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Toronto, Norman Bethune Institute, 1976
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Publisher's Note
The present English edition of A Basic Understanding of the Communist Party of China has been translated by the Norman Bethune Institute (NBI) from the French edition which was originally published in the first quarter of 1976 by the Noveau Bureau d'Edition, B.P. 97/75662, Paris, Cedex 14, and subsequently reprinted by NBI. The translation from the original Chinese into French was carried out by Danielle Bergeron.
The entire text as well as the reference notes at the end of the book have been translated as they appeared in the original French edition.
translated from the French edition and published by:
NORMAN BETHUNE INSTITUTE
printed by:
PEOPLE'S CANADA PUBLISHING HOUSE
distributed by:
NATIONAL PUBLICATIONS CENTRE
Distributors of Progressive Books & Periodicals
P.O. Box 727, Adelaide Station
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
5
(Shanghai 1974)
Translated from the French Edition
NORMAN BETHUNE INSTITUTE
TORONTO, 1976
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Preface to the French Edition (Paris)
This book has been prepared by the "Basic Understanding of the Party" Editorial Group and published by People's Publishing House, Shanghai. The translation from Chinese into French was carried out by Danielle Bergeron from the first edition of March, 1974, of which 474,000 copies were printed. The exact title of the book is A Basic Understanding of the Party. For the French edition we have replaced "Party" by "Communist Party of China." The quotations from Chairman Mao at the beginning of the book were included in the Chinese edition. That edition did not, however, include reference notes and thus the references and clarifications that are found at the end of the volume have been added by us. In this edition, we have also inserted the Constitution of the Communist Party of China approved at its Tenth Congress.
Patrick Kessel
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QUOTATIONS FROM CHAIRMAN MAO
The force at the core leading our cause forward is the Chinese Communist Party.
The theoretical basis guiding our thinking is Marxism-Leninism. (1)
To lead the revolution to victory, a political party must depend on the correctness of its own political line and the solidity of its own organisation. (2)
Practise Marxism, and not revisionism; unite, and don't split; be open and aboveboard, and don't intrigue and conspire. (3)
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QUOTATION FROM CHAIRMAN MAO
Socialist society covers a considerably long historical period. In the historical period of socialism, there are still classes, class contradictions and class struggle, there is the struggle between the socialist road and the capitalist road, and there is the danger of capitalist restoration. We must recognize the protracted and complex nature of this struggle. We must heighten our vigilance. We must conduct socialist education. We must correctly understand and handle class contradictions and class struggle, distinguish the contradictions between ourselves and the enemy from those among the people and handle them correctly. Otherwise a socialist country like ours will turn into its opposite and degenerate, and a capitalist restoration will take place. From now on we must remind ourselves of this every year, every month and every day so that we can retain a relatively sober understanding of this problem and have a Marxist-Leninist line. (4)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS QUOTATIONS FROM CHAIRMAN MAO INTRODUCTION ..................................................... 13 I THE CHARACTER OF THE PARTY The Communist Party of China is the Political Party of the Proletariat ................................................ 17 The Party is the Vanguard of the Proletariat ............... 20 Struggle to Preserve the Proletarian Character of the Party 24 II THE GUIDING THOUGHT OF THE PARTY Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought Represents the Most Correct, the Most Scientific and the Most Revolutionary Truth ........................................ 26 Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought Is Our Party's Guide to Action ............................................ 30 Struggle to Defend the Guiding Thought of the Party ........ 33 III THE BASIC PROGRAMME AND THE FINAL GOAL OF THE PARTY Communism is the Noble Ideal of the Proletariat ............ 37 To Realise Communism, It is Necessary to Go Through the Dictatorship of the Proletariat ............................ 41 We Must Struggle All Our Lives for the Realisation of Communism .................................................. 43 IV THE BASIC LINE OF THE PARTY The Basic Line is the Lifeblood of the Party ............... 46
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We Must Fully Recognize the Protracted Nature of the Class
Struggle and the Two-Line Struggle ......................... 50
We Must Have the Revolutionary Spirit of Going Against the
Tide ....................................................... 53
We Must Correctly Handle the Relationship Between the
"Key Link" and the "Whole Chain" ........................... 55
V THE PARTY'S PRINCIPLES OF "THE THREE DO'S AND
THREE DON'TS"
Practise Marxism and Not Revisionism ....................... 57
Unite and Don't Split ...................................... 61
Be Open and Aboveboard, Don't Intrigue and Conspire ........ 64
"The Three Do's and Three Don'ts" Are Three Basic
Principles Which Members of the Communist Party Must
Observe .................................................... 67
VI THE CENTRALISED LEADERSHIP OF THE PARTY
The Party Must Exercise Leadership In Everything; This is an
Important Marxist-Leninist Principle ....................... 71
The Centralised Leadership of the Party is Essentially the
Leadership of a Correct Ideological and Political Line ..... 74
Grasp Important Questions Well, Strengthen the
Centralised Leadership of the Party ........................ 78
The Members of the Communist Party Must Consciously
Come Under the Centralised Leadership of the Party and
Maintain It ................................................ 81
VII DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM IN THE PARTY
Democratic Centralism is the Organisational Principle of the
Party ...................................................... 84
Correctly Handle the Relationship Between Collective
Leadership and Individual Responsibility ................... 87
Develop Internal Party Democracy and Maintain
Centralised Unity .......................................... 91
VIII PARTY DISCIPLINE
Discipline Ensures the Implementation of the Line .......... 94
Consciously Respect Party Discipline ....................... 96
Correctly Implement Party Discipline ....................... 99
IX THE "THREE GREAT STYLES OF WORK" OF THE PARTY
The "Three Great Styles of Work" Are a Fine Tradition of
Our Party .................................................. 103
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The Style of Work of Integrating Theory with Practice ...... 105
The Style of Work of Maintaining Close Ties With the
Masses ..................................................... 108
The Style of Work of Practising Criticism and Self-Criticism 112
X THE TRAINING OF SUCCESSORS FOR THE
REVOLUTIONARY CAUSE OF THE PROLETARIAT
Training Successors for the Revolution is an Important
Strategic Task ............................................. 117
Train and Select the Successors for the Revolutionary Cause
Through Struggle ........................................... 119
Let the Whole Party Put Its Shoulder to The Task of Training
Successors ................................................. 122
XI THE TASKS OF THE PRIMARY ORGANISATIONS OF THE
PARTY
The Development and Strengthening of the Primary
Organisations of the Party Is of Great Significance ........ 126
The Fighting Tasks of the Primary Organisations of the Party 129
The Primary Organisations of the Party Must Ensure Their
Own Consolidation .......................................... 134
XII THE EXEMPLARY VANGUARD ROLE OF PARTY MEMBERS
The Exemplary Vanguard Role of Members of the
Communist Party is Extremely Important ..................... 137
To Play an Exemplary Vanguard Role We Must Observe the
"Five Requirements" ........................................ 139
Conscientiously Remould Our World Outlook so as to
Completely Adhere to the Party Ideologically ............... 142
XIII CONDITIONS AND PROCEDURES FOR ADMISSION OF
PARTY MEMBERS
Conditions for Admission of Party Members .................. 144
Procedures for Admission of Party Members .................. 146
Correctly Handle the Question of the Admission of
Party Members .............................................. 149
Conscientiously Carry Out the Work of Enlisting New
Members .................................................... 152
XIV UPHOLD PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM
Proletarian Internationalism Is a Fundamental Principle of
Marxism-Leninism ........................................... 155
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The Revolutionary Struggles of the People of Various
Countries Support Each Other ............................... 159
Work with All Our Might to Make a Greater Contribution to
Humanity ................................................... 161
POSTSCRIPT TO THE CHINESE EDITION ................................ 165
APPENDIX TO THE ENGLISH EDITION .................................. 167
CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA ..................... 167
REFERENCE NOTES TO THE ENGLISH EDITION ........................... 175
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Chairman Mao teaches us: "It is highly necessary for young people with education to go to the countryside to be re-educated by the poor and lower-middle peasants." (5) For several years now, in response to this great call by Chairman Mao, hundreds of thousands of educated young people, full of revolutionary courage, have gone into the countryside and the border regions of our country. They are conscientiously studying the Marxist-Leninist classics and the works of Chairman Mao, actively plunging into the movement to criticise revisionism, and to rectify the style of work, whole-heartedly fighting in the front ranks of the three great revolutionary movements, and resolutely following the path of integration with the workers and peasants. (6) In making their contribution to the building of a new, socialist countryside, they are greatly raising their level of consciousness of class struggle and of the two-line struggle. Proletarian heroes are continuously coming forward, a new generation is growing and blossoming. This is a great victory for the revolutionary line of Chairman Mao.
In accordance with Chairman Mao's teaching: "show concern for the growth of the younger generation," (7) we have prepared and are publishing this "Collection for the individual study of the young people" in order to meet the needs of the educated youth who have gone into the countryside and who are studying on their own. (8) In terms of content, this collection, based on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, contains general knowledge in philosophy, social science and the natural sciences, as well as a selection of the works of Lu Hsun.*
We hope that the publication of this collection will be of practical assistance in the studies of the educated youth in the coun-
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tryside, will help them raise their level of Consciousness of the two-line struggle and their theoretical, cultural and scientific level — help them to advance in big strides along the path of being both red and expert, in contributing even more to meeting the needs of the construction of a new socialist countryside and to advancing every task they undertake.
We offer our sincere thanks to the units and authors who have given us tremendous assistance in the work of publishing this collection, and we invite all our readers to articulate their observations and their criticisms about the collection, so that we can improve it. of the Communist Party
People's Publishing House, Shanghai
* The present book constitutes only one volume of this collection.
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[Blank page]
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The Constitution of the Communist Party of China adopted during the Tenth Congress stipulates that "The Communist Party of China is the political party of the proletariat, the vanguard of the proletariat." It is extremely important to have a correct understanding of the nature of our Party, in order to assist in building it, consolidating its centralised leadership, giving full play to its leading role as vanguard of the proletariat, and ensuring ever greater victories for the socialist cause in our country.
Marxism teaches that a political party is the product of class struggle and at the same time is its instrument. In class society, if a given class wants to mobilise and organise its forces to struggle against the opposing classes, and from there to take power, consolidate that power, establish and preserve its domination over the whole of society, it must build for Itself an organisation and a leadership which represents its interests, which concentrates its will — a political party. As Lenin said: " . . . classes are led by political parties . . . " (9) The political party is the nucleus of a class and the class is the base of a political party. Every political party Inevitably has a clearly defined class character. There has never been a political party in the world above classes, nor has there ever existed a "party of the whole people" (10) which does not represent the interests of a definite class.
The Communist Party of China is a proletarian political party, it is the vanguard detachment of the proletariat, built on the basis of the revolutionary theory and style of work of Marxism-Leninism.
The Communist Party of China is a proletarian party because it is the concentrated expression of the characteristics and qualities of the proletariat. The proletariat is the greatest class in the history of mankind, it is the most powerful revolutionary class ideologically, politically and in strength; it is the representative of the new productive forces, linked with the most advanced economic forms. In the old society, it was the proletariat that suffered the cruellest exploitation, the
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most ferocious oppression; it had nothing, owned no means of production and was entirely dependent on the sale of its labour power for its subsistence. As a result of the economic and political position which it occupied, the proletariat had the greatest hatred for the exploiting Classes, the broadest perspective, the greatest concern for the collective as opposed to the individual. The proletariat was the most radical in the revolution; it had the strictest sense of discipline and organisation. The Chinese proletariat in fact suffered a triple oppression: the oppression of imperialism, the oppression of capitalism, and the oppression of feudalism — in fact there are few places in the world where oppression has been of such a cruel and terrible nature. It was for this reason that, in the revolutionary struggle, the Chinese proletariat was more resolute and consistent than any other class. In addition, a large proportion of the Chinese proletariat had its origins in the dispossessed peasantry, and therefore had natural ties with the peasant masses who made up the immense majority of the population, thus making it easier for the proletariat and the peasantry to unite. It was for all of these reasons that in the revolutionary struggle, the Chinese proletariat proved to be the most revolutionary and courageous of all. Not flinching from any danger or sacrifice, it always remained in the front ranks of the revolutionary struggle, thus becoming the invincible leading force of the Chinese revolution. And it is precisely in this most resolute, most progressive, most revolutionary class that the Communist Party of China found its class base. Thus our Party, not only possesses all the characteristics and qualities peculiar to the proletariat, but it is also the concentrated expression of these characteristics and qualities as possessed by the Chinese proletariat.
Another reason why the Communist Party of China is a proletarian political party is that it is the product of the application of Marxism-Leninism to the revolutionary movement of China. From the day of its birth, the Chinese proletariat never stopped waging resistance against its Oppressors and exploiters. Of course, before the May 4th Movement, (11) the Chinese working class was still at the stage of spontaneous struggle, and did not constitute an independent political force. It was in 1919, under the influence of the October Revolution and Marxism-Leninism that the May 4th Movement was launched in our country, directed against imperialism and feudalism. In the course of this great revolutionary movement, the Chinese proletariat appeared on the scene of history as an independent political force, showed its immense strength and its growing size. At the same time, the May 4th Movement provided a stimulus to a number of intellectuals who had some elementary communist ideas — these intellectuals became aware of the im-
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portance of studying and disseminating Marxism-Leninism as well as of the historical position occupied by the proletariat, and set about propagating Marxism among the broad masses, thus taking the road of integrating themselves with the workers and peasants. The May 4th Movement marked the beginning of the application of the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism to the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution. It prepared the conditions — both on the ideological plane and in terms of cadres — for the founding of the Party. With the beginning of the application of Marxism-Leninism to the Chinese revolutionary movement, the Chinese communists, represented by Chairman Mao, enthusiastically took up the task of creating the Party. On July 1, 1921, all of the communist groups in the country sent delegates to participate in the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, where the birth of the Party was solemnly proclaimed. This historical process shows clearly that the creation of the Communist Party of China was the inevitable fruit of the development of the proletarian revolutionary movement in modern China, that it was the product of the application of Marxism-Leninism to the Chinese revolutionary movement.Yet another reason why the Communist Party of China is a proletarian political party is that it represents in a concentrated fashion the basic interests and the class will of the proletariat, that it serves the interests of the large majority of the people of China and of the world. (12) The great teachers of the proletariat, Marx and Engels, stated in the Manifesto of the Communist Party: "All previous historical movements were movements of minorities, or in the interest of minorities. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority." (13) Chairman Mao has also said: "The Communist Party is a political party which works in the interests of the nation and people and which has absolutely no private ends to pursue." (14) These teachings clearly show the character of a proletarian political party, they reflect the identity of interests between the Party and the proletariat and other working people. To establish a party for the collective good or to establish it for personal interests — this is what distinguishes the proletarian party from a bourgeois political party. The proletariat establishes its own political party in order to completely overthrow the bourgeoisie and all exploiting classes, to eliminate all systems of exploitation, to struggle for the total emancipation of the proletariat and of all of humanity this means it establishes a party for the collective good, for the revolution, for the people. But all bourgeois or revisionist parties, on the contrary, direct their efforts at preserving the interests of the exploiting classes, at
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protecting the cruel system of exploitation of the proletariat and all working people by the bourgeoisie — to establish such parties is to so for oneself, in order to pursue the private interests of a handful of people, to be in the service of the exploiting classes. From the day of its foundation, our Party has fought tirelessly for the basic interests of the proletariat, for the realisation of its highest ideal: communism. In the era of the democratic revolution, Chairman Mao led the whole Party and people along the path of the seizure of power by armed struggle, and in this way they overthrew the "three big mountains" (15) which were crushing the Chinese people, and founded New China. In the period of the socialist revolution, it is again through following Chairman Mao's doctrine on continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, that our Party has led the proletariat and people of our country to wage the socialist revolution on the economic, political and ideological fronts. And above all, it has been the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao, which has brought about an unprecedented strengthening of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and which has spurred the development of socialism in our country by great leaps. On the international front, our Party, firmly upholding proletarian internationalism, unites with all genuinely Marxist-Leninist parties and organisations in the world, and resolutely opposes modern revisionism, represented by the clique of renegade Soviet revisionists. Throughout its 50 years of existence, the history of our Party has been one of struggle for the basic interests of the proletariat and the working people, for the emancipation of all humanity. All of these facts show clearly that our Party is a proletarian political party.
Our Party is the party of the proletariat, but there are certain things which distinguish it from the class as a whole. The Party constitutes only a section of the proletariat, its most resolute, most fighting section — it is the vanguard of the proletariat. Chairman Mao explains it clearly: "The Party organization should be composed of the advanced elements of the proletariat; it should be a vigorous vanguard organization capable of leading the proletariat and the revolutionary masses in the fight against the class enemy." (16)
Our Party is the vanguard of the proletariat because it is composed of advanced elements of the proletariat. Not all of the members of the proletariat can join it, nor can all the revolutionaries — it is only the most resolute advanced elements within the proletariat as well as those who
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demonstrate unlimited devotion to the historical mission of the proletariat who can join. Of course our Party does not have members only of proletarian origin, there are also members who come from other social classes. But these revolutionaries who are not of proletarian origin do not come into the Party as the representatives of other classes. They are granted membership only after having consciously transformed their world view, having become imbued with proletarian ideology, and having abandoned their former class position after having studied Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, and having taken part in the three great revolutionary movements. Moreover, they must also meet the conditions required of the advanced elements of the proletariat. Thus, the admission of these comrades, far from altering the proletarian character of the Party, permits it to expand its ranks and strengthen its fighting capacity.
Our Party is the vanguard of the proletariat also because the theoretical base guiding its thinking is Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. As Chairman Mao says: "From its very beginning our Party has based itself on the theory of Marxism-Leninism . . . " (17) Throughout the long revolutionary struggle, Chairman Mao has correctly made use of Marxism to serve the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution. He thus inherited Marxism-Leninism, defended it and developed it. At each historical stage of the development of the revolution, Chairman Mao has established a correct political line and correct policies for our Party. On every occasion, he has triumphed over the opportunist lines of our enemies both internal and external, and has led the revolutionary cause from victory to victory. It is precisely because our Party has always based itself on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, and has always followed the proletarian revolutionary line of Chairman Mao, that it has been able to retain its character as the vanguard of the proletariat, and become the leading core of the entire Chinese people.
According to the teachings of Marxism-Leninism, to determine whether a party is really a proletarian political party, whether it is the vanguard of the proletariat, one must not merely examine the social origin of its members, but instead one must look at its guiding thought, its programme, and its line. As Lenin has pointed out: " . . whether or not a party is really a political party of the workers does not depend solely upon a membership of workers but also upon the men that lead It, and the content of its actions and its political tactics. Only this latter determines whether we really have before us a political party of the proletariat." (18) A genuine proletarian political party must have its thinking guided by the theory of Marxism-Leninism — it is only then that it can grasp the laws of development of society, determine a Marxist-
22
Leninist line for itself and become the vanguard which guides the proletariat and the revolutionary masses in the struggle against the class enemy and leads them towards victory. If it ever strays from Marxism-Leninism, that is, if it betrays the proletariat, then no matter what class interests it claims to represent, no matter what name it gives itself, no matter what its composition, it can in no sense be a proletarian political party, and even less, the vanguard of the proletariat. On the contrary, it is a bourgeois political party, a revisionist party. The clique of Soviet renegade revisionists has completely betrayed Marxism-Leninism, and even though it still puts up the signboard of "Communist Party," their party has in reality become a revisionist party, a fascist party, which serves the interests of a new bureaucrat monopoly bourgeoisie.
Our Party is the vanguard of the proletariat, moreover, because it has strict organisation and strict discipline. It is the advanced detachment, and at the same time an organised detachment, of the proletariat. It has a high sense of organisation and an iron discipline — each member of the Party must belong to one of its organisations and conscientiously work there, they must implement the decisions of the Party in order to form an organised and disciplined collective, a highly centralised fighting detachment. It is precisely as a result of this strict organisation and discipline that our Party has been able to ensure the implementation of a correct line and thus to triumph over a powerful enemy and lead the revolution to its glorious victory.
"The Communist Party of China is the political party of the proletariat, the vanguard of the proletariat." This passage of the Constitution correctly expresses the character of our Party, its ties with the proletariat, and what distinguishes Party and class. That which links our Party to the proletariat establishes its class character: the proletariat constitutes the class base of the Party; what distinguishes our Party from the proletariat establishes its advanced character: it is the vanguard of the proletariat. As long as there are classes and political parties, the differences between the vanguard and the other organisations of the proletariat, between those who are members of the Party and those who are not, cannot disappear. To deny these differences is to belittle the advanced character of the Party organisations, to belittle the exemplary vanguard role of the Party members. But it is not a question of considering these differences in isolation. If the Party separates itself from the class and from the other revolutionary mass organisations, if its members separate themselves from the non-Party masses, this can also obliterate the Party's character as vanguard of the proletariat, and cause its members to lose their role as advanced elements of the proletariat. In such a case, the Party would no longer be a proletarian political party.
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Here is what Chairman Mao teaches us: "The Party is the vanguard of the proletariat and the highest form of proletarian organization. It must lead all the other organizations, such as the army, the government and the mass associations." (19) The Party must lead all the other organisations of the proletariat, and unless it does so, the struggle of the proletariat cannot be victorious.
To wage a victorious struggle, the proletariat not only needs to establish its own revolutionary political party, it also must provide itself with all the organisations necessary to successfully wage the revolutionary struggle: state bodies, a military affairs department, trade unions, poor peasants' associations, women's federations, a Youth League, Red Guards, Little Red Guards and other organisations of the revolutionary masses. These various departments and organisations are extremely important for socialist revolution and construction, the accomplishment of the historic mission of the proletariat, the realisation of communism; they cannot be neglected. These departments and these organisations make it possible to mobilise the proletariat and the broad revolutionary masses, to strengthen and consolidate the proletarian position on all fronts. To serve the cause of socialism, it is therefore necessary that all the revolutionary organisations be made to play their role to the full. But they cannot carry out this active role with a correct orientation unless they are under the leadership of the Party, under the guidance of its Marxist-Leninist line.
Strengthening the leadership of the Party — this provides the fundamental guarantee for consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat and leading the cause of socialism to victory. The revolutionary organisations of the proletariat must come under the centralised leadership of the Party, they cannot use their own particular circumstances as an excuse for acting independently of it. If the Party does not provide leadership for them, or if they do not submit to it, these organisations risk losing their orientation and being deceived, controlled and utilised by the bourgeoisie. Under the corrupting influence of bourgeois and revisionist trends of thought, they can become political appendages of the bourgeoisie, and even be transformed into instruments of the bourgeoisie against the proletariat. It is for these reasons that those who reject the leadership of the Party are in fact placing themselves on the side of the bourgeoisie, and opposing the proletariat; in fact they are weakening and combatting the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The Party is the highest form of organisation of the proletariat and it must exercise leadership in all things; (20) this is an essential principle of the Marxist doctrine on the building of the Party. The relationship between the Party and the other organisations of the masses is the
24
relationship of leader to led. It is the nature and the tasks of the proletarian political party that determine its leading position and role; the basic interests of the proletariat require it to fulfil this function — this is a Marxist-Leninist truth that the revolutionary struggle has demonstrated time and time again.
The two-line struggle within the Party over the question of its character has always been very sharp. All of the leaders of the opportunist lines have always tried by every means to pervert the character of the political party of the proletariat, in order to serve their own criminal goal of sabotaging the proletarian revolution. In the history of the international communist movement, the old revisionists, Bernstein and Kautsky, (21) spread all sorts of absurdities and made every effort to turn the proletarian party into a reformist party, an opportunist and revisionist party. They caused the downfall of the Second International. the modern revisionists — Khrushchov, Brezhnev and company — a gain putting on the tattered clothing of the revisionists of the past, are trying to pawn off their nonsense regarding the "party of the whole people," claiming that "the party of the working class has already been transformed into the vanguard of the Soviet people; it has become a party of the whole people" and "is a political organisation of the whole people." As everyone knows, they have perverted the character of the proletarian political party, they have converted the Communist Party of the Soviet Un ion founded by Lenin into a revisionist party, a fascist party. This is a very serious lesson for the international communist movement. In our Party, the struggle on the question of the character of the Party has also been very sharp. The swindler and traitor to the working class, Liu Shao-chi, did everything to spread the idea that "the Party is the party of the masses, the party of the people" thus attempting to pervert the character of the Party. Lin Piao, the careerist, conspirator, double-dealing counter-revolutionary and traitor to the country, also made Similar efforts in attempting to alter the basic line and programme of the Party. Promoting a shoddy brand of so-called communism, he hoped to convert our Marxist Party into a revisionist party, into an instrument of counter-revolutionary restoration. The Great Proletarian Cultural R evolution and the movement to criticise Lin Piao and rectify the style of work (22) personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao, completely smashed the criminal plots of Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao to change the
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nature of our Party and to restore capitalism. Our Party came out purified, more solid, and more vigorous than ever. The struggle between the two lines inside the party profoundly demonstrates that safeguarding the character of the Party is a matter of great importance. It' is intimately connected with the destiny of the Party and the state, and with the question of whether the revolution will win victory or go down to defeat. To continually build our Party, making use of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, to expose and frustrate the plots of the revisionists to pervert the character of the Party — this will provide the guarantee that our Party will always retain its proletarian character.
For a communist, the most important thing in the struggle to preserve the proletarian character of the Party is to strengthen his proletarian Party spirit. We must understand that the building of a Marxist-Leninist political party and the upholding of its proletarian character is the task of each one of its members. The Party is like a living organism, and its large number of members are like so many cells, each being part of the organism. The stronger the Party spirit is in each member, the higher his consciousness of class struggle and of the two-line struggle, the better he will be able to fulfil his exemplary role, and the better the proletarian character of the Party will be preserved. To strengthen his proletarian Party spirit, a communist must assiduously read and study and strive to grasp the Marxist position, point of view and method. He must be able to link theory and practice, distinguish correct from incorrect lines, and strengthen his capacity to separate true Marxism from sham. He must always keep in mind the basic line of the Party and the principle of "the three do's and the three don'ts," (23) and he must also dare to wage a merciless struggle against erroneous lines and tendencies. In order to do this, he must actively plunge into the practice of the three great revolutionary movements, tirelessly work to transform his world view in order to be at one with the Party on the ideological level, and train himself to be a resolute fighter for communism.
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The Constitution of the Party specifies that: "The Communist Party a China takes Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as the theoretical basis guiding its thinking." To persevere in following this guiding thought is essential for building the Party. It is the guarantee of victory for the revolutionary cause, and all the members of the Party must fight to defend it.
Marxism is the science which explains the laws of development of nature and of society. It is the science which guides the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat and of all the oppressed and exploited classes, and which leads socialism and communism to victory throughout the world. Leninism is the Marxism of the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution. Combining the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the revolution, Chairman Mao inherited Marxism-Leninism, defended it and developed it. The Marxist-Leninist world view is dialectical and historical materialism and it constitutes the best weapon for understanding the world and transforming it.
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought tells us that the disappearance of capitalism and the victory of communism are certain. Eventually socialism will be substituted for capitalism — this is an objective law independent of man's will.
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought also teaches that to win its liberation, the proletariat must seize power by armed force, smash up the state machine of the bourgeoisie, establish its dictatorship and eliminate private property in the means of production and that it must also persist in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, in order to carry the socialist revolution through to the end. It is only in this way that the system of exploitation of man by man can be
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eliminated from the face of the earth and we can build a new world, free from imperialism, capitalism and all systems of exploitation.
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought further teaches us that to carry out the revolution, it is necessary to have a revolutionary party. If the proletariat wants to act as a class in the revolutionary struggle, it must create its own independent political party — the Communist Party. Only then will it be able to lead the broad revolutionary masses, triumph over all class enemies both inside and outside the country, and accomplish the great historical mission which rests on its shoulders.
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought constitutes the theoretical foundation and the guiding thought of our Party because it comes out of objective reality and in the objective world it has proven itself to represent the most correct, the most scientific, and the most revolutionary truth.
Marxism was created more than 100 years ago by the two great educators of the proletariat, Marx and Engels. In the 1840's, many countries of Europe had already reached a high degree of capitalist development. All of the contradictions inherent in capitalism were each day becoming more acute; the proletarians, subjected to exploitation and slavery, were leading the lives of beasts of burden. In these countries, the workers' movement was vigorously developing, and the proletariat was beginning to appear on the stage of history as an independent political force. However, the workers' movement could not spontaneously produce the theory of scientific socialism, and the theories of utopian socialism which were then very widespread in the workers' movement could not show the proletariat the road to its liberation. It was in these historical conditions that Marx and Engels, responding to the needs of the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat, personally participated in the practice of the revolutionary struggles of the time, summed up the experience of the workers' movement, began a long and difficult programme of theoretical research, and, critically absorbing what was rational in the cultural and scientific achievements of humanity, created Marxism. The publication, in the month of February 1848, of the Manifesto of the Communist Party — a joint work of Marx and Engels — marks the birth of Marxism. This remarkable document laid the initial theoretical basis of socialism and communism. Marx and Engels not only created the revolutionary doctrine of the proletariat, they also personally led the revolutionary struggles of the proletariat, persistently waged struggle against all of the opportunist trends, and made possible the widespread dissemination of Marxism in the workers' movement. As Comrade Stalin teaches us: "Leninism is Marxism of the era of
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imperialism and the proletarian revolution." (24) At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century, the world entered the era of imperialism and of the proletarian revolution. In the course of the struggle against imperialism and against opportunists of every hue, especially against the revisionism of the Second International, Lenin inherited the Marxist doctrine, defended and developed it. Lenin analysed all of the contradictions of imperialism and revealed its reactionary nature. He also resolved a series of important questions facing the proletarian revolution in the era of imperialism, as well as theoretical and practical questions concerning the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat in a single country. It was no accident that it was under the personal direction of Lenin that the great victory of the October Socialist Revolution was achieved in Russia, opening a new era in the history of humanity. It is for this reason that we call this theory of the proletarian revolution — founded by Marx and Engels and developed by Lenin — Marxism-Leninism.
Chairman Mao has said: "The salvoes of the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism." (25) The integration of Marxism-Leninism with the revolutionary movement in China gave rise to the vanguard of the Chinese proletariat: the Communist Party of China. Throughout the long revolutionary struggle, Chairman Mao correctly made use of Marxism-Leninism in the practice of the Chinese revolution, and enabled it — in the extremely complex social conditions that prevailed in China — to develop to unprecedented heights. Mao Tsetung Thought is the product of the integration of the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the revolution.
Our New Democratic Revolution was made in a large semi-feudal and semi-colonial country. In such a country, how could the proletariat lead the revolution? As Lenin said, this was "a task which has not previously confronted the Communists of the world." (26) Making use of the principles of Marxism-Leninism, Chairman Mao analysed the history and present situation of our country as well as the principal contradictions in our society, and he provided a correct answer to the questions regarding the nature, tasks, the motive force, the objectives and the future of the revolution in our country. Chairman Mao pointed out that the Chinese revolution is the continuation of the October Revolution, that it constitutes a part of the world proletarian socialist revolution, The Chinese revolution must take place in two stages: first the Democratic revolution, then the socialist revolution. These constitute two revolutionary processes of different nature which are both distinct from each other and interrelated. It is only on the condition of having accomplished the first revolutionary process of bourgeois democracy
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that it is possible to accomplish the second, that of socialist revolution. The democratic revolution constitutes the preparation necessary for the socialist revolution, and the socialist revolution inevitably follows the democratic revolution. Chairman Mao has also pointed out that a communist party built on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary theory and style of work, an army under the leadership of such a party, and a united front of all revolutionary classes and strata led by this party, are the three principal weapons for the seizure and consolidation of power. Chairman Mao charted out a revolutionary path of building revolutionary bases in the countryside, encircling the cities from the countryside, and only then seizing the cities. It is precisely by following this road that the Chinese revolution, after 28 years of armed struggle, finally succeeded in overthrowing the domination of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism and in establishing New China, and that the New Democratic Revolution won complete victory.
After the victory of the democratic revolution, our country entered the period of the socialist revolution. In socialist society, after the socialist transformation of ownership of the means of production has basically been completed, what are the principal contradictions within the country? Are there still classes, class contradictions and class struggled? What are the present and future tasks of the Chinese revolution? Chairman Mao summed up the experience of the dictatorship of the proletariat, in the world and in our country, both in its positive and negative aspects, and published an important work entitled On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (27) where, for the first time in the history of the development of Marxism-Leninism, he systematically showed that after the socialist transformation of ownership of the means of production has been in the main accomplished, there still remain classes, class contradictions and class struggle and that the proletariat must still continue to make revolution. In 1962, at the Tenth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, Chairman Mao put forward in a still more comprehensive fashion the basic line of our Party for the entire historical period of socialism. (28) Guided by this basic line, our Party has led the people of the entire country to greater victories in the socialist revolution and in socialist construction, to the great victories of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in our country is a great political revolution under conditions of socialism, in the course of which the proletariat opposes the bourgeoisie and all exploiting classes, strengthens its dictatorship and prevents capitalist restoration. In the
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future, such revolutions will have to be waged time and time again. During the Great Proletarian cultural Revolution, the entire Party, the entire army and the entire people, led by Chairman Mao, destroyed the two headquarters of the bourgeoisie led by Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao — this was a hard blow for the reactionary forces inside the country and throughout the world. Chairman Mao's doctrine on Continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao, have enriched and developed the Marxist-Leninist theory of proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, thus making a big Contribution to Marxism-Leninism.
Chairman Mao says: "The theoretical basis guiding our thinking is Marxism-Leninism." (29) Our Party has always been resolute in making Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought the theoretical basis guiding its thinking, the orientation which directs all of its work and is a guide to action for the entire Party, army and people.
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought Constitutes the theoretical basis from which our Party elaborates a correct line and Correct policies. A party which arms itself with Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought becomes capable of understanding and grasping the objective laws of social development, it acquires the capacity to analyse the situation and foresee the future, and it is able, on this basis, to define the revolutionary tasks of the moment, and formulate its programme, line, orientation and policies in a correct manner. A revolution which strays from the leadership provided by Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought is like a ship on the ocean without a compass — it risks losing its orientation. The experience of our Party over more than 50 years has many times shown that the reason our revolutionary cause has been able to steer clear, one by one, of all of the snags that were to be found along its path, vanquish enemies of all kinds and win great victories, is because Chairman Mao has charted out a correct Marxist-Leninist line for our Party. This correct line is based on dialectical and historical materialism; it is the product of combining the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the revolutionary practice of countless members of the broad masses. This is why it corresponds to the objective laws of historical development, represents the basic interests of the proletariat and all the working people, and is capable of leading the cause of revolution and construc-
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tion from victory to still greater victory.
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought is the ideological weapon with which our Party educates and strengthens the revolutionary ranks of the proletariat. The long experience of proletarian class struggle has shown that without correct ideological leadership, no matter how numerous the proletarians may be, they will not be able to understand the historical mission of their class. Chairman Mao has observed that only the revolutionary theory of Marxism is capable of educating the proletariat, making it "able to comprehend the essence of capitalist society, the relations of exploitation between social classes and its own historical task," (30) and it is only with such understanding that the proletariat ceases to be a "class-in-itself" and becomes a "class-for-itself." Of course in our country, as far as the proletariat as a whole is concerned, under the Party's leadership it has long ago gone from the state of being a "class-in-itself" to that of being a "class-for-itself" — but if one considers each individual belonging to this class, it is always necessary for him to arm himself with Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and to deepen the following "three understandings":
Firstly, he must deepen his understanding of the essence of capitalist society. Without the weapon of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, our comrades can only have one-sided knowledge of phenomena and see only the outward appearance of the relationships that exist in society, they can never have a real understanding of its essence. And more particularly, under the conditions in which socialism is continuously advancing towards victory and capitalism is decaying and degenerating, the crafty representatives of the bourgeoisie are always capable of putting forward pseudo-socialism and pseudo-communism in various forms in order to cover up their real nature, which is to overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism. This is why, in our study and in our practice, we must continuously strengthen our understanding of the rotten nature of capitalism, whole-heartedly love socialism, and build it.
Secondly, he must deepen his understanding of the relations of exploitation which exist between social classes. Many of our comrades have shown boundless love for the Party and for socialism and they have basic class sentiment, which is a very good thing. But without the weapon of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, if these comrades remain content with class sentiment alone, then at times when the class struggle and the two-line struggle become very complex, they risk being deceived and losing their orientation. This is why, throughout the struggle, we must assiduously study Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought to more deeply understand the characteristics and the laws of
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the class struggle in the historical period of socialism and firmly grasp the basic line of the Party for this period. Thirdly, he must deepen his understanding of the historical tasks of the proletariat. The historical tasks are to radically eliminate all the exploiting classes and every system of exploitation, and to bring about communism throughout the world. It is only by arming ourselves with Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and by looking at problems from the standpoint of the interests of the entire proletariat and the great objective of the realisation of communism that we will be able to become aware of the historical responsibility that we bear, that we will be able to grasp the fact that we are the masters, the creators of history, and that we will be able continuously and at all times to make revolution and struggle for the realisation of communism.
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought is the sharp-edged "sword" (31) with which our Party criticises all opportunists, all revisionists, and triumphs over them. Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought is the science of proletarian struggle. Its principles have a clearly affirmed Party character. It openly proclaims itself to be in the service of proletarian revolutionary practice and in defense of the basic interests of the proletariat. To preserve its ideological purity and always advance on a correct path, a proletarian political party must combat the ideology of the bourgeoisie and of all exploiting classes, as well as of all the opportunist and revisionist trends of thought. To accomplish this giant task, it is necessary to expose and criticise relentlessly all reactionary trends of thought propagated by the class enemies and the opportunists inside and outside the country, using the sharp-edged sword of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. The renegade clique of Soviet revisionists has completely betrayed Marxism-Leninism and has turned a socialist country into a social-imperialist country. (32) The Khrushchov-Brezhnev clique is the most treacherous in the history of the international communist movement; it is a historical band of criminals whose countless crimes can never be forgiven. Holding high the fighting banner of Marxism-Leninism, our Party has declared merciless war on the clique of Soviet renegade revisionists and has exposed the snarling face of social-imperialism to all the revolutionary peoples of the world, thus preserving the purity of Marxism-Leninism. Opposing Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as well as the basic line of the Party, the Lin Piao anti-Party clique launched a counter-revolutionary coup d'etat with the aim of changing the socialist system in our country, restoring capitalism and turning our country into a colony of revisionist Soviet social-imperialism. However, under the leadership of Chairman Mao, the whole Party, the whole army and the whole people armed with
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Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, exposed their counter-revolutionary plot and the extreme-right nature of the revisionist line they were practising, revealing the origins of this gang of renegades and traitors to the country, who came to a shameful end, breaking their own necks. After what has been said, we can see that the revolutionary theory of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought is of prime importance in building the dictatorship of the proletariat. As Lenin says so well: "There can be no strong socialist party without a revolutionary theory" and "Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement." (33) In short, all the victories and all the successes achieved by our Party in the revolution and in construction in the course of the last 50 years are great victories of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought.
Chairman Mao has always attached a great deal of importance to building the Party ideologically; he has always been determined to arm and build our Party with the aid of Marxism-Leninism. Even in the early years of our Party's existence, Chairman Mao stressed that its theoretical foundation must be the materialist view of history. In 1929, when he wrote On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party, (34) Chairman Mao insisted on the necessity of educating Party members on the correct political line, of using proletarian ideology to defeat all neo-proletarian ideas, and to use Marxism-Leninism to build our Party and our army. In 1937, 1941 and 1942, in order to systematically sum up, on the ideological and theoretical levels, the historical experience of the struggle between the two lines within the Party, raise the Marxist-Leninist level of the whole Party, and liquidate the pernicious influence of the lines of Chen Tu-hsiu, Wang Ming, (35) and other opportunists in its ranks, Chairman Mao wrote On Practice, On Contradiction, Reform Our Study, Rectify the Party's Style of Work, Oppose Stereotyped Party Writing, Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art (36) and other important works, and, moreover, personally directed the rectification movement in Yenan. Through the study of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and of dialectical and historical materialism, the entire Party laid bare the origin of the "left" and right opportunist lines and their anti-Marxist-Leninist essence, thus greatly raising the Party's level of understanding of Marxism-Leninism. On the basis of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung
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Thought, all the Party comrades achieved a new level of unity and laid solid foundations for the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation. In the period of the socialist revolution, Chairman Mao, in accordance with the characteristics and the laws of class struggle under the dictatorship of the proletariat, elaborated a basic line for the historical period of socialism and correctly resolved a series of questions concerning the construction of the Party in the period of socialism. During this period, the basic tasks in building the Party are to practise Marxism and not revisionism and to undertake the criticism of revisionism. After the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee, Chairman Mao personally led the movement to criticise Lin Piao and rectify the style of work, and led the whole Party in an educational programme on the fronts of ideology and political line. Through the criticism and denunciation of the Lin Piao anti-Party clique, our Party purified and strengthened itself. The practice of the Chinese revolution for over a half-century has demonstrated that the Chinese Communist Party, armed with Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, developed and strengthened through the two-line struggle, is the leading core of the whole Chinese people — that it is a great, glorious and correct Party.
The fundamental criterion which enables us to distinguish a Marxist-Leninist party from a revisionist party is whether or not it perseveres in making Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought the theoretical foundation guiding its thinking. The struggle between the two lines within our Party has always been very sharp on this point. Each time an opportunist line arose in the history of our Party, the leaders of this line understood nothing of Marxism-Leninism and knew nothing of the theory and practice of the Chinese revolution. They spoke about Marxism-Leninism from time to time, but never acted in accordance with it; they were always anti-Marxist-Leninists. In order to change the basic line of the Party, overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism, Lin Piao and Liu Shao-chi attempted by every means to change the theoretical basis guiding the thinking of the Party and to substitute revisionism for Marxism-Leninism. They tried with all their strength to propagate reactionary ideas such as apriorism, (37) bourgeois humanism, (38) the theory of the primacy of the productive forces, (39) the theory of the dying out of class struggle, (40) etc., in order to corrupt our Party and its members. In his notorious book on "self-cultivation," the renegade and traitor to the working class, Liu Shao-chi, shamelessly preached "the way of Confucius and Mencius." (41) Lin Piao, bourgeois careerist, schemer, double-dealing counter-revolutionary and traitor to the country, also loudly praised Confucius and Mencius and called upon these ghosts of history to assist him in his
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plot for counter-revolutionary restoration. Lin Piao also maintained that the Communist Party should inscribe at the top of its banner the word "production" and give priority to sorting out economic questions. Before the Ninth Congress, the Lin Piao and Chen Po-ta clique went so far as to write a report which preached the primacy of the productive forces and opposed the continuation of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. Hoping that our Party would foresake class struggle and abandon the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, this clique advocated that the principal task after the Ninth Congress should be to develop production. It is clear that if these reactionary fallacies which they spread had become the guiding thought of the Party, it would no longer be a proletarian Party, but rather a bourgeois party, a revisionist party. In order to eliminate the basis guiding the thinking of the Party, Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao, with hidden intentions, trod Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought under foot and tried to oppose it. Either they spared no effort to belittle Mao Tsetung Thought and opposed all of the cadres and masses studying the works of Chairman Mao, or they claimed that the Marxist-Leninist works were "outdated," "too remote from us" and other nonsense aimed at slandering Marxism-Leninism. In brief, they were opposed to Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought constituting the guiding thought of our Party and they wanted our Party to leave the correct path and to make itself the instrument of their revisionist line. Their intentions were therefore extremely dangerous. (42)
Behind the struggle between the two lines on the question of the guiding thought of the Party, there is the great question of whether the Party is going to be built on the basis of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and be developed as the vanguard of the proletariat, or whether it is going to be corrupted with the aid of revisionism, and be given the features of the bourgeoisie and the landlord class. The question is whether our Party will or will not change its nature and whether the revolution will succeed or fail. Each member of the Party must fully grasp the importance and the protracted character of this struggle, and devote his life to the militant task of safeguarding Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. Each member of the Party must respond to Chairman Mao's call: "Read and study seriously and have a good grasp of Marxism," (43) hold firmly to dialectical and historical materialism, oppose idealism and metaphysics and consciously remould his world view. He must be able to grasp the basic Marxist-Leninist theories and be familiar with the history of the struggle between Marxism, on the one hand, and old and new revisionism and all opportunism on the other. Moreover, he must have a good understanding of how Chairman Mao
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combined the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the revolution, and how he thus inherited Marxism, preserved it and developed it. Each member of the Communist Party should also continue to plunge actively into the movement to criticise Lin Piao and rectify the style of work, criticise revisionism and the The Basic Programme bourgeois world view, strengthen through struggle his capacity to distinguish true Marxism from sham and make up his mind to struggle and the Final Goal relentlessly to preserve the guiding thought of the Party.
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The Constitution of the Party states: "The basic programme of the Communist Party of China is the complete overthrow of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat in place of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, and the triumph of socialism over capitalism. The ultimate aim of the Party is the realization of communism:" We, the members of the Communist Party, must all thoroughly understand the basic programme and the final goal of the Party and struggle all our lives for the realisation of communism.
Chairman Mao has pointed out: "Communism is at once a complete system of proletarian ideology and a new social system. It is different from any other ideology or social system, and is the most complete, progressive, revolutionary and rational system in human history." (44)
Why apply all these adjectives to communist society? The answer is as follows:
Communist society is a society in which classes and class differences have been radically eliminated. Under communism, all exploiting classes, all class differences, as well as differences between workers and peasants, between town and countryside, between manual and intellectual labour, have been eliminated, with the means of production coming under centralised communist ownership.
Communist society is one in which the entire population has a high level of communist ideological consciousness and high moral qualities. Under communism, after having rooted out bourgeois ideology and selfish thinking, man will consciously employ the Marxist world view to transform the objective world as well as his own subjective world, with a well-developed communist consciousness and high moral qualities.
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Communist society is one in which all the people work consciously and with great enthusiasm. Under Communism work will become the prime need in the life of man.
Communist society is one in which social wealth is extremely abundant. Under Communism, the abolition of the exploiting Classes and the systems of exploitation will open up a wide road for the liberation of the productive forces which will undergo large-scale development and become able to produce social wealth in great abundance so that the standard of living of man will greatly rise.
Communist society is one which operates according to the principle "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!" (45) Under communism, the transformation of the means of production into centralised, Communist property, the abundance of social wealth, and the raising of the ideological consciousness of the people will allow each individual to work for society according to his ability and will permit the society to distribute goods according to each person's needs — the differences between rich and poor will have been completely eliminated.
Communist society is one in which the state has withered away. Under communism, no longer will imperialism, revisionism or reaction exist, as classes will have disappeared. This will render the state machine as an instrument for class domination superfluous. The state will therefore wither away naturally.
In summation, under communism, human society will be, as Chairman Mao says, "a new world without imperialism, without capitalism and without any system of exploitation." (46) Of course, under communism, classes will have disappeared, but the contradictions between the superstructure and the economic base and between the relations of production and the productive forces will still remain. As a reflection of these contradictions, there will still be struggle between the two lines, between what is advanced and what is backward, between the new and the old, between what is correct and what is incorrect. These contradictions, these struggles, provide the impetus for the forward development of society.
Communist society is the logical outcome of the development of human society. Chairman Mao says: "Changes in society are due chiefly to the development of the internal contradictions in society, that is, the contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production, the contradiction between classes and the contradiction between the old and the new; it is the development of these contradictions that pushes society forward . . . " (47) In a society where the exploiting classes occupy a dominant position, the contradiction
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between the relations of production and the productive forces, between the superstructure and the economic base manifest themselves as class contradictions and as class struggle. The sharpening of the class contradictions and class struggle necessarily leads to a revolution, a change of social system. In the revolution, the revolutionary class which represents the advanced productive forces naturally wins victory over the rotting reactionary class which is holding back the development of the productive forces. In transforming the old relations of production and the old superstructure, society moves forward. Since primitive society, the forms of society which followed it — slave society, feudal society and capitalist society — have all been societies where there was exploitation of man by man. The class struggle of the slaves against the slaveowners, of the peasants against the landlords and of the workers against the capitalists has pushed society forward.
Capitalist society is the last human society based on class oppression and exploitation. The contradiction between the social character of production and the private appropriation of the means of production is the principal contradiction in capitalist society. This contradiction appears as a contradiction and a struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
Capitalist society is absolutely incapable of resolving its own contradictions. Only the proletariat, by overthrowing the bourgeoisie through violence and establishing its own domination, will be able to resolve them. The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie will be replaced by the dictatorship of the proletariat; socialist collective property will be substituted for capitalist private property. This is an inescapable law of social development which no force can oppose.
Communism will certainly triumph throughout the world. For more than 100 years, guided by Marxism-Leninism and following the orientation set out in the Manifesto of the Communist Party, the international communist movement has undergone rapid development. In 1871, the heroic sons and daughters of the Paris Commune attempted for the first time to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat; in 1917, under the leadership of Lenin, the October Socialist Revolution in Russia won victory; in 1949, the Chinese people led by the Communist Party of China with Chairman Mao at the helm, succeeded, after long struggles, in overthrowing the "three big mountains" and in founding socialist New China. Today, countries want independence, nations want liberation and the people want revolution — this is a great historical trend which is developing all over the world and which nothing can stop. Communism is deeply penetrating people's hearts; its in-
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fluence is greatly increasing among all the revolutionary people of the world. Of course, before communism wins victory everywhere, there are long and hard battles which must be waged. Communism is moving forward in the world through struggle, along a tortuous path. And even though the world communist movement has experienced the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union, (48) this is only a temporary phenomenon, and revisionist domination cannot last long. The proletariat and the revolutionary people of the Soviet Union will certainly succeed in defeating the Brezhnev renegade clique and in firmly establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat — of this there is no question. Even though in the history of our Party there appeared the Chen Tu-hsiu, Wang Ming and Liu Shao-chi renegade cliques, and the Lin Piao anti-Party clique, and even though the revolution has gone through many detours, none of this will in the end be able to prevent its victory. From these harsh and repeated two-line struggles our Party has emerged more united and more dynamic then ever. In brief, to realise communism, the task is heavy, the road is tortuous, but the future is radiant. On the road forward, no matter what the ups and downs and the set-backs we encounter, if we always follow the guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, if we strengthen our revolutionary unity with the workers of all countries, if we maintain our revolutionary spirit and our firm confidence in victory, if we do not get upset about the ups and downs, and struggle persistently, then communism will unquestionably win victory throughout the world.
All the opportunists of history have always falsified the doctrine of scientific communism, spread pseudo-communist nonsense and have tried to poison the minds of the proletariat and revolutionary people in the hope of changing the revolutionary orientation of communism. The Soviet revisionist renegade clique, and swindlers like Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao have always taken measures aimed at restoring capitalism while hiding behind the banner of "communism." According to Khrushchov communism meant "to eat well, to be well dressed," for everyone to be able to eat "goulash"; for Liu Shao-chi, it meant "make yourself up, put on lipstick, speak of daily life"; while Lin Piao claimed that what communism means is that "everyone becomes rich, everyone lives well." They widely propagated bourgeois concepts of pleasure-seeking, without breathing a word about the abolition of the exploiting classes and the system of exploitation, and saying nothing about raising people's communist consciousness, thus completely robbing communism of its substance. Their "communism" was communism in words only, but in tact it was capitalism. This fully reveals their ugly features as false Marxists and exposes their criminal plot to restore capitalism.
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According to the principles of Marxism-Leninism, between capitalist society and communist society there is a period of revolutionary transition — the historical period which we generally refer to as socialism. During this period, we must, on the political front, establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The dictatorship of the proletariat is the basic guarantee that the proletariat will triumph over the bourgeoisie and that socialism will triumph over capitalism; it is the road which must be taken in order to pass from capitalism to communism. As Lenin said: "Forward development, i.e. towards Communism, proceeds through the dictatorship of the proletariat, and cannot do otherwise. . . . " (49) This clearly shows us that to realise communism, we must pass through the dictatorship of the proletariat. To uphold or to oppose the dictatorship of the proletariat — this is the test which allows us to distinguish genuine Marxists and communists from false ones.
Throughout the entire historical period of socialism, there are still classes, class contradictions and class struggle, there is the struggle between the socialist road and the capitalist road, and there is the danger of capitalist restoration. Inside the country, the exploiting classes which have been overthrown do not resign themselves to their defeat; they will always seek, by every means, to struggle to the death against the proletariat to transform their "hopes of restoration" into "attempts at restoration" in order to regain their lost "paradise." (50) What remains of the spontaneous influence of the petty bourgeoisie can also continuously give rise to new capitalist elements. As a result of the corrupting influence of bourgeois ideas, it is possible that in the ranks of the working class and in the Party organs, degenerate elements and leading groups taking the capitalist road can appear, which become the agents of the bourgeoisie within the organs of the state and the Party. Internationally, imperialism and social-imperialism passionately hate the very existence and growing strength of our socialist motherland, and they are at all times thinking about invading China and overthrowing our state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The internal and external class enemies always have links with one another and, conniving together, are constantly challenging the working class. The historical experience of class struggle shows that this contention in society is inevitably reflected inside the Party and the chieftains of the
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opportunist lines in the Party attempt, through putting into practice a revisionist line, to Change the colour of our socialist country. In such a situation, the proletariat and the broad revolutionary masses have only the dictatorship of the proletariat to rely on to crush the opposition of the exploiting classes and the disturbances they provoke. Only this dictatorship can prevent aggression and subversion by imperialism and social-imperialism, and can smash to pieces the restorationist plots hatched by the chieftains of the opportunist lines. It is only with the use of this weapon that the exploiting classes can be wiped out forever and that conditions can be created for the realisation of communism.
Socialist society, said Comrade Marx, " . . . as it emerges from capitalist society. . . (is) . . . in every respect, economically, morally and intellectually, still stamped with the birth marks of the old society from whose womb it emerges." (51) This is why, during the period of socialism, the proletariat and the broad revolutionary masses must, with the aid of the dictatorship of the proletariat, strengthen and develop socialist state property and develop socialist economy in a planned, balanced and rapid fashion. They must eliminate little by little the differences between state property and collective property of the working masses, between workers and peasants, between town and countryside, as well as between manual and intellectual labour; eradicate any possibility of the appearance of new bourgeois elements and of the restoration of capitalism. All this is necessary in order to prepare conditions for the realisation of communist society which will put into practice the principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
In socialist society, the bourgeoisie and the other exploiting classes have been overthrown, but the ideology of these classes cannot be eliminated all at once. These enemies will unquestionably launch fierce attacks against the proletariat, making use of the position they have long occupied in the superstructure. It is for this reason that the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in the ideological domain is long and complex, and sometimes extremely sharp. This struggle is in essence a struggle between bourgeois restoration and the opposition of the proletariat to such a restoration. In order to win final victory over the bourgeoisie and other exploiting classes, the proletariat must relentlessly carry on criticism of the bourgeoisie and of revisionism and make full use of its dictatorship against the bourgeoisie in the superstructure, including various branches of culture. It is only in this way that the influence of the ideas of the exploiting classes can be liquidated, that proletarian ideology can develop and that the communist consciousness of the masses can be raised.
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Chairman Mao has pointed out: "During the historical period of socialism it is necessary to maintain the dictatorship of the proletariat and carry the socialist revolution through to the end if the restoration of capitalism is to be prevented, socialist construction carried forward and the conditions created for the transition to communism." (52) The dictatorship of the proletariat is closely linked to the destiny of socialism and the future of communism.
The dictatorship of the proletariat is the vital trump card which enables the proletariat and revolutionary masses to defeat their enemies, and until such time as classes have been abolished, there can be no question of abandoning it.
It is precisely on this point — the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat — that the old and modern revisionists have betrayed the doctrine of scientific communism right up and down the line. The clique of Soviet revisionist renegades openly declares: "In the Soviet Union here and now, the dictatorship of the proletariat is no longer necessary." (53) Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and other such swindlers promoted the line of "the dying out of the class struggle" and vehemently opposed the dictatorship of the proletariat. Their criminal goal was to abolish the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism. But to negate the dictatorship of the proletariat is to negate socialism and communism; it is to negate the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism. Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and all other such swindlers are shameless renegades from Marxism-Leninism.
The cause of communism is the most glorious cause in the history of humanity, and the members of the Communist Party who swear to struggle all their lives for communism must exhibit firm resolve, fearing no sacrifice and overcoming every difficulty to win victory!
In order to dedicate one's life to the fight for realisation of communism, the noble ideal of struggling for communism must be deeply rooted in one's mind. It is only in this way that a person will be able to undertake the long march towards communism, to place himself in the very front ranks of the great revolutionary wave, and to devote body and soul, right up to his death, to the cause of the Party and the people. Imbued with this ideal, we can remain fully confident of victory no matter what difficulties we are confronted with, refuse to let ourselves be defeated by any setback, and heroically march forward. Imbued with this ideal, we can achieve the state of mind reflected in the lines: "we
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struggle all our lives for liberation; with broken body, broken bones, we have joyous hearts." We must follow the example of Communist fighters like Chang Szu-teh, Liu Hu-lan, Lei Feng, Chiao Yu-lu, Wang Chin-hsi, Yang Shui-tsai, (54) and others. Like them, we must consciously transform our world view, always keep our hearts red and devoted to the Party, live intensely and fight without let-up for the realisation of communism
To devote our lives to the struggle for the realisation of communism, we must continue to make revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. We have already won complete victory as far as the new-democratic revolution is concerned and we have also won great victories in socialist revolution and construction, such as in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, but we cannot claim to have won final victory in the proletarian revolution. Even though we have destroyed the two headquarters of the bourgeoisie led by Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao, the struggle between the two lines is far from being finally over in the Party and it will still be necessary to wage protracted struggles. There is still a long way to go between these victories we have won and the glorious goal of the victory of communism throughout the world. All ideas which lead us to "breathe easy" and "rest our feet" are erroneous. Every member of the Communist Party must continue unremittingly to make revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat and to struggle to eliminate imperialism, capitalism and exploitation from the face of the earth.
To devote our lives to the struggle for the realisation of communism, we must consciously accomplish all our immediate fighting tasks while keeping in mind the great objective of communism. Chairman Mao has said: Communism is "the future goal to which our present efforts are directed; if we lose sight of that goal, we cease to be communists. But equally we cease to be Communists if we relax our efforts of today. (55) Each member of the Party must carry out his work correctly in accordance with the basic programme of the Party and its final goal. All revolutionary work which he carries out must be closely related to the great objective of strengthening the dictatorship of the proletariat and bringing about communism; he must direct all of his energy towards working for this lofty ideal — the realisation of communism. He must assiduously study the Marxist-Leninist classics and the works of Chairman Mao, as well as the documents of the Tenth Congress, take an active part in the movement to criticise Lin Piao and rectify the style of work, boldly criticise the criminal counter-revolutionary acts of the Lin Piao anti-Party clique, gain experience in the course of the sharp struggle between the two classes, between the two roads and between the two lines, and raise
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his level of consciousness regarding class struggle, the two-line struggle and the continuation of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. Every member of the Party must tirelessly grasp revolution and promote production, other work, and preparedness against war, (56) exhibit proletarian revolutionary enthusiasm, endure suffering and fatigue, cultivate the fields, drive the machines, stand guard — in other words, be a cog that never rusts in the service of the revolution. He must concern himself with the class struggles in the superstructure, including the various spheres of culture, support the reform in art and the revolution in education and health care, support the path of sending educated young people into the countryside (57) and the establishment of the "May 7" schools (58) — in sum, support all of the socialist new things (59) that have come into being in our country.
At the present time, the situation in our country and in the world is excellent the overall development of this situation is more and more to the advantage of the proletariat and the revolutionary people and less and less to the advantage of imperialism, social-imperialism and all reactionaries. But we must not forget that the struggle for world hegemony between the two superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union — has not stopped for a single day. On the one hand they collaborate with each other, on the other they contend; they are spreading their influence everywhere, engaging in aggression and pillage and making trouble in the world. In these circumstances, we communists must, in accordance with Chairman Mao's teachings, maintain the highest vigilance against the possible unleashing of a war of aggression by imperialism, and particularly against the danger of a surprise attack on our country by Soviet revisionist social-imperialism; we must prepare ourselves well in all spheres to resist a war of aggression and to crush the aggressors the moment they arrive.
Chairman Mao teaches us that we still live in the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. In such a period, we communists are faced with heavy tasks and have a long road ahead of us. We must, under the leadership of the Central Committee headed by Chairman Mao, and following the line set out by the Tenth Congress of the Party, heroically struggle to eliminate capitalism and every other system of exploitation once and for all, to finally triumph over capitalism and realise the great ideal of communism!
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The Party Constitution adopted during the Tenth Congress once again reaffirmed tie basic line of our Party for the entire historical period of socialism. All Party members must conscientiously study this basic line, understand it in depth and raise their level of consciousness as to how to apply it.
Chairman Mao teaches us that "the correctness or incorrectness of the ideological and political line decides everything" (60) and that "to lead the revolution to Victory, a political party must depend on the correctness of its own political line and the solidity of its own organization." (61) This clearly shows us that if the proletarian political party wants to lead the revolutionary cause to victory, it must of necessity uphold Marxist-Leninist line. If the line of a party is correct, then even if it does not have any soldiers, there will be soldiers; even if it does not hold power, it will take power. If a party's line is incorrect, then even if it controls both national and local governments and controls the army, it will meet its downfall. This is a truth which the historical experiences of our Party and those of the international communist movement have borne out time and again.
Chairman Mao has formulated the basic line for the entire period of socialism as follows: "Socialist society covers a considerably long historical period. In the historical period of socialism, there are still classes, class contradictions and class struggle, there is the struggle between the socialist road and the capitalist road, and there is the danger of capitalist restoration. We must recognize the protracted and complex nature of this struggles We must heighten our vigilance. We must conduct socialist education. We must correctly understand and handle class contradictions and class struggle, distinguish the contradictions between ourselves anti the enemy from those among the people and handle them correctly. otherwise a socialist country like ours will turn into its opposite and degenerate, and a capitalist restoration will take place. From
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now on we must remind ourselves of this every year, every month and every day so that we can retain a relatively sober understanding of this problem and have a Marxist-Leninist line." (62) This basic line of the Party is founded upon Marxism-Leninism; it is the lifeblood of our Party, the torch that illuminates all our work, the essential guarantee of the triumph of socialist revolution and construction. If we stray from this line in any work, we run the risk of committing right and "left" errors. By upholding this line, it is possible to unite the people of the different nationalities of our country and mobilise all the positive factors. In upholding this line, we can continuously strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat in our country and win still greater victories in socialist revolution and construction.
This basic line formulated by Chairman Mao enriches and develops the Marxist-Leninist doctrine concerning the class struggle throughout the period of transition from capitalism to communism. It brings to light the objective laws governing the class struggle in socialist society, and both theoretically and practically resolves the problems of strengthening the dictatorship of the proletariat and of preventing a capitalist restoration.
The basic line of the Party correctly reflects the class contradictions and the class struggle in socialist society, and clearly points out that the principal contradictions in society are those between two classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and between two roads: the socialist road and the capitalist road. It underscores the importance of strengthening and consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat; it warns the Party that it must have a firm grasp of the protracted and complex character of the class struggle and that it must not relax its vigilance.
The basic line of the Party sets the strategic tasks and the general objectives of the Party in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat: to overthrow completely the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes; to replace capitalism by socialism; to eliminate exploitation; to eliminate classes and class differences; and to prepare conditions for the transition to communism.
The basic line of the Party expresses the general principle that it is necessary to distinguish clearly the two types of contradictions—those between ourselves and the enemy and those among the people — and to handle them correctly. This principle constitutes the foundation and the rule which the Party employs to determine its concrete policy; it also provides the general orientation which guides the correct application of this policy. If we confuse these two types of contradictions we will make serious mistakes in our work. If we take what is in fact a contradiction between ourselves and the enemy for a contradiction in the ranks of the
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people, that is, if we Confound enemy and friend and do not distinguish between them, we will Commit rightist errors. if, on the other hand, we take what in fact is a contradiction in the ranks of the people, for a contradiction between the enemy and ourselves, if we aim our blows against too many people, we will commit "leftist" errors. In both cases the result will be to depart from the basic line of the Party.
"We must remind ourselves" of the basic line of the Party "every year, every month and every day," always keeping a clear head and at no time forgetting class struggle and the consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The correct line always exists through comparison with the incorrect line, and it is in the struggle against the latter that it develops. Thus it has been in the course of the struggle against the opportunist lines — in particular the revisionist lines of Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao — that the basic line of the Party has been able to develop.
As far back as March 1949, when the Chinese revolution was about to pass from the stage of new democratic revolution to that of the socialist revolution, Chairman Mao, in his Report to the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee, pointed out that after the seizure of nation-wide power by the proletariat, the principal contradiction in the country would be "the contradiction between the working class and the bourgeoisie." (63) After the founding of New China, Chairman Mao again determined the orientation of the political principles we must adhere to as well as the stages in the socialist transformation of agriculture, of handicrafts, and of capitalist commerce and industry, thereby launching a series of struggles against the bourgeoisie on the economic, political and ideological fronts, and leading the people in their victorious advance along the road of socialism. However, Liu Shao-chi opposed the revolutionary line of Chairman Mao with all his strength. He openly advocated that "the more exploitation there is, the better things will be"; he issued the reactionary slogan of "consolidation of the new democratic order" and opposed the preparing of conditions for launching the socialist revolution in the country on all fronts; what he wanted was to prolong the existence of the capitalist forces and develop them.
In 1956 when the socialist transformation of the means of production had for the most part been achieved in our country, did classes, class struggle and class contradictions still exist? Was the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie still the principal contradiction in our society? These questions became the focal point of the struggle between the two lines. At this time, Liu Shao-chi spread fallacies such as "the dying out of the class struggle" and the "theory of the
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primacy of the productive forces." He claimed that the question of whether socialism or capitalism would prevail in our country was "already decided." Along with Chen Po-ta, Liu Shao-chi propagated the idea that the principal contradiction for us was no longer the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, but rather "the contradiction between the advanced socialist system and the backward productive forces." Without Chairman Mao's knowledge these renegades smuggled these fallacies into the Resolutions passed by the Eighth Congress. (64) Chairman Mao became aware of this problem right afterwards, and severely criticised their errors. At the beginning of 1957, Chairman Mao published one of his great works, On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, in which he clearly explains that after the socialist transformation of ownership of the means of production has in the main been accomplished, there still exist classes, class contradictions and class struggle and that the question of whether socialism or capitalism will prevail has not yet been decided. In this work he also shows that the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie will continue for a long time, that it will be full of twists and turns and that at times it will be very sharp. He called upon the whole Party and people to carry the socialist revolution through to the end on all fronts. These theoretical guidelines smashed to pieces the nonsensical ravings of Liu Shao-chi and company on the "dying out of class struggle," and clearly showed us the orientation to adopt in order to continue the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
In 1959, at the time of the criticism of the right opportunist line of Peng Teh-huai, (65) Chairman Mao strongly emphasised: "The struggle at Lushan is a class struggle, a continuation of the life-and-death struggle between the two major antagonistic classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, a struggle which has been going on in the socialist revolution for the last ten years." (66) He taught the Party to recognise the protracted nature of this struggle. In September 1962, during the Tenth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, Chairman Mao once again summed up the historical experience of the dictatorship of the proletariat in our country and in the world, and formulated in a still more comprehensive form the basic line of the Party for the entire historical period of socialism. But Liu Shao-chi and his clique again ventured forth to falsify and oppose the basic line of the Party. During the socialist education movement (67) they set out such absurdities as "the contradiction between the four cleans and the four uncleans" and the "intertwining of the contradictions inside and outside the Party" in order to oppose the basic line of the Party, cover up the struggle between the two classes, the two roads and the two lines, and deflect the
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movement to oppose those leading members taking the Capitalist road. In January 1965, at the national working Conference called by the Central Committee's Political Bureau, Chairman Mao pointed out in reply to the fallacies of Liu Shao-chi and his ilk: "Class contradiction, the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and the struggle between the socialist road and the capitalist road exist throughout the transitional period. We shall go astray if we forget this fundamental theory and practice of our Party over the last dozen years or so." (68) The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the movement to criticise Lin Piao and rectify the style of work, waged by the entire Party and people under the leadership of Chairman Mao, as well as the series of important directives issued in the course of these movements, upheld and developed the basic line of the Party.
After the smashing of the Liu Shao-chi renegade clique, our Party waged a sharp struggle against the Lin Piao and Chen P0-ta anti-Party clique over the line of the Ninth Congress. Lin Piao and Chen Po-ta opposed continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. They peddled the "theory of productive forces" and opposed the socialist revolution, as well as the basic line of the Party. This shows that the struggle against Lin Piao and Chen Po-ta was definitely a struggle over whether the basic line of the Party was going to be upheld or deformed.
During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, we smashed both the Liu Shao-chi renegade clique and the Lin Piao anti-Party clique, and won great victories. But the struggle over whether we are going to hold firm to the basic line of the Party or whether we are going to change it, is in no way over — we must wage this struggle for a long time to come. (69) All Party members must view the basic line of the Party from the broad perspective of the consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the prevention of capitalist restoration. They must always keep it in mind, putting themselves at the head of the broad revolutionary masses in the struggle to maintain and preserve this line.
In order to adhere to the Party's basic line, we must first recognize the durable nature of the class struggle during the historical period of socialism, mentally prepare ourselves for it in all its various aspects, arid imbue ourselves with the idea of waging a protracted struggle.
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Lenin pointed out: "The transition from capitalism to Communism represents an entire historical epoch. Until this epoch has terminated, the exploiters inevitably cherish the hope of restoration, and this hope is converted into attempts at restoration." (70) Socialist society extends over a fairly long historical period during which the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie carries on. This struggle will not end until classes have been totally abolished. Since the founding of our state, the realities of the class struggle and the struggle between the two lines have taught us that, every few years, the class enemies reappear on the scene. Even though they have suffered severe and repeated defeats and have met with constant and shameful setbacks, it is impossible for them not to continue to rise up — this is determined by their class nature. The tree would like it to be calm, but the wind does not stop. The class enemies will always continue to rise in defiance of the proletariat — this is an objective law independent of man's will. Therefore we must not think that because we have won a few victories in the struggle we can relax our vigilance and rest contented. On the contrary, we must clearly see that merely because we have repulsed a few attacks by the class enemy, that does not mean that the reactionary class as a whole has been eliminated. Neither must we think that because we have achieved a few victories in the two-line struggle, there will be no more struggles in the future. It is only by firmly grasping the protracted and complex nature of these struggles, by understanding the laws of the class struggle in the era of socialism that we will be able to implement and defend the basic line of the Party.
Chairman Mao has said: "Opposition and struggle between ideas of different kinds constantly occur within the Party; this is a reflection within the Party of contradictions between classes and between the new and the old in society." (71) Class struggle in the society inevitably has its reflection inside the Party, and it appears in a concentrated fashion in the form of the two-line struggle within the Party — this is also an objective law. The reason why there can be no doubt that class struggle in society has its reflection in the Party is that our Party does not live in a vacuum, but in a society in which classes exist, and it is possible for bourgeois ideology, the force of old habits and international revisionist trends of thought, to affect and poison our Party organism. Moreover, imperialism and social-imperialism make use of every possible channel in their attempts to overthrow our state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and therefore they seek by every means to secure agents within our Party. It is always possible that people in our Party will let themselves be corrupted by the enemy, will let themselves degenerate to the point of becoming agents of the class enemy. The 10 big two-line
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struggles which our Party has gone through in the course of its 50 year history (72) have all been reflections inside the Party of the Class struggle on the national and international levels. This is the way it was in the era of new democracy, and this is still the way it is in the era of socialism. During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, when the Liu Shao-chi renegade clique collapsed, the Lin Piao anti-Party Clique came forward for a trial of strength with the proletariat — this was an acute manifestation of the intense class struggle in our country and the world. The great victory which we won in smashing the Lin Piao anti-Party clique constitutes a severe blow to both our internal and external enemies.
The protracted nature of the class struggle in the society determines the protracted nature of the two-line struggle within the Party. As long as there are classes, class contradictions and class struggle, as long as there exist the socialist and capitalist roads, the danger of a capitalist restoration, and the threat of subversion and aggression by imperialism and social-imperialism, the two-line struggle within the Party, which is the reflection of these contradictions, will also carry on. Possibly this struggle will manifest itself another 10, 20 or 30 times, and it is possible that persons like Lin Piao, Wang Ming, Liu Shao-chi, Peng Teh-huai and Kao Kang (73) will once again appear — this is something independent of man's will. Some comrades are surprised by the appearance of important two-line struggles inside the Party — this is basically a result of their not having a clear enough understanding of the protracted character of class struggle and two-line struggle during the period of socialism. They do not understand that the protracted character of these struggles manifests itself like the ebb and flow of the tide — now high, now low. "High" or "low" are only the different appearances that class struggle may take; they do not represent a distinction between the presence and absence of this struggle. In the same way, "ebb and flow" do not mean "existence and disappearance." Only if we firmly grasp the protracted nature of the class struggle and the two-line struggle will we be able to understand the laws which govern their ebb and flow, their high tides and low tides, and the twists and turns of these struggles. Only then will we be fully prepared, will we be in a position to take the initiative in the class struggle and in the struggle between the two lines — no matter in what disguise the class enemy cloaks himself — and will we be able to follow the development of events, lead them, and thus ensure the victory of the revolution.
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To persist in implementing the Party's basic line, we must have the revolutionary spirit of going against the tide. Going against the tide means firmly sticking to Marxism and struggling resolutely against opportunism, revisionism and all erroneous trends. On the international level, this means struggling against imperialist, revisionist and all reactionary counter-currents; internally, it means opposing all opportunist lines, all non-proletarian ideological trends. By persisting in following the Party's basic line, we will certainly face all kinds of attacks on the part of reactionary trends, both inside and outside the Party and both inside and outside the country. This is why we must in all circumstances remain clear-headed, continuously carry out investigation and analysis of the prevailing situation in the class struggle, and clearly grasp that one tendency covers another, exhibit the proletarian spirit of going against the tide, firmly implement Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, and struggle against all erroneous lines and tendencies which are opposed to the socialist orientation, and which threaten the revolution.
Chairman Mao teaches us that "Going against the tide is a Marxist-Leninist principle." (74) Marxism-Leninism is, in its essence, critical and revolutionary. The proletariat is the revolutionary clas5, the greatest class. It wants to put an end to the oppression and the domination of the bourgeoisie, hasten the fall of the old world in order to establish communist society, and this revolution itself is a glorious action which goes against the tide. All teachers of the proletarian revolution served as models in going against the tide. Throughout their lives, Marx and Engels never stopped fighting against those who held up the banners of so-called "socialism," and they confronted all reactionary trends of thought and their representatives and, with the heroic attitude of fearless proletarians, waged tit for tat struggle. The struggles of Lenin and Stalin against all brands of opportunism and their representatives is also a model of the spirit of going against the tide. (75) Chairman Mao is the representative and teacher of our Party and he has imbued it with the spirit of daring to go against the tide and persisting in the correct line. Chairman Mao has not only — in the 10 two-line struggles within the Party — confronted all the right and "left" opportunist trends of thought with all the energy and courage of a proletarian revolutionary, and has many times defeated the opportunist lines, but he has also stood up in the international communist movement against the counter-
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current of modern revisionism represented by the Soviet revisionists. He has defended and developed Marxism-Leninism and given us a brilliant example of what it means to go against the tide. Thus, it is through going against the tide that Marxism-Leninism was born and has developed. It is also through going against the tide that the cause of the revolution, led by the political party of the proletariat, progresses continuously.
To go against the tide, one must first of all dare to do so. When the line is in question, when the overall situation is at stake, a real communist must act in the common interest and dare to go against the tide without being afraid of being removed from his positions, expelled from the Party, put into prison, shot or divorced. Communists stand for the interests of the large majority of the people of China and the world in order to stick to the Party's basic line they must dare to persist along the right path dare to brave storms to be entirely devoted to the common welfare and to march heroically forward. Only the complete absence of selfish motivations enables a person to be fearless. When a wrong tendency surges towards us like a rising tide, the only way to be able to stick to the positions of the proletariat and resolutely struggle against this erroneous trend is with proletarian revolutionary audacity and a mind free from all fear. If a person behaves in a selfish fashion, always thinks of his own personal interests, always weighs what he may lose and what he may gain, if he is afraid of anything and everything, then he will be unable to face up to and oppose the erroneous trend, or to defend the proletarian revolutionary line of Chairman Mao. In order to develop this revolutionary spirit of going against the tide in the struggle, each member of our Party must draw inspiration from the brilliant examples of going against the tide which have been provided by the great revolutionary teachers.
To go against the tide, the question is not only whether or not a person dares to do so, but also whether or not he is capable of detecting the erroneous trend. The class struggle and the two-line struggle in the era of socialism are extremely complex, and when it happens that one tendency covers another, many comrades are not sufficiently careful. At the same time, those who are hatching plots and intrigues deliberately attempt to present false appearances and fish in troubled waters, making it even more difficult for us to detect them. However, the erroneous lines and tendencies have an objective existence, and, according to the viewpoint of dialectical materialism, all that is objective is knowable. If our eyesight is not good enough, we have to make use of the microscope and telescope of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. (76) If we assiduously study the Marxist-Leninist classics and the works of Chairman Mao, if we take an active part in practical struggle, and if we
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consciously transform our world view, we can gradually improve our ability to distinguish both true Marxism from sham and the correct line from the incorrect line. Thus armed, when an erroneous trend comes up, we will be able to have clear opinions and ideas, we will not let ourselves be fooled by appearances and we will be able to struggle courageously against it.
To go against the tide, it is not enough simply to be firmly principled, it is also necessary to correctly apply political principles, distinguish between the correct line and the incorrect line, and pay attention to uniting the largest number of people. The class struggle and the two-line struggle in the era of socialism are extremely complex — it is easy to confuse the contradictions between ourselves and the enemy with the contradictions among the people, and it is not possible to see everything clearly at a glance. To go against the tide requires that we implement a correct policy and that we distinguish between the different types of contradictions. To go against the tide, we must also respect the discipline of the Party. Going against the tide and respecting the discipline of the Party are inseparable. Both are aimed at preserving the correctness of the Party's line. This is why, when we exhibit the spirit of going against the tide, we must also respect proletarian discipline, in order to guarantee the full implementation of the Party's correct political line and principles.
To persist in implementing the Party's basic line, it is necessary that the "key link" command the "chain." In other words, it is necessary to correctly handle the relationship between the basic line of the Party on the one hand, and the line for concrete work and concrete measures on the other.
In itself the question of the line is part of the ideological superstructure, but because it represents in concentrated form the interests, the aspirations and the world view of a definite class, it constitutes the basic principle which guides all action. The basic line of the Party enables us to resolve the principal contradictions of the era of socialism, and this is why it occupies the commanding position. It is important both in revolution and in construction, and constitutes the basic principle in our work.
Chairman Mao has said: "The line is the key link; once it is grasped, everything falls into place." (77) All Party organisations and members
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must attach great importance to the Party's basic line and put the "key link" in Command of the "whole chain." No matter on which front our comrades are working — industry, agriculture, commerce and finance, culture and education — when they are carrying out a concrete task they must always ask themselves whether they are being guided by the Party's basic line in their work, and whether they are acting in accordance with the overall orientation of socialism and the basic interests of the proletariat. If we forget the Party's basic line and only concern ourselves with the line for the concrete work and concrete measures — in short if we concern ourselves only with the "chain" while forgetting the "key link," we become revolutionaries who are acting blindly, without any clarity of thinking, and we risk having an increasingly short-sighted view of things. If in looking at a problem, we only see the various phenomena involved without seeing the essence, if in the things we do, we only look at immediate interests without thinking about the long term interests of the Party and the people, then we become incapable of distinguishing things that are based upon the line from things that are alien to it. In this way not only are we unable to correctly carry out the concrete work, but we also risk letting ourselves be led astray, losing our orientation, and this is very dangerous.
To firmly grasp the basic line of the Party as the "key link" in no way means to neglect concrete tasks and measures. If we do not actually carry out the concrete tasks and measures, the implementation of the Party's basic line becomes an expression devoid of all meaning. Therefore all Party organisations and members — guided by the Party's basic line — must do more study and investigation and rely on the masses in order to carry out all the concrete work conscientiously. It is only in closely combining the implementation of the Party's basic line with the implementation of the line for the various concrete tasks and measures, while carrying out the struggle-criticism-transformation movement (78) in the appropriate manner, that we will be able to accomplish the task of consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat in all basic units.
Every communist must, at all times, in all work, keep the Party's basic line in mind, continuously raise his level of consciousness of the two-line struggle and act as a resolute fighter in defending and in implementing the basic line of the Party.
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The Party Constitution states that the comrades must adhere to the principles of "practising Marxism and not revisionism, uniting and not splitting, and being open and aboveboard and not intriguing and conspiring." These three principles on what to do and what not to do represent a profound synthesis of the historical experience of our great leader Chairman Mao concerning the two lines in the Party. They constitute the norm which enables us to distinguish the correct line from the incorrect line. They are three basic principles which the members of the Party must respect. Every Party member must always keep these three principles in mind and adhere to them in order to wage the two-line struggle within the Party actively and in a correct manner.
Of these three principles formulated by Chairman Mao on what to do and what not to do, the most fundamental is to practise Marxism and not revisionism. A person who practises Marxism and not revisionism and serves the interests of the vast majority of the population of China and the world with all his heart necessarily works for unity and is open and aboveboard; a person who practises revisionism and serves the minority of elements of the exploiting classes inevitably works for splits and engages in intrigues and conspiracy. For over 50 years, the struggles inside our Party between the Marxist-Leninist line represented by Chairman Mao and the various opportunist lines have always, in the final analysis, been over the question of whether to practise Marxism or revisionism. This is an important question concerning the future of the proletarian revolution, the character of the proletarian political party and the destiny of the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This is why the principle "Practise Marxism, and not revisionism" (79) is essential for building the political party of
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the proletariat — it constitutes the political orientation to which we must adhere and the guarantee that our Party and our state will never Change their nature.
Marxism and revisionism are two diametrically opposed ideological systems. Marxism is the ideological system of the proletariat; it is a powerful weapon in the hands of all revolutionaries to understand and transform the world in a correct manner. Marxism represents the basic interests of the proletariat and other working people. It shows the proletariat and other working people of the whole world the path through which they can win their liberation and guides them in getting rid of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and struggling heroically for the ultimate realisation of communism. Revisionism — or right opportunism — is an international bourgeois ideological trend of thought. Chairman Mao has specified: "It is revisionism to negate the basic principles of Marxism and to negate its universal truth." (80) The revisionists conjure away the differences between socialism and capitalism, between the dictatorship of the proletariat and the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. They wave the flag of revolution and cover themselves with the mantle of Marxism-Leninism the better to distort and drain the fundamental Marxist principles of their content. They promote first and foremost what is acceptable to the bourgeoisie and meets its needs. These are the machinations habitually employed by the revisionists. Under the conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat the revisionists act in an even more underhanded manner, disguise themselves even more cleverly, spreading false rumours and fallacies in order to deceive the masses and harm the revolution.
Lenin pointed out that, objectively, the opportunists are "a political detachment of the bourgeoisie, conductors of its influence, and its agents in the labour movement." (81) The opportunist elements are instruments manipulated by the bourgeoisie as well as by imperialism, revisionism and reaction; they are their agents inside the party of the proletariat. All our enemies, both internal and external, know that it is easier to take a fortress from within. It is preferable for them that revisionist elements who have infiltrated the Party should rise to sabotage the revolution and overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat, as opposed to having this carried out by the landlords and capitalists themselves, and this is especially true at a time when the landlords and capitalists are held in extremely low regard. If in a socialist country the revisionists succeed in usurping power in the party and the state, history can turn back, the country can change colour and the proletariat and other working people will once again know suffering. In the Soviet Union, since the Khrushchov-Brezhnev clique mounted the
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stage, usurping power in the party and the government, they have transformed the first state of the dictatorship of the proletariat founded by Lenin into a social-imperialist country. In our country, the careerists, conspirators, double-dealers and unrepentant capitalist-roaders — Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao — even though things went differently with them — had the same nature: whether it be on the ideological or political fronts or in their daily lives, they were bourgeoisified from head to foot, they were completely rotten! Chairman Mao has stated: "The rise to power of revisionism means the rise to power of the bourgeoisie." (82) This is completely true.
To practise Marxism and not revisionism — this is the principal criterion to distinguish the correct line from the incorrect line. To practise Marxism is to hold to principles of the proletariat and to grasp the objective laws of social development according to the world view of dialectical and historical materialism. It is to scientifically analyse the relations between classes at each historical period in order to elaborate a correct political line and principles and lead the proletariat and the broad masses of the people to revolutionary victory. The revisionist chieftains represent the interests of the exploiting classes. Having the world view of idealism and metaphysics, they elaborate and implement an incorrect line and they attempt to sabotage the revolutionary cause of the proletariat. Thus those who practise Marxism and those who practise revisionism have diametrically opposite class interests and world views, and they naturally elaborate completely different lines which have completely different results for the revolution.
The essential point of the basic line put forward by Chairman Mao for our Party for the entire historical period of socialism is that it is necessary to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat, prevent a capitalist restoration and carry the socialist revolution through to the end. This line represents the basic interests of the proletariat and all of the working people; it reflects the objective laws of social development which are independent of man's will. If we stick to the basic line of the Party, it is possible to continuously move our Party and our state forward on the socialist road. If we stray from this line, we risk taking the wrong road, the capitalist road. It is precisely for this reason that during the period of socialism, the criterion by which we can distinguish Marxism from revisionism is whether the basic line of the Party is upheld or changed. Lin Piao and his clique were agents of the capitalists and landlords who have already been overthrown in our country, as well as of imperialism, revisionism and reaction outside. Representing the interests and desires of these reactionary classes, they implemented a counter-revolutionary revisionist line and hatched up a counter-
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revolutionary coup d'etat. Their criminal aim was to usurp power at the highest levels of the Party and the state, entirely transform the basic line and the political principles of the Party, overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism. In the struggle between the two lines within the Party, the basic difference lay in the fact that one side represented the proletariat and the other the bourgeoisie, one side wanted socialism and the other the restoration of capitalism. In sum, one side practised Marxism, the other practised revisionism.
Marxism considers the struggles inside the Party as the reflection of the class struggles in the society. We should look at the struggle between the two lines in the Party from the Marxist standpoint of class struggle, making use of the method of class analysis. As long as there are class struggles in society, there can be no let-up in the two-line struggle in the Party. We should always look at our struggle against the revisionist elements in the Party in class terms. In order to camouflage their criminal aim of practising revisionism, Lin Piao and his acolytes used every means to distort the class nature of the two-line struggle in the Party, invented so-called contradictions between the "higher and lower levels" and between "these forces and those forces" (83) and tried to pass off the struggle in the Party as a personal power struggle. All of this was completely absurd and poisonous.
There can be no compromise in the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, between Marxism and revisionism. We communists are dialectical materialists and believe that in a society where classes exist, class struggle is always the motive force of social development and that the development of the proletariat also takes place through internal struggles. This is why we must not only recognize the objective existence of class struggle and two-line struggle, but also follow the development of the process and orient it by actively waging these struggles. We must take the initiative to attack the class enemies, wage criticism of revisionism and always remain vigilant to prevent bourgeois individualists, careerists and conspirators from usurping the leadership at any level of the Party and the state. We must unceasingly and persistently wage revolutionary criticism, penetratingly see through the fallacies of the revisionists on the political, ideological and theoretical fronts and liquidate their pernicious influence so that our Party and our state will always continue to progress in accordance with Chairman Mao's revolutionary line.
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The safeguarding of the unity of the Party is an invaluable treasure for the triumph of proletarian revolution. Chairman Mao has pointed out two aspects of this: "One is the internal unity of the Party and the other the unity of the Party and the people. These are two most valuable weapons for overcoming hardships, and all Party comrades must cherish them." (84) In order to be able to lead the proletariat and all working people in their great historical mission of abolishing the exploiting classes and realising communism, the political party of the proletariat must rely on a correct political line as well as on the solidity of its own organisation. Only a united party can unite the broad masses, form a large and powerful revolutionary army, triumph over its enemies inside and outside of the party and win victory in the revolutionary struggle. Without revolutionary unity there can be no revolutionary victory. Revolutionary unity and revolutionary victory are always closely linked. This is why the proletariat and its political party have always considered the constant strengthening of the party's unity as an essential condition for the victory of the cause of revolution and construction, and have made the preservation of revolutionary unity their fighting slogan. As The Internationale proclaims: "Let each stand in his place; the Internationale shall be the human race." (85)
To maintain the unity of the Party is to ensure the implementation of the correct line. The Communist Party of China is the leading core of the entire Chinese people. It is only if the Party is united that it can have a single ideology, a single will and a single direction for its action, and that the correct political principles can be entirely implemented. In the course of hard years of revolutionary struggle, our Party, under the far-sighted leadership of Chairman Mao, by relying on its unity and on the unity between the Party and the people, was able to guarantee the implementation of the general line for new democracy, defeat the three major enemies, and establish the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. After Liberation, in a similar fashion our Party has been able to ensure the implementation of the basic line for the whole historical period of socialism, defeat the repeated attacks of the internal and external class enemies, and win big victories in socialist revolution and construction.
To work for unity or to attempt to bring about splits: this is an important criterion enabling us to distinguish the correct line from the incorrect line. When we speak of unity, we mean unity based on principle;
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we mean unity around the Central Committee of the Party headed by Chairman Mao; unity on the basis of the revolutionary line of Chairman Mao — unity, therefore, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. We unite in order to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is only in firmly holding to these principles that it will be possible to bring about the genuine unity of the entire Party and move forward in implementing a correct line. The leaders of the opportunist lines within the Party, practising revisionism on the political front, invariably work for splits on the organisational front. Revisionism is the political and ideological source of splittism. Revisionist elements are always splitters this is an objective law which has been fully demonstrated by all the struggles between the two lines that have taken place within the Party.
In the era of the democratic revolution, among the Chen Tu-hsius, Lo Chang-lungs, and Chang Kuo-taos and company, (86) some organised opposition groups, others established their own Central Committee. They all plotted to divide the Party. Chu Chin-pai, Li Li-san, (87) Wang Ming, and others all practised sectarianism on the organisational front; they rejected Chairman Mao's leadership of the Central Committee, and attacked the comrades who upheld the correct line. In the era of socialist revolution, Kao Kang, Jao Shu-shih, (88) Peng Teh-huai and Liu Shao-chi, on the organisational front, all established anti-Party alliances or formed themselves into bourgeois headquarters to carry on splitting activities in order to usurp power and bring about a restoration. Lin Piao, bourgeois careerist and conspirator, was the greatest splitter in our Party. In order to implement his revisionist line and counter-revolutionary political principles, and to oppose the proletarian revolutionary political principles of Chairman Mao, he, more than anyone else, recruited fanatics into the organisation, formed sects, encouraged the counter-revolutionary forces, organised a bourgeois headquarters and opposed the Central Committee of the Party led by Chairman Mao. He and his accomplices did everything they could to sabotage the unity of our Party, our army and revolutionary ranks. They developed a line aimed at advancing their ends, extensively practised favouritism in the choice of cadres and implemented a consistent bourgeois reactionary line of "striking at the large majority to protect a handful." (89) They clamoured that they wanted to "redistribute power" and "struggle for the power of leadership," which finally led them to launch an armed counter-revolutionary coup d'etat with the vain hope of assassinating our great leader Chairman Mao, establishing another Central Committee and capitulating to revisionist Soviet social-imperialism. All this clearly shows that Lin Piao, bandit, conspirator and
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splitter, was the enemy of the entire Party, army and people. To cover up his criminal activities aimed at sabotaging revolutionary unity, and of splitting the Party, Lin Piao claimed that "we must cooperate even if we do not agree." This fallacy ignores the ideological basis of unity in the Party and the revolutionary ranks; it denies the class content of this unity, in the hope of making us renounce revolutionary principles and the struggle against revisionism. We must criticise it in an absolutely thoroughgoing manner.
Party unity does not come about by itself. As long as there are classes and class struggle in the society, there will inevitably be struggle in the Party between the two lines, between those who want unity and those who want splits. Chairman Mao has said: "Outside any party there are other parties, inside it, there are groupings; this has always been so." (90) The correct waging of the struggle inside the Party is a necessary condition for strengthening the Party. In our Party there are comrades who, while having joined it organisationally, have not entirely joined it ideologically. (91) This is what makes it possible for bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideas to manifest themselves continuously, forming an obstacle to the unity of the Party. Moreover, it is still possible for a number of renegades, secret agents, bourgeois careerists, and elements alien to the working class to worm their way into our Party. Such individuals are agents of the landlord and capitalist classes in the ranks of the Party, and in order to carry out their plan of capitalist restoration they will always engage in splittist activity and seek to sabotage the unity of the Party. This explains why manifestations of lack of unity in the Party are also reflections of the class struggle. To preserve the unity of the Party and to purify its ranks, we must, basing ourselves on the principles of Marxism-Leninism, actively wage the struggle inside the Party.
To wage this struggle in a correct manner, it is necessary to strictly distinguish between the two types of contradictions. In dealing with comrades who have committed errors, it is necessary to act according to the principles of unity, criticism, unity (92) and "Learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones and cure the sickness to save the patient." (93) In order to achieve the two objectives of clarifying ideas and uniting the comrades. As for the very small number of bad elements who have wormed their way into our Party, it is absolutely necessary to expose them, resolutely struggle against them and expel them from the Party. We are resolutely opposed to the splittist activities of the revisionists, but we are not afraid of them. Why is it that none of the repeated attempts by the leaders of the opportunist lines to divide the Party have succeeded? They failed because we have the far-sighted leadership of our great leader Chairman Mao and the Central Committee, we have a Marxist-
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Leninist line, and we have persevered in the struggle against opportunism and revisionism. They failed because the hearts of the Party and the people beat in harmony; because all the members of the Party want unity and disapprove of splits. Thus, when the leaders of the opportunist lines wanted to provoke division, they failed completely and came to a shameful end. After getting rid of this baggage, our Party is purer, stronger and more united than ever. It is precisely through the struggles against opportunism and revisionism that our Party has grown, and it has been through struggling against splittism that its unity has been built.
Is a person open and aboveboard, or does he intrigue and conspire? This forms a dividing line between proletarian revolutionaries and bourgeois careerists. In order to oppose the line of Chairman Mao and implement a revisionist line, all agents of the bourgeoisie who have wormed their way into the Party inevitably seek to provoke splits. The tactical means they employ is to carry out all kinds of intrigues and conspiracies. We members of the Communist Party must firmly adhere to the revolutionary line of Chairman Mao, maintaining absolute revolutionary unity, and always being open and aboveboard.
Being open and aboveboard are qualities of the proletariat which embody its Party spirit. The proletariat is the greatest revolutionary class in the history of humanity, the class that is the most far-sighted, the least selfish and the most radical in revolution. The proletariat embodies the direction in which history is developing. Its class interests completely coincide with those of the entire working people. It is entirely convinced that its cause is just, and is certain that it will ultimately triumph. This is why the proletariat and its party are always open and aboveboard; this is why they always openly proclaim their political opinions and goals. More than 100 years ago, Marx and Engels had already solemnly declared in the Manifesto of the Communist Party: "The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win." (94) In his political report to the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Chairman Mao clearly pointed out: "We Communists do not conceal our political views. Definitely and beyond all doubt, our future or maximum
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programme is to carry China forward to socialism and communism. Both the name of our Party and our Marxist world outlook unequivocally point to this supreme ideal of the future, a future of incomparable brightness and splendour." (95)
To be open and aboveboard — this is the militant working style of the party of the proletariat and an important guarantee for the complete implementation of the correct line. Chairman Mao has said: "For the proletariat the sharpest and most effective weapon is a serious and militant scientific attitude." (96) Our Party has been built in the interests of everyone; it is in the service of the immense majority of the population of China and the world. It does not pursue personal interests apart from the highest interests of the broadest masses of the people. To serve the people with all one's heart — for us communists this is the overriding objective. Starting from this objective, our Party's programme, line, orientation and political principles are determined. This is why it is able to obtain the warm support of the broad masses of the people. Truth is on our side, as is the large majority of the broad masses of workers and peasants. This is what enables us, when we implement the proletarian revolutionary political principles of Chairman Mao, to have firm positions, hold our banner up for all to see, and, with a scientific attitude of basing ourselves on the facts, to carry out propaganda among the broad revolutionary masses, to mobilise them, and to grasp the political line and principles of the Party so as to put them at the service of the masses, in order to lead them to victoriously advance along Chairman Mao's revolutionary line.
Being open and aboveboard are political qualities which every communist must have. As Chairman Mao explains: "A Communist should have largeness of mind and he should be staunch and active, looking upon the interests of the revolution as his very life and subordinating his personal interests to those of the revolution; always and everywhere he should adhere to principle and wage a tireless struggle against all incorrect ideas and actions . . . . " (97) From the day he enters the Party, a communist must dedicate his entire life to the cause of the Party. This is why communists must be politically open and aboveboard, dare to proclaim publicly their political views and to struggle against all harmful activity and erroneous tendencies. On the organisational front, they must be aboveboard in their dealings in conformity with the principles of the Party. In their style of work, they must not behave like bourgeois politicians, must not engage in conspiracies and intrigues.
Conspiracies and intrigues are characteristics of the exploiting classes and their political parties. The interests of the exploiting classes and the interests of the broad masses are diametrically opposed. The exploiting
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classes do not dare to proclaim their true intentions which are to exploit and oppress the proletariat and the entire working people, so they always attempt to pass off their own class interests as those of all of humanity. Even though they work every day for their counter-revolutionary cause, in order to put on a false appearance they always have on their lips such lies as "benevolence, justice and virtue," "liberty, fraternity, equality," (98) etc., with which to deceive the working people and hide the nature of the dictatorship of the exploiting classes in order to preserve their reactionary domination. The chieftains of opportunist lines hiding in the Party all represent the interests of the exploiting classes, which are only a handful of enemies of the proletariat and working people and cannot openly proclaim their reactionary political aims. Thus they can only survive by hatching up intrigues and conspiracies. If they were to stop their trickery, their plotting, their attempts to increase their power by any means, and their spreading of fallacies, they could not carry on for a day. All of the chieftains of the various opportunist lines that have appeared in the history of our Party have, without exception, been experts in plotting and intriguing. Whether we like it or not, such individuals still objectively exist. Their behaviour is characteristic of all opportunists and all revisionists, and is determined by their reactionary class nature.
Lin Piao and his anti-Party clique put into practice a counter-revolutionary revisionist line and made use of all sorts of double-dealing counter-revolutionary tactics. On the political front, they pretended to support the Party and socialism, but in secret, they were sharpening their knives, insulting the revolutionary leaders, the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the socialist system. On the theoretical front, they could spout a few Marxist-Leninist phrases, citing "such and such a reference" to impress people, but in reality, they engaged in fraud, confounded right and wrong and strived to abusively twist, distort and dismember Marxism-Leninism. On the organisational front they issued phoney calls for "unity," but what they did in fact was to recruit bad elements, form factions in the service of their interests, set up a bourgeois headquarters, and finally engage in splitting activity. Their style of work was to pretend to obey while in reality to oppose, to speak in one way and think in another, to have several faces. As soon as they were discovered, they would defend themselves by going over to the attack, pretending to do self-criticism, shedding a few tears as needed, wearing a troubled expression in order to better lurk in the shadows and wait for an opportune moment to show themselves once again. In short, Lin Piao and his handful of fanatics constituted a clique of counter-revolutionary conspirators who "never showed up without a copy of Quotations in
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hand and never opened their mouths without shouting "long live" and who said nice things to your face but stabbed you in the back." (99) They were the most ferocious enemies of the proletariat and of the entire working people. In their plan for an armed counter-revolutionary coup d'etat, contained in "Outline of Project '571' " (100) they revealed themselves as a band of conspirators and counter-revolutionary bourgeois careerists. Naturally they met the same fate as all conspirators and careerists — they came to a shameful end and were completely wiped out.
During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution we overthrew the two headquarters of the bourgeoisie led by Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao and achieved great victories, but the struggle is nonetheless not over. The class struggle in the society and the struggle between the two lines in the Party will carry on for a long time to come. All communists must abide by the principles of "The Three Do's and Three Don'ts" and dare to struggle against all incorrect lines and tendencies in order to be front rank activists who continue the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
To practise Marxism and not revisionism, a communist must first "Read and study seriously and have a good grasp of Marxism" (101) in order to be able, under the conditions of a complex struggle, to discern the correct orientation and the correct path, and to resolutely implement the proletarian revolutionary line of Chairman Mao. We communists must conscientiously study and thoroughly grasp Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, actively take part in the practice of the three great revolutionary movements, deepen our understanding of the spirit and the essence of Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and constantly raise our level of consciousness of how to implement it. Only in this way can we continuously increase our ability to distinguish true Marxism from sham, distinguish the correct line from the incorrect line, and correct ideas from incorrect ideas. It is only in this way that we will prevent ourselves from being deceived, that we will be able to neutralise the harmful influence of bourgeois and revisionist ideas, adopt the proletarian stand, persevere along the socialist road, and continue to practise Marxism and not revisionism.
To practise Marxism and not revisionism, a communist must also
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criticise revisionism and the bourgeois world view. To wage the great revolutionary criticism means to use proletarian ideas to defeat bourgeois ideas, to use Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought to criticise revisionism. If, during the period of socialism, we do not wage such criticism on a wide scale, bourgeois and revisionist ideas will be able to spread freely, poison the masses, and play a very pernicious role in sabotaging the economic base of socialism, corrupting the Party and leading to the overthrow of the dictatorship of the proletariat. To persist in the correct socialist orientation and to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat, we must criticise revisionism and the bourgeois world view and properly carry out struggle-criticism-transformation in the superstructure, including the various sectors of culture. To wage genuine revolutionary criticism, we must grasp the idea of waging a protracted war, understand in detail the basic line of the Party and fully make use of the negative examples provided by Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao in order to criticise revisionism in depth. This is the only way to avoid the risk of straying from the general orientation of the struggle and the only way we can draw a clear line of demarcation between what forms part of the line and what is alien to it. Revisionism is still the principal danger in the world today. To study Marxism and to criticise revisionism are two long term tasks which will enable us to raise the Party's ideological level.
Both inside and outside the Party, communists should unite the greatest number and be open to people. When we communists sort out all kinds of questions inside the Party, we must show communist spirit, consider the whole of the Party and its unity as the basic thing, and take the Party's interests as the starting point — these are the important principles in consolidating the unity of the Party. In the revolutionary ranks, communists must act as models of unity. Whether cadres have come from outside their area or from within it, whether they are military cadres or local (civilian), whether they are old or new, they must always take the interests of the Party and the people as their starting point. They must have a comprehensive view, value each other and assist each other, in order to strengthen unity. In dealing with comrades who have made mistakes, cadres must strictly distinguish between the two types of contradictions. They must warmly help comrades to recognize and correct their errors, and win them over to participate in the collective work on the basis of making a clear distinction between what forms part of the line and what doesn't. it is in this way that, on the basis of Marxist-Leninist principles, we will be able to unify our thinking and action, strengthen unity, and struggle together. In sum, we members of the Communist Party must be open to people, we must in no circumstances
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consider ourselves superior, display sectarianism or secretly engage in factionalist activities. We must not be concerned with fame or profit. We must never proceed from our personal interests nor attempt to obtain a position by fraudulent means. We must in all matters obey the instructions of Chairman Mao and the Central Committee, and resolutely struggle against all activity aimed at sabotaging the unity of the Party.
Communists must be people who are honest, frank and open. In order to be like this, we members of the Communist Party must have firm positions and hold our banner up for all to see; dare to stick to principle and dare to struggle. We must clearly formulate our opinions on every important political question, adopt a clear attitude, either of approval or opposition, and not behave in an ambiguous or equivocal manner. To be open and aboveboard, we must also have the attitude of seeking truth from facts. When we speak, or when we deal with a question, we must have a strictly scientific attitude, neither exaggerate nor minimise the importance of things, speak simply, stick to reality, and do things honestly. We must resolutely oppose the insidious style of work of saying one thing and doing another, of agreeing in words without agreeing in one's heart, and of confounding right and wrong. We cannot act in contradiction with what we say, repudiate after a meeting what we supported during it; and even less can we puff ourselves up with pride, attempt to extend our influence, and bring the vulgar bourgeois style of work into the Communist Party. The communists are the vanguard of the proletariat and we must be open and aboveboard on the political front, be open hearted, modest and prudent, neither proud nor irritable, and must rigorously "dissect" (102) ourselves. If we make mistakes, we must conscientiously learn from them and actually correct them. We must not act as if we wanted to hide our sickness in order to avoid being cured, not hide our errors or refuse to accept criticism, nor enjoying boasting while refusing to be criticised. Even less should we try to justify our mistakes, or blame them on someone else. Chairman Mao has said: "I believe we should do things honestly, for without an honest attitude it is absolutely impossible to accomplish anything in this world." (103) We absolutely must follow this teaching of Chairman Mao's, speak and act honestly, and be people who are straightforward, frank and honest.
The principles of "The Three Do's and Three Don'ts" constitute a powerful ideological weapon which guides us in waging the two-line struggle. We must follow Chairman Mao's teachings concerning these three principles, come what may, and keep them engraved in our hearts in the course of the protracted struggles, both present and future. We must stick to these three principles, wage the two-line struggle inside
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the Party in an active and correct manner, so as to carry the socialist revolution through to the end.
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The Constitution of the Party stipulates: "State organs, the People's Liberation Army and the militia, labour unions, poor and lower-middle peasant associations, women's federations, the Communist Youth League, the Red Guards, the Little Red Guards and other revolutionary mass organisations must all accept the centralized leadership of the Party." The strengthening of this centralised leadership, the full bringing into play of its revolutionary role in the front ranks of the proletariat — this is the fundamental guarantee that our socialist cause will win still greater victories. All communists must strengthen their Party concept, consciously submit to the centralised leadership of the Party and preserve it.
More than a century ago, Marx and Engels, summing up the experience of the Paris Commune, clearly pointed out: "against this collective power of the propertied classes the working class cannot act, as a class, except by constituting itself into a political party, distinct from, and opposed to, all old parties formed by the propertied classes." (104) In leading the Russian revolution, Lenin attached great importance to the building of the party and its leading role. In 1905, in his article "A Militant Agreement for the Uprising," he stated: "We see in the independent, uncompromisingly Marxist party of the revolutionary proletariat the sole pledge of socialism's victory and the road to victory that is most free from vacillations." (105) After the victory of the October Revolution, summing up the experience of the dictatorship of the proletariat at an opportune time, Lenin once again stressed: " . . . all the political and economic activities . . . (of the government) . . . are guided by the class conscious vanguard of the working class — the Communist Party." (106) The Marxist-Leninist doctrine on the building of the party teaches us the following: the leadership of the party is the fundamental
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and indispensible condition to win victory in the proletarian revolution, to establish and consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and to realise the final objective of the elimination of classes. In the long struggle waged by the proletariat and the broad masses led by the proletarian party against the bourgeoisie and the other exploiting classes, the party must unremittingly strengthen its centralised leader-ship.
The strengthening of the centralised leadership of the party has always been one of the brilliant concepts of Chairman Mao. In the period of the agrarian revolution, in his great work On Correcting Mistaken Ideas In The Party, (107) he made a profound summation of the experience of the Party in leading the Red Army and the mass movements and pointed out in a very clear fashion how to strengthen the centralised and unified leadership of the Party. In the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, on the basis of the situation prevailing in the struggle at that time and the experience of the struggle between the two lines inside the Party, Chairman Mao personally presided over the drafting of several important documents such as the "Resolution on Strengthening Party Spirit," the "Resolution on Unifying the Party Leadership in the Anti-Japanese Base Areas and Normalising the Relations Between the Various Organisations" and "Some Crucial Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership" in which the fundamental principles for implementing centralised party leadership are elaborated. In these resolutions, he clearly stated: "The unification and the centralised character of the leadership in the base areas must be manifested by the presence in each of these bases, of a unified Party committee which leads everything." During the War of Liberation, the brilliant writings of Chairman Mao, On Setting Up a System of Reports, On Strengthening the Party Committee System and Methods of Work of Party Committees (108) provided a concrete line, orientation and system for ensuring the centralised leadership of the Party. Chairman Mao again stressed: "If there is to be revolution, there must be a revolutionary party. Without a revolutionary party, without a party built on the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary theory and in the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary style, it is impossible to lead the working class and the broad masses of the people to defeat imperialism and its running dogs." (109) In the period of the socialist revolution, Chairman Mao has further educated the members of the Party so that they can strengthen their concept of the Party and respect and safeguard its centralised leadership. In 1957, in On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, he gave as a principal political criterion for distinguishing "fragrant flowers" from "poisonous weeds": "Words and actions .. . should help to strengthen, and not discard or weaken,
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the leadership of the Communist Party." (110) During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao once again summed up in good time the experience gained in strengthening the centralised leadership of the Party, and severely criticised the crimes of Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and other similar swindlers who sabotaged the leadership of the Party. Chairman Mao's theory on the centralised leadership of the party has enriched and developed the Marxist-Leninist doctrine on the building of the party and shows us how to respect and preserve this centralised leadership.
Our Party is a proletarian party. It is made up of advanced elements of the proletariat and is a vigorous vanguard organisation which guides the proletariat and the revolutionary masses in their struggle against their class enemies. Our Party is not just any proletarian mass organisation but constitutes the highest form of organisation of the proletariat. The basic programme of the Communist Party of China is the complete overthrow of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat in place of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the triumph of socialism over capitalism. The ultimate aim of the Party is the realisation of communism. The basic programme and the ultimate aim of the Party reflect in concentrated form the aspirations and desires of the proletariat and of all the working people; they embody the inevitable process of historical development. It is because of its vanguard character and the glorious task which rests on its shoulders that our Party is capable of representing the interests of the largest sections of the broad masses, and this is what determines its leading position and role in the revolutionary cause of the Chinese people.
Our Party takes Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as the theoretical basis guiding its thinking. This is what enables it to grasp the objective laws of social development and to understand properly the history and the present reality of the Chinese revolution, and from this, to carry out a scientific analysis of the principal class relations in our society, elaborate a correct line and correct political principles, and lead the proletariat and the broad revolutionary masses to victory over the bourgeoisie and the other exploiting classes and against both "left" and right opportunism; so as to carry the socialist revolution through to the end.
Our Party has been personally organised and educated by Chairman Mao; it is a great, glorious and correct Party. In the course of long years of revolutionary struggle. our Party has been trained and put to the test in all kinds of difficult conditions and complex struggles, and it has never stopped developing, growing, and gaining the support and confidence
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of the people of all parts of the country. From their own experience, the broad masses of the people deeply understand that without the firm leadership of the Communist Party of China, without the kind of fundamental support the Chinese communists have provided, it would have been impossible to overthrow the "Three big mountains" of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. History has demonstrated fully that the leadership exercised by the Party is the fundamental guarantee for the proletariat to win victory in the revolution.
Within our Party a sharp struggle has always gone on between the two lines, over the question of whether or not the leadership of the Party should be maintained. The chieftains of various opportunist lines have always used every means to oppose the centralised leadership of the Party, and they have weakened it and even gone so far as to suppress it. Liu Shao-chi spread the fallacy that "the revolution does not necessarily need the leadership of the Communist Party" and claimed that the relationship between the Party and the other organisations was a "complementary relationship" which meant that the Party "can only assist, but not lead," and he openly denied its leading role. Lin Piao, the bourgeois careerist and conspirator, on the one hand promoted the "theory of many centres and no centre," with the aim of negating the correct leadership of the Central Committee of the Party headed by Chairman Mao, on the other hand, he spread with all his strength the idea that the mass movements were "naturally reasonable," in order to oppose the Party's leadership of the them. (111) The history of the struggle between the two lines in the Party shows that the question of whether the leadership of the Party is being strengthened and consolidated, or on the contrary is being weakened and sabotaged is an important criterion in distinguishing genuine Marxism from sham, and is an important aspect of the two-line struggle. As far as the fallacies of Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and other such criminals are concerned, we must wage the great revolutionary criticism against them in a deep-going manner in order to liquidate their pernicious influence and be able even more consciously to respect and safeguard the centralised leadership of the Party.
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought is our Party's guide to action, the theoretical basis which enables it to elaborate its line, to determine its orientation and its policies. The proletarian revolutionary
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political line and political principles of Chairman Mao are a concentrated expression of the guiding thought of the Party; they constitute the starting point in its political orientation and in all its actions. The leadership which our Party, guided by Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, exercises over the proletariat and the broad revolutionary masses, as well as over all work — political, economic, military, ideological or cultural — in the final analysis represents the application of the proletarian revolutionary line and principles of Chairman Mao.
Whether the centralised leadership of the Party is put into effect or not depends on the correctness of the ideological and political line. Chairman Mao has pointed out: "The correctness or incorrectness of the ideological and political line decides everything." (112) For a proletarian party to be able to undertake the task of leading the revolution, what is essential is that it uphold a correct Marxist-Leninist line. If it does not, it will not be able to remain in the forefront of history, or fully assume its role as the leading core of the revolutionary cause of the proletariat. This is the case because it is only by following a correct Marxist-Leninist line that our Party can maintain its character as vanguard of the proletariat, that it can steer around all the rocks and exercise its centralised leadership. Generally speaking, it is the correctness of the Party's ideological and political line which determines its character and role, which determines the success or failure of its cause. If we had strayed from Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, if we had strayed from the proletarian revolutionary line of Chairman Mao, neither our Party, our state, nor our people would be what they are today, and this has been clearly proven by the history of the revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people. From 1924 to 1927, our Party led a revolution of unprecedented breadth and heroism. At the beginning and up to the middle of this period, the Party's line was correct, enabling the revolutionary struggle to achieve great victories. But, at the end of this period, as a result of the right capitulationist line of Chen Tu-hsiu which occupied a dominant position in the organs of the Party, this great heroic revolution suffered failures and setbacks. After our Party liquidated this opportunist line, the revolution once again resumed its development. Later on three "left" opportunist lines and two splittist lines appeared in succession within the Party, seriously endangering the revolution. After the Tsunyi Conference in 1935, (113) at which Chairman Mao was placed in office as leader of the whole Party, our Party, under his leadership, following his proletarian revolutionary line, and guided by Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, went from victory to victory. While the Party has since that time experienced various difficulties as a result of various erroneous lines, these have
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never again played a predominant role within it. This fully demonstrates that it is only by following a correct ideological and political line that our Party was able to lead the proletariat and the broad masses of the people on the difficult and perilous path of the revolution until danger gave way to peace, and failure gave way to victory. It is only in this way that the ship of the revolution has been able to chart its path through stormy seas and reach the shore of victory.
Chairman Mao teaches us that: "to lead the revolution to victory, a political party must depend on the correctness of its own political line and solidity of its own organization." (114) In order for the Party to be able to exercise its centralised leadership, it is essential that it follow a correct line on the ideological and political fronts, and at the same time that it have an organisation which is capable of ensuring the implementation of this line. Without solid organisational guarantees, it is impossible to successfully implement a Marxist-Leninist line, and there can be no question of centralised Party leadership.
"Organizationally, the Party's centralized leadership should be given expression in two respects: First, as regards the relationship between various organizations at the same level, of the seven sectors — industry, agriculture, commerce, culture and education, the Army, the government and the Party — it is the Party that exercises overall leadership; the Party is not parallel to the others and still less is it under the leadership of any other. Second, as regards the relationship between higher and lower levels, the lower level is subordinate to the higher level, and the entire Party is subordinate to the Central Committee. This has long been a rule in our Party and it must be adhered to." (115)
To accomplish its great mission of emancipating all humanity, the proletariat, apart from its own political party, must also set up all sorts of organisations which correspond to the needs of the struggle: organs of state, a military organisation, labour unions, Youth League, women's federations and other mass organisations are indispensible for carrying the revolution and socialist construction through to the end, accomplishing the historical mission of the proletariat and realising its great objective: communism. In order to do this, all these organisations are important. The Party, as the highest form of organisation of the proletariat, must command the work in all spheres without exception, and place all departments, all organisations, under its sole centralised leadership. All organisations, in all areas of work, will only be able to play their role fully if we strengthen the centralised leadership of the Party and concentrate the work of all organisations towards a single goal determined by the line of the Party and its political principles. In this way, our various organisations will be able to struggle even more effec-
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tively for the cause of proletarian revolution.
The centralised leadership of the Party is first and foremost the leadership exercised by the Central Committee led by Chairman Mao. Under the centralised leadership of the Central Committee, the local committees of the Party make up organs of centralised leadership for all departments, all organisations and all areas of work in their given region.
The lower bodies must obey the higher bodies and the whole Party must obey the Central Committee — this is the organisational guarantee necessary to put into effect the centralised leadership of the Party. Our Party is a strict organisation, based on the organisational principle of democratic centralism: it has a Central Committee, its leading organ, as well as its local organisations and primary organisations, and all of these function as organic parts of the unified whole which is the Party. To ensure the thorough implementation of the correct political and ideological line in all domains, to unify the will, the discipline and the actions of all Party members and Party organisations, and to guarantee the exercise of the Party's centralised leadership on all fronts, in all organisations and all departments, it is absolutely necessary that the lower bodies obey the higher bodies and the whole Party obeys the Central Committee.
To strengthen the centralised leadership of the Party, a Party committee's leadership must not be replaced by a "joint conference" of several sectors. But at the same time, it is necessary to give full play to the role of the revolutionary committees and other sectors and organisations at all levels. The Party committees must practise democratic centralism and strengthen their collective leadership. They must unite the people "from all corners of the country" and not practise "mountain-stronghold sectionalism." They must "let all people have their say" and not "let one person alone have the say." The Party organisations of certain units do not pay enough attention to playing their proper role in the revolutionary committees and other organisations of the revolutionary masses. They get involved in all the small details of the work, spend all their time on secondary questions, and become swamped in a maze of particular tasks and do not pay attention to the important questions. In other units, the Party organisations do not properly apply the system of collective leadership and sharing of tasks and responsibilities; important questions are not discussed collectively, but instead individuals take sole charge of them. In still other units, the members of the Party organisations do not pay attention to uniting all the people but instead form small circles and cliques. They do not let the masses express themselves; only the secretary speaks and cuts everyone else short. (116) All of this goes against the principle of the cen-
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tralised leadership of the Party and must be thoroughly rectified.
To strengthen the centralised leadership of the Party, Party committees at all levels must take the basic line of the Party as their starting point and fully grasp the important questions. To fully grasp the important questions means to grasp the principal contradictions. Chairman Mao has pointed out: "in studying any complex process in which there are two or more contradictions, we must devote every effort to finding its principal contradiction. Once this principal contradiction is grasped, all problems can be readily solved." (117)
Throughout the entire historical period of socialism, the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, between socialism and capitalism, constitutes the principal contradiction in our country. Therefore, grasping the important questions means grasping the struggle between the two classes, the two roads and the two lines; to grasp these important questions is to grasp the principal contradiction.
In the extremely complicated revolutionary work, it is the Party that leads everything. To implement the centralised leadership of the Party, the work of Party committees must basically be centred around the class struggle and the two-line struggle. This is because, under conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the class struggle and the two-line struggle exist objectively, mall domains, on all fronts, in all institutions, and it is impossible to avoid them. It is only by grasping the basic questions which are of decisive significance for the entire revolutionary cause — class struggle and the two-line struggle — that the Party committees can be clear-headed in all circumstances, keep to the proletarian political orientation in all work, deal with disturbances caused by various "left" or right erroneous tendencies, firmly implement the basic political line and principles of the Party and play their leading role in the struggle as vanguard of the proletariat.
In order for the Party committees to be able to grasp these important questions, they must constantly and attentively analyse the basic class relations in their area or institution, be able to grasp in good time the state of the relation of class forces and the new tendencies in the class struggle and the two-line struggle. Chairman Mao teaches us that we must learn to "apply the Marxist-Leninist method in analysing a political situation and appraising the class forces . . . . " (118) In the period of socialism, the class struggle is complicated and of long duration. It en-
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compasses at the same time both contradictions between the enemy and ourselves and contradictions among the people, and, as these contradictions are often intertwined, it is difficult to tell them apart right away. In these circumstances, it is only by being familiar with, and analysing in depth the basic class relations in the society, that it is possible to grasp the objective laws of the class struggle, correctly apply the basic political line and principles of the Party, differentiate between the two types of contradictions, and unite our real friends and attack our real enemies to win still greater victories in revolution and construction.
In order for Party committees to be able to grasp the important questions, they must keep proletarian politics in command in all work, correctly handle the relationship between the essential and the minor questions, between political and professional questions, between revolution and production, between being red and being expert — and ensure the leadership of the correct political and ideological line. To grasp the important questions means to place them in the forefront, to include them as essential questions on the agenda of Party committee meetings. Party committees must pay attention to the important questions and discuss them constantly. This does not mean that they can neglect their other tasks or deny the importance of carrying them through; on the contrary, these must be given their proper place. For example, to develop the socialist economy and to lead both industrial and agricultural production well, are very important tasks — long term tasks for the period of socialism — and they absolutely must be accomplished well. But by comparison with the tasks of successfully waging the class struggle and the two-line struggle, tasks of production come second. As Lenin pointed out: "Politics must take precedence over economics. To argue otherwise is to forget the ABC of Marxism." (119) Thus, between the essential questions and the rest of the work, a relationship of subordination exists. We cannot consider them both on the same plane and even less can we invert them. Moreover, on the front, for example, of production, there is also the question of what ideology it is guided by, what orientation it is following and what road it is taking — i.e. there is also the question of line. If we simply throw ourselves into production without concerning ourselves with the class struggle and the two-line struggle in the domain of production, if we leave proletarian politics aside and produce for production's sake, not only does it become impossible to carry on production properly, but in addition, we risk losing our orientation, which is extremely dangerous.
There are comrades who do not sufficiently understand the significance of grasping the essential questions. They claim that "Not to concern oneself with the essential questions is at worst to show bureauc-
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ratic tendencies, and it is not really a serious error" and they consider that "it is dangerous to concern oneself with the important questions; it is safer to stick to the secondary questions." This way of looking at things is completely incorrect. Lin Piao and his clique, who peddled the reactionary "theory of productive forces" claimed that "politics means that the peasants do a good job of farming and the workers carry out their work well." Their criminal goal was to overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat in order to restore capitalism. Thus, if we spend all of our time absorbed in small concrete questions, if we look without seeing and listen without hearing the class struggle and the two-line struggle, we risk being deceived, and in the long term, straying from Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, harming the cause of the Party and the people, and providing favourable opportunities for the class enemies who nourish the hope of restoring capitalism. How can we say that this is only a manifestation of a kind of "bureaucratic tendency?" We must understand that if we simply concern ourselves with production without looking at whether or not the line is correct, then if revisionism comes to power, if it takes over the Party and the state, even if production increases in quantity and in quality, its fruits will only be seized by the landlord and capitalist class and provide a material base for revisionism and capitalism. Since the Khrushchov-Brezhnev clique came to power in the Soviet Union, they have turned a socialist country into a social-imperialist country, they have "launched satellites into the sky but let the red flag fall to the ground," and this is a severe lesson for us. This is why, if we do not concern ourselves with the essential questions — the class struggle and the two-line struggle — if we forget the Party's basic line, then we will inevitably end up on the revisionist road. How can we say that this "is not dangerous" and that "it is not really a serious error"?
From all of this we can see that the question of whether Party committees do or do not grasp the essential questions is not simply a question of methods of thinking and methods of work, but rather a question of orientation and line, a fundamental question of principle. In order to strengthen the centralised leadership of the Party, the Party committees must at all times and in all circumstances keep the basic line of the Party in mind and seriously take up the essential questions of class struggle and two-line struggle. They must make sure that, even if the tasks are heavy, the essential questions are not left aside, and even if there is a lot of work, time is allotted for them. They must constantly raise their level of consciousness as far as grasping the essential questions is concerned, and strive to carry out even better, all the militant tasks assigned to them by the Tenth Congress.
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The strengthening of the centralised leadership of the Party and the full bringing into play of its leading role in the front ranks of the proletariat Cannot be separated from the role which the communists must fulfil as advanced elements and examples. Each member of the Communist Party must fully carry out this role, consciously come under the centralised leadership of the Party and maintain it.
On the ideological front, we must raise our level of consciousness concerning the great significance of strengthening the centralised leadership of the Party. The complex and durable character of the class struggle and the two-line struggle in the Party and the heavy tasks which we must shoulder in revolution and construction throughout the whole historical period of socialism, make it incumbent on us to strengthen the centralised leadership of the Party and not to weaken it. In their attempts to overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism in our country, both the external and internal class enemies have always directed their attacks against our Party. By infiltrating our ranks and by attracting our cadres into theirs, they try by every means to win agents in our Party, with the vain hope of transforming this Marxist-Leninist Party into a revisionist party, a fascist party, and changing the colour of all of China. In the face of this we must be extremely vigilant. Some comrades think that strengthening the centralised leadership of the Party is a matter for the leadership and does not concern them. This is entirely false. As Comrade Stalin said: "Without the Party's leadership . . . the dictatorship of the proletariat would be impossible. It would be enough to shake the Party, to weaken it, for the dictatorship of the proletariat to be shaken and weakened in an instant." (120) Thus we can see that the fundamental interests of the proletariat depend on maintaining the Party's leadership; it is a very important question upon which the consolidation and development of the dictatorship of the proletariat depend. How then can anyone claim that it does not concern him? Every communist must look at these questions from the lofty standpoint of the class struggle and the two-line struggle in order to learn to grasp the significance of strengthening the centralised leadership of the Party, of coming under the centralised leadership of the Party and maintaining it.
We must properly handle the relationship between the individual and the organisation, resolutely come under the leadership of he Party and
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not just do whatever we want. Each member of the Communist Party is an integral part of the whole. He must belong to one of the Party organisations and under the leadership of this organisation, work and struggle to implement the programme and line of the Party. He must maintain the system of reports to the Party organisations, reporting frequently to his organisation on the state of his ideology and his work; he must reflect the sentiments and demands of the masses and, with the support and assistance of the Party organisation, strengthen the ties between the Party and the people and do the work of the Party well. If we invert the relationship between the individual and the organisation and place the individual above the organisation, wanting the organisation to submit to the individual, we weaken the Centralised leadership of the Party; this is extremely dangerous. For communists who are in leading positions of Party committees at various levels (general branch, branch), it is even more necessary to pay attention to this question. They must come under the centralised leadership of the Party committee, placing themselves inside it, not outside it, much less above it, in order to improve the work in their charge. They must start from the standpoint of the over-all situation and not just their own sector and they must in no circumstances turn the region, department or unit into an "independent kingdom." Communists who have responsibilities in the revolutionary mass organisations at all levels must consciously come under the centralised leadership of the Party organisation at their level, ask for instructions and report as often as possible to the organisation. At the same time, they must, under the leadership of the higher bodies, carry their work in an active fashion and with initiative. In sum, each member of the Communist Party must correctly handle the relationship between the individual and the organisation, resolutely come under the leadership of the Party — not do as he pleases on the political front, not think in one way and act in another on the organisational front, not think himself the most intelligent in work — and preserve the centralised leadership of the Party in an exemplary fashion.
We must resolutely struggle against erroneous words and actions which weaken and sabotage the centralised leadership of the Party. The struggle between those who want to strengthen and maintain the centralised leadership of the Party and those who want to weaken and sabotage it will carry on for a long time, and every communist must devote himself to courageously upholding the centralised leadership of the Party in order to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat. Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and other such swindlers as well as the handful of persons in positions of authority taking the capitalist road who had
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infiltrated the Party, were definitely interested in sabotaging the leadership of the Party in order to achieve their criminal aim of changing the Party's nature, programme and line. In order to do this, they committed many crimes. While Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao were defeated, the struggle is in no way over. In the future, individuals like them may again come forward to employ trickery to sabotage the centralised leadership of the Party. This is why we must keep our eyes wide open and increase our vigilance in order to frustrate the plots hatched by swindlers of the Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao type aimed at sabotaging the centralised leadership of the Party. We must resolutely struggle against them in the revolutionary spirit of daring to go against the tide. There are comrades in our ranks who think themselves superior to others, who are arrogant, who do not respect the collective leadership of the Party and act just as they please, dealing with all important matters by themselves. There are also comrades who do not have a strong Party concept, and, in the area of work for which they are responsible, do not request instructions often enough and do not submit enough reports to the Party organisation at their level. There are still others who look at the centralised leadership of the Party in a one-sided manner — i.e. they think that coming under the leadership of the Party means to depend on it completely; both for important matters and miniscule ones, they always seek the approval of the Party committee in dealing with them, and thus prevent the committee from taking up the essential questions. All of these faults undermine the process of strengthening the centralised leadership of the Party. We must distinguish between these different cases in order to correct them, look at what is involved in terms of the line and assist these comrades to raise their understanding and correct their attitude. Each member of the Communist Party must strengthen his Party concept, strengthen his proletarian Party spirit and raise his level of consciousness to uphold the centralised leadership of the Party and oppose and thwart the plans of the erroneous tendencies aimed at weakening and sabotaging this leadership.
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The Constitution of the Party states: "The organizational principle of the Party is democratic centralism." To consciously implement democratic centralism is of great importance in ensuring the unity of the Party, strengthening its centralised leadership, increasing its fighting capacity and invigorating Party life. All communists must fully understand the meaning and role of democratic centralism in the Party, and strive to raise their level of consciousness of how to apply it.
Democratic centralism is the organisational principle of the Party. All the activities of our Party are carried out according to the principle of democratic centralism. What does democratic centralism mean? Democratic centralism in the Party means centralisation based on democracy, and democracy practised under the centralised leadership — it is at the same time democratic and centralised. Democratic centralism represents the unity of opposites; while these two terms are opposites, they are also in unity. Without a high level of democracy, there cannot be a high level of centralism, but without a high level of centralism, neither can there be a high level of democracy. Chairman Mao has pointed out: "This unity of democracy and centralism, of freedom and discipline, constitutes our democratic centralism." (121)
When we speak about centralisation based on democracy, this means that the leading organs of the Party at all levels must be elected, after democratic discussion by all members of the Party, taking into account the requirement of training successors to the revolutionary cause and the principle of the three-in-one combination of young, middle-aged and old people; that all decisions of the Party must be taken after the centralisation of the opinions of the masses by the leading organs; that as the power of the leading organs of the Party has been granted to them
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by assemblies of the Party's membership or their delegates, these leading organs can represent all the members of the Party in exercising the power of centralised leadership and settle all Party affairs; that the whole Party must come under a unified discipline — the individual is subordinate to the organisation, the minority is subordinate to the majority, the lower level is subordinate to the higher level, and the entire Party is subordinate to the Central Committee. The members of the Party must abide by the decisions and directives of the Party organisations. If they do not agree, they have the right to reserve their views or report directly to higher levels. Centralism in the Party is established on the basis of a broad democracy.
When we speak of democracy under a centralised leadership, this means that all the activities of the Party are organised and led. It means that the leading organs of the Party at all levels must periodically make reports on their work to general assemblies of members or their delegates, that they must constantly seek out the opinions of the masses both inside and outside the Party, rectify their style of work by talking frankly to people outside and accepting the control of the masses. It means that the members of the Party have the right to make any criticism or proposal to the organisations and to the leaders of the Party at all levels; that it is absolutely forbidden to stifle criticism or engage in reprisals in the Party. Democracy in the Party is established under a centralised leadership.
Chairman Mao has always insisted that democratic centralism be practised in the Party. In clear terms, he told the entire Party: "If we are to make the Party strong, we must practise democratic centralism to stimulate the initiative of the whole membership," (122) and " . . . we shall solidly unite all the forces of our Party on democratic centralist principles of organization and discipline." (123) In order for democratic centralism to be correctly practised throughout the Party, Chairman Mao has further put forward a series of principles and methods. In the course of its long revolutionary struggle, our Party has amassed rich democratic experience and has also acquired glorious traditions of resolutely implementing centralism. Practice has shown that only in supplementing democratic centralism, letting everyone speak and give his opinion, and fully bringing into play everyone's intelligence and everyone's initiative on the one hand and, on the other hand, practising a correct centralisation on the basis of democracy, establishing a rigorous discipline and unifying everyone's thought and action, is it possible to lead the broad masses of the people to win new victories in revolution and construction.
The practice of democratic centralism is an important guarantee for
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the implementation of Chairman Mao's revolutionary line. The organisational principal of democratic centralism is determined by the political line of our Party, and it is a principle that is necessary for the implementation of a correct line. The members of our Party exhibit great enthusiasm and great initiative in implementing Chairman Mao's revolutionary line. By fully developing democracy inside the Party, by giving all Party members the right to continually discuss how the line is being implemented, give their opinions and formulate their proposals, by creating conditions in which everyone openly volunteers his ideas, it is possible to strengthen the sense of responsibility of the Party members, interest them in the Party's line, fully bring into play their initiative and creativity and enable them to fulfil their role of providing the driving force and being an example to the people in practical activities. On the basis of a broad development of democracy, the Party organisations can, after analysing and evaluating them, bring together the correct opinions in order that the Party's decisions can conform as closely as possible to the reality of the revolutionary struggle and so that the leading bodies of the Party can correctly direct the work and best apply Chairman Mao's revolutionary line. If we do not uphold the practice of democratic centralism but everyone goes his own way and does as he please, the Party will fall into a state of complete disorganisation, it will become impossible to implement the Party's basic line, and there will be no question of the whole Party uniting to win still greater victories.
The implementation of democratic centralism is a necessary condition for the consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Chairman Mao stated in this regard: "Without democratic centralism, it is impossible to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat." (124) In socialist society, the overthrown exploiting classes do not become resigned to their defeat and they inevitably carry out furious acts of resistance and sabotage. This makes it necessary for the party of the proletariat to have rigorous centralisation and a unified discipline in order that its members have a single will and march to the same beat under the leadership of a correct line, and that it be able to lead the masses to overcome the counter-revolutionary plots of restoration of the class enemies and consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat. Lenin stressed: "absolute centralization and the strictest discipline of the proletariat constitute one of the fundamental conditions for victory over he bourgeoisie." (125) Moreover, it is only by practising democratic centralism, by fully mobilising the masses and relying on them, by protecting the democratic powers of the broad masses and fully bringing into play their initiative that it is possible to more effectively exercise dictatorship of the proletariat over a handful of class enemies.
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To uphold democratic centralism or sabotage it — this is one of the important themes in the struggle between the two lines within the Party. The chieftains of the various opportunist lines have all frantically sabotaged the Party's democratic centralism. They shamefully implemented opportunist lines and completely betrayed Marxism-Leninism and the interests of the proletariat and revolutionary people. Proletarian democracy made it impossible for them to camouflage themselves, and their counter-revolutionary features were exposed to the light of day. With centralism based on democracy, with a unified discipline for the whole Party, it becomes impossible for them to carry on their splitting activities and their plots will fail completely. To implement their revisionist line on the political and organisational fronts, Lin Piao and his anti-Party clique made every effort to sabotage democratic centralism in the Party. On the one hand, they would only do what they wanted to do, refusing to obey orders from the leadership and placing the individual above the organisation; on the other hand, they formed cliques, put pressure on people and recruited traitors, created factions for their own advantage, organised a bourgeois headquarters and frantically engaged in splittist activities in the Party. In sabotaging democracy in the Party, their goal was to establish the domination of their bourgeois headquarters within it, and in sabotaging centralism in the Party, they wanted to disrupt the Central Committee headed by Chairman Mao and oppose it. These two types of manoeuvres were aimed at one and the same goal: to divide the Party, change its basic line and basic political principles for the entire historical period of socialism, overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism. This is why the implementation of democratic centralism in the Party is not simply a matter of methods of work but is an important question concerning the defense of the Party's leadership, the implementation of Chairman Mao's correct revolutionary line and the consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat. We must continue to criticise the crimes of Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and other such swindlers who wanted to sabotage democratic centralism in the Party, and we must continuously raise our level of consciousness of how to practise it.
One of the important questions posed in the Party by democratic centralism concerns the implementation of a system which combines collective leadership with individual responsibility — this constitutes a
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practical application of the Party's mass line in methods of leadership.
What does it mean to combine collective leadership with individual responsibility? Chairman Mao has stated: "All important problems (of course, not the unimportant, trivial problems, or problems whose solutions have already been decided after discussion at meetings and need only be carried out) must be submitted to the committee for discussion, and the committee members present should express their views fully and reach definite decisions which should then be carried out by the members concerned." (126) Chairman Mao also shed light on the principles for applying this system: "Important powers are concentrated, and less important ones spread out. The decisions of the Party committee are implemented in all spheres. If those who implement are also those who decide, we will not depart from principle. The Party committee is responsible for control of the work." (127) This directive very well explains the system of combining collective leadership with individual responsibility, and shows us how to handle correctly the relationship between the two.
The strengthening of collective leadership is an important precondition for the implementation of democratic centralism in the Party; an important guarantee for the establishment of the Party's centralised leadership. The Party committees at all levels are bodies which exercise centralised leadership. However, Party leadership is a collective leadership and does not come from the arbitrary decisions of particular individuals. It is only by conscientiously implementing the system of collective leadership that we can correctly practise democratic centralism in the Party, and that the committees of the Party can fully play their role as nuclei of leadership in correctly carrying out all tasks. In general, there is a limit to how well a single individual can think about a question and analyse it, so that when decisions on important questions are made by one individual, it is difficult for him not to be subjective and one-sided. Only if we practise collective leadership, if the members of the Party committee reflect the opinions of the Party members and the masses in all their aspects, if they study and discuss questions from every point of view and in depth, will we be able to concentrate the wisdom of the masses to arrive at correct ideas, make decisions that conform to objective reality and avoid or diminish the risk of error. At the same time, this enables the leading members of the Party organisations to learn from each other and to move forward together.
Collective leadership must also be combined with individual responsibility. To adhere to collective leadership does not mean to deny the role of the individual. On the contrary, under collective leadership it is necessary that individuals fully play their role. Practising the system of
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individual responsibility and fully bringing into play the role of individuals concretizes and ensures the realisation of the collective leadership. At the regional level, as at the unit level, it is the Party that leads everything — it has an enormous amount of work. If the questions discussed and collectively resolved by the Party organisations are not divided up among individuals who take charge of them we run the risk of finding ourselves in a situation in which nobody is responsible for the work, an impossible situation for the Party to excercise its leadership.
This is why "we must take care that neither collective leadership nor personal responsibility is over-emphasized to the neglect of the other." (128) We must not only oppose important questions being decided on an individual basis, we must also oppose the tendency to avoid responsibility, the tendency to discuss everything — large matters and small — in meetings. Other harmful practices must be opposed as well. In order to put into practice the combination of collective leadership and individual responsibility, the Party committee system must be strengthened. Chairman Mao has said: "The Party committee system is an important Party institution for ensuring collective leadership and preventing any individual from monopolizing the conduct of affairs." (129) In certain units, the leading members of the Party organisations often claim that they are too busy to hold meetings, and they use this as a pretext to replace collective discussion in Party committee meetings by particular meetings with a small number of members. In other units, the Party organisations call "joint conferences" of several sectors to deal with questions which should be discussed and dealt with in the meetings of the Party committee. Thus, they mix up the relationship between Party organisations and others, which is a relationship of leader to led. These various practices are contrary to the principle of collective Party leadership, and must absolutely be corrected. Careful preparation for each Party committee meeting must be made in advance in order that discussion can be carried out in detail. If there are divergent views, they must be put forward and discussed in depth before arriving at a decision. When a question is not clear and cannot be sorted out right away, we must not come to hasty conclusions but rather must continue to study and investigate, and put the decision off until the situation becomes clear and a common view is reached.
In order to implement the system of combining collective leadership with individual responsibility, it is also necessary to correctly handle the relationship between the secretary and the committee members, between the individual and the collective. Both the secretary and the other members must think in terms of collective leadership; the secretary must not sort out everything himself, the committee members
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must not wait for someone else to take care of things — everyone must come under the collective leadership. The relationship between the secretary and the members of a committee is the relationship of the minority to the majority and, in Party Committee meetings, the secretary must place himself on the same level as the others, give his opinions, and discuss problems on an equal footing with the others; he must not place himself above the committee, nor deal with matters in any way he wants. The secretary is also a "squad leader," (130) he must lead the men of his "squad" in battle, and play a central role in preparing, convening and conducting the meetings, and should encourage the members to democratically discuss the problems, to draw a conclusion after all have given their opinions, etc. He must therefore give everyone the right to speak, instead of monopolising the floor himself, be able to listen to all the different opinions, be modest and prudent, and treat others as his equals. He must be able to do organisational and propaganda work among his own "squad members" and unify their thinking on the basis of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, and the Party's line, orientation and political principles. Finally, if there are shortcomings in his work, or if he makes mistakes, he must come forward to take the responsibility himself. All committee members, whether they are old or new cadres, must strive to make the Party committee into a strong, militant collective. They must take an interest in all the work, play an active part in the collective leadership, and contribute to making the committee a potent force. We must oppose the dependent mentality that "the secretary decides and the members act accordingly," the tendency not to courageously take charge of the work which has been assigned to us, and we must also combat the negative attitude of being interested only in one's own work and acting as if one is not involved when the work of others is being discussed.
When it becomes time to implement the resolutions of the Party committee, and each member has been assigned his share of the work and the responsibilities, the secretary — as "squad leader" — must lead the work on the basis of the principles of the Party committee's decision, and must not impose his own opinion. When implementing the committee's resolutions, the members given responsibility for various work must submit to the supervision, control and leadership of the secretary, and when something important happens or new problems come up in their work, they must consult with the secretary and ask him for instructions instead of just trying to deal with it themselves. If in the course of the everyday work serious differences of opinion appear between the secretary and other Party committee members, or if an important problem comes up, the committee must meet and reach a decision after
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having discussed the matter: neither the secretary nor a committee member can decide alone.
In order to implement the system of combining collective leadership with individual responsibility, it is also necessary to handle correctly the relationship between old and new cadres, as well as between members of the committee who participate in production and those who are removed from it. Old and new cadres must "respect each other, learn from each other and overcome their own shortcomings by learning from each other's strong points, so as to unite as one in the common cause and guard against sectarian tendencies." (131) The committee members who do not participate in production must respect those who have remained in it, they must take the initiative in "exchanging information," and not be content to consult only a minority of people, or to consider the members who still participate in production as a "secondary appendage" to the committee. On their side, the Party committee members who have remained in production must concern themselves with the work as a whole, actively reflect the opinions of the masses and must not be content to concern themselves simply with their own sector. In sum, the cadres, old and new, in production or outside of it, must be modest and prudent, learn from each other, be united like the strands of a rope, in order that they can together implement Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and lead the members of the Party and the masses to win still greater victories in the revolution and in construction.
In order to practise democratic centralism correctly within the Party, we must fully develop democracy, improve the democratic life of the Party and regularly practise criticism and self-criticism. Chairman Mao teaches us: "Both inside and outside the Party, we must fully practise democracy, that is, we must conscientiously practise democratic centralism." (132) "Without democracy, there can be no correct centralism because when people have divergent views and no unified thinking, it is impossible to establish centralism." (133)
The key to fully developing democracy in the Party is in the hands of the leadership of the Party organisations. All members of the Party who take up responsibilities of leadership must have an excellent democratic style of work, respect the democratic rights of the other Party members and create conditions for everyone to be able to grasp the Party's line,
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orientation and political principles, understand the situation and the problems, and fully express their opinions. This means that every decision, no matter how small — made by higher bodies, be rapidly relayed to the lower bodies as well as to all Party members. When they report on their work to general assemblies of Party members or to their delegates, leading comrades must not be content merely to set the tasks and give their own speeches while the others listen, but must raise the discussion of Party work to the level of the two-line struggle, and make analyses and summations on the basis of facts. They must stress the successes, but also recognize the shortcomings and the errors, rigorously "dissect" themselves, courageously carry out self-criticism and voluntarily submit to the control of the masses of the Party members and listen to their opinions. At the same time, they must absolutely give the masses the right to speak and must combat the insidious attitude of being afraid of people's opinions and of not letting them open their mouths. They must honestly listen to all opinions — those of the majority as well as those of the minority. In general, it is more likely that the opinion of the majority is correct, but it is also possible that the truth can lie with the minority. They must let the members of the minority freely express their views, and then they should Consciously assess them. Just as it is necessary to listen to supporting opinions, it is also necessary to listen to opposing opinions. Just as it is necessary to accept correct opinions, it is also necessary to correctly deal with erroneous opinions, after having carried out painstaking ideological and political work. Only in this way can Party democracy be enlivened, will all the Party members voluntarily express themselves openly, and will we be able to practise centralism based on democracy and democracy under centralised leadership. Only in this way can the unity of the Party be consolidated, the Party work be done well, and will we be able to "create a political situation in which there are both centralism and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and personal ease of mind and liveliness . . . " (134)
The development of the democratic life of the Party depends also on the efforts of all of its members. Each communist must take an active and responsible attitude towards the revolutionary cause and take an interest in important affairs, in the work of the Party. He must courageously put forward his opinions on every important political question, adhering to those that are correct and opposing those that are erroneous. To neither persist in correct views, nor combat erroneous views, is to be irresponsible towards the Party, and to go against the Party spirit of a communist.
In order to correctly practise democratic centralism, we must also
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uphold centralised unity of the Party. Chairman Mao teaches us: " . . . the Communist Party not only needs democracy but needs centralization even more." (135) Our Party is a vanguard organisation which guides the proletariat and the revolutionary masses in their struggle against the class enemies. Without being unified and centralised it is impossible for the Party to defeat the enemy. We need democracy, but as a means, not an end. Democracy serves to strengthen centralism, to ensure the centralised leadership of the Party, to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat — and not to weaken them. When we speak of centralisation, we refer in the first place to the centralisation of correct opinions. The Party committees at all levels must, taking Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as their guide, correctly practise centralism. It is only in this way that they will be able to achieve unity in thinking, policy, plan, command and action, and thus lead all of the Party members and the masses in carrying out the militant tasks set by the Party.
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The Constitution of the Party stipulates: "The whole Party must observe unified discipline: The individual is subordinate to the organisation, the minority is subordinate to the majority, the lower level is subordinate to the higher level, and the entire Party is subordinate to the Central Committee." Party discipline is a necessary condition to ensure the implementation of the line, to strengthen the unity and consolidation of the Party, to refine its organisation, consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and win victory in the revolution. Every Communist Party member must consciously come under this discipline and maintain it.
"Discipline constitutes the guarantee for the implementation of the line; without it, the Party would not be able to lead the masses and the army to wage a victorious struggle." (136) This directive by Chairman Mao profoundly exposes the relationship between discipline and the line, and shows the importance of revolutionary discipline in implementing the line of the Party and accomplishing its militant tasks. The organisational discipline of the Party is determined by its political line, and at the same time, it guarantees the implementation of the line. The Party's basic line for the entire historical period of socialism as defined by Chairman Mao, is a Marxist-Leninist line, and it constitutes the fundamental principle for all our work. It is only by persisting in this line that it is possible to strengthen proletarian discipline in the Party and to achieve genuine "unity in thinking, policy, plan, command and action" (137) of the whole Party. To stray from this line, to implement an erroneous line, inevitably means to sabotage the proletarian discipline of the Party and renders all talk of a unified will of the proletariat meaningless. This is one aspect of the relationship between discipline and the line. On the other hand, to lead the proletariat and the broad revolutionary masses in the implementation of the Party's basic line, our Party needs a unified discipline to ensure a high degree of centralism
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and unity in its ranks on the basis of Marxism-Leninism-Mao-Tsetung Thought. If there is no unified discipline, if each acts on his own and does only what he wants, if there is no unity of direction and action, it is difficult to implement the basic line of the Party and to enable the Party to play its role as vanguard of the proletariat.
In the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat, it is more important than ever to maintain a single discipline throughout the Party. This is because during this historical period we must properly carry out the basic task of consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat in each of the primary organisations, we must -accelerate the pace of socialist construction, prevent capitalist restoration internally, and prevent aggression and subversion by imperialism and social-imperialism externally; this can only be accomplished through the strengthening of proletarian discipline. As Lenin pointed out: "Whoever weakens ever so little the iron discipline of the party of the proletariat (especially during the time of its dictatorship), actually aids the bourgeoisie against the proletariat." (138) This clearly shows that during the historical period of the transition from capitalism to communism, we must continuously strengthen the iron discipline of the proletariat in order to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and prevent the restoration of capitalism. Any action aimed at weakening the discipline of the Party can only objectively assist the bourgeoisie in combatting the proletariat, and weaken and even sabotage the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The strengthening of Party discipline is something Chairman Mao has repeatedly taught us. In the period of the Second Revolutionary Civil War, in his work On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party, (139) Chairman Mao severely criticised ultra-democracy, the rejection of organisation and other harmful tendencies that undermined the Party's discipline. In it, he stressed that the whole Party must obey the Party's resolutions and respect its discipline, and elaborated the orientation which must be followed in building our Party and our army ideologically and organisationally. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chairman Mao wrote another of his brilliant works, Combat Liberalism, (140) in which he taught the whole Party how to overcome negative liberalism with the revolutionary spirit of Marxism-Leninism. By summing up our Party's experience in the struggle against the opportunist line of Chang Kuo-tao, Chairman Mao once again stressed the importance of a unified Party discipline, and penetratingly pointed out: "Whoever violates (the) articles of discipline disrupts Party unity." (141) During the War of Liberation, Chairman Mao also declared: "The army advances, production advances. When our sense of discipline is strengthened, we are
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ever-victorious in the revolution," (142) thus guiding the entire Party, army and people towards countrywide victory. Since the liberation of the whole country, Chairman Mao has repeatedly stressed the necessity of strengthening the discipline of the Party and has shed light on the dialectical relationship between freedom and discipline. In the course of leading the Party, the army and the people to defeat the Lin Piao anti-Party clique, Chairman Mao formulated the three basic principles of "the three do's and three don'ts" and pointed out the necessity to "educate the cadres, the masses, the Party members and the people in the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention." (143) With this guidance, the people were able to completely smash up the criminal plot of the Lin Piao anti-Party clique to restore capitalism. As a result of the training provided by Chairman Mao himself, the rigorous respect for discipline has, in the course of the long revolutionary struggle, become a glorious tradition of our Party and a powerful weapon for consolidating its unity and defeating the enemy.
In order to change the Marxist-Leninist line of the Party and carry on their secret splittist activities, the leaders of all the opportunist lines have always used every means to oppose the Party's discipline and done everything to sabotage it. Throughout the history of our Party, they have all acted in this way, from Chen Tu-hsiu, Wang Ming and Chang Kuo-tao, to Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and other swindlers of the same type. They were all sectarians, splitters and bandits who wanted to sabotage Party discipline. As far as Lin Piao and his anti-Party clique are concerned, on the one hand they frantically sabotaged the centralised discipline of the Party, organised a bourgeois headquarters, opposed the Central Committee led by Chairman Mao, and attempted to seize power in the Party by subversion; on the other hand, within their anti-Party clique, they imposed fascist discipline on a large scale under the pretext of respecting Party discipline. All of this was aimed at opposing the Party's basic line, and implementing a counter-revolutionary revisionist line. We must carry out in-depth criticism of the crimes of Lin Piao and company who sabotaged Party discipline, and we must strive to consolidate and strengthen this discipline.
Chairman Mao teaches us that communists must be "models in respecting Party discipline." (144) To respect Party discipline, we must abide by the Party Constitution which stipulates that the individual is subordinate to the organisation, the minority to the majority, the lower
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level to the higher level, and the entire Party to the Central Committee.
The individual is subordinate to the organisation: this means that the members of the Party must unwaveringly submit to the resolutions and directives of the Party organisations, and implement them, and must under no pretext violate them. However, Party members who do not agree with the decisions or the directives of the Party have the right to reserve their opinion, as well as the right to skip levels and report their views directly to the Central Committee and its Chairman.
The minority must submit to the majority: this means that the resolutions issued by Party organisations must be firmly implemented by Party members. When the opinion of a minority is rejected, those who were in the minority must support the decision taken by the majority. Where necessary, it is possible to ask that the question be once again placed on the agenda for discussion at a future meeting, but in no case is it permissible to show one's opposition by action.
The lower level is subordinate to the higher level: this means that the Party organisations at the lower levels must resolutely abide by the decisions, directives, and tasks determined by the organisations at higher levels, and must ensure their implementation. They are not permitted to go against the interests of the Party as a whole in order to serve the interests of one of its parts, nor are they permitted to sabotage the centralised unity of the entire Party either by refusing to accept the decisions of the higher levels, or by opposing them.
The entire Party is subordinate to the Central Committee: this is the supreme principle of our Party discipline. The Central Committee of the Party led by Chairman Mao is the leading core of the entire Party, army and people. The directives of Chairman Mao and the calls of the Central Committee represent, in concentrated form, the interests of the proletariat and of the entire population of our country, and constitute our fundamental guarantee of winning victories in the revolution and in construction. At all times, in all circumstances, we must speak and act in accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee of the Party led by Chairman Mao, prevent and resolutely overcome ultra-democracy, the spirit of over-independence, and other forms of behaviour which sabotage Party discipline.
Of course, respecting Party discipline does not mean submitting to it blindly. In our Party, it is the correct line represented by Chairman Mao which occupies a leading position, but certain erroneous lines and tendencies can also appear from time to time. If these erroneous lines and tendencies are supported as correct by many people in certain areas or in certain sectors, a member of the Communist Party must stand up against them in the common interest, dare to go against the tide and
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struggle to defend the revolutionary line of Chairman Mao and the Party discipline.
In order for Party discipline to be respected, we must raise the level of consciousness of Party members in this domain. Proletarian discipline is a conscious discipline — it is fundamentally different from the reactionary discipline of the bourgeoisie. The discipline of the bourgeoisie is established on the basis of the exploitation and enslavement of the people, and can only maintain itself through oppressive measures or lies. Lenin pointed out that proletarian discipline, on the other hand, is based on the consciousness of all members of the Party, that it is maintained, tested and reinforced "by the class consciousness of the proletarian vanguard and by its devotion to the revolution, by its perseverance, self-sacrifice and heroism." (145) While Party discipline is of a compulsory character, its implementation depends above all on the high level of consciousness of the Party members. This consciousness has its source in the members' devotion to the Party and the people and in their high sense of responsibility towards the revolutionary cause. With this high level of political consciousness, it becomes possible for them to put the interests of the revolution first, subordinate their own personal interests to those of the revolution, and even to have no fear of giving their lives to preserve the discipline of the Party. With this high level of political consciousness, it becomes possible for them, no matter how hard the circumstances, to resolutely implement Party discipline and "fear neither hardship nor death"; (146) it becomes possible for them, even when separated from the leadership and when there is no one around to oversee them, to be highly self-demanding and consciously respect Party discipline In order to keep the Party's secrets, Liu Hu-lan remained unshakeable, being completely resolute in the face of her merciless torturers, and heroically sacrificed herself under the enemy's blade, defending the interests of the Party. To keep secret the place where the army of volunteers was hiding, Chiu Shao-yun remained motionless and silent as his body was devoured by flames, rigorously respecting the discipline of the battlefield. He paid with his life, thus assuring the successful accomplishment of the tasks of battle. All members of the Communist Party, drawing inspiration from these revolutionary martyrs, must conscientiously study the Marxist-Leninist classics and the works of Chairman Mao, strive to raise their level of ideological consciousness, strengthen their proletarian Party spirit and act as models of conscious respect for the discipline of the Party. In order that Party discipline be respected, we must resolutely oppose all practices which undermine it. All communists must stick to the positions of the Party and exhibit the revolutionary spirit of being
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fearless. They must stick to the revolutionary principles of the proletariat and struggle against all the plots, aimed at sabotaging Party discipline, which are hatched up by agents of the bourgeoisie who have infiltrated the Party; and they must oppose all practices which go against Party discipline. Whether this sentiment is present or absent gives us a measure of the strength or weakness of the Party spirit of a communist. In our Party there are comrades who adopt a consistently liberal attitude towards practices which contravene Party discipline: "to let things drift if they do not affect one personally," "to say as little as possible while knowing perfectly well what is wrong" or "to be worldly wise and play safe and seek only to avoid blame." This is the vulgar and rotten style of the bourgeoisie, which is as foreign to the revolutionary nature of the communists as water is to fire. If we do not struggle against practices which undermine Party discipline, if we do not denounce them, if we adopt a liberal attitude towards them, we risk not being able to distinguish good from bad, allowing a pernicious style of work to spread, and thus harming the interests of the Party. Chairman Mao teaches us how a communist must behave: "always and everywhere he should adhere to principle and wage a tireless struggle against all incorrect ideas and actions . . . " (147) We must exhibit this revolutionary spirit, and struggle to defend the discipline of the Party.
In order for Party discipline to be respected, each communist — especially the leading cadres of the Party at various levels — must consciously submit to the criticism and control of the masses. Our state is a socialist state of the dictatorship of the proletariat — the working class, the poor and middle peasants and the broad labouring masses are its masters, and they have the power to exercise revolutionary control over the cadres at the various levels of the Party and the state. However, there exists a minority of cadres who cannot stand it when the masses inside or outside of the Party express their observations. These cadres go so far as to suppress criticism, and to engage in retribution. This is not permitted by Party discipline. We must, look at this question from the high plane of the two-line struggle in order to wage a resolute struggle against these activities which go against the discipline of the Party.
The Constitution of the Party states: "When Party members violate Party discipline, the Party organizations at the levels concerned shall, within their functions and powers and on the merits of each case, take
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appropriate disciplinary measures — warning, serious warning, removal from posts in the Party, placing on probation within the Party, or expulsion from the Party." The aim of discipline in our Party is not simply to punish, but above all to educate and assist members who commit errors. It serves to consolidate the Party organisation and to protect its cause. It is for this reason that the Party has always given a great deal of education to its members on the question of discipline, to enable them to consciously respect it. When a sanction is taken against a member of the Party, it is first and foremost necessary to reason with him and educate him repeatedly, in order that he can recognize his errors and genuinely correct them.
In applying Party discipline, we must rigorously distinguish between the two types of contradictions of different character, adopt a different orientation towards each of them, treat them separately, and correctly sort them out. As far as proven renegades, enemy agents, absolutely unrepentant persons in power taking the capitalist road, degenerates and alien class elements are concerned, they must be cleared out of the Party and not re-admitted. For members of the Party who have committed errors, even serious errors, we must apply the principles, "learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones; cure the sickness to save the patient," be severe in ideological criticism, but be lenient on the organisational front and adopt a serious, positive and warm attitude to assist them in correcting their errors. If they show genuine sentiment to correct themselves, we must work to educate them ideologically, assist them to raise their level of consciousness and return to the path of Chairman Mao's revolutionary line. Members of the Party who commit errors must have faith in the masses, have faith in the Party, severely "dissect" themselves, consciously analyse their errors, strive to transform their world outlook in the three great revolutionary movements and continue the revolution in order to merit once again the esteem of the people. For the minority of Party members who have committed serious errors but refuse to correct themselves even after repeated attempts at educating them, it is necessary to apply the appropriate disciplinary sanction according to the circumstances, up to expulsion from the Party.
When applying Party discipline to members who have committed errors, we must be serious and prudent and not act lightly. Chairman Mao speaks of: "the adoption of a careful attitude in handling cases of individual comrades, neither glossing things over nor doing harm to comrades . . . " (148) To be serious and prudent means not to let ourselves be influenced by the positions or merits of Party members who have violated discipline, but when we become aware of their errors, to take a
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scientific attitude and criticise them seriously. However, when sorting out the case, we must act prudently and adopt a genuinely responsible attitude. When Party members commit errors, we should make a complete historical analysis and, keeping in mind the errors committed, we must also look at the good things the members have contributed to the revolution under the leadership of Chairman Mao and the Party. We must also make a concrete analysis of the nature of the errors, the circumstances in which they were committed, whether the errors have always been manifested, whether the persons who made the mistakes have regretted making them, and seeking truth from facts, we must correctly deal with the errors according to the method of unity between the leadership and the masses.
In applying Party discipline, we must guard against being one-sided, against being either overly severe or overly indulgent.
In dealing with members of the Party who have committed errors, we should, of course keep in mind that they have committed errors and put the Party's cause in jeopardy, but we must also bear in mind that the majority of them want to continue to make revolution with the Party. While we should take account of the fact that they do not entirely measure up to the standards required for members of the Communist Party, we must also understand that the large majority of them will be able to correct their errors with the help of the education given them by the Party and continue to fulfil the model role which belongs to the proletarian vanguard. When we apply Party discipline, we must above all pay attention to this fact. In dealing with errors committed by Party members, it is necessary that we guard against substituting spontaneous feelings for principles, exaggerating the facts of a case and applying regulations at all costs, applying sanctions too readily or expelling a person from-the Party too lightly. But it is equally necessary that we are not unduly accomodating, do not depreciate the standards required of Party members nor fail to expel those who should be expelled or fail to take up cases which should be taken up.
In general, disciplinary measures taken against members of the Party should be discussed in a general meeting of the Party branch. The meeting must allow the member against whom the measures are being proposed to analyse his error and to accept the criticisms which are being made in order to assist him. They should not make a decision until after holding in-depth discussion, and afterwards, should inform the next higher level of what they have decided. The decision taken and any sanction finally imposed must be communicated to the person concerned in writing. If the Party member against whom the measures have been taken does not agree with the conclusion and the sanction,
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he has the right to ask that it be discussed again or to communicate his Complaint to the higher bodies, right up to the Central Committee of the Party. Party organisations must rapidly deal with complaints formulated by Party members, and they must not stop them or take reprisals. If the complaint is justified and the conclusion and sanction do not Correspond with reality, they must be rectified on the basis of the facts. If the complaint is not justified, the body which receives it must also give its explanations in order to assist the person who has made mistakes to recognize them and correct them. Of course, members of the Party who have committed errors and been sanctioned must not just take any pretext for causing trouble without any reason.
In summation, the application of Party discipline is extremely serious political and ideological work in which there is no room for "almosts." In accordance with Chairman Mao's teachings, we must conscientiously implement the Party's principles, educate Party members who have committed errors and ensure that the other members draw lessons from the experience.
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According to the Party Constitution, all the comrades of the Party must "develop the style of integrating theory with practice, maintaining close ties with the masses and practising criticism and self-criticism." The three great styles of work of the Party constitute a fine tradition laid down by Chairman Mao himself, and the precious heritage of our Party to unite the people and defeat the enemy. Every member of the Communist Party must study, uphold and carry out the Party's excellent style of work in order to win still greater victories in the cause of socialist revolution and construction.
The three great styles of work of our Party, forged in the course of long years of revolutionary struggles, are one of the hallmarks distinguishing our Party from the bourgeois and revisionist political parties. The political parties of the different classes have different styles of thinking and work.. Our Party always holds firmly to Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as its guide to action as well as to the dialectical and historical materialist world outlook. The Party teaches us to conscientiously combine the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of revolution in our country and persevere in the style of work of carrying out study and investigation and seeking truth from facts. The Party teaches us that the masses are the real heroes, that the cause of the emancipation of the proletariat is that of hundreds of millions of people. Therefore, in all circumstances, we must rely on the masses and have faith in them, forge close ties with them and follow the mass line. We are convinced that since our Party represents the basic interests of the proletariat and the labouring masses, the cause for which it stands is an absolutely just cause. Therefore we communists are open and aboveboard in all our words and deeds, and courageously practise criticism and self-criticism. The three great styles of work of our Party reflect the class characteristics of the proletariat and its specific political 103
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nature. For their part, all bourgeois and revisionist parties are based on personal interests; the interests they represent are those of the exploiting classes. Their world outlook is always idealistic and metaphysical, and this explains why they always Confound right and wrong, why their actions do not conform to their words, why they deceive the masses, are isolated from the people and fear criticism and self-criticism. Not having truth on their side, and not having the masses with them, they will not escape their destiny — they are bound to disappear from the face of the earth.
The Party's style of work has always been closely linked with its line. A definite style of work corresponds to a definite political line, and the style of work always serves a definite line. Under the guidance of a correct line, the excellent style of work of the proletariat can be developed to its greatest degree; but if we depart from this correct line and follow an erroneous line, we are liable to see all the unhealthy styles of work and vices of the bourgeoisie spread. When he was leading our Party in the sharp struggle against right and "left" opportunist lines, Chairman Mao always paid close attention to sorting out the style of work in the Party. The Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society (149) written by Chairman Mao at the time of the First Revolutionary Civil War is a brilliant example of the integration of Marxist-Leninist revolutionary theory with the concrete reality of the Chinese revolution. In the early days of the foundation of the Red Army, Chairman Mao established the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Six Points for Attention" (later developed into the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention") to train our Party and our army in the fine style of work of integration with the masses and persistent struggle. In 1942, while personally leading the rectification movement in Yenan, Chairman Mao issued the call to "Fight subjectivism in order to rectify the style of study, fight sectarianism in order to rectify the style in Party relations, and fight Party stereotypes in order to rectify the style of writing" (150) and thereby liquidate the influence of right and "left" opportunist lines in ideology and style of work. At the Seventh Party Congress, Chairman Mao, in profoundly summing up our basic experience in building the Party, shed further light on the three great styles of work of the Party, giving new impetus to this fine tradition. On the eve of the total liberation of our country, at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee, pointing out that victory could give rise to feelings of arrogance, greed, complacency and pleasure-seeking in the Party, Chairman Mao warned the whole Party: "The comrades must be taught to remain modest, prudent and free from arrogance and rashness in their style of work. The comrades must be
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taught to preserve the style of plain living and hard struggle." (151) After the entire country had been liberated, by adhering to the three great styles of work of modesty, prudence, and hard struggle, our Party efficiently repulsed the corroding attacks of the sugar-coated bullets of bourgeois ideology, and thus ensured the continued unfolding of revolution and construction. After the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and in particular throughout the movement to criticise Lin Piao and rectify the style of work, the Party's style of work of seeking truth from facts and following the mass line, as well as its glorious traditions of modesty, prudence and hard struggle — a style of work and tradition sabotaged by Lin Piao and his clique — went through a new development, enabling the whole Party to forge ahead with new vigour.Historical experience demonstrates that the three great styles of work of the Party have had a deep influence on the whole Party and people of all nationalities, ensuring the implementation of Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, and playing an important role in the victorious development of revolution and construction. Communists of the older generation are familiar with this fine tradition of our Party but they still are faced with the question of how to carry it forward under new historical conditions whereas the many new Party members are faced with the question of learning it, inheriting it, and carrying it forward. We must perpetuate this fine tradition of our Party from generation to generation; it is extremely important for the consolidation of the Party.
The theory referred to here is the revolutionary theory of the proletariat: Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought; and the practice is our concrete revolutionary practice — the practice of the three great revolutionary movements of class struggle, struggle for production and scientific experiment. Integrating theory with practice means to study and solve the practical problems encountered in the process of our revolution and construction by using the stand, viewpoint and method of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. Chairman Mao uses this expression: "Shooting the arrow at the target." (152) As the arrow is to the target, such is the relation of theory to practice. If we are to shoot this arrow of theory with precision to hit the target of practice, we must adhere to the following method: use practice as the starting point in order to study Marxist-Leninist theory for a definite purpose and solve the problems raised in the three great revolutionary movements, and
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from this theory derive our stand, viewpoint and method. If theory and practice are divorced, we are liable to shoot at random. If we use a correct theory merely to engage in empty chatter, wrap it up only to leave it aside and do nothing about it, then it is of no use, even if this theory is the finest. Only if we deal with the problems that crop up in the course of revolutionary practice, if we analyse, study and solve them by using the theoretical weapon of Marxism-Leninism, can we link theory with practice and shoot the arrow at the target.
Chairman Mao says: "Close integration of Marxist-Leninist theory with the practice of the Chinese revolution is the ideological principle consistently followed by our Party." (153) The history of our Party is one of ever-increasing integration of the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution; it is the history of the triumph of the whole Party, under Chairman Mao's leadership over right and "left" opportunist lines. In leading the protracted struggle of Chinese revolution, Chairman Mao always carried out thorough-going investigation and profound analysis of the features of Chinese society and the situation of every class. He correctly solved a series of problems which arose at the time of the democratic revolution and at the time of the socialist revolution in our country, laid down for our Party correct political orientation, line and principles and ensured new and still greater victories for the cause of revolution and construction in our country. The historical experience of the Party has shown that by integrating theory and practice and advancing according to Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, the Party has always developed and the revolutionary cause was always victorious. On the contrary, whenever we divorced theory from practice, and departed from Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, the Party suffered setbacks, and the revolutionary cause met with failures. Therefore we say that the victory of the Chinese revolution is the tremendous victory of the integration of Marxist-Leninist theory with the practice of the Chinese revolution, the tremendous victory of Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and of Mao Tsetung thought.
The uniting of theory with practice is the proletarian revolutionary style of study always advocated by Chairman Mao. posing attitudes in studying Marxism-Leninism. The first is the MarxistLeninist attitude of Integrating theory and practice. With this attitude we use the Marxist-Leninist theory and method to carry out systematic and detailed study and investigation of the environment and combine revolutionary enthusiasm with practicality. With this attitude, we can shoot the arrow at the target. The other attitude is the subjectivist one of divorcing theory from practice. This is a bad style of study, an anti-Marx-
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ist-Leninist style — the harmful style of all opportunists and revisionists. We are aware that the question of the style of study is a question of method of thinking, which concerns the leading bodies, all the cadres and the overall membership of the Party; it is a question related to our attitude towards Marxism-Leninism and the attitude of all Party comrades in their work. This is why the question of style of study has always been closely linked with the two-line struggle. The opposition and struggle between the two styles of study is the reflection of the two-line struggle on the problem of study. By raising the question of the style of study to the level of a question of Party spirit, Chairman Mao has profoundly revealed the essence of the subjectivist style of work which divorces theory from practice: "To govern one's own conduct by this style is to harm oneself, to teach it to others is to harm others, and to use ft to direct the revolution is to harm the revolution." "It is a manifestation . . . that Party spirit is either absent or deficient." (154)
Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and other swindlers of their type as well as the chieftains of various opportunist lines were characterized ideologically by their separation of the subjective from the objective and theory from practice. They always feverishly opposed the principle of integrating theory with practice, always fought against Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, and promoted instead idealist apriorism. In order to practise revisionism, they first had to oppose the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism. Lin Piao contended that the Marxist-Leninist classics only dealt with things of the "past," were "too far removed from us," already "outdated" and that it was not necessary to study them. By trotting out this ultra-reactionary theory, he aimed at totally negating the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism in order to peddle his revisionist trash and realize his counter-revolutionary plot of capitalist restoration. At the same time, Lin Piao opposed revolutionary practice with all his energy, advocated the reactionary theory of "genius" and denied that practice is the fundamental source of knowledge. He contended that we should proceed "from the subjective to the objective," from the "idea to reality" and completely reversed the relations between theory and practice, the subjective and the objective. Therefore, while criticising Lin Piao's counter-revolutionary revisionist line, we must staunchly criticise the bad, anti-Marxist-Leninist style of study he propagated and must eliminate it.
To uphold the principle of integrating theory and practice, we must adopt the scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts. "Facts" are all the and "truth" refers to their internal relations; the things that exist objectively; the "truth" In the everyday work, to display the scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts means to study and grasp
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the laws governing the development of objective things, under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought; it means to link the political line, orientation and principles of the Party as well as instructions from the higher levels, to the actual situation of our area or unit; it also means to discuss them and thoroughly carry them out, strive to have the subjective Conform to the objective, and integrate theory and practice so as to shoot the arrow at the target in our work, and achieve the expected results.
To uphold the principle of integrating theory and practice, we must study and investigate the social situation. Study and investigation is the scientific method of Marxism-Leninism; when we set out on such a task, we must do deep-going and detailed investigation of the actual situation, and then analyse and study the material gathered "discarding the dross and selecting the essential, eliminating the false and retaining the true, proceeding from the one to the other and from the outside to the inside . . . to make a leap from perceptual to rational knowledge" (155); we must know how to discern the important from the secondary, grasp the essence of a phenomenon, and distinguish the true from the false in order to draw conclusions which best conform to reality, and to carry out our work based on reality.
Maintaining close ties with the masses and discussing all matters with them is our Party's fine traditional style of work, the source of the strength which has enabled it to defeat all its enemies and surmount all difficulties.
Marxism holds that the masses of the people are the masters of history; they are the decisive force which carries society forward. Not only are the masses of the people the creators of the material and spiritual wealth of the world, but it is their revolutionary struggles which are the motive forces moving society forward. The slaves are the makers of history; this is a fundamental historical materialist viewpoint. Marx and Engels pointed out: "The historical movement is the work of the masses," (156) and Lenin wrote: "living, creative socialism is the product of the masses themselves"; (157) Chairman Mao also indicated: "The people, and the people alone, are the motive force of world history." (158) To maintain close ties with the masses, we must be firmly imbued with the idea that "the masses are the real heroes," (159) be convinced that the strength of the revolution rests with the masses of the people,
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and fully recognize their glorious role as the makers of history. The reason our Party is able to lead the masses of the people is precisely because it represents the interests of the masses, wholeheartedly serves them, has faith in them, relies on them and, maintaining close ties with them, struggles for the realisation of communism.
Maintaining close ties with the masses is a glorious tradition of our Party. At the time of the democratic revolution, our Party, under the leadership of Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, founded the People's Liberation Army, and established revolutionary bases by fully mobilising the masses and relying on them. In that way, after 28 years of heroic struggle, having only millet and makeshift rifles, it succeeded in defeating the Japanese fascist bandits who believed themselves invincible, and in wiping out the eight-million-strong reactionary army of the Kuomintang, supplied by U.S. imperialism. During those years of hard struggle, our Party and People's Army, sharing weal and woe with the masses, defeated a powerful enemy and won complete victory in the new democratic revolution. After the liberation of the entire country, by fully mobilising the masses and resolutely relying on them, our Party has smashed the disruptions and sabotage fomented by the enemies both inside and outside the country. Exhibiting the revolutionary spirit of independence, self-reliance and hard struggle and going all-out to always forge ahead, it has turned old, poor, backward and crisis-ridden China into a new socialist China which is on the way to prosperity. In the course of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao, our Party mobilised the masses on a large scale, relied on them, and through the practice of extensive democracy under the dictatorship of the proletariat, aroused a tremendous mass movement which was unleashed like a raging torrent, smashing the two bourgeois headquarters — one headed by Liu Shao-chi and the other by Lin Piao — thus winning many important victories in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Countless facts show that the masses of the people, armed with Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought are invincible; provided we have faith in the masses, rely on them and maintain close ties with them, we are bound to win victory.
To have close ties with the masses or to be divorced from them (or even to be afraid of them or oppose the revolutionary mass movement) is not merely a question of method but rather a fundamental question of stand and world outlook. It is also an important question in the struggle between Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and the right and "left" opportunist lines. All the chieftains of opportunist lines are idealists, they obstinately take the side of the bourgeoisie, always slander and despise the masses with all their strength. They deny the great role of the masses
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of the people as the makers of history, oppose the Party's mass line, are hostile towards the revolutionary mass movements led by the Party and sabotage them. At the time of the First Revolutionary Civil War, the Chieftain of the right opportunist line, Chen Tu-hsiu, slandered the Chinese proletariat by saying it was "Childish," did "not Constitute an independent revolutionary force," contended that the Chinese people were "undisciplined," "conservative," and that "they would be hard to win over to revolution." He had no faith in the power of the revolution, carried out a right capitulationist line, and brought defeat to the heroic revolutionary movement. In order to change the Party's basic line for the historical period of socialism, Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and other swindlers of their type worked with all their strength to sabotage the Party's mass line and its excellent style of work of maintaining close ties with the masses. Openly peddling the theory of "backward masses," Liu Shao-chi opposed the mobilisation of the masses during the "four cleans movement" (160) and, during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, implemented a bourgeois reactionary line and suppressed the revolutionary mass movement. As for un Piao, he raised a hue and cry about the "theory of genius," and shamelessly endowed himself with the title of "genius," possessing "innate knowledge" and "innate consciousness." At the same time he slandered the broad masses of workers and peasants by treating them like scum only interested in "getting rich and pleasure-seeking" and knowing nothing but "oil, salt, soya sauce, vinegar and firewood." Lin Piao and his clique also propagated the nonsense that "the heroes and slaves make history together," thus trying to make use of dual sophistry to negate the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism. We must thoroughly criticise Liu Shao-chi's and Lin Piao's reactionary and idealist conception of history, constantly.. strengthen the ties between the Party and the masses and courageously advance according to the political line established by the Tenth Congress.
To maintain close ties with the masses, we must discuss matters with them and modestly listen to their opinions. Chairman Mao teaches us that "The people with real personal knowledge are those engaged in practice the wide world over." (161) Fighting in the forefront of the three great revolutionary movements, the broad masses of the people have a rich practical knowledge. Only by listening modestly to the opinions of the masses and discussing matters with them can we concentrate their wisdom, make use of their innovations, synthesize their experience and derive the correct knowledge necessary to lead the revolutionary practice. To discuss matters with the masses, we must listen to their opinions. We must listen to them when we lack skill in the
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work, when difficulties arise, or when we have insufficient experience, and this is all the more necessary when we know the situation well, when the work is going fine and we have won victories. We must listen to all the opinions of the masses, whether we agree with them or not. We must always let everyone have their say, let the people express what is on their minds. We must collect the knowledge of the masses, distinguish what is of value from what is not, and on the basis of Mao Tsetung Thought, achieve unity of thinking. Only in that way can we bring into full play the initiative and creativity of the masses, concentrate their wisdom to the fullest extent and give further impetus to the development of revolution and construction. Some comrades like to do all the talking and do not let the masses air their views. Whether it be research work or the solving of a problem, they want to be the only ones to sort it out — they do not let anyone speak — the others can only listen to them and obey their orders. This style of work is entirely incorrect; it can only prevent the masses from fully expressing their views, dampen their initiative and harm the relations between them and the Party.
To maintain close ties with the masses, we must take a correct attitude towards them, and treat them correctly. Marxism has always held that it is only by having faith in the masses, relying on them and maintaining close ties with them that each individual can play his role to the full and best contribute to the cause of the masses of the people. If we overestimate the role of the individual and underestimate the strength of the masses of people, if we persist in believing that everything that we do is good and whatever the masses do is worthless, then we will be reversing the respective positions of the masses and the individuals, and slipping into the mire of historical idealism. As far as the membership and cadres of the Party are concerned, in order to treat the masses correctly, they must willingly become the pupils of the masses, modestly learn from them, be seen by them as simple labouring people and dig deep roots among them. Cadres of the Party must continue to take part in collective productive labour, preserve forever the characteristics of the working people and make themselves one with the masses.
To treat the masses correctly, we must also know how to use Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought to lead them. For members of the Communist Party, maintaining close ties with the masses means to learn from them; it also means to propagate Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought in their midst for the purposes of arming and organising them. As to the method of dealing with the masses, on the one hand we must combat the theory of the "omniscience of the leadership" and the "backwardness of the masses," defeat the bad style of work of bureaucratism and commandism; and on the other hand, we must oppose the
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line: "if the masses Want it that way, so be it" and defeat the harmful tendency of tailism. It is the only way in which we can apply Chairman Mao's revolutionary line correctly and properly accomplish the work of the Party.
To maintain close ties with the masses, we must practise the style of work of modesty, prudence and hard struggle. At all times, we members of the Communist Party must breathe the same air as the masses and share the same lot; We cannot seek our comfort and pleasures and disdain continued hard living. Even if we have been promoted, we must not lose sight of the style of work of being modest, prudent and maintaining close ties with the masses; even if we have better living conditions, we must not abandon the style of hard struggle. Only in this way can we effectively oppose the corruption of bourgeois ideas and life-style and never divorce ourselves from the masses, so that our Party will forever maintain relations with the masses like those of fish to water, so as to win still greater victories in revolution and construction.
Criticism and self-criticism are sharp weapons with which to strengthen the building of the Party ideologically, consolidate its unity and increase its fighting ability. Objectively, contradictions exist inside the Party. They are the reflection inside the Party of class contradictions and the contradictions between the old and the new in society. Criticism and self-criticism constitute the basic means by which to wage inner-Party struggle correctly and solve inner-Party contradictions. Through the whole historical period of socialism, since classes, class contradictions and class struggle still exist, old ideas, old culture and old habits of the bourgeoisie and other exploiting classes influence the members of our Party and eat into its body every day and every minute. To fight the infection caused in the body of our Party by the political dust and germs of the bourgeoisie, and to resist the corruption of Party members by bourgeois ideas and the ideas of the other exploiting classes, we must wage an active ideological struggle and defeat all non-proletarian ideas with proletarian ideology, Inner-Party struggles must be regulated by correct methods. In the case of ideological problems among the people, we must not be abusive, nor use fists or weapons, To settle these disputes, we must use only the methods of discussion, persuasion, criticism and self-criticism. We must see to it that criticism and self-criticism are used to develop the positive
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things, overcome the shortcomings, correct mistakes and thus, on the basis of a correct line, to strengthen the unity and consolidation of the Party.Criticism and self-criticism represent for communists an essential weapon to "get rid of the stale and take in the fresh" (162) ideologically, and remould their world outlook. As the members of our Party have different class origins, come from different strata of the people and live in a society where there are classes, bourgeois ideas and the force of old habits continuously influence Party members and corrode Party ranks. In the minds of many comrades, non-proletarian ideas still persist to some extent. Only by grasping the weapon of criticism and self-criticism and working hard to "get rid of the stale and take in the fresh," can we possibly defeat the various non-proletarian ideas and stem corruption by bourgeois ideology and the ideology of all other exploiting classes. Moreover, since our knowledge of the objective world is necessarily limited, it is difficult to avoid shortcomings and mistakes in our work. Frequent practice of criticism and self-criticism in order to expose the mistakes and shortcomings arising in our work will enable us to wipe out idealism and sum up our experiences in order to continue moving forward. This will enable us to do our work better and make greater contributions to the Party and the people.
Chairman Mao has always attached great importance to criticism and self-criticism. He pointed out in his article On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party: "Inner-Party criticism is a weapon for strengthening the Party organization and increasing its fighting capacity." (163) The rectification movement in Yenan in 1942 was an all-round movement of Marxist education, as well as a large-scale criticism and self-criticism movement. After the liberation of the whole country, our Party once again led several rectification movements. During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the masses, in their hundreds of millions, used the weapons of free airing of views, big-character posters, great debates and extensive exchange of revolutionary experience in order to unmask the handful of Party persons in power taking the capitalist road. (164) In that way, they smashed the two bourgeois headquarters led by Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao and exposed and criticised our mistakes and shortcomings in the work, thus greatly strengthening the unity of the Party. Through the movement to criticise Lin Piao and rectify the style of work, and through criticising in a deep-going way the counter-revolutionary crimes and revisionist fallacies of the Lin Piao anti-Party clique, the entire Party membership has greatly increased its experience in the two-line struggle, heightened its consciousness with regard to the practice of criticism and self-criticism and the Party's glorious tradition of criticism
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and self-criticism has thereby been strengthened.
To correctly carry out criticism and self-criticism, we must first conscientiously apply the principle of "unity-criticism-unity." This means that we must start from the desire for unity and make a clear distinction between true and false, through criticism and struggle, and on this new basis, arrive at a new unity. When waging criticism and self-criticism, we must combat two erroneous attitudes: the first consists of speaking only of unity, without criticising or combatting mistakes and shortcomings. Comrades who adopt this attitude like to avoid contradictions. In the face of struggle they keep their mouths shut, do not refute incorrect views when hearing them and do not oppose actions that harm the Party when they see them: "Whatever the circumstances, they take no stand, so as to avoid further complications." Behaving in this way like the "Wise Old Man" is absolutely erroneous. The second attitude is to speak only of criticism and struggle, having no desire to unite with the comrades who have made mistakes. The comrades who adopt this attitude make rash judgements and random accusations. Not only is this method incapable of solving any problem, but it also harms the individual comrades and the unity of the Party. Chairman Mao has taught us that "statements should be based on facts and criticism should centre on politics." (165) When carrying out criticism and self-criticism we must seek truth from facts and convince people with reasoned arguments; we must do it regularly and in good time, not wait for problems to pile up and become extremely serious and then attempt to rectify everything at once. Following this method can lead to heavy losses, while intervening in good time means losses can be reduced. We must purify the over-all life of the organisation by using the weapon of criticism and self-criticism in a deep-going way so that the organisational life of the Party remains vigorous. Leading comrades in the Party organisations at all levels must participate in the life of the organisation in the same way as ordinary members; they must modestly listen to the views and criticisms of other members, regularly undertake self-criticism and strive to do the best possible work.
To correctly carry out criticism and self-criticism, those who criticise must apply the principle: "Say all you know and say it without reservation"; if they have suggestions to make, they should make them, if they discover shortcomings and mistakes, they should criticise them. At the same time, they must pay careful attention to their attitude, method and results. As for those who are being criticised, they must keep the Party's cause in mind and act according to the principles: "Blame not the speaker but be warned by his words" and "Correct mistakes if you have committed them and guard against them if you have not" and listen
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modestly to the criticism formulated by others. We must dare to accept the truth and correct our mistakes. Regardless of who makes a criticism, if it is right, we should accept it. Even if the criticism made by others does not conform to reality or if an analysis or criticism is not made very consciously, we must still listen to it patiently, take what is good from it and not blame the critic, and much less use this as a pretext to reject the criticism. We must not smile at flattery nor become angry when we are criticised or even behave like "a tiger whose behind one cannot touch." Some comrades, when they have committed a mistake and been criticised, do not try to learn a lesson from it in a positive way, but on the contrary think they can no longer "hold their heads up" and become passive and apathetic in their work, which only adds new mistakes to the former ones. As for the comrades who, after being criticised, bear a grudge and seek revenge on those who have criticised them, they are doing something expressly forbidden by Party discipline, something we must resolutely guard against. Party cadres must be especially strict with themselves and serve as models for the masses and Party members. When criticising someone, they must of course uphold principle, but should also pay attention to method: investigate, seek truth from facts, never speak or act lightly or as a result of hearsay, or reprimand someone for nothing. Regarding criticisms formulated by the Party members and the masses, they must have proletarian largeness of mind, listen to them with modesty, draw conclusions from the suggestions of others, derive from them material for their political education, correct their shortcomings and mistakes and do their work well.
To correctly carry out criticism and self-criticism, we must undertake "dissecting" ourselves rigorously. Chairman Mao teaches us: "The struggle of the proletariat and the revolutionary people to change the world comprises the fulfilment of the following tasks: to change the objective world and, at the same time their own subjective world — to change their cognitive ability and change the relations between the subjective and the objective world." (166) To change our own subjective world, we must first rigorously "dissect" ourselves. In all things, one divides into two. (167) This is also true when we examine ourselves: while it is necessary to consider our strengths and accomplishments, we must still more keep in mind our weaknesses and shortcomings. Only by regularly checking up on our shortcomings and mistakes, can we members of the Communist Party always maintain our style of work of prudence and modesty, and properly understand ourselves so that we can assess our real worth. If we do not know ourselves, we cannot apply to ourselves the principle that one divides into two; if we see only our achievements and not our shortcomings, we are liable to lapse into
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blindness. If we do not analyse and thoroughly eliminate our shortcomings and mistakes, we will harm both ourselves and the revolution. Only by regularly and consciously practising criticism can we avoid becoming conceited despite compliments, remember our shortcomings when we when we win victories, not become arrogant in the face of success nor be discouraged when confronted with failures, always remain clear-headed and full of high revolutionary spirit and vigorous will for revolutionary struggle, never halt along the road of the continuing revolution and train ourselves so as to become advanced elements of the proletariat, worthy of the name.
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The Constitution of the Party states: we "must train millions of successors for the cause of proletarian revolution." This is a great and glorious strategic task with which history has entrusted our Party. Such a task can only be fulfilled if the whole Party attaches importance to it. Therefore all Party organisations and members must conscientiously study this directive, fully grasp it and firmly carry it out.
After having systematised the experience of the two-line struggle both in the international communist movement and inside our Party, Chairman Mao raised the important question of the training of the successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat, a matter that concerns the destiny of our Party and state. He pointed out: "In the final analysis, the question of training successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat is one of whether or not there will be people who can carry on the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary cause started by the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries, whether or not the leadership of our Party and state will remain in the hands of proletarian revolutionaries, whether or not our descendants will continue to march along the correct road laid down by Marxism-Leninism, or, in other words, whether or not we can successfully prevent the emergence of Khrushchov's revisionism in China. In short, it is an extremely important question, a matter of life and death for our Party and our country. It is a question of fundamental importance to the proletarian revolutionary cause for a hundred, a thousand, nay ten thousand years." (168) This instruction of Chairman Mao's fully underscores the deep significance of the training of successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat.
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At each historical stage of the Chinese revolution, Chairman Mao has always laid great stress on this work of training successors; in building the Party, he always attached a great deal of importance to the training of new cadres and the training of successors for the revolution. Already at the time of the First Revolutionary Civil War, Chairman Mao, while he was leading the Peasant Movement Institute, (169) trained and educated a large number of outstanding cadres for the revolutionary struggle of that period. At the time of the Agrarian Revolutionary War, Chairman Mao, alluding to the erroneous view of not daring to choose new cadres, declared: "Discard this mistaken view and you will see cadres all around you." (170) At the time of the War of Resistance against Japan, he again stressed this point: "Therefore, it is our fighting task to train large numbers of new cadres in a planned way." (171) And in the period of the socialist revolution — after having summed up the experience of the dictatorship of the proletariat — Chairman Mao addressed the Party in the following terms in 1964: "In order to guarantee that our Party and country do not change their colour, we must not only have a correct line and correct policies but must train and bring up millions of successors who will carry on the cause of proletarian revolution." (172) He called upon the Party: "From our highest organisation down to the grass-roots, we must everywhere give constant attention to the training and upbringing of successors to the revolutionary cause." (173) During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao again repeatedly pointed out that we should select young cadres and integrate them with the leading bodies at all levels. For many decades, our Party — following all these teachings of Chairman Mao — has, in the course of an extremely hard and complex revolutionary struggle, trained and brought up successive waves of revolutionary cadres, thus guaranteeing the implementation of Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and winning victory after victory.
Very sharp class struggle and two-line struggle exist over the question of training the successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat. In order to attain their criminal aim of overthrowing the dictatorship of the proletariat, the enemies both inside and outside the Party, have always attempted by every possible means and manoeuvre to engage in a trial of strength with the proletariat over who are to be its successors. They pin their hopes of restoration on the third or fourth generation of our Party. (174) To change the basic line of our Party and restore capitalism, Lin Piao and company engaged in sabotage of the revolution from within, fighting with the proletariat over its successors. They feverishly opposed Chairman Mao's instructions concerning the training of millions of successors for the revolutionary cause of the
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proletariat; they falsified and distorted for their own ends the requirements for worthy successors of the proletariat, (175) sabotaged the "three-in-one" combination of the old, the middle-aged and the young (176) in the leading bodies, and seduced and corrupted the cadres of the younger generation with the poisonous ideas and life style of the bourgeoisie. They also attacked the settling of educated youth in the countryside (177) and the sending of cadres to the "May 7" cadre schools. (178) They spread treacherous slanders, contending that the former policy was "a disguised form of compulsory labour" and the latter "a disguised form of unemployment" in the vain hope of diverting the cadres and the younger generation from Chairman Mao's correct road and turning them into willing instruments of the counter-revolutionary restoration desired by the capitalist and landlord class. All of this, of course was just a foolish hope on their part. The youth and revolutionary cadres as a whole have already forcefully criticised the shameless slanders of Lin Piao and company both in words and deeds.
Chairman Mao teaches us: "Successors to the revolutionary cause of the proletariat come forward in mass struggles and are tempered in the great storms of revolution. It is essential to test and know cadres and choose and train successors in the long course of mass struggle." (179) This is the fundamental orientation according to which we must train and choose the successors for the revolution; if we thoroughly carry out Chairman Mao's instruction, we will hasten the emergence and growth of the successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat.
There is a popular saying that "A thousand year old pine will not grow in a pot, nor an impetuous charger gallop in a ring." Successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat can only be brought up and tempered in the great storms of mass struggle. Marxists contend that knowledge is born out of practice. The experience in struggle, the art of leadership and the working ability of the people do not drop from the skies; they are gradually accumulated through the practice of revolutionary struggle. Some comrades are worried by the idea of entrusting leadership work to the younger cadres, whom they think are insufficiently prepared politically and incapable of handling heavy tasks; this is an erroneous view. Chairman Mao says: "Let them go into action and learn while doing, and they will become more capable. In this way, fine people will come forward in large numbers. 'Always fearing the
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dragons ahead and the tigers behind' will not produce any cadres." (180) If we want the young cadres to become more capable, we must give them the opportunity to temper themselves in the forefront of the three great revolutionary movements, brave the storms, and learn about the world on the Crests of the waves of class struggles and the two-line struggle. Through actual struggle, they will raise their consciousness of the continuation of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, get a deeper grasp of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and learn to know and use the objective laws of the three great revolutionary movements. Party organisations at all levels must concretely give them guidance while allowing them a free hand in their work so that the younger cadres will get to know the situation, grasp the politics, tackle the problems on their own and lead the work by themselves. The Party organisations must aid the younger cadres concretely, while asking a lot from them; they must pay a lot of attention to them without taking everything into their own hands. They must let the younger cadres make full use of their initiative and creativity under the guidance of the Party's political line and principles. We must encourage them to show a high degree of daring in their practice, dare to go into action and experiment so that through struggle, they will enhance their ability to fight on their own and learn the art of leadership. In that way, they will proceed from a relatively low level of militant practice to a relatively high level, from lack of political maturity to a certain degree of such maturity, and from an inability to lead the work to a definite capacity to do so.To bring up successors for the revolution in the process of struggle, we must apply the five requirements formulated by Chairman Mao and implement the line of deploying people on the basis of their abilities. Chairman Mao has pointed out that successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat "must be genuine Marxist-Leninists," they must "be revolutionaries who whole-heartedly serve the majority of the people of China and the whole world," they must "be proletarian statesmen capable of uniting and working together with the overwhelming majority"; "they must be models in applying the Party's democratic centralism, must master the method of leadership based on the principle of from the masses to the masses and must cultivate a democratic style and be good at listening to the masses"; "they must be modest and prudent and guard against arrogance and impetuosity; they must be imbued with the spirit of self-criticism and have the courage to correct mistakes and shortcomings in their work." (181) These five requirements put forward by Chairman Mao are the most correct criteria with which to train and choose the successors for the revolutionary
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cause of the proletariat. Party organisations must conscientiously study, fully understand and firmly apply these five requirements to train successors for the revolution. We must lay stress on placing in leading posts at all levels those outstanding comrades who have been tempered in the movement of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, have a high level of consciousness of the two-line struggle, dare to combat every unhealthy tendency, are qualified and efficient in various fields and show a great deal of enthusiasm. We must particularly lay stress on selecting the outstanding elements from among the workers and poor and lower-middle peasants, and pay attention to training women cadres and national minority cadres. We must not select for leading posts those "Wise Old Man" elements who are submerged up to the neck in their vocational pursuits, have no interest in politics and want to hurt no one's feelings. At the same time, we must especially watch out for selfish careerists, conspirators and double-dealers like Khrushchov, and prevent such bad elements from sneaking onto leading bodies and usurping the leadership of the Party and the state at any level.
In training successors for the revolution we must correctly apply the principle of the "three-in-one" combination of the old, the middle-aged and the young. The creation of the "three-in-one" combinations by the broad revolutionary masses during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is the product of the integration of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought with the mass movements. The Constitution Of the Party adopted at the Tenth Congress has clearly defined the application of the "three-in-one" combination of the old, the middle-aged and the young in the leading bodies at all levels as an organisational principle of the Party; this greatly assists us in the organisational sphere and provides us with extremely favourable conditions for training successors for the revolution in accordance with the five requirements formulated by Chairman Mao. Practice has shown that the application of the principle of combining the old, the middle-aged and the young in the Leading bodies at all levels is an important means of training successors for the revolution in the process of struggle. Our older revolutionary comrades who have been tempered through long years of revolutionary struggle have a rich experience and good leadership capacities. Younger cadres are the most eager to learn, the least conservative ideologically, are extremely open to what is new, dare to think, speak and act; they are the future and hope of our revolution. Many middle-aged cadres combine some of the characteristics of both the old and young cadres, moreover they are full of energy and occupy pivotal positions in the leading bodies. If in collective leadership we find old, middle-aged and young cadres who all work together, learn from each
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other, Complement one another and progress together, this not only makes the leading body vigorous and full of fighting spirit, but also enables the young to further temper themselves thanks to the impetus, training and help provided by the older generation, and to assume, after a short period of time, the task of Continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. (182)
Training the successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat is not a matter of training one or two persons but millions upon millions. On all fronts, in every unit or department, at every post, we must train successors for the revolution. This task cannot be fulfilled unless the whole Party attaches importance to it and everyone goes to work.
Party organisations absolutely must heighten their knowledge of the strategic significance of the training and upbringing of the successors to the revolution, look at this problem from the high plane of the two-line struggle and the class struggle, and shoulder the task of training successors as an important one in order to develop and strengthen the Party and implement Chairman Mao's revolutionary line. This question must be kept on the agenda of Party committees. It must be frequently discussed and studied, and we must exercise control and sum up the experiences in this field. In linking this task to the movement to criticise Lin Piao and rectify the style of work, we must more profoundly study Chairman Mao's teachings on the training of the successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat, criticise the nonsense spread on this question by Lin Piao and other swindlers like him, wipe out the ideological roadblocks and raise our consciousness. Some comrades think it necessary to "classify generations according to their 'assets'." They only consider experience as an "asset." We consider revolutionary experience as a very precious thing. If a cadre has a considerable wealth of experience, which means he has been educated by the Party for many years, and has gone through prolonged trials in revolutionary struggle, he will generally have a high level of consciousness on the question of line, and still more experience in the work. Therefore, our Party always looks upon older cadres as precious treasures. However, if we compare a wealth of experience on the one hand, with aptitude and ability on the other, the former comes out second best. We must not attach too much importance to experience, much less consider it above aptitude and ability. If we "classify" the generations according to their "assets," we will
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see only the "assets" of the cadres and the "generation" to which they belong and not their "ability" and "aptitude," and it will thus become impossible to select the outstanding elements among the workers and poor and lower-middle peasants and place them in leading posts; a great many talents will remain unused and the cause of the Party will suffer. We must absolutely discard the mistaken view of "classifying" the generations according to their "assets" and boldly promote what is new. There are also some comrades who think that since there are new cadres in the leading bodies, we can slow down the work of training successors. This is an erroneous view. It must be well understood that the deep-going unfolding of socialist revolution and the advance by leaps and bounds of the work of socialist construction requires a large number of cadres with much aptitude and ability. If we do not immediately get down to the work of training and choosing them we are liable to give rise to a breach in the Party's work at a later date, especially since the development of cadres requires a whole process of training and up-bringing. We must therefore resolutely do away with the view that we can go about it slowly, but just the opposite, we should make good use of the present opportune time, live up to the needs of the situation and actively carry out the work of training and choosing successors. The view that "it is better not to promote many persons to higher levels than to promote them" is even a narrower view. The training of successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat concerns the cause of revolution as a whole; it is inseparable from the ultimate aim of total emancipation of all mankind. Therefore, we must acquire an all-sided perspective,\act in the style of Longkiang (183) and not pay attention only to our unit, department or district. All enterprises and factories, people's communes in rural areas and various organisations and sectors of our socialist country must not only produce and do their work well, but must also bring out new talents and raise millions of successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat. The primary organisations of the Party must actively pay attention to training a replacement force and willingly send teams of new cadres to posts where they are most needed for the revolutionary cause; such is the correct attitude we must adopt.
We must take really effective measures to strengthen the training and upbringing of revolutionary successors in various spheres. On the one hand, Party organisations must create the favourable conditions for the new cadres to steel themselves in the practice of struggle, and on the other hand, adequately organise their study, their work and manual activities and conscientiously help them to resolve the contradictions between work and study. At the same time, taking into consideration the needs of the situation, we must, at the opportune time, in ap-
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propriate numbers and in a planned way, send teams of them to study the Marxist-Leninist Classics and the works of Chairman Mao in worker-peasant-soldier study groups, and in various other reading groups, so as to deepen their grasp of Marxism-Leninism and imbue them with the dialectical and historical materialist world outlook. (184) Party organisations must strengthen their leadership with regard to the work of training successors. They must attend to their development on the political front and teach them through painstaking ideological and political work, never to divorce themselves from reality, from the masses or from manual work. If the new Cadres reveal shortcomings or commit mistakes in the process of struggle, Party organisations must help them to analyse the whys and wherefores, sum up their experiences, distinguish between what is good and what is bad, and raise their level. These organisations must also shoulder their responsibilities, encourage them to work in all earnest, and should neither unjustly rebuke them nor criticise them excessively. This is the only way to ensure that the new cadres will draw the lessons from their mistakes and failures on their own, commit fewer mistakes and undergo a healthy development.
The training of millions of successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat is not the business only of the Party organisations and departments, but concerns the Party as a whole. The Party organisations and the entire membership must correctly handle this work and strive to carry it out well. Comrades in leading posts in particular, must wholeheartedly serve the overwhelming majority, put the interests of the Party and the people above all else, willingly take up the work of training revolutionary successors, warmly welcome the growth of these new forces and take good care of them. They must correctly appraise the new cadres who have been placed in leading posts, be good at discerning their characteristics and inclinations, and if they find out that they have shortcomings or make mistakes, adopt a correct attitude and warmly help them to mend their ways; the attitude of looking at events from afar, without getting embroiled, or of laughing at people is absolutely incorrect.
All the revolutionary youth must strive to meet the five requirements for successors to the revolutionary cause of the proletariat; they must be strict with themselves, and not disappoint the great hopes the Party and the people place in them. The newly integrated cadres in leading bodies must also have a correct attitude. They must be far-sighted and grasp the protracted nature and complexity of the struggle between the bourgeoisie and. the proletariat over the successors during the whole historical period of socialism; they must consciously repulse the attacks of sugar-coated bullets of the bourgeoisie, draw lessons from the fact
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that some people, failing to pay attention to remoulding their world outlook, are won over by the bourgeoisie; they must not be "as short-lived as roses." They must also be modest and prudent, strictly "dissect" themselves, conscientiously study, consciously strive to remould their world outlook, overcome non-proletarian ideas, strengthen their proletarian Party spirit, find the proper balance between the role of the individual and the Party organisation; in the three great revolutionary movements, they must modestly learn from older cadres and the masses, accept the supervision of the masses and get rid of bad styles of work; they must be prepared to accept a higher or lower post, be "mandarins" as well as ordinary people, be able to stand the test of repeated ups and downs; they must understand the importance of their responsibilities, always put the interests of the Party first, have general knowledge and views on the over-all situation, and seek unity; they must act under all circumstances, in accordance with the Party's political line and principles and make contributions to the Party and the people. New cadres must strive hard to always preserve the spirit of hard struggle of the working people, even though they have been promoted; they must still be determined to carry on revolution and wholeheartedly serve the people even if they are in high positions; although they have become leaders, they must always behave as pupils of the masses, forever preserve their revolutionary vigour and forever progress along the road of continuing the revolution.
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The Constitution of the Party outlines the five main tasks of the primary organisations of the Party, which are extremely important in developing and strengthening these organisations and enabling them to play their full role as fighting detachments, and in carrying out Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, strengthening the leadership of the Party and consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The necessity for the development and strengthening of the primary organisations of the Party is determined by the very nature of our Party. The Communist Party of China is the political party of the proletariat, the vanguard of the proletariat, and its highest form of organisation; it is the core of leadership of the whole Chinese people. The leadership of the Party operates through the primary organisations which lead the general Party membership and the revolutionary masses in carrying out Chairman Mao's political line and principles. The primary organisations of the Party are the structures through which the Party's line, orientation, policies and the various fighting tasks assigned by the Party are implemented; they constitute the core through which the Party exercises its leadership of the primary units and other revolutionary mass organisations; they are the bastions of the revolution guiding the Party members and the revolutionary masses in their struggle against the class' enemy. Only by developing and strengthening the primary organisations of the Party can the Party's leadership be strengthened on all fronts, and can the Party retain its nature as the vanguard of the proletariat.
The development and strengthening of the primary organisations of the Party is required by the organisational principle of our Party. The
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Communist Party of China is a compact organisation based on the principle of democratic centralism. From the Central Committee to the local organisations, from the local organisations to the primary organisations, it is a unified body. The primary organisations form the organisational basis of the Party.. If the Party were not ideologically, politically and organisationally united, it would become a disorganised collective and it would be unable to resist the hard trials of class struggle and the two-line struggle; its fighting capacity would be weakened and it would become impossible to carry through the task of consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat in every factory, neighbourhood, organisation and school. (185)
The development and strengthening of the primary organisations of the Party is required by the historical task of the Party. If our Party is to succeed in abolishing the system of exploitation of man by man and assist in the realisation of communism the world over, it is necessary to develop and strengthen the primary organisations of the Party, mobilise the whole Party membership and the revolutionary masses and organise a large revolutionary army which will march forth like a raging torrent to fulfil the historical task of the Party. The primary organisations of the Party are the bridges by which the leading bodies of the Party maintain close links with the masses. They are bastions which guide the millions upon millions of our people in struggle and in construction. Only the development and strengthening of the primary organisations of the Party enables us to go all out in the struggle to bring about communism and the emancipation of all mankind.
The development and strengthening of the primary organisations of the Party is a very important question to which Chairman Mao has always paid close attention. From the very foundation of our Party, he personally took part in the practice of setting up Party organisations in the primary units. He firmly criticised the erroneous views of the opportunists on Party building and formulated a series of lines, orientations and policies to develop and strengthen the primary organisations of the Party. Chairman Mao also personally participated in recruiting members for the Party and established Party branches amongst the workers of the Anyuan Coal Mines. (186) He established primary organisations of the Party in the countryside such as Shaoshan branch of the Communist Party of China (187) and he also personally led the work of forming Party branches in the companies and squadrons of the Red Army. At the time of the struggle in the Chingkang Mountains, he pointed out: " 'The Party branch is organized on a company basis'; this an important reason why the Red Army has been able to carry on such arduous fighting without falling apart." (188) He criticised the erroneous
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tendencies of neglecting or opposing the establishment of Party branches in the companies of the Red Army, and showed the great importance of firmly establishing primary organisations of the Party. Throughout the new democratic revolution, Chairman Mao always Considered Party building as the most important of the three magic weapons to defeat the enemy. After the liberation of the whole country, Chairman Mao again repeatedly issued important instructions on the question of the development and strengthening of the primary organisations of the Party. During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, he again emphatically declared: "Every Party branch must reconsolidate itself in the midst of the masses. This must be done with the participation of the mass and not merely a few Party members; it is necessary to have the masses outside the Party attend the meeting and give comments." (189) Chairman Mao's important instructions have clearly indicated the fundamental political orientation for building the primary organisations of the Party and giving them an advanced proletarian character.
Throughout the history of our Party, the struggle between the two lines on the question of building the primary organisations has always been very acute. At the time of the foundation of the Red Amy, the opportunists within the Party opposed the establishment of Party branches in the companies; they quite openly advocated the necessity of abolishing the system of Party representatives in the Red Army companies in order to draw the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army away from the leadership of the Party. In the period of the socialist revolution, Liu Shao-chi, un Piao and other swindlers of the same type opposed Chairman Mao's proletarian line concerning Party building with all their strength. They fought against the Party leadership, striving to substitute the "system of a single leader" for the system of Party committees, so that the gun would command the Party, (190) in the vain hope of turning the primary organisations of the Party into their tools to oppose the dictatorship of the proletariat, sabotage the proletarian revolution and restore capitalism.
These facts clearly show that whether or not to strengthen and develop the primary organisations of the Party is an important aspect of the two-line struggle on Party building, that it is a major question closely tied to that of whether or not to uphold the leadership of the Party and build the Party by giving it a Proletarian vanguard character. The primary organisations of the Party must resolutely carry out Chairman Mao's line on Party building, criticise the crimes of Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and company who sabotaged the building of the primary organisations of the Party, continue building the primary organisations by giving them a
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proletarian vanguard character and consider building the primary organisations of the Party as a front-rank battle task.
The Constitution of the Party defines the main tasks of the primary organisations of the Party as follows:
1. "To lead the Party members and non-Party members in studying Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought conscientiously and in criticizing revisionism."
To lead the Party members and revolutionary masses in studying Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought conscientiously and in criticising revisionism constitutes a guarantee that the primary organisations of the Party will continue to practise Marxism and not revisionism. This task determines the political orientation for the development of the primary organisations and is their most fundamental militant task.
In all their work, the primary organisations of the Party must put this task in the forefront and strive to develop themselves as fighting detachments which study, propagate, defend and practise Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. They must heighten the determination of Party members and the revolutionary masses to study, establish in their minds the idea of studying for the revolution and strive to understand and assimilate through assiduous and conscientious study. They must resolutely implement the revolutionary style of work of Integrating theory and practice and consider and solve all problems by proceeding from the stand, viewpoint and method of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. It is especially necessary for the leading bodies to study conscientiously, diligently, and even better than others. They must concentrate and propagate the positive experiences of the masses and the good methods of study and constantly deepen the study movement. They must train and educate the elements that are the mainstay of the revolutionary work, see to it that they are closely linked with the masses, involve everyone and persist in study.
The primary organisations of the Party must mobilise and lead Party members and the revolutionary masses in criticising revisionism. Revisionism is an international bourgeois ideological trend and is still the main danger at the present time. Therefore, Party organisations must frequently and persistently launch revolutionary mass movements to criticise revisionism, the bourgeois world outlook and the ideology of
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all exploiting classes. At the same time, they must pay close attention to class struggle in the superstructure — including the various spheres of culture. They must carry out both the study of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and the criticism of revisionism as a long-term task to develop and strengthen the Party.
2. "To give constant education to the Party members and non-Party members concerning the ideological and political line and lead them in fighting resolutely against the class enemy."
The Communist Party is the revolutionary party of the proletariat; it is the instrument of the proletariat in waging class struggle against the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes. The primary organisations of the Party are the front-rank detachments which lead the Party members and the revolutionary masses in their fight against the class enemy. Therefore, they must constantly analyse and study the new characteristics of the class struggle and of the two-line struggle in every new situation, conscientiously take up the important questions of the class struggle and the two-line struggle and rely on the masses and mobilise them to actively wage class struggle and the two-line struggle. In certain places, the Party organisations are engrossed in daily routines and minor matters and pay no attention to major issues; this is extremely dangerous. If these organisations do not mend their ways, they will inevitably step onto the road of revisionism.
Party organisations must lead the Party members and the broad revolutionary masses in conscientiously studying Chairman Mao's theory on class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat and the Party's basic line for the entire historical period of socialism, in acquiring a deep understanding of the characteristics and laws of class struggle in socialist society, and in criticising in a deep-going way the "theory of the dying out of class struggle" spread by Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and other swindlers of the same type, so as to enable the masses to show a high degree of initiative in waging class struggle. In waging struggle, they must mobilise the masses while allowing them a free hand in action, do as much study and investigation as possible, be good at strictly distinguishing between the two different types of contradictions, correctly implement the Party's policies concerning the struggle between ourselves and the enemy, and hit hard, precisely and without mercy at the handful of class enemies.
Providing ideological and political education is fundamental for the building of our Party ideologically. Because of the long-term nature of the class struggle and the two-line struggle, we will have to carry on this education for a long period of time. The Party organisations must shoulder this task of educating the Party members and revolutionary
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masses in ideology and politics in accordance with Chairman Mao'steachings. Taking the Marxist-Leninist classics and the works of Chairman Mao as the basic material, they must provide lively and effective education in the form of Party courses or by setting up study groups, and use such methods as relating the history of the factory, neighbourhood, family, company, etc., to constantly heighten the consciousness of the Party members and the revolutionary masses concerning the struggle between the two lines, increase their ability to distinguish genuine from sham Marxism and to stand up for and consciously implement Chairman Mao's revolutionary line.
3. "To propagate and carry out the policies of the Party, implement its decisions and fulfil every task assigned by the Party and the state."
All our Party's policies represent in a concentrated form the basic interests of the proletariat and of the working people as a whole. They embody Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and constitute powerful ideological weapons to unite the people and defeat the enemy. Chairman Mao says: "Policy and tactics are the life of the Party." (191) Determining what policy the primary organisations of the Party are implementing is not an unimportant trifle, but on the contrary, a major issue related to the orientation and line. Only by conscientiously carrying out all of Chairman Mao's proletarian policies can they do a good job and successfully accomplish the tasks assigned by the Party and the state. The primary organisations of the Party must constantly propagate the political principles of the Party amongst the Party members and revolutionary masses, so that the masses will be able to understand and grasp them in good time and turn the political principles of the Party into conscious deeds. In carrying out the policies of the Party, the primary organisations must see to it that the correct relationship is maintained between the basic line of the Party on the one hand, and the general political principles as well as various specific policies on the other. The basic line of the Party defines the general principles and concrete policies to follow in order to distinguish between and properly handle the two different types of contradictions. Thus, we must always keep in mind the basic line of the Party in order to correctly understand the true spirit of its various specific policies. Only thus can we, in implementing these policies, be far-sighted, integrate the immediate interests of the masses with their long-term interests, and the interests of the part with those of the whole, clearly discern the line that divides the contradictions between the enemy and ourselves from the contradictions among the people and in all matters act in accordance with the Party's policy. To carry out the policies of the Party — including in the domain of class struggle and the two-line struggle — we must remain
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highly vigilant, uphold principles, unmask and smash the sabotaging activities of the class enemy. We must eliminate right and "left" disruptions and staunchly fight all ideas and deeds that run counter to the policies of our Party. The primary organisations of the Party must firmly implement the Party's decisions. They must organise the Party members and the revolutionary masses so that they work hard to fulfil the various tasks set by the Party and guarantee their accomplishment
4. "To maintain close ties with the masses, constantly listen to their opinions and demands and wage an active ideological struggle so as to keep Party life vigorous."
Being closest to the masses of the people, the primary organisations of the Party must maintain the closest of ties with them. They must breathe the same air, share the same lot, be amongst them as fish in water, as blood in the flesh and dig deep roots among them They must constantly listen to their opinions and their aspirations and discuss with them any problem that arises The more we are familiar with a problem the more a problem urgently needs solution, the more we have to listen to the opinions of the masses. The heavier a task is and the more the work, the more we must pay attention to the opinions of the masses The more victories we win and the more we have won the confidence of the masses, the more we must listen to them.
In accordance with Chairman Mao's teaching: "The philosophy of the Communist Party is one of struggle," (192) the primary organisations of the Party must wage an active ideological struggle within the Party. They must purify the Party's organisational and democratic life, and conscientiously practise criticism and self-criticism. They must mobilise the Party members and the revolutionary masses and support them in their struggle against erroneous tendencies and all non-proletarian ideas. The cadres of the primary organisations of the Party must, on their own initiative, come under the supervision of the masses and modestly listen to their criticism; if they have shortcomings or make mistakes, they must recognise and correct them. They must combat self and repudiate revisionism right in front of the masses and not "cultivate themselves within four walls" and "wage revolution in their innermost being" as advocated by Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao.
5. "To take in new Party members, enforce Party discipline and constantly consolidate the Party organizations, getting rid of the stale and taking in the fresh, so as to maintain the purity of the Party ranks."
Getting rid of the stale to take in the fresh covers two aspects: one is ideological, the other is organisational. Getting rid of the stale and taking in the fresh ideologically comes first but the organisational aspect is also very important. This is an important guarantee for expanding the
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Party ranks and maintaining their advanced character and purity. We must constantly get rid of the stale and take in the fresh in the ideological as well as in the organisational sphere by depending on the dialectics of the contradictions inside the Party. We must integrate into the Party the advanced elements who come forward in the practise of the three great revolutionary movements and clear out proven renegades, enemy agents, absolutely unrepentant persons in power taking the capitalist road, degenerates and alien class elements. All the individuals whose cases exhibit the features of contradictions between the enemy and ourselves and are handled as such, must without exception be cleared out of the Party; for those whose cases constitute contradictions between the enemy and ourselves but are handled as contradictions among the people, in general, they must also be cleared out of the Party so as to maintain the purity of the Party organisations The primary organisations must as specified in the Constitution of the Party periodically hold elections; they must uphold the principle of the "three-in-one" combination of the old, the middle-aged and young people, and integrate and strengthen the new forces. They must, by observing the five requirements for successors to the revolutionary cause of the proletariat, lay stress on selecting outstanding members of the Communist Party for the leading posts in the Party organisations at all levels, in order to guarantee the vitality of our Party's cause.
To develop and strengthen the Party, we must also constantly heighten the Party members' will to observe Party discipline. Submitting the entire Party to a unified discipline constitutes a true guarantee of preserving the centralised unity of the Party and carrying out Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line; this requirement is necessary in order to win complete victory in the revolution and consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat. Therefore the primary organisations of the Party must fully recognise the importance of submitting the Party to a single unified discipline; they must educate the members so as to strengthen their concept of discipline and apply it consciously. Towards members who violate the Party discipline, we must in accordance with the Constitution of the Party distinguish the nature and degree of the violation, criticise and seriously help them, and if needed, take the appropriate disciplinary measures so that the Party's discipline will be treated seriously.
In short, the primary organisations of the Party must actively work to fulfil, one by one, all of these five main tasks outlined in the Constitution. Only in this way will they be able to fully play their role as front-rank fighting detachments.
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In order to fulfil their five fighting tasks, the primary organisations of the Party must absolutely ensure their own consolidation.
They must take up the ideological and political work of the members of the Communist Party and bring their initiative into full play. The role of the primary organisations of the Party as front-rank fighting detachments cannot be separated from the exemplary vanguard role of the Party members. Therefore the primary organisations of the Party must strengthen their ideological and political work, constantly heighten the consciousness of their members with regard to class struggle and the two-line struggle, raise their political level, and increase their working capacity, make every member of the Communist Party a vanguard fighter of the proletariat, full of enthusiasm and vigour, and actively take the initiative in leading the masses to fulfil all the fighting tasks assigned by the Party and the state. In carrying out the line, guiding principles and policies of the Party, they must organise to conscientiously study and discuss them, grasp their fundamental spirit, grasp the tasks and carry out study on methods so that the members will be able to carry out the line, guiding principles and policies of the Party consciously. Party branches must constantly listen to the criticisms and suggestions made by their members concerning the Party's work at the base and provide them with the opportunity to air their views freely. They must be concerned with the work of their members, prepare the conditions for them to be able to accomplish the tasks, and then check up on the work; praise them at the appropriate moment when they are successful and point out their shortcomings in due time, as well as help them in summing up their experience and drawing conclusions from it. In this way, the Party members' political consciousness, their degree of political understanding and their capacity to work will be increased, and their initiative will be brought into full play at all times.
We must firmly take up the work of the Party groups and see to it that their role is given full scope. The Party group is a militant collective under the leadership of the Party branch. The way in which the Party groups play their role is directly related to the exemplary vanguard role of the Party members, as well as to the role of the Party branches as front-rank fighting detachments. Therefore the primary organisations of the Party must be resolute in firmly seizing in their hands the important link provided by the Party groups and must bring their militant role into full
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play. Party groups must conscientiously make sure that their members study Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, Chairman Mao's theory on building the Party, the Constitution of the Party, as well as the documents repudiating revisionism. They must uphold the basic political line and principles of the Party, constantly raise their members' consciousness of class struggle and the two-line struggle as well as their ability to distinguish between genuine and sham Marxism, and lead the Party members and the revolutionary masses in the fight against the class enemy. These groups must also do a good job of taking in new members, training and testing activists, and reporting on the situation to the Party branch. Party groups must fully implement the decisions of the Party branch, fulfil the tasks with which they have been entrusted by the branch, study the ideological and political situation of the Party members and the masses and reflect their aspirations. They must often use the method of criticism and self-criticism. Members of the Party who are also cadres and have leadership responsibilities must join a Party group and take part in its activities in the same way as ordinary members.
We must revolutionise ourselves ideologically so that the Party branches will indeed become "squads" and bring into full play the leading role of the primary organisations of the Party. The key point in , bringing the role of the mass organisations of the Party into full play as front-rank fighting detachments is to set up a revolutionary leading body which has close ties with the masses and ensures that the leadership of the primary organisations of the Party is firmly in the hands of Marxist revolutionaries, workers, poor and middle peasants and other representatives of the labouring masses. The primary organisations of the Party must practise the system of combining collective leadership with the division of tasks and responsibilities. As for very important matters, they must all be discussed collectively by the branch committee (193) (or the Party committee) before any decision is taken and implemented. All the people should have their say, not one person alone. The committees of the primary organisations must regularly develop the democratic life of the organisation, and engage in mutual criticism and self-criticism so as to strengthen the centralised leadership they exercise over the revolutionary committees, labour unions, poor and lower-middle peasant associations, women's federations, the Communist Youth League, the Red Guards and the Little Red Guards and other organisations of the revolutionary masses. The leading bodies of the primary organisations must conscientiously study the Marxist-Leninist classics and the works of Chairman Mao, be in the forefront of the three great revolutionary movements, namely class struggle, the struggle for
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production and scientific experiment, work hard to Change their world outlook, always maintain the fine qualities of the working people in order to prevent and defeat bureaucracy, prevent revisionism and always keep their revolutionary youthfulness. When the Party branches are revolutionised to the extent of being like "squads," the work of the whole Party will receive a great impetus and the primary organisations of the Party will be able to fully play their role as front-rank fighting detachments.
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The members of the Communist Party, as the advanced elements of the proletariat, must consciously observe the five requirements of Party members as defined in the Constitution. They must be strict with themselves, fully assume their exemplary vanguard role in the three great revolutionary struggles, and lead the broad revolutionary masses in the struggle to implement the basic line of the Party and to accomplish all its fighting tasks.
Chairman Mao teaches us: "Here the exemplary vanguard role of the Communists is of vital importance. Communists in the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies should set an example in fighting bravely, carrying out orders, observing discipline, doing political work and fostering internal unity and solidarity." (194) Chairman Mao's teaching provides a frame of reference for the members of our Party who must all endeavour to implement it. In practice, they must play a three-fold role: they must be examples for the people, they must be mainstays of the revolutionary work and they must act as bridges between the Party and the people.
To be examples for the people, they must be in the forefront in defending Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, in adhering to the orientation of the Party and implementing its policies as well as the instructions and decisions of higher Party bodies. In carrying out every task, they must always set the example, arouse the masses and influence them by their own deeds, and lead them in implementing Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and in adhering to the orientation and policies of the Party.
To act as mainstays of the revolutionary work, they must play an exemplary vanguard role in the three great revolutionary struggles. They must be at the forefront in studying the Marxist-Leninist classics and the
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works of Chairman Mao, the first to engage the Class enemy in battle, the first to fulfil the tasks of production, to dare to carry on scientific experimentation and surmount difficulties. They must unite and lead the masses in order to fulfil all the tasks assigned by the Party and the state.
To act as bridges between the Party and the people, they must forge close ties with the masses, and carry out active propaganda and education among them on the basis of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, and on the basis of the line, orientation and policies of the Party. They must be able to concentrate the wisdom and experience of the masses through struggle and always understand and reflect their opinions and demands.
It is the very nature of our Party that makes it necessary for members to play an exemplary vanguard role among the masses. Our Party is the vanguard of the proletariat. The advanced character of our Party is embodied not only in its guiding thought, programme, line and political principles, but also in the exemplary vanguard role assumed by its members. Therefore all communists must endeavour to base all their actions on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. They must be strict with themselves in accordance with the standards expected of the advanced elements of the proletariat and must always be exemplary in their actions in order to serve as models for the masses and play a vanguard role among them.
It is also the militant tasks faced by the Party which make it necessary for communists to play an exemplary vanguard role among the masses. To turn the noble ideal of communism into a reality, the Party must wage a protracted and arduous struggle and it requires large numbers of advanced elements who dedicate their entire lives to revolution. The members of the Communist Party are these advanced elements. The basic line and immediate fighting tasks of our Party must be carried out by every one of its members. Only if the communists assume their exemplary vanguard role to the fullest will we really be in a position to make the Party organisations front-rank fighting detachments which continue the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, unite and guide the masses in defeating all possible class enemies and accomplish their great historical task.
It is also the position of the Party which makes it necessary for communists to play an exemplary vanguard role among the masses. Our Party is the leader and organiser of the Chinese people and enjoys great prestige among them. The broad masses have faith in our Party and support it, because it is a great, glorious and correct Party nurtured by Chairman Mao himself and because it upholds Chairman Mao's Marxist-Leninist line. But another reason why the masses support the Party is that
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they can see the exemplary vanguard role that is played by its members. The words and deeds of the communists are very important to building the prestige and influence of the Party among the masses. This means that we communists must in all things, proceed from the interests of the Party and make sure that all our words and deeds have a beneficial influence on the masses, that we carry out the political line, orientation and principles of the Party in a conscious way, acting as models and that everywhere we go, we preserve the prestige of the Party, so that the masses will cherish and support it even more.
Swindlers like Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao, who carried out a revisionist line on the question of Party building, corrupted and poisoned the members of the Party with the rotten and decadent ideology of the capitalist and landlord classes, hoping to stifle the communists' vigorous revolutionary spirit, divert them from their exemplary vanguard role and thus pervert the nature of the Party and realise their criminal plot of restoring capitalism. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to wage deep-going criticism of the revisionist line of Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao on Party building, liquidate their pernicious influence and struggle hard to maintain the Party's character as the vanguard of the proletariat.
In order to play their exemplary vanguard role among the masses to the best of their ability, members of the Communist Party must maintain high standards and meet high requirements. Everywhere they go and in everything they do, they must be strict with themselves and spur themselves on, closely adhering to the five requirements which advanced elements of the proletariat must meet.
The criteria defining the advanced elements of the proletariat are the "five requirements" outlined in the Constitution of the Party. They call upon communists to conscientiously study Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and criticise revisionism, work for the interests of the vast majority of the people of China and the world, be good at uniting with the large majority, including those who have wrongly opposed them but are sincerely correcting their mistakes, while however, maintaining special vigilance against careerists, conspirators and double-dealers so as to prevent such bad elements from usurping the leadership of the Party or the state at any level and guaranteeing that the leadership of the Party and the state always remain in the hands of Marxism revolutionaries, consult with the masses when problems arise, be bold
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in making criticism and self-criticism.
These five points communists must put into practice have been put forward by our great leader Chairman Mao after having summed up the historical experience of the dictatorship of the proletariat on the international scale, and taking into account its positive as well as its negative aspects. They are important strategic measures aimed at preventing revisionism and guaranteeing that our Party and state will never change their colour. They constitute the concentrated expression of the proletarian Party spirit and are a guide to action for every communist.
These five points specify the political orientation which must be upheld by the members of the Communist Party. For a communist the fundamental question is that of political orientation, of guiding thought, which means we must "practise Marxism, and not revisionism" (195) In order to carry out this instruction communists must conscientiously study Marxism Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and boldly carry out repudiation of revisionism They must learn to use dialectical and historical materialism to consider and solve problems and strive hard to change their own subjective thinking in the course of changing the objective world. Only in this manner, through sharp and complex struggles, can they develop their ability to ferret out revisionist elements who are pretending to support revolution while opposing it in practice. Only in this manner will they be able to boldly oppose all erroneous lines and tendencies, firmly uphold Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, never depart, in words, or deeds, from the road laid down by Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, and always maintain a firm and correct political orientation.
These five points also show the ultimate aim for which the members of the Communist Party must strive. Chairman Mao says: "We must work for the interests of the vast majority of the people, for the interests of the vast majority of the people of China and for the interests of the vast majority of the people of the world; we must not work for a small number of persons, for the exploiting classes, for the bourgeoisie, or for the landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements or Rightists." (196) Do we establish a Party for ourselves or in the common interest? There lies the dividing line between a bourgeois party and a proletarian party and it is also the touchstone that enables us to distinguish between true communists and sham ones. If a communist does not wholeheartedly serve the people, but instead serves a small group or strives to enhance his own reputation and personal advantage, he has abandoned the proletarian party spirit and can no longer be considered a communist. The counter-revolutionary revisionist cliques of Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao were made up of careerists, conspirators, and double-
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dealing individuals exclusively devoted to the interests of a small minority, the interests of the bourgeoisie, and they were finally thrown, one after the other, into the garbage heap of history by the people. We must absolutely resist all corrosion by bourgeois ideas and the ideology of other exploiting classes and become imbued with the communist spirit of entirely and whole-heartedly serving the people.
These five points define the correct line in which all the members of the Communist Party must persevere. Communists must uphold Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, firmly take up class struggle and the two-line struggle and always remain highly vigilant so as to prevent selfish careerists and conspirators from usurping the leadership of the Party or the state. Communists must work for unity and oppose Splitting, and must unite the large majority of people around themselves so as to isolate the small handful of class enemies to the maximum and attack them.
Finally, these five points express the method and style of work which members of the Communist Party must adopt. They require that we communists implement the excellent style of work of seeking truth from facts and following the mass line, maintain the glorious traditions of modesty, prudence and hard struggle and boldly practise criticism and self-criticism Communists are the advanced elements of the proletariat, and not exceptional individuals standing above the masses. While distinguishing himself from the non-Party masses, a communist must also be seen by them to retain the basic attitude of an ordinary worker. Only thus will he be able to guide the masses in their struggle and fulfil, as communists must, a vanguard role.
Fundamentally, the exemplary vanguard role of the members of the Communist Party finds its expression in their unfailing implementation of Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, their practise of always standing in the forefront of the struggle between the two classes, the two roads and the two lines, their leadership of the broad revolutionary masses against the class enemy, and in their unreserved dedication to the fulfilment of the historical mission of the proletariat. Therefore the criterion which determines whether or not a communist is advanced is his degree of consciousness concerning the line. Each communist must pay close attention to the line, always keep the basic line of the Party in mind and constantly develop his level of consciousness of class struggle and the struggle between the two lines, so as to fully and on all fronts play his role as an advanced element of the proletariat.
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For Communists, the question of remoulding their world outlook is the question of Completely adhering to the Party ideologically.
Chairman Mao teaches us: "The struggle of the proletariat and the revolutionary people to change the world comprises the fulfilment of the following tasks: to change the objective world and, at the same time, their own subjective world — to change their cognitive ability and change the relations between the subjective and the objective world." (197) The objective world is in perpetual progress, as is society. As the work of building socialism in our country rapidly proceeds, the requirement that communists change their own subjective world becomes ever more urgent. At the same time, we must realise that since classes and class struggle still exist in the period of socialism, the bourgeoisie is continuously seeking by every possible means, using every available medium, to spread its own rotten and decadent world outlook and life-style, hoping to corrupt our Party members. If the communists relax their vigilance against this and do not oppose it, they cannot become advanced elements of the proletariat. Therefore, communists must study conscientiously, thoroughly grasp Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, and they must take an active part in the three great revolutionary struggles and work hard to change their world outlook.
In order to conscientiously remould our world outlook and completely adhere to the Party ideologically, we must carry out painstaking study of the Marxist-Leninist classics and the works of Chairman Mao. Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought constitutes the sharpest ideological weapon to change the objective and subjective world. We communists must resolutely arm ourselves with Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and while changing the objective world, strive to change our own subjective world, in order to continue the revolution and constantly make progress. The semi-revolutionary idea that "the ship has arrived in the harbour and the train at the station" is incorrect. It is also incorrect for a communist to think that there is no need for him to transform himself, or that he has already transformed himself enough. Communists in leading positions must pay particularly close attention to changing their subjective world. Facts have shown that the ability of comrades to implement the Party's political line and principles, their persistence in keeping to the socialist road and the success
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of the units which they lead in carrying out the Party's fighting tasks all directly depend on the manner in which they carry out the remoulding of their subjective world. Thus these comrades must study the Marxist-Leninist classics and the works of Chairman Mao extremely consciously, be good at modestly listening to the opinions of the masses and work hard to change their world outlook so as to become model leaders, capable of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
To conscientiously change our world outlook and completely adhere to the Party ideologically, we must also plunge into the three great revolutionary movements of class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment, and strive to change our world outlook in the process of these struggles. Facts show that only by standing in the forefront of class struggle and the two-line struggle can we grasp and make use of the characteristics and laws of class struggle in socialist society and increase our ability to distinguish genuine Marxism from sham. On the question of remoulding one's world outlook, Liu Shao-chi peddled his trash on "self-cultivation" and advocated "shutting oneself up in one's little room." Lin Piao contended it was necessary to "launch revolution in our innermost being." This nonsense totally negates the importance of social practice as well as the importance of studying Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought to remould one's world outlook; it is pure idealistic apriorism. We must vigorously criticise these fallacies and actively strive to change our world outlook through the practice of the three great revolutionary movements in order to become outstanding fighters of the proletariat, worthy of the name.
Chairman Mao teaches us: "In the present epoch of the development of society, the responsibility of correctly knowing and changing the world has been placed by history upon the shoulders of the proletariat and its party." (198) All our lives we communists must strive ever harder to transform our subjective world, make revolution, carry out study and change ourselves. Always following Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, we must strive to struggle to achieve the glorious aim of the realisation of communism.
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The Constitution of the Party stipulates that the primary organisations of the Party must constantly "take in new Party members." Upholding the principle of building the Party in an active and careful manner, taking in new members, absorbing fresh blood — all this is necessary in order to develop and strengthen the Party, increase its fighting capacity, as well as to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat. However, in accepting the admission of a comrade as a Party member, strict conditions and precise procedures must be followed; not everyone who applies for Party membership can become a member of the Party.
Article 1 of Chapter II of the Constitution of the Party specifies that: "Any Chinese worker, poor peasant, lower-middle peasant, revolutionary armyman or any other revolutionary element who has reached the age of eighteen and who accepts the Constitution of the Party, joins a Party organization and works actively in it, carries out the Party's decisions, observes Party discipline and pays membership dues may become a member of the Communist Party of China." This definition represents the fundamental condition for becoming a member of the Party.
The provision of the Constitution of the Party according to which only Chinese workers, poor peasants, lower-middle peasants, revolutionary armymen or any other revolutionary elements can become Party members, is mainly determined by the character of our Party and its historical task of realising communism. It embodies the class character and advanced character of our Party and is a guarantee of the purity of its organisation. By adhering to this condition, we will be able to achieve victory in the Chinese revolution and in the world revolution, following Chairman Mao's revolutionary line.
The Constitution of the Party states that each of its members must "accept the Constitution of the Party": this is a very important point. The
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Constitution of the Party is the basis for the activities of the whole Party. A single Constitution guarantees the political and ideological cohesion of the Party and its unity in the field of organisation and action. The Constitution of the Party defines the nature and guiding thought of the Party, the ultimate aim of its struggle and its basic line for the entire historical period of socialism. It defines the principles and regulations of Party organisation, the conditions and procedures for admission of Party members, etc. All our Party's work is done on the basis of its Constitution and all action which does not conform to the Constitution is forbidden by Party discipline. All members of the Communist Party and all comrades who apply for membership must fully understand this fundamental rule of the Party, accept the Constitution of the Party, always act in accordance with the Constitution and fight with all their might for communism.
The Constitution of the Party specifies that members of the Party must "join a Party organisation and work actively in it, carry out the Party's decisions, observe Party discipline' These are Marxist-Leninist principles of Party building. The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the proletariat, and one of the main reasons for its powerful fighting capacity is the solidity of its organisation. By organising the Party according to these rules, it is possible to make the Party a unified fighting detachment, highly centralised and with compact organisation. From the moment a comrade's admission is approved by the Party, he must participate in the life of the Party by joining one of its organisations, carrying out the Party's decisions, observing its discipline, and actively working for the Party so as to become a communist. If someone refuses to join an organisation of the Party, work actively for the Party, submit himself to the disciplinary control of the organisation and implement the Party's decisions, then he cannot become a member of the communist Party.
The Constitution of the Party states that members must "pay membership dues." Paying membership dues is a token of the members' regard for the Party, it contributes to strengthening the organisational concept of the Party members by constantly reminding them that they are members of the Communist Party, by making this glorious title even more precious and encouraging them to assume everywhere their role as advanced elements and models.
The five tasks a member of the Communist Party must carry out, as enunciated in Article 3 of Chapter II of the Constitution of the Party define the guiding political principles communists must follow. They embody in a concentrated form the proletarian party spirit, character and life-style, which every communist must exhibit. Every active element
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applying for Party membership must take up these "five requirements," be strict with himself and strive to temper himself so as to become an outstanding element of the proletariat.
In the course of our Party's history, the struggle between the two lines has been extremely sharp over the question of what kind of people should become members of the Party. Chairman Mao has said that members of the Communist Party should be advanced elements of the proletariat, and as early as October 1938 in his article The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War, he put forward the policy: "Expand the Party boldly but do not let a single undesirable in." (199) After the whole country had been liberated, he again declared: "Attention must be paid to drawing politically-conscious workers into the Party systematically, expanding the percentage of workers in the Party organization." (200) During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao again gave a series of instructions on Party building and rectification. But Liu Shao-chi, the renegade, enemy agent, traitor to the working class, picking up the tattered robes of the old revisionists, implemented a revisionist line on Party building, advocating bringing the rich peasants and capitalists into the Party with a view to changing our Party's proletarian character. The history of the Party has shown that only by persisting in the strict standards required for the advanced elements of the proletariat can a proletarian political party preserve its class character, its vanguard character and shoulder the historical task of achieving communism.
The admission of new members is extremely serious political and organisational work. Strictly going through the procedures of application for Party membership is the first important condition in ensuring the quality of the membership and the purity of the organisation. For an active element who wishes to join the Party, going through the application procedures is a way of being tested and trained. Therefore the fulfilment of the admission formalities of the Party is of important significance for the Party organisation as well as for those who apply to join it. Article 2 of Chapter II of the Constitution of the Party specifies that: "Applicants for Party membership must go through the procedure for admission individually. An applicant must be recommended by two Party members, fill out an application form for Party membership and be examined by a Party branch, which must seek the opinions of the broad masses inside and outside the Party. Ap-
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plication is subject to acceptance by the general membership meeting of the Party branch and approval by the next highest committee."
In accordance with the principles outlined in the constitution of the Party, a person who joins the Party must necessarily go through the following formalities:
1.He must write, on his own initiative, his application to join the Party. In writing his application, he must explain to the Party organisation the knowledge he has of the Party, the motives leading him to join it and his future intentions. At the same time, he must clearly state to the Party organisation the origin, composition and political history of his family and its main social relations. Some comrades, for fear that their application will not be accepted on their first request, thus causing them to lose face, become very anxious and do not dare to fill one out. It is incorrect to think in that way. Wishing to join the Party is a matter in which we must be open and aboveboard, and even if we are not accepted, on the first request, there is no question of 'losing face.' If we are not accepted, it can be for all sorts of reasons. If the orgnisation points out that a comrade does not yet fulfil the conditions for admission, it is still possible to gain admission by striving hard to consciously steel himself and submit further applications later on. There are comrades who think that since acceptance or rejection of new Party members is decided by the organisation, someone will come to take them by the hand if they meet the conditions for admission, and therefore it is useless to take the initiative of making an application. This view is obviously wrong. The decision to admit someone is taken by the Party organisation which examines whether or not the person fulfils the conditions for admission to the Party; however, joining the Party is a matter of voluntary, personal and conscious desire. A person who wishes to dedicate his life to fight for the cause of communism will certainly express willingly to the Party organisation his decision and his hope of joining the Party. Thus a voluntary decision to apply reflects a comrade's level of consciousness.
2.He must be recommended by two members of the Party. Those two sponsors can either be chosen by hmself, or they can be designated by the Party organisation. When they are chosen by the candidate himself, the best thing is to find members of the Party belonging to the same unit and who know him well. All persons wishing to join the Party must sincerely explain to their sponsors their general situation, frequently sum up their ideological situtation and their situation in their work, and accept their instruction and assistance. A member of the Communist Party who recommends a new member shoulders an important responsibility towards the Party organisation as well as towards the person
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he is recommending. On the one hand, he must seriously and conscientiously investigate the level of consciousness of the comrade whose admission he is recommending with regard to class struggle, the two-line struggle and the continuation of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, his political stands, family situation, social past, ideology, style of work, as well as his motives in applying for Party membership. Moreover, he must give an exact report on his findings to the Party organisation without being ambiguous or voluntarily holding anything back. On the other hand, he must carry out propaganda and educational work with the person he is recommending in order to provide him with a basic understanding of the Party, raise his consciousness of class struggle and the two-line struggle, assist him to have a correct attitude to joining the Party so that he adheres to it first and foremost on the ideological front. After the admission of the comrade he has recommended he still must continue to teach and help him as much as he can.
3. A person who wishes to join the Party must fill out a written application form for Party membership. This application form must be filled out in detail and in all sincerity. In formulating the application, he must be loyal and serious towards the Party, explain exactly his class origin, his family origin, political history and social relations, his reasons for wanting to join the Party, etc. He must not hide or falsify anything. If his political history and social relations are rather complex he must explain them very clearly even though he may have already reported them before. On all important points, he must cite witnesses to enable the organisation to do further examination and investigation. If he cannot write, he should ask a member of the Party to do it for him, but it is necessary to sign his name or affix his mark. Some comrades who have committed mistakes in the past, whose class origin is not good, or whose social relations are complex, are reluctant to fill their application form in precisely, for fear that the facts they bring out will prevent them from being admitted into the Party; this is a wrong point o view. To find out whether these questions will or will not affect their admission into the Party, they must have faith in the Party and the masses who will surely be able to draw a correct conclusion. A revolutionary activist eager to make progress in the political field must possess the political quality of being loyal and serious towards the Party and not tell lies.
4. The application must be approved after discussion by the general membership meeting of the Party branch and be submitted to the next higher Party committee for approval. The Party branch committee must proceed to a strict investigation and extensively seek the opinions of the masses concerning the applicant. After having
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clarified his political past, level of consciousness, behaviour in the work and motives for joining the Party, the branch committee must give its opinion and submit it to the general membership meeting of the Party branch which will have discussion and decide whether or not to accept the application. The applicant must be present at the deliberations of the general membership meeting of the Party branch to listen to the opinions the branch puts forward about him, answer the questions the Party members and the masses ask, submit to the Party's investigation and be educated by it. After the application has been approved by the general membership meeting of the Party branch, it must still be confirmed by the next higher Party committee. Only then is the admission procedure completed.
Because of the training they have acquired during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the movement to criticise un Piao and rectify the style of work, a great number of active elements emerged from the ranks of the workers, poor peasants, lower-middle peasants, revolutionary armymen and other revolutionary sectors. Extremely strict with themselves, setting an example everywhere, they actively strive to become, through practice, glorious members of the Communist Party. They have committed themselves to fight all their lives for the cause of communism. This powerful desire to advance politically is an expression of the heightening of their Consciousness concerning class struggle, the two-line struggle and the continuation of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. It deserves to be warmly welcomed.
Active elements applying to join the Party must have the right motives for doing so. Our Party requires from each of its members that he be an advanced element, most conscious and most active in the ranks of the proletariat. All the comrades who apply to join the Communist Party must understand that their joining is for but one purpose: to be in a position to intensify their struggle to make revolution in China and in the rest of the world, build socialism and achieve communism. It is only by being imbued with this purpose and casting aside all personal ambitions, that we can rigorously discipline ourselves so as to meet the requirements for membership of the Communist Party, and thus quickly meet the conditions for admission into the Party.
The vast majority of the comrades among the active elements applying for Party membership have correct motives in joining the Party, but
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some comrades still have certain muddled ideas which they definitely must overcome.
Some comrades think that the conditions now for admission into the Party are high and that the demands of the masses are quite severe; they thus have the impression that admission is "beyond their reach." This is an erroneous point of view. It must be recognised that the standards demanded of members of the Communist Party are high, but by working hard, it is quite possible to meet them. These high standards and severe demands or members are determined by the very nature of our Party. We must temper ourselves for a considerably long period of time in order to fulfil the requirements demanded of the advanced elements of the proletariat. All the comrades who are eager to join the Party must become imbued with the great ideal of working for the liberation of all mankind and for the realisation of communism. With such an ideal, it is possible to steel ourselves on all fronts and to actively work towards meeting the require conditions. It then becomes possible to shoulder heavy tasks, to show a high degree of initiative in the work and to progress in the course of struggle. Further, it becomes possible to look at the severe requirements of the masses as the best incentive, the best assistance and the best proof of affection. If we persist in thinking how "beyond our reach" it is, and passively sit and wait for things to happen, if we hesitate and are living on hopes alone, if we lack the necessary firmness and courage to actively try to be admitted into the Party, we never will get to meet the requirements for admission.
Others think that by being admitted into the Party, they "have received a promotion." This view is also erroneous. Those comrades who consider admission into the Party as a "gold mine" use the glorious title of communist as capital allowing them to ascend the hierarchy and pursue their personal interests; this way of thinking is a sign that we have not yet liquidated the poisonous notion of "joining the Party to become an official." The Communist Party of China is the core of the Chinese people as a whole, it is a great, glorious and correct Party which enjoys huge prestige among the masses of the people throughout the country. Of course, to be a member of such a Party is a glorious thing. But the objective in joining the Party is to serve the Chinese revolution and world revolution and not to pursue some kind of self-promotion. Those who apply for Party membership on the basis of such motives are not worthy of the glorious title Of communist. The Party organisations cannot permit the admission of such elements.
There are also comrades who were subjected to exploitation and oppression by the landlords and capitalists in the old society; who lived like beasts of burden, never eating their fill, having only rags as clothing but
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who, under the leadership of Chairman Mao and the Communist Party, now lead a happy life. They have deep feelings for the Party and Chairman Mao but these do not go beyond class feelings alone. Thus, when these comrades apply for Party membership, it is merely in order to "thank" the Party and Chairman Mao for their "blessings." It must be said that these feelings are very precious, these motives and this desire are very good; however, class feelings alone cannot be a substitute for the consciousness every Communist must possess regarding class struggle, the two-line struggle and the continuing of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. There is a difference of principle between the concept of joining the Party in order to "thank" it, and genuine communist consciousness. People who have joined the Party out of gratitude may well actively work for the Party under specific conditions; but it is quite possible that under different circumstances, having considered that they have "thanked" it enough for its "blessings," they would then become passive, apathetic elements, and stop all active work for the Party. Therefore these comrades must continue to raise their consciousness and readjust their motives for joining the Party.
There are still other comrades who think "I have been trying for a long time and have never been accepted; I no longer have any hope of being admitted into the Party." This is how they develop negative and pessimistic feelings, even to the extent of complaining that the organisation is "prejudiced" and "lacks confidence." This again is a false point of view. The organisation adopts towards each applicant for Party membership a serious, conscientious attitude, one of active responsibility. If someone applies for Party membership and sees it temporarily refused to him, this may be due to many different factors: it may be that he has shortcomings or commits mistakes; perhaps he does not meet the requirements of becoming a Party member, or perhaps certain other problems remain to be cleared up, etc. We must have faith in the organisation, have a correct evaluation of ourselves, correctly appraise our shortcomings and mistakes and strive hard to improve ourselves; if certain details remain unclear, we must take up the initiative of providing the Party with the information necessary to shed some light onto those matters. We must understand that it is normal and necessary that the Party organisation test the applicant for a certain period of time in order to guarantee the quality of the membership of the Party, and we must stand up to this test. People who have negative and pessimistic moods thereby reveal that their motives in joining the Party are not entirely right, their resolve and confidence in joining the Party are not strong enough; they must continue to work hard and constantly raise their consciousness.
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Finally, there are some comrades who would like to try and join the Party but, being worried by the fact they are young and lack experience in the work, are afraid of "what will people say." It is useless to entertain such worries. Young revolutionaries who have been baptised by fire in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution are full of enthusiasm and vigorous revolutionary will; their desire to join the Party is a sign of their political progress. Even though they may hear around them some idle gossip, they must not worry. The Party and Chairman Mao always have deep concern for youth and place great hopes in them. A young revolutionary who wishes to join the Party must show still greater enthusiasm and vigilance, modesty and prudence, he must work hard to improve himself and become worthy of his admission into the Party by his practical deeds. With the development of the three great revolutionary movements, we are convinced that the outstanding young elements will come forward to join the Party ranks in even greater numbers in the future.
Chairman Mao teaches us: "A human being has arteries and veins through which the heart makes the blood circulate, and he breathes with his lungs, exhaling carbon dioxide and inhaling fresh oxygen, that is, getting rid of the stale and taking in tile fresh. A proletarian party must also get rid of the stale and take in the fresh, for only thus can it be full of vitality. Without eliminating waste matter and absorbing fresh blood the Party has no vigour." (201) Since the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the Party organisations at all levels, following Chairman Mao's teachings, and in accordance with the principle of building the Party in an active way, with caution and according to the standards demanded of the advanced elements of the Proletariat, have admitted a great number of new members, taking fresh blood into the Party, and broadening its ranks, and have won tremendous successes in that field. However, the work of enlisting new members does not yet meet the needs of the revolution and socialist construction being carried out at the present time. Taking in fresh blood, admitting new members, still remains an essential question for the building of the Party — it is a continuous and long-term task. It is work which every one of us communists must carry out conscientiously.
The primary organisations of the Party must continuously deepen their understanding of the importance of this work of regeneration, and overcome the idea that "central tasks are too heavy for us to also
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carry out the work of regeneration." They must keep this work on the agenda of the Party, engage periodically in study and discussion on the topic and take up the task as important everyday work.
According to the policy of building the Party in an active and prudent manner by relying on the political principles of the Party and in accordance with the requirements demanded of Party members, we must admit into the Party those workers, poor peasants, lower-middle peasants, revolutionary armymen and other revolutionary elements who fulfil the requirements for Party membership. We must also be concerned with admitting new supporters among women comrades and outstanding young people. We must ensure that when a comrade is ready, he be admitted into the Party. Concerning the question of admitting into the Party those persons from families belonging to the exploiting classes, we must act according to the principle of the Party that "class background is one thing, but not everything; what is important is political behaviour." We should analyse their cases in an all-round way and handle them correctly. In carrying out the work of regeneration, we must refrain from sacrificing activity for the sake of caution; but we should also be careful not to act without due consideration merely for the purpose of simplifying the task. We must be at the same time active and cautious, without abandoning either one of these aspects.
We must strengthen our teaching of the basic concepts of the Party, criticise the crimes of Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao who both implemented a revisionist line on me question of Party building, and thoroughly wipe out their pernicious influence. We must see to it that, thanks to this instruction, the active elements become better acquainted with the Party, that they raise their consciousness to new heights, strengthen their confidence and develop correct motives for joining the Party. At the same time, we must follow the mass line in the task of taking in new members, seek the opinions of the broad masses both inside and outside the Party so that the active elements who wish to join the Party may be screened beforehand by the masses, thus, guaranteeing the quality of the membership of the Party.
Every communist must consider the task of taking in new members as one of his primary duties. actively engage in the work of enlisting new members under the Party's leadership and show a high degree of initiative in carrying it out. We must be concerned with the revolution of the active elements, help them to raise their consciousness and to rethink their motives for joining the Party. If they have shortcomings or make mistakes, we must teach them in a positive way and patiently help them. We must propagate among the active elements a basic understanding of the Party, explain to them the criteria which define a com-
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munist, and particularly emphasise this work for comrades from families which are not of the working people or comrades having certain problems but who actively desire to join the Party, so that they may adopt a correct attitude towards the Party organisation, towards themselves and towards the question of joining the Party. We must also, in accordance with the tasks assigned by the Party boldly, take up the up the responsibility for the work of examining the active elements in order to Proletarian Internationalism seriously and conscientiously bring new members into the Party.
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It is written in the Constitution of the Party: "The Communist Party of China upholds proletarian internationalism and opposes great-power chauvinism; it firmly unites with the genuine Marxist-Leninist Parties and organizations the world over, unites with the proletariat, the oppressed people and nations of the whole world and fights together with them to oppose the hegemonism of the two superpowers —the United States and the Soviet Union, to overthrow imperialism, modern revisionism and all reaction, and to abolish the system of exploitation of man by man over the globe, so that all mankind will be emancipated." All members of the Communist Party must, in accordance with the Constitution of the Party, implement the principle of proletarian internationalism in their practical activities, fulfil in all consciousness their internationalist duty and make their contributions to the cause of the emancipation of all mankind.
The great teachers of the proletariat have always instructed us to uphold proletarian internationalism. In the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx and Engels issued this great call: "Working men of all countries, unite!" For more than 100 years, this fighting slogan has inspired the revolutionary struggles of the proletariat the world over and guided it on the road to emancipation. When the historical stage of imperialism was reached, Lenin issued this great call for these new historical conditions: "Workers of all countries and oppressed nations, unite!," forcefully pointing out that only when the proletariat of all countries join together with all the oppressed nations, and only through their mutual support will the world revolution triumph. In each historical period through which he led the Chinese revolution, Chairman Mao took care to spread the internationalist spirit among the whole Party and the whole people. In the period of the War of Resistance
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against Japan, Chairman Mao taught us in his article In Memory of Norman Bethune: "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, before it is possible to over throw 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." (202) He called upon all communists to learn from Comrade Bethune, to follow his example in upholding the spirit of proletarian internationalism. After the liberation of our country, Chairman Mao taught us once again that: "The people who have triumphed in their own revolution should help those still struggling for liberation. This is our internationalist duty." (203) These instructions of our revolutionary teacher are powerful weapons to bring about unity between the proletariat and revolutionary people of China and those of the whole world in the struggle against our common enemies. (204)
It is the class stand of the proletariat that determines its adherence to proletarian internationalism. The development of large-scale capitalist industry and communications has made world capitalism into a single entity. The power of the international bourgeoisie oppresses and exploits the proletariat and revolutionary people of many lands. In particular, since the dawn of the era of imperialism, the monopoly capitalist cliques have intensified their exploitation and oppression of the proletariat in their own countries and plundered and subjugated the proletariat and working people of their colonies and semi-colonies, all for the purpose of securing high rates of profit for themselves. This plunder and exploitation have caused untold miseries and hardships for the proletariat and working people of the world. Gradually, through their struggle against the bourgeoisie, the proletarians of the world have become conscious that they have been collectively subjected to exploitation and oppression by international capital, and that if the proletariat of one country is to defeat its own bourgeoisie, it needs the support of the proletarians of the world; and must unite with them. As Engels has said: "Because the workers are in a similar situation in all countries, because their interests are convergent and they have the same enemies, they must struggle collectively; to the fraternity of the bourgeoisie of all countries they must oppose the fraternity of the working men of the world." (205)
It is also the historical task of the proletariat which determines its commitment to proletarian internationalism. The historical task of the proletariat is to wipe from the face of the earth the system of exploitation of man by man, to liberate all mankind and bring about com-
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munism. To accomplish this task, the proletariat must face extremely powerful and fierce enemies. The historical experience of the international communist movement has demonstrated that every time a proletarian revolution breaks out in one country, the bourgeoisie and all exploiting classes inside that country not only frantically oppose it but also ally themselves with the full power of international capitalism and attempt to suppress the revolutionary proletarian movement in their country through this alliance of the domestic and foreign bourgeoisie. Thus, as long as imperialism, social-imperialism and reaction survive in various countries of the world, there will be no peace, and the socialist countries will always remain under the threat of aggression and subversion from abroad. Chairman Mao teaches us: "According to the Leninist viewpoint, the final victory of a socialist country not only requires the efforts of the proletariat and the broad masses of the people at home, but also involves the victory of the world revolution and the abolition of the system of exploitation of man by man over the whole globe, upon which all mankind will be emancipated." (206) Therefore, only by uniting and fighting together will the workers of the whole world be able to liberate all mankind and, ultimately, liberate themselves.
In the struggle to oppose the dual hegemonism of the United States and the Soviet Union, upholding proletarian internationalism is of great significance. Lenin has pointed out: "Imperialism" is the "highest historical stage of development of capitalism," "an essential feature of imperialism is the rivalry between several Great Powers in the striving for hegemony." (207) At the present time, the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, lord it over everyone throughout the world; they stretch their tentacles everywhere, engaging in plunder and expansion. The rivalry for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union is the root cause of the disorder in the world. While every day the superpowers claim that they will reduce their armed forces, in fact, they are continuously expanding them. Their aim is the domination of the world. Although they collude, they contend as well and their collusion serves the purpose of more intensified contention. Wherever the people rise up in revolution, the superpowers interfere in order to repress them in the hope of extinguishing the raging fires of revolution. One of the major events in contemporary international relations is the awakening and strengthening of the Third World countries which are uniting to fight against the hegemonism and power politics of the two superpowers, and are playing an ever more significant role in international affairs. We must uphold proletarian internationalism and unite with the people of the Third World countries and with the people of the whole world in order to defeat the dual hegemonism of the United
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States and the Soviet Union.
Whether or not to uphold proletarian internationalism has always been an important question in the two-line struggle within the international communist movement. Both the old revisionists and the modern revisionists, in their desires to divert the proletariat of various Countries onto the incorrect path of bourgeois nationalism and great power chauvinism, have continually sought by every possible means to sabotage international unity and divide the international communist movement in order to sabotage proletarian revolution. At the outbreak of the First World War, the renegades of the Second International, raising the banner of "defence of the fatherland," supported the war of aggression launched by the imperialists of their own countries and degenerated into social-chauvinists. The Soviet revisionist renegade clique has shamelessly betrayed proletarian internationalism to the same extent as these renegades of the Second International. In words, they claim to uphold "internationalism," but in deeds, they indulge in imperialist extortion. They have cooked up their theories of "international dictatorship," "international division of labour" and "limited sovereignty" in order to facilitate their aggression and takeover everywhere and have created counter-revolutionary public opinion. Internally, they have restored capitalism and enforced a fascist dictatorship and enslaved the people of all nationalities. Thus the political, economic and national contradictions are sharpening daily. Externally, they have invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia, massed their troops along the Chinese border and sent other troops into Mongolia. They supported the treacherous Lon Nol clique, suppressed the Polish workers' rebellion, and have interfered in Egypt, where their experts have been thrown out. They dismembered Pakistan, sold out the Arab peoples and have carried out subversive activities in many countries of Asia. This string of events has profoundly exposed their ugly features as the new Czars and has starkly revealed their reactionary nature, best described as: "socialism in words, imperialism in deeds." (208) Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and company, tailing behind the Soviet revisionist renegade clique, also promoted great-power chauvinism. We must absolutely condemn the crimes of the Soviet renegade clique as well as those of swindlers like Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao all of whom have betrayed proletarian internationalism. We must struggle to fulfil our internationalist duty.
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The fact that the revolutionary struggles of the proletariat and the people of various countries support each other constitutes an important aspect of proletarian internationalism. This mutual support gives impetus to and accelerates the revolutionary struggles of the people of various countries; it also serves to develop the international unity of the proletariat.
The proletarian revolutionary cause has always had an international character. Marxism-Leninism teaches us that the victory of the proletarian revolution in one country is but the prelude to world revolution. The proletariat whose revolution has been victorious must seek to transform this revolution in one country into world revolution. It must strive to make its socialist country a beacon illuminating the path for the revolution of the peoples of all countries of the world. After the victory of the October Revolution, Lenin said: "We have never made a secret of the fact that our revolution is only the beginning, that its victorious end will come only when we have lit up the whole world with these same fires of revolution." (209) On the eve of the founding of our state, Chairman Mao also pointed out: "Our revolution has won the sympathy and acclaim of the broad masses throughout the world; we have friends everywhere." (210) And after the founding of our state, he again taught us: "China has an obligation to make a greater contribution to humanity." (211) This is a glorious task with which history has entrusted us. We must firmly support the countries and peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America, support all independence-loving countries and peoples in their struggle to win and defend their national independence and safeguard state sovereignty. We must support their struggles against imperialism, old and new colonialism, racism, Zionism and great power hegemonism, and support the revolutionary struggles of the proletariat of all countries. We must constantly strengthen the revolutionary forces of the international proletariat in order to weaken the counter-revolutionary forces of imperialism, revisionism and all reaction.
The current struggles of countries and peoples for national liberation are part and parcel of the world proletarian revolutionary cause. Since the end of the Second World War, the national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America have been continuously developing, and the rear of imperialism has turned into an anti-imperialist fighting front. The colonial system of imperialism has rapidly disintegrated and many countries in succession in Asia, Africa and Latin
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America have won their independence. They are constantly strengthening their unity through their struggles against imperialism and colonialism as well as against the hegemonism and power politics of the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The Third World has stepped onto the international stage as a new force, full of vitality and playing an ever more significant role.
Ours is a socialist country and we have always extended warm sympathy and active support to the national liberation movements and revolutionary struggles of the people of these Countries. This provision of support to the revolutionary struggles of the proletariat and working people of all Countries is aimed at smashing imperialism, revisionism and all reaction, and wiping from the face of the earth the system of exploitation of man by man, thus bringing about the emancipation of all humanity. Therefore, it is altogether wrong to consider the support of the revolutions of the people of various countries as just "another burden"; this thinking runs completely counter to the principles of proletarian internationalism. At the same time, ours is also a developing country and our support to the world revolution is still limited. Chairman Mao has taught us that: "The just struggles of the peoples of various countries in the world support each other . . . " (212) Revolution and socialist construction in our country have always enjoyed the support of the world proletariat and the people of all countries. Therefore, we say that the victory we have won is inseparable from the support rendered to us by the proletariat and revolutionary people of all countries of the world. The Party of Labour of Albania and all genuine Marxist-Leninist parties and organisations the world over have united to wage a resolute struggle against the Soviet revisionist renegade clique. This anti-imperialist struggle has tremendously assisted us. The struggles waged by Albania, Algeria and 23 other Countries for the restoration of the legitimate rights of our country in the United Nations, etc., have also been of great assistance. The struggle of the Korean people and of the three Indo-chinese peoples against the United States and for national salvation is a great contribution to the revolutionary cause of the international proletariat and a great support to the revolutionary peoples of all Countries of the world, including our own. Chairman Mao says: "In our international relations, we Chinese people should get rid of great-power chauvinism resolutely, thoroughly, wholly and completely." (213) Ours is a socialist country with a large population, vast territory and abundant resources. Of course we want our country to be mighty and prosperous and we are surely capable of bringing this about. But, under all circumstances, we must abide by the principle of "never acting as a des-
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pot" and must never become a superpower. All Party comrades must firmly bear in mind Chairman Mao's teachings so that we never become arrogant, not even after the 21st century. At the same time, at home, we must oppose every manifestation of "great-power" chauvinism, further strengthen the revolutionary unity of the whole Party, the whole army and the whole people, speed up our revolution and socialist construction and strive to fulfil our internationalist duty.
Commitment or lack of commitment to proletarian internationalism is an important indicator of the purity of a communist's party spirit Every member of the Communist Party must work with all his energy and devote part of his efforts to supporting world revolution.
To be committed to proletarian internationalism, we must become imbued with the grand idea that only by liberating the whole of mankind will the proletariat be able to liberate itself once and for all. As long as there are classes in the world, as long as exploitation exists, it will be impossible to achieve communism. Only when the proletarian revolution has won victory on the world-scale, and when the whole of mankind has been liberated, will the revolution in our country win final victory. We communists must firmly grasp this truth, become fired with the idea of emancipating all mankind, fulfil in earnest our internationalist duty, fight side by side with the proletariat and revolutionary people of all countries in order to smash imperialism, revisionism and all reaction.
In order to uphold proletarian internationalism, we must pay attention to the fundamental problems of our country and to the international situation and constantly raise our level of consciousness of how to implement Chairman Mao's revolutionary line on foreign affairs. The foreign policy of our Party and state can be summarised as follows: in accordance with the principle of proletarian internationalism, we favour the development of friendly relations and relations of mutual support and co-operation between socialist countries; we support the revolutionary struggles of all oppressed peoples and nations; we work towards peaceful coexistence between countries with different social systems on the basis of mutual respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and we oppose the imperialist policies of aggression and war. Such are
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the fundamental principles to which we adhere in international affairs. We must uphold proletarian internationalism and follow all the Party's political principles in this domain. We must further strengthen our unity with the proletariat, oppressed peoples and nations of the whole world, with all countries subjected to aggression, subversion, interference, control and bullying by imperialism, in order to form the broadest united front against imperialism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism, particularly against the hegemonism of the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. We must unite with all genuine Marxist-Leninist Parties and organisations the world over, and together carry the struggle against modern revisionism through to the end.
To uphold proletarian internationalism, we must work hard to consolidate the revolution and construction inside the country, so as to rapidly turn China into a prosperous socialist state. We communists must have the interests of the overall world revolution at heart and combine our ideal of emancipation of all mankind with the desire of doing our own work well. We must radiate our revolutionary spirit, we must grasp revolution and promote production, improve our work and be prepared against war. Although the communists fighting on different fronts play different roles in the overall revolutionary work, we are all working for revolution and socialist construction, for the consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat and for advancing the process of world revolution. If the Party and the people require us at a specific post, it is there that we must fight tenaciously. We must "do the work which is assigned to us always keeping world affairs in mind" (214), prepare against war until the time imperialism, revisionism and all reaction are overthrown, and shoulder the heavy responsibility of supporting world revolution until the liberation of all mankind. Those Party organisations and members directly responsible for the tasks of foreign relations must particularly link their practical work to the support for world revolution and work still harder. We must also resolutely implement Chairman Mao's instructions calling on us to "be prepared against war, be prepared against natural disasters, and do everything for the people" (215) and to "dig tunnels deep, store grain everywhere, and never seek hegemony," (216) remain alertly on guard against any war of aggression that imperialism may launch, and particularly against a surprise attack on our country by Soviet revisionist social-imperialism; we must be prepared at all times to wipe out any enemy that dares invade our country and be prepared to defend our state of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
To uphold proletarian internationalism, we must learn from the
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proletariat and labouring masses of the countries of the world. There are many large and small countries in the world, each having its own qualities and characteristics. Chairman Mao teaches us to "be good at learning from the people of all the countries of the world." (217) We communists must seek inspiration from the proletariat and working people of all the countries of the world. We must learn from their experience of how to combine the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the revolutionary practice of each country and take inspiration from the revolutionary spirit of all people who dare to struggle and dare to make revolution. In the field of international relations, we must also resolutely guard against the corrupting influences of the decaying and decadent imperialist ideology and way of life. There are some things which are worth studying closely, and certain valuable points that we should learn in the fields of science and technology from the bourgeoisie of foreign countries. It would be wrong to refuse to study them, but we must not blindly worship them either. Capitalist art and culture have long been, in terms of content, rotten and decadent to the core. Even if certain works possess some characteristics capable of providing inspiration, only after they were thoroughly transformed would the proletariat be able to use them. We communists must consciously guard ourselves against rotten and decadent bourgeois influences and must resolutely oppose the capitalist way of life.
In accordance with Chairman Mao's teachings, we must continue to be independent, self-reliant, and struggle hard to make our country into a socialist state with modern agriculture, industry, national defence, science and culture, so as to fulfil our internationalist duty and make still greater contributions to humanity.
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The present work A Basic Understanding of the Communist Party of China has been prepared on the basis of the theory of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought concerning the building of the Party and in the spirit of the documents of the Tenth Congress, in order to be able to serve as a reference for members of the Communist Party, for active elements who wish to join the Party, as well as for educated young people engaged in the study of the Party Constitution. It is also designed to provide reference material for primary organisations of the Party which are giving courses on the Party.
Throughout its preparation, this book has benefited from important support from many factories, villages, organisations and schools from all over the city (218) to which we would like to express our sincere thanks.
As our level of understanding is limited, it is possible that there are certain inadequacies and errors in this book. In this regard, we would be happy to receive criticisms and corrections from all readers.
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(Adopted by the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China on August 28, 1973) (219)
Chapter I
General Programme
The Communist Party of China is the political party of the proletariat, the vanguard of the proletariat.
The Communist Party of China takes Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as the theoretical basis guiding its thinking.
The basic programme of the Communist Party of China is the complete overthrow of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat in place of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the triumph of socialism over capitalism. The ultimate aim of the Party is the realization of communism.
Through more than fifty years of arduous struggle, the Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people in winning complete victory in the new-democratic revolution, great victories in socialist revolution and socialist construction and great victories in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
Socialist society covers a considerably long historical period. Throughout this historical period, there are classes, class contradictions and class struggle, there is the struggle between the socialist road and the capitalist road, there is the danger of capitalist restoration and there
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is the threat of subversion and aggression by imperialism and social-imperialism. These contradictions can be resolved only by depending on the theory of Continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat and on practice under its guidance.
Such is China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, a great political revolution carried out under the conditions of socialism by the proletariat against the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and prevent capitalist restoration. Revolutions like this will have to be carried out many times in the future.
The Party must rely on the working class, strengthen the worker-peasant alliance and lead the people of all the nationalities of our country in carrying on the three great revolutionary movements of class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment; lead the people in building socialism independently and with the initiative in our own hands, through self-reliance, hard struggle, diligence and thrift and by going all out, aiming high and achieving greater, faster, better and more economical results; and lead them in preparing against war and natural disasters and doing everything for the people.
The Communist Party of China upholds proletarian internationalism and opposes great-power chauvinism; it firmly unites with the genuine Marxist-Leninist Parties and organizations the world over, unites with the proletariat, the oppressed people and nations of the whole world and fights together with them to oppose the hegemonism of the two superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union, to overthrow imperialism, modern revisionism and all reaction, and to abolish the system of exploitation of man by man over the globe, so that all mankind will be emancipated.
The Communist Party of China has strengthened itself and grown in the course of the struggle against both Right and "Left" opportunist lines. Comrades throughout the Party must have the revolutionary spirit of daring to go against the tide, must adhere to the principles of practising Marxism and not revisionism, working for unity and not for splits, and being open and aboveboard and not engaging in intrigues and conspiracy, must be good at correctly distinguishing contradictions among the people from those between ourselves and the enemy and correctly handling them, must develop the style of integrating theory with practice, maintaining close ties with the masses and practising criticism and self-criticism, and must train millions of successors for the cause of proletarian revolution, so as to ensure that the Party's cause will advance forever along the Marxist line.
The future is bright; the road is tortuous. Members of the Communist
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Party of China, who dedicate their lives to the struggle for communism, must be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every difficulty to win victory!
Chapter II
Membership
Article 1
Any Chinese worker, poor peasant, lower-middle peasant, revolutionary armyman or any other revolutionary element who has reached the age of eighteen and who accepts the Constitution of the Party, joins a Party organization and works actively in it, carries out the Party's decisions, observes Party discipline and pays membership dues may become a member of the Communist Party of China.
Article 2
Applicants for Party membership must go through the procedure for admission individually. An applicant must be recommended by two Party members, fill out an application form for Party membership and be examined by a Party branch, which must seek the opinions of the broad masses inside and outside the Party. Application is subject to acceptance by the general membership meeting of the Party branch and approval by the next higher Party committee.
Article 3
Members of the Communist Party of China must:
1. Conscientiously study Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and criticize revisionism;
2. Work for the interests of the vast majority of people of China and the world;
3. Be able at uniting with the great majority, including those who have wrongly opposed them but are sincerely correcting their mistakes; however, special vigilance must be maintained against careerists, conspirators and double-dealers so as to prevent such bad elements from usurping the leadership of the Party and the state at any level and guarantee that the leadership of the Party and the state always remains in the hands of Marxist revolutionaries;
4. Consult with the masses when matters arise;
5. Be bold in making criticism and self-criticism.
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Article 4When Party members violate Party discipline, the Party organizations at the levels concerned shall, within their functions and powers and on the merits of each Case, take appropriate disciplinary measures — warning, serious warning, removal from posts in the Party, placing on probation within the Party, or expulsion from the Party.
The period for which a Party member is placed on probation shall not exceed two years. During this period, he has no right to vote or elect or be elected.
A Party member whose revolutionary will has degenerated and who does not change despite repeated education may be persuaded to withdraw from the Party.
When a Party member asks to withdraw from the Party, the Party branch concerned shall, with the approval of its general membership meeting, remove his name from the Party rolls and report the matter to the next higher Party committee for the record.
Proven renegades, enemy agents, absolutely unrepentant persons in power taking the capitalist road, degenerates and alien-class elements must be cleared out of the Party and not be re-admitted.
Chapter III
Organization Principle of the Party
Article 5
The organization principle of the Party is democratic centralism.
The leading bodies of the Party at all levels shall be elected through democratic consultation in accordance with the requirement for successors to the cause of the proletarian revolution and the principle of Combining the old, the middle-aged and the young.
The whole Party must observe unified discipline: The individual is subordinate to the organization, the minority is subordinate to the majority, the lower level is subordinate to the higher level, and the entire Party is subordinate to the Central Committee.
Leading bodies of the Party at all levels shall regularly report on their work to congresses or general membership meetings, constantly listen to the opinions of the masses both inside and outside the Party and accept their supervision. Party members have the right to criticize organizations and leading members of the Party at all levels and make
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proposals to them. If a Party members holds different views with regard to the decisions or directives of the Party organizations, he is allowed to reserve his views and has the right to bypass the immediate leadership and report directly to higher levels, up to and including the Central Committee and the Chairman of the Central Committee. It is absolutely impermissible to suppress criticism and to retaliate. It is essential to create a political situation in which there are both centralism and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and personal ease of mind and liveliness.
Article 6
The highest leading body of the Party is the National Party Congress and, when it is not in session, the Central Committee elected by it. The leading bodies of Party organizations in the localities, in army units and in various departments are the Party congresses or general membership meetings at their respective levels and the Party committees elected by them. Party congresses at all levels are convened by Party committees at their respective levels. The convening of Party congresses in the localities, in army units and in various departments and their elected
Party committee members are subject to approval by the higher Party organization. Party committees at all levels shall set up their working bodies or dispatch their representative organs in accordance with the principles of close ties with the masses and simple and efficient structure.
Article 7
State organs, the People's Liberation Army and the militia, labour unions, poor and lower-middle peasant associations, women's federations, the Communist Youth League, the Red Guards, the Little Red Guards and other revolutionary mass organizations must all accept the centralized leadership of the Party.
Party committees or leading Party groups may be set up in state organs and popular organizations.
Chapter IV
Central Organizations of the Party
Article 8
The National Party Congress shall be convened every five years.
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Under special circumstances, it may be convened before its due date or postponed.
Article 9
The plenary session of the Central Committee of the Party elects the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the Central Committee.
The plenary session of the Central Committee of the Party is convened by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.
When the Central Committee is not in plenary session, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and its Standing Committee exercise the functions and powers of the Central Committee.
Under the leadership of the Chairman, Vice-Chairmen and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, a number of necessary organs, which are compact and efficient, shall be set up to attend to the day-to-day work of the Party, the government and the Army in a centralized way.
Chapter V
Party Organizations in the Localities and the Army Units
Article 10
Local Party congresses at the county level and upwards and Party congresses in the People's Liberation Army at the regimental level and upwards shall be convened every three years. Under special circumstances, they may be convened before their due date or postponed.
Party committees at all levels in the localities and the army units elect their standing committees, secretaries and deputy secretaries.
Chapter VI
Primary Organizations of the Party
Article 11
Party branches, general Party branches or primary Party committees shall be set up in factories, mines and other enterprises, people's com-
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munes, offices, schools, shops, neighbourhoods, companies of the People's Liberation Army and other primary units in accordance with the requirements of the revolutionary struggle and the size of the Party membership.
Party branches and general Party branches shall hold elections once a year and primary Party committees shall hold elections every two years. Under special circumstances, the election may take place before its due date or be postponed.
Article 12
The main tasks of the primary organizations of the Party are:
1. To lead the Party members and non-Party members in studying Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought conscientiously and criticizing revisionism;
2. To give constant education to the Party members and non-Party members concerning the ideological and political line and lead them in fighting resolutely against the class enemy;
3. To propagate and carry out the policies of the Party, implement its decisions and fulfil every task assigned by the Party and the state;
4. To maintain close ties with the masses, constantly listen to their opinions and demands and wage an active ideological struggle so as to keep Party life vigorous;
5. To take in new Party members, enforce Party discipline and constantly consolidate the Party organizations, getting rid of the stale and taking in the fresh, so as to maintain the purity of the Party ranks.
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Translator's Note:
The following reference notes have been translated in their entirety by the Norman Bethune Institute from those of the French Edition published by Nouveau Bureau d'Edition, Paris. In most cases we have been able to find an appropriate English source for the various quotations, and the English reference is given. Where this has not been possible, the quotation has been translated by us from the French edition, and this is indicated by an asterisk(*), followed by the French reference in brackets where available. Where several quotations are taken from the same English source, the information regarding the publisher, place and date of publication is given in the first reference and all subsequent references are from the same edition.
1. Mao Tsetung, Quotations, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1968, p.1; quotation is taken from Chairman Mao's "Opening Address at the First Session of the First National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China."
2. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Contradiction," Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1967, p.315.
3. Mao Tsetung, quoted in The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1973, p.46
4. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.43, October 26, 1973, p.5, in the article "Importance Must Be Attached to the Party's Basic Line."
This quotation is taken from a speech by Chairman Mao to the Tenth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in September, 1962. It was at this session that Chairman Mao issued the call "Never forget class struggle" and declared: "Class struggle, once firmly taken up, works wonders" (Cahiers de la Chine nouvelle, September 16, 1967 — Renmin Ribao, September 10, 1967) The fundamental line of Chairman Mao's speech is also put forward in the Constitution of the Communist Party of China adopted by the Tenth Congress of the Party as well as in the Preamble to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, adopted by the Fourth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, January 17, 1975, which reproduces the first part of the 1962 quotation. (Documents of the First Session of the Fourth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, Foreign Languages 4 Press, Peking, 1975, pp.7-8)
5. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.4, January 26, 1973, p.4.
The full text of this call, given in December 1968 is as follows: "It is highly
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necessary for young people with education to go to the countryside to be re-educated by the poor and lower-middle peasants. Cadres and other people in the cities should be persuaded to send their sons and daughters who have finished junior or senior middle school, college or university to the countryside. Let us mobilize. Comrades in the rural areas should welcome them." (Quoted in Take the Road of Integrating With the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1970, frontispiece) This call is often accompanied by this extract from an older work by Chairman Mao: "How should we judge whether a youth is a revolutionary? . . . There can be only one criterion, namely whether or not he is willing to integrate himself with the broad masses of workers and peasants and does so in practice. If he is willing to so and actually does so, he is a revolutionary; otherwise he is a non-revolutionary or a counter-revolutionary." (Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "The Orientation of the Youth Movement," Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1967, p.246) The December 1968 call had been preceded by the following directive from Chairman Mao, described as "recent" by Peking Review, No.38, September 20, 1968, which reproduced it on page 15 as follows: "The majority or the vast majority of the students trained in the schools and colleges can integrate themselves with the workers, peasants and soldiers and some have made inventions or innovations; they must, however, be re-educated by the workers, peasants and soldiers under the guidance of the correct line, and thoroughly change their old ideology. Such intellectuals will be welcomed by the workers, peasants and soldiers."
In another directive, Chairman Mao stated: "(We must give) attention to re-educating the large numbers of college and secondary school graduates who started work quite some time ago as well as those who have just begun to work, so that they will integrate with the workers and peasants. Some of them are sure to make a success of this integration and achieve something in regard to inventions and innovations. Mention should be made of these people as encouragement. Those who are really impossible, that is, the die-hard capitalist-roaders and bourgeois technical authorities who have incurred the extreme wrath of the masses and therefore must be overthrown, are very few in number. Even they should be given a way out. To do otherwise is not the policy of the proletariat. The above-mentioned policies should be applied to both new and old intellectuals whether working in the arts or sciences." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.12, March 20, 1970, p.14)
This movement out of the universities and schools had been preceded by a movement into them: On July 21, 1968, Chairman Mao issued this directive: "It is still necessary to have universities; here I refer mainly to colleges of science and engineering. However, it is essential to shorten the length of schooling, revolutionize education, put proletarian politics in command and take the road of the Shanghai Machine Tools Plant in training technicians from among the workers. Students should be selected from among workers and peasants with practical experience, and they should return to production after a few years' study." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.32, August 6, 1971, p.12)
In the frontispiece of the pamphlet Strive to Build a Socialist University of Science and Engineering (Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1972), we find the following directives from Chairman Mao:
"Education must serve proletarian politics and be combined with productive labour."
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"Our educational policy must enable everyone who receives an education to develop morally, intellectually and physically and become a worker with both socialist consciousness and culture."
"The same holds good for the students too. While their main task is to study, they should also learn other things, that is to say, they should not only learn book knowledge, they should also learn industrial production, agricultural production and military affairs. They also should criticize and repudiate the bourgeoisie."
"Besides meeting the needs of teaching and scientific research, all laboratories and affiliated workshops of engineering colleges which can undertake production tasks should do so to the best of their capability."
"To accomplish the proletarian revolution in education, it is essential to have working class leadership; the masses of workers must take part in this revolution and, in co-operation with Liberation Army fighters, form a revolutionary three-in-one combination with the activists among the students, teachers and workers in schools and colleges, who are determined to carry the proletarian revolution in education through to the end. The workers' propaganda teams should stay permanently in the schools and colleges, take part in all the tasks of struggle-criticism-transformation there and will always lead these institutions. In the countryside, schools and colleges should be managed by the poor and lower-middle peasants — the most reliable ally of the working class."
Concerning the "three-in-one" combination, cf. note 176: concerning "struggle-criticism-transformation," cf. note 78.
The example of the Shanghai Machine Tools Plant, popularised by Chairman Mao's call of July 21, 1968, has given birth to what are now called the "July 21st" Workers' Colleges. (Cf. Peking Review, No.37, September 12, 1975, p.16)
In an introductory note to an article by the Tsinghua University Revolutionary Committee, Peking Review No.8, February 23, 1973, p.10 gave some concrete information on this two-fold movement:
"In the last few years, the overwhelming majority of the more than 2,000 faculty members in Tsinghua, responding to Chairman Mao's call for intellectuals to integrate themselves with the workers and peasants, have gone to factories, farms and villages for six to twelve months of tempering through physical labour. Their eagerness to be re-educated by workers, peasants and soldiers and remould their world outlook in the course of the three great revolutionary movements — class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment — has enabled them to raise their consciousness in class struggle and the struggle between the two lines and develop their abilities. A good number have made contributions in socialist revolution and socialist construction. Since 1969, 150 faculty members have been admitted into the Chinese Communist Party. As a result of the university Party committee's implementation of the Party's policy of uniting with, educating and remoulding intellectuals, a number of activists who are determined to carry the proletarian revolution in education through to the end have come to the fore.
"Tsinghua has enrolled 4,917 students from the ranks of workers, peasants and People's Liberation Army men in the last three years. They have made constant progress by devoting themselves to the study of the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Chairman Mao and remoulding their world outlook. Of the students enrolled the first year, 267 have been admitted into the Communist Party. Many persist in integrating theory with practice, study with great diligence and
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show an aptitude for solving practical technical problems by applying the theoretical knowledge they have learnt. Besides these regular students, the school has also trained 649 students in various workers' short-term courses. After returning to their production posts, they have become mainstays, both politically and in work."
According to Peking Review No.22, May 28, 1971, p.5: "During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao has personally grasped the typical examples of the 'six plants and two schools' . . . ; in addition, he has approved a series of investigation reports and experiences, thereby pointing out a clear-cut orientation for the deepening of the movement."(cf. note 78) The six plants and two schools are: "the Peking General Knitwear Mill, the Peking Hsinhua Printing House, the Peking No.3 Chemical Plant, the Peking Peichiao Timber Mill, the Peking February 7 Locomotive and Rolling Stock Plant, the Peking Nankou Locomotive, Rolling Stock and Machinery Plant, and Tsinghua and Peking Universities." (Ibid)
6. "The three great revolutionary movements." These are "class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment" and were put forward by Chairman Mao in his Note on "The Seven Well-Written Documents of Chekiang Province Concerning Cadres' Participation in Physical Labour" (May 9, 1963). An excerpt from this note was published in the article "On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World" (published July 14, 1964 by the Editorial Departments of Renmin Ribao and Hongqi and reprinted in The Polemic on the General Line of the International Communist Movement, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1965, pp.476-477)
"Class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment are the three great revolutionary movements for building a mighty socialist country. These movements are a sure guarantee that communists will be free from bureaucracy and immune against revisionism and dogmatism, and will for ever remain invincible. They are a reliable guarantee that the proletariat will be able to unite with the broad working masses and realize a democratic dictatorship. If, in the absence of these movements, the landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements and ogres of all kinds were allowed to crawl out, while our cadres were to shut their eyes to all this and in many cases fail even to differentiate between the enemy and ourselves but were to collaborate with the enemy camp and become corrupted and demoralized, if our cadres were thus dragged into the enemy camp or if the enemy were able to sneak into our ranks, and if many of our workers, peasants, and intellectuals were left defenceless against both the soft and the hard tactics of the enemy, then it would not take long, perhaps only several years or a decade, or several decades at most, before a counter-revolutionary restoration on a national scale inevitably occurred, the Marxist-Leninist Party would undoubtedly become a revisionist party, a fascist party, and the whole of China would change its colour." It was also in May 1963, that the "Draft Decision of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on Certain Problems in Our Present Rural Work" (May 20, 1963), known as the "10-Point Decision" was elaborated under the direction of Chairman Mao. This was later followed by the "23-Point Document," a summation of the discussions held January 14, 1965 in a national working conference convened by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and
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entitled "Some Current Problems Raised in the Socialist Education Movement in the Rural Areas." An extract from the May 1963 Decision was published in Chairman Mao's name, under the title Where Do Correct Ideas Come From? In this work, Chairman Mao states "correct ideas . . . come from social practice and from it alone; they come from three kinds of social practice, the struggle for production, the class struggle and scientific experiment." (Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Tsetung, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1971, p.502)
These "three great revolutionary movements" are also set forth in the Constitution of the Communist Party of China adopted by the Tenth Congress and in the Preamble to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China adopted in 1975.
According to an article published in Peking Review, No.22, May 28, 1971, p.5: "In 1961, Liu Shao-chi openly attacked Chairman Mao's Preface and Postscript to 'Rural Surveys,' raving that 'advocating investigation and study' 'still can't help anyone to know the world'." During the socialist education movement (cf. note 67), he even more furiously attacked the scientific method of investigation and study, calling it "out of date."
7. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.16, April 16, 1971, p.16.
During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, "rectifying the style of work" was presented as "the unity of theory and practice, close ties with the masses, and self-criticism.* This constituted the juxtaposition of three of Chairman Mao's teachings: 1) "Close integration of theory and practice is a hallmark distinguishing our Party from all other political parties"; 2) "Another hallmark distinguishing our Party from all other political parties is that we have very close ties with the broadest masses of the people"; and 3) "Conscientious practice of self-criticism is still another hallmark distinguishing our Party from all other political parties." (Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "On Coalition Government," Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1967, pp.265-266.)
8. "Studying on one's own": See for example the article by the Tsinghua University Revolutionary Committee in Peking Review No.8, February 23, 1973, pp.11-12:
"In reforming teaching methods, we firmly followed Chairman Mao's instructions 'Abolish the injection method' and 'University students, especially those in senior grades, should mainly study on their own.'
"Lenin sharply criticized the old schools for 'the old cramming and the old drill.' (The Tasks of the Youth Leagues) Bringing up bookworms, or teaching by the 'method of enlightenment' and arousing the initiative and creativity of the worker-peasant-soldier students so as to bring up people with the power to analyse and solve problems — this is certainly no small matter. Some comrades were afraid that the new entrants, whose educational level was not too high, would find self study difficult and this would affect the planned progress They reasoned that 'more cramming means more learning.' This showed a lack of understanding of the importance of reforming teaching methods. As a result, many classes tried cramming and the students were assigned a passive role in their studies
"To change this, the teachers of some classes, under the leadership of the Party branches, tried out a teaching method which incorporated enlightenment, experimentation and research, and actively advocated self-study. They distributed
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teaching materials, spending only a little time on lectures designed to induce students to think, and left the rest of the time for them to study problems, textbooks and reference books, and make experiments or carry out social investigation and classroom discussion. This livened up the studies. . . .
"Whether reforms can be put through in teaching methods mainly depends on the teachers In some of the better-run classes, the teachers frequently mix with their students to get to know them and ascertain their educational standard and their attitude and methods in study. They co-operate closely with the Party branch to do ideological work well and instruct the students according to the concrete conditions of each. With some students who found it hard to grasp the essentials through self-study, for instance, the teachers helped them to find the main contradiction Teachers also pay particular attention to cultivating a backbone force and setting up model examples: students who have done well in self-study are asked to pass on their experience to the others, and those up front in their studies are asked to help those lagging behind. This means that the teachers have to teach students both scholastically and politically, do ideological work in the course of teaching, and try hard to take part in practice in order to 'learn to use the Marxist method to observe, pose, analyse and solve problems'."
9. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXXI, " 'Left-Wing' Communism, An Infantile Disorder," Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1966, p.41.
10. See the article mentioned above, "On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons For the World," in The Polemic on the General Line of the International Communist Movement:
"At the 22nd Congress of the CPSU Khrushchov openly raised the banner of Opposition to the dictatorship of the proletariat, announcing the replacement of the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat by the 'state of the whole people.' It is written in the Programme of the CPSU that the dictatorship of the proletariat 'has ceased to be indispensible in the USSR' and that 'the state, which arose as a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, has, in the new, contemporary stage, become a state of the entire people'." (p.444) There then follows an important refutation of this "theory" and an analysis of certain writings of Marx and Lenin. On this question, see the pamphlet Marx, Engels and Lenin on the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975. In the same 1964 article we can read: "At the 22nd Congress of the CPSU Khrushchov openly raised another banner, the alteration of the proletarian character of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He announced the replacement of the party of the proletariat by a 'party of the entire people.' The programme of the CPSU states: 'As a result of the victory of socialism in the USSR and the consolidation of the unity of Soviet Society, the Communist Party of the working class has become the vanguard of the Soviet people, a party of the entire people'." (p.453)
In various forms, the supporters of Liu Shao-chi tried to introduce this revisionist "theory" into the People's Republic of China. Liu Shao-chi himself declared in 1965, after the fall of Khrushchov: "In the final analysis, what kind of country is the Soviet Union? It would be very hard to decide. And it is just as hard to decide at the present time what is the basic nature of the Soviet communist party." (Cahiers de la Chine nouvelle, September 16, 1967 — Renmin Ribao, September 15, 1967). In 1962, art and literature were also presented as being "of the entire people," i.e. above classes. (Cahiers de la Chine nouvelle, May 28,
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1971 — Hongqi, No.5, 1971). See also the position of Liu Shao-chi in the 1930's concerning a "literature of national defense."
11. "The Movement of May 4, 1919": See Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "The May 4th Movement," pp.237-239, and "The Orientation of the Youth Movement," pp.241-249; "In the Chinese democratic revolutionary movement, it was the intellectuals who were the first to awaken. This was clearly demonstrated both in the Revolution of 1911 and in the May 4th Movement, and in the days of the May 4th Movement the intellectuals were more numerous and more politically conscious than in the days of the Revolution of 1911. But the intellectuals will accomplish nothing if they fail to integrate themselves with the workers and peasants." (p138) In the first half of 1919, Great Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan and several other countries had decided that Japan would take over the special privileges which Germany had held in Shantung province.
"The May 4th Movement, a great revolutionary movement against imperialism and feudalism by the Chinese people, broke out on May 4, 1919. Thousands of Peking students gathered and demonstrated in lien An Men Square that day to oppose the traitorous actions of the warlord government that was going to sign the Versailles 'peace treaty' which the imperialists had prepared to encroach upon China's sovereignty. This movement later developed into a mass movement with the working class as its main force. It marked the beginning of China's new-democratic revolution. In the initial stage of the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-45), May 4th was adopted as China's Youth Day by the youth organisation of the Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. It was officially proclaimed China's Youth Day after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949." (Peking Review, No.20, May 18, 1973, p.9)
12. See pages 140-141.
13. K. Marx and F. Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1968, p.45.
14. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Speech at the Assembly of Representatives of the Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region," p.33.
15. "The three big mountains": These are imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism, which were the main enemies of the Chinese people before 1949.
16. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.36, September 3. 1971, p.4.
17. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "On Coalition Government," p.264.
18. VI. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXXI, "The Second Congress of the Communist International: Speech on Affiliation to the British Labour Party," pp.257-258.
19. Mao Tsetung, directive which appears to be from 1966.
20. On the leading role of the Party, there are a number of important writings of Chairman Mao. The statement paraphrased here was made in 1966. See also the earlier statement: "The Chinese Communist Party is the core of leadership of the whole Chinese people. Without this core, the cause of socialism cannot be victorious." (Mao Tsetung, Quotations, p.2) Quotation is taken from Chairman Mao's "Talk at the General Reception for the Delegates to the Third National
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Congress of the New-Democratic Youth League of China" (May 25, 1957).
21. Regarding K. Kautsky and E. Bernstein, see the article: "The Proletarian Revolution and Khrushchov's Revisionism" published March 31, 1964, by the Editorial Departments of Renmin Ribao and Hongqi, reprinted in The Polemic on the General Line of the International Communist Movement, pp.359-413.
22. "Lin Piao": cf. Peking Review, No.33, August 16, 1974, p.l2
"Lin Piao staged a counter-revolutionary coup d'etat, which was aborted, at the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in August, 1970. In March 1971, he drew up the plan for an armed counter-revolutionary coup d'etat entitled 'Outline of Project 571,' and on September 8th; he launched the coup in a wild attempt to assassinate our great leader Chairman Mao and set up a rival central committee. On September 13th, after his conspiracy had fallen through, Lin Piao surreptitiously boarded a plane, fled as a defector to the Soviet revisionists and died in a crash at Undur Khan in the People's Republic of Mongolia." cf. also note 72, the "tenth major two-line struggle."
23. Cf. pages 57-70.
24. J.V. Stalin, The Foundations of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1970, p.2.
25. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume IV, "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship," Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1967, p.413.
26. VI. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXX, "Address to the Second All-Russian Congress of Communist Organisations of the Peoples of the East" (November 22, 1919), Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965, p.161. The full quote is: "In this respect you are confronted with a task which has not previously confronted the Communists of the world: relying upon the general theory and practice of communism, you must adapt yourselves to specific conditions such as do not exist in the European countries; you must be able to apply that theory and practice to conditions in which the bulk of the population are peasants, and in which the task is to wage a struggle against medieval survivals and not against capitalism."
27. Mao Tsetung, Selected Readings, p.432-479.
This method of learning from negative example ("teachers by negative example") has been widely developed cf. Peking Review No.13, March 31, 1972, p.5. This article cites the following quotations from Chairman Mao: "It is only through repeated education by positive and negative examples and through comparisons and contrasts that revolutionary parties and the revolutionary people can temper themselves, become mature and make sure of victory." "Whoever underestimates the role of teachers by negative example is not a thoroughgoing dialectical materialist." Cf. also the following quotation from Chairman Mao: "The Chinese revolution would not have been victorious if there had been only positive teachers and no teachers by negative example. Those who belittle the role of teachers by negative example are not thoroughgoing dialectical materialists." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.26, June 27, 1975, p.6.)
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30. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Practice," p.301.
31. This expression "sword" is to be found in the works of Chairman Mao, for example in his "Speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," November 15, 1966: "I think there are two 'swords': One is Lenin and the other Stalin. The sword of Stalin has now been abandoned by the Russians. As for the sword of Lenin, has it now been abandoned also to a certain extent by some leaders of the Soviet Union? In my view, it has been abandoned to a considerable extent. Is the October Revolution still valid? Can it still be the example for all countries? Khrushchov's report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU says it Is possible to gain political power by the parliamentary road, that is to say, it is no longer necessary for all countries to learn from the October Revolution. Once this gate is opened, Leninism by and large is thrown out." (Quoted in Leninism or Social-Imperialism?, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1970, p.10.)
32. In the collection Total Bankruptcy of Soviet Modern Revisionism (Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1968), the following note was included, under the title "What is Social-Imperialism?"
"In (the article) 'Total Bankruptcy of Soviet Revisionism' . . . there is this sentence: 'The Soviet revisionist renegade clique has long ago degenerated into a gang of social-imperialists.'
"By social-imperialism is meant imperialism flying the banner of 'socialism.' In lashing out at the revisionists of the Second International who supported the imperialist and colonialist policies of the bourgeoisie, the great Lenin pointed out that these renegades were a gang of social-imperialists — 'Socialism in words, imperialism in deeds, the growth of opportunism into imperialism.'
"After usurping Party and state leadership, the Soviet revisionist renegade clique has brought about a restoration of capitalism in all spheres of endeavour in the Soviet Union. It has at the same time fanatically followed an imperialist policy abroad and stepped up its counterrevolutionary global collusion with U.S. imperialism, vainly hoping thus to redivide the world between them. Regarding a number of countries as colonial possessions, the Soviet revisionist clique has savagely plundered and enslaved these countries, and by means of so-called economic and military 'aid' penetrated into other countries and gained control of them. It puts up the signboard of 'socialism' but acts in an imperialist way. The recent armed invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia is the most typical and glaring exposure of the ugly features of this gang of social-imperialists.
"Twenty-eight years ago, our great leader Chairman Mao pointed out: ' . . . the proletariat of the capitalist countries is steadily freeing itself from the social-imperialist influence of the social-democratic parties and has proclaimed its support for the liberation movement in the colonies and semi-colonies.' (Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, 'On New Democracy,' p.343) The social-imperialism of the social-democratic parties has long been cast into the dustbin by the proletariat and the broad masses of the revolutionary people. It is certain that the social-imperialism of the Soviet revisionist clique will go in the same way — completely bankrupt."
33. The first quotation is from VI. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume IV, "Our Programme," Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1964, p.211. The second is from VI. Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1973, p.28.
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34. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, pp.105-116.
35. "Chen Tu-hsiu": Cf. various works and footnotes in the Works of Chairman Mao. Cf. Peking Review, No.32, August 9, 1974, p.9: "Chen Tu-hsiu was originally a professor at Peking University and became famous as an editor of New Youth. He was one of the founders of the Communist Party of China. Owing to his reputation at the time of the May 4th Movement and owing to the Party's immaturity in its initial period, he became General Secretary of the Party. In the last period of the revolution of 1924-27, the Rightist thinking in the Party represented by Chen Tu-hsiu developed into a line of capitulationism. The capitulationists at that time voluntarily gave up the Party's leadership of the peasant masses, urban petty bourgeoisie and middle bourgeoisie, and in particular gave up the Party's leadership of the armed forces, thus causing the defeat of the revolution. After the defeat of 1927, Chen Tu-hsiu and a handful of other capitulationists lost faith in the future of the revolution and became liquidationists. They took a reactionary Trotskyist stand and together with the Trotskyites formed a small anti-Party group. Consequently Chen Tu-hsiu was expelled from the Party in November, 1929."
"Wang Ming": Cf. also the Works of Chairman Mao and Peking Review, (No.32, August 9, 1974, p.10) "Wang Ming's opportunist line was dominant in the Party from the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party in January 1931 to the meeting of the Political Bureau convened by the Party Central Committee at Tsunyi, Kweichow Province, in January 1935, which ended the dominance of this erroneous line and established the new central leadership headed by Comrade Mao Tsetung. The erroneous 'Left' line dominated the Party for a particularly long time (four years) and brought extremely heavy losses, with disastrous consequences, to the Party and the revolution. A loss of 90 per cent was inflicted on the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese Red Army and its base areas, tens of millions of people in the revolutionary base areas were made to suffer the cruel oppression of the Kuomintang, and the progress of the Chinese revolution was retarded."
Regarding the two-line struggle, cf. note 72 in which the ten major two-line struggles are summarised chronologically.
36. Respectively: "On Practice," Selected Works, Volume I, pp.295-309; "On Contradiction," ibid, pp.311-347; "Reform our Study," Selected Works, Volume III, pp.17-25; "Rectify the Party's Style of Work," ibid, pp.35-51, "Oppose Stereotyped Party Writing," ibid, pp.53-68; "Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art," ibid pp.69-98.
37. "Apriorism is an idealist theory of knowledge. The materialist theory of reflection holds that ideas are the reflection of objective reality, that all true knowledge originates from experience. So there is no knowledge prior to experience. Yet apriorism holds that the rational includes some 'gifted concept,' 'self-understood reason,' 'born principles,' or logical categories, that it does not arise from experience but is innate in the mind, and that starting from these principles or categories, one can get real knowledge through logical deduction. Apriorists do not admit the dependence of conceptual knowledge upon perceptual knowledge, but think that the former is independent; they oppose proceeding from practical experience, but stand for proceeding from the rational. They do not proceed from facts to concepts but vice versa." (Peking Review, No.10, March
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10, 1972, p.6) On the refutation of apriorism, cf. F. Engels, Anti-Duhring; and Mao Tsetung, "Where Do Correct Ideas Come From," in Selected Readings, pp.502-504.
38. "Bourgeois humanism": "This theory of human nature of the landlords and the bourgeoisie" was put forward by Liu Shao-chi in an article published in 1941 entitled "The Class Character of Man," in which he wrote: "The essence of man is his duality, one is his natural essence, that is, man's constitution, intelligence, health, instincts . . . . ; the other is his social essence, that is man's psychology, ideology, consciousness, viewpoints, habits, demands." (Quoted in Hsinhua, October 31, 1971, p.12) On the basis of this anti-Marxist-Leninist theory, Liu Shao-chi developed his reactionary line. The theory of man's "natural essence" is the bourgeois theory of "universal human nature" whose principal application in the realm of politics is to deny the class struggle, to promote the handing over of all power to the "intelligence ones" and to divide the world into "those who govern" (the intellectuals) and "those who are governed" (the workers). It also leads to the theory of "the genius," of "the superman" (the "prophet"). At the same time, this theory confuses social being and social consciousness; it amounts to putting man's thinking in the primary position, while for Marxism-Leninism, it is man's social being which determines his thinking. The practical effects of the theory of Liu Shao-chi and his followers were felt in all domainsplacing all importance on the "heroes" at the expense of the masses, putting forward the "three famouses" (famous writers, famous directors and famous actors), extolling only the leading lights in all fields, etc. The conception of "self-cultivation" (cf. note 41) leads to the rejection of the need to transform the world according to the proletarian world outlook. ("mould the Party and the world . . . in the image of the proletarian vanguard" (Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art," p.95) Liu Shao-chi also promoted the theory of not attempting to transform the intellectuals, saying "remoulding world outlook restrains development of individuality." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.31, July 30, 1971, p.12) In his "Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art" in 1942, Chairman Mao stated "Is there such a thing as human nature? Of course there is. But there is only human nature in the concrete, no human nature in the abstract. In class society there is only human nature of a class character; there is no human nature above classes. We uphold the human nature of the proletariat and of the masses of the people, while the landlord and bourgeois classes uphold the human nature of their own classes, only they do not say so but make it out to be the only human nature in existence." (Selected Works, Volume III, p.90) As Chairman Mao points out in the same work: "The question of 'for whom' is fundamental; it is a question of principle." (Ibid, p.78) Liu Shao-chi's theory had many other consequences as well: promoting belittling of social practice, investigation, and "the three great revolutionary movements." As the Chinese press has written on numerous occasions: "Advocating the theory of human nature means transforming the world according to bourgeois world outlook." (Peking Review, No.31, July 30, 1971, p.11) Literature and art were one of the areas taken up by Liu Shao-chi and his followers in an attempt to create counter-revolutionary public opinion. This was also the case in the sphere of philosophy (Cf. notably the two major struggles between whether or not being and consciousness are identical and whether "one divides into two" or "two combine
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into one" — cf. note 167). In order to ensure that cultural workers would come forward to participate in their schemes, to the policy of the "three famouses," they added the policy of the "three highs" (high salaries, high awards and high bonuses). As Chairman Mao has said: "To overthrow a political power, it is always necessary first of all to create public opinion, to do work in the ideological sphere. This is true for the revolutionary class as well as for the counter-revolutionary class." (Mao Tsetung, "Speech at the Tenth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," quoted in The Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1969, p.30)
39. The "theory of productive forces" (or of "the primacy of the productive forces") is a theory which takes account only of the role played by the instruments of production in historical development, and denies the possibility that the relations of production can react on the productive forces. "The productive forces consist of the following three elements: 1) labourers who possess certain production experience and labour skill; 2) means of labour, the first being instruments of production; 3) objects of labour. Of the three, labourers are the primary as well as the decisive factor. This is because only the labouring masses can create, improve and use the instruments of production." (Peking Review, No.33, August 15, 1975, p.6) For the revisionists, on the contrary, machinery and materials are primary over man, and they thus say that the means of labour constitutes the principal element in the productive forces. In addition they deny that the relations of production can have any effect on the productive forces. While it is true that "the productive forces generally play the principal and decisive role because they are the most revolutionary and active factor," it is also true that "the relations of production do not merely correspond to the demands of the development of the productive forces in a passive way. They react upon the productive forces, promote or hinder their development and play the decisive role under certain conditions." (Ibid) Cf. Engels' letter to Starkenburg, January 25, 1894, in which he says: "It is not that the economic situation is cause, solely active, while everything else is only passive effect. There is, rather, interaction on the basis of economic necessity, which ultimately always asserts itself." (Marx, Engels, Selected Correspondence, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, p.549). Cf. also Chairman Mao's "On Contradiction": "True, the productive forces, practice and the economic base generally play the principal and decisive role; whoever denies this is not a materialist. But it must also be admitted that in certain conditions, such aspects as the relations of production, theory and the superstructure in turn manifest themselves in the principal and decisive role." (Selected Works, Volume I, p.336)
40. "Theory of the dying out of the class struggle": In his "Report to the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China" (a report which was promoted and widely reprinted and studied during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution), Chairman Mao stressed: "After the country-wide victory of the Chinese revolution and the solution of the land problem, two basic contradictions will still exist in China. The first is internal, that is, the contradiction between the working class and the bourgeoisie . . . " (Selected Works, Volume IV, p.369) In the same report he emphasised that while it was necessary, for a time, to permit capitalism to exist in China, it was also neces-
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sary to limit it, saying "The policy of restricting private capitalism is bound to meet with resistance in varying degrees and forms from the bourgeoisie, especially from the big owners of private enterprises, that is, from the big capitalists. Restriction versus opposition to restriction will be the main form of class struggle in the new-democratic state. It is entirely wrong to think that at present we need not restrict capitalism and can discard the slogan of 'regulation of capital'; that is a Right opportunist view." (Ibid, p.368)
It was over the interpretation and implementation of this line that a sharp struggle later broke out, known as the first major struggle on the philosophical front, with the representatives of the bourgeoisie putting forward the "theory of synthesized economic base," a variant of the "theory of productive forces" (cf. note 39). This line attempted to mystify the role of class struggle as the motive force in socialist development, to place the socialist superstructure in the service of capitalism and the bourgeoisie and to accelerate the uncontrolled development of capitalism and small production in the countryside to the detriment of the socialist sector — and this was concretely promoted and encouraged by Liu Shao-chi. He put forward the line of the peaceful integration of the capitalists, landlords and rich peasants into socialism. A new contradiction broke out in 1955 when Chairman Mao, in a speech on the general line of the Party in the period of transition, criticised Liu Shao-chi for desiring consolidation of the system of new democracy, and he pointed out the pernicious nature of this line: "The period of transition is full of contradictions and struggle. Our present revolutionary struggle is even deeper than the armed revolutionary struggle of the past. It is a revolution that will forever bury the capitalist system and all other systems of exploitation." (Quoted in The Struggle Between the Two Roads in China's Countryside, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1968, p.7') To hold to "new democracy" meant to slow down socialist transformation, or even to obstruct and prevent it to the benefit of capitalism. In order to oppose the line of co-operation and mutual assistance put forward in 1955 by Chairman Mao, Liu Shao-chi, between 1953-55, promoted the line of "holding up," "contraction" and "checking up" which brought about the dissolution of a large number of co-operatives. In 1951, Liu Shao-chi declared: "Only with the nationalization of industry can large quantities of machinery be supplied the peasants, and only then will it be possible to nationalize the land and collectivize agriculture." (Ibid, p.11) On the other hand, Chairman Mao stated: " . . . with conditions as they are in our country co-operation must precede the use of big machinery (in capitalist countries agriculture develops in a capitalist way) . . . we must on no account regard industry and agriculture, socialist industrialization and the socialist transformation of agriculture as two separate and isolated things, and on no account must we emphasize the one and play down the other." (Ibid, p.13) Later in 1962, Chairman Mao was to formulate the general principle "Take agriculture as the foundation and industry as the leading factor." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.33, August 17, 1973, p.4) The theories of Liu Shao-chi led in fact to the development of capitalism in the countryside. During the Eighth Congress of the CPC, Liu Shao-chi and Chen Po-ta came out with even more open attempts to belittle the importance of the class struggle (cf. note 64). Despite the attempts of Liu Shao-chi and company, the agricultural co-operation movement greatly developed. After the beginning of the establishment of people's communes in the countryside
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(1958), new manoeuvres were launched in 1961-62 by the defenders of private property, material incentives, etc. This was the San-Zi Yi-Bao movement (the extension of plots for private use, the extension of free markets, the increase in the number of small enterprises with sole responsibility for their own profits or losses, and the fixing of output quotas on the basis of individual households), which was countered by the socialist education movement launched by Chairman Mao in 1962-63 (cf. note 67). If it had not been combatted, the San-Zi Yi-Bao movement would have put the People's Republic of China on the Russian revisionist road to the restoration of capitalism, the placing of profit instead of politics in command, etc. The "theory of the dying out of the class struggle" put forward by Liu Shao-chi and his supporters amounted to placing the power of the proletariat into the hands of the bourgeoisie. All of this went on concurrently with numerous offensives on the ideological front, together with two major two-line struggles, both internally against the Kao Kang and Peng Teh-huai anti-Party groups(1953-54 and 1958-59 respectively), and externally, the struggle against modern revisionism after the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU in 1956. (The contents of this note come mainly from Three Major Struggles on China's Philosophical Front (1949-64), Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1973.)
41. "The way of Confucius and Mencius": "The doctrines of Confucius and Mencius refer to the reactionary political line and idealist system of thought of the Confucian school represented by Confucius (551-479 B.C.) and Mencius (c. 390-305 B.C.). Stubbornly defending and trying to save the slave system, both opposed social change and advocated returning to ancient times and retrogression. Modified and elaborated by successive rulers from the Han Dynasty onward, the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius became an ideological weapon for maintaining reactionary rule, as well as the spiritual bondage of the working people for more than 2,000 years in both China's feudal society, and semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Even today these doctrines are still used by reactionaries in China and abroad, and by chieftains of the opportunist lines in the Party." (Peking Review, No.31, August 2, 1974, p.5)
In the course of the struggle against Liu Shao-chi and his supporters in the various sectors, the struggle against Confucius and Mencius developed during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and went through a big upsurge with the struggle against Lin Piao. Cf. the collection Selected Articles Criticizing Lin Piao and Confucius (Volumes I and II), as well as numerous articles published in Peking Review and Hsinhua, and various collections published in France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Two categories of criticism must be distinguished: those that deal with the doctrine or history of Confucius and Mencius themselves, and those that analyse how these doctrines are utilised in the present period by those who support the defence of "bourgeois" values and the restoration of capitalism. This doctrine has in fact been used very concretely as an "ideological weapon," and one very striking example of this was in 1962 when: "Liu Shao-chi and his cohorts . . . openly sponsored the repulsive farce of a 'pilgrimage to the Confucian Temple' and held so-called 'forums on Confucius,' seeking the help of the dead Confucius in their efforts to subvert the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism."(Peking Review, No.22, May 31, 1974) In his introductory note to one of the articles in the book Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside (1955), Chairman Mao
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denounced such initiatives: "The people in his (Confucius') home-town have set up socialist co-operatives. After three years of co-operation, the economic and cultural life of the people, who remained in poverty for more than 2,000 years, has begun to undergo radical changes. This testifies to the fact that the socialism of today is indeed without parallel in history. It is infinitely superior to the Confucian 'classics.' I would like to suggest to those interested in visiting the Confucian Temple and the Confucian Woods, that on their way there, they might as well go and have a look at this co-operative." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.33, 1974, p.9)
Thus the doctrine of Confucius and Mencius was at the heart of the struggle between the two lines, the struggle between the two roads. This has been the case, as well, through the history of China and in the reflections of this history in literature, theatre and film, and the struggle has been quite sharp. Here is a portion of Chairman Mao's article "Give Serious Attention to the Discussion of the Film 'The Life of Wu Hsun'," written for Renmin Ribao, May 20, 1975: "In the view of many writers, history has developed not by the replacement of the old by the new, but by the exertion of every effort to preserve the old from extinction, not by class struggle to overthrow the reactionary feudal rulers who had to be overthrown, but by the negation of the class struggle of the oppressed and their submission to these rulers, in the manner of Wu Hsun." (Mao Tsetung, Five Documents on Literature and Art, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1967, p.4)
Also worthy of attention in this regard are: the comments of Chairman Mao on the publication of an article refuting the idealist literary assessment of the novel The Dream of the Red Chamber and his criticism of the film Inside Story of the Ching Court (Ibid, pp.7-9); his "Instruction of December 12, 1963," in which he says: "The social and economic base has changed, but the arts as part of the superstructure, which serves this base, still remain a serious problem. Hence we should proceed with investigation and study and attend to this matter in earnest. Isn't it absurd that many communists are enthusiastic about promoting feudal and capitalist art, but not socialist art?" (Ibid, pp.10-11); and his "Instruction of June 27, 1964," which states: "In the last fifteen years these associations (in literature and art), most of their publications (it is said a few are good) and by and large the people in them (that is not everybody) have not carried out the policies of the Party. They have acted as high and mighty bureaucrats, have not gone to the workers, peasants and soldiers and have not reflected socialist revolution and socialist construction. In recent years, they have slid right down to the brink of revisionism. Unless they remould themselves in real earnest, at some future date they are bound to become groups like the Hungarian Petofi Club." (Ibid, p.11)
Many events in Chinese history have thus become the basis for a struggle between the two lines and the two roads. An example is the letter written by the Hu Feng counterrevolutionary clique in 1955 criticising certain peasant revolutions of the past, to which Chairman Mao replied: "In this letter, the phrase 'those potential feudal forces madly killing people' betrays the feeling of terror the Hu Feng counter-revolutionary clique experiences in the face of the great struggle of our people's revolutionary forces to suppress the counter-revolutionary forces, and this feeling is typical of all counter-revolutionary classes, groups and individuals. What strikes terror into their hearts is precisely what makes the revolutionary masses jubilant." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.33, August 16,1974, p.9) At the time of the Great Leap Forward, Chairman Mao
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wrote the following inscription for the first tractor made through self-reliance by the Chinese working class: "The lowly are most intelligent; the elite are most ignorant," thus replying to those who claimed that history is made by "heroes" and not by the "slaves" — a theory taken up and developed by Lin Piao. (Ibid).
These few examples show that at the various stages of the Chinese Revolution, with each new question that was posed, on the basis of the doctrine of Confucius and Mencius, there were counter-revolutionary answers put forward and promoted.
"The Book on Self-Cultivation": This refers to Liu Shao-chi's How to Be a Good Communist. Presented originally as a series of Lectures at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in Yenan, July 1939, it was revised and republished in August 1949, and again in August 1962. That year it was reprinted in Hongqi Nos.15-16, 1962, and distributed massively as a weapon to oppose the works of Chairman Mao, the dissemination of which, in that period, was being limited by Liu Shao-chi and his followers. Liu Shao-chi "was blatantly setting himself up in opposition to a whole series of great works by Chairman Mao, such as the Report to the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People." (Peking Review No.20, May 12, 1967, p.8, originally from Hongqi, No.6, 1967 and Renmin Ribao, May 8, 1967).
The various articles written since 1967 denouncing this book by Liu Shao-chi have stressed the fact that it makes no mention of the class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat, that in the quotations from Lenin the passages concerning the dictatorship of the proletariat were suppressed, and that in the final analysis the effect of the book is to divert the attention of the Chinese communists away from the essential questions concerning the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the class struggle inside the Party, the continuation of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, the necessity of this dictatorship and the struggle against modern revisionism.
42. The Chinese press has pointed out "six sinister theories" of Liu Shao-chi and his supporters:
— the theory of "the dying out of class struggle" (cf. note 40);
— the theory of "docile tools" (cf. note 75);
— the theory that "the masses are backward" (cf. note 160);
— the theory of "joining the Party in order to climb up";
— the theory of "inner-Party peace" (cf. note 65);
— the theory of "merging private and public interests" (cf. note 183).
This evidently does not represent the totality of the actions of Liu Shao-chi in the various sectors, considering the important functions he held both within the Party and as head of state. But this list does show how coherent his scheme appears when its separate elements are brought together, even in a relatively unrefined form. But we now have this understanding after the fact. In reality, things were more difficult: what later became apparent as a counter-revolutionary line, may have been experienced in the various sectors only as right or "left" deviations, and it required a protracted struggle by Chairman Mao in order to bring to light, from all the separate elements, the true plot. An additional difficulty came from the fact that the bourgeoisie controlled a portion of the information sector, with the result that things which happened in the Party
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remained unknown to the Party, a situation which Chairman Mao denounced on several occasions. In this way negative measures could be carried out, even if temporarily. Thus many revolutionary measures advocated by Chairman Mao were not able to take root until the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, when the masses swept aside their enemies, the enemies of socialism.
In regard to Lin Piao, the essentials of his line are to be found in the numerous articles and criticisms published especially since 1973 (cf. note 41). Regarding the "Outline of Project 571" cf. note 100; on the criticism of his military theories, cf. note 190.
44. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "On New Democracy," p.360.
45. K. Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1972, p.17.
46. Mao Tsetung, "Message of Greetings to the Fifth Congress of the Albanian Party of Labour," October 25, 1966, quoted in Peking Review, No.46, November 11, 1966, p.5.
47. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Contradiction," p.314.
48. Cf. many articles in Peking Review and Hsinhua. Several of Chairman Mao's statements on the question have been published, including:
"The Soviet Union today is under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, a dictatorship of the big bourgeoisie, a dictatorship of the German fascist type, a dictatorship of the Hitler type." (Mao Tsetung, quoted in Leninism or Social-Imperialism?, p.14).
"The Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and every other country where the modern revisionist clique is in power have either changed colour or are in the process of doing so. Capitalism has been or is being restored there, and the dictatorship of the proletariat is being changed into the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie." (Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.7, February 14, 1969, p.2). "What will happen to our country if we fail to establish a socialist economy? It will turn into a country like Yugoslavia, in fact a bourgeois state, and the dictatorship of the proletariat will turn into a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and for that matter, into a reactionary, fascist dictatorship." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.13, March 29, 1968, p.33)
49. V.I. Lenin, The State and Revolution, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1965, p.105
51. K. Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme, p.15.
52. Mao Tsetung, in The Polemic on the General Line of the International communist Movement, "On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Consequences for the World," p.472.
53. Various articles attempting to "justify" the abandonment of this principle were published by the Russian revisionists during the 1960's, notably, in the French language, in La Nouvelle Revue lnternationale. One of the "reasons" invoked is that the word "dictatorship" shocks people and makes them afraid! On another level cf. the following statement of Liu Shao-chi: "The 'correctness' of
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the Marxist philosophy is absolute, but in the eyes of the bourgeoisie, this philosophy is very loathsome. This is why the absolute character is conditional."* (Cahiers de la Chine nouvelle, May 14, 1971 — Hongqi, No.4, 1971)
54. "Chang Szu-teh": Referred to in "Serve the People," Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, pp.177-178. Footnote of this article reads: "Comrade Chang Szu-teh was a soldier in the Guards Regiment of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. A member of the Communist Party who loyally served the interests of the people, he joined the revolution in 1933, took part in the Long March and was wounded in service. On September 5, 1944, when making charcoal in the mountains of Ansai County, northern Shensi, he was killed by the sudden collapse of a kiln."
"Liu Hu-lan": Born on October 8, 1932 in a peasant family in Shansi province, worked with the Party from the age of 13 years. Arrested by the Kuomintang on January 12, 1947, she held firm against every kind of threat and was executed.
"Lei Feng, a member of the Chinese Communist Party and a squad leader in an engineering corps of the Shenyang Unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, was born in a poor peasant family in Changsha, Hunan Province, in 1939. He painstakingly studied Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and had a clear cut proletarian stand. Dedicated to the revolution in word and deed, he was praised for his communist style of devotion to the public interests without any thought of self and for his fearless proletarian fighting will. He died a martyr on August 15, 1962 while on duty. On March 5, 1963, the inscription "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng," in Chairman Mao's own handwriting, was published in the press. Lei Feng's advanced ideas and heroic actions have greatly inspired the people of the whole country, the youth and children in particular." (Peking Review, No.26, June 27, 1975, p.8)
"Chiao Yu-lu": Model for leading administrative personnel. Worked in the Sub-prefecture of Lankao, Hunan province.
"Wang Chin-hsi": "An excellent representative of the Taching workers and the first leader of the oilfield's drilling team No.1205. Praised for his revolutionary spirit of fearing neither hardship nor death in his work, Wang Chin-hsi was called the 'iron man.' Elected a member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party during the Ninth Party Congress in 1969, he died of illness in November 1970." (Peking Review, No.20, May 18, 1973, p.9)
55. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "Win the Masses in Their Millions for the Anti-Japanese United Front," p.290.
56. Cf. Peking Review, No.9, February 28,1969, pp.4-6 — Renmin Ribao, February 21, 1969.
58. The institutions known as the "May 7" schools constitute the application of Chairman Mao's directive of May 7, 1966: "While their (the students') main task is to study, they should in addition to their studies, learn other things, that is, industrial work, farming and military affairs. They should also criticize the bourgeoisie. The period of schooling should be shortened, education should be revolutionized, and the domination of our schools by bourgeois intellectuals should by no means be allowed to continue." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.47, November 17, 1967, p.9) This directive was further developed by another direc-
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tive in October, 1968, concerning the participation of cadres introduction (cf. note 182). The "May 7" spirit was summed up as follows by Peking Review, No.45, November 8 1968 pp.8-9; " . . . functionaries of Party and government organizations should not only study politics and military affairs and engage in agricultural and industrial productive labour, but also do mass work and criticize and repudiate the bourgeoisie." The October 5, 1968 issue of Renmin Ribao which popularised the directive of Chairman Mao concerning cadres' participation in manual work emphasized: "The sending of cadres to do manual work in the "May 7" cadre school in Heilungkiang provides excellent experience. We suggest that comrades of the revolutionary committees at all levels and the broad masses of cadres and intellectuals conscientiously study it. We already have experience in simplifying administrative structures. This, plus the experience in sending cadres to do manual work, will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how to bring about the revolutionization of organizations and of cadres." (Reprinted in Peking Review, No.41, October 11, 1968. p.23).
The experience of these schools was systematised in 1973: "To run the 'May 7' cadre schools still better, a work conference was recently held in Peking by the departments under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council to sum up and exchange the experience gained at these schools. On July 11, Renmin Ribao printed a news report about the conference and an editorial entitled " 'May 7' Cadre Schools Must Be Well Run." (Peking Review, No.30, July 27, 1973, p.5)This editorial summed up several guiding principles of the "May" Schools: "go(ing) down to do manual labour"; "studying politics" and "criticizing and repudiating the bourgeoisie"; persevering in the principle of "while studying engage in production." (This latter principle had been applied at a number of schools before the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.) The editorial quotes the following teaching of Chairman Mao: "in all its work, the school should aim at transforming the students' ideology." (Ibid).
In Peking Review, No.20, May 17, 1974, p.21, the assessment is made: "Cadres who have gone to 'May 7' cadre schools have greatly changed."
The experience of the "May 7" schools was recently summed up: "All these (policies) are aimed at restricting bourgeois right, narrowing the three major differences (between workers and peasants, between town and countryside and between mental and manual labour) expanding communist factors. The May 7 Directive touches on the questions of doing a good job in carrying out the revolution in the superstructure and of strengthening the socialist economic base. It is a splendid programme for building up the army and the country and for transforming society under the dictatorship of the proletariat." (Peking Review, No.24, June 13, 1975, p.12).
59. "Socialist new things": This basically refers to. the gains of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. In its issue No.12 of 1974, Hongqi mentioned the following:
— the movement to study Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought (cf. note 101);
— the revolutionary committee (cf. note 176);
— the strengthening of the centralised leadership & the Party;
— the creation and popularisation of modern revolutionary operas;
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— the contingents of theoreticians from among the worker-peasant-soldier masses;
— the worker-peasant-soldier students (cf. note 5);
— the reform of education;
— the educated young people in the countryside (cf. note 5);
— the barefoot doctors and the co-operative medical system;
— the study of history by the workers and peasants;
— the "three-in-one" combination (cf. note 176);
— the training of worker-peasant-soldier cadres (cf. note 182);
— the genuine participation of cadres in manual labour (cf. notes 58 and 182);
— the "May 7" cadre schools (cf. note 58);
— vanguard organisations in all spheres;
— the technical and scientific innovations and discoveries.
60. Mao Tsetung, quoted in The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), p.17.
61. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Contradiction," p.315.
63. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume IV, "Report to the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," p.369. (Cf. note 40).
64. "Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of China": In the "Resolution of the Eighth Congress of the CPC on the Political Report of the Central Committee," adopted September 27, 1956, it is stated: "The socialist transformation which we have been carrying out in agriculture, handicrafts and capitalist industry and commerce, is designed to alter capitalist ownership and the system of private ownership by small producers — the root of capitalism. A decisive victory has already been won in this socialist transformation. This means that the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in our country has been basically resolved, that the history of the system of class exploitation, which lasted for several thousand years in our country, has on the whole been brought to an end, and that the social system of socialism has, in the main, been established in China . . . Without doubt, the people of our country must continue to strive for the liberation of Taiwan, for the completion of socialist transformation and for the final elimination of the system of exploitation; and they must also persist in the struggle to eliminate the remnants of the counter-revolutionary forces. These tasks must be carried out resolutely; to fail in them is absolutely impermissible. "However, the major contradiction in our country is already that between the people's demand for the building of an advanced industrial country and the realities of a backward agricultural country, between the people's need for rapid economic and cultural development and the inability of our present economy and culture to meet that need. In view of the fact that a socialist system has already been established in our country, this contradiction, in essence, is between the advanced socialist system and the backward productive forces of society. The chief task now facing the Party and people is to concentrate all efforts on resolving this contradiction and transforming China as quickly as possible from a backward agricultural country into an advanced industrial one." (Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Documents, Volume 1, Foreign Languages
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Press, Peking, 1956, pp.115-117)
In his speech of February 27, 1957 to the Eleventh Session (Enlarged) of the Supreme State Conference — five months after the Eighth Congress of the CPC — Chairman Mao directly replied to the theses inserted in the Congress Resolution. This speech, published on June 19, 1957, and known under the title of "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People," puts forward the foundations of the basic line of the CPC. It includes the fundamental Marxist-Leninist theses for the transition period, which were taken up again and further developed later.
"The class struggle is by no means over. The class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the class struggle between the different political forces, and the class struggle in the ideological field between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie will continue to be long and tortuous and at times will even become very acute. The proletariat seeks to transform the world according to its own world outlook, and so does the bourgeoisie. In this respect, the question of which will win out, socialism or capitalism, is still not really settled." (Selected Readings, pp.463-464)
"It will take a fairly long period of time to decide the issue in the ideological struggle between socialism and capitalism in our country. The reason is that the influence of the bourgeoisie and of the intellectuals who come from the old society will remain in our country for a long time to come. If this is not sufficiently understood, or is not understood at all, the gravest mistakes will be made and the necessity of waging the struggle in the ideological field will be ignored." (Ibid, p.464)
"After the basic victory of the socialist revolution in our country, there are still a number of people who vainly hope to restore the capitalist system and fight the working class on every front, including the ideological one. And their right-hand men in this struggle are the revisionists." (Ibid, p.467)
These theses are further developed in Chairman Mao's "Speech to the Tenth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China" of September 1962 (cf. page 7 above), as well as in the 10-Point Decision of May 1963, written under Chairman Mao's direction, which declared that if classes and class struggle were forgotten and if the dictatorship of the proletariat were forgotten, "then it would not be long, perhaps only several years or a decade, or several decades at most, before a counter-revolutionary restoration on a national scale would inevitably occur, the Marxist-Leninist Party would undoubtedly become a revisionist party, a fascist party, and the whole of China would change its colour. Comrades, please think it over. What a dangerous situation this would be! (Quoted under Chairman Mao's name in The Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), p.24)
Also from May 1963, cf. Chairman Mao's "Note on 'The Seven Well-Written documents of the Chekiang Province Concerning Cadres' Participation in Physical Labour'," (cf. note 6 above) and the document A Proposal Concerning the General Line of the International Communist Movement of June 14, 1963, drafted "under the personal direction of Chairman Mao" which declares:
"For a very long historical period after the proletariat takes power, class struggle continues as an objective law independent of man's will, differing only in
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form from what it was before the taking of power.
"After the October Revolution, Lenin pointed out a number of times that:
a. The overthrown exploiters always try in a thousand and one ways to recover the 'paradise' they have been deprived of.
b. New elements of capitalism are constantly and spontaneously generated in the petty-bourgeois atmosphere.
c. Political degenerates and new bourgeois elements may emerge in the ranks of the working class and among government functionaries as a result of bourgeois influence and the pervasive, corrupting atmosphere of the petty bourgeoisie.
d. The external conditions for the continuance of class struggle within a socialist country are encirclement by international capitalism, the imperialists' threat of armed intervention and their subversive. activities to accomplish peaceful disintegration.
"Life has confirmed these conclusions of Lenin's.
"For decades or even longer periods after socialist industrialization and agricultural collectivization, it will be impossible to say that any socialist country will be free from those elements which Lenin repeatedly denounced, such as bourgeois hangers-on, parasites, speculators, swindlers, idlers, hooligans and embezzlers of state funds; or to say that a socialist country will no longer need to perform or be able to relinquish the task laid down by Lenin of conquering 'this contagion, this plague, this ulcer that socialism has inherited from capitalism."
"In a socialist country, it takes a very long historical period gradually to settle the question of who will win — socialism or capitalism. The struggle between the road of socialism and the road of capitalism runs through this whole historical period. This struggle rises and falls in a wave-like manner, at times becoming very fierce, and the forms of the struggle are many and varied.
"The 1957 Declaration rightly states that 'the conquest of power by the working class is only the beginning of the revolution, not its conclusion."
"To deny the existence of class struggle in the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the necessity of thoroughly completing the socialist revolution on the economic, political and ideological fronts is wrong, does not correspond to objective reality and violates Marxism-Leninism." (A Proposal Concerning the General Line of the International Communist Movement, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1963, pp.36-38)
"In July 1964, the Editorial Departments of Renmin Ribao and Hongqi put forward these theses of Chairman Mao's in the following manner:
" . . . socialist society covers a very long historical period. Classes and class struggle continue to exist in this society, and the struggle still goes on between the road of socialism and the road of capitalism. The socialist revolution on the economic front (in the ownership of the means of production) is insufficient by itself and cannot be consolidated. There must also be a thorough socialist revolution on the political and ideological fronts. Here a very long period of time is needed to decide 'who will win' in the struggle between socialism and capitalism. Several decades won't do it; success requires anywhere from one to several centuries. On the question of duration, it is better to prepare for a longer rather than a shorter period of time. On the question of effort, it is better to regard the task as difficult rather than easy. It will be more advantageous and less harmful to think and act in this way. Anyone who fails to see this or to appreciate it fully will make tremendous mistakes. During the historical period of socialism it is
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necessary to maintain the dictatorship of the proletariat and carry the socialist revolution through to the end if the restoration of capitalism is to be prevented, socialist construction carried forward and the conditions created for the transition to communism." (The Polemic on the General Line of the International Communist Movement, "On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World," pp.47l-472)
Cf. also the quotation from Chairman Mao of January 1965, on p.60 above.
With the general line clear, the battle was joined during the socialist education movement (cf. note 67) and escalated up to the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution which brought a new development of Chairman Mao's theses (cf. note 69 and the end of note 72).
65. "Peng Teh-huai" Cf. note 72 "The Ten Major Two-Line Struggles." His relations with the Russian revisionists made him a rallying point for a large number of counterrevoluti0flarie5, which led a number of them to expose themselves. Thus Liu Shao-chi, in the name of his theory of "inner-Party peace" began after 1959 to attack the Lushan Meeting where Peng Teh-huai's line was denounced and his attempt to take power exposed. Peking Review, No.46, November 15, 1968, p.19 reports regarding the Lushan meeting that Liu Shao-chi "even slandered it as 'repeating the mistake of ruthless struggles and merciless blows that had occurred in the history of the Party'." He openly spoke in support of the "grievances" of the right opportunists and advocated that "correct verdicts" be reversed. He also declared that "the Lushan meeting made a mistake"; "it was wrong to combat the right deviation"; "it left an aftermath throughout the country" (July 1964) (Quoted in Peking Review, No.34, August 18, 1967, p.15 — Hongqi and Renmin Ribao of August 15, 1967)
Peng Teh-huai was also backed up by various representatives of the bourgeois line in the cultural sectors. The opera written by Wu Han entitled Hai Jui Appeals to the Emperor was an important example of this, and was written to assist Peng Teh-huai in his attempt to take power. In 1961, in spite of the criticism that had been levelled against him, Peng Teh-huai attempted a come-back — and he was assisted in this by a new play Hai Jui Dismissed From Office. Wu Han, who was also the author of this play declared: "Hai Jui who was already dismissed from office should be re-instated in order to bring about order in the state." Chairman Mao declared in regard to this play: "The crux . . . is the question of dismissal from office. The Emperor Chia Ching . . . dismissed Hai Jui from office. In 1959 we dismissed Peng Teh-huai from office. And Peng Teh-huai is Hai Jui, too." (Ibid, p.20) In accordance with Chairman Mao's 1965 directive "We must criticize reationary bourgeois ideas" — and under his leadership, the refutation of this play was carried out. In November 1965, the Shanghai daily Wenhui Bao published the Commentary on the New Historical Play Hai Jui Dismissed From Office" by Yao Wen-yuan. This article was a call "to declare war on the bourgeois headquarters." (Peking Review, No.37, September 7, 1969) According to the same article in Peking Review, Liu Shao-chi gave orders that the "Commentary" not be published in the press in Peking. Following this attack launched against them under Chairman Mao's leadership, the counter-revolutionary elements elaborated the "February Outline" report as a counter-attack aimed at covering up the political implications of the debate. This report was exposed and under Chairman Mao's leadership the Central Committee of the CPC issued its Circular of May 16, 1966,
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containing one of the famous calls of Chairman Mao for the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (cf. note 69).
66. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.14, April 3, 1970, p.l2.
67. Regarding the socialist education movement, cf. Peking Review, No.43, October 26, 1973, p.5:
"The socialist education movement was unfolded in the towns and countryside after the Tenth Plenary Session of the Party's Eighth Central Committee was convened in September 1962. The movement was also called the 'four cleans movement' as it aimed to do cleaning up politically, economically, organizationally and ideologically. The nature of the movement was the contradiction between socialism and capitalism, and the main target was Party persons in power taking the capitalist road. This direction was taken in order to further consolidate and develop the socialist positions in the cities and rural areas.
"Liu Shao-chi and his gang, to oppose the Party's basic line, tried to cover up the struggle between the two classes, the two roads and the two lines and opposed rooting out capitalist-roaders, asserting that the nature of the movement was 'the contradiction between the "four cleans" and the "four uncleans" ' and 'the intertwining of the contradictions inside and outside the Party."
"At the end of 1964, Chairman Mao convened a working conference of the Central Committee, and, under his direction, the document 'Some Current Problems Raised in the Socialist Education Movement in the Rural Areas' (i.e. the 23-Point Document) was drawn up. This sharply denounced Liu Shao-chi's bourgeois reactionary line and set right in the course of the socialist education movement."
The socialist education movement was launched in 1963, by the "Draft Decision of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on Certain Problems in Our Present Rural Work," written by Chairman Mao and known as the "10-Point Decision." (At the Tenth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, in September 1962, Chairman Mao declared: "We must undertake socialist education"*) The text of this statement has not yet been officially published but several extracts have appeared in the Chinese press, notably the following: "at the present time a serious and sharp class struggle is taking place in Chinese society"; "a powerful leadership is needed in this campaign, and we must rely on the poor and lower-middle peasants, carry out deep-going investigation and study among the masses and unreservedly mobilise them"; "the large majority of cadres are good. Some have committed errors, but they can correct their errors with the help of the leadership and the masses. We can and we must unite these cadres and work with them to isolate the hostile elements"; and "unite more than 95 per cent of the masses and the cadres."* (Cahiers de la Chine nouvelle, September 13, 1967) This programme of work was attacked by Liu Shao-chi, both openly — as on the question of the necessity of investigation — and surreptitiously, in his practice. He in fact launched a serious struggle to substitute for Chairman Mao's call "in agriculture, learn from Tachai" his own call of following the example of Taoyuan, which, in order that it could be put forward as a model, was financially subsidised by the state, while Tachai had to rely on its own strength. Taoyuan also become a negative example on the question of policy towards cadres, implementing the line of "hit at a large number to protect a handful" instead of following Chairman Mao's instructions to "unite . . . the
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overwhelming majority in order to isolate to the maximum the handful of enemies and attack them." Cf. note 160.
We can also read in Hongqi, No.7, 1967: "In January 1965, Chairman Mao pointed out in 'Some Current Problems Raised in the Socialist Education Movement in the Rural Areas': 'the main target of the present movement is those Party persons in power taking the capitalist road.' More recently, Chairman Mao has repeatedly stressed: 'We must be vigilant against the appearance of revisionism, especially in the Central Committee of the Party'."
68. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.43, October 26, 1973, p.5 — Hongqi, No.10, 1973.
This is an excerpt from Chairman Mao's speech to the national working conference convened by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC in January 1965, which has not yet been officially made public.
69. A very large number of directives from Chairman Mao were published during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The following quotations bring out some of the lines Chairman Mao put forward. The first quotation consists of the directives of Chairman Mao which were included in the Circular of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (May 16, 1966):
"Hold high the great banner of the proletarian cultural revolution, thoroughly expose the reactionary bourgeois stand of those so-called academic authorities who oppose the Party and socialism, thoroughly criticize and repudiate reactionary bourgeois ideas in the sphere of academic work, education, journalism, literature and art, and publishing, and seize the leadership in these cultural spheres. To achieve this, it is at the same time necessary to criticize and repudiate those representatives of the bourgeoisie who have sneaked into the Party, the government, the army and all spheres of culture, and to clear them out or transfer some of them to other positions. Above all, we must not entrust these people with the work of leading the cultural revolution. In fact many of them have done and are still doing such work, and it is extremely dangerous.
"Those representatives of the bourgeoisie who have sneaked into the Party, the government, the army and various spheres of culture are a bunch of counter-revolutionary revisionists. Once conditions are ripe, they will seize political power and turn the dictatorship of the proletariat into a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Some of them we have already seen through, others we have not. Some are still trusted by us and are being trained as our successors, persons like Khrushchov, for example, who are still nestling beside us. Party committees at all levels must pay full attention to this matter." (Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1967, pp.12-13)
On August 1, 1966, Chairman Mao wrote to the Red Guards. Two excerpts from this letter were published by Peking Review, No.29, July 14, 1967, p.29:
"Chairman Mao said: The revolutionary actions of the Red Guards show their 'wrath against and denunciation of the landlord class, the bourgeoisie, the imperialists, the revisionists and their running dogs who exploit and oppress the workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals and revolutionary parties and groups, and show that it is justified to rebel against reactionaries. I offer you my warm support.'
"Chairman Mao also said: 'In addition, while supporting you, we ask you to pay attention to uniting with all persons that can be united. Regarding those who
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have committed serious mistakes, after their mistakes have been pointed out, they too should be given work and a way out for correcting their mistakes and turning over a new leaf. Marx said: the proletariat must emancipate not only itself but mankind as a whole. Without emancipating mankind as a whole, the proletariat cannot achieve final emancipation. Comrades, please pay attention to this thesis too.'
On August 5, 1966, Chairman Mao made public his big-character poster "Bombard the Headquarters" in which he said:
"This first Marxist-Leninist big-character poster in the whole of China and the commentary on it in Renmin Ribao are really well written! Comrades please read this big-character poster and this commentary again. But in the last fifty days or more some leading comrades from the Central Committee right down to the local levels have acted in a contrary direction. Taking a reactionary bourgeois stand, they have exercised a bourgeois dictatorship and suppressed the vigorous movement of the great proletarian cultural revolution. They have called black white and stood the facts on their heads, encircled and attacked the revolutionaries, suppressed opinions differing from their own, and imposed a white terror, and they have done all this with great smugness. They inflated the arrogance of the bourgeoisie and damped down the morale of the proletariat. This is utterly vicious! Associating this with the erroneous tendencies of the Right deviation in 1962 and the apparently 'Left' but actually Right deviation in 1964, shouldn't this awaken people and make them ponder?" (Quoted in Peking Review, No.24, June 9, 1967, p.6)
70. Lenin, The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1965, p.35.
71. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Contradiction," p.317.
72. "The 10 major struggles between the two lines": Referred to by Chou En-lai his Report to the Tenth National Congress (in The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), p.15) cf. also a 1971 quotation from Chairman Mao: " . . . on ten occasions certain people inside our Party tried to split it." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.51, December 19, 1975, p.5 — Hongqi, No.9, 1975.)
1. The first struggle was waged against the right opportunism of Chen Tu-hsiu (1879-1942) who was General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1921 to August, 1927. Chen Tu-hsiu had played an important role at the time of the May 4th Movement in 1919. The political line which he supported was to hand over the leadership of the bourgeois democratic revolution to the bourgeoisie, demand that the workers wait for this revolution to be accomplished before going on to struggle for the socialist revolution, and neglect the strength of the peasantry. After the Conference of August 7, 1927 which deposed him, Chen Tu-hsiu formed a "left-wing Leninist opposition faction," and 81 Party members published a statement in which they made it clear that their goal was to divide the Party. This attempt failed totally, and Chen Tu-hsiu went on to completely betray the Party by joining the Trotskyite camp.
2. The second struggle was waged against the leader of the first "left" line, Chu Chin-pai (1889-1935), General Secretary of the Party after August, 1927. From the winter of 1927 to the spring of 1928, his line was characterised by "left" putchism, violence and terrorism. It placed priority on taking the cities and neglected
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revolutionary work in the countryside. He was replaced in the autumn of 1928 by Li Li-san. Later, in June, 1935, he was executed by the Kuomintang.
3. The third struggle was between the line of Chairman Mao and the line of Li Li-san. Li Li-san had been a member of a branch of the Communist Party of China in France before returning to China in 1921, and had participated in trade union organising. He considered that the main role in the revolutionary process was to be played by the workers acting by themselves and gave prime importance to the cities. Between June and September, 1930, he called for a general uprising in the key cities and a general offensive by the entire Red Army against these cities. This orientation caused very heavy losses to the Party's underground organisations in the areas controlled by the Kuomintang. In September, 1930, Li Li-san's errors were rectified by the Third Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party, and at the Fourth Plenary Session of the CC in January, 1931, he was completely eliminated from the leadership of the Party by a new "left" faction headed by Wang Ming. '
4. Another founding member of the Party, Lo Chang-lung (1901-1949) decided to take control of the Party at the end of 1930, and established a rightist faction with Ho Meng-hsiung. Expelled from the Party at the Fourth Plenary Session of the CC in January, 1931, he formed a rival central committee. Later on, he became a Trotskyite.
5. The fifth struggle was waged against the line led by Wang Ming, the name used by Chen Shao-yu (1907-1974). This line was known as the third "left" line. Wang Ming joined the Party in Moscow in 1925 and he had formed a faction of "twenty-eight and a half Bolsheviks." After returning to China, he and his group took power in the Party in 1931 and held it for four years. Their line denied the important changes in the internal political situation in China brought about by the Japanese invasion and considered all of the various cliques of the Kuomintang and intermediate groups as equally counter-revolutionary and consequently called for the Party to struggle "to the death" against all of them without distinction. This faction was also characterised by an extreme sectarianism.
At the end of 1932, Chairman Mao lost the command of the Red Army and Wang Ming was able to implement his military line: positional warfare and the holding of key positions "to the end." Chairman Mao and other members of the Party succeeded, after being opposed for a long period, in having an enlarged Conference of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee convened in January, 1935, at Tsunyi, Kweichow province. This Conference overthrew the "left" opportunist line and established a new leadership headed by Chairman Mao.
6. Chang Kuo-tao, a member of the Political Bureau who had not been able to be present at the Tsunyi Conference, had sent a message in which he labelled the policy of revolutionary base areas as "erroneous" and the Long March as a "defeat" and proposed that the Party withdraw its troops to a safe location like Tibet or Sinkiang. Holding to this orientation, he refused to move his troops from their base in north-west Szechuan to move to northern Shensi as proposed by Chairman Mao, and instead moved them west, towards Tibet. He suffered enormous losses, and by the time he arrived at the base in Yenan in 1936, his failure had been so staggering that he was no longer able to effectively oppose Chairman Mao. Upset by his lack of political influence, he fled, in the middle of 1938, into the territory controlled by the Kuomintang.
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7. The seventh struggle occurred after the Liberation of China in 1949, and took place between the Central Committee led by Chairman Mao and an anti-Party alliance brought together under the leadership of Kao Kang (1902-1954). At the end of the 1940 5, Kao Kang controlled the north-east region of China, holding the leadership positions there in the Party, the administration and the army. As the person in charge of the most highly industrialised region of China, he played a very important role in Peking and in 1952 became Chairman of the State Planning Commission. With his increased powers, he established a veritable "independent kingdom" in old Manchuria, and formed a group including Jao Shu-shih (First Secretary of the Party for eastern China) with the aim of taking political power centrally. This alliance was exposed and crushed at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee in 1954. Publicly criticised in 1955 at the National Conference of the Party (March 31), he committed suicide in February 1954, following an investigation which was conducted into his anti-Party activities. The Resolution of the National Conference was published in the supplement to the April 16, 1955 issue of People's China.
8. The eighth struggle broke out at the Lushan meeting of August, 1955 at the Eighth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Party when the Minister of Defense, Peng Teh-huai, came out in opposition to the "three red banners": the general line for building socialism, the people's communes and the Great Leap Forward. In his "opinion" of July 14, 1959, he attacked the entire political line put forward by Chairman Mao and approved by the Central Committee. Having also formed his anti-Party clique he was severely criticised at the Lushan Meeting and then removed from office by the enlarged session of the Military Commission of the Central Committee convened following the CC's plenary session.
9. The ninth struggle broke out publicly with the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and was incomparably wider in breadth than the previous struggles as a result of the mobilisation of the broad masses of the people against the revisionist political line led by Liu Shao-chi. This line, if adopted and implemented, would have led China onto the capitalist road. The Ninth Congress of the Communist Party of China in April 1969 confirmed the victory of Mao Tsetung's political line based on continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
10. It became evident that the tenth struggle was shaping up during the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee which took place in Lushan in August, 1970, during which Lin Piao and Chen Po-ta demanded that a President of the Republic be named and also developed their theses on the "cult of genius" and showed their hostility to the line of the Ninth Congress.
In his "Report to the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China" Chou En-lai characterised the essence of the line of Lin Piao and his followers as "to usurp the supreme power of the Party and the state, thoroughly betray the line of the Ninth Congress, radically change the Party's basic line and policies for the entire historical period of socialism, turn the Marxist-Leninist Chinese Communist Party into a revisionist, fascist party, subvert the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism." (The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), p.12)
This tenth struggle between the two lines is by no means the last that the CPC will experience. Already during the Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao was able
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to point out: "The present great cultural revolution is only the first; there will inevitably be many more in the future. The issue of who will win in the revolution can only be settled over a long historical period. If things are not properly handled, it is possible for a capitalist restoration to take place at any time. It should not be thought by any Party member or any one of the people in our country that everything will be all right after one or two great cultural revolutions or even three or four. We must be very much on the alert and never lose vigilance." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.22, May 26, 1967, p.38)
During a talk in 1968, Chairman Mao stated: "We have won a great victory. But the defeated class will still struggle. These people are still around and this class still exists. Therefore, we cannot speak of final victory. Not even for decades. We must not lose our vigilance. According to the Leninist viewpoint, the final victory of a socialist country not only requires the efforts of the proletariat and the broad masses of the people at home, but also involves the victory of the world revolution and the abolition of the system of exploitation of man by man over the whole globe, upon which all mankind will be emancipated. Therefore, it is wrong to speak lightly of the final victory of the revolution in our country; it runs counter to Leninism and does not conform to facts." (Quoted in the The Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the CPC" by Lin Piao, pp.64-65). Regarding this Report, cf. the Report of Chou En-lai to the Tenth Congress: "As we all knew, the political report to the Ninth Congress was drawn up under Chairman Mao's personal guidance. Prior to the congress, Lin Piao had produced a draft political report in collaboration with Chen Po-ta. They were opposed to continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, contending that the main task after the Ninth Congress was to develop production. This was a refurbished version under new conditions of the same revisionist trash that Liu Shao-chi and Chen Po-ta had smuggled into the resolution of the Eighth Congress, which alleged that the major contradiction in our country was not the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, but that 'between the advanced socialist system and the backward productive forces of society." Naturally, this draft by Lin Piao and Chen Po-ta was rejected by the Central Committee." (The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), pp.4-5). Regarding the Eighth Congress, cf. note 64.
On April 28, 1969, at the First Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee, Chairman Mao stated: "Probably another revolution will have to be carried out after several years." (Ibid, p.4) Peking Review, No.51, December 16, 1975, p.5 - Hongqi, No.9, 1975, points out that "Chairman Mao has always taken pains to teach us to have a full understanding of the protracted nature of the two-line struggle" and quotes him as having said in 1971: "We have been singing the Internationale for fifty years, yet on ten occasions certain people inside our Party tried to split it. As I see it this may happen another ten, twenty or thirty times. You don't believe it. Anyhow I do. Will there be no struggle when we get to Communism? I just don't believe it. There will be struggle even then, but only between the new and the old, between what is correct and what is incorrect."
73. "Kao Kang": Cf. note 72, the seventh major struggle between the two lines.
74. Mao Tsetung, quoted by Chou En-lai in his "Report to the Tenth National Congress," The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China
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(Documents), p.19.
75. Cf. in the Chinese language Brilliant Examples of Going Against the Tide by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, Peking, 1975. This entire passage can also be read as a refutation of Liu Shao-chi's thesis on "absolute obedience." Many of Chairman Mao's writings insist on the necessity of reflection. For example in 1930: "It is quite wrong to take a formalistic attitude and blindly carry out directives without discussing and examining them in the light of actual conditions simply because they come from a higher organ." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.16, April 14, 1967, p.12) In 1942 he pointed out to the Party members that they should "take a sniff at everything and distinguish the good from the bad before they decide whether to welcome it or boycott it. Communists must always go into the why's and wherefores of anything, use their own heads and carefully think over whether or not it corresponds to reality and is really well founded; on no account should they follow blindly and encourage slavishness." (Ibid) And more recently Chairman Mao said: "Erroneous leadership which brings harm to the revolution should not be accepted unconditionally but should be resisted resolutely." (Ibid)
In May 1958, at the Second Session of the Eighth National Congress of the Party "Chairman Mao personally guided the working out of the general line of going all out, aiming high and achieving greater, faster, better and more economical results in building socialism. He called on the people throughout the country to discard fetishes and superstitions, emancipate their minds and carry forward the communist spirit of daring to think, speak and act." (Peking Review, No.17, April 21, 1967, p.14 — Beijing Bao, April 7, 1967) As the mass movement developed, Chairman Mao said: "Never before have the masses been so high in spirit, so strong in words and so firm in determination" and "Do the Chinese people still look like slaves as they did before? No, they have become the masters." (Ibid) At the time of the Second Session of the Eighth Congress, "when Lin Piao viciously berated Chin Shih Huang for 'burning books and burying Confucian scholars alive' . . . Chairman Mao sternly refuted him then and there and fully affirmed Chin Shih Huang's resolute suppression of the reactionary Confucian scholars as a revolutionary action; Chairman Mao also expounded the progressive role of revolutionary violence and exposed the reactionary essence of attacks on Chin Shih Huang as attacks on revolutionary violence and the dictatorship of the proletariat." (Peking Review, No.33, August 16, 1974, p.11)
It was Beijing Ribao (Peking daily, suppressed during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution) that Liu Shao-chi used as his indirect means of opposing the line put forward by Chairman Mao and promoting his theories on unconditional obedience, particularly the concept of "docile tools." On his instigation, the newspaper organised a discussion on the question: "Should a communist have a will of his own?" and he wrote an article summing up this discussion in which he declared, in the name of "Party spirit": "You must obey even if the majority, or the superiors, or the Central Committee are actually wrong, and carry out the erroneous (orders) first." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.16, April 14, 1967, p.15 from Renmin Ribao, April 10, 1967, which reproduced the April 7 article of Beijing Bao) Denying the class struggle in the society, and the fact that this struggle is reflected in the Party, Liu Shao-chi tried to reduce it to "differences over the method for building socialism."* This attempt to cover up the two-line struggle, the struggle between the capitalist road and the socialist road, this submissiveness
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demanded in the name of "Party unity" led him to defend unity at any price in the international communist movement and to align himself, as did Lin Piao, with the positions of modern revisionism.
76. Cf. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War," p.222: "The naked eye is not enough, we must have the aid of the telescope and the microscope. The Marxist method is our telescope and microscope in political and military matters."
77. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.1, January 7, 1972, p.10.
78. "Struggle-criticism-tranformation" According to an article in Peking Review, No.22, May 26, 1967, p.38: "Struggle-criticism-transformation is the abbreviation of the tasks set forth in the famous 16-point decision of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party concerning the cultural revolution, which states: 'At present, our objective is to struggle against and overthrow those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary bourgeois academic 'authorities' and ideology of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and to transform education, literature and art and all other parts of the superstructure not in correspondence with the socialist economic base, so as to facilitate the consolidation and development of the socialist system'." Cf. also the following directive: "The struggle-criticism-transformation in a factory, on the whole, goes through the following stages: establishing a revolutionary committee based on the 'three-in-one' combination, mass criticism and repudiation, purifying the class ranks, rectifying the Party organization, simplifying organizational strudure, changing irrational rules and regulations and sending people who work in offices to grass-roots levels." (Mao Tsetung, quoted in Yao Wen-yuan, The Working Class Must Exercise Leadership in Everything, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1968, p.16 — Hongqi, No.2, 1968)
79. Mao Tsetung, quoted in The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), p.18.
Cf. also Mao Tsetung: "Cadres should be educated to grasp some Marxism-Leninism; it would be all the better if they grasp more of it. That is to say, they should go in for Marxism-Leninism, and not revisionism." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.27, July 3, 1970, p.10 — Editorial of Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao) Cf. a directive described as "very recent" in Jiefangjun Bao of October 8, 1967: "To criticize revisionism, one has to fight self" often presented as "fight self, repudiate revisionism" (Mao Tsetung, quoted in Important Documents of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, p.286) In 1957 Chairman Mao openly denounced revisionism in "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People: "At the same time as we criticize dogmatism, we must direct our attention to criticizing revisionism. Revisionism, or Right opportunism, is a bourgeois trend of thought that is even more dangerous than dogmatism." (Selected Readings, p.466) One month later, in his "Speech at the Chinese Communist Party's National Conference on Propaganda Work," Chairman Mao raised this question again: "For a long time now people have been levelling a lot of criticism at dogmatism. That is as it should be. But they often neglect to criticize revisionism. Both dogmatism and revisionism run counter to Marxism . . . It is dogmatism to approach Marxism from a metaphysical point of view and to regard it as someth-
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ing rigid. It is revisionism to negate the basic principles of Marxism and to negate its universal truth . . . In present circumstances, revisionism is more pernicious than dogmatism. One of our current important tasks on the ideological front is to unfold criticism of revisionism." (Selected Readings, p.496) For their part, the Russian revisionists, in their later attacks on the correct positions of the CPC, affirmed that dogmatism is the main enemy and labelled the Chinese leadership including Chairman Mao as dogmatists. Chairman Mao further developed his struggle against modern revisionism in many other writings (some of which are quoted here).
80. Mao Tsetung, Selected Readings, "Speech at the Chinese Communist Party's National Conference on Propaganda Work," p.496.
81. V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXI, "The Collapse of the Second International," Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1964, p.247.
82. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.17, April 24, 1970, p.7 (quoted as being stated by Chairman Mao in August 1964).
83. Preaching the theory of the general "dying out of class struggle," Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and the other supporters of capitalist restoration in China evidently could not admit the existence of class struggle within the Party as a reflection of the class struggle in the society. Thus they developed all sorts of theories to "explain" the contradictions inside the Party. Struggle in the Party was defined by Liu Shao-chi as follows: "In essence and content, it is basically an ideological struggle." "Because different Party members look at questions differently, they also handle problems by different methods . . . This brings about inner-Party struggle." The various acts of betrayal committed by the enemies of the Party were described as resulting from "a wrong thought" and being carried out "on the spur of the moment." Thus he presented them all as being capable of rehabilitation. (Peking Review, No.46, November 15, 1968, p.19 — Renmin Ribao) in Peking Review, No.45, November 8, 1968, p.17, Liu Shao-chi is quoted as having said: "People who had confessed to the enemy and performed acts of capitulation can also be elected as Central Committee members." "There is nothing to fear even if there are ten thousand rich-peasant Party members in the Northeast." For Liu Shao-chi, the Communist Party of China was "the good men's party." (Ibid) He even went so far as to say in his speech to the working meeting of the Central Committee of the Party, February 8, 1962, that "There should be an opposition; there should be an open opposition both among the people and within the Party." (Peking Review, No.34, August 18, 1967, p.19 — Hongqi and Renmin Ribao, August 15, 1967) He also stated on October 22, 1961: "There is nothing to be frightened of if some bourgeois elements should emerge in society. There is no need to fear the flooding in of capitalism." (Ibid)
84. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.27, July 7, 1972, p.7.
85. Several books and pamphlets have been published in the People's Republic of China on E. Pottier and P. Degeyter. For articles, cf. Peking Review, No.11, March 17, 1972, pp.5-8 and Peking Review, No.27, July 6, 1973, pp.8-10.
86. "Chang Kuo-tao": Cf. note 72, the sixth major struggle between the two lines.
87. "Chu Chin-pai" and "Li Li-san": Cf. note 72, the second and the third major struggles between the two lines.
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88. "Jao Shu-shih": Cf. note 72, the ninth major struggle between the two lines.
89. "Striking at the large majority to protect a handful": Cf. note 160.
90. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.46, November 16, 1973, p.19 — Renmin Ribao, April 27, 1968.
91. Cf. Mao Tsetung: "There are many Party members who have joined the Communist Party organizationally but have not yet joined the Party wholly or at all ideologically." (Selected Works, Volume III, "Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art," p.94).
92. "Unity-criticism-unity": Cf. the definition given by Chairman Mao: "To elaborate, it means starting from the desire for unity, resolving contradictions through criticism or struggle and arriving at a new unity on a new basis." (Selected Readings, "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People," p.439) During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the following formulation appeared: "unity-criticism and self-criticism-unity."
93. Mao Tsetung, bid, p.440. Cf. also Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Rectify the Party's Style of Work," p.50.
94. K. Marx and F. Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, p.76.
95. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "On Coalition Government," p.232.
96. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Oppose Stereotyped Party Writing," p.58.
97. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "Combat Liberalism," p.13.
98. "Benevolence," "Justice," "Virtue," "Liberty," "Equality," "Fraternity": All these concepts are of course not above classes. Their use by the bourgeoisie as general notions is yet another way of denying the class struggle. Regarding the Confucian notion of "benevolence," cf. Peking Review, No.41, October 12, 1973, p.7. Confucius said "A benevolent man loves all men." Chairman Mao said "As for the so-called love of humanity, there has been no such all-inclusive love since humanity was divided into classes. All the ruling classes of the past were fond of advocating it, and so were many so-called sages and wise men, but nobody has ever really practised it, because it is impossible in class society." (Selected Works, Volume III, "Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art," p.91).
The method of government by benevolence put forward by Liu Shao-chi and his supporters constituted a rejection of the dictatorship of the proletariat. As far back as 1949, Chairman Mao had denounced this viewpoint: "The Chinese people will never take pity on snake-like scoundrels, and they honestly believe that no one is their true friend who guilefully says that pity should be shown these scoundrels and says that anything else would be out of keeping with China's traditions, fall shorts of greatness, etc." (Selected Works, Volume IV, "Carry the Revolution Through to the End," p.304) "If the revolution is to be carried through to the end, we must use the revolutionary method to wipe out all the forces of reaction resolutely, thoroughly, wholly and completely . . . " (Ibid, p.302).
In "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship," Chairman Mao also stated: " 'You are not benevolent.' Quite so. We definitely do not apply a policy of benevolence to the reactionaries and towards the reactionary activities of the reactionary classes. (Selected Works, Volume IV, p.4l8) "If the revolutionary people do not master this method of ruling over the counter-revolutionary
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classes, they will not be able to maintain their state power; domestic and foreign reaction will overthrow that power and restore its own rule over China, and disaster will befall the revolutionary people." (Ibid. p.420-421)
"Justice" and "Virtue" are also concepts aimed at shoring up the rule of the bourgeoisie. As for the notions of "Liberty," "Fraternity" and "Equality," there are various well-known writings of Lenin which denounce the hypocritical character of these slogans, raising the questions: Liberty for whom? Equality for whom? Fraternity for whom? (Cf. VI. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXXI, "False Talk on Freedom," pp.391-396)
In a different historical context, at the time of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Liu Shao-chi's supporters put forward the slogan "Everyone is equal before the truth"* in order to protect themselves. The Circular of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (May 16, 1966), pp.6-7, has the following to say on the question of "Equality": "Can equality be permitted on such basic questions as the struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, the dictatorship of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie, the dictatorship of the proletariat in the superstructure, including all the various spheres of culture, and the continued efforts of the proletariat to weed out those representatives of the bourgeoisie who have sneaked into the Communist Party and who wave "red flags" to oppose the red flag? For decades the old-line Social Democrats, and for over ten years the modern revisionists, have never allowed the proletariat equality with the bourgeoisie. They completely deny that the several thousand years of human history are a history of class struggle. They completely deny the class struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, the proletarian revolution against the bourgeoisie and the dictatorship of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie. On the contrary, they are faithful lackeys of the bourgeoisie and the imperialists, they cling to the bourgeois ideology of the oppression and exploitation of the proletariat and to the capitalist system, and they oppose Marxist-Leninist ideology and the socialist system. They are a bunch of counter-revolutionaries opposing the Communist Party and the people. Their struggle against us is one of life and death, and there is no question of equality. Therefore, our struggle against them, too, can be nothing but a life-and-death struggle, and our relationship with them can in way be one of equality. On the contrary, it is a relationship in which one class oppresses another, that is, the dictatorship of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie. There can be no other type of relationship, such as a so-called relationship of equality or of peaceful coexistence between exploiting and exploited classes, or of kindness or magnanimity." (pp.6-7) Cf. also Chang Chun-chiao, On Exercising All-Round Dictatorship Over the Bourgeoisie, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975 — Hongqi, No.4, 1975.
99. Cf. Peking Review, No.46, November 14, 1975, pp.8-9: "After Lin Piao's plot for an armed counter-revolutionary coup d'etat was smashed in September1971, the people of China angrily denounced this political swindler. In criticising Lin Piao, we felt more than ever the necessity to study revolutionary theory.
"Just as people say, the counter-revolutionary double-dealer Lin Piao was one of those 'who never showed up without a copy of Quotations in hand and never opened their mouths without shouting "long live" and who spoke nice things to your face but stabbed you in the back.' Lin Piao frequently made use of certain passages from Marxist-Leninist works, quoting them out of context and emas-
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culating their essence to sell his revisionist wares. For example, Lin Piao said that 'class struggle is the core and soul of Mao Tsetung Thought.' At that time a worker in our No.2 workshop felt that this was wrong. Later in the course of criticizing Lin Piao we studied this passage in Lenin's The State and Revolution: 'Those who recognize only the class struggle are not yet Marxists; they may be found to be still within the boundaries of bourgeois thinking and bourgeois politics. To confine Marxism to the doctrine of the class struggle means curtailing Marxism, distorting it, reducing it to something which is acceptable to the bourgeoisie. Only he is a Marxist who extends the recognition of class struggle to the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat.' This important thesis helped us to see that Lin Piao was curtailing and distorting Marxism for the very purpose of subverting: the dictatorship of the proletariat."
100. "Outline of Project '571' ": A certain number of excerpts are to be found in various texts criticising Confucius and Lin Piao, a movement "personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao" (Peking Review, No.46, November 14, 1975, p.10). For example cf. Peking Review, No.52, December 28, 1973 p.5: "In its programme for a counter-revolutionary coup d'etat entitled 'Outline of Project "571",' the Lin Piao anti-Party clique took the stand of the landlord and capitalist classes and venomously attacked the dictatorship of the proletariat as 'totalitarian,' 'autocratic' and 'dictatorial' and slandered the socialist system in our country as 'undemocratic.' It clamoured for the overthrow of this system and the establishment of a so-called 'truly socialist' state it had long yearned for. All of this clique's counter-revolutionary outcries were easily refuted by Marxist theories on the state and the dictatorship of the proletariat."
101. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.19, May7,1971,p.11—Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao, May 1, 1971.
The other part of this directive is as follows: "Carry out education in ideology and political line." (Ibid) It was at the Second Plenary Session of the Ninth Central Committee that the movement to study Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought was launched, in connection with the criticism of revisionism and the rectification of the style of work. The Communique of this Second Session also emphasised the strengthening of the Party and the necessity of having it "give play to the leading role of the vanguard of the proletariat" (Peking Review, No.37, September 11, 1970, p.7). In many of his pre-1949 writings, Chairman Mao had placed a great deal of emphasis on studying, the necessity for it, and the linking of study with practice. Since that time, he has on many occasions again put this question forward as being of major concern. At the time of the struggle against Peng Teh-huai in 1959, he declared: "at present the main danger lies in empiricism." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.10, March 7, 1975, p.9)
"Empiricism": In the revolutionary camp, subjectivism has two manifestations: dogmatism and empiricism. Contrary to the dogmatists, empiricists recognize only partial experience and underestimate the role of theory. Empiricism is not able to raise conceptual knowledge to the level of rational knowledge. It underestimates the leading role of revolutionary theory in revolutionary practice and it underestimates the importance of studying the revolutionary theory of Marxism-Leninism. While dogmatism and empiricism appear as two opposite poles, in fact in the nature of their method of thought, they are identical — both of them deviate from dialectical materialism and historical materialism.
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Also in 1959, after the Central Committee plenary session at Lushan that criticised and exposed Peng Teh-huai, Chairman Mao pointed out to comrades: "The Lushan meeting drew attention to the need to read Marxist-Leninist classics. I hope you will do more reading henceforward." (Peking Review, No.13, March 28, 1975, p.9 — Renmin Ribao, March 21). He has also said: "in the next few years, special attention should be paid to propagating Marxism-Leninism." (Peking Review, No.10, March 7, 1975). And after the collapse of Lin Piao: "I formally advise comrades to do some reading." (Ibid).
As has already been mentioned above, in 1975, there were new directives issued regarding the study of the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Peking Review, No.46, November 14, 1975, p.10, stated: "In accordance with Chairman Mao's recent directive, the Chinese people have launched a mass criticism of the novel Water Margin which has been circulated widely for several centuries propagating capitulationism . . . This is a component part of the study of the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the struggle to combat and prevent revisionism."
In the same article, some information is given on the experience of the movement to study revolutionary theory: "Chairman Mao's directives have encouraged the people of the whole country to study revolutionary theory more diligently. All the workers of Shanghai, two million strong, are taking part in this study and the number of activists in it has risen to 240,000. Workers make up 70% of the readership in Marxist-Leninist reading rooms in the city libraries. Vast numbers of Marxist-Leninist works have been sold by the city's bookshops. Lenin's The State and Revolution alone sold 480,000 copies in the first eight months of this year." (Ibid).
102. This expression "to dissect oneself" is taken from the works of the revolutionary Chinese writer Lu Hsun. Its meaning is opposite to that of "self-cultivation," i.e. attempting to change oneself in order not to change the world.
103. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Rectify the Party's Style of Work," p.44.
104. The General Council of the First International 1870-1871, Minutes, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1964, p.445.
105. VI. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume VIII, "A Militant Agreement for the Uprising," Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965, p.159.
106. VI. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXXIII, "The Role and Functions of the Trade Unions Under the New Economic Policy," Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1966, p.190.
107. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, pp.105-116.
108. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume IV, pp.177-179; pp.267-268; and pp.377-381 respectively.
109. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume IV, "Revolutionary Forces of the World Unite, Fight Against Imperialist Aggression," p.284.
110. Mao Tsetung, Selected Readings, "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People," p.467.
111. The overestimation or underestimation of the role of the masses is aimed at destroying the fundamental principle of democratic centralism, proletarian cen-
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tralism. In the case of overestimation of the role of the masses, it is the tendency of anarchy that is put forward to oppose the leadership of the Party. Liu Shao-chi said: "Do not rely mainly on the cadres, the government and the Party" but "mainly depend on the spontaneity of the mass movement"; and "do as the masses want." This constitutes a method of struggling against the revolutionary cadres. (latter two quotes from Hsinhua, March 19, 1968, p.5) In regard to the relationship between the Party and the masses, several quotations from Chairman Mao were promoted during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: " . . . if the masses alone are active without a strong leading group to organize their activity properly, such activity cannot be sustained for long, or carried forward in the right direction, or raised to a high level." (Selected Works, Volume III, "Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership," p.118) "The Party must lead the masses to carry out all their correct ideas in the light of the circumstances and educate them to correct any wrong ideas they may entertain." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.27, July 5, 1974, p.8 — Renmin Ribao, July 1, 1974, editorial entitled "The Party Exercises Overall Leadership") Whether it is right or "left" in origin, the overestimation of the masses rapidly gives way to the underestimation of their role (cf. note 160).
112. Mao Tsetung, quoted in The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), p.17.
113. It was in Tsunyi, Kweichow province, that the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC was held which put an end to the line of Wang Ming.
114. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Contradiction," p.315.
115. Wang Hung-wen, "Report on the Revision of the Party Constitution," in The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), p.52. Cf. also Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Rectify the Party's Style of Work," pp.43-44.
116. During the Cultural Revolution, Peking Review carried various articles which concretely criticised this attitude. Cf. the following statement made by Chairman Mao in July 1964: "Don't think you are always right, as if you alone possess all the truth. Don't think that you alone can do everything while others can do nothing, as if the earth would stop turning without you." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.27, July 3, 1970, p.11 — Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao, July 1, 1970)
117. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Contradiction," p.332.
118. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I; "On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party," p.112.
119. VI. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXXII, "Once Again on the Trade Unions, the Current Situation, and the Mistakes of Trotsky and Bukharin," Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965, p.83.
120. J.V. Stalin, Works, Volume VII, "The Fourteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.), Political Report of the Central Committee, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1954, p.352.
121. Mao Tsetung, Selected Readings, "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People," p.438.
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122. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "Win the Masses in Their Millions Front," p.292.
123. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works Volume III, "On- Coalition Government," p.267.
124. * Mao Tsetung, speech to participants on January 30, 1962. Not yet officially translated.
125. VI. Lenin, "Left-Wing" Communism, an Infantile Disorder, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1965, p.6.
126. Mao Tsetung, Selected Readings, "On Strengthening the Party Committee System," pp.360-361.
127. * Mao Tsetung, unidentified quotation.
128. Mao Tsetung, Selected Readings, System," p.36l. s, "On Strengthening the Party Committee System," p.361.
129. Mao Tsetung, ibid, p.360.
130. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume IV, "Methods of Work of Party Committees," p.377.
131. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, "Rectify the Party's Style of Work," p.47.
132. * Mao Tsetung, directive which appears to be from March 1966.
133. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.1, January 3, 1969, p.8 Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao, January 1, 1969. The whole passage is as follows: "Without democracy, there can be no correct centralism because when people have divergent views and no unified thinking, it is impossible to establish centralism. What is meant by centralism? First of all, it is necessary to concentrate correct ideas. On the basis of having done this, we achieve unified thinking. Mao made this statement in his speech to the enlarged Working Conference mentioned in note 124.
134. This instruction forms part of the Constitution of the CPC approved by the Tenth Congress (see p.171 above) as well as the Constitution approved by the Ninth Congress. In his speech of January 30, 1962, Chairman Mao referred to it as having been put forward by himself in 1957.
135. Mao Tse-tung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Rectify the Party's Style of Work," p.44.
136. * Mao Tsetung, unidentified quotation.
137. Mao Tsetung, quoted in The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents) p.53. Cf. note 133.
138. V.I. Lenin, "Left-Wing" Communism, an Infantile Disorder, p.133.
139. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, pp.105-116.
140. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, pp.31-33.
141. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War," p.204.
142. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.6, February 3, 1967, pp.6-7 Hongqi, No.3, 1967.
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143. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.50, December 10, 1971, p.5.
144. * Mao Tsetung, unidentified quotation. 14g. VI. Lenin, "Left-Wing" Communism, an Infantile Disorder, p.6.
146. Mao Tsetung "I am for the slogan: 'Fear neither hardship nor death'." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.9, February 27, 1970, p.2)
147. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "Combat Liberalism," p.33.
148. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Our Study and the Current Situation," p.164.
149. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, pp.13-21.
150. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Rectify the Party's Style of Work," p.3.
151. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume IV, "Report to the Seventh Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China." p.374.
152. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Rectify the Party's Style of Work," p.42.
153. Mao Tsetung, "Opening Address at the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China" (September 15, 1956), in Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Documents, Volume I, p.9.
154. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Reform Our Study," p.2i.
155. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Practice," p.303.
156. * Cf. K. Marx and F. Engels, The Holy Family, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1956.
157. V.1. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXVI, "Meeting of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, November 4(17), 1917," Progress publishers, Moscow, 1964, p.288.
158. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "On Coalition Government," p.207.
159. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume III, "Preface and Postscript to 'Rural Surveys'," p.12.
160. Two lines have been in struggle on the question of cadres policy, notably since the socialist education movement. One line, the line upheld by Chairman Mao, stressed the fact that the majority of cadres are good (cf. the "10-Point Decision" and the "23-Point Document," note 67), and was summed up as "unite the large majority in order to strike at a handful." The other line emphasised errors and inadequacies and was aimed at "striking at the large majority in order to protect a handful." The latter method, promoted by Liu Shao-chi and his supporters, called "stirring up the water," had the effect of setting the masses against the cadres and the cadres against the masses, while the former, applying the mass line — a practice always upheld by Chairman Mao — had the effect of mobilising the masses in all spheres and in giving them a controlling role. The latter distrusted the masses, the former had confidence in them. The latter created a false cadre-vs-masses contradiction, covered up the class struggle and permitted the bad elements who had crept into the Party to consolidate their leading positions, while the former, calling upon the masses to be vigilant, and relying upon the ac-
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tion of the masses, resulted in the class enemies being flushed out of hiding. "Striking at a large number" was one of Liu Shao-chi's techniques in attempting to seize power; "uniting the large majority" was the means of purifying the bodies of the Party and the state of anti-proletarian elements, of bourgeois "big-shots," and at the same time revolutionising and liberating the masses. As Chairman Mao pointed out in a 1968 directive: "To protect the masses or to repress them — here is the basic distinction between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang, between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and between the dictatorship of the proletariat and the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.44, November 1, 1968, p.15)
The negative line also put forward Liu Shao-chi's theory of "docile tools" as the criterion for distinguishing the "good" and the "bad" cadres in order to create an atmosphere in the Party in which the comrades were afraid to take any initiative. This constituted a challenge to democratic centralism. Liu Shao-chi said: "Generally, inner-Party democracy should not be stressed" and that to practise democracy might "loosen the Party's unity and paralyse its militant will." (Hsinhua, March 15, 1968, p.3) At the same time he attempted to sabotage proletarian centralism in order to replace it, initially by a "mysterious" leadership. On the important question of the role of security and judicial bodies, he preached "one-way dependence" on these bodies — that is, he cut them off from the masses and put them under his own control. It was for this purpose that he said: "Do not let the masses deal as they like with counter-revolutionaries and criminal offenders." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.44, November 1, 1968, p.16) At the time of the socialist education movement, he proclaimed: "The masses, like wild horses, will provoke trouble once they are mobilised." (Quoted in Cahiers de la Chine nouvelle, August 31, 1967, p.4) While, "In 1965, Chairman Mao made mobilisation of the masses to supervise the class enemies conscientiously and remould them on the spot, one of the criteria for judging whether the socialist education movement was being conducted well." (Peking Review, No.44, November 1, 1968, p.16)
In effect, by affirming that the masses are backward, that the Chinese people know nothing about democracy, Liu Shao-chi and his supporters were opposing the "dictatorship of the masses." During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao drew the following conclusion: "In the past we waged struggles in rural areas, in factories, in the cultural field, and we carried out the socialist education movement. But all this failed to solve the problem because we did not find a form, a method, to arouse the broad masses to expose our dark aspect openly, in an all-round way and from below." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.15, April 10, 1970, p.29)
161. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Practice," p.299.
163. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party," p.110.
164. "Big-character posters": dazibao. Cf. Article 13 of "The Constitution of the People's Republic of China," in Documents of the First Session of the Fourth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, p.17:
"Speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates and writing big-character posters are new forms of carrying on socialist revolution created by the
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masses of the people. The state shall ensure to the masses the right to use these forms to create a political situation in which there are both centralism and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and personal ease of mind and liveliness, and so help consolidate the leadership of the Communist Party of China over the state and consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat."
165. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party," p.112.
166. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Practice," p.308.
167. The third major struggle on the philosophical front took place between the proponents of the Marxist view that "one divides into two" and those that promoted the fallacy of "two combine into one." "The theory of 'two combine into one' was a reactionary fallacy of bourgeois idealism and metaphysics openly dished up in May 1964 by the renegade Liu Shao-chi and his agent in the philosophical field, Yang Hsien-chen, in opposition to the Marxist dialectical materialist theory that 'one divides into two.' The essence of this reactionary theory lay in deliberately obliterating the fact that the two aspects of a contradiction struggle against each other and are in opposition to each other, negating the struggle and transformation of opposites into each other and spreading the bourgeois theory of the merging of contradictions. Its political aim was to tamper with our Party's basic line for the historical period of socialism and to subvert the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism in China." (Peking Review, No.9, February 28, 1975, p.19) Cf. also Peking Review, No.17,April 23, 1971, "Theory of 'Two Combine Into One' is Reactionary Philosophy for Restoring Capitalism," p.6.
168. Mao Tsetung, in The Polemic on the General Line of the International Communist Movement, "On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World," pp.477-478. A long passage in this article reproduces an excerpt from a speech made by Chairman Mao in 1964 on the training of successors. We reproduce the whole passage here. Notes 172, 173, 174 and 175 also refer to this text.
" . . . in order to guarantee that our Party and country do not change their colour, we must not only have a correct line and correct policies but must train and bring up millions of successors who will carry on the cause of proletarian revolution.
"In the final analysis, the question of training successors for the revolutionary cause of the proletariat is one of whether or not there will be people who can carry on the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary cause started by the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries, whether or not the leadership of our Party and state will remain in the hands of proletarian revolutionaries, whether or not our descendants will continue to march along the correct road laid down by Marxism-Leninism, or, in other words, whether or not we can successfully prevent the emergence of Khrushchov's revisionism in China. In short, it is an extremely important question, a matter of life and death for our Party and our country. It is a question of fundamental importance to the proletarian cause for a hundred, a thousand, nay ten thousand years. Basing themselves on the changes in the Soviet Union, the imperialist prophets are pinning their hopes of 'peaceful evolution' on the third or fourth generation of the Chinese Party. We must shatter these imperialist prophecies. From our highest organization down to the grass-roots,
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we must everywhere give constant attention to the training and upbringing of successors to the revolutionary cause."What are the requirements for worthy successors to the revolutionary cause of the proletariat?
"They must be genuine Marxist-Leninists and not revisionists like Khrushchov wearing the cloak of Marxism-Leninism.
"They must be revolutionaries who whole-heartedly serve the majority of the people of China and the whole world, and must not be like Khrushchov who serves both the interest of the handful of members of the privileged bourgeois stratum in his own country and those of foreign imperialism and reaction.
"They must be proletarian statesmen capable of uniting and working together with the overwhelming majority. Not only must they unite with those who agree with them, they must also be good at uniting with those who disagree and even with those who formerly opposed them and have since been proved wrong. But they must especially watch out for careerists and conspirators like Khrushchov and prevent such bad elements from usurping the leadership of the Party and government at any level.
"They must be models in applying the Party's democratic centralism, must master the method of leadership based on the principle of 'from the masses, to the masses,' and must cultivate a democratic style and be good at listening to the masses. They must not be despotic like Khrushchov and violate the Party's democratic centralism, make surprise attacks on comrades or act arbitrarily and dictatorially.
"They must be modest and prudent and guard against arrogance and impetuosity; they must be imbued with the spirit of self-criticism and have the courage to correct mistakes and shortcomings in their work. They must not cover up their errors like Khrushchov, and claim all the credit for themselves and shift all the blame on others.
"Successors to the revolutionary cause of the proletariat come forward in mass struggles and are tempered in the great storms of revolution. It is essential to test and know cadres and choose and train successors in the long course of mass struggle." (Ibid. pp.477-479)
During the Conference at which he made these remarks, Chairman Mao also declared: "Beware of those who engage in intrigue and conspiracy. For instance, men like Kao Kang, Jao Shu-shih, Peng Teh-huai and Huang Ke-cheng were to be found in the Central Committee. Everything divides into two. Some persons are dead set on conspiring. They want to do this, so that's that — even now there are such persons at it! That there are persons conspiring is an objective fact and not a question of whether we like it or not." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.50, December 10, 1971, p.5 — Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao, December 1, 1971)
169. In 1925-1926 in Kwangchow. Several hundred peasant cadres from different regions of China were trained there. Chairman Mao always paid a great deal of attention to this problem of training cadres. In 1973, in his inscription for the North Shensi College, he said: "It is necessary to train a great many people as vanguards of the revolution. People who are politically far-sighted. People imbued with the spirit of struggle and self-sacrifice. People with largeness of mind who are loyal, active and upright. People who never pursue selfish interests, but
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are wholeheartedly for the liberation of the nation and society. People who fear no difficulties, but remain steadfast and advance courageously in the face of d1ficulties. People who are neither high and mighty nor seekers after the limelight, but are conscientious and full of practical sense. If China has a host of such vanguard elements, the tasks of the Chinese revolution will be successfully fulfilled." (Peking Review, No.33. August 14, 1970, p.10 — Renmin Ribao, July 24, 1970)
170. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "Pay Attention to Economic Work," p.135.
171. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War," p.202.
176. There have been different forms of the "three-in-one" combination. One is the form referred to here of young, middle-aged and old people. Another is the "three-in-one" combination of worker-technician-cadre technical innovation groups. In this regard, cf. the "Constitution of the Anshan Iron and Steel Company" formulated on March 22, 1960 by Chairman Mao, which has five basic principles: "Keep politics firmly in command; Strengthen Party leadership; Launch vigorous mass movements; Institute the system of cadre participation in productive labour and worker participation in management, of reform of irrational and outdated rules and regulations, and of close co-operation among workers, cadres and technicians; Go full steam ahead with the technical innovations and technical revolution." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.14, April 3, 1970, p.12 — Renmin Ribao, March 24, 1970) (This Constitution was not really implemented until 1968.) A third form is the "three-in-one" combination of the revolutionary committees, which were established in accordance with the following 1967 directive from Chairman Mao: "In every place or unit where power must be seized, it is necessary to carry out the policy of the revolutionary 'three-in-one' combination in establishing a provisional organ of power which is revolutionary and representative and enjoys proletarian authority. This organ of power should preferably be called the Revolutionary Committee." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.14, 1968, p.6 — Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao) In a l968 directive, Chairman Mao pointed out: "The basic experience of revolutionary committees is this — they are three-fold: they have representatives of revolutionary cadres, representatives of the armed forces and representatives of the revolutionary masses. This forms a revolutionary 'three-in-one' combination. The revolutionary committee should exercise unified leadership, do away with redundant or overlapping administrative structures, have 'better troops and simpler administration' and organize a revolutionized leading group which is linked with the masses." (Ibid) This initially "provisional" organ, after undergoing refinement in the course of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was institutionalised: cf. section 3, Articles 22 and 23 of the 1975 Constitution in Documents of the First Session of the Fourth National People's Congress, pp.23-24. The main accent today is placed on the form of "three-in-one" combination
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that is discussed in the text — the combination of young, middle-aged, and old people.
177. Cf. note 5. Today there are more than 12 million of them.
180. Mao Tsetung, Selected Readings, "On the Question of Agricultural Co-operation," p.390.
181. The "five conditions." Cf. note 168.
182. Chairman Mao's concern over the question of cadres has been shown throughout the history of the Communist Party of China. While the importance of cadres is now obvious, this is not the case under all conditions. The following quotation from one of Chairman Mao's older works is often put forward: "Cadres are a decisive factor, once the political line is determined." (Selected Works, Volume II, "The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War," p.202) Cf. also this 1955 quotation: "Both cadres and peasants will remould themselves in the course of the struggles they themselves experience. Let them go into action and learn while doing, and they will become more capable. In this way, fine people will come forward in large numbers." (Mao Tsetung, Selected Readings, "On the Question of Agricultural Co-operation," p.390) After the note issued in 1963 (cf. note 6), Chairman Mao, during the socialist education movement, put forward this directive: "It is necessary to maintain the system of cadre participation in collective productive labour. The cadres of our Party and state are ordinary workers and not overlords sitting on the backs of the people. By taking part in collective productive labour, the cadres maintain extensive, constant and close ties with the working people. This is a major measure of fundamental importance for a socialist system; it helps to overcome bureaucracy and to prevent revisionism and dogmatism." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.42, October 18, 1968, p.10) Cf. also Peking Review, No.25, June 22, 1973, p.13. Thus the following directive (described as 'recent' in Peking Review, No.41, October 11, 1968), which served to generalise the movement, corresponds closely to Chairman Mao's general line: "Sending the masses of cadres to do manual work gives them an excellent opportunity to study once again; this should be done by all cadres except those who are too old, weak, ill or disabled. Cadres at work should also go group by group to do manual work." (Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.41, October 11, 1968, p.23) This concern for ensuring links between the cadres and the masses also has its application as regards young cadres. First, it is necessary to place the "accent on selecting leading cadres from among workers and peasants" as was stressed in Peking Review, No.5, February 1, 1974, p.12. But these new leading cadres "must constantly sweep away the dust of bureaucracy and not let themselves fall into the bad style of behaving like 'great overlords'."* During the Ninth Congress, speaking of the lower-level cadres who had just been elected to the Central Committee, Chairman Mao said: "See to it that they do not divorce themselves from the masses or from productive labour while performing their duties." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.5, February 1, 1974, p.14)
183. The Longkiang brigade became a model for implementing the principle of putting the collective interest first. During its irrigation work, the brigade
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consciously sacrificed its local interests in order to advance the irrigation work over a wider area of land. A new-style opera on a revolutionary theme --- "Ode to Longkiang" has been produced on the basis of this example.
184. Cf. Peking Review, No.5, February 1, 1974, pp.13-14, which reproduces the following quotation as a "recent" teaching of Chairman Mao: "It Is necessary In run the study classes for worker-peasant-soldier cadres well, with classes lasting a term of three months and with four terms a year; they read books and at the same time they participate in work." As far as "style of study" is concerned, Chairman Mao has declared that this "is a question of the method of thinking of comrades in our leading bodies, of all cadres and Party members, a question of our attitude towards Marxism-Leninism, of the attitude of all Party comrades in their work. As such, it is a question of extraordinary, indeed of primary, importance." (Quoted in Peking Review, No.11, March 15, 1968, pp.14-15) On the necessity of study, cf. note 101.
185. During the Ninth Congress of the CPC, Chairman Mao issued the call: "Unite to win still greater victories." According to the Chinese press a second call was issued during the First Session of the Ninth Central Committee, on April 29, 1969: "Unite for one purpose, that is, the consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This must be fully achieved in every factory, village, office and school." In the 1971 New Year's Editorial in Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao, a third call of Chairman Mao's was added to these: "Speaking of victory, we must ensure that the people throughout the country are united to win victory under the leadership of the proletariat." (All three in the New Year's Editorial, reprinted in Peking Review, No.1, January 1, 1971, p.9) On April 28, 1969, Chairman Mao also declared: "Apparently, we couldn't do without the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, for our base was not solid. From my observations, I am afraid that in a fairly large majority of factories — I don't mean all or the overwhelming majority — leadership was not in the hands of real Marxists and the masses of workers. Not that there were no good people in the leadership in the factories. There were. There were good people among the secretaries, deputy secretaries and members of Party committees and among the Party branch secretaries. But they followed that line of Liu Shao-chi's, just resorting to material incentives, putting profit in command, and instead of promoting proletarian politics, handing out bonuses, and so forth." "But there are indeed bad people in the factories." "This shows that the revolution is still unfinished." (Quoted in Chang Chun-chiao, On Exercising All-Round Dictatorship Over the Bourgeoisie, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975, pp.9-10) It was in this context that the great movement to study the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat has recently been launched in the People's Republic of China, and the following quotations from Chairman Mao put forward in 1975: "Why did Lenin speak of exercising dictatorship over the bourgeoisie? It is essential to get this question clear. Lack of clarity on this question will lead to revisionism. This should be made known to the whole nation." "Our country at present practises a commodity system, the wage system is unequal, too, as in the eight-grade wage scale, and so forth. Under the dictatorship of the proletariat such things can only be restricted. Therefore if people like Lin Piao come to power, it will be quite easy for them to rig up the capitalist system. That is why we should do more reading of Marxist-Leninist works." "Lenin said that 'small production engenders capitalism and the
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bourgeoisie continuously, daily, hourly, spontaneously, and on a mass scale.' They are also engendered among a part of the working class and of the Party membership. Both within the ranks of the proletariat and among the personnel of state and other organs there are people who take to the bourgeois style of life." (Ibid. frontispiece).186. "Anyuan": Cf. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "The Struggle in the Chingkang Mountains," p.103, note 9:
"The Anyuan Coal Mines in Pinghsiang County, Kiangsi Province, employing twelve thousand workers, were owned by the Han-Yeh-Ping Iron and Steel Company. From 1921 onwards Party organizations and a miners' union were set up there by the organizers sent by the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party."
187. "Shaoshan": Village where Mao Tsetung was born. In 1925 he organised the first Party organisation there, with 32 cadres.
188. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "The Struggle in the Chingkang Mountains," p.84.
189. Quoted in Peking Review, No.27, July 4, 1969, p.6 as one of "Chairman Mao Tsetung's latest instructions." Cf. also the Editorial of Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao published on the 48th Anniversary of the Founding of the communist Party of China, July 1, 1969, reprinted in the same issue of Peking Review.
190. Cf. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II. "Problems of War and Strategy," p.224: "Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party."
In discussing Marx's statement that the first premise of the dictatorship of the proletariat is an army of the proletariat, Peking Review, No.41, October 10, 1975, p.21, stresses the proletarian nature of the army, pointing out that "It is this proletarian nature of the PLA that makes it always the mighty pillar of the dictatorship of the proletariat."
It has required many struggles — both before the seizure of power and after — for the Communist Party of China to be able to implement its political line concerning the army, and for it, through these as well as other struggles, to be able to maintain the proletarian nature of the army. Many pre-1949 writings of Chairman Mao illustrate these struggles. By destroying the proletarian-nature of the army, the representatives of the bourgeoisie would be able to turn it into an instrument against the vanguard of the proletariat, the Party — an instrument for the restoration of capitalism, for the domination of the proletariat, as an essential arm of the new bourgeois power.
After the Korean War, during the struggle against Peng Teh-huai, Liu Shao-chi and un Piao, as well as at other times, the struggle between two opposing conceptions regarding the army has manifested itself on various fronts: the question of the regular army, of modernisation, of the suppression of local armed forces and militia (as per the example of Khrushchov), the question of whether or not to develop independent scientific research in the area of national defence and how much importance to accord it, the very conception of national defence, etc. The representatives of the bourgeoisie have gone so far as to attempt to end the political control of the army by the Party and to place the army in the direct service of a counter-revolutionary putsch. For other important questions involved in the struggle, such as the concept of war, Lin Piao's capitulationism, etc.
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cf. Peking Review, No. 8, February 21, 1975, "Uphold the Marxist View of War, Criticize Lin Piao's Revisionist View", pp. 5-8.
191. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume IV, "A Circular on the Situation", p. 220.
192.Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No. 17, April 24, 1970, p.23.
193.The "branch committee": i.e. the branch executive. Cf. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "The Struggle4 in the Chingkang Mountains", p. 95.
194. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War," p.197.
196. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.27, July 3, 1970, pp.10-11
197. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume I, "On Practice," p.308.
198. Ibid.
199. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "The Role of the Chinese communist Party in the National War," p.200.
200. Mao Tsetung, June 1950, in his report entitled "Fight for a Fundamental Turn for the Better in the Financial and Economic Situation in China" made at the Third Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party, quoted in Absorb Proletarian Fresh Blood, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1968, pp.12-13 — Hongqi, No.4, 1968.
201. Mao Tsetung, Ibid, frontispiece.
202. Mao Tsetung, Selected Works, Volume II, "In Memory of Norman Bethune," p.337.
203. Mao Tsetung, Quotations, pp.177-178. Quote is taken from Chairman Mao's "Talk with African Friends," August 8, 1963.
204. Cf. the following quotation from Chairman Mao: "It is therefore necessary to teach our comrades the dialectical materialist theory of knowledge, in order that they be able to orient their thinking, carry out study and investigation, as much as possible avoid making errors, do their work well, contribute with all their strength to building a great and powerful socialist country and finally, to assist the oppressed and exploited masses of the world, in order to carry out the noble proletarian internationalist duty which we have on our shoulders.* (Cahiers de la Chine nouvelle, October 5, 1971)
205. K. Marx and F. Engels, Werke, "Fur Polen," Volume XVIII, Berlin, 1973, pp.572-575. (translation: Works, "On Poland") Taken from more than one quotation, this passage conveys the general sense of what Engels wrote.
206. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.27, July 2, 1971, p.21.
207. VI. Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1970, pp.9 and 109.
208. VI. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXIX, "The Tasks of the Third International," Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965, p.502.
209. VI. Lenin, Collected Works, Volume XXX, "Speech Delivered At the First All-Russia Congress of Working Cossacks" (March 1, 1920), Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965, pp.382-383.
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210. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.23, June 4, 1971, p.2.
211. * Mao Tsetung, quoted in Pιkin Information, No.8, February 24, 1969, p.7. The quotation comes from a work written in November, 1956, "In Memory of Dr. Sun Yat-sen."
212. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Chairman Mao Tsetung's Important Talks with Guests from Asia, Africa and Latin America, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1966, p.2.
213. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Reivew, No.27, July 2, 1971, p.21.
214. * Unidentified quotation.
215. Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.1, January 5, 1971, p.10 Renmin Ribao, Hongqi and Jiefangjun Bao, January 1, 1973.
216. Ibid.
217. * Cf. the line put forward by Chairman Mao: "Rely mainly on our own efforts while making external assistance subsidiary, break down blind faith, go in for industry, agriculture and technical and cultural revolutions independently, do away with slavishness, bury dogmatism, learn from the good experience of other countries conscientiously and be sure to study their bad experience too, so as to draw lessons from it. This is our line." (Quotes by Chou En-lai in "Report on the Work of Government." Documents of the First Session of the Fourth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, p.57.) Cf. also: "To nourish her own culture China needs to assimilate a good deal of foreign progressive culture . . . We should assimilate whatever is useful to us today . . . for example, from the culture of the various capitalist countries in the Age of Enlightenment. However, we should not gulp any of this foreign material down uncritically, but must treat it as we do our food first chewing it, then submitting it to the working of the stomach and intestines with their juices and secretions, and separating it into nutriment to be absorbed and waste matter to be discarded before it can nourish us." (Mao Tsetung, quoted in Peking Review, No.25, 1967, p.22)
218. Referring to the city of Shanghai.
219. Reprinted from The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Documents), pp.59-73.
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