The Party’s Forging of Intellectual Forces during the Total War of Resistance against Japan

During the period of the Total War of Resistance against Japan, the Communist Party of China united, trusted, and trained the progressive youth and intellectuals who entered the revolutionary ranks, making them an important force in winning the War of Resistance against Japan. The Central Archives preserves many such documents, among which some precious archival materials, such as “Absorb Large Numbers of Intellectuals,” “Instructions on the Question of Intellectual Cadres in the Army,” and “Instructions on the Policy of Absorbing and Treating Specialists in the Army,” fully reflect the Party’s relevant policies and concrete practices in forging intellectual forces during the War of Resistance against Japan.

全民族抗日战争时期，中国共产党团结、信赖、培养进入革命队伍的进步青年、知识分子，使之成为夺取抗日战争胜利的重要力量。中央档案馆保管着很多这样的档案，其中有些珍贵档案资料，如《大量吸收知识分子》《关于部队中知识分子干部问题的指示》《关于军队中吸收和对待专门家政策的指示》等充分反映了党在抗日战争时期锻造知识力量的相关政策和具体实践。

Casting a Wide Net for Talent: Absorbing Large Numbers of Intellectuals

广纳贤才：大量吸收知识分子

The Communist Party of China has always attached importance to work with intellectuals. In his report “On Tactics against Japanese Imperialism” made after the Wayaobu Conference [1]1 The Wayaobu Conference was a meeting of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee held in Wayaobu, northern Shaanxi, in December 1935, which formulated the policy of establishing an anti-Japanese national united front., Mao Zedong put forward a famous thesis: to establish a broad national revolutionary united front. Organizing millions upon millions of the masses and mobilizing a mighty revolutionary army is the need for today’s revolution to attack the counter-revolution, and he made a detailed analysis of the intellectual group. In 1939, Mao Zedong pointed out in “The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party” that “especially the broad masses of comparatively poor intellectuals can join and support the revolution together with the workers and peasants.”

中国共产党历来重视知识分子工作。毛泽东在瓦窑堡会议后所作《论反对日本帝国主义的策略》的报告，就提出一个著名论断：建立广泛的民族革命统一战线。组织千千万万的民众，调动浩浩荡荡的革命军，是今天的革命向反革命进攻的需要，并对知识分子群体进行了细致分析。1939年毛泽东在《中国革命和中国共产党》中指出，“尤其是广大的比较贫苦的知识分子，能够和工农一道，参加和拥护革命”。

After the outbreak of the Total War of Resistance against Japan, large numbers of progressive youth and intellectuals rushed to the sacred revolutionary center Yan’an and the anti-Japanese base areas. On June 25, 1939, the General Political Department issued a training order on absorbing large numbers of intellectuals and training new cadres, emphasizing that “absorbing revolutionary intellectuals to participate in army work has become an important task in the current cadre policy.” On December 1, 1939, the decision “Absorb Large Numbers of Intellectuals” drafted and issued by Mao Zedong pointed out: “In the long and cruel national liberation war, in the great struggle to build a new China, the Communist Party must be good at absorbing intellectuals in order to organize a great anti-Japanese force, organize millions of peasant masses, develop a revolutionary cultural movement, and develop a revolutionary united front.” The decision demanded that “the Party in all war zones and all Party armies should absorb large numbers of intellectuals to join our army.” On December 10, 1939, Chen Yun pointed out in his speech at the Second Congress of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region that “without intellectuals, the revolution cannot be victorious,” emphasizing the need to adopt various policies as far as possible to absorb intellectuals and fully bring their role into play in the work of the War of Resistance and in the revolutionary cause. These expositions and demands provided the basis for our Party to cast a wide net for talent and absorb large numbers of intellectuals.

全民族抗战爆发后，大批进步青年和知识分子，奔赴革命圣地延安和抗日根据地。1939年6月25日，总政治部颁布关于大量吸收知识分子和培养新干部问题的训令，强调“吸收革命知识分子参加军队工作，成为目前干部政策上一个重要任务”。1939年12月1日，毛泽东起草发布的《大量吸收知识分子》决定指出，“在长期的和残酷的民族解放战争中，在建立新中国的伟大斗争中，共产党必须善于吸收知识分子，才能组织伟大的抗战力量，组织千百万农民群众，发展革命的文化运动和发展革命的统一战线”。决定要求，“一切战区的党和一切党的军队，应该大量吸收知识分子加入我们的军队”。1939年12月10日，陈云在陕甘宁边区第二次代表大会上发表的讲话中指出，“没有知识分子，革命就不能胜利”，强调要尽可能采取各种政策把知识分子吸收进来，在抗战工作中，在革命事业中，充分发挥他们的作用。这些论述和要求，为我们党广纳贤才、大量吸收知识分子提供了依据。

Cherishing Talent and Esteeming the Virtuous: Attaching High Importance to Intellectuals

爱才惜贤：高度重视知识分子

On the basis of broadly absorbing intellectuals, the Party organizations boldly promoted and used intellectuals, respected them politically, and took care of them in their daily lives. After large numbers of intellectuals surged into the anti-Japanese base areas, the Party strove to create conditions for intellectuals to display their talents.

在广泛吸收知识分子基础上，党组织大胆提拔使用知识分子，在政治上尊重知识分子，在生活上照顾知识分子。广大知识分子涌向抗日根据地后，党努力为知识分子施展才华创造条件。

On April 23, 1941, the Central Military Commission issued the “Instructions on the Policy of Absorbing and Treating Specialists in the Army,” emphasizing: “An army without a large number of specialists (military experts, engineers, technicians, doctors, etc.) cannot become a powerful organization.” It also proposed that, taking the specialized knowledge of “specialists” as the standard, they should be given full responsible work, such as factory director, hospital director, and so on. This reflected the Party’s full trust in intellectuals and its principle of appointing people on their merits. During the War of Resistance, the level of economic development was backward, and our Party’s own material conditions were relatively difficult, but it still did its utmost to fully guarantee the material treatment of intellectuals. “The standard of material preferential treatment shall be stipulated according to their ability and level of knowledge, so that they and their families can work without worry about their livelihood. For special talents, they shall be recruited at no expense. The scientific equipment they need shall be purchased as far as possible, and their safety shall be ensured as far as possible during wartime.” At the same time, intellectuals were highly respected politically. For non-Party specialized talents, “they are only required to obey our army’s discipline and various rules and regulations,” while for political study and political life, no rigid stipulations were made, and they were treated flexibly.

1941年4月23日，中央军委作出《关于军队中吸收和对待专门家政策的指示》，强调：“一个军队没有大量的专门家（军事家、工程师、技师、医生等等）参加，是不可能成为一个有力量的组织的。”并提出，要以“专门家”的专门学识为标准，给以充分的负责工作，如工厂厂长、医院院长等等。这体现了党对知识分子的充分信任和任人唯贤。抗战时期，经济发展水平落后，我党自身物质条件较为困难，但仍竭尽所能充分保障知识分子的物质待遇。“物质优待的标准依照其能力学识的程度规定之，要使他们及其家属能无生活顾虑，专心工作。对于特殊的人才，不惜重价延聘。要尽可能购置他们所需要的科学设备，在战时要尽力保证他们的安全。”同时，在政治上十分尊重知识分子，对非党的专门人才，“只要求他们服从我军纪律与各种规章条例”，而对于政治学习和政治生活，则不作硬性规定，灵活对待。

Under the leadership and instructions of the Party Central Committee, anti-Japanese base areas at all levels formulated concrete implementation measures suited to their own characteristics in light of actual conditions. For example, on November 1, 1941, the government of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region issued the “Measures of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region for Giving Preferential Treatment to Specialized Technical Cadres”; in November 1941, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Administrative Office issued the “Interim Measures for Rewarding Production Technology”; on June 1, 1944, the Taiyue Administrative Office issued the “Regulations of the Taiyue District for Rewarding Inventions and Improvements in Production Technology.” These policies and measures were progressive and easy to implement. Through step-by-step refinement of measures, base areas at all levels truly implemented the good policies of giving preferential treatment and rewards to “specialists.”

在党中央的领导和指示下，各级抗日根据地都结合实际制定了符合自身特点的具体实施办法。如1941年11月1日，晋冀鲁豫边区政府发布的《晋冀鲁豫边区优待专门技术干部办法》，1941年11月，晋西北行署发布的《奖励生产技术暂行办法》，1944年6月1日，太岳行署发布的《太岳区奖励生产技术发明与改良条例》。这些政策办法层层递进，便于实施。各级根据地通过一步步细化措施，将优待和奖励“专门家”的好政策真正落到了实处。

Making the Best Use of Talents: Training and Educating Intellectuals

人尽其才：培养教育知识分子

To help the intellectual group quickly adapt and integrate into the work and life of the anti-Japanese base areas, and to fully stimulate their enthusiasm for the War of Resistance and for construction, the Party promptly formulated relevant policies and actively established cadre schools, training schools, and so on. On December 25, 1940, the article “On Policy” drafted by Mao Zedong proposed that Party organizations at all levels “should absorb all intellectuals who are relatively active in the War of Resistance into the schools we run, give them short-term training, and have them participate in army work, government work, and social work.” On the one hand, cadre training schools were established to train cadres. For example, the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University was founded, carrying out practical combat teaching, summing up revolutionary experience, and closely following the needs of the War of Resistance, with Party and army leaders personally giving lectures. The university, in the manner of a “crucible,” forged intellectuals into backbone elements possessing both political loyalty and military talent. On the other hand, specialized technical schools were established to train specialized technical personnel, successively founding the Yan’an Academy of Natural Sciences, the China Medical University, agricultural schools, health training schools, the Bethune Nursing School, and others. Among them, the Yan’an Academy of Natural Sciences provided a large number of scientific and technological backbone elements for the War of Resistance, training more than 500 scientific and technological cadres and specialized personnel in six years; it launched a “movement to popularize science among the masses,” compiling popular science readings such as “Aunt Wang Raises a Fat Baby” to eradicate superstition; and it pioneered the scientific and technological education paradigm of “government, industry, academia, and research.”

为帮助知识分子群体尽快适应融入抗日根据地的工作和生活，充分激发他们的抗战热情和建设积极性，党及时制定相关政策，积极创办干部学校、培训学校等。1940年12月25日，毛泽东起草的《论政策》一文提出，各级党组织“应吸收一切较有抗日积极性的知识分子进我们办的学校，加以短期训练，令其参加军队工作、政府工作和社会工作”。一方面，开设干部培训学校培养干部。如创办抗日军政大学，开展实战化教学，总结革命经验，紧扣抗战需求，党和军队的领导人亲自授课。抗大以“熔炉”之姿，将知识分子锻造成兼具政治忠诚与军事才能的骨干。另一方面，开办专门技术学校培养专门技术人才，陆续创办了延安自然科学院、中国医科大学、农业学校、卫生训练学校、白求恩护士学校等。其中延安自然科学院为抗战输送了大量科技骨干，6年培养了500余名科技干部和专门人才；开展“科学大众化运动”，编写《王大娘养胖娃》等科普读物，破除迷信；开创了“政产学研”的科技教育范式。

On September 17, 1942, the General Political Department’s “Instructions on the Question of Intellectual Cadres in the Army” summarized the Party’s policy towards intellectuals in the army as having three aspects: “accommodate,” “transform,” and “use.” The so-called “accommodate” means to win over intellectuals to join our army, to be able to accommodate them, and to make them our outstanding cadres. The so-called “transform” means to change the petty-bourgeois ideology of intellectuals, to make them revolutionary and proletarianized. The so-called “use” means to correctly assign their work, so that they have appropriate prospects for development. These three aspects are interconnected and dialectically unified. To achieve correct “use,” it is necessary first to achieve “accommodate,” to fully trust and accept them; within “accommodate” there is also “transform,” to continuously cultivate and influence them; and finally, to strive to create various opportunities to realize making the best use of their talents.

1942年9月17日，总政治部《关于部队中知识分子干部问题的指示》总结提出军队中对待知识分子的政策有三个方面：“容”“化”“用”。所谓“容”者，就是争取知识分子加入我们军队，能够容纳他们，使他们成为我们的优秀干部。所谓“化”者，就是转变知识分子的小资产阶级思想意识，使他们革命化、无产阶级化。所谓“用”者，就是正确分配他们的工作，使他们有适当的发展前途。这三者是相互联系、辩证统一的。想要实现正确的“用”，必然就要先做到“容”，要充分信任和接纳，“容”中又有“化”，不断地培养影响他们，最终努力创造各种机会实现人尽其才。

Accomplishments Depend on Talent: Intellectuals Made Outstanding Contributions to Winning the War of Resistance

功以才成：知识分子为夺取抗战胜利作出突出贡献

Under the Party’s leadership, the broad masses of revolutionary intellectuals played a unique role by virtue of their own knowledge and cultural advantages. Large numbers of intellectuals actively formed anti-Japanese national salvation groups, propaganda teams, service corps, and so on, actively going deep among the masses, taking root among the masses to propagate the ideas of anti-Japanese national salvation and to propagate Marxism. Literary and art workers, relying on literary and art groups and literary and art newspapers and periodicals, created many literary and art works that were popular with the masses. Large numbers of scientific and technological workers actively took root in the anti-Japanese border areas, extensively carrying out research work in agricultural science and technology and military science and technology. For example, during the War of Resistance, technical personnel at Yan’an’s Guanghua Farm introduced, selected, bred, and promoted large numbers of improved varieties of crops, fruit trees, vegetables, etc., successfully introducing and trial-planting tomatoes, kohlrabi, lettuce, and others; they actively improved crop cultivation techniques, summing up a set of cotton early-maturing and high-yield techniques suited to local natural conditions. The various policy practices of absorbing, using, training, and educating intellectuals implemented by the Party during the War of Resistance enabled the broad intellectual group to support our Party’s active resistance, laying a solid foundation for winning the War of Resistance and for the construction of the liberated areas. The beacon-fire crucible forged a powerful intellectual force.

在党的领导下，广大革命知识分子凭借自身知识文化优势发挥了独特作用。大批知识分子积极组建抗日救国团体、宣传队、服务团等，积极深入民众、扎根民众宣传抗战救国思想，宣传马克思主义。文艺工作者依托文艺社团和文艺报刊，创作了许多群众喜闻乐见的文艺作品。大量科技工作者积极扎根抗战边区，广泛开展农业科技和军事科技的研究工作。如抗战时期延安的光华农场技术人员大量引进选育推广农作物、果树、蔬菜等良种，引进试种成功了西红柿、球茎甘蓝、生菜等；积极改进农作物栽培技术，总结出一套符合当地自然条件的棉花早熟丰产技术。党在抗战时期实行的吸收使用培养教育知识分子的各项政策实践，使得广大的知识分子群体支持我党积极抗战，为夺取抗战胜利和解放区建设打下了坚实的基础，烽火熔炉锻造了强大的知识力量。