IN MEMORY OF NORMAN BETHUNE
December 21, 1939
Comrade Norman Bethune, a member of the Communist Party of Canada, was
around fifty when he was sent by the Communist Parties of Canada and the United States to China; he made light of travelling
thousands of miles to help us in our War of Resistance Against Japan. He arrived in Yenan in the spring of last year, went
to work in the Wutai Mountains, and to our great sorrow died a martyr at his post. What kind of spirit is this that makes
a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people's liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism,
the spirit of communism, from which every Chinese Communist must learn.
Leninism teaches that the world revolution can only succeed if the
proletariat of the capitalist countries supports the struggle for liberation of the colonial and semi-colonial peoples and
if the proletariat of the colonies and semi-colonies supports that of the proletariat of the capitalist countries. Comrade
Bethune put this Leninist line into practice. We Chinese Communists must also follow this line in our practice. We must unite
with the proletariat of all the capitalist countries, with the proletariat of Japan, Britain, the United States, Germany,
Italy and all other capitalist countries, for this is the only way to overthrow imperialism, to liberate our nation and people
and to liberate the other nations and peoples of the world. This is our internationalism, the internationalism with which
we oppose both narrow nationalism and narrow patriotism.
Comrade Bethune's spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought
of self, was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his great warm-heartedness towards all comrades and
the people. Every Communist must learn from him. There are not a few people who are irresponsible in their work, preferring
the light and shirking the heavy, passing the burdensome tasks on to others and choosing the easy ones for themselves. At
every turn they think of themselves before others. When they make some small contribution, they swell with pride and brag
about it for fear that others will not know. They feel no warmth towards comrades and the people but are cold, indifferent
and apathetic. In truth such people are not Communists, or at least cannot be counted as devoted Communists. No one who returned
from the front failed to express admiration for Bethune whenever his name was mentioned, and none remained unmoved by his
spirit. In the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei border area, no soldier or civilian was unmoved who had been treated by Dr. Bethune or
had seen how he worked. Every Communist must learn this true communist spirit from Comrade Bethune.
Comrade Bethune was a doctor, the art of healing was his profession and
he was constantly perfecting his skill, which stood very high in the Eighth Route Army's medical service. His example is an
excellent lesson for those people who wish to change their work the moment they see something different and for those who
despise technical work as of no consequence or as promising no future.
Comrade Bethune and I met only once. Afterwards he wrote me many letters.
But I was busy, and I wrote him only one letter and do not even know if he ever received it. I am deeply grieved over his
death. Now we are all commemorating him, which shows how profoundly his spirit inspires everyone. We must all learn the spirit
of absolute selflessness from him. With this spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man's ability may be great
or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests,
a man who is of value to the people.
CHAIRMAN MAO
