Comrade Mao Zedong made a speech at an education and mobilization meeting for cadres at work in Yan’an. At the meeting, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out that, “Based on historical experience and the current environment, our Party has recently launched two campaigns: the production campaign and the learning campaign, both of which are of general and permanent significance. The direct reason why we initiated the production campaign is lack of basic necessities of life. Although there are some basic necessities available now, they are sure to be not enough if we are trapped in trouble some day in the future, so we have to set the stage in advance from now. In this way, the need for basic necessities has become the direct cause of our production campaign. The direct reasons for our launching the learning campaign lie in first that our Communist Party has to lead the revolution on behalf of hundreds of millions of people, which would not be successful if there is no knowledge. Second, the shortcomings in our work urgently need to be overcome. There is a kind of panic in our team, which is neither economic panic nor political panic, but the dread of incompetence. The limited number of skills we learned in the past could be used up soon if they are capitalized on day by day. This is just like a store with a few in stock, which will be absolutely empty once the shelves are stripped bare, leading up to the stoppage of business unless the stock is replenished once again. For our cadres, “replenishing the stock” translates to learning skills, which is in urgent need for many of them. Whether cadres in the Party, government agencies, army, grass-roots organizations, or academic institutions all must enrich their knowledge, so that they can do their work better. Third, our efforts of overthrowing Japanese imperialism and establishing a new China calls for a strong party. Now that we have to build a strong party, learning is essential for our cadres. It is what we value, and the need for learning is even more urgent, especially for our cadres and comrades. Leadership work, the improvement of work, and the building of a strong party make up the immediate causes for our learning campaign. The resolutions on learning issues made at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China are crucial.” He also stressed that, “It is wrong for our Party members not to study theories. If there are problems, solutions to them must be figured out. This is a true definition of the Party spirit. The way of learning is to “take time off” and “delve”. One should learn to take time off from busy work, a means to address busyness. When the theory is way above our head, we should not be apprehensive about it, but do our best to “delve into” it. In China, reading has long been called ‘overcoming a book’. We must overcome what you don’t apprehend in reading as we attack a personal enemy.” Comrade Mao Zedong also stated at the meeting that, “We have now reaped some results in learning campaign, and organized many learning groups. Our efforts in this respect have been paid off, exemplified by the fact that there have been philosophy groups, reading groups and other groups in Yan’an. The cadre education system we have established really works, which is a newly invented university system and a university running in perpetuity. People who are truly accomplished since ancient times did not acquire knowledge from school which just opens up a door to them. For more knowledge, we must learn outside the school and do a long-term study. As for learning, it is a must for us to hold on straight to the end. The biggest enemy in our learning journey is that we “give up halfway” and feel satisfied when getting some knowledge. Complacency is the biggest inveterate foe in our learning journey. Everyone must go the distance and build our Party into a big school. Under the leadership of the cadre education department, I believe the cadre learning campaign will see great results. The method we are trying must be expanded to the entire Party, especially the Party in North China.