Historical Experience of Party Member Team Building during the Period of the All-People’s War of Resistance

The quality of Party members is an important factor in measuring the cohesion, advanced nature, and combat effectiveness of a political party. The period of the All-People’s War of Resistance was a crucial transitional stage in the organizational building of the Chinese Communist Party. Facing the dual tests of national peril and revolutionary development, our Party carried out fruitful explorations in Party member team building, forming unique historical experiences. During this period, the Chinese Communist Party creatively resolved the tension between organizational scale expansion and quality improvement, achieving a leap in the number of Party members from over 40,000 at the beginning of the All-People’s War of Resistance to more than 1.2 million by 1945, while simultaneously ensuring the advanced nature and purity of the Party organization. The practical explorations of this period not only provided a solid organizational guarantee for winning the War of Resistance and the victory of the New Democratic Revolution, but also made important contributions to the theoretical exploration of Marxist political party building, offering insights for advancing the great new project of Party building in the New Era.

党员质量是衡量一个政党组织凝聚力、先进性和战斗力的重要因素。全民族抗战时期是中国共产党组织建设的重要转折阶段。面对民族危亡与革命发展的双重考验，我们党在党员队伍建设方面进行了卓有成效的探索，形成了独具特色的历史经验。这一时期，中国共产党创造性地解决了组织规模扩张与质量提升的张力问题，实现了党员数量从全民族抗战初期的4万余人到1945年的120余万人的跨越式增长，同时确保了党组织的先进性和纯洁性。这一时期的实践探索，不仅为夺取抗战胜利和新民主主义革命胜利提供了坚实的组织保障，而且在马克思主义政党建设理论探索上作出了重要贡献，对于新时代推进党的建设新的伟大工程具有启示意义。

Adhering to the Unity of Broadness and Advanced Nature, Optimizing Standards for Admitting Party Members

坚持广泛性与先进性统一，优化发展党员标准

During the period of the All-People’s War of Resistance, the Chinese Communist Party faced the dual challenge of expanding scale and ensuring quality in Party member team building. By timely adjusting and optimizing the standards for admitting Party members, this period achieved a dialectical unity of broadness and advanced nature in the Party member team, laying a solid organizational foundation for the victory of the War of Resistance and the development of the revolutionary cause.

全民族抗战时期，中国共产党在党员队伍建设上面临着扩大规模与保证质量的双重挑战。这一时期通过适时调整和优化发展党员标准，实现了党员队伍广泛性与先进性的辩证统一，为抗战胜利和革命事业发展奠定了坚实的组织基础。

Promoting the rapid expansion of the Party member team on all fronts. In December 1935, the Wayaobu Conference proposed, “Whether one can resolutely fight for the Party’s propositions is the main criterion for the Party to admit new members. Social composition should be noted, but it is not the main criterion.” [1]1 The Wayaobu Conference was a pivotal meeting of the Central Committee of the CPC held in Wayaobu, northern Shaanxi, in December 1935, which established the policy of forming a national united front against Japan. At the beginning of the All-People’s War of Resistance, the Chinese Communist Party faced severe organizational development difficulties. The Party’s strength was mainly concentrated in certain regions; Party organizations within the areas ruled by the Kuomintang suffered severe damage, and the weakness of organizational strength formed a sharp contradiction with the urgent need for war mobilization. In March 1938, the Central Committee of the CPC issued the “Resolution on Massively Developing Party Members,” stating that “massively developing Party members tenfold and hundredfold has become the Party’s urgent and serious task at present,” and requiring “boldly opening the door to active workers, farm laborers, revolutionary young students and intellectuals in cities and villages, and resolute and brave lower-ranking officers, focusing the Party’s attention on absorbing new activists from the War of Resistance and expanding the Party’s proletarian base” (Selected Documents of the Central Committee of the CPC, Vol. 11, Central Party School Press, 1991, pp. 466–467). However, the rapid expansion of the Party member scale also affected the advanced nature of the Party organization to a certain extent. To address these issues, the “Decision of the Central Political Bureau on Consolidating the Party” passed in August 1939 required “correcting the mistake of pursuing numbers and using突击 methods, seeking quality rather than quantity.” [2]2 The Chinese term 突击 (tuji) here refers to a rushed, campaign-style method of recruitment. During this period, our Party increased its efforts to absorb intellectuals into the Party organization. In December 1939, the Central Committee of the CPC issued the decision “Massively Absorb Intellectuals,” proposing that “as long as they are willing to resist Japan, are relatively loyal, and can endure hardship, intellectuals from all walks of life should be absorbed in multiple ways.” Subsequently, a large number of educated youth joined the revolution, becoming an important source of Party cadres and greatly optimizing the structure of the Party member team.

全方位推动党员队伍规模快速扩大。1935年12月，瓦窑堡会议提出，“能否为党所提出的主张而坚决奋斗，是党吸收新党员的主要标准。社会成分是应该注意到的，但不是主要的标准”。在全民族抗战初期，中国共产党面临着严峻的组织发展困境。党的力量主要集中于部分区域，国民党统治区内党组织遭受严重破坏，组织力量的薄弱与抗战动员的迫切需求形成鲜明矛盾。1938年3月，中共中央作出《关于大量发展党员的决议》，提出“大量的十百倍的发展党员，成为党目前迫切与严重的任务”，要求“大胆向着积极的工人，雇农，城市中与乡村中革命的青年学生，知识分子，坚决勇敢的下级官兵开门，把发展党的注意力放在吸收抗战中新的积极分子与扩大党的无产阶级基础之上”（《中共中央文件选集》第11册，中共中央党校出版社1991年版，第466～467页）。然而，党员规模的急速扩张也在一定程度上影响了党组织的先进性。为解决这些问题，1939年8月通过的《中央政治局关于巩固党的决定》要求，“纠正追求数目字与采用突击方式的错误，只求精不求多”。这一时期，我们党加大了吸收知识分子加入党组织的工作。1939年12月，中共中央发出《大量吸收知识分子》的决定，提出“只要是愿意抗日的比较忠实的比较能吃苦耐劳的知识分子，都应该多方吸收”。此后，大批知识青年投身革命，成为党员干部的重要来源，大大优化了党员队伍结构。

While emphasizing broadness, ensuring the advanced nature of the team with strict standards. Lenin once emphasized, “We do not want a single Party member who is a Party member in name only.” [3]3 This is a paraphrase of a well-known statement by Lenin from his 1921 article “The Tasks of the Youth Leagues.” The Chinese Communist Party has always adhered to the standard of advanced nature for Party members. Chen Yun, in “How to Be a Communist Party Member,” proposed six standards covering communist belief, putting revolutionary interests above all, observing discipline, executing resolutions, serving as a model for the masses, and making progress in study, providing a clear yardstick for measuring whether a Party member is qualified. [4]4 Chen Yun (1905–1995) was a senior leader of the CPC, known for his work on Party organization and economic policy. His article “How to Be a Communist Party Member” was published in 1939. For applicants for Party membership with different identities, the Party always adhered to strict methods of investigation. In various fields such as rural areas, the military, and factories, the Party consistently used outstanding performance and pure thinking as important criteria for developing Party members. This model of Party member development, which adhered to the dialectical unity of broadness and advanced nature, enabled our Party to always maintain the political character of the vanguard of the working class, providing a strong organizational guarantee for winning the War of Resistance and the victory of the New Democratic Revolution.

在注重广泛性的同时，以严格标准保障队伍先进性。列宁曾强调“徒有其名的党员，就是白给，我们也不要”。中国共产党始终坚守党员的先进性标准。陈云在《怎样做一个共产党员》中提出涵盖了共产主义信仰、革命利益至上、纪律遵守、决议执行、群众模范以及学习进步等方面的六项标准，为衡量党员是否合格提供了明确尺度。对于不同身份的入党申请者，党始终坚持严格考察的方式。在农村、部队、工厂等各个领域，党都以表现优秀、思想纯正作为发展党员的重要依据。这种坚持广泛性与先进性辩证统一的党员发展模式，使我们党始终保持工人阶级先锋队的政治本色，为夺取抗战胜利和新民主主义革命胜利提供了坚强组织保证。

Adhering to the Interaction of Theoretical Armament and Practical Training, Solidifying Party Members’ Political Beliefs

坚持理论武装与实践锻炼互动，筑牢党员政治信仰

The improvement of the quality of Party member team building requires both the “soul-shaping” of Marxist theoretical education and the “tempering” of revolutionary struggle practice. During the period of the All-People’s War of Resistance, the Chinese Communist Party solidified the foundation of belief in the Party member team through the dual path of theoretical armament and practical forging.

党员队伍建设质量的提升，既需要马克思主义理论教育的“塑魂”，更需要革命斗争实践的“淬火”。全民族抗战时期，中国共产党通过理论武装与实践锻造的双重路径，筑牢了党员队伍的信仰之基。

Strengthening theoretical armament, laying the ideological foundation. With the surge in the number of Party members at the beginning of the All-People’s War of Resistance, the Party Central Committee made Marxist-Leninist education and Party spirit education important links in strengthening Party member team building. In January 1940, the Central Committee of the CPC issued the “Instructions on Cadre Study,” requiring all Party cadres to study and research Marxist-Leninist theory and its concrete application in China, and to set up primary, intermediate, and advanced courses based on the principle of proceeding from the shallow to the deep and from China to foreign countries. In July 1941, the “Decision of the Central Committee on Strengthening Party Spirit” passed by the Central Political Bureau required the entire Party to unite as “one person” under “unified will, unified action, and unified discipline,” and to launch a struggle within the Party against “dispersionism,” “independenceism,” and “individualism.” [5]5 “Dispersionism,” “independenceism,” and “individualism” are terms used in internal Party criticism to denote tendencies toward localism, factionalism, and self-interest that undermined central authority. Mao Zedong, pointing to erroneous tendencies such as subjectivism and non-proletarian ideology existing within the Party, stated, “Many Party members have joined the Party organizationally but have not fully joined the Party ideologically, or even have not joined at all.” [6]6 This is a paraphrase of a key point from Mao Zedong’s 1942 “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art.” In 1942, the entire Party launched the Rectification Movement, strengthening the study of Marxist-Leninist theory. On the basis of reinforcing theoretical armament, through in-depth development of criticism and self-criticism and other methods, it broke the shackles of dogmatism, established the ideological line of seeking truth from facts, and greatly raised the Marxist theoretical level of the entire Party. [7]7 The Rectification Movement (1942–1944) was a Party-wide campaign in Yan’an to correct subjectivism, sectarianism, and Party formalism through study, criticism, and self-criticism.

强化理论武装，奠定思想根基。随着全民族抗战初期党员数量的激增，党中央将马克思列宁主义教育与党性教育作为加强党员队伍建设的重要环节。1940年1月，中共中央发布《关于干部学习的指示》，要求全党干部都应当学习和研究马克思列宁主义的理论及其在中国的具体运用，并依据由浅入深、由中国到外国的原则设置初级、中级、高级课程。1941年7月，中央政治局通过的《中央关于增强党性的决定》，要求全党在“统一意志、统一行动、统一纪律”下团结成“一个人”，应当在党内开展反对“分散主义”“独立主义”“个人主义”的斗争。毛泽东针对党内存在的主观主义和非无产阶级思想等错误倾向指出，“有许多党员在组织上入了党，思想上并没有完全入党，甚至完全没有入党”。1942年，全党开展整风运动，加强对马克思列宁主义的理论学习，在强化理论武装的基础上通过深入开展批评与自我批评等多种方式，破除教条主义的束缚，确立了实事求是的思想路线，极大地提升了全党的马克思主义理论水平。

Strengthening practical training, achieving the value sublimation of the unity of knowledge and action. The practical training of Party members must adhere to serving the Party’s central tasks and overall work situation. Mao Zedong emphasized that Communist Party members should “experience wind and rain, see the world.” [8]8 This is a paraphrase of Mao Zedong’s call for cadres to gain practical experience in the midst of struggle. In the work of reducing rent and interest, Party members actively fulfilled their Party duties and resolutely implemented Party resolutions; in launching the Great Production Movement, Party cadres and members “used their own hands to achieve ample food and clothing”; in carrying out military practical training, they actively mobilized and organized the masses, extensively waged guerrilla warfare, established anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines, and comprehensively enhanced the military struggle capabilities of Party cadres and members on the anti-Japanese battlefield, among other things. This path of tempering effectively exercised the will of the Party member team, enhanced the awareness of serving the people, and made political beliefs more steadfast.

加强实践锻炼，实现知行合一的价值升华。党员的实践锻炼必须坚持服务党的中心任务和工作大局。毛泽东强调，共产党员应该“经风雨，见世面”。在减租减息的工作当中，党员积极履行党员职责、坚决执行党的决议；开展大生产运动，党员干部“自己动手、丰衣足食”；开展军事实践锻炼，积极动员组织人民群众，广泛开展游击战争，建立敌后抗日根据地，在抗日战场全面提升党员干部的军事斗争能力，等等。这种锤炼路径有效锻炼了党员队伍的意志，增强了为人民服务的意识，使政治信仰更加坚定。

Adhering to the Combination of Strict Management and Generous Care, Stimulating the Endogenous Motivation of the Party Member Team

坚持严管与厚爱相结合，激发党员队伍内生动力

Adhering to the combination of strict management and generous care was an important method for the Chinese Communist Party to forge the Party member team during the period of the All-People’s War of Resistance. By constructing a management system that combined hardness and softness, it both maintained the purity of the organization with iron discipline and encouraged political responsibility and active performance with tolerance and generosity, achieving a dual improvement in the quality and vitality of the Party member team.

坚持严管与厚爱相结合，是中国共产党在全民族抗战时期锻造党员队伍的重要方法。通过构建刚柔并济的管理体系，既以铁的纪律维护组织纯洁性，又以宽容厚爱的方式激励政治担当和积极作为，实现党员队伍质量与活力的双重提升。

Maintaining organizational purity through iron discipline. Strict discipline is a distinctive trait of Marxist political parties. During the period of the All-Nation War of Resistance, the Party Central Committee placed great emphasis on the construction of disciplinary norms and disciplinary education. In 1938, Mao Zedong demanded at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee that leading organs from the central to the local levels must earnestly implement the Party’s laws and discipline. The plenary session also passed important regulations such as the “Decision on the Work Rules and Discipline of the Central Committee.” Based on changes in the situation and tasks, the Seventh National Congress of the CPC placed special emphasis on political discipline. The Party Constitution adopted at the Seventh National Congress established the “Four Obediences”[9]9 The “Four Obediences” (四个服从) are: the individual is subordinate to the organization, the minority is subordinate to the majority, the lower level is subordinate to the higher level, and the entire Party is subordinate to the Central Committee. as the Party’s organizational discipline, making them the most basic disciplinary constraint for every Party member. Regarding violations of discipline, the Party Central Committee insisted that there be no distinction between ordinary Party members and Party leading cadres, relying on iron discipline and strict rules to exert the functions of warning, admonition, punishment, and deterrence. Examples include expelling Liu Ligong from the Party for refusing to obey organizational assignments and severely punishing the Huang Kegong incident,[10]10 Liu Ligong was a young Party member expelled in 1939 for refusing an assignment to a rural area. Huang Kegong was a veteran Red Army officer and former bodyguard to Mao Zedong who was executed in 1937 for murdering a female student who rejected his marriage proposal. Both cases were used to demonstrate that Party discipline applied equally to all members. demonstrating that “for its own Party members and Red Army members, it cannot but enforce stricter discipline than that applied to ordinary civilians.” During this period, our Party built a disciplinary supervision system based on establishing discipline through institutions, safeguarding discipline through review, and maintaining discipline through punishment, providing solid support for the Party to consolidate its combat effectiveness and win the trust of the masses in an extremely harsh environment.

以铁的纪律维护组织纯洁。纪律严明是马克思主义政党的鲜明特质。全民族抗战时期，党中央高度重视纪律规范建设和纪律教育。1938年，毛泽东在党的六届六中全会上要求从中央到地方的领导机关，必须认真实行党的法纪。全会也通过了诸如《关于中央委员会工作规则与纪律的决定》等重要法规。基于形势和任务的变化，党的七大着重强调了政治纪律。七大党章将“四个服从”确立为党的组织纪律，成为每个党员最基本的纪律约束。针对违纪行为，党中央坚持普通党员和党的领导干部是没有区别的，依靠铁的纪律与严的规矩，发挥警示告诫、惩罚威慑作用，如开除拒不服从组织安排的刘力功党籍，严惩黄克功事件，彰显了“对于自己的党员与红军成员不能不执行比较一般平民更加严格的纪律”。这一时期，我们党构建起制度立纪、审查护纪、惩戒维纪的纪律监督体系，为党在极端环境中凝聚战斗力、赢得群众信任提供了坚实支撑。

Adhering to “placing equal emphasis on review and promotion” to stimulate Party members’ sense of responsibility and initiative. During the Yan’an Rectification Movement,[11]11 The Yan’an Rectification Movement (1942–1944) was a Party-wide campaign to study Marxist texts, criticize subjectivist and sectarian tendencies, and unify ideological standards under Mao Zedong’s leadership. Mao Zedong vividly illustrated the important role of strict discipline in rectifying the Party’s work style by comparing it to “something even more formidable and tougher than the Golden Cudgel of Sun the Monkey King,”[12]12 Sun the Monkey King (Sun Wukong) is the protagonist of the classic Chinese novel *Journey to the West*. His Golden Cudgel is a magical, indestructible weapon that can change size at his will. thereby enhancing Party members’ understanding of discipline. While enforcing strict discipline, the Party emphasized “learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the sickness to save the patient,” requiring that problems among Party cadres be discovered and corrected in a timely manner, “for the purpose of saving them, not striking them down.” In cadre policy, the Party adhered to “placing equal emphasis on review and promotion.” In cadre promotion, it required the timely and bold promotion of “politically progressive activists with clear backgrounds and ability.” The Party ran training classes to cultivate new cadres, appointed them according to their level of competence, and stressed the thinking of “preserving cadres.” During this period, discovering, absorbing, educating, promoting, and cultivating cadres became an important task for the Party, providing a solid organizational guarantee for the victory of the War of Resistance and the development of the revolutionary cause.

坚持“审查与提拔并重”，激发党员担当作为。毛泽东在延安整风运动中以“比孙行者的金箍还厉害，还硬”，生动地说明了严肃的纪律对整肃党风的重要作用，增强了党员对纪律的认识。党在严明纪律的同时，注重“惩前毖后、治病救人”，要求及时发现、及时纠正党员干部的问题，“是为了挽救，而不是为了打击”。在干部政策上，坚持“审查与提拔并重”，在干部提拔上要求及时大胆提拔“政治上进步、来历清楚、有能力的积极分子”。党开办训练班培养新干部，按照能力梯度任用，并强调“保存干部”思维。这一时期，发现、吸纳、教育、提拔、培养干部成为党的一项重要工作，为抗战胜利和革命事业发展提供了坚实组织保障。

(Author: Wang Rui, Lecturer at the School of Marxism, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. This article is a phased result of the National Social Science Fund Youth Project “Research on the Practical Exploration and Optimization Path of Grassroots Party Organization Establishment in Emerging Fields.”)

（作者：王锐，系华中科技大学马克思主义学院讲师，本文系国家社科基金青年项目“新兴领域基层党组织设置的实践探索与优化路径研究”的阶段性成果）

Online Editor: Tongxin

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