Learn From Mao Zedong

The excerpt of Zhou Enlai's report at the First National Youth Congress of China on May 7, 1949, which had been published in the People's Daily on October 8, 1978 and published in a single volume by the People’s Press in the same month, was reorganized according to the original record when the People’s Press published Selected Works of Zhou Enlai (Part I) in 1980.

The article opens with a clear understanding of the background of Mao Zedong's study. It is pointed out that the Chinese people's Great Revolution has gone to national victory, and that our youth should step up their participation in the cause of building a new China. We have to have a leader that we all recognize, a leader who can take us forward.

The practice of the 30-year revolutionary movement has enabled the Chinese people to have their own leader, Mao Zedong. We are determined to carry the banner of Mao Zedong forward. We should mobilize and strive for tens of millions of young people to follow us forward. On this point, Mao Zedong's banner is our best call. When we call on the youth of the whole country to follow this banner, we must understand how it has developed to the present day.

The article expounds the main reasons why Mao Zedong deserves our respect and how we can learn from him.

The main contents are as follows:

(1) Mao is born of the Chinese people, has flesh-and-blood ties with them and is deeply rooted in the land and society of China. He is a people's leader born of China's revolutionary movements in the past hundred years and, since the May 4th Movement, of the long years of accumulated revolutionary experience.

Therefore, we must learn from Mao Zedong's historical development in a comprehensive way.

(2) Mao Zedong's orientation is the correct orientation for the Chinese people. He has time and again pointed out the truth and upheld the truth. He has applied the truth of world revolution—the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism—to China and has integrated it with China's revolutionary practice to create Mao Zedong Thought, and accordingly, he formulated correct lines and policies, did a lot of hard and concrete work, advanced indefatigably, struggled for a long time, and strived to win the majority of the people to struggle together.

Mao Zedong Thought has the distinctive feature of giving concrete expression to universal truth and applying it on Chinese soil and make this truth accepted by everyone and turn it into the strength of the masses. The principles put forward by Mao Zedong always take care of the majority and serve the interests of the majority of the people.

Mao Zedong's fundamental focus is to apply Marxism to China and strive for the victory of the revolution by uniting the overwhelming majority of the masses of the people around the proletariat, rather than confining himself to a tiny circle and indulge in empty talk about revolution.

(3) To correctly view Chairman Mao's historical development, we must not regard Mao Zedong as a chance leader, a born leader, a demi-god or a leader impossible to emulate. Mao Zedong had a process of growth and development. His greatness lies in the fact that he awakened from superstition and rejected what was outdated; it lies even more in the fact that he dared to face up to the past. Chairman Mao is a people's leader born of the experience and lessons of a history of several thousand years, of the revolutionary movements of the last hundred years, and of direct struggle over the last thirty years.

(4) Our slogan is "Learn from Mao Zedong", but it is not confined to this slogan. Our young people must study various subjects, such as New-Democratic construction, economics, politics and culture and the many different specialized fields in the sciences and technology. Dedication to study is also a characteristic of Mao Zedong. We should learn from his spirit. We must rid ourselves of impetuosity, arrogance, dejection, discouragement and demoralization; we must learn from Mao Zedong's style of study and style of work, be honest, seek truth from facts, work conscientiously and advance steadily and courageously.

Only thus can we get millions upon millions of young people to march forward with us. Only thus can we bring about the democratic emancipation of the people of the whole country, achieve national independence, build a New-Democratic New China and strive for a lasting world peace. This report has played a positive role in mobilizing the youth of the whole country to better learn from Mao Zedong and actively devote themselves to the great cause of building a new China.