Policy for Work in the Liberated Areas for 1946

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of Policy for Work in the Liberated Areas for 1946 has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following edition: Policy for Work in the Liberated Areas for 1946, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 4, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is an inner-Party directive drafted by Comrade Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yan'an, Shaanxi, China on the 15th of December, 1945. It was first published in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 4, in 1960.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#POLICY FOR WORK IN THE LIBERATED AREAS FOR 1946

#DIRECTIVE OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA

#Mao Zedong

#15th of December, 1945

#★

#INTRODUCTION

In the past few months, our Party has gained great successes in leading the people in fierce struggles to clean up the Japanese and puppet forces and smash the attacks of the Nationalist Party of China on the Liberated Areas. All our Party comrades have worked as one and made marked achievements in every field. The year 1945 will soon be over, and in 1946, we must pay attention to the following points in the work in all the Liberated Areas:

#1. SMASH NEW ATTACKS

Since our army smashed the large-scale attacks on our Liberated Areas in Suiyuan, Shanxi, and southern Hebei, the Nationalist Party has been moving up larger forces and making preparations for new attacks. If no new development makes the Nationalist Party stop its civil war quickly, the fighting in the spring of 1946 will be intense. Therefore, the central task of all the Liberated Areas is still to take a stand of self-defence and do their utmost to smash the Nationalist attacks.

#2. SPREAD THE GAO SHUXUN MOVEMENT¹

In order to smash the Nationalist attacks, our Party must work to disintegrate the Nationalist troops which are preparing to attack or are already attacking. On the one hand, our army must carry on extensive, open political propaganda and political offensives to undermine the will to fight of the Nationalist troops engaged in the civil war. On the other hand, we must prepare and organize uprisings within the Nationalist army and spread the Gao Shuxun Movement, so that, at crucial moments in the fighting, large numbers of Nationalist troops will follow Gao Shuxun's example and come over to the people, oppose the civil war, and take a stand for peace. In order to do this work in a practical way and produce speedy results, every area must, in compliance with the Central Committee's directive, set up a special department and assign a large number of cadres to devote themselves to it wholeheartedly and exclusively. The leading bodies of each area must give this work close direction.

#3. TRAIN THE TROOPS

The field armies of the Liberated Areas have already been formed in the main, and the regional troops are also quite numerous. Hence, for the time being, we should generally stop expanding the number of troops and should make use of the intervals between battles to stress the training of troops. This applies to field armies, regional troops, and people's militias. As for the training courses, the main objective should still be to raise the level of technique in marksmanship, bayoneting, grenade-throwing, and the like, and the secondary objective should be to raise the level of tactics, while special emphasis should be laid on night operations. As for the method of training, we should unfold the mass training movement, in which officers teach soldiers, soldiers teach officers, and the soldiers teach each other. During 1946, we must further improve the political work in the army, overcome any dogmatic and formalist styles of work existing in the army, and strive to unite officers and soldiers, unite the army and the people, unite with friendly troops, disintegrate the enemy troops, and ensure that the tasks of training, supply, and fighting are accomplished. The local people's militias should be reorganized in accordance with present conditions. The army's rear services should be readjusted. Everything possible should be done to organize and expand the artillery and engineer units in all areas. The military academies should continue their work, with stress on the training of technical personnel.

#4. REDUCE RENT

In accordance with the 7th of November, 1945 directive of the Central Committee,² all areas must launch movements in 1946 for the reduction of rent and interest in their new Liberated Areas, movements on a large scale, of a mass character, but with leadership. As for the workers, their wages should be appropriately raised. Through these movements, the broad masses should be able to emancipate themselves, organize, and become the conscious masters of the Liberated Areas. Without these determined measures, the masses in the new Liberated Areas will not be able to tell which of the two political parties, the Communist Party or the Nationalist Party, is good and which is bad; they will waver and will not give firm support to our Party. In the old Liberated Areas, the work of rent and interest reduction should be rechecked in order to consolidate those areas further.

#5. PRODUCTION

All areas must follow the directive of the 7th of November and promptly make every preparation to ensure that, in 1946, both public and private production in all Liberated Areas should surpass any previous year in scale and in achievements. The feeling of weariness which has appeared among the people can be overcome only after the two tasks of rent reduction and production are carried out in earnest and with marked success. Whether or not these two tasks are fulfilled will finally decide victory or defeat in the political and military struggles of the Liberated Areas. They must not be neglected in any area.

#6. FINANCE

In 1946, the financial burden, which has become heavier to cover the intensive work of the recent period, must be brought back to normal in a planned and systematic way. There must be appropriate reductions for those whose burdens are too heavy. In the interest of the long-term effort, the number of people diverted from production in any area must not exceed the limits of local financial capacity. Troops are valued for quality rather than for number; in building the army, this remains one of our principles. To develop production, ensure supply, centralize leadership, decentralize management, give consideration to both army and people and to both public and private interests, and stress both production and economy — all these are still the proper guiding principles for solving our financial and economic problems.

#7. «SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT AND CHERISH THE PEOPLE!» AND «SUPPORT THE ARMY AND GIVE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT TO THE FAMILIES OF SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT IN THE WAR OF RESISTANCE!»³

In 1946, we must perform these two tasks better than in the past few years. This will be of great significance for smashing the Nationalist attacks and consolidating the Liberated Areas. In the army, it should be handled through the ideological education of every commander and fighter, so that all thoroughly understand the importance of supporting the government and cherishing the people. As long as the army on its part does this job well, the local government and the people will also improve their relations with the army.

#8. RELIEF

In the Liberated Areas, there are many victims of natural disasters, refugees, unemployed, and partially unemployed who urgently need relief. Whether this problem is solved well or badly has a great and widespread influence. Relief should depend mainly on mutual aid by the masses themselves, in addition to government measures. The Party and the government should encourage the masses to organize relief through mutual aid.

#9. TAKE GOOD CARE OF LOCAL CADRES

In every Liberated Area today, there are large numbers of cadres from other areas doing the leading work at all levels. This is especially true in the north-eastern provinces. The leading bodies of each area must tirelessly counsel these cadres to take good care of the local cadres and treat them with great warmth and goodwill. Cadres from outside should make the selection, training, and promotion of local cadres an important task for themselves. Only thus can our Party take root in the Liberated Areas. The style of work of people from outside who look down on local people should be criticized.

#10. CALCULATE EVERYTHING ON A LONG-TERM BASIS

No matter how the situation develops, our Party must always calculate on a long-term basis, if our position is to be invincible. At present, our Party on the one hand persists in its stand for self-government and self-defence in the Liberated Areas, firmly opposes attacks by the Nationalist Party, and consolidates the gains won by the people of these areas. On the other hand, we support the democratic movement now developing in the Nationalist areas (as marked by the student strike in Kunming⁴) in order to isolate the reactionaries, win numerous allies for ourselves, and expand the national-democratic united front under our Party's influence. Moreover, a delegation of our Party will soon attend the Political Consultative Conference of various political parties and public figures without party affiliation, reopen negotiations with the Nationalist Party, and strive for peace and democracy throughout the country. However, there may yet be twists and turns. Ahead of us lie many difficulties. For example, our new areas and our new troops are still not consolidated, and we have problems in finance. We must face all these difficulties squarely and overcome them, arrange all our work on a long-term basis, pay the closest attention to the economical use of human and material resources, and guard against any wishful thinking about easy success through good luck.

#CONCLUSION

These ten points should receive special attention in our work in 1946, and particularly in the first half of the year. It is hoped that comrades in different places will carry out these policies flexibly in the light of local conditions. As for the work in various areas, such as building local political power, doing united-front work, spreading education on current affairs inside and outside the Party, and doing work in cities and towns near the Liberated Areas — all this is important, but we shall not dwell on it here.