Meet the Standards for Party Members*

August 13, 2017

Meetings of the Party branch have become regular. It is good to have a system of Three Meetings and One Lecture in which Party members regularly attend meetings of general membership, branch committees, and Party groups and one lecture every six months. During the war, it was a Party priority to establish Party branches in our companies. From the Sanwan Reorganization¹ to the Gutian Meeting² in 1929, our Party started to build the army politically with a focus on developing primary-level Party organizations.

As for the Three Meetings and One Lecture system, our Party branch has carried it out thoroughly. We should do it with great care, starting from the Central Committee, and myself, setting a good example. Everyone here today is an ordinary Party member, equal at our organizational activities. It is an essential requirement to observe the Party Constitution and better meet the standards for Party members.

At present, the key task for the Party and the country is to ensure the success of the 19th National Congress. I hope everyone will focus on self-improvement, do our job well in this critical period, strictly discipline ourselves in accordance with the standards for Party members, and make no errors in our work. You all do important confidential work; you should do all of your work well, with great care, and must succeed. You should fulfill your duties and accomplish to the full what has been assigned to you.

I hope you can be noble-minded people above base interests. You are now engaged in a noble cause. You have made the wrong choice, working here, if you intended to get promotion and make a fortune; you should never come here in the first place if you care for nothing but your own gain and advancement. There are examples, historical and contemporary, for us to follow – Zhang Side³, Norman Bethune⁴, Jiao Yulu⁵, and Mai Xiande⁶. In ordinary posts, these people have devoted and are devoting themselves to the cause. I would like you to follow suit, reflect on yourselves, learn from the past, steer clear of the danger of committing mistakes, strictly follow discipline and rules, and stay cautious and prudent.

I hope that you believe in the people, the Party and the organization. You have joined the great cause and dedicate yourselves selflessly to achieving the Two Centenary Goals. You will make a contribution as remarkable and glorious as others. I hope that you remain faithful to and devote yourselves to the organization; then the organization will take care of you, cherish you, and trust you.

* Points raised at a Party branch meeting in his capacity as an individual Party member.

Notes 

¹  On September 29, 1927, the troops that Mao Zedong led in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, an armed uprising in the border area of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, were reorganized in Sanwan Village of Yongxin County, Jiangxi Province. The troops were regrouped into a regiment, known as the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of the 1st Army of the Chinese Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army. The CPC's absolute leadership over the Army was confirmed, and Party organizations were established at all levels of the Army. Party branches were set up at the company level, Party groups at squads and platoons, and Party committees at battalions and regiments, with Party representatives dispatched to army units above the company level. Democracy was introduced in the Army, and officers and soldiers were treated equally. Committees for soldiers were also set up. The Sanwan Reorganization laid the foundation for the new-type people's army. 

²  This refers to the Ninth Congress of the Fourth Red Army of the CPC, held in Gutian Village of Shanghang County, Fujian Province in December 1929. It was at this meeting that the principle of cultivating the army with the CPC's political philosophy was established. 

³  Zhang Side (1915-1944) was a soldier of the Guard Squad of the CPC Central Committee. He joined the Red Army in 1933, participated in the Long March, and was wounded in battles. He was a loyal Communist in service of the people. On September 5, 1944, Zhang died when burning charcoal in the mountains of Ansai County in northern Shaanxi Province, killed when the kiln collapsed on him. At Zhang's memorial service on September 8, 1944, Mao Zedong made the speech "Serve the People". 

⁴  Norman Bethune (1890-1939) was a Canadian physician and a member of the Communist Party of Canada. After the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out nationwide in 1937, Bethune led a medical team of Canadian and American surgeons to China. On November 12, 1939, he died in Tangxian County, Hebei Province, from an infection he contracted during a surgery. On December 21, 1939, Mao Zedong praised his selflessness and wholehearted service to the people in the essay "In Memory of Norman Bethune". 

⁵  See "Be a Good County Party Secretary", pp. 151-163. 

⁶  Mai Xiande (1945- ) was enlisted in the Navy at the age of 18. During a sea battle between PLA and Taiwan's gunboats on August 6, 1965, Mai, seriously wounded, managed to fix a mechanical failure and ensured the safety of his boat. He was awarded the honor "Battle Hero" by China's Ministry of National Defense in 1966, and received the August 1st Medal from the Central Military Commission in 2017.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)