Be Ruthless to the Enemy and Kind to the People
#PUBLICATION NOTE
This edition of Be Ruthless to the Enemy and Kind to the People has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following editions:
- Quotation in the Quotations From Chairman Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
- Chairman Mao Strongly Encourages Fighters to Persist in Serving the People, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 8, Routledge, New York and London, 2015.
#INTRODUCTION NOTE
This is a speech delivered by Comrade Mao Zedong at a reception given by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for model study delegates from the Rear Army Detachments in Yan'an, Shaanxi, China on the 18th of September, 1944. It was first published in the Jiefang Ribao (23rd of September, 1944).
#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!
#BE RUTHLESS TO THE ENEMY AND KIND TO THE PEOPLE
#SPEECH DELIVERED AT A RECEPTION FOR MODEL STUDY DELEGATES FROM THE REAR ARMY DETACHMENTS
#Mao Zedong
#18th of September, 1944
#★
You have been elected from among the troops to attend this meeting. You represent the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies, and simultaneously, you represent the 90'000'000 people in our anti-Japanese base areas, as well as the 450'000'000 people of all China. Although you were not elected directly by the people, nevertheless, in the programme you carry out and the work you do, you represent the demands of all the Chinese people — to overthrow the Japanese imperialists and liberate the Chinese nation.
Since the fall of Wuhan, and especially over the past two years, great and obvious changes have taken place in China's War of Resistance. At present, the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and the South China Guerrilla Column are resisting 5/6 of the enemy and puppet troops in China. The Nationalist Party is fighting only against the other 1/6. In their Henan and Hunan Campaigns, it was as if the enemy had entered a country without people to defend it, and the situation was extremely serious. That China has not fallen is because it has us Communists and the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies. It has mainly been we who have maintained the War of Resistance. This is the state of the War of Resistance today.
Whether in fighting the enemy at the front or in guarding the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region in the rear area, whether in production or in training troops, whether in relations between the people and the troops or between officers and soldiers, our troops have made great progress. But we still have flaws and we must correct them; we must take a step forward to improve ourselves. During last year's movement to «support the government and cherish the people», we used the method of self-criticism — we may have flaws, but we can criticize one another. An army must have unified leadership and discipline before it can be victorious. Correct self-criticism will strengthen rather than weaken leadership and discipline. Of course, such self-criticism exists only among our troops; it would be impossible among the Nationalist troops. This is because our army is truly a people's army. Our every soldier, cook, and cowherd serves the people. Our troops must become one with the people; our officers must become one with our soldiers. We must continue to uphold what accords with the interests of the people and strive to abolish what does not. Our army has always had two policies. First, we must be ruthless to our enemies, we must overpower and annihilate them. Second, we must be kind to our own, to the people, to our comrades and to our superiors and subordinates, and unite with them. These are the policies of the Party's Central Committee, of its North-Western Bureau, and the policies demanded by the whole people.
Our hearts are closely linked with the hearts of all Chinese people! We will defeat Japanese imperialism and liberate the Chinese nation!