Working Thoroughly for the Interests of the People

[Abstract] It has been a full eighty years since Mao Zedong’s “Serve the People” was published. This is a short essay of extremely high ideological content, printed in various pamphlets, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated to countries around the world. The basic viewpoints and fundamental principles of Marxism are distilled from observing the daily life of the masses, and Marxism can only be recognized and accepted by the masses when it is embedded in the life of the people. It was through advocating and implementing the thought and action of serving the people that Mao Zedong transformed Marxism into the great practice of the Chinese Communists leading the Chinese people to transform China and the world. It was the thought and action of “serving the people,” vigorously championed by Mao Zedong, that changed the moral concepts and spiritual outlook of the Chinese nation. Something capable of changing the moral concepts of an ancient nation must be a matter of immense significance and also a great creation. Studying and propagating Mao Zedong’s “Serve the People” is an eternal mission for us Chinese Communists and for China’s intellectual circles.

【摘要】毛泽东的《为人民服务》发表整整八十年了。这是一篇思想含金量极高的短文，印成各种小册子，译成多种文字，传播到世界各国。马克思主义的基本观点、基本原则，是从观察人民群众的日常生活中提炼出来的，马克思主义也只有在人民的生活中才能为群众认识和接受。毛泽东就是通过倡导和贯彻为人民服务的思想和行动，把马克思主义转变为中国共产党人领导中国人民改造中国和世界的伟大实践。是毛泽东大力倡导的“为人民服务”的思想和行为，改变了中华民族的道德观念和精神面貌。能够改变一个古老民族道德观念的事物，肯定是一个非常重大的问题，也是一个伟大的创造。研究和宣传毛泽东的《为人民服务》，是我们中国共产党人和中国思想界一项永恒的使命。

[Keywords] Serve the People; Mao Zedong Thought; Transforming China

【关键词】 为人民服务 毛泽东思想 改造中国

Mao Zedong’s “Serve the People” has been published for over eighty years. On September 8, 1944, over a thousand officers and soldiers of the Central Guard Regiment in Yan’an, along with cadres and students, held a solemn memorial meeting for the fallen soldier Zhang Side. Mao Zedong personally inscribed the elegy “Pay tribute to Comrade Zhang Side, who sacrificed for the interests of the people,” delivered a speech, and evaluated Comrade Zhang Side as “dying for the interests of the people, his death is weightier than Mount Tai.” [1]1 "serve the people" (为人民服务): A core slogan of the Chinese Communist Party, famously articulated by Mao Zedong in a 1944 speech at the memorial service for the soldier Zhang Side. It encapsulates the Party's stated fundamental purpose. The Yan’an *Liberation Daily* reported Mao’s speech, which was then forwarded by Xinhua News Agency to all liberated areas and to the *Xinhua Daily* in Chongqing, which was under Kuomintang rule. The memorial meeting for an ordinary soldier and a speech advocating serving the people resonated in two worlds: Yan’an and Chongqing. From then on, the phrase “serve the people” spread across the land of China. This article was included in the *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, printed in various pamphlet editions, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated to countries around the world.

毛泽东的《为人民服务》发表已经八十多年了。1944年9月8日，延安的中央警卫团指战员、机关干部及学员一千多人，为殉职的战士张思德举行了隆重的追悼会。毛泽东亲笔题写了挽词“向为人民利益而牺牲的张思德同志致敬”，发表了演讲，评价张思德同志“是为人民利益而死的，他的死是比泰山还要重的”。延安《解放日报》报道了毛泽东的演讲，并由新华社转发到各解放区和在国民党统治区重庆的《新华日报》。一位普通战士的追悼会，一篇倡导为人民服务的讲话，在延安和重庆两个世界引起了反响。从此，“为人民服务”这句话在中国的大地上流传开来。这篇文章被收进《毛泽东选集》，印成各种版本小册子，译成多种文字，传播到世界各国。

I. Why Study Serving the People

一、为什么要研究为人民服务

What is the purpose of human life? This is a question that has been debated endlessly since the dawn of human civilization.

人生活的目的是什么？这是人类文明产生以来至今争论不休的问题。

In our country today, amid reform and opening up, especially as people’s material life becomes increasingly abundant day by day, I feel this question has become more perplexing than in the past.

在我国改革开放的今天，特别是人们的物质生活一天比一天丰富的情况下，感到这个问题反而比过去更令人困惑了。

I first pondered this question in the early 1960s. At that time, I had just started middle school, attending Beijing No. 26 Middle School (now renamed Beijing Huiwen Middle School). I still remember encountering this issue in a book called *Youth Cultivation Correspondence* written by Gan Feng. [2]2 "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the nation" (国家兴亡，匹夫有责): A classical Chinese proverb originating from the late Ming and early Qing dynasty scholar Gu Yanwu, expressing the idea that every individual bears responsibility for the fate of their country. Gan Feng’s article cited extensively, discussing Marx’s “confession” and his choice of profession — “to work for humanity.” I was deeply attracted by Marx’s conviction and spirit; it was like the first dawning of understanding, and the impression remains undiminished to this day.

我第一次思考这个问题，是在二十世纪六十年代初。那时，我刚上中学，就读北京第二十六中学（现在更名为北京汇文中学）。至今还记得，是在读敢峰写的《青年修养通讯》这本书里接触到这个问题。敢峰的文章旁征博引，讲到马克思的“自白”和对职业的选择——“为人类工作”，为马克思的这一信念和精神深深吸引，可谓混沌初开，至今印象不减。

In my memory, the phrase “serve the people,” or rather the concept of “serving the people,” began to enter my mind also during my middle school years, specifically in the era of Mao Zedong’s inscription “Learn from Comrade Lei Feng.” [3]3 Marx, “Reflections of a Young Man on the Choice of a Profession” (1835). I was moved by Lei Feng’s spirit, threw myself into the nationwide mass movement to learn from Lei Feng, and, following Lei Feng’s example, would go out with several classmates during after-school hours or on holidays to do good deeds for the masses in society.

在我的印象中，“为人民服务”这句话，或者说“为人民服务”这样一种观念开始进入我的脑海，也是在上初中的时候，即毛泽东题词“向雷锋同志学习”的年代。我被雷锋的精神感染，投入到全国性的学习雷锋的群众运动中，也学着雷锋的做法，在课余时间或节假日，和几个同学到社会上为群众做好事。

I still clearly remember that during my senior high school years, on a Sunday, led by our homeroom teacher Duan Bingxie, several classmates and I, together with the then-famous model worker Shi Chuanxiang and several other night-soil collectors, cleaned out a cesspool in a residential courtyard in an alley near our school. [4]4 “Subbotniks” (from Russian *subbota*, Saturday) were voluntary, unpaid work shifts organized on weekends, initiated by Communist Party members and workers during the Russian Civil War. Shi Chuanxiang and the other workers were doing their regular jobs; we were there to learn from the worker uncles. For the first time in my life, I did such “filthy” work. While cleaning the cesspool, despite my utmost care, the foul-smelling sewage splashed onto my clothes and onto my lips; the taste was salty and astringent, yet our spirits were joyful. Even now, thinking back, I still feel a spiritual shock.

至今还清楚地记得，上高中的时候，一个星期天在班主任段禀燮老师带领下，我和几个同学与当时著名的劳动模范时传祥等几个掏粪工人，在学校附近的一条胡同里为居民院掏粪池。时传祥和几个掏粪工人是在做本职工作，我们是来向工人叔叔学习的。有生以来，第一次做这样“肮脏”的工作。掏粪的时候，尽管我格外地小心，腥臭的粪汤子还是溅到了衣服上，溅到了嘴唇上，味道又咸又涩，但是我们的精神是愉快的。至今想起来，仍有一种心灵的震撼。

In 1966, I acquired a bound edition of the *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, printed in vertical type, which I have kept to this day. At that time, I also had the *Quotations from Chairman Mao* and the bound edition of the “Three Old Articles.” [5]5 Lenin, “A Great Beginning” (1919). It was then, in my first year of senior high school, that I first read Mao Zedong’s “Serve the People.” During the 1960s and 1970s, I went from being a middle school student to working in a factory, joining the military, entering the Party, and returning to civilian life. During this period, I read the article “Serve the People” many times, although my understanding of Mao Zedong’s thought on serving the people was still superficial at that time.

1966年，我有了合订本的《毛泽东选集》，字体是竖排版的，保留至今。那时还有了《毛主席语录》和“老三篇”合订本。就是在那个时候，高中一年级，我第一次读到毛泽东的《为人民服务》。六七十年代里，我从中学生，进工厂，到部队，入党，回到地方，这期间多次读过《为人民服务》这篇文章。尽管那时我对毛泽东的为人民服务的思想认识是肤浅的。

Having experienced our country’s 1989 political turmoil [6]6 Mao Zedong, “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship” (1949). and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the collapse of the Soviet Communist Party and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, having witnessed the spread of ideological and moral problems and corruption within the Party and society over many years, and facing the enormous changes in the world and China, I gained a new understanding of Mao Zedong’s thought on serving the people. After thoroughly reading the *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, the *Collected Works of Mao Zedong*, and *Mao Zedong’s Manuscripts Since the Founding of the Nation*, I acquired a new understanding and knowledge of Mao Zedong’s thought on serving the people. Serving the people is not only the political character and code of conduct of Marxism-Leninism and Communists but also the ideological and political line of Marxism and Communists. Looking back at our Party’s history of growing from small to large, from weak to strong, did it not grow and strengthen precisely under the guidance of the thought of serving the people? Why did the Soviet Communist Party collapse? The fundamental reason is none other than whether it achieved serving the people. Any proletarian political party that belittles this issue signifies the beginning of an ideological and political decline, the beginning of detachment from the masses, and the beginning of heading toward failure.

经历了我国“八九”政治风波和东欧剧变、苏共亡党亡国，目睹了很多年来党内和社会上思想道德问题、腐败现象蔓延，面对世界与中国发生的巨大变化，我对毛泽东的为人民服务的思想有了一种新的认识。在通读了《毛泽东选集》《毛泽东文集》《建国以来毛泽东文稿》，对毛泽东的为人民服务的思想有了一个新的了解和认识。为人民服务不仅是马克思列宁主义、共产党人的政治品格和行为准则，也是马克思主义、共产党人的思想政治路线。回顾我们党从小到大、从弱到强的历史，不就是在为人民服务思想的指导下成长壮大起来的吗！为什么苏联共产党垮掉了？基本的原因不是别的，就在是否做到了为人民服务。凡是轻视这个问题的无产阶级政党，都意味着在思想上政治上开始滑坡，开始脱离群众，开始走向失败。

The reason I discuss my own cognitive process regarding “serve the people” is, on the one hand, because it has educated me and played a tremendous role in educating and transforming our nation. On the other hand, “serve the people” may seem ordinary, but within its ordinariness lies the direction of the development of human society and the most basic principle of what makes a person a social being. Especially under the current conditions of a market economy, when people are busy making a living, the conviction and action of “serving the people” become even more precious and important.

我之所以讲自己对“为人民服务”的认识过程，一方面是因为它在教育我，在教育和改造我们这个民族发挥着巨大的作用；另一方面，“为人民服务”看似平凡，可就在它的平凡中包含着人类社会发展的方向，包含着人之所以成为社会的人的最基本的道理。尤其在当前市场经济的条件下，人们为谋生而忙碌时，“为人民服务”的信念和行为，就显得更宝贵和重要了。

In China’s intellectual circles, many people consider “serve the people

在我国知识界，有不少人认为“为人民服务”只是个宣传口号，没有多少学术和理论的价值，理论界对在我国诞生的伟大的“为人民服务”的社会实践和思想理论缺乏应有的研究，长期以来缺少关于专门研究“为人民服务”的课题。这不能不说是我国思想界的一个严重缺憾和不足。我认为，毛泽东的《为人民服务》是一篇划时代的伟大文章。这篇文章传播范围之广，就足以证明了它的崇高地位和强大的生命力、影响力。

Researching the topic of "serve the people" presents considerable difficulty, and the difficulty lies precisely in the popular, mass, social, realistic, and highly political nature of this issue. I believe that in studying Mao Zedong Thought, in studying Party building, and in studying the tremendous changes in New China, if one has not seriously studied "serve the people," then one has not done the job thoroughly. "Serve the people" is a great achievement of Mao Zedong's creative application of Marxism to transform China. I am willing to research this topic together with readers and with all those who harbor the conviction that "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the nation."

研究“为人民服务”这个题目有相当大的难度，难就难在这个问题的通俗性、群众性、社会性、现实性和很强的政治性。我认为，研究毛泽东思想，研究党的建设，研究新中国的巨大变化，如果没有认真研究“为人民服务”，就是没有到位。“为人民服务”是毛泽东创造性地运用马克思主义改造中国的一个伟大成就。我愿意和读者们，和一切胸怀“国家兴亡，匹夫有责”的人们，共同研究这个题目。

II. The Soul of the Communist Movement

二、共产主义运动的灵魂

Where did the idea of "serve the people" come from? If anyone thinks it originated from Mao Zedong's impromptu remarks at the memorial meeting for Zhang Side, they are greatly mistaken.

“为人民服务”的思想是怎么来的呢？如果有人以为源自毛泽东在追悼张思德会上的即兴之语，就大错特错了。

The formulation "serve the people" was created by Mao Zedong, but the idea of "serve the people" was already present in Marxism and was inherited and developed by Leninism. What is the value outlook of Marxism? For Marxists, doing things for whom, and doing what things, are the most meaningful, the most valuable, the most worth doing, and indeed must be done? The answer is to serve the people.

“为人民服务”的提法是毛泽东创造的，但是“为人民服务”的思想，在马克思主义中已经有了，并为列宁主义继承和发展。马克思主义的价值观是什么呢？对马克思主义者来说，为什么人做事，做什么事，才是最有意义的、最有价值的、最值得去做也必须去做的事情呢？答案就是为人民服务。

Marx and Engels both came from the upper strata of bourgeois society. Yet in the capitalist society of deceit, intrigue, and rampant individualism, they feared neither the hardships nor the trials of life, and opened up and engaged in an entirely new cause — “choosing the profession that works for the benefit of humanity” and “bringing happiness to the greatest number of people.” [3]3 Marx, “Reflections of a Young Man on the Choice of a Profession” (1835). In the *Communist Manifesto*, they publicly declared that “the proletarian movement is the independent movement of the immense majority, in the interests of the immense majority,” and that Communists “have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole.”

马克思、恩格斯都出身于资产阶级社会的上层。但是他们在尔虞我诈、个人主义至上的资本主义社会里，不惧生活的艰辛和磨难，开辟和从事着一种全新的事业——“选择了最能为人类而工作的职业”“为大多数人带来幸福”。 在《共产党宣言》里，他们公开申明，“无产阶级的运动是绝大多数人的、为绝大多数人谋利益的独立的运动”，共产党人“没有任何同整个无产阶级的利益不同的利益”。

The mode of behavior and the ideology of serving the people are not innate in every individual; they arise, develop, and spread within the communist movement, which is guided by Marxism, opposes all class exploitation and class oppression, and works for the interests of the vast majority. There is no doubt that Marxism, founded to realize communism, can only distinguish itself from all other non-Marxist and anti-Marxist outlooks on life and values by striving for the interests of the people and serving the people. Only by seeking happiness for the people and struggling for their interests can the people come to believe in Marxism, and only then can the people be drawn into the proletarian revolutionary movement and into the communist movement. Serving the people wholeheartedly is the fundamental purpose of the Communist Party, the standpoint and starting point of Marxism, the concentrated expression of Marxist values, and the soul and source of strength of the communist movement.

为人民服务的行为方式和思想观念不是每个人与生俱有的，而是在以马克思主义为指导的反对一切阶级剥削和阶级压迫、为绝大多数人谋利益的共产主义运动中产生、发展和传播开来的。毫无疑问，为实现共产主义而创立的马克思主义，只有为人民的利益奋斗，为人民服务，才能与其他的一切非马克思主义和反马克思主义的人生观、价值观区别开来；也只有为人民谋幸福，为人民利益奋斗，人民才能相信马克思主义，才能使人民参加到无产阶级革命运动中，参加到共产主义运动中来。全心全意为人民服务是共产党的根本宗旨，是马克思主义的立场和出发点，是马克思主义价值观的集中体现，是共产主义运动的灵魂和力量之源。

Marx and Engels devoted their entire lives to liberating the exploited and oppressed proletariat and the broad masses of working people, using the knowledge they possessed to serve the liberation of the working people.

马克思、恩格斯毕生致力于解放被剥削被压迫的无产阶级和广大劳动群众，用自己掌握的知识为劳动人民的解放服务。

Lenin was also such a person. He led the Russian people through a long and arduous struggle against tsarist autocracy and capitalism. Especially after the victory of the October Revolution, during the difficult pioneering work of building the first socialist state in human history, he wrote the article “A Great Beginning,” vigorously advocating for the “communist subbotniks” [4]4 “Subbotniks” (from Russian *subbota*, Saturday) were voluntary, unpaid work shifts organized on weekends, initiated by Communist Party members and workers during the Russian Civil War. of the Russian working class. He regarded the thoughts and actions manifested in this selfless labor — working without any compensation, with high productivity, and wholeheartedly for the country and the people — as a “great beginning” of the human spirit, possessing “immense historical significance,” as “the beginning of a change that is more difficult, more substantial, more radical, and more decisive than the overthrow of the bourgeoisie,” and as a lofty and immense force for “building communism, creating new economic relations, and establishing a new society.” Lenin believed that only when the masses of workers and peasants possessed such a spirit would “a return to capitalism become impossible, and communism truly become invincible.” Lenin demanded with utmost seriousness that all Bolshevik Party members must possess such thoughts and moral character: “Sing less political praise; pay more attention to the most ordinary but vivid, life-tested matters of communist construction.” [5]5 Lenin, “A Great Beginning” (1919). Lenin elucidated this truth: the spirit of selfless dedication is the communist moral character, and only those with such ideological sentiments possess the lofty ideal of realizing communism.

列宁也是这样的人，他领导俄国人民经历了长期艰苦卓绝的反对沙皇专制和资本主义的斗争。特别是在十月革命胜利后，在建设人类历史上第一个社会主义国家的艰难创业中，他写下了《伟大的创举》一文，大力倡导俄国工人阶级的“共产主义星期六义务劳动”，把这种忘我劳动中体现出来的不要任何报酬、并且是高生产率的、全心全意为国家为人民的思想和行为，视为人类精神的“伟大的创举”“有巨大的历史意义”“是比推翻资产阶级更困难、更重大、更深刻、更有决定意义的变革的开端”，是一种“建设共产主义、创造新的经济关系、建立新社会”的崇高而巨大的力量。列宁认为，只有工农群众都具有了这样的精神，“退回到资本主义才不可能，共产主义才真正变得不可战胜”。列宁极其认真地要求全体布尔什维克党员，都必须具有这样的思想和品德，“少唱些政治高调，多注意些极平凡的但是生动的、来自生活并经过生活检验的共产主义建设方面的事情”。 列宁阐明了这样一个道理，无私奉献的精神是共产主义的道德品质，具有这样思想情操的人才拥有实现共产主义的远大理想。

“A Great Beginning” is an article Lenin wrote in June 1919. This article, discussing communist ideology and morality, was one of the first three articles by Lenin to be translated into China. The title alone was enough to arouse the curiosity and attention of the world. Chinese intellectual circles were very concerned about the situation coming from Russia, and naturally, they very much wanted to know what exactly was this “great beginning” personally praised by Lenin, the figure from a great neighboring country that had shaken the world. In an era when information exchange between China and the world was very difficult, it was no accident that this article was translated into China. The Chinese people, suffering from class oppression and national oppression, came to truly understand and know, through articles like Lenin’s “A Great Beginning,” what kind of state the October Revolution had actually established, what the first socialist society in human history was really like, and how the people there actually lived and thought. This is what Mao Zedong meant when he said, “The great revolutionary energy of the Russian proletariat and working people, which had been hidden underground and unseen by foreigners, suddenly erupted like a volcano under the leadership of Lenin and Stalin, and Chinese and people all over the world began to look at the Russians with new eyes.” [6]6 Mao Zedong, “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship” (1949). The thoughts and actions of the liberated Russian working class, manifested in the “communist subbotniks,” powerfully impacted the minds of Chinese people poisoned by the spiritual toxins of feudalism and colonialism, like a lightning bolt piercing the long night, like the dawn before daybreak. In that dark era, as precarious as a storm-lashed rock, “A Great Beginning” was translated and published multiple times in our country, reflecting the intense ideological sentiments and spiritual yearning of the Chinese people for social liberation. The thoughts and actions of the “communist subbotniks,” praised and vigorously advocated in “A Great Beginning,” played a liberating and driving role in the transformation and development of the ideology and morality of modern and contemporary Chinese people.

《伟大的创举》是列宁1919年6月的文章。这篇论述共产主义思想道德的文章，是最早被翻译到我国的列宁三篇文章之一。文章的题目就足以引起世人的好奇和关注。中国思想界非常关心来自俄国的情况，自然也非常想知道，被一个轰动世界的伟大邻国的人物——列宁所亲笔称颂的“伟大的创举”到底是什么。在中国与世界信息交流非常困难的年代，该文被翻译到中国，绝不是偶然的。身受阶级压迫和民族压迫的中国人民，就是通过列宁《伟大的创举》这样的文章，真正了解和认识十月革命究竟建立了一个什么样的国家，人类历史上第一个社会主义社会究竟是什么样子，那里的人民究竟是怎样生活和思想的。这就是毛泽东说过的，“过去蕴藏在地下为外国人所看不见的伟大的俄国无产阶级和劳动人民的革命精力，在列宁、斯大林领导之下，像火山一样突然爆发出来了，中国人和全人类对俄国人都另眼相看了。” 翻身解放的俄国工人阶级，所表现出来的“共产主义星期六义务劳动”的思想和行为，强烈地撞击着遭受封建主义和殖民主义精神毒化的中国人的心灵，犹如刺破长夜的闪电，仿佛黎明前的曙光。在那个风雨如磐的黑暗年代，《伟大的创举》在我国多次翻译出版，反映了中国人民强烈追求社会解放的思想情绪和精神渴望。《伟大的创举》所歌颂和大力倡导的“共产主义星期六义务劳动”的思想和行为，在近现代中国人民思想道德的改造和发展中，起到了解放和推动的作用。

From the *Communist Manifesto*’s first declaration that the proletarian revolution is a movement “in the interests of the immense majority” and that Communists “have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole,” to Lenin’s assertion that literature and art should “serve the millions and tens of millions of working people” [7]7 Lenin, “Party Organization and Party Literature” (1905). and the “communist subbotniks,” Marxism advanced to a new level both in practice and in theory. In Russia after the victory of the October Revolution, the selfless labor of the working class to support the front lines showed that the Marxist outlook on life and values had become the conscious behavior of the working class. “Once theory grips the masses, it becomes material force.” [8]8 Marx, “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction” (1843-44). This was the great achievement and great victory of the nationalization of Marxism, its Russification — Leninism.

从《共产党宣言》第一次喊出无产阶级革命是“为绝大多数人谋利益的”运动，共产党人“没有任何同整个无产阶级的利益不同的利益”，到列宁的文艺应当“为千千万万劳动人民服务”“共产主义星期六义务劳动”，马克思主义无论在实践上，还是理论上，都前进到一个新的台阶。在十月革命胜利后的俄国，工人阶级为支援前线而忘我劳动，表明马克思主义的人生观、价值观已经成为工人阶级的自觉行为，“理论一经掌握群众，也会变成物质力量”。 这是马克思主义民族化即俄国化——列宁主义的伟大成就和伟大胜利。

Research in the history of thought reveals such a fact and phenomenon: in China and the world, the “theory of sages creating the world” and the “theory of heroes saving the world” long dominated the ideological sphere. In opposition to this, guided by historical materialism, Mao Zedong completely overturned millennia-old conventions and made a completely new judgment about the subject of value creation: “The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.” [9]9 Mao Zedong, “On Coalition Government” (1945). Thus, Mao Zedong broke the traditional prejudice of millennia, completely reversed the hierarchical order and historical concepts where the monarch was the Son of Heaven, officials were parents, and the people were mere grass, and replaced them with entirely new values. This not only restored the people’s appearance as the subject of historical creation in the ideological realm but also created a new world of equality for all in practical life: between the Party’s leaders, state officials, and ordinary masses, there is only a division of labor, no distinction between noble and base. The value of the former lies precisely in seeking happiness for the broad masses of the people. In the value ranking of social groups established by Mao Zedong, the people are placed in the supreme position, while all our working cadres, regardless of their rank, are servants of the people, and everything we do is to serve the people.

思想史的研究揭示出这样一个事实和现象，在中国和世界，“圣贤创世论”和“英雄救世说”长期占据思想界的统治地位。与此相对立，毛泽东在唯物主义历史观的指导下，一反千年成说，对价值创造的主体作出了全新的判断：“人民，只有人民，才是创造世界历史的动力。”由此，毛泽东打破了千年的传统偏见，彻底颠倒了君为天子、官为父母、民为草芥的等级秩序和历史观念，代之以全新的价值观念，不仅在意识形态领域恢复了人民群众作为历史创造主体的面貌，而且在实际生活中创造出一个人人平等的新世界：党的领袖、国家官员和普通群众之间，只有分工不同，没有贵贱区别。前者的价值就在于为广大人民群众谋幸福。在毛泽东排定的社会群体价值序列表里，人民被置于至高无上的地位，而我们一切工作干部，无论职位高低，都是人民的勤务员，我们所做的一切，都是为人民服务。

The emergence of the slogan “serve the people” was by no means accidental. It was not born in a big city with a vibrant modern economic and cultural life, but in a poor, remote, and isolated market town in the rural area of northern Shaanxi. [10]10 The reference is to the county town of Ansai, where Mao Zedong delivered the speech “Serve the People” at a memorial meeting for Zhang Side in September 1944. The person praised in the text, Zhang Side, [11]11 Zhang Side (1915-1944) was a soldier in the Communist-led Eighth Route Army who died when a charcoal kiln collapsed. Mao Zedong’s eulogy for him became the famous essay “Serve the People.” was not a modern industrial worker from the city, but a poor, illiterate peasant who later grew into a staunch proletarian fighter in the revolutionary army led by the Communist Party of China. Zhang Side’s tremendous transformation in identity, and the thoughts and actions of serving the people wholeheartedly manifested in him, profoundly reflect that the spread of Marxism, its influence on the masses, and its development had taken another historical step forward in China. Why was the slogan “serve the people” proposed by Mao Zedong and no one else? Only by studying Mao Zedong’s thought and path can the answer be found.

“为人民服务”口号的产生决不是偶然的。它不是诞生在现代经济生活、文化生活活跃的大城市，而是穷乡僻壤、交通闭塞的陕北农村市镇。文中赞扬的张思德，不是来自城市的现代工人阶级，而是一位没有文化的贫苦农民，后来在中国共产党领导的革命军队里成长为一名坚强的无产阶级战士。张思德身份的巨大转变，从他身上表现出来的全心全意为人民服务的思想和行为，深深地折射出，马克思主义的传播，马克思主义对人民群众的影响，马克思主义的发展，在中国又迈上了一个历史台阶。“为人民服务”的口号，为什么不是别人而是毛泽东提出的，只有研究毛泽东的思想和道路，才能找到答案。

III. Doing Good Deeds for a Lifetime, Not Bad Deeds

三、一辈子做好事，不做坏事

Engels put it well: “Each social group has its own conception of honor and disgrace.” [12]12 Engels, “Anti-Dühring” (1878). Serving the people is the conception of honor and disgrace, the moral outlook, that Mao Zedong cultivated for Chinese Communists. So how was this conception of honor and disgrace of serving the people cultivated?

恩格斯说得好，“每个社会集团都有自己的荣辱观”。 为人民服务就是毛泽东为中国共产党人培养起来的荣辱观和道德观。那么为人民服务的荣辱观是怎么培养起来的？

Comparing the Party Constitution formulated at the Party’s Seventh National Congress in 1945 with the Party Constitutions before the Sixth National Congress, one can see a tremendous leap forward. The general program of the Seventh National Congress Party Constitution contains the following words: “Chinese Communists must possess the spirit of serving the Chinese people wholeheartedly, must establish broad ties with the masses of workers, peasants, and other revolutionary people, and must constantly pay attention to consolidating and expanding these ties. Every Party member must understand the unity of the Party’s interests and the people’s interests, the unity of responsibility to the Party and responsibility to the people. Every Party member must listen attentively to the voices of the masses of the people and understand their needs, and help them organize themselves to struggle for the realization of their needs. Every Party member must be determined to learn from the masses of the people, and at the same time tirelessly educate the masses of the people with a revolutionary spirit, enlightening and raising the consciousness of the masses. The Chinese Communist Party must constantly guard itself against the danger of becoming divorced from the masses of the people, and must constantly pay attention to preventing and cleansing itself of erroneous tendencies that divorce it from the masses, such as tailism, commandism, bureaucratism, and warlordism.” The Seventh National Congress Party Constitution stipulated the following duty for Party members: “Serve the masses of the people, consolidate the Party’s ties with the masses of the people, understand and promptly reflect the needs of the masses of the people, and explain the Party’s policies to the masses of the people.”

把1945年党的七大制定的党章，与六大之前的党章作一番比较，可以看到一个巨大的飞跃。七大党章的总纲里有这样的文字：“中国共产党人必须具有全心全意为中国人民服务的精神，必须与工人群众、农民群众及其他革命人民建立广泛的联系。并经常注意巩固与扩大这种联系。每一个党员都必须理解党的利益与人民利益的一致性，对党负责与对人民负责的一致性。每一个党员都必须用心倾听人民群众的呼声和了解他们的需要，并帮助他们组织起来，为实现他们的需要而斗争。每一个党员都必须决心向人民群众学习，同时以革命精神不知疲倦地去教育人民群众，启发与提高人民群众的觉悟。中国共产党必须经常警戒自己脱离人民群众的危险性，必须经常注意防止和清洗自己内部的尾巴主义、命令主义、官僚主义与军阀主义等脱离群众的错误倾向。”七大党章对党员规定了这样一条义务：“为人民群众服务，巩固党与人民群众的联系，了解并及时反映人民群众的需要，向人民群众解释党的政策。”

Such clear-cut ideas and language were not present in the Party Constitutions before the Seventh National Congress. How did this major ideological change come about?

这样鲜明的思想和语言，在七大之前的党章里是没有的。这个重大的思想变化是怎么发生的呢？

After the failure of the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927, Mao Zedong led the troops into the countryside, and two major problems of survival for the Red Army immediately presented themselves. One was that the areas where the Red Army operated were rural; only by relying on the local common people could it survive and fight. So how could the common people be made to recognize that the Red Army led by the Communist Party was their own army, the army of the poor? The other was that the Red Army lived collectively; everyone lived and fought together day after day, and the ideological and work-style problems of cadres and soldiers were exposed, directly affecting the Red Army’s unity, stability, and development.

1927年秋收起义失败，毛泽东率领队伍转入农村，红军的两大生存问题一下子摆到了面前。一个是红军活动的地方是农村，只有依靠当地的老百姓才能生活下去，战斗下去。那么怎样才能让老百姓认识到共产党领导的红军是他们自己的队伍、是穷人的队伍呢？另一个是红军是集体生活，大家一天到晚生活在一起、战斗在一起，干部和战士的思想问题、作风问题暴露出来了，直接影响着红军的团结、稳定和发展。

These two major problems were actually two sides of the same coin for the Red Army’s development, like the palm and the back of a hand. Externally, they manifested as the problem of relations with the masses; internally, they were reflected as the problem of unity. The armies of the landlord class and the bourgeoisie also had ideological problems; they relied on money and the club to maintain order. But the unity, consolidation, and development of a proletarian army relied on a set of methods completely different from those of bourgeois armies, and this method was ideological and political work.

这两大问题，其实是一个红军发展问题的两面，如同手心手背，表现在外部就是群众关系问题，反映到内部就是团结问题。地主阶级和资产阶级的军队也是有思想问题的，他们是靠金钱和棍棒来维持的。而无产阶级军队的团结、巩固和发展，是依靠一套完全不同于资产阶级军队的办法，这个办法就是思想政治工作。

The first part of the Gutian Congress Resolution, “On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party,” pointed out various incorrect ideas within the Party in the Red Army and clarified that one of the main tasks of Red Army ideological and political work was to transform soldiers of peasant and petty-bourgeois origin into proletarian revolutionaries with a Marxist world outlook. So where should one start in educating and transforming peasants and the petty bourgeoisie? What was the model for a new type of proletarian revolutionary soldier?

古田会议决议第一部分《关于纠正党内的错误思想》，指明了红军党内的种种不正确思想，明确了红军思想政治工作的一个主要任务，是把出身农民和小资产阶级的战士改造成具有马克思主义世界观的无产阶级革命者。那么教育和改造农民和小资产阶级从哪里入手呢？新型的无产阶级的革命战士是个什么样子呢？

When conducting ideological education among Party members or soldiers of peasant origin, Mao Zedong discovered that in many places in rural China, “they still use the mortar and pestle (in mountainous areas, most rice is pounded with a mortar and pestle; on the plains, there are many stone mills). Social organization is universally based on the clan, with a single surname as the unit. Party organizations in the villages, due to residential relationships, often have Party members of one surname forming a branch, and branch meetings are virtually clan meetings at the same time. Under such circumstances, the building of a ‘Bolshevik Party of struggle’ is truly very difficult. When we say that the Communist Party makes no distinction between provinces and national boundaries, they do not quite understand; when we say it makes no distinction between counties, districts, and townships, they also do not quite understand. Localism is very strong among the counties, and even among the districts and townships within a county, there is deep localism.” [13]13 The Gutian Congress (December 1929) was the Ninth Party Congress of the Fourth Red Army, held in Gutian, Fujian Province. Its resolution, drafted by Mao Zedong, became a foundational document for Party building and the political work of the Red Army. Clearly, in a feudal rural social environment, it was still too early to lecture Party members or soldiers of poor peasant origin, who were almost illiterate, on Marxist-Leninist principles like “the workers have no country.”

毛泽东在做农民出身的党员或战士的思想教育时发现，中国农村有不少的地方“还停留在杵臼时代（山地大都用杵臼舂米，平地方有许多石碓）。社会组织是普遍地以一姓为单位的家族组织。党在村落中的组织，因居住关系，许多是一姓的党员为一个支部，支部会议简直同时就是家族会议。在这种情形下，‘斗争的布尔什维克党’的建设，真是难得很。说共产党不分国界省界的话，他们不大懂，不分县界、区界、乡界的话，他们也是不大懂得的。各县之间地方主义很重，一县内的各区乃至各乡之间也有很深的地方主义。” 显然，在封建的农村社会环境下，对出身贫苦农民的几乎没有文化的党员或战士讲“工人没有祖国”一类的马列主义大道理，还为时过早。

Mao Zedong grew up in the countryside and by then had several years of experience leading the peasant movement, understanding the joys and sorrows of the peasants. His experience of social life quickly led him to discover and recognize that to change the peasants’ millennia-old impression of the old armies harassing, encroaching upon, and plundering the people, one must start by changing oneself.

毛泽东是从农村长大的，那时也有了几年领导农民运动的经验，了解农民的喜怒哀乐。社会生活的经验使他很快就发现和认识到，要改变农民几千年来形成的对旧军队骚扰、侵犯和掠夺民众的印象，必须首先从改变自身做起。

In October 1927, before leading his troops up the Jinggang Mountains, Mao Zedong formulated the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Six Points for Attention for the Red Army. The Three Main Rules of Discipline were: 1. Obey orders in all your actions; 2. Do not take a single sweet potato from the masses; 3. Turn in everything captured from the local tyrants. The Six Points for Attention were: Return doors; bundle up straw bedding; speak politely; be fair in buying and selling; do not press-gang labor, and pay for hired laborers; do not hit people or swear at people. [14]14 The Jinggang Mountains, on the border of Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, were the first rural revolutionary base area established by Mao Zedong and Zhu De after the Autumn Harvest Uprising of 1927. These later developed into the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The content is: Three Main Rules of Discipline: (1) Obey orders in all your actions; (2) Do not take a single needle or piece of thread from the masses; (3) Turn in everything captured. Eight Points for Attention: Speak politely; be fair in buying and selling; return what you borrow; pay for what you damage; do not hit people or swear at people; do not damage crops; do not take liberties with women; do not ill-treat captives.

1927年10月，毛泽东率部上井冈山之前，为红军制定了三大纪律六项注意。三大纪律是：一、行动听指挥；二、不拿群众一个红薯；三、打土豪要归公。六项注意是：还门板，捆铺草，说话和气，买卖公平，不拉伕、请来伕子要给钱，不打人不骂人。 后来发展成中国人民解放军的三大纪律八项注意。内容是三大纪律：（一）一切行动听指挥，（二）不拿群众一针一线，（三）一切缴获要归公；八项注意：说话和气，买卖公平，借东西要还，损坏东西要赔，不打人骂人，不损坏庄稼，不调戏妇女，不虐待俘虏。

We must never underestimate the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention formulated by Mao Zedong. The Red Army soldiers’ and Chinese Communists’ sense of honor and disgrace was cultivated and established precisely through strict adherence to the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention. For contemporary Chinese people, the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention have become public morality. But in the 1920s and 1930s, they were new behavior, new morality, new ideas, and new customs—a major event. In semi-colonial and semi-feudal China, exploitation and oppression were the social norm. To survive in such a society, people were often forced to learn “bad” behavior, to learn depravity and corruption, to seize by trickery and force. If the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention represented “good” behavior in society, why did the Kuomintang not promote and spread them, but instead try by every means to destroy the Red Army? This shows that the behavior of the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention, and the sense of honor and disgrace and moral outlook they embodied, were utterly incompatible with the society ruled by the Kuomintang. Clearly, in old China, to become a person with the character of the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention, one had to discard the old self and undergo a thoroughgoing transformation—a very difficult thing. The common people distinguished the Red Army from the Kuomintang’s White Army precisely through the Red Army’s Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention. When the common people recognized and accepted the Red Army’s Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention, they were recognizing and accepting the Red Army, seeing the Red Army as their own army.

我们千万不要小看了毛泽东制定的三大纪律八项注意，红军战士、中国共产党人的荣辱观就是从严格遵守三大纪律八项注意里培养和建立起来的。对当代中国人来说，三大纪律八项注意已经成为社会公德。可在20世纪的二三十年代，却是新行为、新道德、新思想、新风尚，是件大事情。在半殖民地半封建的中国，剥削和压迫是社会的公理。在这样的社会生存下去，往往逼得人去学“坏”，学男盗女娼、巧取豪夺。如果三大纪律八项注意是社会的“好”行为，为什么国民党不去宣传推广，而是千方百计地消灭红军。这说明三大纪律八项注意的行为和它所体现出来的荣辱观、道德观，是与国民党统治的社会格格不入的。显然，在旧中国，要成为具有三大纪律八项注意品格的人，必须抛弃旧的自我，经过一番脱胎换骨的改造，是一件非常不容易的事情。老百姓就是通过红军的三大纪律八项注意，把红军和国民党的白军区别开来的。老百姓认同和接受了红军的三大纪律八项注意，就是认同和接受了红军，把红军看成自己的队伍。

When Mao Zedong conducted ideological and political work to transform people, he required every Red Army soldier to begin by resolutely observing the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention [15]15 This passage is from Mao Zedong’s “Be Concerned with the Well-Being of the Masses, Pay Attention to Methods of Work” (January 27, 1934), a conclusion drawn at the Second National Congress of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers in Ruijin., and he stipulated them in a very concrete and detailed manner, extending this practice to the entire Party as a main component of the Party’s ideological building. Have readers noticed that the prominent and distinctive feature of the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention is that they do not demand that soldiers make sacrifices, but rather clearly define what is bad, what is bad conduct, and what must not be done. They explicitly admonish every Red Army soldier that doing such things is wrong and shameful; that such conduct is ugly and impermissible for the Red Army. The Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention educate our soldiers, in their dealings with the common people and in daily life, not to commit those ugly deeds, not to engage in those evil acts; whoever does so must be criticized or punished. To put it plainly and clearly, the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention require soldiers, require those in the revolutionary ranks, not to do things that harm others, not to damage or infringe upon the interests of the common people, and not to do things the common people detest. This point is extremely important and also very practical. Such stipulations made the Red Army’s ideological and political work part of daily life, gave it concrete form, and made ideological and political work come alive and gain vitality. A person who joins the revolutionary ranks, as long as he does not do bad things, does not damage or infringe upon the interests of the common people, already possesses the most basic moral character to become a member of a future new society. Then, cultivating and inspiring him to do good deeds for the common people and to make contributions for others and the collective becomes much easier. A person always has to do something; as long as he does not do harmful things, it is entirely possible for him to do some good deeds. Whether in the past or the present, do not expect a person who harms the interests of the masses to become a good person who serves the people. Mao Zedong’s formulation of the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention seized the entry point for how to educate people and embodied the dialectics of ideological and political work. Undoubtedly, to cultivate the thought and moral character of serving the people, one must first educate people not to do bad things and cultivate a correct and beautiful sense of honor and disgrace and moral outlook.

毛泽东做改造人的思想政治工作，是要求每个红军战士从坚决遵守三大纪律八项注意做起，而且规定得非常具体，非常细致，把这种做法推广到全党，作为党的思想建设的一个主要内容。读者们是否注意到，三大纪律八项注意突出的、鲜明的特点是，没有要求战士奉献什么，而是明确界定了什么是坏事，什么是坏行为，什么事情不能做。明确告诫每一位红军战士，凡是干那样的事情都是错误的，都是可耻的；凡是那样的行为都是丑恶的，都是红军所不能允许的。三大纪律八项注意就是教育我们的战士在对待和处理与老百姓的关系上，在日常生活里，不要做那些丑事，不要有那些恶行，谁有了就要受到批评或惩罚。说得通俗和明白点儿，三大纪律八项注意就是要求士兵，要求革命队伍的人不要做害人的事，不要损害和侵犯老百姓的利益，不要做老百姓讨厌的事情。这一点是非常重要的，也是非常实际的。这样的规定，使红军的思想政治工作生活化了，形象化了，思想政治工作就活起来了，有了生命力。一个加入革命队伍的人，只要他不做坏事，不损害、不侵犯老百姓的利益，就有了做一名未来新社会成员的最基本的品德。再去培养和启发他为老百姓做好事，为他人、为集体做奉献，就好办得多了。一个人总是要做些事情的，只要他不做害人的事，就完全可能去做些好事。无论过去，还是现在，不要指望一个损害群众利益的人，能够成为一个为人民服务的好人。毛泽东制定三大纪律八项注意，是抓住了怎样育人的切入点，体现了思想政治工作的辩证法。无疑，要培养为人民服务的思想和品德，首先教育人不要做坏事，培养正确的美好的荣辱观和道德观。

At the end of 1927, Mao Zedong also stipulated three major tasks for the Red Army: fighting battles to destroy the enemy, raising funds through attacking local tyrants, and doing mass work. After the Gutian Congress in 1929 [16]16 This is the title of the same 1934 speech by Mao Zedong., Mao Zedong developed the Red Army’s three major tasks into propagating the masses, organizing the masses, and arming the masses. Later, based on new situations and conditions, it was stipulated that the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and the People’s Liberation Army are forever a fighting force, a work force, and a production force that strives for the interests of the people.

1927年底，毛泽东又为红军规定了三大任务：打仗消灭敌人，打土豪筹款子，做群众工作； 经过1929年的古田会议，毛泽东把红军的三大任务发展为宣传群众、组织群众、武装群众；以后，根据新的形势和新的条件，规定八路军、新四军、中国人民解放军永远是一支为人民利益奋斗的战斗队、工作队，生产队。

If the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention require every soldier and every Party member not to take anything from the common people, then the three major tasks Mao Zedong stipulated for the people’s army require every soldier and every Party member to make selfless contributions to the common people. Contributing to the people is glorious; infringing upon the people’s interests is shameful—this formed the distinct sense of honor and disgrace and moral outlook of Chinese Communists. Mao Zedong’s “serve the people” was produced and cultivated on this ideological foundation, within these feelings. It was first practiced and set as an example by the Red Army and later the Eighth Route Army, then extended to the entire Party and the whole country. The roots of “serve the people” are planted right here. The future new society and new China were conceived within these new concepts.

如果说三大纪律八项注意是要求每一个战士、每一个共产党员不许向老百姓索取任何东西，那么毛泽东为人民军队规定的三大任务，就是要求每一个战士、每一个共产党员向老百姓做出无私的奉献。为人民奉献就是光荣，侵害人民利益就是耻辱，形成了中国共产党人鲜明的荣辱观和道德观。毛泽东的“为人民服务”就是在这样的思想基础上，就是在这样的感情里产生和培养起来的。它由红军和后来的八路军首先实行，做出表率，推向全党和全国的。“为人民服务”的根就扎在这里。未来的新社会、新中国就是在这样的新观念中孕育出来的。

Not only during the revolutionary war years, but also during the peaceful construction years, and even in his later years, Mao Zedong consistently used the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention to demand every Party member and cadre, and he repeatedly raised such demands many times.

不仅在革命战争年代，就是在和平建设年代，直到晚年，毛泽东一直用《三大纪律八项注意》要求每一位党员和干部，而且是多次地反复地提出这样的要求。

Is the demand that every Communist Party member and every government cadre not do bad things too high?

每一位共产党员，每一位政府干部不要做坏事，这样的要求高吗？

In 1965, Mao Zedong wrote the following comment on a letter from Ma Jianyou, a deputy to the National People’s Congress: “The criticism he raised is correct. In the future, never do those foolish things that harm the interests of the people.” [17]17 These quotations are from Mao Zedong’s “On Coalition Government” (April 24, 1945), his political report to the Seventh National Congress of the CPC. He also forwarded Ma Jianyou’s letter to the participants of the Central Work Conference then in session—most of whom were Central Committee members, provincial and municipal Party secretaries, and ministers. Such comments and conversations are too numerous to list individually. It seems that requiring every Communist Party member and every cadre to refrain from doing bad things is not easy.

1965年，毛泽东在全国人大代表马建猷的来信上作了这样的批语，“他提出的批评是正确的，今后千万不要做那些危害人民利益的蠢事”，并把马建猷的信转发当时正在参加中央工作会议的人员——他们大多是中央委员、省市委书记、部长。 这样的批语和谈话，不胜枚举。看来，要求每一位共产党员，每一位干部做到不做坏事，并不是容易的。

In August 1971, during his inspection tour of the south, Mao Zedong told responsible comrades from several provinces to “learn to sing ‘The Internationale’ and ‘The Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention’; not only sing them, but also explain them, and also act according to them.” [18]18 This formulation appears in Mao Zedong’s “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art” (May 1942). Mao Zedong not only explained the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention to them item by item, but also proposed, “I hope to use the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention to educate soldiers, educate cadres, educate the masses, and educate Party members and the people.”

1971年8月，毛泽东在南方巡视期间，对几个省的负责同志讲，要“学唱《国际歌》、《三大纪律八项注意》；不仅要唱，还要讲解，还要按照去做”。毛泽东不仅逐条地对他们讲解了《三大纪律八项注意》，而且提出“我希望用三大纪律八项注意教育战士，教育干部，教育群众，教育党员和人民”。

Today, if you casually flip through the newspapers and magazines around you, you can see such headlines and appeals: “Treat the Common People Kindly,” “Don’t Let Corruption Become a Business Opportunity,” “The Price of Golf Courses,” “Who Pays for Star-Chasing with Public Funds?” “Can the Burden Be Reduced?” “When Power Hurts Farmers, When Will It End?” “Why Are Farmers Always the Ones Hurt?” “Who Created the 200 Million Landless Farmers,” “Bitter for Rural Teachers, Harmful for Rural Children, Difficult for Farmers’ Hearts,” “Training You Without Discussion, Deducting from You Without Discussion, Fining You Without Discussion, Beating You Without Discussion,” and so on, countless. A serious problem now is that, from the local to the central level, a considerable number of cadres have lost their ideals and convictions. Wang Huaizhong, the recently executed deputy governor of Anhui Province, when he was an official in Fuyang, was already notorious for his corruption, extortion, and moral depravity, earning the nicknames “Wang Three Hundred Million” and “Wang Bad Seed,” which spread locally, yet he was still promoted to deputy governor. Isn’t that strange! From the People’s Daily Online website, I saw this news item: Lin Longfei, former Party secretary of Zhouning County, Fujian Province, during his seven-year tenure as secretary, acted outrageously, embezzled and took bribes, without any restraint; Lin Longfei’s crimes were almost all public; he sold official positions and was called the “official position wholesale center”; because “official positions were sold out, the treasury’s money was spent, and the women he fancied were all taken,” and he was obsessed with gambling to amass wealth, he became notoriously infamous and was locally called the “Three Depletions Secretary”; after being placed under disciplinary investigation [19]19 Mao Zedong, “Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society” (March 1926), *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, Vol. 1, p. 3., when interrogated by discipline inspection staff, he brazenly said, “If being an official doesn’t bring wealth, don’t even invite me.” How could such a terrible person become a county Party secretary, and serve for seven years!

今天，你随便翻翻身边的报纸杂志，就可以看到这样的题目和呼声：“善待百姓”“莫让腐败成商机”“高尔夫球场的代价”“公款追星谁买单？”“减负，能减下来吗？”“权力伤农何时休”“为什么受伤害的总是农民”“谁制造了2000万失地农民”，“苦了乡村教师，误了农村子弟，难在农民心里”“训你没商量，扣你没商量，罚你没商量，打你没商量”，等等，数不胜数。现在的一个严重问题是，从地方到中央，有为数不少的一批干部丧失了理想和信念。不久前被枪毙的安徽省副省长王怀忠，早在阜阳做官时，就以贪污索贿之多、道德品行之坏，有了“王三亿”“王坏种”这样的绰号，名传当地，却照样高升当上了副省长。你说奇怪不奇怪！从人民网网站看到这样一条新闻，福建省周宁县原县委书记林龙飞七年书记任内，胡作非为、贪污受贿，毫无顾忌；林龙飞犯罪几乎都是公开的，他卖官，被称为“官位批发中心”；因为“官位卖光、财政的钱花光、看中的女人搞光”，热衷赌博敛财，而恶名昭彰，在当地被称为“三光书记”；他被双规后，面对纪检工作人员的审问，竟然大言不惭地说“当官不发财，请我都不来”。这么糟糕的人居然当上县委书记，而且一干就是七年！

In the arduous environment of revolutionary struggle, under the conditions of a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society, the entire Party from top to bottom could observe discipline and refrain from doing bad things. Now, under such good peaceful construction conditions, why is it so difficult to observe discipline?

在艰苦的革命斗争环境下，在半封建半殖民地的社会条件下，全党上下都能做到遵守纪律，不做坏事，现在这么好的和平建设条件，为什么遵守纪律反而这么难？

IV. The Vital Interests of the Broad Masses Must Not Be Neglected in the Slightest

四、广大群众的切身利益问题一点也不能疏忽

“No issue concerning the vital interests of the masses is trivial.” This statement was made by Comrade Hu Jintao, and it gives people a feeling as if the old Eighth Route Army has returned. Serving the people must not only be viewed from a broad perspective but also started from small matters. “Any matter involving the vital interests and practical difficulties of the masses, no matter how small, must be done with utmost effort”; otherwise, serving the people becomes a dead letter. Comrade Hu Jintao’

“群众利益无小事。”这句话是胡锦涛同志讲的，使人颇有一种老八路又回来的感觉。为人民服务不仅要从大处着眼，更要从小事着手，“凡是涉及群众的切身利益和实际困难的事情，再小也要竭尽全力去办”， 否则为人民服务就成了一纸空文。胡锦涛同志的这些话道出了毛泽东为人民服务思想的真谛。

That is precisely how Mao Zedong spoke and acted back then.

当年毛泽东就是这样说的，这样做的。

In January 1934, the Second National Congress of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers was convened in Ruijin, Jiangxi. In his speech to the congress, Mao Zedong first explained to the assembled Soviet-area cadres why it was essential to do mass work well: “Revolutionary war is a war of the masses; it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them”; “Hence we can be neither careless nor the least bit negligent with respect to the immediate interests of the broad masses, the problems of their daily life”; “We must solve the problems of the masses — their clothing, food, housing, cooking oil and firewood, sickness and hygiene, and marriage. In short, all the practical problems in the masses’ life are matters we should attend to. If we attend to these problems, solve them and satisfy the needs of the masses, we shall really become organizers of the masses’ life, and they will truly rally round us and give us their warm support.” [15]15 This passage is from Mao Zedong’s “Be Concerned with the Well-Being of the Masses, Pay Attention to Methods of Work” (January 27, 1934), a conclusion drawn at the Second National Congress of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers in Ruijin. Subsequently, Mao patiently explained how to do mass work well: “I solemnly propose to the congress that we pay close attention to the problems of the masses’ life, from problems of land and labour to problems of cooking oil, firewood, rice and salt. The women want to learn ploughing and harrowing. Whom can we get to teach them? The children want to go to school. Have we set up primary schools yet? The wooden bridge over there is too narrow and people may fall off. Should we not repair it? Many people suffer from boils and other ailments. What are we going to do about it? All such problems concerning the life of the masses should be placed on our agenda. We should discuss them, adopt resolutions, carry them out and check up on the results. We should make the broad masses realize that we represent their interests and are breathing the same air as they are.”

1934年1月，在江西瑞金召开了第二次全国工农兵代表大会。毛泽东在大会讲话中首先向与会的苏区干部讲解了为什么一定要做好群众工作：“革命战争是群众的战争，只有动员群众才能进行战争，只有依靠群众才能进行战争”；“那末，我们对于广大群众的切身利益问题，群众的生活问题，就一点也不能疏忽，一点也不能看轻”；“解决群众的穿衣问题，吃饭问题，住房问题，柴米油盐问题，疾病卫生问题，婚姻问题。总之，一切群众的实际生活问题，都是我们应当注意的问题。假如我们对这些问题注意了，解决了，满足了群众的需要，我们就真正成了群众生活的组织者，群众就会真正围绕在我们的周围，热烈地拥护我们”。随后，毛泽东又耐心地讲述了如何做好群众工作：“我郑重地向大会提出，我们应该深刻地注意群众生活的问题，从土地、劳动问题，到柴米油盐问题。妇女群众要学习犁耙，找什么人去教她们呢？小孩子要求读书，小学办起了没有呢？对面的木桥太小会跌倒行人，要不要修理一下呢？许多人生疮害病，想个什么办法呢？一切这些群众生活上的问题，都应该把它提到自己的议事日程上。应该讨论，应该决定，应该实行，应该检查。要使广大群众认识我们是代表他们的利益的，是和他们呼吸相通的。”

Having the intention to serve the people must be matched by the methods for serving the people. There must be a head above, hands in the middle, and feet below, so that serving the people can be implemented concretely and carried out effectively. Hence Mao Zedong put forward the call to “be concerned with the well-being of the masses and pay attention to methods of work.” [16]16 This is the title of the same 1934 speech by Mao Zedong. Doing government work means handling affairs for the masses, solving difficulties for the masses, and doing mass work. But without methods, or with improper methods, it may be impossible to accomplish things, and it may even turn good things into bad ones or ruin them. Mao warned the Soviet-area cadres: “We must not only set tasks, we must also solve the problem of the methods for carrying them out. Our task is to cross the river, but we cannot cross it without a bridge or a boat. If we do not solve the problem of the bridge or the boat, it is idle talk to talk about crossing the river. Unless we solve the problem of method, talk about the task is useless. If we do not pay attention to the leadership of the campaign to expand the Red Army and do not pay attention to the methods for expanding it, even if we recite the slogan of expanding the Red Army a thousand times, we will still fail to achieve success.”

有了为人民服务的想法，还要有为人民服务的办法，上有头，中有手，下有脚，才能使为人民服务落到实处，具体地做起来行之有效。所以毛泽东提出了“关心群众生活，注意工作方法”的号召。做政府工作，就是为人民群众办事，为人民群众解决困难，就是做群众工作。但是，如果没有方法或方法不对头，就可能办不成事情，甚至可能把好事办糟了，办砸了。毛泽东告诫苏区的干部：“我们不但要提出任务，而且要解决完成任务的方法问题。我们的任务是过河，但是没有桥或没有船就不能过。不解决桥或船的问题，过河就是一句空话。不解决方法问题，任务也只是瞎说一顿。不注意扩大红军的领导，不讲究扩大红军的方法，尽管把扩大红军念一千遍，结果还是不能成功。

How concrete, how detailed, how meticulous, how thorough was Mao Zedong’s explanation, propagation, promotion and implementation of serving the people! It was precisely because what Mao Zedong spoke of as serving the people was concrete and had details that it was profound, rich, and effective. Serving the people can only be considered as truly serving the people, and can only gain depth, when it is implemented in one specific matter after another and solves the concrete problems of the masses. If a person genuinely wants to serve the people, he will certainly be able to think concretely and thoroughly, and will not engage in bureaucracy. This is why Mao Zedong won the love and support of the broad masses of the people. Look at how Mao Zedong spoke and acted, and then look at the corrupt behaviour of some of our current government departments and leading cadres — the length of time, the large number of people, the high ranks involved, the wide range of areas — why is this? How far has this strayed from the Communist Party’s purpose of serving the people!?

毛泽东讲解、宣传、推广和落实为人民服务多么的实在，多么的具体，多么的细致，多么的周到。正是因为毛泽东所讲的为人民服务是具体的，有细节的，所以才深刻，才丰富，才有成效。为人民服务只有落实到一个一个具体事情上，解决了人民群众的具体问题，才算是为人民服务了，才有了深度。一个人如果真心想为人民服务，就一定能够想得具体，想得周到，也就不会搞官僚主义。这就是为什么毛泽东得到了广大人民群众的爱戴和拥护。看看毛泽东是怎么说的，怎么做的，再看看我们现在的一些政府部门和领导干部的腐败行为，时间之长，人数之多，级别之高，方面之广，这是为什么呢？这与共产党的为人民服务的宗旨差到哪里去了！？

V. The question of “for whom” is a fundamental question

五、为什么人的问题是一个根本的问题

From the introduction of Marxism-Leninism into our country to Mao Zedong’s publication of “Serve the People,” more than twenty years passed. In these twenty-plus years, the Chinese Communist Party experienced two major rises and falls. One occurred in 1927, with the high tide of the Great Revolution and the ensuing massacre. This sudden and bitter great defeat forced the Chinese Communist Party to shift the focus of the Chinese revolution from the cities to the countryside. The other occurred at the end of 1934, when the Chinese Soviet Republic, founded during the Agrarian Revolutionary War, failed, losing vast rural base areas and forcing the Party to undertake the 25,000-li Long March. In the following ten years, the Chinese Communist Party rose for the third time amidst the arduous struggle of the War of Resistance Against Japan. “Serve the People” was produced in the era of this third rise of the Chinese Communist Party.

从马克思列宁主义传入我国，到毛泽东发表《为人民服务》，中间经过了二十多年的时间。这二十多年，中国共产党经历了两次大起大落。一次发生在1927年大革命的高潮和随之而来的大屠杀。这次突然跌落下来的惨痛的大失败，迫使中国共产党把中国革命的重点从城市转到农村。一次是1934年底，在土地革命战争中创立的中华苏维埃共和国失败了，丧失了大片的农村根据地，被迫进行二万五千里长征。在其后的十年里，中国共产党在抗日战争的艰苦斗争中第三次崛起。《为人民服务》就产生于中国共产党第三次崛起的年代。

How did Mao Zedong understand the importance of the thought of “serving the people”?

毛泽东是怎么认识“为人民服务”思想的重要性呢？

At the Seventh National Congress of the CPC in 1945, in his political report “On Coalition Government,” Mao Zedong gave a comprehensive, profound, and classic exposition of the thought of serving the people. Mao pointed out that the thought of serving the people was rooted in the “two different guiding lines” that had emerged since the Agrarian Revolutionary War, and especially since the War of Resistance Against Japan. These two lines were, on the one hand, “the line of the Kuomintang government, which oppressed the Chinese people and pursued a policy of passive resistance,” and on the other, “the line of the awakened and united Chinese people, which pursued a policy of people’s war.” [17]17 These quotations are from Mao Zedong’s “On Coalition Government” (April 24, 1945), his political report to the Seventh National Congress of the CPC. The thought of serving the people emerged from the “line of people’s war” led by the Chinese Communist Party, which “developed along a tortuous path,” and was created and carried forward by the people’s army, namely the early Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army and the later Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army. What is the thought of serving the people? Mao pointed out that its basic content and basic spirit is “to stand firmly together with the Chinese people and serve the Chinese people wholeheartedly”; it is the “sole purpose” of the Chinese Communist Party and the people’s army under its leadership, and there is no second one. The reason the Chinese Communist Party and the people’s army under its leadership “have strength” all stems from this “sole purpose.” It was precisely by adhering to and implementing this “sole purpose” that the Chinese Communist Party and the people’s army under its leadership grew from nothing and developed and strengthened.

1945年党的七大，毛泽东在《论联合政府》的政治报告里，对为人民服务的思想作了全面地、深刻地、经典地阐述。毛泽东指出，为人民服务的思想根源于土地革命战争，特别是抗日战争以来的“两条不同的指导路线”。这两条路线，一条是“国民党政府压迫中国人民实行消极抗战的路线”，一条是“中国人民觉醒起来团结起来实行人民战争的路线”。为人民服务的思想就产生于中国共产党领导的“人民战争的路线”“是在曲折的道路上发展起来的”，是由人民军队即早期的工农红军和后来的八路军、新四军创造并发扬光大起来的。什么是为人民服务的思想呢？毛泽东指出，它的基本内容和基本精神是，“紧紧地和中国人民站在一起，全心全意地为中国人民服务”；它是中国共产党及其领导的人民军队的“唯一的宗旨”，除此以外没有第二个。中国共产党及其领导的人民军队“之所以有力量”，皆源于这个“唯一的宗旨”，正是坚持和贯彻了这个“唯一的宗旨”，才使中国共产党及其领导的人民军队从无到有，发展壮大。

Clearly, as a matter of “sole purpose,” this is by no means a small issue, whether politically, theoretically, or in practical work and policy. If contemporary Chinese social science belittles or neglects the issue of the “sole purpose,” it is forgetting its roots, and this is very dangerous.

显然，作为“唯一的宗旨”的事情，无论在政治上、理论上，还是在实际工作和政策上，都绝不是小问题。当代中国的社会科学，如果轻视或忽视了“唯一的宗旨”的问题，就是忘本，是十分危险的。

Mao Zedong’s slogan of serving the people did not emerge from thin air; it was built on his long-term, personal experience of mass work. Having gone through the brutal ten-year Agrarian Revolutionary War and the arduous War of Resistance Against Japan, Mao Zedong’s ideological understanding rose to a new level. At this level, Mao transformed rich practical revolutionary experience into systematic theory, putting forward a profound and fundamental question, namely, “the question of ‘for whom’ is a fundamental question, a question of principle.” [18]18 This formulation appears in Mao Zedong’s “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art” (May 1942). This deepened the theory of “working for the interests of the vast majority” and “serving the thousands upon thousands of working people” put forward by Marx, Engels, and Lenin, and revealed the essence of the Marxist theory of the purpose of revolution.

毛泽东的为人民服务的口号不是凭空产生的，是建立在他的长期的切身的群众工作的基础上。经历了残酷的十年土地革命战争，经历了艰苦的抗日战争，毛泽东的思想认识又上升了一个层次。在这个层次上，毛泽东把丰富的革命实践经验转化为系统的理论，提出了一个深刻而基本的问题，即“为什么人的问题，是一个根本的问题，原则的问题”， 深化了马克思恩格斯列宁提出的“为绝大多数人谋利益”“为千千万万劳动人民服务”的理论，揭示出马克思主义革命目的论的实质。

The phrase “serve the people” raises, in its wording, two questions: one is “the people” — who are they, which people? The other is “serve” — what to do, and how to do it?

“为人民服务”这句话，在字面上有这样两个问题，一个是“人民”，指的是什么人，哪些人？一个是 “服务”，做什么，怎么做？

Marxism holds that “the people” is a historical concept and also a class concept. In different eras, the composition and makeup of the people are different. The opposite of the people is the enemy. As for “serve,” I believe, put simply, it means to handle affairs for the people. How did Mao Zedong solve this problem?

马克思主义认为，人民是个历史的概念，也是个阶级的概念，不同的时代，人民的成分和人民的组成是不一样的，人民的对立面是敌人。所谓服务，我认为说得简明些，就是为人民办事。毛泽东怎么解决这个问题呢？

In November 1931, Mao Zedong was elected Chairman of the Chinese Soviet Republic. How did he lead the government staff to handle affairs for the people of the Chinese Soviet Republic?

1931年11月，毛泽东当选为中华苏维埃共和国主席，他是怎样带领政府工作人员为中华苏维埃共和国的民众办事呢？

First is to formulate a correct class policy, determining the composition and makeup of the people. As early as the initial period of the Great Revolution, Mao Zedong, in response to the “Left” and Right ideological tendencies within the Party, wrote *Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society*, pointing out that “Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question of the first importance for the revolution. The basic reason why all previous revolutionary struggles in China achieved so little was their failure to unite with real friends in order to attack real enemies.” [19]19 Mao Zedong, “Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society” (March 1926), *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, Vol. 1, p. 3. In October 1933, in order to correct deviations in the land reform work in the Central Soviet Area, especially in the Land Investigation Movement, and to guide cadres and the broad masses of peasants in correctly resolving issues such as the confiscation and distribution of land, Mao Zedong formulated and personally wrote *How to Analyse the Classes in the Rural Areas* for the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, which served as the standard for classifying rural class status. This is a landmark historical document and also an accessible textbook on Marxist class theory. Even after the founding of New China, it remained the policy basis and theoretical foundation for classifying class status in our country. The concepts of landlord, rich peasant, middle peasant, poor peasant, and worker established in this document became deeply rooted in people’s hearts, becoming common and universal ideological elements for all Chinese people, and over decades have subtly educated the entire nation in Marxist class thought. Our cadres and Party members first distinguished who are the enemies of the revolution, who are the friends of the revolution, and who are the objects to be relied upon in the revolution, clearly recognizing which classes and strata constitute the people at each historical stage. Thus, they implemented policies with a clear target, making fewer or no mistakes in handling class relations and internal relations among the masses, and avoiding politically infringing upon the interests of the people. The author believes that understanding this point is crucial for comprehensively and accurately grasping Mao Zedong’s theoretical thought on serving the people. Because within the people there are classes, and within the masses there are strata. Different classes and strata have different political demands and economic demands. Therefore, properly resolving, handling, and coordinating the political demands and economic interests of different classes and strata is itself serving the people, and is also the political foundation for serving the people. Starting from this foundation, it becomes possible to enter different classes or strata and, with a clear aim, accomplish different things for different parts of the people, or, to use current parlance, provide different services. Undoubtedly, we cannot discuss serving the people divorced from political and class viewpoints; we cannot discuss service while ignoring or separating from the political interests of the masses. Serving the people must be political; otherwise, it cannot be distinguished from the bourgeois concept of service. At each stage of historical development—the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, New China—Mao Zedong promptly formulated clear class policies, clarifying the political interests of the people at each stage.

首先是制定正确的阶级政策，确定人民的成分、人民的组成。早在大革命初期，毛泽东就针对党内的“左”右两种思想倾向写作了《中国社会各阶级分析》，指出“谁是我们的敌人？谁是我们的朋友？这个问题是革命的首要问题。中国过去一切革命斗争成效甚少，其基本原因就是因为不能团结真正的朋友，以攻击真正的敌人”。 1933年10月，为纠正在中央苏区土地改革工作中，特别是纠正查田运动发生的偏向，指导干部和广大农民群众正确解决土地的没收与分配等问题，毛泽东为中华苏维埃共和国临时中央政府制定并亲笔撰写了《怎样分析农村阶级》，作为划分农村阶级成分的标准。这是一个划时代的历史文件，也是一本通俗易懂的马克思主义阶级理论的教材，直到新中国成立后，依然是我国划分阶级成份的政策依据和理论依据。这个文件所确定的地主、富农、中农、贫农、工人的概念， 深入人心，成为全体中国人共同的、通用的思想元素，几十年来潜移默化地对全国人民进行着马克思主义的阶级思想的教育。我们的干部和党员首先分清了谁是革命的敌人，谁是革命的朋友，谁是革命依靠的对象，认清了每个历史阶段上的人民是由哪些阶级和阶层组成的，从而有的放矢地执行政策，在处理阶级关系、群众内部关系上少犯错误或不犯错误，避免了在政治上侵害人民群众的利益。笔者认为，认识这一点，对全面地、准确地把握毛泽东的为人民服务的理论思想至关重要。因为人民内部是分阶级的，群众内部是分阶层的。不同的阶级和阶层，政治要求和经济要求是不一样的。因此，解决好，处理好，协调好不同阶级和阶层的政治要求和经济利益，本身就是为人民服务，也是为人民服务的政治基础。从这个基础出发，才可能进入到不同的阶级或阶层里，有针对性地去为人民的不同部分办好不同的事情，用现在的话讲，就是提供不同的服务。无疑，我们不能离开政治观点、阶级观点谈为人民服务，不能忽视和脱离人民群众的政治利益谈服务，为人民服务要讲政治，否则就不能与资产阶级的服务观相区别。在历史发展的每个阶段，抗日战争，解放战争，新中国，毛泽东都及时制定了明确的阶级政策，明确每个阶段的人民的政治利益。

Second, determine the correct economic policy. Class policy determines economic policy. Although government work during the revolutionary war years covered many aspects, the main task was to develop the economy to support the revolutionary war. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, what should the Party’s economic policy be? Mao Zedong, as Chairman of the Chinese Soviet Republic, said this and did this: “The principle of our economic policy is to carry out all possible and necessary economic construction, concentrate economic strength to supply the war, while at the same time striving to improve the livelihood of the people, consolidate the economic alliance of workers and peasants, ensure the leadership of the proletariat over the peasantry, secure the leadership of the state economy over the private economy, and create the prerequisites for future development towards socialism.” [20]20 Mao Zedong, “Our Economic Policy” (August 1933), *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, Vol. 1, p. 133. “Under the present conditions, agricultural production is the primary task of our economic construction work.” [21]21 Mao Zedong, “Our Economic Policy”, p. 134. “As for the private economy, as long as it does not go beyond the scope of government laws, we should not only refrain from obstructing it but also encourage and reward it. Because the development of the private economy at present is necessary for the interests of the state and the people. Needless to say, the private economy currently holds an absolute advantage and will inevitably remain dominant for a considerable period.” [22]22 Mao Zedong, “Our Economic Policy”, p. 135. “Fiscal expenditure should be based on the principle of economy. It should be made clear to all government workers that corruption and waste are very great crimes. Our struggle against corruption and waste has achieved some results in the past, and efforts should continue in the future. Saving every copper for the war and the revolutionary cause, for our economic construction, is the principle of our accounting system. Our method of using state revenue should be strictly different from that of the Kuomintang.” [23]23 Mao Zedong, “Our Economic Policy”, pp. 136-137. Whether in the revolutionary war years or in New China, the government under Mao Zedong’s leadership had two characteristics: one was the ability to mobilize all strata to work together on economic work, and the other was to save every penny and use it where it was most needed. Therefore, the government led by Mao Zedong was the most clean government in Chinese history and also in the world. Clean governance is an integral part of serving the people. If government departments that claim to serve the people are extravagant and wasteful, and officials are corrupt, then there must be problems with the “serving the people” proclaimed by such government departments and their staff.

第二，确定正确的经济政策。阶级政策决定经济政策。革命战争年代的政府工作虽然方方面面很多，主要的是发展经济以支持革命战争。土地革命战争时期，党的经济政策应当怎样呢？作为中华苏维埃共和国主席的毛泽东是这样说的，也是这样做的：“我们的经济政策的原则，是进行一切可能的和必须的经济方面的建设，集中经济力量供给战争，同时极力改良民众的生活，巩固工农在经济方面的联合，保证无产阶级对于农民的领导，争取国营经济对私人经济的领导，造成将来发展到社会主义的前提。”“在目前的条件之下，农业生产是我们经济建设工作的第一位。”“对于私人经济，只要不出于政府法律范围之外，不但不加阻止，而且加以提倡和奖励。因为目前私人经济的发展，是国家的利益和人民的利益所需要的。私人经济，不待说，现时是占着绝对的优势，并且在相当长的期间内也必然还是优势。”“财政的支出，应该根据节省的方针。应该使一切政府工作人员明白，贪污和浪费是极大的犯罪。反对贪污和浪费的斗争，过去有了些成绩，以后还应用力。节省每一个铜板为着战争和革命事业，为着我们的经济建设，是我们的会计制度的原则。我们对于国家收入的使用方法，应该和国民党的方法有严格的区别。” 无论是革命战争年代还是在新中国，毛泽东领导下的政府有两个特点，一个是能够动员各个阶层共同来做经济工作，一个是节省每一分钱并用到最需要的地方。所以，毛泽东领导的政府是中国有史以来的，也是全世界最廉洁的政府。廉洁是为人民服务的题中应有之义。如果自称为人民服务的政府部门铺张浪费，官员贪污腐化，这样的政府部门及其工作人员所宣扬的为人民服务，肯定存在问题。

Within the people, there are classes and strata, and the size of each class and stratum varies greatly. The class or stratum with the largest population must be the main body of the people. Without a main body, the people cannot stand up and cannot constitute the people. The main body is the primary component of the people, the main force, and has decisive significance. If serving the people does not first serve the main body of the people, what kind of serving the people is that? Would it not be self-deception? So, who is the main body of the people? This is what Mao Zedong repeatedly pointed out: “Eighty percent of China’s population are peasants, and the people we speak of are mainly the peasants.” [24]24 Mao Zedong, “Speech at the Chinese Communist Party’s National Conference on Propaganda Work” (March 1957), *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, Vol. 5, p. 407. “The so-called masses of the people are mainly the peasants.” [25]25 Mao Zedong, “On Coalition Government” (April 1945), *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, Vol. 3, p. 300. “The most important part of the masses of the people is the peasants… The main force of the Chinese democratic revolution is the peasants. Forget the peasants, and there will be no Chinese democratic revolution; without the Chinese democratic revolution, there will be no Chinese socialist revolution, and there will be no revolution at all. We read many Marxist books, but we must be careful not to forget the word ‘peasant’; if you forget this word, even if you read a million volumes of Marxist books, it will be useless, because you will have no strength.” [26]26 Mao Zedong, “Speech at a Conference of Cadres in the Shanxi-Suiyuan Liberated Area” (April 1948), *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, Vol. 4, p. 232. There is no doubt that the masses of workers and peasants, the working masses, are forever the main body of the people and also the main body of society.

人民内部是分阶级和阶层的，每个阶级和阶层的人数是大不一样的。人数最多的阶级和阶层一定是人民的主体，没有主体，这个人民就立不起来，就不成其为人民。主体是人民中的主要组成部分，是主要力量，具有决定性的意义。讲为人民服务如果不首先为人民中的主体服务，还叫什么为人民服务，岂不自欺欺人。那么谁是人民的主体呢？这就是毛泽东一再指出的，“中国的人口百分之八十是农民，我们讲的人民主要就是农民”。 “所谓人民大众，主要的就是农民。”“人民大众最主要的部分是农民……中国民主革命的主要力量是农民。忘记了农民，就没有中国的民主革命；没有中国的民主革命，也就没有中国的社会主义革命，也就没有一切革命。我们马克思主义的书读得很多，但是要注意，不要把‘农民’这两个字忘记了；这两个字忘记了，就是读一百万册马克思主义的书也是没有用处的，因为你没有力量。” 毫无疑问，工农群众，劳动群众，永远是人民的主体，也是社会的主体。

In old China, petty-bourgeois intellectuals from the cities often found it more difficult to understand serving the people than the masses of workers and peasants. Where was the difficulty? The difficulty lay in their failure to understand that coming to Yan’an to join the revolution meant serving the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers; the difficulty lay in their belief that they were more cultured than the workers and peasants, and therefore superior and nobler—should “noble” intellectuals serve the workers and peasants who had always been considered lowly? Was this not a world turned upside down?!—It was precisely this “world turned upside down” that made it difficult for intellectuals from the Kuomintang-controlled areas to adjust their thoughts and feelings for a time.

在旧中国，来自城市的小资产阶级知识分子对为人民服务的理解，往往比工农群众困难。难在哪里呢？难在他们不明白来延安参加革命是要为工农兵大众服务的；难就难在他们认为比工农兵有文化，因而比工农群众高明——高贵，“高贵的”知识分子要为一直被认为是低贱的工农群众服务，岂不是换了人间？！——正是这个“换了人间”，使来自国民党统治区的知识分子在思想感情上一时还没有转过弯来。

In 2003, China Central Television broadcast a TV series titled *Jiangshan* (The Land), which depicted the Communist Party leading the people to conquer and rule the country. Each episode resounded with this moving and powerful song: “The common people are heaven, the common people are earth, the common people are the Party’s eternal concern”; “The common people are mountains, the common people are the sea, the common people are the source of the Party’s life.” [27]27 *Jiangshan* (The Land) is a 2003 Chinese television drama series about the early years of the People’s Republic of China, focusing on the Communist Party’s consolidation of power and governance. Clearly, for intellectuals to truly recognize such a truth, they need to overthrow the self-righteous petty-bourgeois kingdom deep in their own souls, just as Mao Zedong said, “To thoroughly solve this problem, it will take no less than ten or eight years.” [28]28 Mao Zedong, “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art” (May 1942), *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*, Vol. 3, p. 86.

2003年，中央电视台播出了一部描述共产党领导人民打天下、坐天下的电视剧《江山》，每一集都高扬着这样动人而响亮的歌声：“老百姓是天，老百姓是地，老百姓是共产党永远的挂念”“老百姓是山，老百姓是海，老百姓是共产党生命的源泉”。显然，知识分子要真正认识这样的真理，需要他们推翻自己灵魂深处的那个自以为是的小资产阶级王国，正如毛泽东说的，“要彻底地解决这个问题，非有十年八年的长时间不可”。

It was precisely in response to this situation that Mao Zedong hit the nail on the head by raising the issue that “the question of ‘for whom?’ is a fundamental question,” [29]29 Mao Zedong, “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art”, p. 85. piercing the crux of the problem and going straight to the depths of the soul. Since you want to serve the people, you must clarify your attitude towards the people, your attitude towards the masses of workers and peasants. Mao Zedong’s raising of the “question of ‘for whom?’” pinpointed the essence of serving the people and fundamentally elucidated the theory of serving the people. This is a touchstone for distinguishing genuine from false Marxism!

正是针对这样的状况，毛泽东一针见血地提出了“为什么人的问题，是一个根本的问题”，捅破了问题的焦点，直奔灵魂深处。你既然要为人民服务，就要亮明自己对人民的态度，对工农群众的态度。毛泽东提出“为什么人的问题”，是点破了为人民服务的实质，是从根本上阐明了为人民服务的理论。这是一块真假马克思主义的试金石！

6. The Thought and Policy of Serving the People Must Not Be Ambiguous

六、为人民服务的思想和政策不能含糊

Why did Mao Zedong say “serve the people” (wei renmin fuwu) rather than “serve humanity” (wei ren fuwu)?

为什么毛泽东说“为人民服务”而不是“为人服务”？

“Serve the people” and “serve the human being” differ by only a single character, yet they vividly manifest Mao Zedong’s unambiguous stance, viewpoint, and method as a Marxist.

“为人民服务”与“为人服务”仅仅一字之差，却鲜明地表现了毛泽东身为马克思主义者的毫不含糊的立场、观点和方法。

The people is not an abstract, vague, or unfathomable concept, but a concrete and distinct Marxist class concept. The worker and peasant laboring masses constitute the majority of the people and are the main body of the people. Serving the people means proceeding from the majority, first and foremost from the interests of the worker and peasant laboring masses, not from the minority.

人民不是一个抽象的、模糊的、神秘莫测的概念，而是一个具体的鲜明的马克思主义的阶级概念。工农劳动群众是人民中的大多数，是人民的主体。为人民服务就是从大多数人出发，首先要从工农劳动群众的利益出发，而不是为少数人。

The appellation and concept of “the human being” are abstract and universal, whereas the appellation and concept of “the people” are direct and explicit. The people exist in distinction from the enemy; when we speak of the people, it in fact implies the existence of the enemy as the people’s opposite. Hence the people is a concise Marxist class concept, even though there are also classes and strata within the people. The people means the masses of the people, the majority, not the minority. Serving the people means proceeding from the masses of the people, from the majority, and the worker and peasant laboring masses are certainly the majority within the people. Therefore, serving the people means, first and foremost, serving the worker and peasant laboring masses, serving the majority of the population, not serving the minority. Thus the line of serving the people is the mass line; consequently, the people is also a political concept, and speaking of serving the people means speaking of politics. In the appellation and concept of “the human being,” not only can such ideas not be directly and clearly expressed, but precisely because of its abstractness and universality, non-people and anti-people content can pass itself off under the cloak of “the human being,” fishing in troubled waters, and even run rampant. Gorbachev, under the banner of “the human being,” peddled contraband suited to the needs of the bourgeoisie, throwing the ideology of the Soviet Communist Party into confusion. We must not forget this lesson.

“人”的称呼和概念是抽象的、普遍的，而“人民”的称呼和概念是直接的、明确的。人民是与敌人相区别而存在的，说到人民的时候，实际上意味着有人民的对立面敌人的存在。所以人民是一个简明的马克思主义的阶级概念，尽管人民内部也有阶级和阶层。人民就是人民群众，就是大多数人，而不是少数人。为人民服务就是从人民群众出发，从大多数人出发，而工农劳动群众一定是人民中的大多数。所以，为人民服务首先的、第一位的是为工农劳动群众服务，是为大多数人口服务，不是为少数人服务。所以为人民服务的路线就是群众路线，因而人民也是个政治概念，讲为人民服务就是讲政治。而在“人”的称呼和概念里，不仅不能直接地、明确地表明这样的思想，反而因为它的抽象性和普遍性，使非人民的、反人民的内容在“人”的外衣掩盖下滥竽充数，浑水摸鱼，甚至泛滥起来。戈尔巴乔夫就是打着“人”的旗号，贩卖适合资产阶级需要的黑货，搞乱了苏联共产党的思想。这样的教训，我们不能忘记。

The more popular and the clearer a theory is, the more it can be accepted by the broadest masses of the people. Such a theory is the best theory. The policies and line of the Chinese Communist Party are for the Chinese people. A genuine Marxist political party must never blur or conceal its own features; on the contrary, it should enable the broad masses of the people, especially the laboring masses, to recognize at a glance what benefits its policies and line bring them. Lenin pointed out: “To substitute the concrete for the abstract is one of the most important and most dangerous errors in revolution.” [30]30 V. I. Lenin, “The Tasks of the Revolution” (1917). The original Russian phrase is often translated as “to substitute the concrete for the abstract.” Therefore, when Marxists speak and write articles, they should make it so that the broad masses of ordinary people understand at once. The line and policies of Marxism and the proletarian political party must never use abstract philosophical concepts; instead, they should use popular, distinct, and language that the masses can understand.

理论越是通俗，越是明确，就越能为更广大的人民群众所接受。这样的理论才是最好的理论。中国共产党的政策和路线是为中国人民的。一个真正的马克思主义政党决不能把自己的面貌模糊起来，掩盖起来，而应该让广大人民群众，特别是劳动群众一眼就能认出来你的政策和路线为他们带来什么利益。列宁指出：“用抽象的概念来代替具体的东西，这是革命中一个最主要最危险的错误。” 所以马克思主义者说话，写文章，应该让广大的老百姓一听就懂。马克思主义和无产阶级政党的路线和政策决不能使用抽象的哲学概念，而应该使用通俗的、鲜明的、群众听得懂的语言。

When Mao Zedong spoke of the idea of serving the people, he was never ambiguous; he made it so that people understood at once. For example: Communists should be the kind of people who “seek no private gain at all, but only benefits for the nation and the people. They take root among the people; they are sons of the people and also teachers of the people; at every moment they are always vigilant not to become divorced from the masses; no matter what they encounter, they always take the interests of the masses as the starting point for considering problems; therefore they can win the heartfelt support of the broad masses of the people, and this is the basis on which their cause is bound to achieve victory.”

毛泽东讲为人民服务的思想，从来是毫不含糊的，让人一听就懂。比如：共产党人应该是这样一种人，“他们完全不谋私利，而只为民族与人民求福利。他们生根于人民之中，他们是人民的儿子，又是人民的教师，他们每时每刻地总是警戒着不要脱离群众，他们不论遇着何事，总是以群众的利益为考虑问题的出发点，因此他们就能获得广大人民群众的衷心拥护，这就是他们的事业必然获得胜利的根据。”

The “moral character” of Communists “is to be loyal in serving the people, to bend every effort and exhaust one’s life to the utmost… to appear in the posture of an ordinary laborer and merge with the masses.”

共产党人的“品德就是忠实为人民服务，鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已……以一个普通劳动者姿态出现，同群众打成一片”。

If you are a member of the Chinese Communist Party, or if you want to become a member of the Chinese Communist Party, then no matter what work you do and no matter how high or low your position, you are a servant of the people; everything you do is for serving the people, not serving for a time, but serving for a lifetime. “Serving the masses means thinking of the masses in every respect, planning for the masses, and putting the interests of the masses in first place. This is the fundamental difference between us and the Kuomintang, and it is also the starting point and destination of a Communist’s revolution.”

你是一名共产党员，或者你想成为一名中国共产党员，那么不论你做什么工作，也不论你职务的高低，都是人民的勤务员，你所做的一切，都是为人民服务的，不是服务一时，是要服务一生。“为群众服务，这就是处处要想到群众，为群众打算，把群众的利益放在第一位。这是我们与国民党的根本区别，也是共产党员革命的出发点和归宿。”

A Communist Party member and those who want to join the Party organization must never forget: “Who gave us our power? It was given by the working class, by the poor and lower-middle peasants, by the broad laboring masses who make up more than 90 percent of the population… The basic thing for the Communist Party is to rely directly on the broad masses of the people.”

一名共产党员和要加入党组织的人都不要忘记，“我们的权力是谁给的？是工人阶级给的，是贫下中农给的，是占人口百分之九十以上的广大劳动群众给的……共产党基本的一条，就是直接依靠广大人民群众”。

A Communist Party member, or one who wants to become a member of the Chinese Communist Party, thereby has the duty and responsibility to serve the people, and has no right to demand personal fame or gain from the masses of the people. Because “the sole task of the Communist Party is to unite the entire people, fight forward without regard to personal danger, overthrow the national enemy, and seek benefits for the nation and the people, with absolutely no private gain whatsoever.”

一名共产党员，或者你想成为一名中国共产党员，就有了为人民服务的义务和责任，而没有向人民群众伸手索取个人名利的权利。因为“共产党的惟一任务，就在团结全体人民，奋不顾身地向前战斗，推翻民族敌人，为民族与人民谋利益，绝无任何私利可言”。

How should Communists serve the people? Mao Zedong’s teachings were never ambiguous. For example, Mao Zedong strictly demanded of Party organizations at all levels and of Communists:

共产党员应当怎样去为人民服务，毛泽东的教导从来是毫不含糊的。比如，毛泽东严格要求党的各级组织和共产党员：

To serve the people, one must love the masses of the people, “be a friend of the masses, not a superior of the masses; be a tireless teacher, not a bureaucratic politician.”

要为人民服务，就要热爱人民群众，“是民众的朋友，而不是民众的上司，是诲人不倦的教师，而不是官僚主义的政客”。

To serve the people, one must go among the masses of the people: “Mass production, mass interests, mass experience, mass sentiments—these are what leading cadres should always pay attention to.”

要为人民服务，就要到人民群众中去，“群众生产，群众利益，群众经验，群众情绪，这些都是领导干部应时刻注意的”。

To serve the people, one must follow the mass line: “Here are two principles: one is the actual needs of the masses, not needs fantasized in our own minds; the other is the voluntary will of the masses, with the masses making the decision themselves, not with us making the decision on behalf of the masses.”

要为人民服务，就必须走群众路线，“这里是两条原则：一条是群众的实际上的需要，而不是我们脑子里头幻想出来的需要；一条是群众的自愿，由群众自己下决心，而不是由我们代替群众下决心。”

To achieve serving the people, one “must firmly trust the majority of the masses, first and foremost the majority of the basic masses of workers and peasants; this is our basic starting point.”

要做到为人民服务，就“必须坚定地信任群众的多数，首先是工农基本群众的多数，这是我们的基本出发点”。

Serving the people is the purpose of the Chinese Communist Party. This purpose must be embodied not only in ideology but also in every policy of the Party and government. Therefore, Mao Zedong never hesitated to formulate distinct policies for serving the people:

为人民服务是中国共产党的宗旨。这一宗旨不仅在思想上，而且必须在党和政府的各项政策中体现出来，所以毛泽东从来都是毫不含糊地制定鲜明的为人民服务的政策：

When the Party and government formulate policies, they must be responsible to the people, humbly listen to the opinions of the masses of the people, and accept supervision by the masses: “Every sentence, every action, every policy must suit the interests of the people; if there are mistakes, they must be corrected.”

党和政府制定政策，就要向人民负责，虚心听取人民群众的意见，接受人民群众的监督，“每句话，每个行动，每项政策，都要适合人民的利益，如果有了错误，定要改正”。

“All correct tasks, policies, and work styles of the Party and government are those that suit the demands of the masses at the time and place and are linked with the masses; all erroneous tasks, policies, and work styles are those that do not suit the demands of the masses at the time and place and are divorced from the masses. The various maladies of dogmatism, empiricism, commandism, tailism, sectarianism, bureaucracy, and an arrogant work attitude are certainly bad and certainly unacceptable; if anyone has such maladies, they must be corrected precisely because they are divorced from the masses.”

党和政府的“凡属正确的任务、 政策和工作作风，都是和当时当地的群众要求相适合，都是联系群众的；凡属错误的任务、政策和工作作风，都是和当时当地的群众要求不相适合，都是脱离群众的。教条主义、经验主义、命令主义、尾巴主义、宗派主义、官僚主义、骄傲自大的工作态度等项弊病之所以一定不好，一定要不得，如果什么人有了这类弊病一定要改正，就是因为它们脱离群众”。

The policies of the Party and government must prominently and distinctly resolve such main tasks: “The center of all problems is the problem of the common people,” [31]31 Mao Zedong, “The Problem of the Common People” (1944), a speech emphasizing that the Party’s work must focus on the concrete interests of ordinary people. “All empty talk is useless; the people must be given visible material benefits.” [32]32 Mao Zedong, “Economic and Financial Problems during the Anti-Japanese War” (1942), stressing that the Party must provide tangible material benefits to the people, not just propaganda. “Every comrade should be made to understand that all words and deeds of Communists must take as the highest standard conformity with the greatest interests of the broadest masses of the people and acceptance by the broadest masses of the people.”

党和政府的政策必须突出地、鲜明地解决这样的主要任务，“一切问题的中心是老百姓问题”，“一切空话都是无用的，必须给人民以看得见的物质福利”。 “应该使每个同志明了，共产党人的一切言论行动，必须以合乎最广大人民群众的最大利益，为最广大人民群众所拥护为最高标准。”

Mao Zedong put it well: “Policy and tactics are the life of the Party; leading comrades at all levels must pay full attention and never be careless.” [33]33 Mao Zedong, “A Circular on the Situation” (1948), a directive on the importance of correct policy and tactics for the Party’s survival and success. In this way, Mao Zedong transformed the idea of serving the people into policies in politics, economics, culture, education, science, and other fields, using clear, concrete, and feasible policies to ensure the implementation and execution of the ideological and political line of serving the people, avoiding empty and boastful talk.

毛泽东说得好：“政策和策略是党的生命，各级领导同志务必充分注意，万万不可粗心大意。” 毛泽东就是这样把为人民服务的思想变为政治、经济、文化、教育、科学等各方面的政策，用明确、具体、可行的政策去保证为人民服务的思想路线、政治路线得到贯彻和执行，避免说空话，说大话。

Mao Zedong said this, and he also did this.

毛泽东是这样说的，也是这样做的。

In 1949, shortly after the founding of New China, Mao Zedong sent a letter to the old liberated areas of Yan’an: “All revolutionary workers throughout the country should forever maintain the style of arduous struggle that the workers in Yan’an and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region maintained over the past ten-plus years.”

1949年，新中国成立不久，毛泽东给延安老区致信：“全国一切革命工作人员永远保持过去十余年间在延安和陕甘宁边区工作人员所具有的艰苦奋斗的作风。”

In 1956, Mao Zedong gave instructions: “Pay attention to studying and resolving the problem of the low salaries of primary school teachers.”

1956年，毛泽东批示，“注意研究解决小学教师待遇低”的问题。

In 1960, Mao Zedong set for the whole Party “the task of opposing corruption, waste and bureaucracy,” in order to change the phenomenon of “the five excesses and five deficiencies,” namely “excessive meetings, deficient contact with the masses; excessive documents and forms, deficient summing-up of experience; people staying too long in offices, deficient earnest investigation and research; excessive routine business, deficient study; excessive general calls, deficient meticulous organizational work.” [34]34 “五多、五少” (the five excesses and five deficiencies): A formulation used by Mao Zedong in 1960 to criticize bureaucratic work styles in the Party and government, specifically listing five pairs of negative and positive practices.

1960年，毛泽东向全党“提出反贪污、反浪费、反官僚主义的任务”，改变“五多、五少”的现象，即“会议多，联系群众少；文件、报表多，经验总结少；人们蹲在机关多，认真调查研究少；事务多，学习少；一般号召多，细致的组织工作少。”

In 1964, Mao Zedong put forward the demand for reform to the education system: “Teachers must learn from the masses of the people,” and “the humanities must take the whole of society as their own factory”; he admonished the intelligentsia: “The source of strength is the masses of the people; if you do not reflect the demands of the masses of the people, no one will succeed; you must acquire knowledge from the masses of the people, formulate policy, and then go on to educate the masses of the people.”

1964年，毛泽东向教育系统提出改革的要求，“教师要向人民群众学习”，“文科要把整个社会作为自己的工厂”；告诫知识界，“力量的来源是人民群众；不反映人民群众的要求，哪一个也不行；要在人民群众那里学得知识，制定政策，然后再去教育人民群众”。

In 1965, Mao Zedong put forward the demand for reform to the medical and health work system: “Shift the focus of medical and health work to the countryside.” He vigorously supported and advocated the system of rural “barefoot doctors” [35]35 “赤脚医生” (barefoot doctors): Paramedical workers in rural China during the 1960s and 1970s, typically peasants with basic medical training who provided primary healthcare while continuing farm work. created by the masses of the people, initiating a great institutional revolution in the history of world medical and health care.

1965年，毛泽东向医药卫生工作系统提出改革的要求：“把医疗卫生工作的重点放到农村去。” 大力支持和倡导人民群众创造的农村“赤脚医生”制度，开启了世界医疗卫生史上伟大的制度革命。

There are countless examples of how Mao Zedong implemented serving the people in his work and policies, and every one of them embodies the people-oriented ideological concepts and moral spirit of loving and protecting the people.

毛泽东如何把为人民服务落实在工作和政策上的事情，举不胜举，其中每一件都贯彻着爱民、护民的民本主义的思想理念和道德精神。

“Serving the people” is a brand-new worldview and moral outlook in the history of human society. It is the concentrated expression of the outlook on life and values of Marxists and Communists, and it is the political character and code of conduct of Communists.

“为人民服务”是人类社会有史以来一种崭新的世界观和道德观，是马克思主义者，是共产党人的人生观、价值观的集中表现，是共产党人的政治品格和行为准则。

The slogan “Serve the people” tells the masses of the people unmistakably what Marxism and the Communist Party are for. The purpose of Communists’ life, work, and struggle is all directly expressed in this phrase.

“为人民服务”的口号明白无误地告诉人民群众，马克思主义和共产党是干什么的。共产党人的生活目的、工作目的、战斗目的，都直白地体现在这句话中。

The more concise, more popular, broader, more comprehensive, and also more profound ideas contained and expressed in the phrase “Serve the people” vividly demonstrate how the Chinese Communists, represented by Mao Zedong, applied Marxism-Leninism to China’s specific environment, endowed it with Chinese specific characteristics and national form, and gave it a Chinese style and Chinese manner that the Chinese common people love to see and hear. The slogan “Serve the people” is what Mao Zedong called “speaking to the masses not in the formulas of books but in the language of fighters struggling for the cause of the masses.” [36]36 “不用书本上的公式而用为群众事业而奋斗的战士的语言来和群众讲话” (speaking to the masses not in the formulas of books but in the language of fighters struggling for the cause of the masses): A paraphrase of Mao Zedong’s emphasis on popularizing Marxist language for mass mobilization. Whether workers, peasants, and soldiers, or professors and scholars, all can be educated and learn the Marxist outlook on life and values from this clear and fluent language. This is the great achievement of the nationalization, i.e., Sinicization, of Marxism—the victory of Mao Zedong Thought.

“为人民服务”这句话所包含和表达出的更简明、更通俗、更广泛、更全面，也更深刻的思想，鲜明地体现了以毛泽东为代表的中国共产党人，把马克思列宁主义应用于中国的具体环境，赋予了中国的具体特点和民族形式，带有了为中国老百姓所喜闻乐见的中国作风和中国气派。“为人民服务”的口号，就是毛泽东说的“不用书本上的公式而用为群众事业而奋斗的战士的语言来和群众讲话”， 无论工农兵大众，还是教授学者，都能够从这种明白晓畅的语言中，受到教育，学习马克思主义的人生观、价值观。这是马克思主义民族化即中国化的伟大成就——毛泽东思想的胜利。

The dominant moral concepts in society are the behavioral manifestations of the ideology and politics of the ruling class. Whatever the ideology and politics, there will be corresponding moral concepts to serve them. Ever since Mao Zedong, on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, solemnly declared to the Chinese people that the Chinese Communist Party serves the people, the Chinese people have used the standard of serving the people to examine and test the Chinese Communist Party, examining not only its past but also its present and future. The Chinese people have grown up under the education of serving the people advocated by the Chinese Communist Party; they understand what serving the people means, and they need the Chinese Communist Party to serve the people even more. “Serving the people” is the bond between the Party and the masses of the people. The ideological line of serving the people is the lifeline of our Party.

社会上占主导地位的道德观念，是统治阶级的思想政治的行为表现。有什么样的思想政治，就会有什么样的道德观念为之服务。自从毛泽东代表中国共产党，向中国人民郑重宣布中国共产党是为人民服务的，中国人民就用为人民服务的标准来检查和考验中国共产党，不仅考察中国共产党的过去，而且考察中国共产党的现在和将来。中国人民是在中国共产党倡导的为人民服务的教育下成长起来的，他们懂得什么是为人民服务，更需要中国共产党的为人民服务。“为人民服务”是党与人民群众之间的纽带。为人民服务的思想路线，是我们党的生命线。

Among the Chinese people, the slogan “Serve the people” is known to every household, deeply rooted in people’s hearts, and touches the hearts of hundreds of millions of people. It most clearly and most concentratedly reflects the aspirations of the Chinese people, the wishes of the broadest masses of the people, and the demands of the broadest masses of the people. These aspirations, wishes, and demands of the masses of the people were first expressed to the broad masses of the Chinese people suffering from national and class oppression by Mao Zedong on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, and were resolutely embodied in the policies and actions of the Chinese Communist Party, fulfilling the promise of “serving the people” to the Chinese people and establishing a new China. The people of all ethnic groups in China support the Chinese Communist Party and love the Chinese Communist Party precisely because it can serve them wholeheartedly.

在中国人民中，“为人民服务”的口号家喻户晓，深入人心，牵动着亿万人民的心。它最明确、最集中地反映了中国人民的心声，反映了最广大人民群众的愿望，反映了最广大人民群众的要求。人民群众的这种心声，这种愿望，这种要求，首先是毛泽东代表中国共产党向处于民族压迫和阶级压迫的广大中国人民表达出来的，并坚决地在中国共产党的政策和行动中体现出来，实现了向中国人民的“为人民服务”的承诺，建立了一个新中国。中国各族人民拥护中国共产党，爱戴中国共产党，就是因为中国共产党能够全心全意地为他们服务。

Articles like “In Memory of Norman Bethune” and “Serve the People” written by Mao Zedong diligently cultivated the construction of the Chinese Communist Party, sowed fine spiritual nourishment, bore rich fruits, and changed the spiritual world of the Chinese nation. “Serve the People” opened up the path and pointed out the direction for the ideological progress of the Chinese people. It is an epoch-making great article and a monument in the history of the ideological development of the Chinese nation.

毛泽东写的《纪念白求恩》《为人民服务》这样的文章，为中国共产党的建设辛勤耕耘，播撒下美好的精神食粮，结出了丰硕的果实，改变了中华民族的精神世界。《为人民服务》为中国人民的思想进步开拓了道路，指明了方向，是划时代的伟大文章，是中华民族思想发展史上的一座丰碑。

Under the environment and conditions of reform and opening up, how can the Party and government better implement the spirit of serving the people in various policies? Mao Zedong said it well back then: “All work done for the masses must start from their needs and not from the desire of any individual, however well-intentioned. It often happens that objectively the masses need a certain change, but subjectively they are not yet so conscious, have not yet made up their minds, and are not yet willing to make the change. In such cases, we should wait patiently. We should not make the change until, through our work, most of the masses have become conscious and willing. Otherwise, we shall separate ourselves from the masses. Unless they are conscious and willing, any kind of work that requires their participation will turn out to be a mere formality and will fail.” [37]37 “一切为群众的工作都要从群众的需要出发……” (All work done for the masses must start from their needs…): A quotation from Mao Zedong’s 1943 essay “On the Mass Line,” emphasizing voluntary participation in mass work.

在改革开放的环境和条件下，党和政府如何更好地把为人民服务的精神贯彻到各项政策中，毛泽东当年说得好：“一切为群众的工作都要从群众的需要出发，而不是从任何良好的个人愿望出发。有许多时候，群众在客观上虽然有了某种改革的需要，但在他们的主观上还没有这种觉悟，群众还没有决心，还不愿实行改革，我们就要耐心地等待；直到经过我们的工作，群众的多数有了觉悟，有了决心，自愿实行改革，才去实行这种改革，否则就会脱离群众。凡是需要群众参加的工作，如果没有群众的自觉和自愿，就会流于徒有形式而失败。”

Throughout Mao Zedong’s decades of Party building, the line and policy with serving the people as the purpose were consistently implemented, and thus Party building achieved tremendous results. Deng Xiaoping said it well: “The set of Party-building ideas established by Comrade Mao Zedong, in our view, represents a great development of Lenin’s principles of Party building. The fine Party style must be inherited and passed on by successors. We pay special attention to propagating Mao Zedong Thought so that it takes root among the masses. The question of what kind of Party to build is not only a problem for our generation but also for the next and the generation after that. The core issue in a country’s revolution is the Party. Only with a good Party can the revolution be led to victory. After the victory of the revolution, building socialism also depends on a good Party; otherwise, victory cannot be secured.” [38]38 “毛泽东同志确立的一套建党思想……” (The set of Party-building ideas established by Comrade Mao Zedong…): A quotation from Deng Xiaoping’s remarks on Party building, likely from the early 1980s, stressing the continuity of Mao’s legacy.

在毛泽东几十年的党的建设中，始终贯彻以为人民服务为宗旨的路线和政策，因而党的建设取得了巨大的成效。邓小平说得好：“毛泽东同志确立的一套建党思想，在我们看来，对列宁的建党原则有很大的发展。好的党风要继承下来，要由接班人传下来。我们特别注意宣传毛泽东思想，使它在群众中扎根。建立一个什么样的党的问题，这不仅是我们这一代的问题，也是下一代、再下一代的问题。一个国家的革命，核心问题是党。有了一个好党才能引导革命走向胜利。革命胜利后，搞社会主义也要靠一个好党，否则胜利就靠不住。”

Today, in the era of reform and opening up, under the dazzling conditions of the socialist market economy, how much we need to write a new chapter of “Serve the People”!

今天，改革开放的年代，在五光十色的社会主义市场经济环境下，我们多么需要续写《为人民服务》的新篇章啊！

(The author is a researcher at the Academy of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者为中国社会科学院马克思主义研究院研究员）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧