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In Memory of Norman Bethune
The surgeon Norman Bethune was a member of the Canadian Communist
Party. After working at the front during the Spanish Civil War he
headed a medical team to China, reaching Yenan in the spring of
1938. He contracted blood poisoning while operating on wounded
soldiers and died on 12 November 1939. This article by Mao Zedong
was written just over a month later - 21 December 1939
Comrade Norman Bethune, a member of the Communist Party of Canada,
was around 50 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
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.
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