VI. The Line of the Party On Cadres

In the General Programme of the draft additions are made concerning the line on cadres. The line on cadres serves the political line; "Cadres are a decisive factor, once the political line is determined." What then is the line of our Party on cadres? Chairman Mao said, "Throughout our national history there have been two sharply contrasting lines on the subject of the use of cadres, one being to 'appoint people on their merit,' and the other to 'appoint people by favouritism.' The former is the honest and the latter the dishonest way. The criterion the Communist Party should apply in its cadres policy is whether or not a cadre is resolute in carrying out the Party line, keeps to Party discipline, has close ties with the masses, has the ability to find his bearings independently, and is active, hard-working and unselfish. This is what 'appointing people on their merit' means." In the history of our Party, the struggle between Chairman Mao's proletarian line on cadres and the bourgeois line on cadres has been very fierce. In recruiting deserters and renegades and ganging up for private interests, the "gang of four" have gone far beyond the chieftains of all earlier opportunist lines. They hate all the old and middle-aged cadres who have been through the test of revolutionary struggles and are loyal to Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, and they likewise hate all young cadres who adhere to principles and fight against revisionism. They pushed a counter-revolutionary revisionist line on cadres, going to any length in promoting their lackeys to important posts and buying over cadres or fostering trusted followers by the despicable methods of the stick and the carrot, by pressure and by promotions and promises. The history of the struggle between the two lines in our Party has proved time and again that the bourgeois line on cadres, which is "appointing people by favouritism," is a poison that disintegrates and destroys the Party, while only by carrying out the proletarian line on cadres, namely, "appointing people on their merit," can we enable our Party to be united and to flourish.

Chairman Mao said, "Successors in the revolutionary cause of the proletariat come forward in mass struggles and are tempered in the great storms of revolution. It is essential to test and judge cadres and choose and train successors in the long course of mass struggle." The draft provides that the Party "must train and bring up in mass struggles millions of successors in the revolutionary cause of the proletariat in accordance with the five requirements put forward by Chairman Mao." We must promote outstanding people who have come to the fore in the Cultural Revolution and the three great revolutionary movements of class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment and have measured up to the five requirements for revolutionary successors and put them into the leading bodies at all levels according to the principle of combining the old, the middle-aged and the young. Old and new cadres should learn from and help each other to make up for each other's deficiencies. The old cadres should give enthusiastic help and support to the new cadres and take the training of successors in the revolutionary cause of the proletariat as one of their major responsibilities.

Chairman Mao said, "In the final analysis, leadership involves two main responsibilities: to work out ideas, and to use cadres well." Leading comrades at all levels, particularly the chief leading comrades, must be good at using cadres. They should have the wisdom to know others as well as to know themselves. Any comrade has his weak points as well as his strong ones. Leading comrades should act in accordance with dialectics, adopting a one-divides-into-two attitude towards themselves and towards other people. A "wise man" is one who bears the overall situation in mind, puts the general interest above all and grasps the major issues. Of course a "wise man" cannot be free from shortcomings either, and one-dividing-into-two applies to him as well. A leader must be good at giving play to other people's strong points in order to make up for his own shortcomings, and at the same time he must help others to overcome their shortcomings; this is what is meant by knowing your subordinates and making good use of them.

The attitude to adopt towards comrades who have erred is an important aspect of our policy on cadres. As we all know, Chairman Mao was always opposed to "finishing off" an erring comrade "at one blow." He said, "The correct attitude towards them should be to adopt a policy of 'learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the sickness to save the patient,' help them correct their mistakes and allow them to go on taking part in the revolution." Chairman Mao always stressed that we must first observe a comrade who has erred and then give him help, in order to clarify his thinking and unite with him. This should apply to all comrades, whether old, middle-aged or young. The "gang of four," on some kind of pretext or false charge that they had.made this or that mistake, excluded and tried to overthrow all those who refused to go along with them in their evil deeds. They indulged in ruthless struggle and merciless blows in order to crush the ranks of our cadres and our Party. We must follow Chairman Mao's teachings and unite and work together with over 95 per cent of the cadres and with all revolutionary comrades, including those who have committed errors but are willing to mend their ways.