Yan'an Rectification Movement - Operational Principles

Operational Principles

The Communists established numerous schools, formulating a new type of educational system. Among these schools were the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, the Lu Xun Academy of the Arts, the Northwest Public School, the Central Party School, the Academy of Marxism-Leninism, the Women's University, Yan'an University, and the Academy of the Nationality, as well as a number of special training programs. All veterans and new recruits had to be enrolled and educated in one of these institutions, in accordance with their previous training or their expertise, before they could be trusted with assignment to party and government positions.

At the end of the Yan'an Rectification Campaign the CCP had developed an operational set of principles and practices that differed greatly from the centralized, functionally specialized, hierarchical, command-oriented approach imposed by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. In what some authors have labeled the "Yan'an complex," the CCP emphasized a combination of qualities that can be summed up as:

• decentralized rule with flexibility allowed to local leaders;
• the importance of ideology in keeping cadres loyal;
• a strong preference for officials whose leadership spans a range of areas;
• stress on developing and maintaining close ties with the local population;
• focus on egalitarianism and simple living among officials.

Although the communist movement never realized these principles in practice, they became deeply held values of the CCP, and years later became central to the Party mythology that reminisced about the success of the Yan'an era.