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{{short description|1942–45 Chinese Communist Party political effort}}
{{Redirect|Cheng Feng|the women's basketball player|Cheng Feng (basketball)}}
[[File:Group photo of representatives of the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art.png|thumb|Group photo of some participants of the [[Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art]], 1942.]]
{{Campaignbox Second Sino-Japanese War}}
{{Japanese colonial campaigns}}

The '''Yan'an Rectification Movement''' ({{lang-zh|s=延安整风运动|t=延安整風運動|p=Yán'ān Zhěngfēng Yùndòng}}){{efn|Also known as the '''Zhengfeng''' or '''Cheng Feng''' from its transliteration.}} was a political [[mass movement (politics)|mass movement]] led by the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) from 1942 to 1945.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Hua |first1=Gao |title=[[How the Red Sun Rose|How the Red Sun Rose: The Origins and Development of the Yan'an Rectification Movement, 1930–1945]] |last2=Mosher |first2=Stacy |last3=Jian |first3=Guo |date=2018 |publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press |isbn=978-962-996-822-9 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvbtzp48 |jstor=j.ctvbtzp48}}</ref> The movement took place in the [[Yan'an Soviet]], a [[revolutionary base area]] centered on the remote city of [[Yan'an]]. Although it was during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], the CCP was experiencing a time of relative peace when they could focus on internal affairs.<ref name=newman/>

The legacies of the Yan'an Rectification Movement proved fundamental to the subsequent history of the Chinese Communist Party, according to [[Kenneth Lieberthal]]. These included the consolidation of [[Mao Zedong]]'s paramount role within the CCP, especially from 1942 to 1944, and the adoption of a [[Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party|party constitution]] that endorsed [[Marxist-Leninism]] and [[Maoism|Mao Zedong Thought]] as guiding ideologies.<ref>Lieberthal (2003), p. 46.</ref> This move formalised Mao's deviation from the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Moscow party line]] and the importance of Mao's alleged 'adaptation of communism to the conditions of China'. The Rectification Campaign was successful in either convincing or coercing the other leaders of the CCP to support Mao. Because the CCP had overcome great odds to grow and develop during this period, the methods employed in Yan'an were looked upon in reverence during Mao's later years. After the founding of the [[People's Republic of China]] in 1949, Mao repeatedly used some of the tactics that had been successful in Yan'an whenever he felt the need to monopolize political power.<ref name="LIEBERTHAL">{{Cite book |last=Lieberthal |first=Kenneth |url=https://archive.org/details/governingchinafr0000lieb |title=Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform |date=2004 |publisher=[[W. W. Norton]] |isbn=978-0-393-92492-3 |pages=45–48 |language=en}}</ref> To a large extent, the Yan'an Rectification Campaign began with the "systematic remolding of human minds".<ref name="newman">{{Cite book |last=Cheng |first=Yinghong |title=Creating the "New Man": From Enlightenment Ideals to Socialist Realities |date=2009 |publisher=[[University of Hawai'i Press]] |isbn=978-0-8248-3074-8 |pages=59–70 |jstor=j.ctt6wqzq7}}</ref>

The CCP made efforts to attack intellectuals and replace the culture of the [[May Fourth Movement]] with that of the CCP.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge History of China |date=1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-05480-5 |editor-last=Fairbank |editor-first=John K. |edition=1 |doi=10.1017/chol9780521243384 |editor-last2=Feuerwerker |editor-first2=Albert}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Borthwick |first=Mark |url=https://archive.org/details/pacificcenturyed00mark |title=Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia |year=1998 |publisher= Avalon|isbn=978-0-8133-4355-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Apter">{{Cite book |last1=Apter |first1=David Ernest |url=https://archive.org/details/revolutionarydis0000apte |title=Revolutionary Discourse in Mao's Republic |last2=Saich |first2=Tony |date=1994 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-76780-5 |language=en}}</ref> The rectification movement is regarded by many as the origin of [[Mao Zedong's cult of personality]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Selden |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Selden |date=1995 |title=Yan'an Communism Reconsidered |journal=Modern China |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=8–44 |doi=10.1177/009770049502100102 |issn=0097-7004 |jstor=189281 |s2cid=145316369}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Tokuda |first=Noriyuki |year=1971 |title=Yenan Rectification Movement: Mao Tse-Tung's Big Push Toward Charismatic Leadership During 1941–1942 |journal=The Developing Economies |volume=9 |pages=83–99 |doi=10.1111/j.1746-1049.1971.tb00463.x |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=He|first=Fang|title="延安整风"与个人崇拜|url=http://www.modernchinastudies.org/cn/issues/past-issues/87-mcs-2005-issue-1/895-2012-01-05-15-34-56.html|access-date=2020-07-29|website=Modern China Studies|language=zh|archive-date=2020-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714155806/http://www.modernchinastudies.org/cn/issues/past-issues/87-mcs-2005-issue-1/895-2012-01-05-15-34-56.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Background==
In the 1930s the remote region of [[Yan'an]] had not experienced the same turmoil and hostilities as other [[mainland China|mainland]] territories. Situated in [[northwest China]], the area was also difficult to attack. CCP members mostly arrived there after the [[Long March]] (1934–1935). The area was known as a territory of camaraderie without corruption, though the Rectification Movement essentially changed everything.<ref name="Chang, Jung">{{Cite book |last=Chang |first=Jung |title=Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China |title-link=Wild Swans |date=2008|publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |isbn=978-1-4391-0649-5 |language=en}} {{page needed|date=February 2024}}</ref>

According to official CCP sources, the purpose of the Rectification Campaign was to give a basic grounding in the [[Marxist theory]] and [[Leninism|Leninist]] principles of party organization to the thousands of new members who had joined the CCP during its expansion after 1937. A second, equally important aspect of the movement was the elimination of the blind imitation of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] models, obedience to Soviet directives (mostly communicated to China via the [[Communist International]]), and "empiricism". Mao emphasized that the campaign aimed at "rectifying mistaken ideas" and not the people who held them.<ref name="Short">Short, Philip. ''Mao: A Life''. {{ISBN|0-8050-6638-1}}.{{page needed|date=February 2024}}</ref>

Modern research by Chinese and Western scholars, in particular the interpretation of history professor Gao Hua in his work [[How the Red Sun Rose|How the Red Sun Rose: The Origins and Development of the Yan'an Rectification Movement, 1930–1945]], have focused on the political nature of the Rectification Movement.<ref name=":3" /> Modern scholars have increasingly viewed the movement as being initiated by Mao in order to ensure his status as paramount leader of the CCP. According to Gao, the Rectification Movement had four purposes:
# To end the veneration of "Party intellectuals who had studied in the Soviet Union and those who had been educated abroad or through "standard" education within China", ultimately forming the new fashion: "Being well-read was wrong-headed, and ignorance of the classics was commendable."<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=363}}
# To purge the [[New Culture Movement|May Fourth]] "notions of freedom, democracy, and individual liberation among Party intellectuals", establishing the concept of "the leader and the collective above all, and the individual as negligible."<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=364}} Mao first "drew on the support of the liberal intellectuals in the Party to encircle and suppress the Soviet faction", then reinstated the Soviet faction and used them "to join with [Mao] in suppressing the remnants (the liberal intellectuals) of the 'May Fourth' influence in the Party."<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=364}}
# To theorize the concept of "peasants as the principal force of the Chinese Revolution"<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=364}}
# To build up Party ideology and organization by using "the Communist Party's theory of inner-Party struggle", employing "ideological persuasion and coercion to forge an ideal Communist 'New Man' who combined loyalty and obedience with a fighting spirit."<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|page=364}}

Throughout the Rectification Campaign, Yan'an was not seriously threatened by either the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] or the [[Kuomintang|Nationalists]]. With the Soviets [[German–Soviet War|at war]] with [[Nazi Germany]] and unable to intervene, Mao seized the opportunity in Yan'an to "go to work" on his Party and "mold it into an unquestioning machine" in preparation for the all-out civil war against the Nationalists under [[Chiang Kai-shek]] that was expected to follow the defeat of the Japanese. (This is according to [[Jung Chang]] and [[Jon Halliday]],<ref name="Chang, Jung"/> whose treatment of Mao has been regarded as flawed by some China scholars.<ref name="SMH">{{Cite web |author=Hamish McDonald |date=2005-10-08 |title=A Swan's Little Book of Ire |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/a-swans-little-book-of-ire/2005/10/07/1128563003642.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924204245/http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/a-swans-little-book-of-ire/2005/10/07/1128563003642.html |archive-date=2015-09-24 |access-date=2007-04-04 |website=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref>)

The Yan'an era had a profound effect on the CCP and its future fortunes. When the Communists completed the Long March, the CCP was a relatively small band of less than 10,000 worn out troops from the south, displaced to an isolated and poor area in the hinterlands of northern China. By the end of the Yan'an era, however, the CCP's forces had grown to nearly 2.8 million members, and it governed nineteen [[Revolutionary base area|base areas]] that contained a population of nearly one hundred million people.<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/>

===Remolding of the volunteer corps===
Party membership was strongly shaped by the devastation of the final battles for the [[Jiangxi Soviet]], the Long March.<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/> With only a few original members of the CCP surviving until the end of the Yan'an period, the Party as of the mid-1940s consisted of 90% peasants recruited from the base areas of north China.<ref name="Chang, Jung"/>

The mostly young volunteers who arrived in Yan'an after the Long March were "vital to Mao because they were relatively well educated, and he needed competent administrators to staff his future regime." Most of the Long Marchers and rural recruits from within the Communist bases were illiterate peasants. It was these more recent volunteers who were Mao's primary "target".<ref name="Chang, Jung"/>

A large number of the young volunteers congregated in Yan'an, the capital of Mao's Communist Party. By the time Mao Zedong started his drive to "condition" them, around 40,000 had arrived. Most were in their late teens and early twenties, had joined the CCP in territories controlled by the Nationalists, and later departed to Yan'an. They were excited at reaching what was called a "revolutionary Mecca". One young volunteer described his feeling: "At last we saw the heights of Yenan City. We were so excited we wept. We cheered from our truck... We started to sing the ''[[Internationale]]'', and Russia's Motherland March.'"<ref name="Chang, Jung"/>

The Party's leadership, however, reflected the CCP's origins south of the [[Yangtze River]], and was at best supplemented by the intellectuals who trekked out to Yan'an to join the Party during the war against Japan. The Yan'an Rectification Campaign was also directed towards the indoctrination of older CCP personnel. "The Party chose to re-emphasize its basic principles during this period, in an evident determination to maintain its [[Leninist]] foundations in the midst of all the changes brought about by the war-time shift to the united front."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brandt |first1=Conrad |title=A Documentary History of Chinese Communism |last2=Schwartz |first2=Benjamin I. |last3=Fairbank |first3=John King |date=1952|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-73029-8 |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674734050}}{{page needed|date=February 2024}}</ref>

The Yan'an Rectification Campaign improved the discipline, education, and organization of the membership of the CCP. Having lost many veterans before and during the Long March, the CCP found new sources of recruits among urban youth, students, and intellectuals. Alienated from the Nationalist government and doubting its resolve in resisting the Japanese, many new CCP volunteers were drawn by communist propaganda that portrayed the CCP as "the saviors of the nation", promising democracy and liberal reforms. As a result, hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, artists, writers, and journalists poured into Yan'an, seeking a revolutionary career. In Marxist classification these new recruits were of [[petit bourgeois]] origin. Their enthusiasm and various sorts of expertise were useful for the revolution, but only after they had undergone a thorough political reeducation and ideological reform.<ref name=newman/>

The process of indoctrination extended even to the cadres who had survived the Long March and "proven their revolutionary credibility." All Party members were reeducated with the newly established "Mao Zedong Thought" in order to ensure their high compliance with the new leadership and the new party ideology.<ref name=newman/> In order to secure his power, Mao supported his political authority with ethical and moral rhetoric.

==Rise of Mao==
The Yan'an rectification saw Mao consolidate his position of preeminence in the CCP. To do this he undertook a "thought-reform campaign" from 1942 to 1944. The effort was partly a reflection of Mao's wish to eradicate Soviet influence. Under the conditions of independently operating Communist areas and incessant warfare, Mao could not rely on discipline alone to guarantee obedience in the CCP ranks. In order to ensure the Party's obedience to his orders, Mao developed the techniques of the Rectification Campaign to implement 思想改造 ''sīxiǎng gǎizào'' "thought reform" or "ideological transformation". Mao's tactics often included isolating and attacking dissenting individuals in "study groups".<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/>

==Operational principles==
The CCP 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 of the Chinese Communist Party|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.<ref name=newman/> 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.<ref name=newman/>

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;<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/>
*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.<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/>

These became deeply held values of the CCP, and years later became central to the party's mythology that reminisced about the success of the Yan'an era.<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/>

==Thought reform==
{{Main|Thought reform in the People's Republic of China}}{{Further|Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party}}
During the Campaign, guided study of texts along with self-criticism of erroneous thought were methods used to incorporate the large number of new recruits into the Communist Party.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book |last=Leese |first=Daniel |title=Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History |date=2013 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-05722-7 |editor-last=Cook |editor-first=Alexander C. |location=Cambridge |pages= |chapter=A Single Spark: Origins and Spread of the Little Red Book in China}}</ref>{{Rp|page=27}}

During the Yan'an Rectification Campaign, more sophisticated techniques of thought control were used than had been previously attempted in China. Relying on criticism, self-criticism, "struggle", confession, and the content of the Marxist doctrine, these methods were heavily influenced by contemporary Soviet practices of "thought reform".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lifton |first=Robert J. |date=November 1956 |title=Thought Reform of Chinese Intellectuals: A Psychiatric Evaluation |journal=[[The Journal of Asian Studies]] |language=en |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=75–88 |doi=10.2307/2941547 |issn=0021-9118 |jstor=2941547|s2cid=144589833 }}</ref>

Under the guidance of a group leader, an individual, as part of a larger "study group", would study Marxist documents to understand "key principles", and then relate those principles to their own lives in a "critical, concrete, and thoroughgoing way".<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/> Other members of the group put the individual under "extraordinary pressure" to examine fully his or her most deeply held views, and to do so in the presence of the group.<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/> The individual then had to write a full "self-confession". Other group members isolated the individual during this process. Only when the confession was accepted would the person be drawn back into an accepted position in the group and in the larger society.<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/>

These techniques of pressure, ostracism, and reintegration were particularly powerful in China, where the culture puts great value on "saving face", protecting one's innermost thinking, and above all, identifying with a group.<ref name="Lieberthal 2003, p. 47">Lieberthal (2003), p. 47.</ref> Individuals put through thought reform later described it as excruciating. The resulting changes in views were not permanent, but the experience overall seriously affected the lives of those who went through it. The CCP used these same types of techniques on millions of Chinese after 1949.<ref name="Lieberthal 2003, p. 47"/>

==Campaign phases==
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2018}}

===Phase I===
The preparatory phase of the Rectification Campaign lasted from May 1941 to February 1942. The Campaign began on February 1, 1942, under [[Mao Zedong]] with his speech "Reform in Learning, the Party and Literature."<ref name="Apter"/> A book entitled "Documents of the Rectification Campaign" was published and circulated internally. This book included essays including Mao's "Combat Liberalism" and [[Liu Shaoqi]]'s "How to be a Good Communist".<ref name="Apter" />

In July and August 1942 the CCP issued the decision for "Research and Analysis" and "Improvement of Party Membership". The leading team for the campaign was established with Mao as director and [[Wang Jiaxiang]] deputy director. In 1942 the CCP had 800,000 members, of which only a small group of approximately 150 members usually made all major decisions.<ref name="Short" />

Although Mao took charge of the leadership of the CCP after the [[Zunyi Conference]], he was not yet in a dominant position. Even after Mao won a power struggle with [[Zhang Guotao]], he was still one among many senior leaders, including [[Zhou Enlai]], [[Wang Ming]] and [[Zhang Wentian]]. Before the Rectification Campaign Mao's contribution to the revolution in rural areas, and even his status as a senior leader, was doubted by other members of the CCP, including [[Xiang Zhongfa]], Zhang Guotao, [[Li Lisan]], and intellectuals such as Zhou Enlai, [[Qu Qiubai]] and the [[28 Bolsheviks]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}} Unlike his rival [[Wang Ming]], Mao was not recognized by the [[Communist International]] as one of the CCP's preferred leaders.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}}

During this preparatory phase, Mao used his political skills to consolidate his power base.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last1=Marquis |first1=Christopher |url= |title=Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise |last2=Qiao |first2=Kunyuan |date=2022 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-26883-6 |location=New Haven |doi=10.2307/j.ctv3006z6k |jstor=j.ctv3006z6k |oclc=1348572572 |author-link=Christopher Marquis |s2cid=253067190}}</ref>{{Rp|page=37}} By manipulating the political climate in Yan'an, Mao was able to break up the alliance of his opponents, most notably Zhang Guotao and the members of the 28 Bolsheviks, and to eliminate his rivals one by one.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}}

===Phase II===
The Rectification Campaign was officially launched in 1942. Since the 4th Plenum Meeting of [[6th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|6th National Congress of the CCP]] (1928), the 28 Bolsheviks began to take control of the CCP with the help of the Comintern. To gain the support of those who might potentially oppose him, Mao labeled his rivals as comrades who were supporting the wrong cause. This rejection of ''[[ad hominem]]'' arguments  made him appear politically and mentally superior to his political enemies. Mao categorized his rivals, or potential rivals, into two groups.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

One group was labeled "dogmatists", comprising Wang Ming, the 28 Bolsheviks, and those who had studied abroad and were deeply influenced by foreign theories, including [[Liu Bocheng]], [[Zuo Quan]], and [[Zhu Rui]]. The other group was labeled  "empiricists", whose members included [[Zhou Enlai]], [[Ren Bishi]], [[Peng Dehuai]], [[Chen Yi (communist)|Chen Yi]], [[Li Weihan]], [[Deng Fa]], and any other senior leaders who supported Wang Ming. Mao forced these leaders to criticize each other and self-criticize in rounds of meetings. Every one of them wrote reports of confession and apologies for their mistakes. Those who had produced self-criticisms were later persecuted according to their own confessions.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Mao set up the Central General Study Committee to be in charge of the movement. This committee was run by Mao's close allies [[Kang Sheng]], [[Li Fuchun]], [[Peng Zhen]], and [[Gao Gang]], and later included Liu Shaoqi. This Committee temporarily replaced the politburo and secretariat, running daily operation for the CCP and making it one of the most powerful administrative bodies at that time. The Committee gave Mao the ability to exercise authoritarian power without being limited by elections and term limits. The earlier collective decision-making system of CCP center was abandoned, and Mao turned the government of Yan'an into his own dictatorship.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

From February 1942 to October 1943, the Rectification Campaign reached its peak. Mao gave the lecture "Improving the Party Work Style and Thought" in the opening ceremony at the Central Party School.<ref name="Garver">{{Cite book |last=Garver |first=John W. |title=Chinese-Soviet Relations, 1937–1945: The Diplomacy of Chinese Nationalism |date=1988|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-536374-6 |language=en}}{{page needed|date=February 2024}}</ref> The lecture "Against Party Stereotype-Writing" in the cadre party of Yan'an in February 1942 interpreted the aim and policy of the movement in full detail – the event included thousands of cadres from the party.<ref name="Garver" />  In this lecture, Mao Zedong declared:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Lincoln |url=https://archive.org/details/studentnationali0000lili |title=Student Nationalism in China, 1924–1949 |date=1994|publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-1749-2 |language=en}}{{page needed|date=February 2024}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Why must there be a revolutionary party? There must be a revolutionary party because our enemies still exist, and furthermore there must not be only an ordinary revolutionary party but a Communist revolutionary party.}}On 3 April 1943, the Party's Central Committee released ''The Decision on Continuing the Rectification Movement''.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Xian |title=Gendered Memories: An Imaginary Museum for Ding Ling and Chinese Female Revolutionary Martyrs |date=2025 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-05719-1 |series=China Understandings Today series |location=Ann Arbor}}</ref>{{Rp|page=21}} Kang delivered his speech ''Rescue the Fallen'' on 15 July, which advocated for a purge of the Party and exaggerated the threat of spies within it.<ref name=":22" />{{Rp|page=21}} These were important factors in the increasing intensity of the Rectification Movement.<ref name=":22" />{{Rp|page=21}}

===Phase III===
The third phase of the Rectification Campaign lasted from October 1943 to 1944 or April 1945, depending on sources. It is generally known as the "Summing up party history" phase.<ref name="Garver" /> Senior leaders restudied party history and attempted to reach agreements on major issues by admitting to "errors".<ref name="Garver" /> The 1943 portion of the campaign included a "Rescue Campaign" that focused on [[Struggle session|group retribution]]. In the Rescue Campaign, members would write about their own confessions, often pointing fingers at other members to save themselves from other people's false allegations toward them.<ref name="Apter" /> The Rescue Campaign soon became a circular cycle of false guilt and fake reenactments sending many innocent people to death via needless witch hunts.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

One of the members crucial to carrying out the Rectification Movement was Kang.<ref name="Apter" /> Wang Ming was one of the main members singled out and forced to confess to having "errors".<ref name="Short" /> Wang was set up by his former friend [[Qin Bangxian|Bo Gu]], who coincidentally was also later condemned for pursuing an "erroneous leftist line" in [[Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet|Jiangxi]]. [[Zhang Wentian]] also made self criticisms.<ref name="Short" /> [[Wang Shiwei]] became a well known victim.

Some CCP members thought Mao would also accept genuine criticism and spoke their true feelings of anger over hierarchy and inequality in Yan'an. The most famous came from [[Wang Shiwei]], a journalist and intellectual known for his belief in "democracy and science". Wang wrote an essay denouncing the hierarchy, bureaucracy, and inegalitarian distribution of resources in Yan'an. The essay irritated Mao greatly, and Wang was labeled a [[Trotskyist]]. Wang was arrested by the Central Social Department, modeled off the Soviet Union's [[OGPU]], and beheaded in 1947.<ref name=":3"/>{{rp|354–357, 367}}

Under the leadership of [[Peng Zhen]], the Central Political School of the CCP began to carry out the Rectification Campaign among its students. Massive numbers of party members were forced to write reports of confession and self-criticism.<ref name="Apter" /> The Central General Study Committee ordered people to report on their daily habits and speech. This stage was known as the "Salvation Stage". The Salvation Stage was the extension of the Maoist anti-Trotskyist movement and the censorship of newcomers who had come from the areas governed by the Kuomintang. The Central Social Department took control of the movement and turned it into a mass persecution in 1943.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Thousands of people, especially those new members who came from areas governed by KMT, were purged, kept in custody, censored, mentally and physically tortured, and occasionally executed.<ref name=":3" /> Many of them were labeled as "spies of the Kuomintang" or "anti party activists". Not only were they themselves humiliated, but also their family members and relatives.<ref name=":3" />

==See also==
* [[Yan'an Forum|Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art]]
* [[List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party]]
* [[Cultural Revolution]]
* [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]]
* [[Canidrome (Shanghai)#Mass execution facility (1949–1951)|Canidrome massacre]]
* [[Hundred Flowers Campaign]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Library resources box}}
* Gao, Hua. (2000). ''[[How the Red Sun Rose|How the Red Sun Rose: The Origin and Development of the Yan'an Rectification Movement, 1930–1945]]''. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. {{ISBN|9789629968229}}

{{Coord missing|China}}{{Mao Zedong}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yan'an Rectification Movement}}
[[Category:Massacres in China]]
[[Category:Campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Maoist China]]
[[Category:1940s in China]]
[[Category:Persecution of intellectuals in China]]