张闻天
After the 6th Plenary Session of the 6th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Zhang Wentian withdrew from the position of supreme leader and went on to being responsible for propaganda work and cadre education as the Minister of the CPC Central Committee and Central Propaganda Department. In 1941, Zhang Wentian responded to Mao's call and went to rural areas in northern Shaanxi and northwestern Shanxi for more than a year for a rural survey and wrote "Return to the Start". In 1941, the CCP was facing embargo from the Nationalist Party and offensive attacks by the Japanese army. The economy was on the verge of collapse, making CCP highly unpopular among peasants. Zhang Wentian was sent down to Shanxi in order to investigate how to increase the production of agricultural output and improve peasant's livelihood. During the investigation, Zhang found out about the key role of rich peasants in rural prosperity. Zhang proposed providing economic incentives to boost commerce and new capitalism, but his report was suppressed as it went directly against Mao Zedong's plan for organizing collective farms and mutual aid teams. In February 1942, Mao Zedong launched the Yan'an Rectification Movement, and pushed for Sinification of Marxism and study of Mao Zedong thought. When Zhang Wentian returned to Yan'an, he became a target for Yan'an Rectification Movement, and was forced to repeatedly criticize himself. He could not apply his knowledge gained from the investigation to solve economic problems. In June 1945, at the Seventh Congress of the CCP in Yanan, he was elected a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and served as director of the Central Political Research Office.