The Yan'an Rectification Movement

The Zunyi Meeting in January 1935 ended the dominance of Wang Ming's "leftist" tendency in the CPC, but the influences of other "left" and Right errors were not eliminated, resulting in improper conduct of Party members, an unsuitable attitude toward study, and a stereotypical style of writing. The CPC Central Committee decided to conduct a Party-wide rectification movement, known as the Yan'an Rectification Movement.

The tasks were to fight subjectivism in order to encourage study, fight factionalism in order to improve conduct, and oppose stereotypical language in order to improve the style of writing. The main principle adopted was, as Mao put it, to "learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones" and to "cure the sickness to save the patient."

This rectification campaign was carried out among Party officials and members, with senior and middle-rank officials as the main targets.

The movement proceeded in three stages.

In the first stage (May 1941 to February 1942), senior officials studied Marxist-Leninist theory to improve their understanding.

The second stage (February 1942 to October 1943) was Party-wide rectification. CPC members studied Marxist-Leninist theory to help correct misguided ideas and improve their conduct.

During the third stage (October 1943 to April 1945), senior officials conducted a second round of study of the Party's history. They reviewed, discussed and summed up the Party's experience, engaged in criticism and self-criticism, and learned to distinguish correct from incorrect lines.

The Yan'an Rectification was a Marxist education campaign among CPC members. It advocated the approach of integrating Marxism with China's realities, helped CPC members adjust their political orientation, and ended the tendency to treat Marxism as dogma and overestimate the importance of Soviet experience and the value of Comintern resolutions. It was a creative way to strengthen the Party. The experience thus gained was of far-reaching significance to the CPC. The movement also laid the ideological foundations for the Seventh CPC National Congress.

延安整風運動

1935年1月召開的遵義會議雖然結束了王明“左”傾路線在中國共產黨內的統治，但黨內歷次“左”、右傾錯誤思想尚未肅清，仍然存在著黨風不正、學風不正和文風不正的問題。中共中央決定在全黨范圍內開展一次大規模的整風運動，史稱延安整風運動。

這次整風運動的內容是反對主觀主義以整頓學風，反對宗派主義以整頓黨風，反對黨八股以整頓文風。整風運動采取的方針是“懲前毖后，治病救人”，采用的方式是“團結—批評—團結”。整風運動分為黨的高級干部整風、一般干部和普通黨員整風兩個層次進行，重點是黨的中高級干部特別是高級干部的整風。

整風運動經歷了3個階段：第一階段，從1941年5月到1942年2月，是全黨整風的準備階段。重點是黨的高級干部學習馬列主義理論，提高思想認識水平。第二階段，從1942年2月到1943年10月，是全黨普遍整風階段，著重組織黨員干部學習馬列主義，清理錯誤的思想方法和作風。第三階段，從1943年10月到1945年4月，高級干部重新學習黨的歷史，研究、討論、總結歷史經驗，開展批評與自我批評，弄清路線是非。

延安整風是一次全黨范圍的馬克思主義思想教育運動，也是一次偉大的思想解放運動。它堅持馬克思主義同中國實際相結合的正確方向，使全黨端正了思想政治路線，破除了把馬克思主義教條化、把共產國際決議和蘇聯經驗神圣化的錯誤傾向。它是加強黨的建設偉大工程的一個創造，是增強黨的戰斗力的一次成功實踐。它所積累的經驗對中國共產黨的自身建設具有重大和深遠的意義。延安整風運動，也為中共七大勝利召開奠定了基礎。