Political Work

The Greatest Truths Are the Simplest: Plain Language Unleashes Astonishing Power to Inspire

大道至简，质朴的语言迸发出惊人的感召力

PLA Daily (解放军报) 6 August 2026

Summary

A PLA Daily commentary by reporter Xiang Liming uses Red Army wall slogans from Yu'du County, Jiangxi — including lines targeting White Army conscripts during the anti-encirclement campaigns — to argue that political work language should be plain, concrete, and vernacular rather than formulaic, citing as a contemporary model a slogan crew-selected aboard a submarine at an unnamed Navy submarine brigade: 下潜即是战斗 ('To submerge is to fight'). The piece documents the PLA's recurring institutional anxiety about political education becoming rote and unpersuasive — a problem the military press returns to periodically — and the framing points to pressure on political officers to produce messaging that resonates with enlisted personnel rather than satisfying bureaucratic form. The submarine brigade anecdote is incidental color, not evidence of a capability or posture development.

Translation

Speaking in Plain Words, Writing to the Heart

■ PLA Daily Reporter Xiang Liming

A slogan left by the Red Army in Xiaoxi Township, Yu'du County, Jiangxi Province. Archive photo.

"Lenient treatment for White Army prisoner-soldiers." "White Army soldiers, don't go to the front lines to fight — don't be cannon fodder for the warlords." "White Army soldiers want their mothers and wives back home to have food to eat." … On the walls of the Yang family compound in Xiaoxi Township, Yu'du County, Jiangxi Province, dozens of propaganda slogans written by the Red Army during the anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaigns remain clearly legible despite the passage of years.

A few plain words, stated plainly and concretely, yet they struck directly at the most painful vulnerabilities of the White Army soldiers. There was no shouting of "revolution" or "doctrine" — every word and sentence took root in the mud: "have food to eat" — the common folk of Jiangxi knew all too well what it meant to go hungry; "don't be cannon fodder for the warlords" — many White Army soldiers were simply conscripts who had been press-ganged. What they lay curled up thinking about in the trenches at night was nothing more than whether the roof back home was leaking, and whether there was still rice in the pot.

During the Fifth Counter-"Encirclement and Suppression" Campaign, inspired by slogan propaganda and policy appeals, entire squads and platoons of White Army soldiers mutinied at multiple locations across southern Jiangxi, refusing to go to the front to fight the Red Army. A propaganda and mobilization order issued by the Jiangxi Provincial Red General Labor Union in 1931 contained this very formulation: Comrades must take note — one slogan can be worth an entire Red Army unit!

How does plain language unleash such astonishing power to inspire? The reason comes down to four characters: 大道至简 — the greatest truths are the simplest. Simplicity is absolutely not carelessness or superficiality, still less shallowness of thought; it is plainness and purity. Every slogan the Red Army wrote at that time was one the common people could understand and take in. They spoke in plain words; they wrote to the heart.

"We are a revolutionary party, here to serve the masses; if we do not learn the language of the masses, we will not do the job well." If one is flashy but hollow, full of empty talk, or self-admiring and piling up ornate phrases, the inevitable result is dry and tedious preaching that "not many people enjoy reading, and not many people enjoy hearing."

This reporter cannot help but recall a previous visit to a submarine brigade of the Navy, where a slogan was posted in the command compartment of a new-type submarine: To submerge is to fight (下潜即是战斗). A leader aboard the vessel told this reporter that it had been voted on and selected by the officers and men from among dozens of slogans they had spontaneously composed, and that it embodied the shared consensus of the entire crew.

When a slogan goes up on the wall, drive comes down to the ground. The vitality of any propaganda, education, or mobilization lies in shared feeling and shared resonance. Sometimes the simplest words reach the heart most directly, and the vernacular is not without power. It is to be hoped that on our training front lines and in our education classrooms, there will be more of this kind of plain talk (大白话), straight talk (实在话), and heartfelt talk (贴心话).

Original Chinese

讲的是白话，写的是人心 ■解放军报记者向黎鸣红军在江西于都县小溪乡留下的标语。资料图片 “优待白军俘虏兵”“白军士兵不上前线打仗，不替军阀当炮灰”“白军士兵要使家里老母妻子有饭吃”……在江西于都县小溪乡杨屋的墙面上，数十条红军反“围剿”时期书写的宣传标语，历经岁月沧桑，依然清晰可见。几句大白话，说得实实在在，却直刺白军士兵最痛的软肋。没有高喊“革命”“主义”，字字句句都在泥里生根：“有饭吃”——江西老表最懂饿肚子的滋味；“不替军阀当炮灰”——很多白军士兵只是被抓的壮丁。他们夜里蜷在战壕里想的，无非是老家屋顶漏没漏雨，灶头还有没有米。在第五次反“围剿”期间，受标语宣传、政策感召，赣南多地出现整班、整排白军士兵哗变，拒绝上前线和红军作战。江西省赤色总工会于1931年颁布的一份宣传动员令里，也有着这样的表述：同志们要注意用一个标语，抵得一支红军啊！质朴的语言何以迸发出如此惊人的感召力？道理无外乎4个字：大道至简。简，绝非草率敷衍，更不是思想浅薄，而是质朴与纯粹。当时红军写下的标语，每一句都是大众听得懂、听得进的，讲的是白话，写的是人心。 “我们是革命党，是为群众办事的，如果不学群众的语言，那就办不好。”倘若华而不实、空话连篇，或者孤芳自赏、堆砌辞藻，其结果必然是枯燥乏味的说教，“没有多少人欢喜看，也没有多少人欢喜听”。记者不由想到，此前在海军某潜艇支队采访时，某新型潜艇指挥舱中有一条标语——下潜即是战斗。该艇一名领导告诉记者，这是官兵从自发创作的几十条标语中投票选出的，凝聚着全艇共识。标语上墙，干劲落地。任何的宣传、教育、动员，生命力都在于共情共鸣，有时至简更能至人心，通俗也不见得没有力量。愿我们的训练一线、教育课堂，这样的大白话、实在话、贴心话再多些。