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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 co