Opposing Sectarianism in Order to Rectify the Party’s Conduct

Sectarianism is a manifestation of subjectivism in organizational relations. Opposing sectarianism to rectify the Party's conduct was one of the important contents of the Rectification Movement in Yan'an (1942-1945).

As a result of 20 years of training in the Party, although sectarianism was not dominant within the Party at that time, the remnants of sectarianism still existed. It was mainly manifested as the following: proceeding from the principle that the Party's interests are above personal or sectional interests within the Party, or Party's interests or sectional interests were treated above the interests of the people; in its struggle for independence and separation from the masses, that is partial interests are above the overall interests and sectarian interests are above the interests of the people; its external manifestations were as follows: violation and misjudgment of the Party's united front policy, tend to be overbearing in their relations with non-Party people, look down upon them, despise or refuse to respect them or don’t appreciate their strong points. Mao Zedong pointed out: the sectarian tendencies within the Party and in internal relations lead to exclusiveness towards comrades inside the Party and hinder inner-Party unity and solidarity, while sectarian tendencies in external relations lead to exclusiveness towards people outside the Party and hinder the Party in its task of uniting the whole people. Only by uprooting this evil in both its aspects can the Party advance unimpeded in its great task of achieving unity among all Party comrades and among all the people of our country. All kind of sectarian tendencies are the results of subjectivism and contradict the actual needs of the revolution; consequently the struggle against sectarianism and subjectivism should be carried out simultaneously.