Principle of Unity between Officers and Soldiers

One of the three major principles of the political work of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was the guideline for dealing with the relationship between officers and soldiers and the relationship between subordinates and superiors.

The main contents are: political equality between officers and soldiers, love and care for soldiers by cadres, respect for cadres by soldiers, unity and mutual assistance, sharing the hardships and suffering, leading democracy, and conscious discipline.

The principle of uniformity between officers and soldiers was first summarized by Mao Zedong during his conversation with British journalist Bertram in October 1937. Its basic ideas were formed in the early days of the founding of the army.

In September 1927, when the troops of the Autumn Harvest Uprising led by Mao Zedong were reorganized at Sanwan, they proposed to break the feudal mercenary army management system and warlord style and to implement a democratic system. It was stipulated that the officers were not allowed to scold soldiers and that soldiers had the freedom to meet and speak. Soldier committees were established above the company level to monitor economic expenditure and to supervise and criticize cadres.

During the struggle in Jinggang Mountain, when the Red Army had a hard material life and frequent battles, leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhu De set an example by eating brown rice, wearing coarse clothes and living in thatched huts with the soldiers, personally fostering a democratic style and establishing a new type of relationship between officers and soldiers.

In December 1929, the resolution of the Gutian Conference fully affirmed the democratic system in the Red Army, emphasizing that the officers and soldiers of the Red Army had only the distinction of positions, but no distinction of classes. The officers should care for and love the soldiers, guarantee their democratic rights, respect their personalities, abolish corporal punishment, and prohibit insults. Soldiers should respect their officers, obey discipline, and adhere to extreme democratization, egalitarianism and employment. In this way, the Red Army's internal relations were established politically and in terms of management system, and the line was drawn between the Red Army and all old-style armies. Since then, the People's Army has inherited and carried forward the fine tradition of the unity of officers and soldiers and constantly enriched new contents.

For example, during the Anti-Japanese War, the army launched a campaign of respecting cadres and loving soldiers on the basis of rectification. During the War of Liberation, the army institutionalized the three major democratizations of politics, economy and military through the new style of army Rectification Movement, and established the organization of revolutionary soldiers' committees in the companies.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the system of revolutionary soldiers' representatives was established in the army in 1954; in 1958, the system of cadres going down to companies as soldiers' substitutes was established; in 1961, the “Regulations on Company Management and Education Work of the Chinese People's Liberation Army” was promulgated, which put forward eight requirements for respecting and loving soldiers; in 1984, the “Regulations on Internal Affairs of the Chinese People's Liberation Army” were promulgated, and the requirements for respecting and loving soldiers were revised to seven items according to the new situation in the new period of socialist construction.

The establishment and implementation of these rules and regulations played an important role in inheriting and carrying forward the tradition of uniformity between officers and soldiers, coordinating the internal relations of the army, consolidating the unity between officers and soldiers and between superiors and subordinates, and enhancing the combat effectiveness of the army.

The People's Liberation Army was a new type of people's army created and led by the CPC. Those who join this army are not fighting for the selfish interests of a few people or a narrow group, but for the realization of the Party's program and line, that is, for the interests of the masses of the people and for the interests of the whole nation. This historical mission of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the common class interests and goals of the officers and soldiers are the political basis for the unity of the officers and soldiers.

The key to adhering to the principle of unity of officers and soldiers lies in the cadres, who are required to treat people equally from the fundamental attitude of respecting soldiers; at the same time, soldiers are required to respect cadres.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army follows the Principle of Unity between Army and Soldiers and correctly handles the internal relations of the army, forming a vivid and lively political situation, inspiring a high sense of revolutionary responsibility and mastery among officers and soldiers, making the officers and soldiers, subordinates and superiors, share the difficulties and depend on each other in life and death, always maintaining a high degree of unity of revolutionary will, and becoming an important guarantee for uniting oneself and defeating the enemy.