Essay: Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art

Overview

Mao Tse-tung's Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art (May 1942) lays out a comprehensive doctrine that literature and art must be instruments of revolutionary politics. Delivered to writers, artists, and cultural workers gathered in the Yan'an base area, the talks assert that cultural work should contribute directly to the struggle for national liberation and the building of a socialist society. The essays establish political loyalty, popular accessibility, and service to the masses as the defining criteria for evaluating artistic production.

Core argument

The central claim is that literature and art cannot be separated from class struggle and political goals. Cultural production must "serve the workers, peasants and soldiers" and align with the Chinese Communist Party's revolutionary program. Political content determines artistic value: works that advance revolutionary understanding and mobilize people are judged superior, while "art for art's sake" and detached aestheticism are criticized as bourgeois and politically harmful. This priority of politics over pure aesthetic autonomy underpins every practical recommendation Mao offers.

Role of writers and artists

Writers and artists are cast as political educators and organizers who must both learn from the masses and instruct them. Mao stresses two complementary requirements: creative workers must be "red" (politically reliable) and "expert" (technically skilled). They should immerse themselves in the lives, struggles, and traditions of ordinary people, transforming popular experience into works that elevate class consciousness. At the same time Mao endorses rigorous training and study so that political commitment is matched by artistic competence.

Form, content, and method

Mao emphasizes that form should follow content but that form matters insofar as it communicates effectively with broad audiences. He champions realism and folk-inspired forms because they are accessible and rooted in popular culture, also urging adaptation and innovation in technique to better serve political ends. The "mass line" is presented as a methodological principle: cultural workers take ideas from the people, synthesize them with Marxist theory, and return them in transformed form that can educate and mobilize.

Culture, class, and national context

The talks locate cultural struggle within a larger class and anti-imperialist framework. Cultural policy must reflect the alliance of the proletariat with the peasantry and incorporate national traditions while resisting reactionary and foreign influences. Mao warns against artistic tendencies that elevate elite tastes or imitate foreign avant-garde fashions disconnected from Chinese realities. Cultural renewal is framed as essential to building a revolutionary society that is both rooted in the people and modern in technique.

Implementation and legacy

The Yan'an talks were not merely theoretical; they became a blueprint for party cultural policy, shaping literary journals, theaters, and education programs in the wartime base areas and later in the People's Republic. Emphasis on politically engaged, mass-oriented art influenced the development of socialist realism in China and set parameters for artistic freedom that favored political conformity. The talks' lasting impact is visible in subsequent cultural campaigns, debates over artistic autonomy, and the central role assigned to culture in party strategy.