Central Party School: Forging Furnace of Yan'an Rectification Thought

Mao Zedong made a report on "Transforming Our Learning" at the Yan'an Senior Cadre Meeting held in the small auditorium of the Yan'an Central Party School (oil painting)

The Yan'an rectification movement is a profound Marxist ideological education movement, which has achieved great results, realized the new unity and unity of the whole party with Mao Zedong as the core, and laid an important ideological and political foundation for the convening of the Seventh CPC National Congress and the victory of the Anti-Japanese War and the democratic revolution. The Central Party School played a unique and important role in the ideological forging furnace in the Yan'an rectification movement, and achieved a glorious period in the history of the Party school.

First, the Central Party School is an important physical place and space for the Yan'an rectification movement, and many important activities in the rectification movement take place in the Central Party School. Take just three speeches by Mao Zedong as an example. On May 19, 1941, Mao Zedong delivered a report on "Reforming Our Learning" at the Yan'an Senior Cadre Meeting held in the small auditorium of the Central Party School. He advocated reforming the learning methods and learning system of the whole party, and called on the whole party to establish the unity of theory and practice. The Marxist style of study pointed out the direction for the rectification study of the whole party and was an ideological mobilization for the rectification movement. Still in this small auditorium, on February 1, 1942, Mao Zedong gave a speech on "Rectifying the Party's Style" at the opening ceremony of the Central Party School. On February 8, Mao Zedong gave another speech on "Opposing Party Shas", comprehensively expounding the purpose, task and purpose of the rectification movement. With these two speeches as a sign, the rectification movement was generally carried out throughout the party. The content of the rectification movement is to oppose subjectivism in order to rectify the style of study, sectarianism in order to rectify the style of the party, and the eight-piece party writing in order to rectify the style of writing. "Reforming our study", "rectifying the party's style of work" and "opposing the party's eight writing" are three representative documents of the rectification movement. Mao Zedong's three speeches were published in the Central Party School, which in itself is the glory of the Central Party School.

Second, the Party Central Committee promotes the Party's rectification movement by grasping the rectification movement of the Central Party School. First of all, the Party Central Committee concentrated a large number of leading cadres from all base areas and fields, as well as representatives of the seven National Congress of the Communist Party of China except working in Yan'an, to study in the Central Party School. Therefore, the Yan'an rectification movement is actually carried out with the Central Party School as the focus, and the rectification movement of the Central Party School is a microcosm of the rectification movement of the whole party. Secondly, the Party Central Committee has gained experience through the experiment of the Central Party School, and used this experience to guide the rectification movement of the whole party. Thirdly, most of the students in the Central Party School are senior Party cadres, and the rectification of the Central Party School radiates the whole Party. Therefore, it is not too much to say that the focus of the whole party's rectification movement is in Yan'an and the focus of the Yan'an rectification movement is in the Central Party School. In March 1943, Mao Zedong personally served as the president of the Central Party School. With the vision of a strategist, the wisdom of a politician, and the courage of a revolutionist, he brought the political function of the Central Party School to an unprecedented height.

Third, the Yan'an Central Party School has preserved and trained a large number of cadres for the party, especially the party's senior cadres. In 1941, representatives of the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China arrived in Yan'an one after another. Due to the postponement of the Seventh National Congress, the Central Committee arranged for the representatives of the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China to study in the Central Party School and participate in the subsequent rectification movement. This preserved and cultivated a large number of backbones for the party in the war environment. Mao Zedong attached great importance to the training of senior party cadres. He said: "If our party has one hundred to two hundred comrades who have learned Marxism-Leninism systematically rather than piecemeal, practically rather than empty, it will be greatly improved. Improve the fighting power of our party." During the Yan'an period, especially after Mao Zedong became the principal, the scale of the party school continued to expand, gradually expanding to 6 departments, with a maximum of 3000 students. Judging from the representatives participating in the Seventh National Congress, among the representatives and alternate representatives of the Seventh National Congress, a total of 486 people have studied and worked in the Yan'an Central Party School, accounting for 65% of the total number of 752 representatives of the Seventh National Congress. This proportion intuitively shows that at this time The Central Party School is a gathering place for senior cadres of our party. Mao Zedong gave a high degree of affirmation to the party school at the Seventh National Congress. He said, "The Central Committee is here, the party school is here, and the Seventh National Congress is held here. If this problem is solved, the Chinese nation will win". The juxtaposition of the Party School with the Central Committee and the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China shows the status and weight of the Central Party School in Mao Zedong's heart.

It is inherently inevitable that the Central Party School will become an important town in the rectification movement in Yan'an. On the one hand, the Yan'an rectification movement has historical inevitability. At that time, the serious dogmatism tendency in the party must be eliminated ideologically, the team impure and sectarian problems must be rectified organizationally, and the party's historical line must be politically correct. To solve these political tasks, the basis and prerequisite for accomplishing these political tasks is the ideological understanding of leading cadres. On the other hand, the central government has reorganized the Central Party School three times. According to Peng Zhen, who is in charge of the political education of the Central Party School, the purpose of the reorganization is to make the party school education fully conform to the spirit of Mao Zedong's report on rectifying the three styles. Teaching content and methods can reflect the Marxist style of study that connects theory with practice, and it meets the needs of ideological education for the party's senior and middle-level cadres. In this way, the Central Party School has historically and inevitably assumed the important task of forging the melting pot of the party's ideas.

Source: Learning Times