Holding Large Meetings during the Yan’an Period

During the Yan’an period, various large meetings—such as the Border Region Senate, economic production conferences, cultural and educational conferences, and the Forum on Literature and Art—focused on different themes, clarified work priorities, ensured the scientific formulation of policies and the effective deployment of human and material resources, powerfully unified thought, and powerfully advanced the revolution.

延安时期，边区参议会、经济生产会议、文教大会、文艺座谈会等各类大会聚焦不同主题，明确工作重点，确保方针政策科学制定、人力物力有效调度，有力地统一了思想，有力地推进了革命。

The Border Region Senate and the Economic Production Conference——

边区参议会与经济生产大会——

During the Yan’an period, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region established a three-tier senate system at the border region, county, and township levels, attached importance to uniting all parties and groups, and was committed to consolidating and expanding all work for the anti-Japanese national united front. Judging from the results of the third election to the Border Region Senate, there were a total of 170 senators. In February 1939, the first session of the Border Region Senate adopted the “Organizational Regulations for Senates at All Levels of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region,” which stipulated that “senates at all levels of the border region are the public opinion organs representing the border region at all levels” and clearly defined the powers of senates at all levels.

延安时期，陕甘宁边区建立了边区、县、乡三级参议会制度，重视团结各党各派，致力于巩固和扩大抗日民族统一战线各项工作。从边区参议会第三次选举结果看，共有参议员170人。1939年2月，边区第一届参议会通过《陕甘宁边区各级参议会组织条例》，规定“边区各级参议会为代表边区之各级民意机关”，明确各级参议会的职权。

Among these, the powers of the Border Region Senate included 11 items such as “deciding on the abolition or imposition of local taxes,” “deciding on the issuance of local public bonds,” “resolving on the border region’s separate regulations,” and “supervising and impeaching the administrative personnel of the border region government at all levels.” The powers of the county senate included 8 items such as “resolving on the county’s separate conventions,” “deciding on the livelihood facilities of the county’s people,” and “supervising and impeaching the county government and its subordinate administrative personnel.” The powers of the township senate included 7 items such as “deciding on matters to be initiated or abolished in the township,” “resolving on matters submitted for deliberation by the township’s people or mass organizations,” and “supervising and inspecting the township government’s implementation of the township senate’s resolutions.”

其中，边区参议会的职权包括“决定废除或征收地方捐税”“决定发行地方公债”“决议边区之单行法规”“监督及弹劾边区各级政府之政务人员”等11项，县参议会职权包括“议决本县之单行公约”“决定本县人民之生计设施”“监察及弹劾县政府及其以下之政务人员”等8项，乡参议会职权包括“决定本乡应兴应革事项”“决议本乡人民或民众团体提交审议之事项”“督促及检查乡政府执行乡参议会决议之事项”等7项。

In November 1941, the second session of the first Border Region Senate adopted the “Organizational Regulations for Senates at All Levels of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.” The Border Region Senate gained two additional powers: “recalling the chairman, vice-chairman, government committee members of the Border Region government, and the president of the Border Region High Court” and “retroactively approving important matters of emergency measures handled by the Standing Committee during the recess, or by the chairman of the Border Region government or government committee members.” Regarding financial budgets and final accounts, it was revised to “approving the budget submitted by the local government and examining its final accounts”; regarding the formulation of separate regulations, it was revised to “initiating and re-deciding the border region’s separate regulations,” further expanding the powers of the Border Region Senate and ensuring a more scientific expression. The powers of the county senate were also expanded from 8 to 11 items, reflecting the continuity and developmental characteristics of the senate system’s construction.

1941年11月，边区参议会二届一次会议通过《陕甘宁边区各级参议会组织条例》。边区参议会增加了两项职权，即“罢免边区政府正副主席、政府委员及边区高等法院院长”“追认闭会期间常驻会，及边区政府主席或政府委员关于紧急措置之重要事项”。在财政预决算上，修改为“通过地方政府提出之预算，并审查其决算”；在单行法规的制定上，修改为“创制并复决边区之单行法规”，进一步扩大边区参议会职权，并确保表述更加科学。县参议会的职权也由8项扩大至11项，体现出参议会制度建设的延续性和发展性特征。

At the first session of the Border Region Senate, 12 people including Gao Kelin and Gao Changjiu also proposed a motion for staff to participate in the production movement, which was deliberated and passed. At the meeting, Mao Zedong further issued the call to develop production and improve the people’s livelihood. During the meeting, Mao Zedong attended the opening ceremony of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Agricultural Products Exhibition and delivered a speech pointing out: “The significance of this exhibition is very great. The front fights hard, the rear produces hard, and together we can defeat Japanese imperialism. In the border region, it is not only the common people who must do this; other entities such as schools, Party and government organs, and the military must all participate in the production movement.”

在边区第一届参议会上，高克林、高长久等12人还提出了工作人员参加生产运动的议案，得到审议和通过。在会上，毛泽东进一步发出发展生产、改良人民生活的号召。会议召开期间，毛泽东出席陕甘宁边区农产品展览会开幕式，并发表讲话指出：这场展览会的意义很大。前方努力打仗，后方努力生产，一定能打垮日本帝国主义。在边区，不仅老百姓要如此做，其他如学校、党政机关、军队都要参加生产运动。

In February 1939, the Central Committee of the CPC convened a production mobilization conference at Yangjialing in Yan’an. Mao Zedong pointed out: “Today we hold a production mobilization conference, and its significance is very great. To continue the War of Resistance, we need to mobilize the human and material resources of the whole of China. To mobilize human resources, we must implement the principle of democracy; to mobilize material resources, we must implement the principle of people’s livelihood. Today’s production mobilization conference is precisely a conference for implementing the principle of people’s livelihood. The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region has 2 million residents, plus 40,000 staff who have left production, and to solve the problem of clothing and food for these 2.04 million people, we must carry out a production movement.”

1939年2月，中共中央在延安杨家岭召开生产动员大会。毛泽东指出，今天开生产动员大会，意义是很大的。要继续抗战，就需要动员全中国的人力物力。要发动人力，就要实行民权主义；要动员物力，就要实行民生主义。今天的生产动员大会，也就是实行民生主义的大会。陕甘宁边区有200万居民，还有4万脱离生产的工作人员，要解决这204万人的穿衣吃饭问题，就要进行生产运动。

Regarding this production mobilization conference, Mao Zedong wrote in *Economic and Financial Problems*: “In 1939, the Kuomintang promulgated the ‘Measures to Restrict the Activities of Alien Parties,’ and the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was not as before. The number of organs and schools in the border region also increased, and although there was some external financial assistance, it could not be allocated, and we were under the serious threat of financial supply problems. For this reason, we were forced to think of mobilizing the whole body to engage in a movement for economic self-sufficiency. At that time, at the cadre mobilization conference, we raised the question: Starve to death? Disband? Or rely on our own efforts? No one was in favor of starving to death, and no one was in favor of disbanding; the answer was to rely on our own efforts—that was our reply.”

关于这次生产动员大会，毛泽东在《经济问题与财政问题》里这样写道：“一九三九年国民党颁布《限制异党活动办法》，国共间的关系不如从前了。边区的机关学校也增多，虽有外来的一点经费补助，已经分配不过来，我们处在财政供给问题的严重威胁下。由于这个原因，迫使我们不得不想到全体动员从事经济自给的运动。那时，我们在干部动员大会上曾经这样提出问题：饿死呢？解散呢？还是自己动手呢？饿死是没有一个人赞成的，解散也是没有一个人赞成的，还是自己动手吧——这就是我们的回答。”

The Cultural and Educational Conference and the Forum on Literature and Art——

文教大会与文艺会议——

In November 1944, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Cultural and Educational Conference adopted the “Resolution on Several Issues in the Cultural and Educational Work of Organs and Schools.” This resolution was approved by the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the second session of the second Border Region Senate.

1944年11月，陕甘宁边区文教大会通过《关于机关学校文教工作中几个问题的决议》。这一决议得到了中共中央办公厅与边区二届二次参议会批准。

First, it made provisions for running wall newspapers, conducting recreational activities, and eliminating illiteracy in organs and schools. Regarding running wall newspapers, the resolution pointed out that to promote work, develop democracy, strengthen unity, and educate the masses, the wall newspapers of organs and schools should become newspapers that “everyone runs, everyone reads.” The heads of organs and schools should lead the editorial work of the wall newspapers and maintain close contact with the masses of the organs and schools, including staff, students, and service personnel, so that the wall newspapers can “be good at both praise and criticism” and “both raise questions or debates and provide answers and conclusions.”

一是对机关学校办墙报、进行娱乐活动、扫除文盲现象等作出规定。关于办墙报，决议指出为推动工作、发扬民主、加强团结、教育群众，机关学校的墙报应成为“大家办，大家看”的报。机关学校的首长应领导墙报的编辑工作，并与包括工作人员、学生与杂务人员在内的机关学校群众保持密切联系，从而使墙报能够“既善于表扬，又勇于批评”“既提出问题或争论，又供给答案与结论”。

Second, it placed great emphasis on eliminating illiteracy among service personnel in organs and schools, pointing out that this work was beneficial for enhancing their work enthusiasm, work quality and efficiency, and strengthening the unity of various personnel in organs and schools. The resolution required the responsible authorities to “be responsible for eliminating illiteracy among them within two to three years,” enabling these people to acquire necessary practical writing and arithmetic skills and the ability to read the *Border Region Masses’ Newspaper*, and clearly stipulated that “teaching for them should follow the principle of integrating learning with application,” and, to meet the service personnel’s demand for understanding current affairs, newspaper reading work should be carried out to strengthen their political study.

二是高度重视扫除机关学校杂务人员中的文盲，指出这项工作对于提高他们的工作积极性、工作质量与效率以及加强机关学校各种人员团结是有益的。决议要求主管方面“负责于两三年内扫除他们中的文盲”，使这些人获得必要的实用写算技能与阅读《边区群众报》的能力，并明确规定“对他们的授课，应实行学用一致的原则”，并适应杂务人员了解时事的要求，开展读报工作，以加强他们的政治学习。

Third, it utilized diverse forms of entertainment to absorb personnel with different interests and skills to participate in carrying out entertainment work. The resolution considered that the entertainment work in most organs and schools at the time was “too simple and not widespread,” and pointed out that specialized personnel should be assigned to organize groups for ball games, yangge dances, Qinqiang opera, etc., so that entertainment activities could become mass-oriented.

三是利用多种多样的娱乐形式，吸收爱好不同、擅长不同的人员参加开展娱乐工作。决议认为当时大部分机关学校的娱乐工作“都太简单而不普遍”，指出应派专人组织球类和秧歌舞、秦腔等小组，使娱乐活动成为群众性的东西。

The literary and art meetings during the Yan’an period, centered on the Forum on Literature and Art held in May 1942, were important measures to unify thought in literary and art circles and establish the direction of revolutionary literature and art at a critical stage of the War of Resistance. Mao Zedong’s “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art” is a programmatic document guiding the development of Chinese literature and art.

延安时期的文艺会议以1942年5月召开的文艺座谈会为核心，是在抗战关键阶段统一文艺界思想、确立革命文艺方向的重要举措。毛泽东的《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》，是指导中国文艺发展的纲领性文献。

First, literature and art are part of the revolutionary cause. Mao Zedong directly pointed out the relationship between revolutionary literature and art and the revolution, holding that revolutionary literature and art are part of the entire revolutionary cause, “an indispensable cog and screw for the entire machine, an indispensable part of the entire revolutionary cause.” The formulation “cog and screw” originates from Lenin’s article “Party Organization and Party Literature,” [1]1 Lenin’s 1905 article “Party Organization and Party Literature” argued that literature should become part of the organized, planned, unified Social-Democratic Party work, subordinate to Party control and serving the socialist cause. metaphorically referring to literary and art work and literary and art workers respectively. A machine can only operate normally and exert its due working capacity when driven by cogs and connected and fixed by screws; the revolutionary machine also needs the support of literary and art work and literary and art workers to win the final victory of the revolution. Although cogs and screws are small, they are indispensable components; the role of literary and art work and literary and art workers in the revolutionary cause should also not be underestimated.

第一，文艺是革命事业的一部分。毛泽东开门见山地指明革命文艺与革命的关系，认为革命文艺是整个革命事业的一部分，是“对于整个机器不可缺少的齿轮和螺丝钉，对于整个革命事业不可缺少的一部分”。“齿轮和螺丝钉”的提法源自列宁的《党的组织和党的文学》一文，分别喻称文艺工作和文艺工作者。机器只有在齿轮的带动下、在螺丝钉的连接和固定下才能正常运转，发挥应有的工作能力；革命机器亦需要文艺工作和文艺工作者的支持，方能赢取革命的最后胜利。齿轮和螺丝钉虽小，却是不可或缺的零部件；文艺工作和文艺工作者对革命事业的作用，也不可低估。

Second, literary and art workers must have the standpoint of the masses of the people. Mao Zedong, borrowing Lu Xun’s poem lines “Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers; head bowed, like a willing ox I serve the children,” [2]2 These lines are from Lu Xun’s 1932 poem “Self-Mockery” (*Zichao*). “A thousand pointing fingers” refers to the attacks of enemies, while “willing ox” symbolizes serving the people selflessly. called on literary and art workers to dare to struggle against ferocious enemies; the metaphor of the “willing ox” required literary and art workers to adhere to the standpoint of the masses of the people, to love the masses of the people emotionally, and to take the masses of the people and their lives as the source in creative practice.

第二，文艺工作者要有人民大众立场。毛泽东借用鲁迅的诗句“横眉冷对千夫指，俯首甘为孺子牛”，来号召文艺工作者敢于同凶恶的敌人作斗争；“孺子牛”的比喻则要求文艺工作者坚守人民大众立场，在感情上热爱人民大众，在创作实践中以人民大众及人民大众的生活为源泉。

Third, the popularization of literature and art is the direction of literary and art development. The question of “whom literature and art serve” is a question of standpoint and attitude, a fundamental question, a question of principle. As Mao Zedong discussed, “Our elevation is elevation on the basis of popularization; our popularization is popularization under the guidance of elevation.” The popularization of literature and art means making literature and art mass-oriented, requiring literature and art to take the proletariat and the masses of the people as their target audience, to take the daily lives of the workers, peasants, and soldiers as their creative subject matter, and to adopt literary and art forms that the masses are pleased to see and hear to create literary and artistic works. An important purpose is to liberate literature from the “monopoly of the few.”

第三，文艺大众化是文艺的发展方向。文艺“为什么人服务”是立场态度问题，是根本的问题、原则的问题。正如毛泽东所论述的，“我们的提高，是在普及基础上的提高；我们的普及，是在提高指导下的普及”。文艺普及，意即文艺大众化，要求文艺以无产阶级和人民大众为工作对象，以工农兵群众的日常生活为创作题材，采用大家喜闻乐见的文艺形式创作文艺作品，一个重要目的是把文学从“少数人的垄断中解放出来”。

The series of large meetings held during the Yan’an period played an important role in the historical context of the time, and also provided intellectual resources and experiential inspiration for China’s revolution and construction. For example, upholding the leadership of the Party is unified with adhering to a people-centered approach, “organizing the people, leading the people, helping the people develop production, and increasing their material welfare,” insisting on “asking the people about governance, asking the people about needs, asking the people about plans,” using institutions and legal systems to regulate and guarantee the people’s democratic rights, embedding consultative democracy in links such as democratic elections, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision, forming decisions through investigation, discussion, and research, thereby injecting vitality into the development of socialist democratic politics.

延安时期召开的一系列大会在当时的历史背景下发挥了重要作用，也为中国革命和建设提供了思想资源与经验启示。比如，坚持党的领导与坚持以人民为中心相统一，“组织人民、领导人民、帮助人民发展生产，增加他们的物质福利”，坚持“问政于民、问需于民、问计于民”，用制度和法律体系对人民民主权利进行规范和保障，将协商民主嵌入民主选举、民主决策、民主管理、民主监督等环节，通过调研、讨论、研究形成决策，为社会主义民主政治发展注入活力。

(The authors are respectively a researcher at the Shanghai University Branch Center of the Research Center for the Great Party-Building Spirit of the Communist Party of China in Higher Education Institutions, and a researcher at the Yan’an Spirit and Red Culture Inheritance Collaborative Innovation Center of Yan’an University)

（作者分别为高校中国共产党伟大建党精神研究中心上海大学分中心研究员、延安大学延安精神与红色文化传承协同创新中心研究员）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧