Talks at the Yan’an Conference on Literature and Art 1942

Abstract

As Mao consolidated his power over the CCP in Yan’an in the early 1940s, he was unexpectedly confronted by biting criticism of the party’s failure to live up to its own egalitarian goals. These criticisms came from the CCP’s left-wing intellectuals, hundreds of whom had come to Yan’an after the outbreak of war with Japan in 1937. In May 1942, Mao paused the Rectification Movement — his broader campaign to eliminate his senior party rivals and mobilize the party rank and file to the ideals of his “On New Democracy” (see Document 2) — to discipline his way-ward left-wing critics. The result was the Yan’an Conference on Literature and Art.