is to approach the mass work;
Fourth, the purchase price should be fair, and the political influence has spread from near and far;
The fifth borrower's furniture has been used, and it must not be lost in person;
Sixth, if something is damaged, the compensation according to the price must be done immediately;
Seventh, everywhere health should be well discussed, choose a remote place to dig down the sanitary trench;
The eighth treats the prisoner well, and is not allowed to take half of him casually.
If this rule is broken, the Red Army will never spare it.
Red soldiers should realize that the work of winning over the masses is the most important.
The struggle of the workers and peasants everywhere has begun, and the victory of the whole country has been achieved in the present dynasty.
Until October 10, 1947, with the deepening of the War of Liberation, Chairman Mao issued the "Instructions of the Headquarters of the Chinese People's Liberation Army on Re-promulgating the Eight Points of Attention to the Three Major Disciplines", which pointed out: "The three major disciplines and eight attentions of the army have been practiced for many years, and their contents vary slightly from one army to another. Now the regulations are unified and promulgated again. It is hoped that this will be the standard, in-depth education, and strict implementation. ”
Then, why did Chairman Mao re-promulgate the "Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention"?
After the war of liberation began, although there was a discipline in the various units, there were still some phenomena such as "wasting people's manpower, robbing materials, and arbitrarily collecting and confiscating merchants' property," which had a very bad impact.
Of course, Chairman Mao did not want to see such a thing, and still less did he want the masses of the people to see such a thing happen, which hurt the enthusiasm and trust of the masses of the people, so he issued the "Instructions of the Headquarters of Chinese the People's Liberation Army on Re-promulgating the Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention" and began to reorganize the discipline of the troops.
In addition, Chairman Mao also discussed with many senior generals that according to the feedback of the major military regions, the discipline of each military region is different, such as what is forbidden by this military region, but another military region says that it does not matter, while the discipline strictly enforced by another military region becomes very loose in this military region.
Mr. Zhu also discovered this problem and once said sternly: "Many of the soldiers in the army are Red Army soldiers, they are from the Red Army, but the smell of the Red Army on their bodies has been completely destroyed by themselves!" There are few attentions to the three major disciplines and eight attentions, and I think we must pay close attention to and re-establish the fine tradition of the three major disciplines and eight attentions! ”
After receiving feedback from the major military regions, Chairman Mao issued the "Instructions of the Headquarters of the Chinese People's Liberation Army on Re-promulgating the Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention." Before the issuance of the directive, Chairman Mao, in order to more accurately and strictly curb the bad work style of the troops and strengthen their own discipline, also called the whole army on September 22, 1947, hoping that the major military regions could give some content and put forward some opinions.
After receiving this telegram, the major military regions very actively discussed and asked questions, and finally fed it back to the central authorities, which sorted out the opinions and contents of the major military regions and made a first draft and sent it to Chairman Mao's hands.
After reading this first draft, Chairman Mao revised it himself, and twice.
First of all, Chairman Mao adjusted the order of the first drafts, changing the second item of "all captured to the public" to the third item, and the third item of "not taking a needle and a thread from the masses" to the second item. The reason why Chairman Mao made this change is that he hopes that everyone will attach importance to the discipline of the masses and maintain a family relationship with the masses, which shows chairman Mao's attention and concern for the masses of the people.
In the second revision, Chairman Mao revised the wording of the "eight points of attention" and made it more colloquial so that ordinary soldiers with low education could understand it.
In the end, the "Three Disciplines and Eight Notes" formed the following version:
Three major disciplines: Obey the command of all actions, do not take a needle and a thread from the masses, and return all seizures to the public.
Eight points of attention: speak kindly, buy and sell fairly, borrow things to pay back, damage things to pay, do not beat people and curse people, do not damage crops, do not flirt with women, do not abuse prisoners.
Since then, this version of the "three major disciplines and eight attentions" has become the unified discipline of the whole army, and its influence has continued to this day.
From its proposal in 1927 to its formal implementation in 1947, Chairman Mao's "three major disciplines and eight points of attention" not only made the discipline of our army more unified and clear, but also widely praised and supported by the masses of the people, and fully interpreted the connotation of "the people's children and soldiers."
(References: People's Liberation Army Daily, Party History Expo, Yanhuang Chunqiu)